Slate News

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in May 2021.

A year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, residents near the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue—now dubbed George Floyd Square—continue to keep the area closed off. The city wants to reopen the intersection, but activists say they aren’t giving in until the community’s demands for justice are met.

Guest: Marcia Howard, security volunteer and organizer in George Floyd Square.

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 Mary Wilson, Danielle Hewitt, Elena Schwartz, Davis Land, and Carmel Delshad.

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In the last few years, New York City’s delivery workers have become a key part of the food industry’s infrastructure, allowing restaurants to do business with customers who are too stressed to leave their desks, or too cautious to leave their homes. But a spate of violent attacks and bike thefts has shown that the people delivering your Grubhub and Seamless orders are deeply vulnerable. Why are these essential workers being exploited by apps and abandoned by the police, forced to band together just to get by?

Guest: Josh Dzieza, an investigations editor and feature writer at The Verge covering technology, business, and climate change.

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in September of 2021.

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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What does a massing of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border mean? And could this conflict be defused yet by diplomacy?

Guest: Slate’s Fred Kaplan, author of The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War. 

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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It’s already a devastating situation when a loved one goes missing. And if you’re Black, you’ll likely have fewer resources and help to find your family member. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Derrica Wilson. She’s the co-founder and CEO of the Black and Missing Foundation, the group that inspired the HBO documentary Black and Missing. They talk about the disparities in the way the media and police treat missing people of color, how that impacts the chances that people are found, and what the Black and Missing Foundation is doing to change the dynamics.

Guest: Derrica Wilson, Co-Founder, and CEO of the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. 

Podcast production by Jasmine Ellis

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Almost a year later, are we seeing signs of some sort of accountability for the Jan. 6 insurrection? And why is that accountability so important and yet so hard to achieve? Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, Shaub currently leads the Project on Government Oversight’s ethics initiative. 

Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

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This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Stacy-Marie Ishmael talk about the psychic weight of another COVID wave and what it means for the economy, the environmental and employee problems with fast fashion, and what to expect now that Reddit is going public.

In the Plus segment: The Block vs Block fight.

Mentioned In the show: 

“’I Was Wrong’: Omicron Wrecks CEOs’ Plans for Office Return” by Jennifer Surane and Angelica LaVito

“The End of a Return-to-Office Date” by Emma Goldberg

“How Shein beat Amazon at its own game – and reinvented fast fashion” by Louise Meaghan Tobin and Wency Chen

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Check out Work Check here!

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On this week’s episode of The Waves, senior managing producer of Slate podcasts June Thomas is joined by Slate senior writer Seth Stevenson to talk about the ongoing trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, which Seth has been covering since it started at the end of November. Maxwell is accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse minors by recruiting and grooming underage girls. First, Seth and June catch up on what has been happening in the courtroom now that the prosecution has rested its case. In the second half of the show, they unpack some of Maxwell’s history of benefiting from shady men and Seth predicts what’s to come. Looming over the trial, and our discussion: Is it fair to hold a woman accountable for aiding in a man's wrongdoings?

Also mentioned in the episode: Seth’s 2019 account of his experience being a member of the jury in a murder trial.

In Slate Plus, Seth and June discuss TV shows that focus on young women trying to make it in New York media, like Younger and The Bold Type.

Recommendations:

June: The British TV show Antiques Road Trip

Seth: The Peter Jackson documentary The Beatles: Get Back.

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas. 

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

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Using experimental technology to pull gigatons of carbon out of the air and bury it deep beneath the Earth sounds like a bad sci-fi plot point. If things don’t change soon, it also might be one of our only options.

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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Emily, John and David discuss January 6th revelations, Build Back Better and voting rights and they are joined by Slow Burn host Joel Anderson to talk about Season 6: The L.A. Riots.

Give the gift of Plus to a fellow Slate fan and they’ll receive all the benefits of membership: unlimited reading, ad-free listening, bonus content, and so much more.

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

David A. Graham for the Atlantic: “The Paperwork Coup”

Barton Gellman for the Atlantic: “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun”

Charles Homans for the New York Times: “In Bid for Control of Elections, Trump Loyalists Face Few Obstacles”

Slow Burn Season 6: The L.A. Riots

Slow Burn Season 3: Biggie and Tupac

Emily Bazelon for Slate: “The Nazi Anatomists”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, by bell hooks; We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, by bell hooks

John: Sharyn Alfonsi for 60 Minutes: “Negotiating With the Taliban to Save Lives Iin Afghanistan”; The Daily: “Economic Catastrophe in Afghanistan”; Christina Goldbaum for the New York Times: “Facing Economic Collapse, Afghanistan Is Gripped by Starvation”

David: Julian Mark for the Washington Post: “Rapper Logic Wrote the Song ‘1-800-273-8255’ To Save Lives. He May Have Saved Hundreds, Study Finds.”

Listener chatter from Adrian Monthony: Geraldine DeRuiter for The Everywhereist: “Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, John, and David share their best holiday gift ideas.

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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After initially cooperating with the select committee investigating the events of January 6, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reversed course, deciding instead to assert executive privilege. But Meadows had already handed over documents and text messages relating to that day—painting a picture of how Trump’s inner circle reacted as the Capitol was under siege. 

What happens to Meadows now that he’s been held in contempt of Congress? And could possible criminal charges for defying the committee spur other witnesses to speak? 

Guest: Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter for Politico.

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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