Slate News

An obsession with Hunter Biden’s laptop has been written off as the byproduct of a right-wing media bubble—but the reality is that what you don’t know can hurt you. It’s past time for Democrats and their supporters to confront some uncomfortable facts.Guest: Olivia Nuzzi, Washington Correspondent for New York magazine.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years anti-abortion activists have argued that Roe v. Wade wasn’t just immoral, it was federal overreach, and abortion laws should be written on the state level. Only months after Roe’s overturn, district courts are hearing cases that demonstrate why that won’t work—and Republican senators are proposing a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks.Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer covering courts and the law 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 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Victims of a new and high tech kind of human trafficking are forced to scam people all around the world.Guest: Cezary PodkulHost: Lizzie O'LearyHuman Trafficking’s Newest Abuse: Forcing Victims Into Cyberscamming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The student body of America’s public schools is more diverse than ever, with a solid majority of children of color. But the teacher corp doesn’t reflect that diversity. Fewer than a quarter of American teachers are non-white, and fewer than 10 percent of teachers are Black. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by former U.S. Secretary of Education John King about what’s driving Black teachers from the classroom, and the efforts to bring more young teachers in.Guest: John King, former Secretary of Education and current president of The Education TrustPodcast production by Yanii EvansYou 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

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus sits down with writer and political scientist Virginia Eubanks. They talk about Virginia’s New York Times magazine essay , “His PTSD, and My Struggle to Live With It,” and how the condition is more widespread than most people realize, even as terms like “trauma” and “triggered” are tossed around cavalierly. Later in the show, they talk about why you shouldn’t give unsolicited advice to people living with PTSD—and what kind of support caregivers of people with PTSD really need.   In Slate Plus: Why Virginia wanted to write her New York Times essay, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic is, technically speaking, a traumatic event. Further Recommended Reading:What to Say When Someone Tells You They’re Chronically Ill by Rachel MeeksIrritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story by Gabriel MacPodcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss Ukraine’s advances with Anne Applebaum; Lindsey Graham’s national abortion ban bill; and the controversy over requiring religious schools in New York to meet minimum educational standards.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory”Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “The Other Ukrainian Army”Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, by Anne ApplebaumShtiselFill The VoidHere are this week’s chatters:John: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life,by George Saunders Emily: Shaila Dewan for The New York Times: “Philadelphia Prosecutor Is Found in Contempt by State Representatives”David: Mosaic Magazine: “The Royal Mohel and the House of Windsor’s Relationship with the Jews”Listener chatter from Andrea: NPR’s Planet Money: “Best By, Sell By, Use By”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss the Death of Queen Elizabeth II. Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.Research by Bridgette Dunlap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A small parish in Louisiana tried to get affordable, fast internet. An incumbent ISP stopped them.Guest: Issie Lapowsky, Wanda ManningHost: Lizzie O'Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the many things laid bare by COVID-19 was the importance of public health messaging—and the many ways it can fail. So when monkeypox began spreading in the U.S., the White House found someone who understands just how important it is to know your audience. Guest: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator and former director of the CDC Division of HIV Prevention.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed Russian forces back to the east surprisingly quickly and effectively. Military experts are now wondering if Ukraine will win the war outright and avoid the stalemate that seemed likely only a few weeks ago. But if Vladamir Putin starts to feel the heat both in the field and from citizens at home, what is he capable of? And lacking a mechanism to remove their leader from office, what can Russians do? Guest: Fred Kaplan is Slate’s war stories correspondent and author of The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Kingdom is saddled with an energy crisis, a pandemic-weary national health service, and continued economic fallout from Brexit. For now, the country is observing an official mourning period, after losing its longest-serving monarch. But soon it will be time for King Charles and newly-installed Prime Minister Liz Truss to show what they’ll do to lead the U.K. through what’s expected to be a grim winter. Guest: Charlotte Ivers, political correspondent for Times Radio, and columnist for the Sunday Times.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices