Slate News

Vladimir Putin has always regarded the internet with suspicion. Now, with western tech companies pulling out of Russia and control of the war narrative slipping, he sees an opening. Will Putin wall off Russia from the rest of the digital world?Guests:Yana Pashaeva, Moscow-based journalistJustin Sherman, fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What it’s been like for one Ukrainian-American journalist to cover the Russian attack on his homeland: “The first couple of days of the war, I threw myself into work, and then after that, I couldn't function for a day or two. And I quickly figured out that if I keep working, then I have to abstract it on some level.”Guest: Romeo Kokriatski, managing editor of The New Voice of Ukraine and co-host of the podcast Ukraine Without Hype.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The congressional committee investigating January 6th has outlined potential criminal charges against former President Trump. Why did the Department of Justice let someone else beat them to it?Guest: Ankush Khardori is a DC-based lawyer and a former federal prosecutor who specialized in financial fraud and white-collar crime. He’s a contributing writer for Intelligencer and a contributing editor at Politico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Volodymyr Zelensky went from being one of Ukraine’s most successful entertainment moguls to its much-heralded wartime president. Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer at the Atlantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration’s new pandemic rules and countermeasures intend to bring us into a “new phase of the pandemic.” The CDC also released new guidelines for masking, and now about 70% of Americans can go mask free. What do these new guidelines actually say about what stage of the pandemic we’re in? Guest: Megan Ranney, emergency room doctor at Brown Emergency Medicine. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Second Sight restored partial vision to hundreds of patients around the world through retinal implants. Then, on the verge of bankruptcy, they abandoned the project. Now, over 300 patients with Second Sight technology in their bodies are asking: what will happen to us?Guest: Eliza Strickland, senior editor at IEEE SpectrumHost: Lizzie O'Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court made history. But according to MSNBC legal analyst Elie Mystal, it will take a lot more than her confirmation to break the conservative hold on the nation’s judiciary. On today’s episode of A Word, he talks with Jason Johnson about the confirmation battle ahead, and about his new book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.Guest: Elie Mystal, MSNBC political analyst and the justice correspondent for The Nation. His new book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution is out now.Podcast production by Jasmine EllisYou 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, we’re talking Texas. Slate community manager Evan Urquhart and author and co-host of Slate’s Outward podcast Jules Gill-Peterson dig into the Texas governor’s directive to treat gender-affirming health care for transgender youth as child abuse. In the first half of the show, they explore what’s going on in Texas and the harm it’s already causing. Later they talk about how the problem in Texas is symptomatic of a much bigger trans obsession by the GOP. In Slate Plus: Is Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism feminist?Recommendations:Evan: Do your research“What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?”“U.S. Transgender Survey”“Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care”Jules: Support on the ground organizations in Texas and contacting lawmakers to demand they support trans kids.Donate to TENTEquality TexasCampaign For Southern Equality  Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and June Thomas. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up against one of the world's most effective propaganda operations, Ukraine has taken control of the online narrative. With Russian troops closing in, how important is winning the information war?Guest: Casey Newton, writer at PlatformerHost: Lizzie O'Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flee to safety in neighboring countries and beyond, the UN says this may become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century. But it’s hard not to notice the stark difference between how the EU is welcoming Ukrainian refugees versus the non-European refugees who came before them.Guest: Serena Parekh, professor at Northeastern University in Boston and the director of its politics, philosophy and economics program.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices