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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Nikki Haley’s progress and Ron DeSantis’s stagnation in Iowa, Donald Trump’s testimony in New York, and Dean Phillips’s campaign in New Hampshire; the first social-media cases of the term at the Supreme Court; and Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream with author David Leonhardt. And you can be a part of the show: submit your Conundrum at slate.com/conundrum. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Brianne Pfannenstiel for the Des Moines Register: “Donald Trump builds on big lead as Nikki Haley pulls even with Ron DeSantis in Iowa Poll” Jennifer Rubin for The Washington Post: “Nikki Haley has a shot. But a really, really long one.”Jonah E. Bromwich and Ben Protess for The New York Times: “Trump Civil Fraud Trial: Donald Trump Jr. Resumes Testifying in Fraud Case Aimed at His Father”Geoffrey Skelley for 538: The curious case of Dean Phillips’s last-minute primary challenge538: “How popular is Joe Biden?”Jeff Neal for Harvard Law Today: “The Supreme Court takes on (anti)social media”Adam Liptak for The New York Times: “Supreme Court Lifts Limits for Now on Biden Officials’ Contacts With Tech Platforms”Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: “Justices take major Florida and Texas social media cases”Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David LeonhardtEmily Bazelon for The New York Times’s The Morning newsletter, November 2, 2023David Leonhardt for The Atlantic: “The Hard Truth About Immigration”Peter Dizikes for MIT News: “Q&A: David Autor on the long afterlife of the “China shock””History.com: “A. Philip Randolph”Natasha Singer for The New York Times: “This Florida School District Banned Cellphones. Here’s What Happened.” and “New Laws on Kids and Social Media Are Stymied by Industry Lawsuits”Cristiano Lima and Naomi Nix for The Washington Post: “41 states sue Meta, claiming Instagram, Facebook are addictive, harm kids” Here are this week’s chatters:Emily: The New Yorker’s Poetry Podcast with Kevin Young: “Toi Derricotte Reads Tracy K. Smith”John: The Graham Norton Show: “Dame Judi Dench Masterfully Does A Shakespeare Sonnet”; BBC Radio 4’s Cabin Pressure; Endeavour on PBS Masterpiece; John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “Grammy-winning artist Jason Isbell talks about the craft of songwriting and his latest music”; and Ray Bradbury in the Los Angeles Times: “’Ice Cream Suit’--Touchstone for the Past and Present”David: Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic: “Everything I Thought I Knew About Nasal Congestion Is Wrong”Listener chatter from Albert Fox Cahn: N’dea Yancey-Bragg for USA Today: “Advocates say excited delirium provides cover for police violence. They want it banned” and John Dickerson for CBS News 60 Minutes: “How a questionable syndrome, “Excited Delirium,” could be protecting police officers from misconduct charges” For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about classroom cellphone bans.In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the history of Hamas tell us about where the Israel-Palestine conflict could go from here?Guest: Mohammed Hafez, professor who studies Islamist movements, political militancy, and violent radicalization at the Naval Postgraduate School and author of Why Muslims Rebel and Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The FBI was overwhelmed trying to ID people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. An online group picked up the slack and helped catch hundreds of rioters. Guest: Ryan Reilly, Justice reporter at NBC News, and author of Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After mass shootings, one refrain becomes, “We don’t need gun control to treat a mental health problem.” But in a case like the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, there were mental health interventions and red flags raised by the military and the shooter’s family. Why didn’t it work—and what’s a better way forward?Guest: Mark Follman, national affairs editor at Mother Jones and the author of Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In early August, wildfire tore across West Maui. Months later, the tourism economy is struggling to get back to speed, while residents remain displaced.Guest: U’i Kahue, cultural practitioner and the co-owner of Maui Grown 808, LLP.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The man at the center of it all takes the stand in his own defense—but what’s left to say?Guest: Nitish Pahwa, associate business and tech writer covering the trial for Slate.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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s Jurisprudence Editor, Jeremy Stahl. Jeremy is also the lucky person tasked with helming Slate’s coverage of the many many criminal and civil trials of Donald J Trump and Amicus listeners can expect to hear a lot from Jeremy over the next year. After a week of big news across a number of the former President’s courtroom battles, Jeremy gives us a survey of the legal landscape and some vital pointers about what really matters, what’s nonsense, and what we should be watching and listening for in the coming weeks.In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Jeremy Stahl sticks around to have a behind the scenes chat about how Slate’s jurisprudence team is tackling the thorny issue of reporting on the Trump trial - sorting wheat from chaff and stakes from horse race. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers and Emily Peck talk about the latest GDP numbers and why people still feel bad about the economy. They also break down two big fossil fuel mergers, and Felix explains why dimes shouldn’t exist.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In August, California regulators voted to allow self-driving car companies like Cruise and Waymo to expand their operations and start offering robotaxi services. 2 months later, after a litany of mistakes, Cruise is pulling all of its driverless cars off the road.Is this an existential threat to the entire AV industry?Guest: David Zipper, visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz take the show on the road and gab live with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers; discuss the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson; and review the former lawyers and Chief of Staff who will testify against Donald Trump. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:City Cast Madison podcast and Madison Minutes newsletterJennifer Rubin for The Washington Post: “Wisconsin Dems’ big wins for the rule of law might be an inflection point”Scott Bauer for AP: “Wisconsin Supreme Court asked to draw new legislative boundaries over Republican objections”James Hohmann for The Washington Post: “In Wisconsin, Tony Evers made a virtue of being dull”Amy Gardner and Michael Kranish for The Washington Post: “New speaker Mike Johnson’s 2020 election denial could have 2024 implications”Carl Hulse for The New York Times: “The Far Right Gets Its Man of the House”Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David Leonhardt Katherine Faulders, Mike Levine, and Alexander Mallin for ABC News: “Ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows granted immunity, tells special counsel he warned Trump about 2020 claims: Sources”Paul Blumenthal for HuffPost: “The Guilty Pleas In Trump’s Georgia Indictment Are Starting To Roll Uphill”David French for The New York Times: “Trump’s Lawyers Are Going Down. Is He?” Here are this week’s chatters:John: Mark Shanahan for The Boston Globe: “The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 was Boston’s strangest disaster“ and Dark Tide: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo Emily: Hesket Oslo podcast by Arnon Degani; This Is Palestine podcast by the Institute for Middle East Understanding; and The Ezra Klein Show podcast: “The Jewish Left Is Trying to Hold Two Thoughts at Once”David: Vocal coach Karen Harris and “Jersey Girl” by Tom WaitsListener chatter from Jake Sinderbrand: University of Wisconsin-Madison: “Wisconsin Idea” and Babcock Dairy StoreListener chatter from Mike Duncan: The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic; Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution; The History of Rome podcast; and Revolutions podcastFor this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David answer questions from the Madison audience.In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Tim Peterson. Special thanks to Katie Rayford.Research by Julie Huygen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is new House Speaker Mike Johnson a palatable face on the same hard-right politics?Guest: Tim Miller, political consultant and writer.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why one State Department official who worked in weapons transfers quit over America’s policy towards Israel and Gaza—and what that says about U.S. policy in the Middle East.Guest: Josh Paul, former State Department official working in arms transfers to foreign powers, who resigned on Oct. 18.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted, Republicans are still scrambling to elect a new Speaker of the House. After failed runs by Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, the candidate pool keeps growing. Who is in the running now, and will anyone be able to snag the 217 votes needed? Guest: Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Congress reporter at Semafor.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 Amicus—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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the new abortion clinic even opened in Casper, Wyoming, it was set ablaze. But to the clinic’s founder, property damage and violence aren’t new. Guest: Julie Burkhart, founder of Wellspring Health AccessIf 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Movies series, the Slate Money gang talks with BNN Bloomberg’s Amanda Lang about “BlackBerry”. Are there really vampires in Waterloo, Ontario? Why are all movie business guys just people who yell? If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Sara Fischer, senior media reporter at Axios, to break down recent media deals with sports leagues, and why cord-cutters are going old school and buying TV antennas. They also discuss Marc Andreessen’s unhinged tech manifesto.In the Plus segment: The recent survey of consumer finances.Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since Microsoft announced its bid to buy Activision Blizzard last year, regulators around the world sounded the alarm that the merger would suppress competition in the industry. Now that the deal has officially gone through, should gamers be worried? Guest: Jason Schreier, covering the video game industry for BloombergIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As MAGA Republicans engage in extremist arm wrestling in the House Speaker race, and the sins of the 2020 election subversion scheme catch up with Donald Trump’s closest allies, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by brand new MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy to take a look at the stakes of this moment for American democracy. An attempt to walk and chew gum at the same time, Protect Democracy’s work focuses on the incremental ways the law can be applied to protect election workers and inhibit disinformation, while also looking to the big constitutional and cultural questions we have to answer if we’re going to reject authoritarianism.Sign up for Slate Plus now to support our show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Plotz talks with author and 12-year Amazon senior employee, Kristi Coulter about her new memoir, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career. They discuss the good, the bad, and the confusing parts of Coulter’s career at Amazon, starting in 2006. They talk about the culture of Amazon, the frustrating gender dynamics, and why she was constantly “a year away” from a promotion. Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected]. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since war broke out, Hamas has been efficient in getting its message out on social media - both in providing crucial information to refugees fleeing the area, and in waging psychological warfare. How can platforms meet the need for open lines of communication without spreading propaganda? Guest: Sheera Frenkel, covering tech for the New York TimesIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Jim Jordan’s efforts to become Speaker of the House; President Joe Biden’s visit to an Israel at war; and Donald Trump’s gag order.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Robert Jimison and Kayla Guo for The New York Times: “As Speaker Chaos Grows, so Does Talk of Empowering McHenry”Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis on the Hang Up and Listen podcast: “The What Jim Jordan Knew About Sexual Abuse at Ohio State Edition”Philip Bump for The Washington Post: “Americans see the House speaker mess as hurting the country”John Dickerson and Charlie D’Agata for CBS News Prime Time: “Rocket Attack Destroys Hospital in Gaza”Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer for The New York Times: “Gag Order on Trump in Election Case Leaves More Hard Questions”Here are this week’s chatters:John: Mallika Marshall for CBS Boston: “Hitting snooze in the morning could be beneficial, new studies say” and Will Stone for NPR: “I usually wake up just ahead of my alarm. What’s up with that?”Emily: Shaun Walker for The Guardian: “Poland election: Law and Justice party on course to be ousted from power” and Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable”David: “Beckham” on NetflixListener chatter from Phoebe Saltzstein: Brett Arends for MarketWatch: “Here’s the real cause of the Social Security funding shortfall, according to the program’s chief actuary”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss Oprah Winfrey, Mitt Romney, and a presidential Dream Team and reference: Mike Allen for Axios: “Scoop: Oprah pitched a White House run with Mitt Romney, book reveals”; Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins; Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger; “Pumping Iron” documentary film; and The New York Times: “First Lady Tours Coal Mine in Ohio: Mrs. Roosevelt Wears Miner’s Lighted Cap and Spends Hour and Half Underground.”In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career.Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Kevin BendisResearch by Julie Huygen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With bombs falling in Gaza, President Biden traveled to Israel to make a show of support. But as meetings with allied government leadership around the region were canceled, is the president doing more harm than good?Guest: Yousef Munayyer, Palestinian-American political analyst and writer and Senior Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government. This follows on the heels of an indictment for bribery and federal corruption. But Menendez says he isn’t stepping down.Guest: Jessica Taylor, Senate-and-governors editor at The Cook Political Report. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump has been saying shocking—even violent—things for so long, it barely registers as news anymore. But after January 6, and with Trump again leading the field of Republican candidates for president, is there a real-world danger to what he’s saying?Guest: Robert A. Pape, professor of political science and the director of the University of Chicago’s project on security and threatsIf 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While mounting a military response to Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to unite his far-right wing with his political rival, centrist Benny Gantz, a former military Chief of Staff. The plans for retaliation that are emerging are unlike any of Israel’s past skirmishes with Hamas.Guest: Dov Waxman, director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zelle has exploded in popularity as a fast, convenient way to send and receive money. But the story of a couple who was scammed out of a pool shows there are problems with safety on the platform. Guest: Devin Friedman, journalist and senior correspondent for GQ magazine.You can read Devin’s piece here.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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Check out Compiler here: https://link.chtbl.com/compiler?sid=podcast.whatnext.2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers and Emily Peck talk about the latest in the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. They also discuss the (maybe bad???) Birkenstock IPO, and why your sweaters are getting worse. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

When the Arab Spring was unfolding, Twitter was hailed as a way for on-the-ground reporting to reach the public. But when fighting between Hamas and Israel broke out over the weekend, X became flooded with misinformation.Guest: Casey Newton, founder and editor of the technology newsletter Platformer.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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Juliette Kayyem to discuss the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Steve Scalise’s fight for the gavel of the House Speaker.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Juliette Kayyem for The Atlantic: “A Devastating Attack by Hamas”Tom Dannenbaum for Just Security: “The Siege of Gaza and the Starvation War Crime”Zack Beauchamp for Vox: “Benjamin Netanyahu failed Israel”Aamer Madhani and Ellen Knickmeyer for AP: “Biden’s hopes for establishing Israel-Saudi relations could become a casualty of the new Mideast war”Kevin Liptak, MJ Lee, Kayla Tausche, and Jeff Zeleny for CNN: “Biden’s dilemma in Israel response: Outrage without escalation”Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman for Politico: “’Unacceptably devoid of empathy’: DSA is facing an internal reckoning on Israel”Jack Stripling and Laura Meckler for The Washington Post: “At colleges, violence in Israel and Gaza ignites a war of words”Bertha Gonzalez for The Stanford Daily: “Saller, Martinez condemn Hamas attack in University statement”Carl Hulse for The New York Times: “Republicans Choose a New Speaker Nominee, Then Quickly Undercut Him”Jason Lange for Reuters: “RFK Jr could draw one in seven US voters in 2024 presidential election, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows”Steve Peoples for AP: “How third-party and independent candidates could threaten Democrats and Republicans in 2024”Here are this week’s chatters:Emily: Rabbi Erez Sherman in the Jewish Journal: “Mourning and Joy – At The Same Time”Juliette: “The True-Blue American” by Delmore Schwartz in Selected Poems: Summer KnowledgeDavid: Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: “The “Deaths of Despair” narrative is wrong” and the movie “BlackBerry”Listener chatter from Deb Knox: Little Amal and Sean Beauford for Pittsburgh City Paper: “A giant puppet comes to Pittsburgh, and, with it, recognition of child refugees” For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and Juliette discuss Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, No Labels, and their possible effects on the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career.Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Jared DowningResearch by Julie HuygenHostsJuliette Kayyem, Emily Bazelon, and David PlotzFollow@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After their first plan to forgive billions of dollars of student debt was thwarted by the Supreme Court, the Biden administration is quietly searching for other ways to help borrowers. Guest: Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, senior higher education reporter for Higher Ed Dive.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 Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Biden’s administration announced plans to resume construction of a wall on the southern border, contradicting a contrast then-candidate Joe Biden drew between himself and his opponent in 2020, Guest: Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute at NYU’s School of LawIf 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing a complete blockade of Gaza after Hamas militants killed more than 700 Israelis this weekend. The surprise attack caught Israeli intelligence completely off-guard, and has thrown the region into disarray, on the eve of landmark talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia. What’s the next stage of this already-volatile conflict? And what’s next for civilians in the Gaza Strip?Guest: Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Movies series, the gang talks with Slate’s Cheyna Roth about Barbie. Is Barbie an anti-capitalist movie? Does Ryan Gosling steal too much of the show? And what message does Barbie’s success send to Hollywood? If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work. Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While the What Next team enjoys today's holiday, we are proud to present this episode on viral misinformation in 1955 from our colleagues at Slate's One Year. What Next will be back tomorrow.When Alaskans wanted their own mental-health facility, a rumor took hold all over America. This week, Evan Chung traces the origins of that far-right conspiracy theory: that the government was building a concentration camp where Americans would get imprisoned for their political beliefs. Get ready for a strange tale that involves a brainwashing manual, Scientology, and a vast network of Communist-hunting housewives.Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung.This episode was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Sophie Summergrad.It was edited by Josh Levin, Joel Meyer, and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hank Asher was a lot of things: a Florida condo maven, a drug runner, a DEA informant—and a tech visionary who created the mixed blessing of turning everyone’s online activity into an unshakable shadow profile.Guest: McKenzie Funk, reporter for Pro Publica and the author of The Hank ShowIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following oral arguments in a case aimed at demolishing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s brainchild - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Senator Warren to talk about how far this Supreme Court is prepared to go to fulfill right wing deregulatory fantasies. Next, Dahlia talks to investigative reporter Andrea Bernstein, part of the team behind We Don’t Talk About Leonard, a new podcast collaboration between ProPublica and On the Media. Andrea explains the mechanisms developed by Leonard Leo that have reshaped the courts over the past two decades, drawing a line from Leo’s state-level judicial influence campaigns, to that Alaskan fishing trip involving Justice Samuel Alito, to this week’s arguments in the payday loan case CFPB v CFSA.In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Andrea Bernstein sticks around to talk us through this week in court in New York City, in former President Donald Trump’s business fraud trial. Why did he choose to sit and glower and what did the limited gag order tell us about what the former President can rant about online and outside the court? 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers talk about how Ozempic affects food buying habits, the rise in mortgage and interest rates, and the decrease in stock buybacks. In the Plus segment: The correlation between life expectancy and having a college degree. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the trial begins, SBF is making the case that what he did is typical in the world of crypto. But when the government paints a much bleaker picture of FTX—one riddled with fraud and deception—what does that say about the industry? Guest: Nitish Pahwa, associate business and tech writer at Slate.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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the now-former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and the for-now Republican Matt Gaetz; the Supreme Court’s new term; and crime in America. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Marianna Sotomayor, Leigh Ann Caldwell, and Colby Itkowitz for The Washington Post: “Fight for speakership begins as House reels from McCarthy ouster”David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “America’s Political Turmoil”Matt Ford for The New Republic: “The Supreme Court Eyes Its Next Big Power Grab”Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley for The American Presidency Project: “Summary of the Report of the Committee on Administrative Management [the Brownlow Report].”Ian Millhiser for Vox: “The Supreme Court will decide if abusive spouses have a right to own guns”Mark Sherman for AP: “Supreme Court is asked to reject limits on a drug used in the most common method of abortion”Andrew Chung for Reuters: “Supreme Court ethics concerns aren’t going away”Ernesto Lopez, Richard Rosenfeld, and Bobby Boxerman for the Council on Criminal Justice: “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2023 Update" Rebecca Crosby, Judd Legum, and Tesnim Zekeria for Popular Information: “Target says it’s closing 9 stores due to theft. The crime data tells a different story.”Trisha Ahmed and Jim Salter for AP: “Some small towns in America are disbanding police forces, citing hiring woes”Gabe Cohen for CNN: “Doubling up on classrooms, using online teachers and turning to support staff: How schools are dealing with the ongoing teacher shortage” John Dickerson for CBS News: “Chronic school absences on the rise in 40 states, study finds”Michael D. Shear for The New York Times: “Bidens’ Dog Is No Longer at White House After Latest Biting Incident”Molly Olmstead for Slate: “The Bidens’ Dog Keeps Biting People. Why?”Judicial Watch: “Judicial Watch Sues Secret Service for Records of Attacks by Biden German Shepherd ‘Commander’” Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason and “Tiny Beautiful Things” on HuluJohn: “Endeavour” on PBS; Daniel Garisto for Scientific American: “This Year’s Physics Nobel Awards Scientists for Slicing Reality into Attoseconds”; John Uri for NASA: “65 Years Ago: Sputnik Ushers in the Space Age”; and Charles Fishman for Fast Company: “The birth of the electronic beep, the most ubiquitous sound design in the world”David: Paul M.M. Cooper’s Fall of Civilizations Podcast and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcastListener chatter from Danny O’Malley: “Canary” For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss President Joe Biden’s dog, Commander, his biting of Secret Service personnel, and his recent banishment from the White House. In the next Gabfest Reads in October, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna RothResearch by Julie Huygen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For once, Donald Trump is going to court for things that have nothing to do with his presidency. As Trump defends himself and his businesses against charges of fraud, what does his conduct in New York tell us about how his other trials may go?Guest: Zach Schonfeld, courts and legal reporter for The Hill.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After an arduous series of votes to get the job, it only took one vote to remove Kevin McCarthy from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives.Guest: Todd Zwillich, deputy Washington bureau chief, VICE News 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California Democrats were already jockeying to run for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat next year and Governor Gavin Newsom sidestepped the contenders by announcing he would appoint Laphonza Butler to the seat. While Newsom made good on his vow to appoint a Black woman to the Senate, does Butler’s job offer come with a poison pill?Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate politics writer.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One case on the Supreme Court’s docket could upend federal regulatory bodies’ ability to regulate at all. Guest: Jay Willis, editor-in-chief of Balls & StrikesIf 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried marks the end of an era where crypto rose to dizzying, Super-Bowl-commercial heights. Where does the industry go from here? Guest: Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomberg and author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall. 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers are the two-percent! Well, not Emily, to be clear. They dig into what’s going on with all the changes to Delta Sky Miles, the newest lawsuit by the FTC against Amazon, and why LinkedIn is and is not the worst. In the Plus segment: What do you do with a concrete banana? If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Refusing to play the traditional first Monday in October game, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern squint through the cloud of ethics scandals enveloping the High Court to see a docket aimed squarely at unfettering commerce from outside supervision, with a side order of second amendment extremism. What could possibly go wrong?Sign up for Slate Plus now to 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After years of being a rare spot of universal, American-government-funded health care, this fall’s new COVID-19 vaccine is hitting the commercial market for the first time. So far, the rollout has been mired by hiccups and confusion. Guest: Jen Kates, senior vice president at KFFIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Anna Philips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amazon evolved from a place to get cheap used books to the “everything store”—one encompassing warehouses, logistics and shipping. But with the FTC now run by Lina Khan—who wrote the essay ‘Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” while at Yale Law School—a new contender for “antitrust trial of the century” has begun. Guest: Leah Nylen, antitrust reporter for BloombergIf 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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the second Republican presidential primary debate; the next federal case against Senator Bob Menendez, and the latest lawsuit of United States v. Big Tech. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Madison, Wisconsin on October 25!Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Dan Balz for The Washington Post: “Republican debate brings chaos, attacks and a slog for second place”G. Elliott Morris for 538: “How outlier polls happen – and what to do with them”Nicole Hong for The New York Times: “Gold Bullion and Halal Meat: Inside the Menendez Investigation”John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “FTC chair Lina Khan discusses need for regulations on big business”Lina M. Khan in The Yale Law Journal: “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox”Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves for AP: “House Speaker McCarthy is back to square one as the Senate pushes ahead to avert a federal shutdown”John Dickerson and Kris Van Cleave for CBS News: “How a government shutdown could cause chaos at airports”Here are this week’s chatters:Emily: Mary Harris for This American Life: Act One of The Call; Slate’s podcast What Next hosted by Mary Harris; Never Use Alone Inc. National Overdose Prevention Lifeline; Dr. Alison Block for the Post-Roe America series of The Nocturnists podcast; and Slate’s podcast Amicus hosted by Dahlia Lithwick: “SCOTUS Is Not Done With Guns and Abortion”John: Michael Schneider for Variety: “CNN and Now-Canceled ‘Vice News Tonight’ Lead News & Documentary Night 1 Winners List” and John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “How to stay safe online, according to CISA”David: Jonathan O’Callaghan for Nature: “This is what Earth’s continents will look like in 250 million years”Listener chatter from Kevin McEvilly: Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser in The New York Times: “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss the possible shutdown of the U.S. government.In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Zadie Smith about her book, The Fraud: A Novel.In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career.Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected] or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna RothResearch by Julie Huygen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.