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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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Stacy-Marie Ishmael discuss the apparently abusive conservatorship of Britney Spears, the failures of COVAX and worldwide vaccine distribution, and Peter Thiel’s shocking Roth IRA. In the Plus segment: Small businesses in the pandemic.Mentioned in the show:“The Darker Story Just Outside the Lens of Framing Britney Spears,” by Sara Luterman for the New Republic“A Beautiful Idea: How COVAX Has Fallen Short,” by Ann Danaiya Usher for the Lancet Email: [email protected] production by Jessamine Molli.Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck, @s_m_i  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly two years, an unprecedented experiment has been taking place in the town of El Zonte in El Salvador. Funded by a mysterious donor, the town’s residents built a Bitcoin economy, using the cryptocurrency to purchase just about anything. Now, El Slavador has passed a new law making it the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Can they replicate El Zonte’s success at a national scale?Guest: Ezra Fieser, reporter at BloombergHostLizzie O’Leary  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly two years, an unprecedented experiment has been taking place in the town of El Zonte in El Salvador. Funded by a mysterious donor, the town’s residents built a Bitcoin economy, using the cryptocurrency to purchase just about anything. Now, El Slavador has passed a new law making it the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Can they replicate El Zonte’s success at a national scale?Guest: Ezra Fieser, reporter at BloombergHostLizzie O’Leary  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic workforce, Tucker Carlson, and student wins at the Supreme Court.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Ben Smith for the New York Times: “Tucker Carlson Calls Journalists ‘Animals.’ He’s Also Their Best Source.”Slate: “David Plotz and Tucker Carlson Debate Scott Brown, Health Care, and More”Andrew Van Dam for the Washington Post: “The Seven Industries Most Desperate for Workers”Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal NewportJohn Dickerson for 60 Minutes: “Colleges and Universities Prepare for Fall Classes in the Middle of the Coronavirus Pandemic”The Sound Scene Festival: an annual free and interactive audio arts festival organized by the D.C. Listening Lounge, an audio collective of Washington-based sound artists and enthusiasts.Here’s this week’s chatter:John: Steve Rathje, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Sander van der Linden for the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences: “Out-Group Animosity Drives Engagement On

On this week’s episode: Jamilah is joined by former Mom and Dad are Fighting co-host, Rebecca Lavoie. They weigh in on whether or not an older stepchild should be forced to babysit their stepsiblings. They also counsel a mom who is concerned about her husband’s theatrical and rather upsetting behavior. As mentioned in the show, our second question does contain discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation. So if you’d prefer to skip the question, jump ahead 17 minutes. If you, or anyone you know, are in crisis, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Since we talk about thoughts of suicide, if you, or anyone you know, need help, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). In Slate Plus: The unsurprising sharp decline of new babies being named ‘Karen.’ Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on MADAF each week, and no ads. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to listen and support our work.Recommendations:Rebecca recommends giving a

COVID’s Delta variant is on the rise in the U.S. The data suggest we have room for optimism -- so why are we seeing dire messages from public health experts? Guest: Dr. Monica Gandhi, infectious diseases and HIV doctor at UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miguel Llapa's mother was told her son wouldn't live past age 2 because of a health condition. Now, he's going to college — and yearns for independence on his own terms. Support Death, Sex & Money today at deathsexmoney.org/donate.Check out our Game Changer series conversation with BMX rider Chelsea Wolfe here. If you're new here, check out our starter kit of some of our favorite episodes. And subscribe to our weekly email newsletter! Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org.Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do Chloe Bailey, Nina Simone, and Vice President Kamala Harris have to do with one another? We’re here to help you figure that out. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison talk about how a cover of Simone’s “Feeling Good” turned into a story that ultimately felt anything but. But first, they examine Rachel Lindsay’s recent comments about the Bachelor franchise. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Derek John, and Jasmine Ellis.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Senate Democrats tried to open up debate on sweeping voting rights legislation Tuesday but were stopped by a lack of support from their Republican counterparts. Would a more incremental approach have succeeded? Guest: Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California–Irvine School of Law and the author of Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Dana and Steve are joined by Slate staff writer Karen Han. First, the panel discusses the Pixar movie Luca. Next, they talk about the first two episodes of Marvel’s TV show Loki. Finally, the panel is joined by Willa Paskin and Benjamin Frisch, the host and producer of Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast, to discuss the making of the new season.In Slate Plus, the panel talks about whether seeing movies in the theater is a tradition worth preserving.Email us at [email protected] production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Cleo Levin.Outro music is "Eightball" by Gabe Nandez.EndorsementsDana: The playlist of the music found in James Baldwin’s apartment, “This Giant Prehistoric Rhino Was the Biggest Land Mammal to Walk the Earth” by Jack Guy and Zixu Wang for CNNKaren: Try making ice cream at homeSteve: The writing of Janet Malcolm in the New York Review of Books and The New YorkerFurther Reading“How Gay Is Pixar’s Luca?” by Marissa Martinelli for Slate“The Many Contradictions of Owen Wil

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. Joanne Lipman, author and journalist, joins to talk about the 2005 film Thank You For Smoking. They discuss the terrible trope of female reporters sleeping with their sources, The Marlboro Man, and “moral flexibility.” Email: [email protected] production by Jessamine Molli.Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has gone soft on monopolies. A small number of businesses control an ever-increasing market share with only muted protests from the Federal Trade Commission, the supposed antitrust watchdog of the U.S. government. But that all might be about to change with Lina Khan’s appointment as FTC chair.Guest: Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project and the author of Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. Stoller also writes the Substack newsletter, BIG.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To say that hydration is an invention is only a slight exaggeration. Back in the 1970’s and ‘80s, no one carried bottled water with them, but by the ‘90s it was a genuine status object. How did bottled water transform itself from a small, European luxury item to the single largest beverage category in America? It took both technological innovation, but even more importantly it took savvy marketing from brands like Gatorade and Perrier to turn the concept of hydration, and dehydration into problem they could solve via their wares. Today, hydration has branched out from athletics to wellness to skincare, but the actual science behind all of it is pretty sketchy. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss NBA injuries, Kevin Durant’s heroics, and Ben Simmons’ struggles. Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern also joins to assess the Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston. Finally, David Epstein talks about distance runner Shelby Houlihan, who claims her positive drug test came from eating a burrito. NBA (3:14): What does the data say about NBA injuries? And what happened to the Nets and Sixers? Alston v. NCAA (24:13): Does this week’s unanimous ruling put the college sports business model in peril? Houlihan (46:50): The case against the American track star, and why she might be telling the truth. Afterball (66:33): Stefan on the on-field death of NFL player Chuck Hughes.Podcast production by Margaret Kelley.Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fears that an ultra-conservative faction would take control of the country’s largest organization of evangelicals did not come to fruition at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting this year. But it was only a narrow loss, and, like conservatives around the country, the group remains sharply divided. Guest: Bob Smietana, national reporter for Religion News Service. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From “woke bae” to “woke-a-cola,” the word woke has taken the internet and mainstream media by storm. But how many people who use the word actually know what it means? On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison (but, really, mostly Rachelle) explain the decades-old origins of the word, and how its meaning has evolved as it’s gone from Marcus Garvey to being sung by the likes of Erykah Badu and Childish Gambino to being wielded as a slur by the likes of Mike Huckabee.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Derek John, and Jasmine Ellis.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Stacy-Marie Ishmael discuss Lina Khan and tech antitrust, Anna Wiener’s New Yorker piece on Silicon Valley, and the New York Times investigation into working at Amazon. In the Plus segment: MacKenzie Scott gives again.Mentioned in the show:“The Separation of Platforms and Commerce,” by Lina M. Khan for the Columbia Law Review“Does Tech Need a New Narrative,” by Anna Wiener for the New Yorker“The Amazon That Customers Don’t See,” by Jodi Kantor, Karen Weise, and Grace Ashford for the New York Times“The Latest Pandemic Supply Shock: Child Care Workers” by Patrick Sisson for Bloomberg CityLab“Seeding by Ceding” by MacKenzie ScottEmail: [email protected] production by Jessamine Molli.Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck, @s_m_i Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let’s be clear: 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?In this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy walks through the history of hip-hop—from Gil Scott-Heron to Lil Nas X—to trace the evolving role of melody in rap’s conquest of the charts. The broadening of rap to include more female MCs, from Queen Latifah to Lauryn Hill, had a lot to do with it. But all roads lead through rap-and-B’s power couple, Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The pivot point may have been when Queen Bey realized she could sing 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, si

As the big decisions for the term start to cascade down from the high court, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by one of the nation’s foremost thinkers and writers about the Supreme Court: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of Berkeley Law School. Together, they unravel the ruling on the Affordable Care Act, try to discern the significance of the unanimous decision in Fulton, and Dean Chemerinsky outlines why he’s calling on Justice Stephen Breyer to step down.  In our Slate Plus segment, Mark Joseph Stern explains the other big decision in Nestle v Doe, and whether the pessimism around Fulton is warranted. Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.