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What Next - The Gaza Flotilla That’s Under Attack Sep 29, 2025

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With Gaza cut off from food and aid, activists have taken matters into their own hands, and are attempting to circumvent Israel’s blockade themselves via the Mediterranean.

Guest: Zue Jernstedt, member of About Face: Veterans Against the War and participant on the Veterans Boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla.

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.

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

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Trapped in a Tesla Sep 28, 2025

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When you’re getting out of an Uber, Tesla’s unintuitive door handle can embarrass you. In an emergency, getting out of the car quickly can be the difference between life and death.

Guest: Dana Hull, Bloomberg News reporter covering Tesla and Elon Musk

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 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.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - “Color-Blind” Admissions Continue to Hurt Us Sep 27, 2025

Show notes

The week ended with a Grand Jury Indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for what looks to be a pair of unprovable crimes. Indeed the US Attorney overseeing the case declined to bring the indictment for that very reason. He’s gone and Donald Trump’s personal insurance lawyer brought the case. Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick discuss what that means for the Justice Department.

Then Yale Law School’s professor Justin Driver reminds us that Supreme Court cases don’t just turn into vapors after they come down in June. The Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision from 2023 has fundamentally changed what college campuses look like and has opened the door to Trump Administration attacks on anything that even looks like racial justice efforts on elite campuses and throughout the country. Any one decision causes legal cascades that can and will be used against us.

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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Slate Money - Three-Headed AI Unicorn Sep 27, 2025

Show notes

This week: NVIDIA has announced a $100 billion investment in OpenAI to help build out data centers equipped with NVIDIA chips. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, joined by Bloomberg’s Max Chafkin, examine the complexities of this massive deal and why it might feed the argument that the AI boom is a bubble. Then,Trump has announced a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.They discuss how the clunky rollout of this plan has caused chaos and what it signals about the administration's immigration goals. And finally, Max explains how a parody of Enron that turned into a memecoin fiasco.

In the Slate Plus episode: Digging into the 0.01% rule

Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? 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 Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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

What Next - Bonus: The Senator Calling Trump’s Bluff Sep 26, 2025

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The government runs out of money next Tuesday. Trump’s threatened “mass firings” if it shuts down. Earlier this year, Democrats played ball. But now, one Democratic Senator explains why he’s approaching things differently.

Guest: Chris Van Hollen, Democratic Senator from Maryland.

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 from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

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

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - How Trump Got Obsessed with Autism Sep 26, 2025

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Why would Donald Trump rush to announce that Tylenol is a potential cause of autism, a claim unsupported by the research?

Guest: Dan Diamond, White House reporter for the Washington Post.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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

Political Gabfest - Tough It Out, Pregnant Ladies! Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how Trump is using the powerful machine of government prosecution to reverse-engineer crimes supposedly committed by enemies, his diatribe against Tylenol at the disastrous press conference on autism, and the echoes of past Red Scares in today’s free speech climate with historian Beverly Gage, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the debate around Trump’s new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa workers: will it score points or be an own goal for US jobs?

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with author and Yale professor Judith Resnik about her new book, Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy. They discuss the history of the prison system’s use of punishments like whipping, how the practice came to an end, and more.

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 Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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 - Jimmy Kimmel Got His Job Back. She Didn’t. Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that abridge freedom of speech or of the press, but in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, it’s clear that it doesn’t take a law to attack those rights.

Guest: Karen Attiah, former columnist for the Washington Post and former editor of the Post’s Global Opinions section.

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 - A Surgeon in Gaza’s “End Game” Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Over three different trips during the war, this doctor saw the chaos of blast injuries in northern Gaza give way to gunshot wounds suffered at aid-distribution sites in the south.

Guest: Dr. Mohammed "Adeel" Khaleel, minimally invasive and complex spinal surgeon with Texas Metroplex Institute for Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery.

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 - Trump’s Attack on Visas Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

American agriculture relies on foreign workers, and they rely on the H-2A visa program to work legally in the United States. Despite a growing number of people applying for visa spots, the Trump administration has proposed cutting the division of the Department of Labor that enforces H-2A rules, leaving workers to choose between being vulnerable to ICE or to exploitation.

Guest: Max Blau, ProPublica reporter covering health care, the environment, agriculture and immigration.

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

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

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