Slate Daily Feed

This episode was originally published on April 27, 2025. 

The Trump administration has already begun cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the U.S. National Weather Service. What’s the advantage to understanding the weather less?

Guest: Daniel Swain, weather and climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

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.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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

This week, David Plotz and guest hosts Will Saletan and Catherine Rampell discuss what the Senate’s regressive budget bill will do to the health of America, whether there is space left for non-Trump conservatives in American politics, and how Paramount’s settlement of Trump’s meritless lawsuit signifies the fall of another guardrail against an authoritarian president.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Will: Amy MacKinnon and John Sakellariadis for Politico: CIA review of 2016 Russia election probe finds no major flaws; Jonathan Landay for Reuters: CIA review finds flaws but does not dispute finding Putin sought to sway 2016 vote to Trump.

Catherine: Elizabeth Crisp for The Hill: Trump unveils $249 ‘Trump Fragrances’; Alisha Haridasani Gupta for The New York Times: What Does President Trump’s New Perfume Smell Like?; Nick Turse for The Intercept: The Whiff of Corruption: Trump’s New Perfume Has Strong Notes of Graft.

David: Itchy Feet Tours & Safaris in South Africa; Geoff Beattie for The Conversation: Psychology of trophy hunting: why some people kill animals for sport; Hugh Webster for Conservation Frontlines: Trophy Hunting – A Complex Picture.

Listener chatter from Teri Weaver in Syracuse, New York: Michelle Breidenbach for Syracuse.com: Cheap milk and immigration: A blunt farmer’s uncomfortable truth about NY’s dairy industry

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, David and guest hosts Will Saletan and Catherine Rampell discuss recent data showing declines in American pride largely along partisan and generational lines, and what it means to be a proud American.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with author Alison Bechdel about her new book, Spent.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis

Research by Emily Ditto

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.

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

Trump wants his “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by July 4. But the bill is so large and expensive—with deep tax cuts only partially offset by huge cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—there’s something in there for almost every member of Congress to hate.

Guest: David Dayen, executive editor of the American Prospect.

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

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

On this episode: Zak, Elizabeth and Jamilah talk about summer boredom. We get questions about this every year — so we’re coming in early this year with some ideas for how to handle that classic, but dreaded, complaint… that no, really, there’s nothing to do. 

And after that, of course, we’re sharing a round of triumphs and fails. 

Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.

Podcast produced by Maura Currie. 

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

White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you’d told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it’s likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. 

Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power.

We’d also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. 

This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected], or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

Sources for This Episode

Anderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023.

Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022.

Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. 

Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023.

Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019.

Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019.

Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017.

Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm or crashing waves—that can be used to mask other sounds. Twenty years ago, if you’d told someone white noise was a regular part of your life, they would have found that unusual. Nowadays, it’s likely they use it themselves or know someone who does. The global white noise business is valued at $1.3 billion; TikTok is full of people trumpeting its powers; and Spotify users alone listen to three million hours of it daily. Far more of these sounds already exist than any one person could need—or use. And yet, more keep coming. 

Looking out at this uncanny ocean of seemingly indistinguishable noises, we wanted to see if it was possible to put a human face on it; to understand why there is so much of it, and what motivates the people trying to soothe our desperate ears with sounds you're not really supposed to hear.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Elan Ullendorff, who writes the illuminating Substack Escape the Algorithm; Stéphane Pigeon, founder of myNoise; Brandon Reed, who runs Dwellspring; and Mack Haygood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control and host of the podcast Phantom Power.

We’d also like to thank Dan Berlau, Sarah Anderson, and Ashley Carman. 

This episode was written by Katie Shepherd, Evan Chung, and Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman, and Evan is also our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected], or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

Sources for This Episode

Anderson, Sarah. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, Shambhala Publications, 2023.

Blum, Dani. “Can Brown Noise Turn Off Your Brain?” New York Times, Sep. 23, 2022.

Carman, Ashley. “Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable,” Bloomberg, Aug. 17, 2023. 

Carman, Ashley. “Spotify to Cut Back Promotional Spending on White Noise Podcasts,” Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2023.

Hagood, Mack. Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Duke University Press, 2019.

Pickens, Thomas A., Sara P. Khan, and Daniel J. Berlau. “White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD,” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Feb. 2019.

Riva, Michele Augusto, Vincenzo Cimino, and Stefano Sanchirico. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s 17th century white noise machine,” The Lancet Neurology, Oct. 2017.

Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern host the panel that’s guaranteed to help you understand what happened during the Supreme Court’s latest term – examining the major decisions, the emergency docket, and the evolving dynamics on the court. Dahlia and Mark welcome the New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie, civil rights lawyer and 14th Amendment scholar Sherrilyn Ifill of Howard University, and Professor Steve Vladeck of Georgetown Law to Amicus, to discuss the implications of the cases and the controversies of the term that just wrapped. Together, they offer close analysis of the court’s decisions and the various justices’ machinations, while stepping back to set it all in vital historical and political context.

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)Also! Sign up for Slate’s Legal Brief: the latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox. 

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

On this week’s show, Steve, Julia, and guest host Sam Adams are off to races with F1:The Movie, the new Brad Pitt racing vehicle featuring lots of racing vehicles. Is the thrill ride more than the sum of its sports movie cliches, high-octane action sequences, and perpetually handsome movie-star? Does the answer even matter?

Next, they’re joined by Slate senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario to decode the particularly British charms of Taskmaster, the UK panel/game-show now in its 19th season. Finally, what’s more fun to pick apart than a best of list? Dana Stevens hops in to dissect the New York Times’s 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century interactive feature.

In an exclusive Plus bonus episode, the topic is: sex! Specifically, the hosts discuss the status—and seeming decline—of sex in Hollywood movies. 

Endorsements:

Sam: Drinking the anise-flavored aperitif pastis, the French brand Henri Bardouin is a good one to try.

Julia: The delicious Los Angeles restaurant Tomat in the most unlikely of locales: a strip mall by LAX International Airport.

Steve: The album Cunningham Bird by Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham and the song Sara by Fleetwood Mac.

Dana: The production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It available to stream on National Theatre at Home.

Our Panelist’s Top Ten(ish) Movies of the 21st Century:

Dana:

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

The Act of Killing

Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

Bright Star

Children of Men

Grizzly Man

Parasite

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Moonlight

There Will Be Blood

Julia:

I’m Still Here

Mean Girls

Get Out

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Zombieland

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Erin Brockovich

The Act of Killing

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Sam:

In the Mood for Love

The Act of Killing

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Gleaners and I

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

A Serious Man

It’s Such a Beautiful Day

The New World

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The Death of Stalin

Stephen:

Anora

Spotlight

Toni Erdmann

The Lives of Others

Paddington 2

Meyerowitz Stories

Spirited Away

Get Out

There Will Be Blood

Mulholland Drive

Parasite

A Separation

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

Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay discuss an American woman in her 50s who is going viral for her plastic surgery journey. Michelle Wood is a mom who traveled to Guadalajara to undergo several procedures, including a facelift and a chin implant. She documented her journey before and after the procedure, creating intrigue, curiosity, and surprisingly positive responses online. TikTok reacted similarly when Kylie Jenner revealed the details of her boob job and broke the internet within the same week. So what do Wood and Jenner’s transparency say about the way women are talking about their bodies, and their surgeries, in 2025?

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen.

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

The Trump administration’s plans to strip funding from PBS and NPR is the latest in a long line of Republican fights against public broadcasting. The House has already voted to take back over a billion dollars it had previously agreed to pay. Will the Senate sign off on it next?

Guest:  Brian Stelter, chief media analyst at CNN.

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

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