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One company’s software is helping set prices for apartments across the country. But when does an algorithm telling landlords how much to charge—by drawing on property data—cross the line from “handy tool” to “illegal price-fixing”? 

Guest: Heather Vogell, reporter with ProPublica

Host: Lizzie O'Leary

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This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson concerning polls for Democrats, women protesting Iran’s regime, and the trial of Arkansas’ law targeting trans kids.

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

Roya Hakakian for The Atlantic: “The Bonfire of the Headscarves”

A Beginner’s Guide to America for the Immigrant and the Curious, by Roya Hakakian 

Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: “Pre-Registering Some Takes On The Midterms: Why I Think Democrats Will Undershoot Their Polling And What It Means”

Kelli María Korducki for The Atlantic: “'I Think the Women Are Winning': Roya Hakakian on Iran” 

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump;  Michael Wines and Neil Vigdor for The New York Times: “Videos Show Confusion as Florida Police Arrest People on Voter Fraud Charges”

Emily: Emily Heil for The Washington Post: “Olivia Wilde Solves Salad Dressing Mystery With A Nora Ephron Recipe”

David: Jeff Maysh for The Atlantic: “The $30 Million Lottery Scam”

Listener chatter from Lara Lowenstein: The Mountain Dogs

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss Ye buying Parler.

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Research by Bridgette Dunlap.

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You can divide the career of the artist formerly known as Kanye West into chapters using off-script televised moments—announcing “George W. Bush doesn’t care about Black people” during a Hurricane Katrina telethon; interrupting Taylor Swift on stage at the VMAs; calling 400 years of slavery a choice in the TMZ offices. Now his Tucker Carlson appearance and subsequent bans from social media for antisemitic posts have Ye entering the “buying Parler phase” of his career. Fans of the “old Kanye” are missing more than just his choice samples. 

Guest: Nitish Pahwa, staff writer and web editor at Slate. 

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Republican rhetoric paints America’s cities as cesspools of crime, homeless and, uh, out-of-touch elites, and the party has largely given up courting urban voters. The GOP may be able to hold on to power thanks to voting systems that favor rural areas, but legislating as though their responsibilities stop at the city lines is a growing concern for the Americans who actually live there.

Guest: Henry Grabar, staff writer at Slate. 

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Dahlia Lithwick is on the road with Amicus and Lady Justice. In this bonus episode, she’s joined by Loyola Law Professor, legal commentator and columnist Jessica Levinson for a conversation about what we can learn from the women lawyers who held the line during the Trump years, and how to respond to the steady drum beat of “Lock Her Up” threatening women around America today. 

The conversation is available in full for Slate Plus members. 

Dahlia’s new book Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, 

Lady Justice is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25% discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout. :https://books.supportingcast.fm/lady-justice

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Five years after exposés in the New Yorker and New York Times, Harvey Weinstein is in jail—but a major rallying point of #MeToo was just how widespread this sexual harassment, abuse, and violence really is in workplaces across industries. Looking back, from the top of media to blue- and pink-collar work, how much has the #MeToo movement changed?

Guest: Christina Cauterucci, senior writer at Slate.

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As a Syrian American surgeon living in Chicago, Dr. Samer Attar felt compelled to be of service during the Syrian civil war, when doctors were being driven underground by Syria’s Russia-backed military. When Russian bombs began raining down in Ukraine this year, Dr. Attar once more raised his hand to cross the border and treat the war-wounded. 

Guest: Dr. Samer Attar, associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

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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The idea of composting a human body may seem unsettling—or even gross—and it runs counter to the normal American funeral rites of embalming and internment, which preserve the body. But advocates say it’s a greener and more peaceful way to return our bodies to the Earth. 

Guest: Eleanor Cummins, science journalist

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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Thanks Avast.com! Learn more about Avast One at Avast.com

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David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson talk to Craig Mauger of The Detroit News about the major midterm elections in the swing state of Michigan. Then the hosts speak with the Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez about the MAGA diehards and their opponents in Arizona’s midterm election. 

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Research by Bridgette Dunlap.

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From Ferguson to Minneapolis, protests against racist policing have been catalyzed by videos of the brutality being spread on social media. On today’s A Word, Jason Johnson sits down with Dr. Ruha Benjamin to talk about her book, Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want, and where social sciences and technology intersect. 

Guest: Ruha Benjamin

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