Slate Daily Feed

Chameleon: That’s long been the word used to describe David Bowie, pop music’s shapeshifting extraterrestrial. He shifted personas, genres, and looks, emerging from swinging London with psychedelic folk before steamrolling through glam rock, disco, funk, new wave, alt-rock, and even jazz.Less remarked was Bowie’s savvy about shifting through commercial phases—he wore pop stardom like a costume, too. He drifted in and out of the spotlight, and on and off the charts, before one final chart-topping farewell 10 years ago this month.Join Chris Molanphy as he takes us from station to station across the chart career of David Bowie, on a journey from Starman to Blackstar.Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Kevin Bendi

She just wanted to report on an ICE recruiting session. She didn’t expect to get a job offer.Guest: Laura Jedeed, journalist who wrote “You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof” for Slate.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where do you turn for vaccination advice for your kids—or yourself—when the government’s own recommendations can’t be trusted anymore?Guest: Dr. Lauren Hughes, board-certified pediatrician, science communicator, and author of “The Public Hughesletter.”Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Trump is stepping up his attacks on Fed Chair Powell and how it could backfire, the increasingly inflammatory actions of ICE and the slim likelihood of justice for Renee Good in Minneapolis, and the Trump administration’s unsettling efforts to sow doubt about election integrity ahead of the midterms.For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss this week’s arguments at the Supreme Court in two cases about state bans on the participation of transgender kids in sports. In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales about his new book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last. They discuss how Wikipedia’s culture of assuming good faith and shared purpose became a model for building trustworthy digital communities — and what lessons that holds for companies, social media, and politics today. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfes

The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire went viral for telling clergy to have their affairs in order as they prepare to defend the most vulnerable, at a prayer vigil for Renee Good. He says, “I’ve said nothing new that I have not said in 35 years of ordained ministry.”Guest: Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld,10th Bishop in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire serving since August 2012.Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen get into a listener’s question about whether or not to gift a gaming counsel to their college kid. They bought the gift when the kid was doing well in school, but now they’re struggling again. Should that matter? But first, they share their latest triumphs and fails. Elizabeth is in her Worm Era and explains the wonders of vermicomposting. Then Lucy and Zak commiserate on how they handled some very big feelings from their teen and near-teen. Lucy worries she has become super cringe, while Zak responded to his eight-year-old as if HE was the eight-year-old. Mentioned in the EpisodeThe FBI Song from the Banna Slug StringbandWorm OhanaI Bought My Kid a Present. Now I’m Having Second Thoughts. - Care and Feeding ColumnPodcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips. Follow us on YouTube! Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s

Rep. Adam Smith is the ranking member of the House committee that’s supposed to have oversight on the Department of Defense—yes, that’s what he still calls it. But from strikes on Venezuela to ICE surges in Minneapolis, “oversight” isn’t a key function of Congress these days.Guest:  Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, representative from Washington’s Ninth District.Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of The Cut column Brooding, and author of the viral article, In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing. Over the past fifteen years, technology has attempted to “fix” every small inconvenience in our lives, which has rendered us completely unable to endure basic hurdles such as sitting in silence, navigating unfamiliar social social interactions, and doing any kind of creative thinking. To reverse this, Kathryn proposes we “friction-maxx,” and rebuild our tolerance for the very things that, it turns out, make us human. This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question. In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the Mona Lisa, of all paintings, become the most famous in the world, bar none? Willa shares the story of daring heist that turned Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic smiling subject into a celebrity.Future episodes of Decoder Rings Back will only be available to Slate Plus subscribers. So if you want to be sure not to miss them, sign up for Slate Plus! You’ll get exclusive episodes and ad-free listening not just on our show, but all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/decoderplus for access whe

Podcasting is a privilege as Steve is joined by Dan Kois and Rebecca Onion to unpack and cackle at the domestic thriller schlockfest The Housemaid. Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in the Paul Fieg-directed tale of two women facing off to rule the McMansion roost.Next, Seyfried proves she’s got the range as the panel joins the chorus appraising her performance in The Testament of Ann Lee, the epic tone poem and musical biopic about the founder of the Shakers directed by Mona Fastvold. Finally, Julia hops on the call to join a conversation with Alia Hanna Habib, the influential book agent who is divulging hard-won publishing world insights in a new book Take It from Me and in the Substack Delivery & Acceptance.In a Slate Plus bonus episode, the panel addresses a listener questioner from a U.S. history teacher about syllabus-worthy pop culture.EndorsementsDan: The Ruth Asawa retrospective at MoMA which illuminates the work and life of the prolific artist.Rebecca: A bunch of books including Canti

In the 1950s, about 50% of patients who died in a hospital in the U.S. received an autopsy. Today, that figure is in the single digits, which is a big loss according to two people who care a lot about this topic: One is Dr. Alex Williamson, an forensic and pediatric pathologist who performs autopsies and talks to families of the deceased about what he learned in the process. The other is Sam Ashworth, a novelist who went looking for a storytelling device and found an obsession. This week, both men explain why autopsies are important and what they can teach us about living. Sam Ashworth’s novel ⁠The Death and Life of August Sweeny⁠ is available now. This episode was produced by Cameron Drews.Get more Death, Sex & Money with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of DSM and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Death, Sex & Money show page on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or ⁠Spotify⁠. Or, visit ⁠slate.com/dsmplus⁠ to get access wherever you listen.If you’re

Midterm elections are typically bad for the president’s party. Given how Trump’s second term is going, do the Democrats have a chance to do something historic?Guest:  David Faris, politics professor at Roosevelt University and a contributing writer for Slate. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh unpack a thrilling wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. Lindsay’s Panthers are out, John Harbaugh has been fired, the reigning champions exit early, and Caleb Williams grated some cheese.The panel is then joined by soccer journalist Hayden Van Brewer to explain how Manchester United have gotten so abysmally bad over the years. To close, Lindsay and Ben ask Alex to break down the College Football Playoffs and the upcoming championship game.On the bonus episode, available exclusively for Slate Plus members, the panel talks about the new viral queer hockey romance, Heated Rivalry.NFL (4:52): Bye Eagles, ByeMan U (20:35): Bent and brokenCFB (38:41):  How Indiana reached the top(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)Get more Hang Up and Listen with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Hang Up and Listen and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Hang Up and Listen show pag

Is Trump genuinely interested in expanding America’s borders or is this all just to further their mission of “looking tough online”? For the people surprised to suddenly find themselves on America’s bad side, does it matter? Guest: Jonathan M. Katz, journalist and the author of Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire and author of theracket.news newsletter.Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen are digging into parenting styles. The new book on the block is Lighthouse Parenting: Raising Your Child With Loving Guidance for a LIfelong Bond, out in March. And it got us thinking: are all these different parenting styles - Tiger Mom, Gentle Parenting, Free Range, etc - kinda trash? They dig into their styles, how to make different styles work for you, and more.Then, while Lucy and Zak don’t LOVE to read parenting books, they all share books that they actually got something out of. Mentioned in the Show:Want to Raise Resilient Kids? Try Lighthouse Parenting from Parents.comMiddle School Magic from Care & FeedingGlow-up Self-Love Workbook for Teen Girls by Light It Up! Publications Cribsheet by Emily OsterThe Whole-Brain Child by Dr. Daniel SiegelThe Daily DadPodcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips.Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you

To kick off the new year, users on X have been asking Grok to nudify people - and kids - at an astonishing rate. And X leadership is egging them on. Guest: Jason Koebler, founder of 404 Media and host of the 404 Media PodcastWant more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by internet culture writer Christianna Silva, who recently covered the TikTok Awards while wearing America’s new favorite device: Meta Glasses. Meta Glasses are just one AR wearable, but their revenue tripled in 2025, and 2026 looks even bigger. However, wearing your phone on your face comes with completely new etiquette, and privacy concerns are at an all time high. Now, anyone could be filming you—and you’ll never know what they’re doing with it. This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay with help from Benjamin Frisch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: The Trump administration kidnapped the president of Venezuela. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, Emily Peck, and guest Lizzie O'Leary, host of What Next: TBD, discuss Trump's rationale for the attack and the complex economics around Venezuelan oil that come with it. Then, Lizzie breaks down the unsettling trend of AI-generated nudes of real people, including many children, being created by X’s chatbot Grok and Elon Musk’s lackadaisical response to it. Finally, Emily fills us in on Trump’s $10 billion funding freeze for childcare and social services in five blue states and how the fear of "waste, fraud, and abuse” is weaponized politically. In the Slate Plus episode: Greece is the word!Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access

You saw it. We all saw it. We all saw what happened in Minneapolis when an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good for the crime of being in her car. This week on Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern attempt to digest this week’s horrific events and wonder if there is even a possibility of justice. Dahlia recommends “They Didn’t Even Need A Deepfake” by Slate’s Molly Olmstead.Later in the show, Mark speaks with Brian Finucane, a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group. He spent a decade in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser. Brian and Mark discuss the lawlessness of Trump’s foreign policy (cough cough, Venezuela), and how the administration’s approach embraces some of the worst aspects of tough-guy masculinity.Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visi

While the U.S. was busy capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, someone online was  busy placing bets on prediction markets on the ouster. And these well-timed bets may have netted a still-anonymous someone more than $400,000. Was this a case of kind-of-legal insider trading? Or is America going all-out on its efforts to make everything a casino?We’re going to be talking to pediatrician Dr. Lauren Hughes about the major changes to the CDC vaccine schedule. We want your questions! Hit us up via email at whatnextTBD@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-582-0091. Guest: Alex Kirshner, Slate contributing writerWant more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f