Emily Bazelon talks with author and Yale professor Judith Resnik about her new book, Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy. They discuss the history of the prison system’s use of punishments like whipping, how the practice came to an end, and more.
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Dahlia Lithwick talks to First Amendment law professor Mary Anne Franks to explore the inversion of free speech in America this past week, and to trace the ways our assumptions about the First Amendment helped to tip us into this upside-down. Dr. Franks, author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment, explains the contradictions inherent in free-speech absolutism, the role of government in suppressing dissent, and the impact of media and entertainment on public discourse. What are we to make of a movement that screamed “jawboning” and “censorship” for a decade, but when handed power enthusiastically enacts actual governmental speech suppression and censorship? And what does the First Amendment mean if the powerful are consistently afforded maximum power in the “marketplace of ideas”?
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TikTok—which was supposed to be banned again on Wednesday but, again, isn’t—may be legal once more. The Trump administration says it’s meeting with Xi Jinping Friday to finalize the agreement, which may involve—get this—a wealthy Trump-supporting tech mogul.
Guest: Nitish Pahwa, staff writer for business and tech at Slate.
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As the Charlie Kirk murder demonstrated, law enforcement, the government, and media all need more internet fluency. But their reactions in the wake of the murder don’t seem to be moving towards a better understanding.
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Donald Trump has been calling for the Fed to cut rates to bolster the economy, and yesterday, they announced they would. The bad news is that’s because the economy is going to need a lot more bolstering.
Guest: Justin Wolfers, economist and professor at the University of Michigan
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
What happens to an organization when it purges much of its leadership and ranks irrespective of ability, and hires for sycophantic loyalty instead? The FBI is finding out.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
When Megan Greenwell was 34 she landed a coveted job in journalism as the editor-in-chief of the sports and culture blog, Deadspin. Just over a year later a post about why she was resigning went viral – a private equity firm had bought Deadspin’s parent company, and was seeking "a quick cash-out rather than the growth that comes from a well-run business."
Her experience led her to spend six years investigating the industry for her book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dreamwhich follows four Americans whose lives were upended by private equity takeovers in retail, healthcare, housing, and media.
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Conservatives have decried higher education as a center of liberal indoctrination for decades, and under the second Trump administration, colleges and universities are watching their federal funding be withheld or frozen, their presidents step down, and professors lose their jobs.
What can be done to wrest back academic freedom and independence from a vindictive administration?
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Hasan Piker was scheduled to debate Charlie Kirk at Dartmouth University later this month, a left-vs-right, Vidal-vs-Buckley for the streaming age. In the wake of Kirk’s shocking death, Piker wants to continue to be clear about who Kirk was, what he stood for, and the reactionary political project he was working to advance.
Guest: Hasan Piker, Twitch streamer and left-wing political commentator.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
After their daughter committed suicide, they found her ChatGPT log—and where artificial intelligence helped her write her suicide note.
Guest: Laura Reiley, writer for the Cornell Chronicle.
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