Slate Daily Feed

This week: OpenAI has moved away from being run as a non-profit.  Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck discuss the stated reasons behind the move and what it actually means to be a not-for-profit company. Then, the rates for next year's Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance have come out, and the prices have skyrocketed, reflecting an increase in healthcare costs across the board i...

In a new, very special Death, Sex & Money and Slate Money crossover, Felix Salmon and Anna Sale dig into the difficult decision of whether or not to have kids. Child care? School? New vehicle? All the baby gadgets? Kids are expensive! Anna has two kids, and Felix is famously childless. Between the two of them they dig into their decisions to have and not have kids, the budgeting and balancing...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by producer Vic Whitley-Berry, whose favorite animated shows like Hazbin Hotel have been funded by the internet—not big studios. In fact, as major studios consolidate and cut resources for animation, platforms like Patreon and YouTube are keeping the genre afloat. If we don’t continue to support independent artists, then crude animated musicals about...

Walk into any store or flip on a radio, and you’ll probably hear the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” sooner or later. Thanks to that ubiquity, the swooning, menacing megahit’s songwriter—Sting—is a very wealthy man. Now his former bandmates, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, are suing Sting over who deserves to profit from “Breath” and other Police songs. No matter how that dispute turns out, it...

One legacy of the internet is the millions of subcultures that it helps flourish. Another is pornography—and lots of it. At a “gooner meet-up,” the two collide.  Guest: Daniel Kolitz, author of “ The Goon Squad ” for Harper’s Magazine. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on...

This week, live from Chicago to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Trump vs. Chicago showdown and the dynamics between progressive and centrist Democrats with former Chicago Mayor and Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel , what threat President Trump poses to the future of American elections and how to push back, and mem...

Why SNAP benefits potentially won’t be replenished Nov. 1, and what happens to the people who depend on them to eat. Guest: Dr. Lindsay Allen , health economist and policy researcher at Northwestern University. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clic...

On this episode: Lucy Lopez , Elizabeth Newcamp , and Zak Rosen have a tough listener question about what to do when a relative is an alcoholic and don’t think the environment is safe for the relative’s kid. To answer this question, they’re joined by Lisa Smith from Parallel Recovery . They unpack how to set real boundaries with family members without shaming them; acceptable ultimatums; how to “p...

In a new, very special, Death, Sex and Money and Slate Money crossover, Felix Salmon and Anna Sale dig into the difficult decision of whether or not to have kids.  Child care? School? New vehicle? All the baby gadgets? Kids are expensive! Felix is famously childless, Anna has a couple kids on the older side. Between the two of them they dig into their decisions to have and not have kids (including...

On this week’s show, Dana is joined by fellow movie critics Amy Nicholson of The Los Angeles Times and Slate’s Sam Adams for an all-film edition of the Gabfest. First up, they enter A House of Dynamite , Kathryn Bigelow’s tense procedural about a nuclear catastrophe. Whether or not this grim thriller has any spark is up for debate. Next, they step into the raucous party of Hedda Gabler in Nia DaCo...

As MCC grew as a denomination, they tried to figure out if and how to relate to other churches. Would any befriend a queer church? And if so, would that friendship help other churches shift their perspective on homosexuality? These questions got harder as AIDS numbers grew—it made people more afraid yet friendship more vital. But sometimes friendship emerges in the most unlikely of places. Like wh...

Having successfully gotten their photo ops, the National Guard receded from the streets of Los Angeles, but an aggressive border patrol, with an eye on raising arrest numbers, has taken their place. In the South Bay, an activist group has formed to monitor where raids are happening, who’s conducting them, and try to help residents keep themselves safe. Guest:  Alexander Sammon , politics writer fo...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Jonquilyn Hill , host of Vox’s Explain It To Me podcast. The pair chat about how the internet used to celebrate Halloween, from spooky Twitter display names to Snapchat filters, and why no one wants to be earnest online anymore. However, today’s internet is still filled with plenty of scary stuff, with r/nosleep still going strong, ghost sightings...

In the early-morning hours of October 2, 2023, progressive activist and organizer Ryan Carson was stabbed and killed by a stranger on a Brooklyn sidewalk. His girlfriend Claudia Morales—who witnessed the crime, attempted CPR, and dialed 911—quickly became the target of sensationalist online posting. Internet trolls falsely claimed that she didn’t cooperate with law enforcement and suggested that s...

Last week, the FBI indicted more than 30 people in a series of NBA gambling scandals. The sports leagues are promising drastic action – but with everyone from the states to the owners getting rich off legal sports gambling, is the game rigged?  Guest: Jay Willis , editor-in-chief of Balls and Strikes . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next...

In this Money Talks: Emily Peck and Felix Salmon are joined by legal scholar Ray D. Madoff to discuss her new book The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy . Ray lays out how the US tax code favors the wealthy to an unbelievable degree, helping them to essentially opt out of the system altogether.  Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh discuss the federal indictments of NBA players and coaches for gambling incidents and how the ubiquity of online betting plays a role.. Then the panel is joined by the host of the Ringer’s F1 podcast, Megan Schuster , to discuss the excitement and drama heading into the final stretch of the Formula 1 season. Finally, they finish with a mid-se...

On this episode: Lucy Lopez , Elizabeth Newcamp , and Zak Rosen are joined by ICYMI host Kate Lindsay to discuss viral slang like “67” and “41” and what it all means. They unpack the difference between “bro” and “bruh” (it’s huge!), why the harmless bit of brain rot might actually be good for kids, and more!  Later, they discuss a listener's question: “how do I, a childless aunt, talk to my nieces...

Isn’t a government shutdown supposed to be a crisis? The Republicans, in control of the White House, Congress and Supreme Court haven’t taken steps to end it on their own, and the ship may have already sailed on the only real ask from the Democrats. So what now? Guest:  Jonathan V. Last , editor at The Bulwark. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole W...

For years, conservatives claimed that the Biden administration was pressuring tech companies to censor conservative speech with no solid evidence.  In Trump 2.0, the administration is explicitly bragging about doing the very same thing they accused democrats of. What gives?  Guest: Renée DiResta , Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown and author of “Invi...

This week: A spectacular heist unfolded at the Louvre, with thieves stealing priceless jewels within 7 minutes in broad daylight.  Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck unpack what happened, why the world was so delighted by this particular crime, and the reasons the thieves might not get that big of a big score in the end. Then, ADP has decided to refrain from giving the Fed special da...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer and streamer Laura Kate Dale to talk about what happened to Emiru at this year’s TwitchCon. The streamer was assaulted during a meet-and-greet, after a number of female streamers had already dropped out of the convention in fear for their safety. What is it about TwitchCon that makes creators feel unsafe, and why are female streamers, in pa...

Bulldozers and bulwarks are the twin themes of this week’s show, as Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Joyce White Vance, a longtime federal prosecutor and clarion voice in defense of the rule of law, despite its flaws. As Pam Bondi’s Justice department chases down the President’s opponents, Congress walks away from its constitutional duties, and the highest court in the land struggles to find a preside...

The streets are full of ghouls, masked horrors, and terrifying make-up—also it will be Halloween soon.  Guest: Luke Winkie , Slate staff writer. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly...

This week’s AWS outage illustrates just how fragile and vulnerable our interconnected world really is—and how far we’ve fallen from the vision of a decentralized internet.  Guest: Samanth Subramanian , author of “ The Web Beneath the Waves: The Fragile Cables That Connect Our World. ” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all...