Slate News

As the Winter Olympics unfold in Beijing, a darker reality remains: China’s abuses against the Uyghurs, an ethnic minority in the country’s Xinjiang region. While much of the world remains glued to the sports coverage, Uyghurs in the diaspora are calling on people to pay attention to China's treatment of their family members back home.

Guest: Gulchehra Hoja, a Uyghur journalist with Radio Free Asia. 

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The Ottawa truckers protest is neither exclusive to Ottawa nor strictly composed of truckers. And its supporters are hoping to head to a city near you. 

Guest: Jesse Brown, editor-in-chief of Canadaland.

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With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, abortion access is under fire in states around the country. At Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville location, the clinic faced that literally when an arson attack burned the building to the ground. How will providers rebuild when the things they stand for are so threatened?

Guest: Tory Mills, director of community engagement for Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville Health Center.

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With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, abortion access is under fire in states around the country. At Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville location, the clinic faced that literally when an arson attack burned the building to the ground. How will providers rebuild when the things they stand for are so threatened?

Guest: Tory Mills, director of community engagement for Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville Health Center.

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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Until last month, Brian Flores was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and one of only three Black head coaches among the NFL’s 32 teams. That number has since dropped to one. 

On Tuesday, Flores announced he was suing the NFL, alleging that the league's hiring practices are racist. His suit comes almost 20 years after the creation of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for senior positions, and eight years after Colin Kaepernick was black-balled from the sport for kneeling during the national anthem—begging the question of how much has really changed in that time. 

Guest: LZ Granderson, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of ABC News’ “Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson.”

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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Banks, healthcare providers, and retailers around the world still rely on COBOL, a programming language originally developed in the 1960s. By all accounts the code is powerful, practical, and very rarely problematic. But the small group of people who still know the language are aging out of the workforce. 

What happens when there are no more COBOL coders left?

Guest: Clive Thompson, journalist and author of "Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World."

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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Searching for truthful versions of Black history can be tough, especially as honest lessons about racism are caught up in the controversy over Critical Race Theory. In his new book Who Are Your People?, political commentator Bakari Sellers delivers Black history to a generation of kids, something inspired by his own experience as a father. Bakari Sellers joined Jason Johnson on today’s episode of A Word to talk about the importance of being truthful about Black history with kids in a way that they can understand.

Guest: Bakari Sellers, political commentator, attorney, and author of the book Who Are Your People? 

Podcast production by Jasmine Ellis

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This week, Felix Salmon and Emily Peck are joined by management consultant and sports fan Robin Timothy of to talk about Facebook’s sudden loss of users and revenue, why the Olympics are both problematic and boring, and the Brian Flores NFL lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in coach hiring. 

In the Plus segment: A big gold cube.

Mentioned In the show: 

“Brian Flores’ NFL Lawsuit: Can He Prove Systemic Racism? What We Know About Claims of ‘Sham Interviews’ and Incentivizing Tanking, Plus What’s Next” by Kevin Seifert

“An Artist Placed a Cube Made From $11.7 Million Worth of Gold in Central Park – Protected By Its Own Security Detail” by Dorian Batycka

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

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On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate culture writer LIli Loofbourow is joined by Nichole Perkins, pop culture writer, author, and co-host of This Is Good for You. They talk about the history of the romantic comedy—and what makes it such an enjoyable, but sometimes insidious, genre. Then they unpack the return of the rom-com, why bromantic comedies are sometimes good for you, and shout to the heavens for more sex in rom-coms. 

In Slate Plus, are the cartoon makeovers of M&M’s and Minnie Mouse feminist? 

Recommendations:

Lili: One in Me I Never Loved, by Carla Guelfenbein

Nichole: The Worst Best Man, by Mia Sosa.

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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For Spotify, the last month has seen a cascade of controversies around its exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Is it time for the streaming service to rethink its role as a podcast publisher? And is it even possible to moderate podcast misinformation?

Guest: Evelyn Douek, lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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