Slate Books - The Waves: Can Fairy Tales Be Feminist?

On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re diving into fairy tales. Slate book critic Laura Miller talks with author Kelly Link about her collection of fairy tale inspired short stories, White Cat, Black Dog. They discuss how fairy tales have influenced Kelly’s work, the allure of the “searching for a beloved” story, finding a community of female writers. 


In Slate Plus: Cheyna Roth and Luke Winkie discuss episode three of Max’s And Just Like That…


Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by 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

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Why We Have to Take RFK Jr. Seriously

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s politics, such as they can be parsed, are a mix of conspiracy theories and vibes. But in a post-Trump landscape, and with RFK polling at 20 percent among Democratic presidential candidates, cranky contrarians have to be taken seriously—right?


Guest: Vera Bergengruen, investigative correspondent at Time 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 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

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Moore v Harper Was a Win for Democracy, A Big Loss For Donald Trump

This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. Thank you to our Slate Plus members for making this episode available to all listeners. The full version of this episode is now exclusively available to our Slate Plus members. If you want to have access to bonus content like this, go to slate.com/amicusplus to become a member.

In deciding against the bonkers (technical legal term) “Independent State Legislature Theory” in Moore v Harper, the Supreme Court chose not to take a wrecking ball to American democracy. Judge Michael Luttig, a counsel of record in the case, is relieved but not surprised. In this emergency episode of Amicus, Judge Luttig tells Dahlia Lithwick that Tuesday’s decision may have big repercussions at the Department of Justice, in Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Trump’s role in January 6th.

Sign up for Slate Plus now to support our show.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - We Need to Talk About Kevin McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy has always had his eyes on one job - Speaker of the House. But after Republicans won Congress’s lower chamber by a razor thin majority, the party’s right wing extracted major concessions before handing over the gavel. When the GOP accepted a deal with the Biden administration to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, House hardliners felt betrayed. Now McCarthy faces renewed attacks on his leadership from within his own party. With important legislation that still needs to be passed, and little wiggle room for dissent, how does McCarthy hang on?


Guest: Rachael Bade, POLITICO Senior Washington Correspondent


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.


Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Failed Coup in Russia

For months, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been railing against his own country’s military leadership. It all came to a head this weekend – when the mercenary leader gathered his troops, took over a Russian city, and started to march towards Moscow. Then – as suddenly as it began – it stopped. Russia says Prigozhin has fled to Belarus, and his troops will all be granted amnesty. But an independent Russian journalist in exile doubts the official narrative, and speculates on Vladimir Putin’s future.. 


Guest: Mikhail Zygar, Russian journalist and author of the upcoming book, “War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine” 


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.


Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Can Ozempic Cure Addiction?

Semaglutide, better known by its brand name Ozempic, has been making headlines as a weight loss drug – despite only having FDA approval to treat diabetes. Now, some say it doesn’t just quell cravings for food – it helps quiet cravings for alcohol, drugs, and other compulsive behaviors. For years, researchers have been studying semaglutide's effectiveness as an addiction cure in animals. What have they found? And – does it actually work? 


Guest: Sarah Zhang covers health and medicine for The Atlantic


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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Supreme Court Politics One Year On From Dobbs

This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions, and the other legal happenings in June. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox.


On this one year anniversary of Dobbs, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Anat Shenker Osorio to talk about how the political class still hasn’t found a way to communicate or act toward the court that delivered this suffering. 

Next, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern to talk about two important decisions that came down this week, one concerning the rights of criminal defendants and another about the U.S. President’s right to set immigration policy


In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia and Mark tackle more questions from the Slate Plus listener mail bag about the tension between establishment clause and equal protection claims in suits brought to fight back against Dobbs on religious grounds, and how to impeach terrible awful no-good judges.


Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate Books - Future Tense Fiction: Who Gets to Escape the Climate Crisis?

On this month’s episode of Future Tense Fiction, host Maddie Stone talks to Matt Bell about his short story “Empathy Hour.”


In the story’s climate-change-ravaged future, society’s wealthiest are whisked away to luxurious, self-contained cities. Once there, they entertain themselves with a carefully crafted reality show meant to assuage their guilt about the climate refugees they’ve left behind. But then, someone breaks into their airbrushed world, lifting the lid on what hides underneath it. 


After the story, Matt and Maddie discuss the promises and pitfalls of climate fiction–and why we want to feel empathy, but never too much. 


Guest: Matt Bell is the author of several books, including the novel Appleseed, a New York Times Notable Book of 2021. He is a professor of creative writing at Arizona State University. 


Story read by Josh Bloomberg


Podcast production by Tiara Darnell


You can skip all the ads in Future Tense Fiction by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/plus for just $15 for your first three months.


Check out AWS Insiders here: https://link.chtbl.com/awsinsiders?sid=podcast.futuretensefiction

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | The U.S. vs Amazon Prime

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon, accusing the online giant of “tricking and trapping people into recurring subscriptions.” The complaint says Amazon “knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime." 


With murmurs of a larger antitrust probe against Amazon just around the corner, how serious is this suit for the tech giant? 


Guest: Leah Nylen, antitrust reporter at Bloomberg


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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate Books - A Word: Black and Proud

During this LGBTQ Pride month, many members of the community are reflecting on a year of unprecedented political and legal attacks. One of the biggest battlefields has been in public schools and libraries, where books featuring LGBTQ stories have been the targets of censors. On today’s episode of A Word, guest host journalist Aisha Mills is joined by George M. Johnson, author of one of the most banned books, All Boys Aren’t Blue. They talk about the intersection of race and gender identity, and how Johnson has fought back against critics who call the book dangerous and inappropriate for children.


Guest: George M. Johnson, author of All Boys Aren’t Blue


Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola


You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices