Slate News

How Volodymyr Zelensky went from being one of Ukraine’s most successful entertainment moguls to its much-heralded wartime president. 

Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer at the Atlantic.

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The Biden administration’s new pandemic rules and countermeasures intend to bring us into a “new phase of the pandemic.” The CDC also released new guidelines for masking, and now about 70% of Americans can go mask free. What do these new guidelines actually say about what stage of the pandemic we’re in? 

Guest: Megan Ranney, emergency room doctor at Brown Emergency Medicine. 

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The Biden administration’s new pandemic rules and countermeasures intend to bring us into a “new phase of the pandemic.” The CDC also released new guidelines for masking, and now about 70% of Americans can go mask free. What do these new guidelines actually say about what stage of the pandemic we’re in? 

Guest: Megan Ranney, emergency room doctor at Brown Emergency 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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Second Sight restored partial vision to hundreds of patients around the world through retinal implants. Then, on the verge of bankruptcy, they abandoned the project. Now, over 300 patients with Second Sight technology in their bodies are asking: what will happen to us?

Guest: Eliza Strickland, senior editor at IEEE Spectrum

Host: Lizzie O'Leary

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President Joe Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court made history. But according to MSNBC legal analyst Elie Mystal, it will take a lot more than her confirmation to break the conservative hold on the nation’s judiciary. On today’s episode of A Word, he talks with Jason Johnson about the confirmation battle ahead, and about his new book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.

Guest: Elie Mystal, MSNBC political analyst and the justice correspondent for The Nation. His new book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution is out now.

Podcast production by Jasmine Ellis

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Election denialism and disinformation threaten the integrity of U.S. elections, but what can we do about this growing crisis? In this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick talks to election-law professor Rick Hasen about his new book Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics–and How to Cure It.

Slate Plus members have access to an extended version of this interview. 

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Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

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On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re talking Texas. Slate community manager Evan Urquhart and author and co-host of Slate’s Outward podcast Jules Gill-Peterson dig into the Texas governor’s directive to treat gender-affirming health care for transgender youth as child abuse. In the first half of the show, they explore what’s going on in Texas and the harm it’s already causing. Later they talk about how the problem in Texas is symptomatic of a much bigger trans obsession by the GOP. 

In Slate Plus: Is Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism feminist?

Recommendations:

Evan: Do your research

“What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?”

“U.S. Transgender Survey”

“Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care”

Jules: Support on the ground organizations in Texas and contacting lawmakers to demand they support trans kids.

Donate to TENT

Equality Texas

Campaign For Southern Equality 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and June Thomas. 

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

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This week Felix Salmon and Emily Peck are joined by the New York Times’ “On Tech” columnist Shira Ovide for an all-tech deep dive. Starting with the war in Ukraine, they explore the tech giants’ grappling with Russian restrictions, Amazon’s inflated image as the omnipotent retailer, and the United States’ flagging broadband access.

In the Plus segment: The bill banning forced arbitration

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis

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Up against one of the world's most effective propaganda operations, Ukraine has taken control of the online narrative. With Russian troops closing in, how important is winning the information war?

Guest: Casey Newton, writer at Platformer

Host: Lizzie O'Leary

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Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss Ukraine's resistance, the State of the Union, and an increasing backlash against reformer prosecutors.

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

Thomas L. Friedman for The New York Times: “I See Three Scenarios for How This War Ends”

Anne Appelbaum for the Atlantic: “The Bad Guys Are Winning”

Gal Beckerman for The Atlantic: “How Zelensky Gave the World a Jewish Hero”

Rebecca Davis O’Brien for The New York Times: “How This ‘Progressive Prosecutor’ Balances Politics and Public Safety”

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, by Emily Bazelon

Here’s this week’s chatter:

David: The Postman, by David Brin 

Emily: In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, by Amy Bloom; Away, by Amy Bloom

John: New York Times, Feb. 22, 1862: “The Execution of Nathaniel Gordon”

Listener chatter from Leslie Camp: Phil Davison for The Washington Post: “Monique Hanotte, Belgian resistance member who rescued 135 downed Allied airmen in World War II, dies at 101”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment John, Emily and David discuss what they do to find and boost their courage.

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 Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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