Slate Daily Feed

In books like Moneyball and The Big Short, Michael Lewis has written about people who think in a completely different way from their colleagues. For his latest, The Undoing Project, Lewis profiles the patron saints of different thinking, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The two men completely upended the study of decision-making in the early 1950s.

For the Spiel, the artist formerly known as the Affordable Care Act. 

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Objectively, the worst thing that can happen is getting a thumbs down while driving. Prudence is joined today by writer Jasmine Sanders to advise a woman who’s worried her husband wants to adopt a child and she doesn’t. Then: how to act if you secretly disapprove of your friends sexuality; and how to handle a toy that may or may not be haunted. Plus, get your scary-doll-movie recommendations here! And be aware: Prudence is down to adjudicate your questions about the astral plane. Hear more Prudence by joining Slate Plus: Slate.com/Prudiepod.

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Hooman Majd grew up the son of an Iranian diplomat. He talks with Brian about his experience as Iranian-American and muslim, how he began to write about Iran after a long career in the music industry and his identity under the Trump administration.

Production note: this podcast was recorded in January soon after Trump's executive action banning immigrants and refugees from seven majority muslim countries entry into the U.S.

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Mary Wilson with today’s three things: 1) China warns of an arms race in its backyard, 2) We’ll see about “Invincible,” and 3) Standing Rock supporters set up camp in Washington. 

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Jacob Weisberg talks to John Dean, a key figure in the Watergate scandal, about the Trump/Nixon parallels and differences. Plus, will anybody in the Trump administration step up to play the role of "John Dean?"

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Henry Winkler is an icon of American comedy. Between roles in Happy Days, Arrested Development, and Parks and Recreation, Winkler has been writing children’s books starring the character Hank Zipzer. Winkler says the stories have helped him come to terms with his own dyslexia, which he only discovered as an adult. His newest book is Always Watch Out for the Flying Potato Salad.

For the Spiel, you might want to learn to spell “wiretap” because you accuse someone of ordering a wiretap.

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Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss Duke’s Grayson Allen and other NCAA basketball matters. Scott Raab also joins to talk about his new book You’re Welcome, Cleveland, and Oliver Roeder of FiveThirtyEight explains how a computer program beat four pro poker players.

Grayson Allen and NCAA hoops (2:55): exploring America’s longstanding hatred of white Duke basketball players; Northwestern’s likely maiden visit to March Madness, and the first-ever Ivy League basketball tournament.

Scott Raab’s You’re Welcome, Cleveland (21:37): The writer and Cleveland sports fan explains what he got wrong in The Whore of Akron and whether LeBron James would like his new book.

How a computer took down the poker pros (33:40): Oliver Roeder explains how poker went the way of chess, checkers, Go, and Scrabble, and what the next challenges are for artificial intelligence.

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Mary Wilson with today’s three things: 1) The Trump White House looks for leak-stopping technology, 2) The questionable tactics of supporters of Liberia’s first female president, and 3) The world’s first robot lawyer. 

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Hosts Felix Salmon of Fusion, Slate Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann, and Sheelah Kolhatkar, New Yorker staff writer  and author of Black Edge, discuss the turmoil at Bridgewater Management, how a hedge funder tried to take down Herbalife, and the insider trading allegations covered in Black Edge.

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On Monday, the Department of Justice announced an abrupt about-face on voting rights, essentially walking away from a lawsuit against a harsh voter-ID law in Texas. We discuss the reversal and its implications with Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She was one of the lawyers in the strange position of arguing the case in court this week, the day after the DOJ reversed course.

We also sit down with Jeffrey Fisher, who argued an important immigration-related case at the Supreme Court his week. Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions asks whether a legal immigrant can be deported for something that counts as a serious crime in some states, but not others. It also previews a question likely to play a big role in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings: how much deference courts should give federal agencies when interpreting the meaning of laws.

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Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field.

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