Author: Slate Podcasts

Trans rights and access to health care have been under attack on the state level for years, but the second Trump administration and the Supreme Court have accelerated a chilling effect at clinics across the country.

Guest: Grace Byron, author of “The Grim State of Trans Health Care” and “The Bureaucratic Nightmares of Being Trans Under Trump” for the New Yorker. 

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

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In May, after Trump announced a thorough regime of tariffs, supply chain experts warned that Americans would be looking at empty shelves by the end of June. But here we are in late July and the stores still seem fully stocked. So what happened?

Guest:  Justin Wolfers, professor of economics at the University of Michigan

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

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There’s an entire economy devoted to seeing what products are trending—clothing, skin care, even Greek Islands—and delivering you a cheaper knock-off to buy. 

Guest: Mia Sato, reporter for The Verge

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Was the Late Show too unprofitable, or too political?

Guest: Eric Deggans, NPR TV critic and media analyst, Knight Chair, Journalism and Media Ethics, Washington & Lee University.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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What does it change to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a “genocide”?

Guest:  Omer Bartov, Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University and author of the op-ed, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”

Another article mentioned in this episode:

“The Need to Forget” by Yehuda Elkana

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

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If Trump follows through and successfully shuts down the Department of Education, what does America stand to lose? 

Guest:  Laura Meckler, national education writer for The Washington Post and author of Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity.

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

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Why the Epstein scandal—more than any of Trump’s other, lengthy list of scandals—is so damaging that even the Democrats can wield it effectively.  

Guest:  Brian Beutler, author of the Substack “Off Message,” cohost of the podcast Politix.

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

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Their son was immunocompromised and couldn’t get the measles vaccines. So his dad asked if everyone going to his school would get vaccinated. 

And the thing is—people listened.

Guest:  Carl and Rhett Krawitt

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

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It’s kind of strange that Grok, Elon Musk’s chatbot, went full Nazi a few weeks ago, and is just…still out there. But, then again, how are you supposed to hold an LLM accountable?

Guest: Drew Harwell, technology reporter for the Washington Post

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