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The number of TV streaming services is going up—and so is the cost and so are the number of ads. Cordcutters are finding themselves back to cable prices and inconveniences. And these changes don’t just impact the TV viewing experience - they impact the types of shows that get made in the first place. 

Guest: Alex Cranz, managing editor at the Verge. 

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A generation of activists –and well-meaning citizens– was pulled into intense social justice work by the murder of George Floyd in 2020. And the horrific crime, the fight for progess, and the backlash has taken a toll on their mental health. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by writer and activist Ijeoma Oluo about her new book, Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World--And How You Can, Too. It’s the collected wisdom of activists across a range of issues about how to do the hard and emotional work of confronting racism without losing hope.

Guest: Writer Ijeoma Oluo

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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It’s award season in Hollywood, and it’s got the Well, Now team thinking about wellness and the entertainment industry. Can a medical drama really teach us accurate health information? Or is it all just high-stakes surgeries with beautiful actors?

Maya and Kavita talk this out with physician, showrunner and Harvard lecturer Neal Baer. He brought powerful, data-supported stories on HIV, emergency contraception, cervical cancer and more to hit cable shows like ER and Law and Order: SVU.

If you liked this episode, check out: Breaking Up With Diet Culture

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected]

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There haven’t been that many insurrections in the United States, which means the case law ahead of next week’s arguments in Trump v. Anderson (the 14th Amendment, Section 3 disqualification case) is pretty thin. And so we, and presumably the justices, must rely on text and history to understand the intent of the drafters of the Reconstruction Amendments. Civil war and reconstruction historian Professor Manisha Sinha, signatory of one amicus brief and cited in another, explains that the history is crystal clear. Trump must be disqualified from the ballot. After weeks of discussing concerns about the strategic, political implications of this case, this week Dahlia Lithwick tackles the text and the history head-on, in a case that’s almost a natural experiment in applying originalism on its own terms.

See also:  

Amicus Brief signed by 25 civil war and reconstruction historians (including Professor Sinha)

Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address

Sean Wilentz: The Case for Disqualification, New York Review of Books

Jamelle Bouie: If It Walks Like an Insurrection and Talks Like an Insurrection... NY Times

In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Slate’s judicial diviner Mark Joseph Stern joins to talk about a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on abortion that really took both text and history and human rights seriously. Also, an 8th circuit decision that could put a stake in the heart of what remains of the voting rights act.

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This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss why a Delaware judge blocked Tesla’s $55 billion compensation package for Elon Musk and what it means for his Mars dreams. Also: the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of DNA testing service 23andMe, and Felix gives us a glimpse into the world of Sotheby’s and mega-high-end art auctions. In the Plus segment: News platform The Messenger had $50 million to spend. Why did it fold in less than a year?

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Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

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For all the promise of the technology, one use-case for artificial intelligence reared its ugly head last week: non-consensual pornographic images. As millions of users saw abusive A.I. generated images of Taylor Swift proliferate across X, the pitfalls of this technology became clear. 

Guest: Emanuel Maiberg, journalist and co-founder of 404 Media

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Check out Compiler here.

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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3 million win against Donald J. Trump; the events of 1920-1948 that shaped the current relationship of Israel and Palestine; and the tech-bro billionaires of techno-authoritarianism with Adrienne LaFrance of The Atlantic. 

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Eric Lach for The New Yorker: Nine Regular People Tell Donald Trump to Shut Up and Pay Up

Monica Hesse for The Washington Post: Is it really sexism that Trump is showing? Or is it something worse?

Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher for The New York Times: Trump’s PACs Spent Roughly $50 Million on Legal Expenses in 2023

Erik Larson for Fortune and Bloomberg: Most of Trump’s cash stockpile is at risk from possible $450m dual verdicts in E. Jean Carroll and New York business fraud cases

CBS News: Face The Nation and Emily Tillett: Nikki Haley on Trump accusers: Women who accuse anyone “should be heard” and “dealt with”

Gabriella Abdul-Hakim for ABC News: Tim Scott insists voters don’t care about Trump’s defamation loss, plays down ‘provocative’ Haley attacks

Dietrich Knauth for Insurance Journal: Sandy Hook Denier Alex Jones Eyes Settlement With Families, Bankruptcy Exit

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: The Road to 1948 and Was Peace Ever Possible?

Adrienne LaFrance for The Atlantic: The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism

Ezra Klein for The New York Times: The Chief Ideologist of the Silicon Valley Elite Has Some Strange Ideas

Steven Levy for Wired: What the Techno-Billionaire Missed About Techno-Optimism

Jonathan Taplin for Vanity Fair: How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Andreessen—Four Billionaire Techno-Oligarchs—Are Creating an Alternate, Autocratic Reality

Lisa Desjardins and Jonah Anderson for PBS Newshour: Lawmakers grill Big Tech executives, accusing them of failing to protect children

The Dictator’s Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy by William J. Dobson

Here are this week’s chatters: 

Emily: The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America by Michelle Wilde Anderson

John: PenTips; Toluse Olorunnipa and Liz Goodwin for The Washington Post: Biden vows to ‘shut down’ an overwhelmed border if Senate deal passes and Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein: House votes to expand child tax credit, beef up corporate tax breaks

David: Visual Arts, St. Albans School; John Buzbee for The Advocate: LSU students bare it all as nude art models: ‘It’s a very brave thing to be able to do.’; and Kim McGill for The Union: The naked truth: Art models at El Camino inspire students to portray humanity in all its forms

Listener chatter from Jay Lloyd in Louisville, Kentucky: Eric Berger for Ars Technica: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the Love Story of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and the message for MAGA madness: You Need To Calm Down. See Mariana Alfaro for The Washington Post: Why Trump’s MAGA Republican movement dislikes Taylor Swift and Ross Douthat for The New York Times: Taylor Swift, Donald Trump and the Right’s Abnormality Problem.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Brad Stulberg about his book, Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You.

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

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Vince McMahon is walking away from professional wrestling, again. The WWE looks to continue without the man that built it into an institution—and shrouded it in scandal. 

Guest: Dave Scherer, founder of the pro-wrestling news site, PWinsider.com.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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One of Donald Trump’s codefendants in the Georgia election subversion and racketeering case has filed a motion to dismiss his case due to an improper relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and a prosecutor she has hired to work on the case. How can Willis address the allegations and what does it mean for the case? 

Guest: Ankush Khardori, attorney and former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther with help from Kathryn Fink.

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On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… folie à deux (again).

A few weeks ago, Frank Buckley joined us to argue that Trump voters aren’t delusional. And a lot of you disagreed.

One of you, though, turned out to be an expert in the nature of delusion. So who better to join us, and make the case that we got it wrong?

Barry Mauer, a Hear Me Out listener and associate professor at the University of Central Florida, joins us to argue that the pro-Trump movement isn’t just delusional — it’s dangerous, it’s a cult, and it has to be called what it is.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected]

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

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