Slate Daily Feed

GETTR, a new social media network from former Trump aide Jason Miller, launched on July 1 and quickly became an unmanageable mess. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison discuss this low-budget Twitter clone, how it got overrun with hentai, and why its privacy issues may indicate that the network is already dead. If you’d like to read more on GETTR, Slatester Aaron Mak wrote about what happened when he tried to make a profile on the platform as Donald Trump. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supercuts revolutionized the haircutting industry, and managed to stay in style as trends changed. But then came the pandemic. Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin with help from Grace Woodruff. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many white-collar workers, the full-time work from home era is coming to an end. Some are going back into offices five days a week. Many others will be expected to split the week between home and the office.  As the new rules are laid down, office workers are asking themselves: do we want work to go back to the way it was? Or is it time, finally, to try something different?  Guest: Brigid Schulte, director of the Better Life Lab at New America Host Henry Grabar   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s combination of bigotry, lies, and meanness led to a victory that stunned political pundits in 2016. Atlantic writer Adam Serwer would go on to coin the phrase that summed up Trump’s appeal: the cruelty is the point. Serwer has collected his essays chronicling the Trump era in the new book, The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America, and joins host Jason Johnson to discuss it on this week’s episode of A Word. Guest: Adam Serwer, staff writer for The Atlantic and author of The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America.  Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate Supreme Court reporters Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern join forces to dissect Amy Coney Barrett’s first term on the bench. They talk about how her confirmation hearings were shaped by Democrats’ desire to paint her as an enemy of health care, and how her recent decision upholding the Affordable Care Act has gotten her outsized praise. Then, they dissect her desire to be seen as an academic rather than a conservative, and unpack what we can expect from her in the years to come. In Slate Plus, Mark reveals how Mama Bear getting overlooked in The Berenstain Bears series made him a feminist, and Dahlia gives a deep dive on another overlooked icon, Pauli Murray. Recommendations Dahlia: A Supreme Women Mug from Resistance By Design Mark: A Washington D.C. statehood tank top from DC Statehood Gifts & Apparel Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thew

Miami, 1977: Pop singer and orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant takes a stand against a local ordinance—and becomes the leader of a national anti-gay movement. Her campaign against gay rights, and the gay community's fight against her, would change America. One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Slate Plus members get to hear more about the making of One Year and more about the culture of 1977 in supplementary episodes this season. Get access to those episodes, listen to the show without any ads, and support One Year by signing up for Slate Plus for just $1 right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zola, a new movie based on the infamous Twitter thread by Aziah “Zola” Wells King, follows a part-time stripper who goes on a weekend trip to Florida with a new friend to make money, and how things quickly escalated until their friendship fell apart. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison talk to Tony-nominated playwright and screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris about how he and director Janicza Bravo translated the 148-tweet saga into a feature-length film, the scene that almost made members of the crew quit, and why he considers Zola’s tale to be akin to Homer’s epic poetry. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies.  Katherine Bell, Editor in Chief of Quartz, joins to talk about The Hudsucker Proxy. They discuss the heightened depiction of corporate culture, circles, and yet another female reporter character who sleeps with her source.  Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ilona Granet was a New York art-scene fixture who won the praise of the art world when she put up anti-harassment street signs in lower Manhattan in the mid- 1980s. Her career seemed like a sure thing, but three decades on, and so much more art later, it still hasn’t materialized, even as her contemporaries are now hanging in museums. This episode is not about the familiar myth of making it, but the mystery of not making it. What happens, to an artist—to anyone—when they’re good enough, but that’s not enough? If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode features Cynt Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA’s first Black female CEO. After spending 36 years in senior management at AT&T, Cynt pivoted to the sports industry where her values-based leadership has transformed the Mavericks’ culture to emphasize community and employee engagement. Cynt’s authentic and humanizing perspectives shed light on how empathy and technology can help us stay connected and enhance shared experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black dance creators on TikTok are sick of white influencers stealing their work without credit. Now, they have collectively refused to choreograph dance challenges for the app’s latest trendy hit, Megan Thee Stallion’s new song, “Thot Shit.” On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison discuss the origins of this strike, the ineptitude of white dancers trying to create their own dances for the song, and how empty TikTok is without these Black creators. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 2 of this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy continues his analysis of when singing became central to rap music. Rap has always been musical. But back in the day, rappers generally, well, rapped: talked in cadence over a beat. Fans judged MCs primarily by their rhymes and rhythms, not their melodies. Now? Rappers are mostly singers: MCs from Drake to DaBaby slip seamlessly in and out of melody. Some hits that appear on Billboard’s Rap charts feature literally no rapping. When did this change? Part 2 takes a close look at an integral pivot point in this progression: when Beyoncé changed the game by singing with triple-time flow like the baddest MC.   Podcast production by Asha Saluja. Hit Parade episodes are now split into two parts, released two weeks apart. For the full episode right now, sign up for Slate Plus and you'll also get The Bridge, our Trivia show and bonus deep dive. Click here for more info.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the U.S. government released a new report that attempts to categorize 144 verified sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP. They could only definitively explain one of them.  The new report signals a shift in the way we think about UAP. As technology has advanced and evidence of these encounters has increased, the question has become more urgent: What exactly is happening in our skies? Guest: Shane Harris, intelligence and national security reporter for the Washington Post Host Lizzie O’Leary   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even as conservative critics call for her to be ousted from the Olympic squad, track and field athlete Gwen Berry won’t back down after protesting the American flag and national anthem during the Olympic trials. Amira Rose Davis joins the show to contextualize Berry in a long history of Black and female athlete activists. She also explains the personal risks these athletes take in peacefully protesting, even as institutions began paying lip service to the Black Lives Matter cause.  Guest: Dr. Amira Rose Davis, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Penn State University and co-host of the feminist sports podcast, Burn it All Down Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dollar General is built on a business model that has its stores proliferating rapidly across the country. In response, a movement to control the growth has been picking up in the last few years. Can those who think the stores are causing more harm than help make their voices heard? Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Listen to the Teamistry podcast. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, a conversation with Atlantic writer, Elizabeth Bruenig.  In the first half of the show, Elizabeth talks about her recent New York Times article, “I Became a Mother at 25, and I’m Not Sorry I Didn’t Wait” with Slate’s news director Susan Matthews. The two get into why pregnancy is both so personal and yet so public, how society and particularly the job market deals with that, and the randomness of deciding when the right time is. After the break, Susan and Elizabeth delve into the backlash the piece received from the left, and then the backlash that backlash received from the right, and what we can take from that cycle. Elizabeth talks about whether she was trying to be provocative, and only being “happy stupid” on Twitter. In Slate Plus, the women each share a piece of their past that made them feminists. For Susan, it was taking all the classes for a gender studies degree … without getting the degree. And Elizabeth talks about reading Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison are joined by Buzzfeed’s Scaachi Koul to discuss her recent piece, “Why Bo Burnham, Jenna Marbles, and Shane Dawson All Logged Off.” They talk about the cesspool that is YouTube fandom, how precisely Bo Burnham articulates the problems of constant internet consumption, and the three ways logging off may be possible: deleting your content, apologizing a lot, and getting a Netflix special. Plus, a short explanation of the online phrase touch some grass. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies.  Shane Ferro, former economics journalist and current public defender, stops by to talk about how Magic Mike is a film about the gig economy and the precarity of freelance work in a post Great Recession world.  Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. On this episode, we explore the misunderstood history of Muzak, formerly the world’s foremost producers of elevator music. Out of the technological innovations of World War I, Muzak emerged as one of the most significant musical institutions of the 20th century, only to become a punching bag as the 1960’s began to turn public perceptions of popular music on its head. By the 80’s and 90’s, Muzak was still the butt of jokes, and was trying to figure out a new direction as they happened to employ many players in Seattles burgeoning grunge scene. This is the story of how different ideas about pop music butted heads throughout the 20th century, including inside Muzak’s offices.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, Britney Spears spoke in court against her current conservatorship, which began in 2008. In recent years, fans have speculated that Spears was being controlled against her will by her father through this conservatorship, and started the #FreeBritney movement in an attempt to break her out of it. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle break down the history of Spears’ conservatorship, the conspiracy theories that arose around #FreeBritney, and what the pop star’s statement changes. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices