Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Did Mussolini make the trains run on time?

?Say what you like about Mussolini but he did make the trains run on time.? This phrase is the political equivalent of ?every cloud has a silver lining? ? but does it have any factual basis? Mussolini?s dictatorship in Italy was full of atrocities, brutal suppression and propaganda. Did it also create a more efficient railway network? We speak to Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat about the truth of the claim and why the Mussolini regime wanted us to believe it. Presenter: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Lizzy McNeill Researcher: Esme Winterbotham Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Sound Master: James Beard Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison.

Image: Benito Mussolini in his train studying maps. (Photo by ullstein picture/ullstein picture via Getty Images)

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What A Day - House Republicans ClusterMusk

House Republicans on Thursday failed to pass their backup plan to fund the government temporarily. The bill’s demise left lawmakers with few options to avert a looming shutdown Friday, after President-elect Donald Trump and his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk used their respective social media platforms earlier this week to blow up a bipartisan deal. Politico politics reporter Mia McCarthy, explains the prospects of a government shutdown just a few days before Christmas and the start of Hanukkah.

Later in the show, Melissa’ Murray, co-host of Crooked’s ‘Strict Scrutiny,’ recaps an eventful year at the Supreme Court. 

And in headlines: Secretary of State Antony Blinken expresses optimism about an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Amazon delivery drivers go on strike, and Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual press conference.

Show Notes:


 

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Plus | A Karaoke Holiday With What Next

For a very special holiday edition of What Next, Mary chats with Death Sex & Money host Anna Sale about the anthems they’ll be belting out the next time they do karaoke—and they take calls from colleagues and listeners about their own go-to barn-burners for this unsettled moment.


You can find all these anthems (and more) on one Spotify playlist here https://tinyurl.com/whatnextkaraoke


Guest: Anna Sale, host of Slate’s Death, Sex & Money


To hear the rest of this episode, subscribe to Slate Plus. You'll also access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


Podcast production by Madeline Ducharme.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Drones!??!!!?!!!

Reports of flocks of drones, flying overhead nightly, are coming in from New Jersey down to Maryland. Are they UFOs? Nefarious foreign powers? Something even more pernicious? Something even more banal?


Guest: Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of The Air Current.

Ben Mathis-Lilly, Slate senior writer


Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

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What A Day - Abortion in Trump’s America

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a case over South Carolina’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood. The state wants to cut off Medicaid funding for all of Planned Parenthood’s healthcare services. That includes things like mammograms, birth control, STD testing — you know, health care. So here we are again, with the very conservative Supreme Court set to hear another case that could affect how and where people get their reproductive care. Mary Ziegler, a professor at U.C. Davis School of Law and an expert on the history and politics of abortion in the U.S., explains where the reproductive rights debate is headed in President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

And in headlines: Trump torpedoed a government funding bill that could set us up for a government shutdown, the House Ethics Committee voted to release its report on former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first severe case of bird flu in the U.S.

Show Notes:

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Can More Grocery Stores Fix Food Deserts?

How do you keep a grocery store open in a small or low-income community? The answer might involve regulating big box stores like Walmart and Kroger.


Guest: Molly Parker, investigative reporter for Capitol News Illinois and a Local Reporting Network fellow at ProPublica.


Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


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

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