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Three botched lethal injections in Alabama have once again highlighted the practical complexity and possible illegality of the death penalty. Even states that are adamantly in favor of capital punishment are being stalled on a purely pragmatic level.  Guest: Elizabeth Bruenig, staff writer at The Atlantic If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get ben...

Even after a campaign awash in scandals, gaffes, and the occasional speculation on werewolves vs. vampires, Herschel Walker still can’t be counted out in the run-off election to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. What can the parties take away from the last race of the 2022 midterms?  Guest: Jim Newell , Senior Politics Writer for Slate . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for S...

The U.S. has welcomed thousands Afghan refugees since pulling out of Afghanistan in 2021. Safe from the Taliban, but without social security numbers,credit ratings, or even sometimes basic English, they have to make a new life relying on a patchwork of volunteers and their wits.   Guests: Elena MacFarlane , volunteer with the  Immigrant and Refugee Outreach Center  and assistant Professor in the J...

The Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are both staffed with accomplished progressives who are proving more aggressive than their predecessors in either the Trump or Obama eras. But can Big Tech be tamed? Guest: Leah Nylen , reporter for Bloomberg News  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members...

Dating back to the Arab Spring, Twitter’s potential for real-time organizing has been a selling point. But trying to find information on China’s “Zero COVID” protests reveals just how vulnerable the now-understaffed platform is to manipulation. Guest: Joseph Menn , cybersecurity reporter for the Washington Post .  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Pl...

For nearly three years, people in China have endured their government’s “Zero COVID” policies to prevent cases from overwhelming their hospital system. But after a fire in Urumqi broke out and videos spread of fire rescue having trouble reaching the building, people have taken to the streets in defiance of orders and even gone as far as demanding President Xi Jinping’s resignation.  Guest: Matthew...

With no clear path to advance and winter settling in, what would it take for Russia to negotiate an exit from Ukraine? Guest: Fred Kaplan . Slate’s war stories correspondent 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 Amicus—and you’ll be supporting the work we do h...

With Yale and Harvard law schools withdrawing from U.S. News & World Report’s annual law school rankings, others have followed suit. With the rating system for all colleges taking criticism, being “gamed,” and beset by scandal, is this the beginning of the end of the influential college-ranking system? Guest: Colin Diver, the Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., Professor of Law and Economics Emeritus at...

Hakeem Jeffries appears set to take over as Nancy Pelosi steps down as the head of the House Democrats. As a member of the Progressive Caucus who has often sided against progressives with party leadership, what will the House Democrats look like with Jefferies at the helm?  Guest: Alex Sammon , politics writer at Slate. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus...

The option to “buy now and pay later” over installments exploded over the past two years, thanks to people being flush with stimulus cash and shopping online during the pandemic. But is this new, underregulated industry a useful line of credit or another path into debt? Guest: Paulina Cachero , personal finance reporter for Bloomberg . Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider s...

When presale tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour effectively broke the internet last week, Ticketmaster emerged as the villain…again. The media behemoth has been reviled since the ‘90s, but it has continued to grow, through a merger with Live Nation. What can a Department of Justice antitrust investigation, buoyed by Swifties, actually do?  Guest: Jason Koebler , editor-in-chief of Motherboar...

During the 2022 midterms, four states voted to ban slavery, which is still legal—and practiced—in the form of forced prison labor. The ballot initiatives are designed to keep people from having to work against their will and could provide prisoners with the opportunity to sue for higher wages, and better working conditions, including medical exemptions for those who are pregnant and postpartum.  G...

Fentanyl has been a right-wing boogeyman and ostensible reason for Republicans to rail for more security at the U.S.-Mexico border. As the opioid crisis continues, the danger fentanyl poses has become vividly clear. While stopping overdoses is important, resurfacing nasty drug war tropes isn’t helping.  Guest: Brian Mann , NPR correspondent covering addiction If you enjoy this show, please conside...

After decades as America’s booming industry, tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off in November alone. Is the venture-capital, low-interest-rate wind leaving the sails temporary or is this the end of the hunt for “the next big thing?” Guest: Timothy B. Lee , reporter for Full Stack Economics covering labor markets, technology, and housing. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show,...

At this year’s annual UN conference on climate change, they are discussing “climate reparations,” wherein the rich countries that grew their wealth burning fossil fuels pay money to poorer and more vulnerable countries. It sounds sensible, but is the UN capable of administering something like this? And how much money are we talking here? Guest: Vijay Vaitheeswaran , global energy and climate innov...

State supreme court elections, for a long time, were an afterthought; filler for the ballot’s second page. But with questions of abortion rights on the line, this year both parties started pouring money and attention on the races across the country. Even where the races are explicitly “non-partisan,” the partisan political machine has arrived.  Guest: Erik Ortiz , staff writer for NBC News focusin...

The Supreme Court case Brackeen v. Haaland concerns how adoption placement currently works under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law prioritizes placing Native children with Native families. But depending on how the court rules, striking down or changing ICWA could affect not only adoption but Indian tribes’ entire status as sovereign nations.  Guest: Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese , Stanford law profe...

After bracing themselves for a “red wave,” the Democrats will keep their Senate majority after the midterms. However, the Republicans will likely, narrowly take the House, thanks in part to gains made in deep blue New York State. How did the party bungle this so badly? And why do some Democrats say it’s Andrew Cuomo’s fault? Guest: Jimmy Vielkind , reporter for the Wall Street Journal covering New...

Though just last year he was ousted from office amidst corruption charges, Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to power, leading a coalition of three hard right-wing parties. Palestinians inside Israel are concerned that some of their leaders are now emboldened in their goal of expelling Arabs from the country. Guest: Peter Beinart , professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark G...

The (once) third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed in stunning fashion this week, highlighting why consumers really do want regulation, and why old financial institutions remain wary of crypto.   Guest: Felix Salmon , host of Slate Money, chief financial correspondent for Axios. Host: Lizzie O’Leary   If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus membe...

The second largest investor in Twitter, after Elon Musk, is the Saudis, which raises questions about what kinds of “free speech” Musk is really committed to. But it also raises questions around national security in the U.S.  Guest: Chris Murphy , U.S. Senator from Connecticut Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits lik...

The dust still hasn’t settled from the midterm elections. But some themes have begun emerging: the GOP underperformed; the right to abortion won on state-level votes; Florida has gone red, but Democrats won gubernatorial races across the old “blue wall.” And it may be time for Republicans to consider who they are, apart from the party of Trump. Guest: Jamelle Bouie , columnist at the New York Time...

As Texas laws have become more discriminatory against trans individuals and their families, many wonder if they can even stay in the Lone Star State, especially when parents could be investigated as child abusers for providing healthcare to their children. This family made the difficult decision to move to Colorado.  Guests: Katie Laird , social justice blogger . Noah Laird, high school junior. If...

Paul Pelosi joined a growing list of Congress members and their families who have been targets of violent political attacks. What can be done about the growing safety risk of being in the public eye? And what does living under threat do to the people charged with running the government? Guest: Liz Goodwin , Congress reporter at the Washington Post. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing u...

Trump won Ohio handily, and it’s been expected that JD Vance would cruise into a Senate seat this fall. But Democratic candidate Tim Ryan seems to have struck a chord with the very demographics that have been drifting away from his party. Does he have what it takes to win in Trump country? And could his success be replicated across the Midwest? Guest: Alec MacGillis , politics and government repor...