In this episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Slate staff writers Nitish Pahwa and Nadira Goffe to discuss their respective pieces about Hasan Minhaj. Since the New Yorker published their article on Minhaj’s “emotional truths,” the comedian has been at the center of a media firestorm that led to him publishing his own 21-minute response video. In the resulting discourse, questions have been raised about the role of truth in comedy.

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim.

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On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Amy S. Choi, co-host of The Mash-Up Americans podcast. They talk about the burgeoning phenomenon of immigrant mom TikToks, videos and sketches that showcase the hilarious and loving ways children see their immigrant parents. They ask why immigrant moms get more online love than immigrant dads, and how these videos are healing both creators and viewers.

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.

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The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business, with a player population that’s more than 60 percent African American. Yet the league’s owners, leadership, and reporters don’t reflect that diversity. In his role as an NFL Media journalist, Jim Trotter repeatedly questioned officials, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, about the league’s lack of diversity. After he lost his job, Trotter filed a lawsuit, claiming racial discrimination and retaliation. On today’s episode of A Word, Trotter joins host Jason Johnson to talk about career, his court case, and the importance of having more African American journalists covering professional football.

• Sandy Nunes, Vice President Talent Management On-Air at National Football League, declined to comment

• Stephen A. Smith, host of ESPN’s First Take, declined to comment.

Guest: Jim Trotter, senior opinion writer for The Athletic

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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On this week’s episode of The Waves, the Las Vegas Aces beat the New York Liberty to win their second WNBA championship in a row. But more impressive is that they played in front of one of the biggest crowds to ever attend a WNBA game. Slate senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario is joined by sports journalist and founder of the Power Plays newsletter Lindsay Gibbs to unpack the recent surge in popularity for women’s sports, why you should make an effort to support women’s basketball, and more.

In Slate Plus: Lindsay tries to convince Daisy to get into women’s college basketball

If you liked this episode, check out: Watch The Women’s World Cup, Damnit! 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.

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

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on The Waves. Sign up now at slate.com/thewavesplus to help support our work.

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On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… when silence is violence. 

The war in Israel and Palestine is a rapidly-evolving situation – and one that’s bringing up a lot of emotions for a lot of people. Couple that with the flood of mis-and-disinformation on social media, and “to post or not to post” becomes an extremely loaded question. 

Are you ever required to speak up on social media? Even if you don’t know the whole story? And if you elect not to say anything, is that inherently choosing a side — and causing harm to others in the process? 

Social strategist and writer Rachel Greenspan joins us to say that, as a Jewish woman, she doesn’t expect her friends to post about this moment in history… and maybe, neither should you.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected]

Podcast production by Maura Currie

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Supreme Court watchers are concerned that the Justices are poised to make racial gerrymandering all but impossible to prove. This comes after the Court recently heard arguments in the case of Alexander v. the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Brandon Tensley, national political reporter for Capital B News. They discuss the South Carolina voters who are directly impacted by the case, and what it could mean for voting rights around the country. 

Guest: Brandon Tensley, national political reporter for Capital B News

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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In this week’s big voting rights case, Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the Supreme Court heard arguments concerning whether to uphold a South Carolina congressional map that is avowedly partisan (everyone agrees it favors Republicans, but partisan gerrymanders are A-OK under SCOTUS precedent). What is disputed here is whether the mapmakers relied on race to reach their partisan aims. A three-judge panel in South Carolina found it to be a racial gerrymander, and threw out the map. In arguments on Wednesday, it became clear that the high court’s conservatives would rather toss out the evidence the lower court used to reach its decision, an unusual move for the highest court in the land, but perhaps the bed it’s made for itself after ruling partisan gerrymanders non justiciable in Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019. And so SCOTUS cos-played as a trial court for two hours on Wednesday.

On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Leah Aden, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who argued the case on behalf of the South Carolina Conference of the NAACP, and Taiwan Scott - a South Carolina voter and individual plaintiff in the case, who says the electoral power of his Gullah Geechee community is suppressed by the gerrymander. 

Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show. 

Dahlia’s book Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25 percent discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout.

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With more than one and half million people behind bars, the U.S. is second only to China in the number of citizens who are incarcerated. And an estimated one of three African American men spend some part of their lives under the control or supervision of the criminal justice system. The consequences of incarceration for individuals, families, and communities are devastating…and little understood. Even the worst outcomes in prison –sickness, suicide and other deaths– are frequently overlooked because the victims aren’t valued and the incidents aren’t documented.

On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Andrea Armstrong. She’s a professor at Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law, and the chair of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She also recently won a MacArthur Fellowship –widely known as a genius award– for her work.

Guest: Andrea Armstrong, professor at Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law, and the chair of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel

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On this week’s episode of The Waves: the case for taking a sabbatical. 

Host TK Dutes speaks with author and former television writer Patty Lin on her latest book End Credits: How I Broke Up With Hollywood. Lin worked in some of the most notable writers' rooms like Friends, Freaks and Geeks, Desperate Housewives and Breaking Bad. But when she hit a breaking point, she made a big change and stopped working for an entire year. After that? Her relationship with work–and everything else–transformed.

In Slate Plus: Patty Lin on how her closest relationships changed after going on sabbatical

If you liked this episode, check out: Female CEOs Can’t Save Us

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.

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

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. Sign up now at slate.com/thewavesplus to help support our work.

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On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… sailing the ocean blue.

Most of us just had Monday off for the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day — and technically, still known as Columbus Day, on the federal level.

Indigenous People’s Day, or Native Americans’ Day, was christened as a rebuttal to what Columbus actually meant for many: colonialism, violence, death, and destruction. But there are those who believe that Columbus, the man, is a different beast than Columbus, the event. Spanish ships landing in the Caribbean was a monumental moment in global history… so could that still be worth commemorating, even in a world that’s no longer kind to Columbus? 

Prof. William Connell, chair of Italian Studies at Seton Hall University and organizer/co-editor of the definitive Routledge History of Italian-Americans, joins us. 

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected]

Podcast production by Maura Currie

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