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NYTimes columnist Ross Douthat joins the show to help untangle the implications of the off-year elections and John, Emily and David discuss the Supreme Court arguments on abortion in Texas and guns in New York.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery, by Ross DouthatEmily Bazelon for The New York Times: “It’s Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court Now”Here’s this week’s chatter:Emily: Associated Press: “University Of Florida Faces Investigation After Blocking Professors From Voting Case”David: Scott MacFarlane, Rick Yarborough, and Steve Jones for NBC 4 Washington: “DC Tunnel History Site Flagged Suspicious Activity Before Capitol Insurrection”John: Jeff Stein for The Washington Post: “Financial Firms Announce $130 Trillion In Commitments For Climate Transition, But Practical Questions Loom”Listener chatter from JD Cameron @J_D_Cameron: John Muller for FiveThirtyEight: “Soccer Looks Different When You Can’t See Who’s Playing”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment John, Emily, and David talk to Ross about his new book, The Deep Places. 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 Jocelyn Frank.Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Democrats suffered major losses in local and state elections this week. Are the results a harbinger for the party’s fate heading into the 2022 midterms? Guest: Jim Newell, Slate’s senior 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.

It’s been over four years since white supremacists gathered in a violent and deadly demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now, nine people are suing the organizers and groups involved with the Unite the Right rally as they try to prove the protest was a conspiracy to commit racially-motivated violence. This isn’t the first time white supremacists have been taken to court -- but could this trial spell real consequences?Guest: Kathleen Belew, a historian at the University of Chicago, and the author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America and A Field Guide to White Supremacy.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.

India Walton won the Democratic primary for Mayor of Buffalo, New York, in June. Her victory put her on track to become the first socialist mayor in the city’s history, and the first nationwide in more than half a century. The only problem is, her opponent - current mayor Byron Brown - refuses to bow out, and is waging a well-funded write-in campaign in the hopes of keeping his post.How has a self-styled socialist gotten so close to running Buffalo? And why are some Democrats standing in her way?Guest: Ross Barkan, a contributing writer to The Nation and the author of The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York.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.

Slate Money is obsessed with Succession, HBO's wonderful drama about the lives of the superrich Roy family. So, every Monday, we'll be discussing the previous night's episode with spoiler-filled glee. For Episode 3, Felix Salmon and Emily Peck are joined by Matt Haber, Newsletter Editor for the Alta Journal, to armchair psychoanalyze Kendall, talk about the daddy issues of the Roy children, and debate whether Tom will actually go to prison. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The public scrutiny applied to Facebook has been building for years, as the company grows its user base faster than its ability to regulate its content. But distrust among Facebook employees is also building, as evidenced by the remarkable disclosure of internal Facebook documents by whistleblower Frances Haugen. A crisis of trust could be what undoes Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to dominate the internet of the future.Guest: Steven Levy is editor-at-large at WIRED and author of numerous books, including, most recently, Facebook: The Inside Story. 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.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Stacy-Marie Ishmael talk about Facebook’s transformation to Metaverse, how the billionaire income tax would work (and why it won’t happen), and Hertz’s new deal with Tesla. In the Plus segment: How a butt dial blundered a coup.Mentioned In the show: “Why Hertz’s big Tesla deal is such a blockbuster” by Rebecca Heilweil“Democrats’ billionaire tax would heavily target 10 wealthiest Americans, but alternative plan is emerging” by Jeff Stein, Andrew Van Dam and Tony Romm“How the Billionaires Income Tax Would Work” by Richard Rubin “What the Metaverse Is, Who’s in It and Why It Matters” by Nate Lanxon “Facebook’s Doppelganger ETF Rakes in Cash on Mistaken Identity” by Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine“Facebook just revealed its new name: Meta” by Kim Lyons “Rogers Chairman Fires Board for Firing Him for Firing CEO” by Matt Levine   Email: slatemoney@slate.comPodcast production by Cheyna Roth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bots aren’t just buying cool sneakers. They’re buying concert tickets. Tickets to basketball games and Broadway shows. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were buying hand sanitizer and face masks. And later, they were booking vaccine reservation spots.Why are bots taking over certain markets? And is there anything we can do to slow them down?Guests: Derreck Johnson, designer at SlateEric Budish, economics professor at the University of ChicagoHost: Seth Stevenson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bots aren’t just buying cool sneakers. They’re buying concert tickets. Tickets to basketball games and Broadway shows. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were buying hand sanitizer and face masks. And later, they were booking vaccine reservation spots.Why are bots taking over certain markets? And is there anything we can do to slow them down?Guests: Derreck Johnson, designer at SlateEric Budish, economics professor at the University of ChicagoHost: Seth Stevenson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David talk about the Facebook Papers; Building Back (somewhat) Better; and are joined by author Pamela Paul to talk about the trivial and serious sides of her new book: 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Casey Newton for Platformer on Substack: “How The American Internet Is Turning European”Farhad Manjoo for The New York Times: “Facebook Is Bad. Fixing It Rashly Could Make It Much Worse.”Adrienne LaFrance for The Atlantic: “‘History Will Not Judge Us Kindly’”Nitish Pahwa for Slate: “The Facebook Crisis in India Might Be the Worst Facebook Crisis of All”Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley for The New York Times: “Hunting for Money, Democrats Rush to Rewrite Tax Code”100 Things We've Lost to the Internet, by Pamela Paul Here’s this week’s chatter:Emily: Alix Wall for Berkeleyside: “This Couple Loves Berkeley Bowl So Much, They Took Their Engagement Photos There” (hat tip: Cyrus Farivar @cfarivar)David: Andrea Salcedo for The Washington Post: “A Hiker Got Lost In Colorado, Then Ignored Rescuers’ Calls Because They Came From An Unknown Number”John: Bailey Vogt for Washington City Paper: “Iconic D.C. Barber Diego D’Ambrosio Died At 87”; The Lost DaughterListener chatter from Kerry Donovan @KerryDonovanCO: Bill Chappell for NPR: “A Mysterious 'A Team' Just Rescued Dogs From a Volcano's Lava Zone in La Palma”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment John, Emily, and David discuss the best things the internet has given them.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 Jocelyn Frank.Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.