It seems as though a slow motion constitutional crisis may be upon us. In this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Lawfare blog editor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Ben Wittes, to assess the threats to the rule of law posed by presidential pique, and whether fired FBI director James Comey’s book could be used as a pretext for ending the Mueller probe.
Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.
It seems as though a slow motion constitutional crisis may be upon us. In this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Lawfare blog editor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Ben Wittes, to assess the threats to the rule of law posed by presidential pique, and whether fired FBI director James Comey’s book could be used as a pretext for ending the Mueller probe.
Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.
Will Congress let Mark Zuckerberg get away with under-sharing? On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus break down the Facebook chief’s trip to Washington to testify before Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They review the most amusing and revealing moments from his 10-hour testimony.
The hosts also analyze Zuckerberg’s evasion strategy and discuss whether members of Congress were buying it. And they look ahead to what regulation might be brewing that could affect Facebook and other Internet companies. Finally, Don’t Close My Tabs: their picks for the best stories and Twitter threads on the Web this week.
If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com. If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus bring us an early-week show in anticipation of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday (which also means we will have a show recapping the hearings later this week). The hosts speak with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle who will be questioning Zuckerberg on Wednesday at his second hearing in Congress this week. They speak with Pennsylvania republican Congressman Ryan Costello, and two democratic Congressman from California; Jerry McNerney and Raul Ruiz. Each of these politicians are on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will be questioning Mark Zuckerberg after his first round of questioning from the Senate.
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the outrage at the largest television station owner in the country—Sinclair Broadcasting—after the media conglomerate forced its local news anchors read a script that echoes Trumpian talking points. They also unpack Trump’s beef about Jeff Bezos owning what he calls #AmazonWashingtonPost. Meanwhile, music streaming site Spotify went public this week in a totally new kind of way. The hosts take a look at its unorthodox move, and what it means for the company’s future.
Will is joined by Al Lindsay, vice president of Alexa Engine Software at Amazon to talk about how exactly Alexa works, what privacy concerns it raises, and why it started scaring the bejesus out of people a few weeks ago by emitting peals of creepy laughter for no apparent reason.
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
On this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Priscilla Smith, director of the Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice at Yale Law School, to unpack the oral arguments in NIFLA v Becerra, the latest case on the calendar that seems to be about one thing but is being argued under the all-encompassing umbrella of speech.
Dahlia also speaks with Walter Dellinger, former acting solicitor general, about why President Donald Trump can’t get a lawyer. Spoiler: It’s because he lies.
Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.
On this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Priscilla Smith, director of the Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice at Yale Law School, to unpack the oral arguments in NIFLA v Becerra, the latest case on the calendar that seems to be about one thing but is being argued under the all-encompassing umbrella of speech.
Dahlia also speaks with Walter Dellinger, former acting solicitor general, about why President Donald Trump can’t get a lawyer. Spoiler: It’s because he lies.
Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.
Laura Miller, Alex Barasch, and Gabriel Roth discuss the new novel by Alan Hollinghurst, The Sparsholt Affair, a multigenerational saga about gay life. Following this episode, the Audio Book Club will be going on hiatus. From the hosts and producers of the show, thanks for listening.
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus dissect the latest fallout from the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal, wherein the profile data of over 50 million Facebook users was obtained and allegedly used by Trump’s online voter targeting firm. The hosts go deep into some of the subplots of that scandal, and what it means for Facebook, elections, and your privacy. They’ll also discuss the death of a pedestrian in Arizona at the hands of an Uber self-driving car, and what that means for the future of autonomous vehicles. Finally, a tech story that has gotten less attention that it probably deserves: a change in the law that governs whether websites are liable for what their users say.
Will and April are joined by David Carroll, a professor at Parsons School of Design at the New School, who focuses on political campaigns and data targeting. He’s suing Cambridge Analytica in the UK to find out what the company did with his data, and where it went. The hosts talk with him about the mechanics of how campaigns use voters’ persona data to win elections.
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus take a deep look into gerrymandering and the highly specialized mapping technology that has allowed for political parties - especially the GOP since 2010 - to drastically change the way political districts are drawn and controlled. The hosts are joined by David Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy. This interview was recorded on March 13th, so no news or tabs this week, but we’ll be back to our regular schedule next week.
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
