Author: Slate Podcasts

Last weekend, 17 foreign missionaries living in Haiti were taken hostage by a criminal gang demanding million-dollar ransom payments. Kidnappings have become routine in Haiti over the past two years, as the national government has weakened in the wake of years of foreign influence, corruption, persistent poverty, natural disasters, and political upheaval. But the latest mass abduction of so many Americans is a provocation that could prompt an international intervention, in spite of the long history of botched foreign meddling in Haiti.   

Guest: Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean correspondent for the Miami Herald. 

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Between April and June of this year, Zillow bought nearly 4,000 homes. And they had no intention of holding onto them. The plan was to flip houses, often and at scale, joining the ranks of companies like Opendoor and Offerpad, also known as iBuyers. 

So, why did Zillow put their plans on pause last weekend? Can online middlemen really change the way we buy and sell houses?

Guests: 

Tony Santos, homeowner

Patrick Clark, reporter at Bloomberg

Host: Henry Grabar

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Once an obscure legal doctrine, the practice of qualified immunity for police has drawn widespread public scrutiny in the past year. But as mainstream support for ending qualified immunity grows, police unions are amping up their opposition. 

Guest: Kimberly Kindy, national investigative reporter for The Washington Post.

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Virginia’s gubernatorial election is just weeks away, with former Virginia governor, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, vying against newcomer Republican Glenn Youngkin. Many polls show a slim margin between the two candidates, as they spar over issues like critical race theory and Trump’s legacy in an election seen as a bellwether for the upcoming midterm elections.

Guest: Ben Paviour, state politics reporter at VPM. 

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Colin Powell, known as a “trailblazer” and “pathbreaker” in his military career, leaves behind a complicated legacy. The four-star general became a household name during the first Gulf War as the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later the first Black secretary of state. Thirty years after his rise to national prominence, Powell’s death has prompted reflections on the Iraq War and his role in using false intelligence to justify the U.S. invasion.  

Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s War Stories columnist. 

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Democrats spent months fretting last year about the Postal Service and the fate of democracy. Now the Democrats are in charge. So why is the mail slowing down? And could planned changes fix what ails the Postal Service?

Guest: Jacob Bogage, business reporter for the Washington Post. 

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Over the last month, the domain company Epik and the streaming service Twitch have fallen prey to massive-scale hacks. The hackers revealed not just email addresses, but detailed personal information too. For Twitch, it was the entire source code for their site. 

But the attackers aren’t holding this data for ransom. In fact, they don’t seem to want much of anything. What’s motivating this new wave of activist hacks? And who suffers?

Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter at the Washington Post

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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For as glamorous as Hollywood often seems, the workers behind the scenes rarely experience the star treatment. They do everything from sound design and makeup to cinematography and lighting, and they’ve had enough with the industry’s dizzying production pace and long hours that stretch into the early morning. Motivated by shifts in the industry due to the pandemic, workers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union are gearing up for a strike that could halt movie and show productions alike.

Guest: Anousha Sakoui, entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times. 

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The Havana Syndrome sounds like something straight out of a spy novel: microwaves are being directed towards U.S. embassies, causing hearing loss, headaches, and in some cases, permanent brain damage. The Biden administration is taking these “anomalous health incidents” very seriously. Should we?

Guest: Michael Wilner, a Senior National Security and White House Correspondent for McClatchy. 

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