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What Next - Did Biden Break the Presidential Pardon? Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

How problematic is it for Joe Biden to pardon his son Hunter after promising, again and again, that he wouldn’t?

Guest: Ankush Khardori, senior writer for POLITICO and a former federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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What Next - The House’s Gift to Trump Dec 02, 2024

Show notes

The House already voted to pass the “The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.” But with Donald Trump returning to the White House next year, some Democrats are viewing the power that the bill gives the executive branch—to label non-profit organizations as “funding terrorism” and strip them of their non-profit status—in a new light.

But is it too late?

Guest: Emily Tamkin, global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - When Your Flight’s GPS Gets Spoofed Dec 01, 2024

Show notes

Anyone stuck in a knotted snarl of interstate clovers knows that GPS is both important and imperfect. But if GPS fails while you’re bringing a 737 in for a landing it could be catastrophic.

Why is “GPS spoofing” on the rise—and how can airlines protect their flights against being caught up in conflict zones.

Guest: Drew FitzGerald, telecom reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.

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Slate Money - Conceptual Art is Literally Bananas Nov 30, 2024

Show notes

This week: Felix back and we have some Felix-y topics to cover. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the latest Trump cabinet appointments and speculate if Scott Bessent will be able to rein in Trump’s economic plans.Then, much ink has been spilled over the sale of a conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan for $6.2 million, yet no one really knows how to write about it. So, when is a banana taped to a wall more than a banana taped to a wall? And finally, this week, Warren Buffet published a letter explaining why and how he is giving away his billions after his death. The hosts discuss the efficacy and logic of his plan to give $1.2 billion to his family’s foundations.

In the Slate Plus episode: We’ll hear how Felix spent his time away.

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - The Right’s About-Turn on Parental Rights Nov 30, 2024

Show notes

When it comes to gender affirming care for teenagers, parents’ rights no longer matter. Doctors’ opinions no longer matter. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in United States. v Skrmetti, challenging Tennessee’s ban on healthcare for trans kids, and upending half a century of gender protection doctrine.

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, who will also be the first openly trans lawyer to argue at SCOTUS when he argues, alongside the Biden administration, representing the parents and physician of trans adolescents seeking care, in what will be the biggest trans rights case the court has ever heard. Chase and Dahlia dig through the doctrine to reveal the conservative legal movement’s deep hypocrisy when it comes to trans rights as compared to the rights of parents and doctors when it comes to abortion.

Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - The Post-Election Social Media Wars Nov 29, 2024

Show notes

Whatever X is, it ain’t the Twitter so many users fell in love with. Since the election, Bluesky has been on the rise, but it’s still only a fraction of the number of users on Twitter—at its peak or even now—or even fellow upstart Threads.

Is Bluesky set to take over the role Twitter used to play, or is it just one of many networks in a Balkanized social media landscape?

Guest: Will Oremus, a technology writer for the Washington Post

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Political Gabfest - Are These Trump Tariffs for Real? Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs and his pick for Treasury Secretary; the next Federal Communications Commission Chair and free speech; and the “bro-economy” with The Atlantic’s Annie Lowrey.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss the most fulfilling jobs in America.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Stephanie Gorton about her new book, The Icon & the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

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What Next - Decoder Ring | If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…Will He Want a Welfare Check? Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

While the What Next team is having a holiday, take this journey with our colleagues over at Decoder Ring. What Next will be back in your feed on Monday.

Adults have a long history of trying to find morals and lessons in children’s literature. But what happens when a seemingly innocent book about a boy and a hungry mouse becomes fodder for the culture wars? Over the last decade, Laura Joffe Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie has been adopted by some on the right as a cautionary tale about government welfare. In this episode, we explore the origins of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the history of adults extracting unintended meaning from children’s books, and try to figure out how this particular kid’s book became a Republican battle cry.

This episode was written by Cheyna Roth. It was edited by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung. It was produced by Sofie Kodner. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

In this episode, you’ll hear from author Laura Numeroff, book critic Bruce Handy, economist Rebecca Christie and former journalist Max Ehrenfreund.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com

If you haven’t please yet, subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.

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What Next - Which Came First, the Bird Flu or the Egg? Nov 27, 2024

Show notes

As Thanksgiving approaches the price of eggs is spiking again. But it wasn’t just inflation this time – it was also the rising number of cases of avian flu. How can the USDA, FDA, and CDC contain an outbreak in a country that both hates taking preventative measures and won’t tolerate any disruption in their food supply chain?

Guest: Marcia Brown, food and agriculture reporter at POLITICO.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Money - Money Talks: RIP DEI? Nov 26, 2024

Show notes

In this Money Talks: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are being targeted by “anti-woke” pundits. Emily Peck is joined by Simone Foxman of Bloomberg to explain why DEI is under fire from conservatives, and what these programs might look like under Trump’s second term – if they exist at all.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.