Slate News

In the early days of internet search engines, Google set itself apart by providing a simple service. A list of links, inviting you to explore the websites that best matched your query. It was a portal to the rest of the internet. But over the last two decades, that mission has changed.

Does Google search still take you to the best result for your query? Or does it point users back to its own suite of products?

Guest:

Adrianne Jeffries, investigative journalist at The Markup.

Host

Celeste Headlee

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

In the early days of internet search engines, Google set itself apart by providing a simple service. A list of links, inviting you to explore the websites that best matched your query. It was a portal to the rest of the internet. But over the last two decades, that mission has changed.

Does Google search still take you to the best result for your query? Or does it point users back to its own suite of products?

Guest:

Adrianne Jeffries, investigative journalist at The Markup.

Host

Celeste Headlee

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

Virginia Heffernan talks to investigative journalist Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger, about Stephen Miller's childhood and education, nurturing fringe white supremacist ideals, his relationship with anti-immigration activist David Horowitz, and how he's managed to survive so long and hold his power in Trump's ever-changing administrative line-up.

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David, John and Josie Duffy Rice discuss the Biden-Harris ticket, stimulus gridlock, and rapid, ubiquitous coronavirus testing-- with guest Dr. Michael Mina.

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

Monica Potts for The New York Times: "In the Land of Self Defeat" 

Zak Cheney-Rice for New York Magazine: "Tara Reade Is Making It Harder to Hide Joe Biden"

This Week in Virology, “Episode 640: Test Often, Fast Turnaround, with Michael Mina”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Denise Lu for the New York Times: “The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000”; Jamie Gangel and Elizabeth Stuart for CNN: “Details, Title and Cover Revealed for Bob Woodward's Upcoming Book on Trump”

Josie: Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman; WorthRises.org, dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it targets

David: Carla Marinucci for Politico: “San Francisco Becomes First County in the Nation to Offer Free Calls to Jail Inmates”

Listener Tim Anderson @TimAnderson_r2: Mark Johanson for the BBC: “How a Long-Forgotte Word Rallied a Nation”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Josie, David, and John talk about what they would do with their time if the world was free from the pandemic for one day.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email 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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Kamala Harris is having an historic moment. What does it mean?

Guest: Jason Johnson, political science professor at Morgan State University. 

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The pandemic moves quickly. The scientific consensus changes slowly. Did we waste time waiting for data when we could have adopted low-cost safety measures? 

Guest: New York Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli. 

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The U.S. Census Bureau has faced setback after setback. And, this year, who makes it into the official population count is going to be a lot more complicated. 

Guest: Hansi Lo Wang covers the 2020 Census for NPR. 

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This year, the election runs through the Post Office. And we have reasons to be concerned. 

Guest: Jordan Weissmann, Slate’s senior business and economics correspondent. 

Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.

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Felix Salmon and Anna Szymanski are joined by Jim Tankersley of the New York Times to discuss his book The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America's Middle Class, TikTok, and the digital future of media. 

And in the Plus segment: The economy in the Trump era.

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

Twitter: @felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas,

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Over the past five months, city blocks have been slipping away. Bars are closed; restaurants are half-empty; retail is shuttered. As the country returns to varying states of lockdown, how long can these blocks hold on?

This week: how one commercial strip on Chicago’s South Side is weathering the pandemic. 

Guests:

Nedra Sims Fears, executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative

Brian d'Antignac, The Woodshop

Jaidah Wilson-Turnbow, Frances Cocktail Lounge

Zoie Reams, Brown Sugar Bakery

Host

Henry Grabar

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