What Next | Daily News and Analysis

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What's What Next | Daily News and Analysis about?

The problem with the news right now? It’s everywhere. And each day, it can feel like we’re all just mindlessly scrolling. It’s why we created What Next. This short daily show is here to help you make sense of things. When the news feels overwhelming, we’re here to help you answer: What next? Look for new episodes every weekday morning.

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Can Iran's Protest Movement...

12.08.2022

Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper known for criticizing the regime with his music, has been arrested by the Iranian government. His friends and family now worry he could face the death penalty. Guest: Nahayat Tizhoosh, Producer at the CBC. If ...

What Next | Daily News and Analysis episodes:

12.08.2022 Can Iran's Protest Movement Survive? Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper known for criticizing the regime with his music, has been arrested by the Iranian government. His friends and family now worry he could face the death penalty. Guest: Nahayat Tizhoosh, Producer at the CBC. If ...
12.07.2022 What It Took for a Red State to Pause Executions Three botched lethal injections in Alabama have once again highlighted the practical complexity and possible illegality of the death penalty. Even states that are adamantly in favor of capital punishment are being stalled on a purely pragmatic level. Guest: Elizabeth ...
12.06.2022 The Last Senate Race Even after a campaign awash in scandals, gaffes, and the occasional speculation on werewolves vs. vampires, Herschel Walker still can’t be counted out in the run-off election to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. What can the parties take away ...
12.05.2022 Out of Afghanistan The U.S. has welcomed thousands Afghan refugees since pulling out of Afghanistan in 2021. Safe from the Taliban, but without social security numbers,credit ratings, or even sometimes basic English, they have to make a new life relying on a patchwork ...
12.04.2022 TBD \| Big Tech’s Boogeymen In Washington The Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are both staffed with accomplished progressives who are proving more aggressive than their predecessors in either the Trump or Obama eras. But can Big Tech be tamed? Guest: Leah Nylen, ...
12.02.2022 TBD \| Twitter's Vulnerabilities, Exposed Dating back to the Arab Spring, Twitter’s potential for real-time organizing has been a selling point. But trying to find information on China’s “Zero COVID” protests reveals just how vulnerable the now-understaffed platform is to manipulation. Guest: Joseph Menn, cybersecurity ...
12.01.2022 China’s Revolt Against “Zero COVID” For nearly three years, people in China have endured their government’s “Zero COVID” policies to prevent cases from overwhelming their hospital system. But after a fire in Urumqi broke out and videos spread of fire rescue having trouble reaching the ...
11.30.2022 It Isn't Time to Negotiate in Ukraine...Yet With no clear path to advance and winter settling in, what would it take for Russia to negotiate an exit from Ukraine? Guest: Fred Kaplan. Slate’s war stories correspondent If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate ...
11.29.2022 Is This the End of College Rankings? With Yale and Harvard law schools withdrawing from U.S. News & World Report’s annual law school rankings, others have followed suit. With the rating system for all colleges taking criticism, being “gamed,” and beset by scandal, is this the beginning ...
11.28.2022 Hakeem Jeffries’ House Hakeem Jeffries appears set to take over as Nancy Pelosi steps down as the head of the House Democrats. As a member of the Progressive Caucus who has often sided against progressives with party leadership, what will the House Democrats ...
11.27.2022 TBD \| The Trap of Buy Now, Pay Later The option to “buy now and pay later” over installments exploded over the past two years, thanks to people being flush with stimulus cash and shopping online during the pandemic. But is this new, underregulated industry a useful line of ...
11.23.2022 Ticketmaster's Swift Meltdown When presale tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour effectively broke the internet last week, Ticketmaster emerged as the villain…again. The media behemoth has been reviled since the ‘90s, but it has continued to grow, through a merger with Live Nation. ...
11.22.2022 Why Outlawing Slavery Won't Outlaw Slavery—Yet During the 2022 midterms, four states voted to ban slavery, which is still legal—and practiced—in the form of forced prison labor. The ballot initiatives are designed to keep people from having to work against their will and could provide prisoners ...
11.21.2022 The Real Danger of Fentanyl Fentanyl has been a right-wing boogeyman and ostensible reason for Republicans to rail for more security at the U.S.-Mexico border. As the opioid crisis continues, the danger fentanyl poses has become vividly clear. While stopping overdoses is important, resurfacing nasty ...
11.20.2022 TBD \| The End of the Tech Boom After decades as America’s booming industry, tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off in November alone. Is the venture-capital, low-interest-rate wind leaving the sails temporary or is this the end of the hunt for “the next big ...
11.18.2022 TBD \| The Case Against Climate Reparations At this year’s annual UN conference on climate change, they are discussing “climate reparations,” wherein the rich countries that grew their wealth burning fossil fuels pay money to poorer and more vulnerable countries. It sounds sensible, but is the UN ...
11.17.2022 The Shiny New Target for Political Spending State supreme court elections, for a long time, were an afterthought; filler for the ballot’s second page. But with questions of abortion rights on the line, this year both parties started pouring money and attention on the races across the ...
11.16.2022 Will SCOTUS Take Native Children Away From Their Families? The Supreme Court case Brackeen v. Haaland concerns how adoption placement currently works under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law prioritizes placing Native children with Native families. But depending on how the court rules, striking down or changing ICWA ...
11.15.2022 How New York Democrats Blew It After bracing themselves for a “red wave,” the Democrats will keep their Senate majority after the midterms. However, the Republicans will likely, narrowly take the House, thanks in part to gains made in deep blue New York State. How did ...
11.14.2022 The Far Right’s Alarming Rise in Israel Though just last year he was ousted from office amidst corruption charges, Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to power, leading a coalition of three hard right-wing parties. Palestinians inside Israel are concerned that some of their leaders are now emboldened in ...
11.13.2022 TBD \| Is This The Cryptocalypse? The (once) second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed in stunning fashion this week, highlighting why consumers really do want regulation, and why old financial institutions remain wary of crypto. Guest: Felix Salmon, host of Slate Money, chief financial correspondent for Axios. ...
11.11.2022 TBD \| Senator Chris Murphy on Elon's Acquisition of Twitter The second largest investor in Twitter, after Elon Musk, is the Saudis, which raises questions about what kinds of “free speech” Musk is really committed to. But it also raises questions around national security in the U.S. Guest: Chris Murphy, ...
11.10.2022 Did Trump Crash the Red Wave? The dust still hasn’t settled from the midterm elections. But some themes have begun emerging: the GOP underperformed; the right to abortion won on state-level votes; Florida has gone red, but Democrats won gubernatorial races across the old “blue wall.” ...
11.09.2022 What Texas' Attacks on Trans Healthcare Did to One Family As Texas laws have become more discriminatory against trans individuals and their families, many wonder if they can even stay in the Lone Star State, especially when parents could be investigated as child abusers for providing healthcare to their children. ...
11.08.2022 The Frightening Rise in Political Violence Paul Pelosi joined a growing list of Congress members and their families who have been targets of violent political attacks. What can be done about the growing safety risk of being in the public eye? And what does living under ...
11.07.2022 How the Dems Win Back the Rust Belt Trump won Ohio handily, and it’s been expected that JD Vance would cruise into a Senate seat this fall. But Democratic candidate Tim Ryan seems to have struck a chord with the very demographics that have been drifting away from ...
11.06.2022 TBD \| Why Are So Many Little Kids Sick Right Now? It’s been a rough autumn for parents of little kids, as non-COVID respiratory diseases are taking advantage of the first fall since 2019 where schools and daycares are full again, and America’s strained pediatric health care system is once again ...
11.04.2022 TBD \| So How’s It Going, Elon? One week in as head honcho of Twitter and Elon Musk is in a tight spot: how do you balance the desires of advertisers with your ostensible zeal for free speech? How do you make something for which you’ve already ...
11.03.2022 The Stakes of Nevada’s Latino Vote Democrats have been winning reliably in Nevada, but between the lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden among Latino voters, and a lackluster voter-turnout effort from Vegas’s hospitality union, it’s very possible that the face of Nevada’s “Stop the Steal” effort ...
11.02.2022 Can an Anti-Trump Republican Still Win? Joe Biden won Colorado by 13 points, which is why Jim O’Dea is running for the Senate as a moderate Republican—one who will stand up to Donald Trump. It’s a message that isn’t winning support from Democratic voters, and may ...
11.01.2022 SCOTUS Reviews Affirmative Action…Again Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging race-conscious admissions programs. If the justices decide that affirmative action is unconstitutional—as they seem poised to do—how can universities still create diverse student bodies? Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior ...
10.31.2022 Should You Panic Over America's Test Scores? According to the recently released results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, American students across the country are scoring lower on math and reading. But before we panic, it’s important to put those results in context, and consider what ...
10.30.2022 TBD \| Big Brother, Big Tech and China There are some 400 million surveillance cameras installed in China, one for every three to four civilians. Built with the help of American tech companies, the surveillance state was pitched to the public as a way to make society safer ...
10.28.2022 TBD \| Twitter Is Dead; Long Live Twitter Twitter has been a lot of things—where you posted your lunch, where you met your people, where you were subjected to a harassment campaign. Now, as Elon Musk prepares to take the reins, where is it headed? Guest: Will Oremus, ...
10.27.2022 When Child Protective Services Gets It Wrong An investigation into child welfare agencies around the country uncovered that the vast majority of searches of home environments happen without anything like a warrant, increasing the stress for parents as well as the children whose welfare is supposed to ...
10.26.2022 The True Origins of the U.K.’s Political Mess The truth is, no one ever had a workable plan for Brexit. And as Liz Truss becomes the fourth Prime Minister to resign since the referendum and Rishi Sunak steps in as tribute, it’s an important lesson for voters on ...
10.25.2022 Is Fetterman's Disability Anyone’s Business? Reporters have questioned whether Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who had a stroke in May, is competent to serve in the U.S. Senate. The attention on his apparent aphasia – or ability to process conversation and speak clearly – reveals ...
10.24.2022 How DeSantis Redrew Florida’s Map Ron DeSantis broke with tradition when he rejected the Florida legislature’s redistricting map and presented his own. But by splitting a majority Black district in northern Florida into four other districts, he may have violated both Florida and federal laws ...
10.23.2022 TBD \| Can We Make an Alzheimer’s Drug That Works? Alzheimer’s treatment hasn’t changed much in the past two decades, and the way researchers have been thinking about and approaching the disease may be to blame. Guest: Damian Garde, reporter for Stat covering the biotech industry. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If ...
10.21.2022 TBD \| When An Algorithm Raises Your Rent One company’s software is helping set prices for apartments across the country. But when does an algorithm telling landlords how much to charge—by drawing on property data—cross the line from “handy tool” to “illegal price-fixing”? Guest: Heather Vogell, reporter with ...
10.20.2022 What Happened to Kanye West? You can divide the career of the artist formerly known as Kanye West into chapters using off-script televised moments—announcing “George W. Bush doesn’t care about Black people” during a Hurricane Katrina telethon; interrupting Taylor Swift on stage at the VMAs; ...
10.19.2022 GOP to Cities: Drop Dead Republican rhetoric paints America’s cities as cesspools of crime, homeless and, uh, out-of-touch elites, and the party has largely given up courting urban voters. The GOP may be able to hold on to power thanks to voting systems that favor ...
10.18.2022 Five Years of #MeToo Five years after exposés in the New Yorker and New York Times, Harvey Weinstein is in jail—but a major rallying point of #MeToo was just how widespread this sexual harassment, abuse, and violence really is in workplaces across industries. Looking ...
10.17.2022 An American Surgeon in Wartime Ukraine As a Syrian American surgeon living in Chicago, Dr. Samer Attar felt compelled to be of service during the Syrian civil war, when doctors were being driven underground by Syria’s Russia-backed military. When Russian bombs began raining down in Ukraine ...
10.16.2022 TBD \| Are You Ready to Be Composted When You Die? The idea of composting a human body may seem unsettling—or even gross—and it runs counter to the normal American funeral rites of embalming and internment, which preserve the body. But advocates say it’s a greener and more peaceful way to ...
10.14.2022 TBD \| The Next Amazon Union Fight Following their victory in Staten Island, the Amazon Labor Union is still facing an uphill battle. Both the company and the union are closely watching the organizing vote at a warehouse outside of Albany, NY. Guest: Noam Scheiber, labor reporter ...
10.13.2022 How Bad Is the Economy Going to Get? With inflation up and unemployment down, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and signaling that they’re willing to risk a lot to stall the rising price of everything. But is Jerome Powell doing too much—or is he already too ...
10.12.2022 How Is Herschel Walker Still in This? Herschel Walker’s campaign for the U.S. Senate has been rocky to say the least, with revelations of heretofore-unmentioned children, accusations of domestic abuse, and multiple abortions paid for by the aggressively pro-life candidate. Yet the race remains close with Reverend ...
10.11.2022 Roger Stone’s January 6th When the January 6 committee reconvenes, one their first orders of business will likely concern longtime GOP operative and Trump ally Roger Stone. What have lawmakers discovered in the raw footage from a Danish documentary team, and Stone’s personal text ...
10.10.2022 Amicus: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Gives SCOTUS a History Lesson What Next is still enjoying the three-day weekend, so we proudly present this special episode of Amicus. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by two key players from this week’s consequential voting rights cases at the US Supreme Court. The NAACP Legal ...

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