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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Data Center Space Race Dec 19, 2025

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While the A.I. boom has created a data center boom, rich guys are turning their computing dreams to the skies. With its impending IPO, SpaceX stands to lead the extraterrestrial data center boom. Will it work out for Elon and company?

Guest: Eric Berger, space reporter at Ars Technica

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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Political Gabfest - Susie Wiles is a Sane Enabler Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the vivid and impulsive portrait Susie Wiles paints of Trump’s White House in a revealing interview with Vanity Fair, what the new unemployment numbers say about the economy and how Americans are feeling about it, and why some studies show that young Americans are increasingly antisemitic.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, David, and special guest Stephen Colbert answer listeners’ conundrums of all kinds: the meaningful, the trivial, and the delightfully absurd.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation — the story of speculation, debt, and the human drives that fueled the Wall Street crash that changed everything.

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

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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What Next - Why Antisemitism Is Everywhere Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

It’s not that antisemitism ever went away, but it’s still jarring to watch people spread its oldest and most vile tropes on social media in a way that would’ve been unthinkable ten years ago.

Guest: Isaac Saul, politics reporter in Bucks County, Penn., author of the Tangle newsletter

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 clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

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What Next - The Unaffordable Economy Dec 17, 2025

Show notes

Even though the economy looks to be slowing down, prices are still rising. And while presidents don’t have a ton of control over the economy, there is something in Donald Trump’s power that could help reverse these trends.

Guest: Catherine Rampell, economics editor at The Bulwark and anchor at MS NOW.

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

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What Next - Candace Owens at a Turning Point Dec 16, 2025

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In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, the right-wing commentator Candace Owens didn’t simply blame liberals. Her antisemetic conspiracy theories have become so toxic that Kirk’s widow has called for a private summit this week.

Guest: Will Sommer, senior reporter for The Bulwark.

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 - The Boot Camps Treating Kids’ Pain Dec 15, 2025

Show notes

Are “boot camp” clinics that treat kids and teenagers with chronic pain symptoms helping or inflicting more damage on patients who have trouble advocating for themselves?

Guest: Isobel Whitcomb, science journalist based in Portland, Oregon.

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We’re on a mission to get 100 people to join Slate Plus before the new year—and we’re even offering a 50-percent-off deal to folks who join us right now. Visit Slate.com/whatnextplus and use the code WHATNEXT50 to get a year of Slate Plus for $59.

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 - Whole Shopping List Dec 14, 2025

Show notes

Whole Foods based its brand on a certain standard of quality—but there are some things that shoppers nevertheless want. Amazon believes it has found a way to keep the shelves looking like Whole Foods, while getting you the Tide PODS and Cheez-Its you deeply desire.

Guest: Peyton Bigora, staff reporter for Grocery Dive

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - One Amendment Explains It All Dec 13, 2025

Show notes

Trump decided this past week that there was no downside to fully embracing the racist “shithole countries” rhetoric he denied seven years ago; but this mask coming fully off is just the latest chapter in a decades-long campaign to gut a very specific part of the constitution: the reconstruction amendments. On this week’s Amicus episode, Dahlia Lithwick talks to civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill about the critical role the 14th Amendment has played in shaping American democracy, and why this full frontal assault on its protections should have everyone on high alert. In a week in which we found ourselves toggling between “the tide is turning!” and “all is lost!” Sherrilyn expertly guides us to an understanding of what winning looks like in this moment, and how the courts can still play a role in renewing America’s commitment to equal justice under the law, even when the Supreme Court is openly hostile to that proposition.

Sherrilyn Ifill’s substack newsletter: Is It Too Late?

If you want to access that special 50% promotion for Slate Plus membership, go to slate.com/amicusplus and enter promo code AMICUS 50. This offer expires on Dec 31st 2025.

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Slate Money - Disney Gets Ahead of the Darth Vader Porn Dec 13, 2025

Show notes

This week: Disney has agreed to make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI along with a licensing deal setting limitations on the use of it’s IP on Sora. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss this is a precedent-setting deal and how well OpenAI will actually be able to enforce the terms of the licensing agreement. Then, the hosts examine the likelihood of rumored tech IPOs that could be more than $1 trillion each, including Elon Musk' s SpaceX. And finally, Instacart’s variable prices signal a growing trend toward dynamic pricing for everything from eggs to soccer tickets. The hosts dive into the threat of companies using our personal data to set individual prices and what’s being done to prevent it.

In the Slate Plus episode: Musk and Bezos’s data centers head to space?

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/SLATE

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Ready for Chatbot Canvassers? Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

The good news is voters are more persuaded by factual claims than emotional appeals or appeals to fear. But the bad news is that A.I. chatbots, trying to convince you, will keep making factual claims long after it runs out of actual facts.

Guest: David Rand, professor of information science, marketing and psychology at Cornell University

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