Slate News

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the conservative backlash to corporate LGBTQIA+ Pride campaigns, Nvidia’s soaring stock and what it means for the future of AI, and what’s up with Germany’s economic slowdown.

In the Plus segment: Elizabeth's piece on strivers and Succession.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Patrick Fort.

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On this week’s episode of The Waves, are female characters becoming less likable? Slate senior supervising producer, Daisy Rosario is joined by author and comedian Jena Friedman. Jena’s new book Not Funny explores likeability and what that means for women in comedy and the world. They talk about unlikeable female characters and anti-heroines in shows like Rosanne, Killing Eve, and more. How unlikeable female characters have evolved - and how streamers actually helped bring down some gatekeepers making more room for complex women on TV. 

In Slate Plus: When Jena asked famous male comics the questions so many female comics get asked every day.

If you liked this episode, check out: How to Survive in Hollywood.

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.

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

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In this bonus episode for Amicus Plus listeners, Dahlia Lithwick and Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern discuss the latest biggest Supreme Court decision: Sackett v EPA. It’s good news for developers and polluters, bad news for the rest of us.

Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.

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How Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino finds herself on the edge of “the glass cliff”: when a woman is sent in to fix a big mess. 

Guest: Vittoria Elliot, reporter for Wired, covering platforms and power

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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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

How Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino finds herself on the edge of “the glass cliff”: when a woman is sent in to fix a big mess. 

Guest: Vittoria Elliot, reporter for Wired, covering platforms and power

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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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

How Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino finds herself on the edge of “the glass cliff”: when a woman is sent in to fix a big mess. 

Guest: Vittoria Elliot, reporter for Wired, covering platforms and power

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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the imminent X Date when the United States hits the debt ceiling and could default; the presidential campaign announcements of Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott; and the possibilities of regulating artificial intelligence. 

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

Ezra Klein for The New York Times: “Liberals Are Persuading Themselves of a Debt Ceiling Plan That Won’t Work”

J. Baxter Oliphant for Pew Research Center: “Top tax frustrations for Americans: The feeling that some corporations, wealthy people don’t pay fair share”

John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “Former Google executive speaks out against AI” 

Emily Conover for Science News Explores: “A new supercomputer just set a world record for speed”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Oliver Whang for The New York Times: “A Paralyzed Man Can Walk Naturally Again With Brain and Spine Implants”; Henri Lorach, et al., for Nature: “Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain-spine interface”

Emily: Charlotte Lytton for The Washington Post: “Long-hidden ruins of vast network of Maya cities could recast history”

David: NatureSweet Twilights tomato; join David at a live taping of City Cast DC on Saturday June 3 at 1 p.m., Right Proper Brewing's Brookland production house and tasting room. Tickets are free. RSVP here. 

Listener chatter from Bob Rosner: Inti Pacheco for The Wall Street Journal: “The Monks Who Make Chartreuse Don’t Care About Your Fancy Cocktails”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and John discuss Harlan Crow’s collections and Graeme Wood’s article in The Atlantic: “Inside the Garden of Evil.” 

In the latest edition of Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Curtis Sittenfeld @csittenfeld about her book, Romantic Comedy.

Join us for a live taping! Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C., Wednesday June 28, 7:30 p.m., Sixth & I, 600 I St. NW. Tickets are on sale now. 

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

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The Florida governor has finally officially entered the Republican presidential primary. With electoral wins and culture war conflicts under his belt, does Ron DeSantis actually have a chance at beating Donald Trump?

Guest: Molly Ball, Time magazine’s national political correspondent.

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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A national ban on abortion remains so unpopular that even Republican presidential candidates won’t commit to one. However, a law from the 1870s, depending on how it's interpreted and enforced, could ban both abortion pills and the procedure across America. 

Guest: Mary Ziegler, law professor at UC Davis and author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession.

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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On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… imagine a world without police.

Three years after George Floyd’s murder, we’ve seen some incremental change in how we try to prevent police brutality. But it still happens, all too often — and Americans are still dying, in alarming numbers, at the hands of police. 

Writer and organizer Geo Maher joins us to argue that our law enforcement system is too bloated and corrupt to fix. Instead, we should dismantle it entirely and start from scratch. 

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

Podcast production by Maura Currie

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