What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Biden’s Commitment Problem

With Biden losing thousands of votes to “uncommitted” and Trump unable to pull incumbent numbers, the Michigan primaries seemed to show that the electorate isn’t exactly enthusiastic about either candidate. What options remain for two known quantities to win votes?


Guest: David Faris, political science professor and Slate politics writer.


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

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - What Happened to Nex Benedict?

Sixteen-year-old Nex Benedict died one day after being beaten in an Oklahoma high school bathroom. His death has drawn attention to the more-than 50 bills that have been introduced in the state legislature targeting queer and trans people. 


Guest: Jo Yurcaba, reporter for NBC Out.


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Slate Books - Well, Now: Ending Racism in Healthcare

The U.S. healthcare system can split the country into two Americas.

Your zip code, education, class status and more all play a role in the outcome of your health as well as the kind of care you receive. 

Fewer markers more clearly define these disparities than race. 

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita talk about racism in American healthcare with Dr. Uché Blackstock

Her new book Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine gives a historical view of how racism has always played a role in U.S. healthcare. 

This book is also a memoir of her own experience as a physician carrying on the legacy of her late mother, Dr. Dale Gloria Blackstock.

Health Resources Mentioned in the Episode:


Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com 

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - War in Ukraine, Two Years In

The situation for Ukraine is slipping from a stalemate to again losing territory to the Russian invasion. After two years of combat, will American and EU allies support the Ukrainian cause for as long as it takes?  


Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s war stories correspondent.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Will Trump Take Over the RNC?

Is RNC chairperson Ronna McDaniel to blame for Republicans’ poor fundraising and recent underperformance in elections? 


Guest: Shelby Talcott, reporter covering Trump and national Republicans for Semafor.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Alabama’s IVF Mess

Fertility doctors and their patients trying to conceive via in vitro fertilization (IVF) were stopped in their tracks this week, as the Alabama Supreme Court declared that embryos have the same rights as people. The decision has left doctors wondering if they can be sued for carrying out standard IVF procedures, and experts worry the ruling could have ramifications for IVF around the country. 


Guest: Dr. Elizabeth Constance, reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist in Omaha, Nebraska.


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Check out Compiler here.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - A Series of Lawsuits That We Call an Election


Dahlia Lithwick is drinking from the firehose of legal news again and this week is joined by election law professor Rick Hasen to figure out why we’re all still hanging on for the Supreme Court to make a call in former President Donald J Trump’s sweeping claim to immunity from prosecution over the events of January 6th, how Americans could actually achieve a real right to vote, and why no-one’s paying attention to a pair of incredibly consequential social media cases being argued at SCOTUS next week. 


In our Slate Plus segment, Dahlia and Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern discuss the bonkers but very very real implications of the Alabama Supreme Court decision to bestow personhood on embryos being used in fertility treatment, creating an impossible legal landscape for clinics and those struggling to become pregnant. Next, they sift through Justice Samuel Alito’s grievance debris in a recent dissent to find the deeply worrying signposts toward overturning equal marriage rights. Finally, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court pleads with SCOTUS to clear up the mess it made of gun laws with its decision in Bruen.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | The Coasts are Sinking

Studies have found that, in tiny increments, America’s East Coast is sinking into the ground thanks to climate change. Can a new approach to urban planning mitigate the effect?


Guest: Matt Simon, senior staff writer at Wired.


You can read Matt’s reporting here.


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Slate Books - A Word: Diversity in the Diaspora

The American obsession with categorizing people by race isn’t just a problem for our institutions. For multi-racial and multi-ethnic Americans, it can be intensely personal. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by journalist Natasha Alford. She shares her own unique experience navigating America’s complicated ideas about race in her new book, American Negra: A Memoir. Alford shares how her African American and Puerto Rican heritage shaped her understanding of race in her early life, and how those ideas were challenged when she attended Harvard University and later became a journalist.  


Guest: Natasha Alford, author of American Negra: A Memoir


Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Basketball Phenom Shaking Up the NCAA

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has scored more points than any other NCAA women’s basketball player in history, but her impact extends even further than her substantial range on the court.


Guest: Hayley McGoldrick, associate editor at Sportsnet.


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