Slate Daily Feed

HBO pioneered prestige TV and the concept of renting movies from home. Can it be a frontrunner in the streaming wars? Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Click here to get started and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior writer and host of Outward Christina Cauterucci and Julia Craven, Slate staff writer covering race, politics, and health disparities, talk about one woman: Kyrsten Sinema. From her wardrobe to her position on the filibuster, Sinema has been in the news a lot recently. The hosts talk about the Arizona senator’s political evolution—she moved from the Green Party to run as a progressive Democrat, but when she got to the U.S. Senate, she tacked toward the center—and whether she is currently exhibiting any signs of political coherence. Christina unpacks the high note of Sinema at the Capitol: her wardrobe, noting that the flashy fashions that once brought visual interest to the normally drab walls of Congress have taken a turn for the worse. As Sinema started to stymie Democratic plans, her “fuck off” ring and “dangerous creature” sweater took on a whole new meaning. After the break, Julia and Christina dive deep into the filibuster. While standing in the way of th

The Bush administration didn’t just fail to plan for post-war Iraq. Before and during the invasion, they made choices that compounded the mistake of going to war. Those decisions had lasting consequences for the world and for the Iraqi people. Who’s most responsible for that tragedy?  Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Madison is joined by producer Daniel Schroeder to talk about people accusing Billie Eilish of queerbaiting on Instagram. Then discuss the way TikTok seems to be replacing Craigslist as the spot for finding missed connections, but are the videos real? To find out, Madison interviews Val and Kaycie, two women who reconnected and became friends via TikTok after they met at a rooftop bar. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder & Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a brand new season of Decoder Ring! On this episode, we investigate the wild world of soap operas through the lens of one legendary, decades-long, ripped-from-the-headlines storyline. that dared to combine the melodrama of soaps with a serious examination of sexual assault, and how that soap turned an award-winning story about believing victims into a redemption arc for the rapist at its heart. This is the story of those who made it happen: the producers, actors, writers, and the soap opera machine itself: the perpetually moving, forever-churning, complex system that create the miracle that is the daily soap opera. If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison explain the latest drama surrounding online provocateur Trisha Paytas. They recap Paytas’ history online, how they’re connected to David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad, and why their podcast Frenemies is in predictable turmoil. Then, Rachelle and Madison give High Speed Downloads, first on the grifting of internet chef Darius Williams (aka @DariusCooks) and then on the woman who got arrested for disguising herself as her daughter and going to school in her place. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last decade, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson have come to embody the future of space travel and exploration. What does it mean when the ideas and ambitions of a few powerful men come to dominate the conversation so thoroughly? Guest: Lucianne Walkowicz, astronomer at the Adler Planetarium and founder of the Just Space Alliance Host Lizzie O’Leary This episode is sponsored by Teamistry. You can listen here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kendi joins the show this week to explain critical race theory, and why it has become such a political lightning rod. He also talks about how the backlash against critical race theory is threatening academic freedom, and specifically how it kept Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones from tenure at the University of North Carolina.  Dr. Kendi is the host of a new podcast, Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi. You can listen here: https://www.pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi/ Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may not have heard of Puritan, but if you’ve gotten a COVID test, you’ve probably had one of their products inside your nose. A family feud almost tore this company apart. Then the White House called. Read Olivia Carville’s original article for Bloomberg.  Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Listen to the Teamistry podcast. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Click here to get started and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Allegra Frank and Robin Boylorn, a professor at the University of Alabama and occasional Slate contributor, discuss the enduring appeal of Keeping Up With the Kardashians as the E! reality show it comes to a close at the end of its 20th season. The pair digs into the show as a backdrop for the creation of a family dynasty of internet celebrity, track the diminishing role of television in their multi-billion-dollar empire, and parse out the curious appeal of the sisters who became famous just for being famous.  After the break, Allegra and Robin dig deep on the Kardashian-Jenner clan’s history of appropriation of Black culture, and discuss the impact of their adopting working-class Black aesthetics to great personal gain as several of them became mothers to Black children themselves. The sisters haven’t shied away from airing their learning moments for the world to see. But have they been able to use their enormous platform to any meaningful end?  For

In the months before the invasion of Iraq, the media mostly backed the Bush administration’s narrative about weapons of mass destruction. No reporter was more influential on that beat than the New York Times' Judith Miller.  How did she get the story so wrong—and why was she the only person to take the fall? Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Rachelle finds out that Madison is an anthro-paul-ogist. Internet star Logan Paul faced off against Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match this weekend, so Madison takes Rachelle through the troubling origins of the Paul brothers, how they’ve been able to maintain their internet fame across multiple platforms despite a series of serious allegations, and why this fight is nothing more than a money-making publicity stunt. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s show, Madison and Rachelle have a short discussion of the recent beekeeper drama on TikTok. Then, they’re joined by Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, hosts of the Who Weekly? podcast, to discuss Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez getting back together. They talk about what it was like when the pair first got together in the early 2000s, and why it feels so exciting to see these two stars indulge again in their past romance, and how Bennifer 3.0 will play in a new era of social media gossip. Podcast Production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two weeks ago, as wildfires burned north of Los Angeles, the crime app Citizen offered $30,000 for information that would lead to the arrest of a suspected arsonist. They had the wrong guy.  Why is Citizen offering bounties in the first place? And what does this bounty debacle say about the app’s aspirations for the future? Guest: Joseph Cox, reporter at Motherboard  Host Henry Grabar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Alan Grier is a comedian’s comedian, from his iconic stint on ‘In Living Color,’ to his many sitcoms roles, including his latest on the Netflix show, ‘Dad Stop Embarrassing Me.’ He’s also a dramatic actor, with roles in Broadway classics and Ava Duvernay’s ‘Queen Sugar.’ On today’s episode of A Word, David Alan Grier joins Jason Johnson to talk about his career, staying booked and busy during the pandemic, and his many collaborations with Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx. Guest: David Alan Grier, award-winning comedian and actor Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1960s, the Volkswagen Beetle was a symbol of peace and love. But this same car was invented as part of the Nazi propaganda project. And that’s just the beginning of the story. Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. To listen and support our work, visit Slate.com/ThrillingPlus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate Senior Editor Allegra Frank and Slate Production Assistant Madeline Ducharme talk about the latest season of Netflix’s Master of None. The pair digs into the show’s depiction of a queer Black relationship and breakup, and discusses if the show even a comedy anymore. Also: how are we supposed to care about a relationship when we first see it at its end? After the break, Allegra and Madeline go outside of the show to talk about Season 3’s creators, Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe. Ansari and Waithe have both stirred controversy in the past few years. At the height of the #MeToo movement, a now shuttered site called Babe.net reported an alleged unpleasant sexual encounter between a 22-year-old woman and Ansari. In response, Ansari stepped out of the spotlight for a couple years, though he said at the time that the encounter was consensual. Meanwhile, Waithe has worked on several projects, including 2019’s Queen and Slim and Amazon’s Them, that have been accused of propagat

On Feb. 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to make the Bush administration’s closing argument for war with Iraq. Powell didn’t know it at the time, but one major piece of intelligence he cited came from a shady source—a man code-named Curveball.  How did Curveball’s bad information make it into Powell’s speech? And why did no one listen when a woman from the CIA tried to warn everyone? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle examine a case of mistaken identity. One of TikTok’s best features is its algorithm, which specializes in surfacing videos seemingly tailor-made for the user. That is, until the algorithm gets an idea about the user that’s very, very wrong. They discuss why TikTok is convinced Madison is an ex-Mormon and Rachelle is a Marvel fanatic, and then field a number of listener voicemails about all the hilarious and sometimes alarming ways TikTok has gotten them wrong, too. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by producer Daniel Schroeder to discuss the online legacy of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. After 14 years and 20 seasons, the series is finally coming to a close, so Daniel and Rachelle look back at its infamous origins, trace the show’s evolving relationship with social media, and look ahead to what life might be like for all of us after the series goes off the air. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices