What Next | Daily News and Analysis

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Introducing: The United States of Anxiety Feb 14, 2020

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Every so often, the What Next team wants to share another great podcast with our listeners. This time, it's The United States of Anxiety from WNYC. In its fourth season, host Kai Wright is figuring out how the intense debates happening during the 2020 election can be traced back to a key point in American history.

To listen to the rest of the episodes, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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WN TBD: Coronavirus Tests China's Surveillance State Feb 14, 2020

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Over the last month, as coronavirus spread across China, Xi Jinping’s vast surveillance and censorship infrastructure went into high gear. But with outrage growing over the death of a beloved doctor, and surveillance technology under strain, the virus is exposing the limits of the Chinese Communist Party’s techno-authoritarian network.

Guest: Josh Chin, Wall Street Journal reporter covering Chinese politics and tech

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Coronavirus Tests China's Surveillance State Feb 14, 2020

Show notes

Guest: Josh Chin, Wall Street Journal reporter covering Chinese politics and tech

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

The Trump Appointee on a Mission to Gut Medicaid Feb 13, 2020

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A few weeks back the Trump administration made an announcement. They rolled out a new health care policy called the Healthy Adult Opportunity. It’s a policy that would give states the option of reducing benefits for millions of Medicaid patients.

This is only the latest in a line of attempts to scale back the Medicaid program by Seema Verma. Why is this such a priority for the Trump administration and Verma herself? And how are Republicans trying to square cuts to such a popular program in an election year?

Guest: Dan Diamond, host of Pulse Check and writes the POLITICO Pulse — a morning briefing on health care politics and policy.

Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.

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Inside The Base, a Secret Neo-Nazi Group Feb 12, 2020

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This past summer, while Ryan Thorpe was doing his day job as a reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press, some frightening posters started appearing around town. They were recruitment posters for a white nationalist organization known as The Base. Over the course of several weeks, Ryan went undercover. Joined the organization, met with a recruiter. What he didn’t know is that the person he met would become a target of law enforcement in two countries. Someone who prosecutors say was planning attacks here in the US. What does his story reveal about an international group of white supremacists obsessed with violence?

Plus, producer Mary Wilson checks-in with Slate’s Senior Politics Writer, Jim Newell, about the results of the New Hampshire primary.

Guest: Ryan Thorpe, reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Check out his story about infiltrating The Base, Homegrown Hate.

Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.

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The Border Patrol’s After School Program Feb 11, 2020

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In border towns across the country, high school students are participating in an after school program run by the U.S. Border Patrol. When journalist Morley Musick first encountered the Border Patrol Explorers, he saw it as another example of the contradictions of life on the border.

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Los Angeles Confronts Its Housing Crisis Feb 10, 2020

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Homelessness in Los Angeles isn’t a new problem. But it has become a bigger problem. And it’s gotten really easy to see.

Guests: Theo Henderson, host of the We the Unhoused podcast. Emily Alpert Reyes, City Hall reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.

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Iowa’s App-ocalypse Feb 07, 2020

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On Monday, the Iowa caucuses went off the rails. As the hours stretched into days, and still the results remained unclear, a new piece of election technology was identified as a central cause of the delay.

An app designed to make the election process speedier and more secure had the opposite effect. And its failure is symptomatic of deep-rooted issues in the way the Democratic Party develops and deploys election technology.

So, what exactly went wrong on Monday? And what does it say about the party’s effort to regain its digital edge in 2020?

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WN TBD: Iowa’s App-ocalypse Feb 07, 2020

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So, what exactly went wrong on Monday? And what does it say about the party’s effort to regain its digital edge in 2020?

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Michael Bloomberg’s Shot Feb 06, 2020

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Michael Bloomberg has toyed with running for president many times. He has the money and the political clout, but 2020 is the first time he’s thrown all his weight behind a White House bid. It might also be the only year where his abnormal approach to politics could actually pay off.

Guest: Edward-Isaac Dovere, reporter for The Atlantic.

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