Forget polls—are gambling websites the real way to predict politics?

Guest: Nitish Pahwa, business and tech writer at Slate

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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Misinformation in the wake of disasters isn’t new, but the media environment today—rife with A.I. images, light on moderation, and eager to point fingers—seems more vulnerable to it than ever.

Guest: Will Oremus, technology writer for the Washington Post.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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How did 23andMe go from the peak of the double-helix to a death spiral? And if it goes under, is all of the genetic data it collected at risk? 

Guest: Kristen V. Brown, staff writer covering health for The Atlantic.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.

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The crypto project “World Liberty Financial,” which was announced on X by Donald Trump, isn’t a cryptocurrency, nor a crypto-exchange, nor is it actually run by any Trumps. The truth is even stranger. 

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times reporter

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How the State Department is evacuating Americans from Beirut—and how the war is influencing Lebanese-American voters living in a swing state.

Guest:

Amy Fallas, PhD candidate studying history in Beirut for the last year.

Alabas Farhat, Michigan State Representative. 

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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The accusations against Sean “Diddy” Combs have grown in both number and grimness. Is this the music industry’s moment of reckoning? 

Guest: Nadira Goffe, associate culture writer at Slate.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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The Supreme Court term’s kicked off this week, and the cases in front of the nine justices could reshape American life in public, at home, and in the doctor’s office, for wide swaths of the country. The election, too, could be at the hands of the Court. 

Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate senior writer covering courts and the law.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. 

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A year after the initial Hamas attack on Israel, tens of thousands are dead, bombs are still falling, a regional war is expanding, and there’s no end in sight. Two writers reflect on the destruction, loss, and death.

Guests: Peter Beinart is the Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents and the author of “The Beinart Notebook” on Substack.

Mohammed R. Mhawish is Palestinian journalist who was evacuated from Rafah to Egypt in May. 

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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Decades ago, Three Mile Island was shut down after a near catastrophic nuclear meltdown. So why is Microsoft paying over a billion dollars to open it back up? 

Guest: Matt Reynolds, senior writer at Wired

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Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the idea of a climate haven has been upended. And as the climate change gets worse every year, fewer places will be safe from its devastation.

Guest: Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post climate reporter covering humanity's response to a warming world.

Keith Campbell, managing editor at the Asheville Watchdog

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