What Next | Daily News and Analysis

After his character, Kang the Conqueror, was set up to be the big villain of the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jonathan Majors was dismissed from the franchise after being found guilty of reckless assault and harassment.  Guest: Michael Schulman , staff writer for the New Yorker . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like...

In September, Brittany Watts had a miscarriage at her home in Ohio. Prosecutors are now charging her with “abuse of a corpse,” a felony that could result in up to a year in prison.  When does a miscarriage become a felony? And could the anti-abortion movement be using this case as a step towards achieving “fetal personhood”? Guest: Mary Ziegler , law professor at UC Davis and author of Roe: The Hi...

West Virginia University is wrapping up its first semester following dramatic cuts to undergraduate and graduate programs. Its president calls the “restructuring” an effort to better focus on majors like medicine, nursing, and business – degrees that will lead directly to lucrative jobs. But what is a degree really for? And how do you decide when a diploma is “worth it?” Guest: Michael Powell , st...

“Easy returns” are an essential part of the online shopping experience. But 20-30 percent of online purchases get sent “back,” which is to say, they then enter the labyrinth of third-party return facilities, destined for re-evaluation, restocking—or possibly, the garbage. Guest: Amanda Mull, staff writer at The Atlantic . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plu...

Going through airport security is a legal requirement. Is it fair for a private company to interject itself in that process—and cut to the front of the line? Guest: David Zipper, visiting Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, focused on mobility, cities and technology. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast,...

Fast-fashion titan Shein is preparing for its initial public offering, even as questions of sustainability and labor practices linger.  Guest: Jordyn Holman , business reporter covering the retail industry and consumerism for The New York Times If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of sh...

Kate Cox’s fight to abort her pregnancy and save her fertility in Texas says a lot about America’s post- Roe , fractured approach to reproductive rights. Guest: Selena Simmons-Duffin , health policy correspondent at NPR. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and D...

Over 100 hostages being held by Hamas were released during the temporary ceasefire last month. But Sagui Dekel-Chen, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was not among them. With Gaza under bombardment again, all his father can do is plead with the Israeli government, and wait. Guest: Jonathan Dekel-Chen , professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, who is presumed to be...

For pilots facing mental health problems of almost any kind, the cost of getting help might be too much to bear. After a crisis on an Alaska Airlines flight, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are examining how to make the skies safer, while allowing pilots to get help.  Guest: Pete Muntean, pilot, flight instructor and CNN correspondent covering aviat...

As war rages in Gaza, the Biden administration has begun imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have been on the rise since October 7.  Guest: Dalia Hatuqa , multimedia journalist living in Ramallah, specializing in Israeli-Palestinian affairs. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up fo...

Elon Musk is suing Media Matters for reporting that advertisers’ content was showing up right next to posts from newly reinstated Nazis on X, something X’s CEO said was impossible. Media Matters is based in D.C, and X is headquartered in California - so why did Musk choose to file the suit in Texas? Guest: Liz Dye, columnist at Above the Law, Substacks as Law and Chaos Pod, co-hosts the podcast Op...

Is Spotify’s 2023—ending with layoffs and cancelling critically acclaimed original podcasts—a sign of trouble at the streaming giant, or an adjustment to expectations that’s setting them up for a brighter future? Guest: Ashley Carman , Bloomberg reporter who covers Spotfiy   If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slat...

Pickleball’s exploding popularity isn’t an organic grassroots rise. According to a reporter’s intrepid Freedom of Information Act inquiries, enthusiastic pickleball ambassadors are employing the “USA Pickleball tool kit” and harrying local park departments to elbow out their tennis-and-basketball-playing neighbors.  Guest: Jason Koebler , cofounder of 404 Media and host of the 404 Media Podcast ,...

The Sacklers were set to pay $6 billion in exchange for immunity from any future lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis. But the Supreme Court will now decide whether bankruptcy law can be wielded in this manner to protect the very wealthy—and trump the very-American right to sue for damages.  Guest: Brian Mann , reporter on addiction at NPR. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing...

Last week, former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley scored a coveted endorsement from Charles Koch’s political advocacy group. She’s passed Ron DeSantis in the polls—and now, she’s the top, non-Trump Republican candidate for president. But is there any hope of winning over Trump voters—or is this a race to be the candidate who steps in if the former president goes to jail? Gues...

Jeff Bezos said Amazon will be “Earth’s safest place to work.” But state and federal investigators are looking into the online retailer’s rates of on-the-job injuries. Is working in an Amazon warehouse inherently unsafe, or is the number of accidents unavoidable for the US’s second largest employer, as the company contends? Given OSHA’s limited powers, does the government have any options other th...

Though navigating the internet involves spraying your data pretty indiscriminately, you actually have more control over it than you think—it’s just a pain to rein it in.  Guest: Geoffrey Fowler , Washington Post tech columnist. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Bur...

Artificial intelligence seems predestined to become a bigger part of our lives. To what extent is the A.I. push being led by Sam Altman and the OpenAI team a cause for concern?  Guest: Karen Hao , journalist, data scientist and contributing writer for the Atlantic. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast,...

Eric Adams’ political career has been heavy on soundbites and low-simmering scandals. But now, as mayor of New York, he might have finally risen far enough to fall.  Guest: David Freedlander , New York Magazine contributor and the author of The AOC Generation: How Millennials Are Seizing Power and Rewriting the Rules of American Politics . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Sla...

California’s new “CARE courts” are designed to help people struggling with psychotic disorders to get the help they need. But is having judges mandate treatment a step in the right direction? Guest: April Dembosky , health correspondent for KQED. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of...

Citing the risks from criminals listening in and pranksters interfering in their channels, the NYPD is the latest and biggest police department moving to encrypt their radio communications. But what about the reporters who rely on the police scanner—and the public who rely on those reporters? Guests: Todd Maisel , contributing editor at AMNewYork and photojournalist  Adam Scott Wandt , associate p...

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began this weekend in Gaza, as hostages and prisoners were freed by both sides. But any end to the immediate conflict still remains in doubt. Guest: Peter Beinart , professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, and author of The Beinart Not...

The first steps on the moon were in the name of “all mankind.” But with more countries—and the private sector—competing to not only return, but to tap into the moon’s resources, we’re going to need some ground rules. Guest: Chris Davenport reports on NASA and the space industry at the Washington Post . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefi...

An app for open money laundering, a corridor of massive casinos in the middle of nowhere, and the global scamdemic.  Guest: Cezary Podkul, reporter for Propublica If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here...

While the What Next team celebrates the holiday, enjoy this episode from our colleagues at Decoder Ring. In 1992, a Minnesota-based software company known for its educational hit The Oregon Trail released another simulation-style game to school districts across the country. Freedom! took kids on a journey along the Underground Railroad, becoming the first American software program to use slavery a...