What is the purpose of schools? Most people would say to teach children to meet their potential and to prepare them for the world. But in her new book “Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism,” Chicago author and sociologist Eve Ewing presents readers with an exhaustively researched history of how U.S. schools have been a place where separation and inequality have been enshrined by design. Reset checks in with Ewing to explore the role of schools in America and a better way forward.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Europe’s largest and deadliest war since 1945 needs to come to an end, argues Victor Davis Hanson in this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
As rumors of peace talks between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine spread, Hanson talks shop about the likely outcomes and why President Donald Trump is the only one who can end Europe’s bloodiest war since World War II:
“What did Donald Trump do when he came in? He started giving offensive weapons to Ukraine. He killed 300 to 400 of the Wagner Group in Syria. Nobody had ever done that in the Cold War, killed that many Russians. He got out of an asymmetrical missile deal. He sanctioned the oligarchs at a higher level. He started flooding the world with cheap oil that could bankrupt Russia. He was the best friend that Ukraine ever had.”
Many people assume that the first introduction of Christianity to the Chinese was part of nineteenth-century Western imperialism. In fact, Syriac-speaking Christians brought the gospel along the Silk Road into China in the seventh century. Glen L. Thompson introduces readers to the fascinating history of this early Eastern church, referred to as Jingjiao, or the “Luminous Teaching.”
Thompson presents the history of the Persian church’s mission to China with rigor and clarity. While Christianity remained a minority and “foreign” religion in the Middle Kingdom, it nonetheless attracted adherents among indigenous Chinese and received imperial approval during the Tang Dynasty. Though it was later suppressed alongside Buddhism, it resurfaced in China and Mongolia in the twelfth century. Thompson also discusses how the modern unearthing of Chinese Christian texts has stirred controversy over the meaning of Jingjiao to recent missionary efforts in China.
In an accessible style, Thompson guides readers through primary sources as well as up-to-date scholarship. As the most recent and balanced survey on the topic available in English, Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China(Eerdmans, 2024) will be an indispensable resource for students of global Christianity and missiology.
Glen L. Thompson is professor emeritus of New Testament and historical theology at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong. He has retired to Milwaukee, where he researches, works with students, and expands his Fourth-Century Christianity website.
New Books in Syriac Studies is presented by Kristian Heal.
What's the latest in love? For Valentine’s Day weekend, we’re talking about dating app trends, the impact of AI, the role of politics, and more on dating and relationships, both online and in real life.
Celebrity dating coach Damona Hoffman joins us to share data and advice.
Join us again for our 10-minute daily news roundups every Mon-Fri!
On the "CBS News Weekend Roundup," host Allison Keyes gets the latest on this "high severity" flu season from CBS's Alex Tin. She also speaks with infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja at Johns Hopkins about how dropping vaccine rates are affecting a measles outbreak in the nation, and gets his reaction to the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. In the "Kaleidoscope with Allison Keyes" segment, a look at new data showing how the average 3rd to 8th grader is still struggling with achievement in the wake of COVID-19.
Emily Bazelon talks with author Rich Benjamin about his new book, Talk to Me: Lessons From a Family Forged by History. They delve into Rich’s complex family history— particularly the experiences of his grandfather, Daniel Fignolé. Fignolé was the president of Hatti in 1957 before being ousted by a coup that involved American influence. Rich and Emily discuss how the political upheaval had a lasting impact on Rich and his family, the immigrant experience of “internalizing America” and the lasting scars of trauma.
Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
On Monday, President Trump’s personal lawyer and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered prosecutors to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams had been courting President Trump for weeks, including with a pre-inauguration visit to Mar A Lago, but the shape of the deal struck between the accused Mayor and the incoming administration came into clear view with a flurry of Department of Justice resignations on Thursday. On this week’s episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick speaks to Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney, and host and executive producer of the podcast Talking Feds. Harry explains why the so-called “Thursday Night Massacre” is not the kind of scandal even this administration can shrug off while yelling something about the “deep state” and “weaponization”.
Next, Dahlia turns to the chaotic, destructive and dangerous “spontaneous disassembly” of much of the federal government currently taking place at the hands of Elon Musk with guest Sam Bagenstos, former general counsel of the United States Department of Health and Human Services until December 2024, also former general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget from January 2021 until June 2022. Now a professor at the University of Michigan, Sam explains what happens when the federal government stops working, and why persistently asking whether or not we’re in a constitutional crisis is simply the wrong question.
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, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.
On the 25th January, the US Press Secretary announced that in their bid to stop ?fraud? and waste DOGE had cancelled $50 million worth of condoms being sent to Gaza by the United States Agency for International Development (aka USAID).
President Trump later repeated this claim, adding on that Hamas were using said condoms to make bombs to fire at Israel.
On the 7th of February the USAID website was taken down.
We fact check this claim and find out how much of the US budget was spent on USAID programmes.
Presenter: Charlotte McDonald
Producer: Lizzy McNeill
Research: Josh McMinn
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: David Crackles
Editor: Richard Vadon
