Decoder Ring - Mailbag: Spooky Strings, Phone Menu Options, and Eye Rolls

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Buy Your Flights Now

The not-always-beloved-but-indisputably-useful Spirit Airlines has given up the ghost. What does this mean for the airline industry and your summer travel plans?  Guest: Will Guisbond [https://theaircurrent.com/author/will1575496/], senior reporter for The Air Current. 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 [http://slate.com/whatnextplus] to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Political Gabfest - Are Republicans Actually Souring on Trump?

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the Iran War is hurting Trump and the Republicans as its economic fallout grows, the sudden revival of abortion pill politics which ended an uneasy equilibrium between federal law and state bans, and early results of a study on school cellphone bans. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss recent reporting on Trump's escalating and self-aggrandizing efforts to remake the landscape of Washington D.C. including the takeover of municipal golf courses, planning for the "Garden of Heroes," and developments in the ongoing White House ballroom saga.   In the latest Gabfest Reads [https://slate.com/podcasts/gabfestreads], Emily Bazelon talks with journalist Mark Oppenheimer about his new book, Judy Blume: A Life [https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Blume-Life-Mark-Oppenheimer/dp/059371444X/tag=slatmaga-20]. Oppenheimer, who spent years with Blume’s papers at Yale and conducted extensive interviews with the author herself, traces how a restless housewife in New Jersey became one of the most beloved—and most banned—writers in American history.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Nina Porzucki   Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here [https://slate.com/podcasts/political-gabfest].   Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-gabfest/id158004641]and Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2oXS9kkKiXdkkCYB3YfqYZ]. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus [http://slate.com/gabfestplus] to get access wherever you listen.   Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, [http://secretfortdc.com/] the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.     Follow @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest [https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest] Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ [https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

What Next - Look Upon Trump’s Works, Ye Mighty

Donald Trump is spending his second term trying to cement his legacy, but he still hasn’t zeroed in on what that should be: Is it his name on monuments? A ballroom decorated in his specific style? Owning Greenland or whatever? Credit where credit is due, though, he’s already made a mark on the political discourse that will have the staying power of a jagged scar.  Guest: Michael Scherer, staff writer at The Atlantic. 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 [http://slate.com/whatnextplus] to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show - Mother’s Day Special (Featuring Zak’s Mom!)

On this episode: Lucy Lopez [https://www.thelucylopez.com/], Elizabeth Newcamp [https://www.dutchdutchgoose.com], and Zak Rosen [https://zakrosen.com] are joined by a very special guest: Zak’s mom! Jo Strausz Rosen shares her motherhood journey and what it was like raising Zak and his sister. She also dispenses some invaluable wisdom about the importance of family, creativity, and friendship along the way.  Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Rosemary Belson.  Follow us on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@CareandFeeding]!  Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus [https://slate.com/careplus] – or try it out on Apple Podcasts. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Culture Gabfest - Somehow, Miranda Priestly Returned Edition

This week, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens are joined by Slate’s own Rebecca Onion to discuss The Devil Wears Prada 2, BEEF season 2, and the NYT’s best living songwriters package with Slate’s music critic Carl Wilson.  Twenty years on, we return to the world of The Devil Wears Prada. In the sequel, Andy, Anne Hathaway’s character, must save Runway Magazine from the forces of capital, who are selling the Vogue-analogue for parts, as Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly struggles to hang on to her own power. The movie has a lot to say about the state of journalism and media with plot lines seemingly ripped from the gossip pages, but does it all come together in the edit? We discuss.  Then, the second season of A24’s anthology series BEEF stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan as a volatile millennial couple who enter into a feud with a younger couple, played by Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton. Set at a rich Californian golf resort and its environs, the show satirizes class and generational resentments as the characters scramble to claim the scraps of their betters at the expense of everyone else. The characters are mostly unlikeable, and the premise might be a little less original than the first season, but given BEEF’s stacked cast and pedigree, does the show sizzle?  Finally we’re joined by Carl Wilson, Slate’s music critic and author of the newsletter “Crritic!” [https://carlwilson.substack.com/] to discuss the New York Times package: The 30 Greatest Living Songwriters. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/magazine/greatest-american-songwriters-alive.html] Carl submitted a ballot for the list, and the polished version isn’t too far from his submission. He gets into his picks and discusses what the list is saying about the field of songwriting and the idea of a songwriter as it’s been expanded to include non-traditional instrumentation and digital composition. But like all lists it has sparked debate about the inclusions (Carole King, Stevie Wonder) the exclusions (Randy Newman, Liz Phair, David Byrne) and whether Taylor Swift’s inclusion was solely to get an interview. Together with Carl, we try and make sense of the list and talk about our favorites.  As promised, here is Carl’s full ballot (The asterisks indicate people who Carl voted for but who have since died): Willie Nelson Smokey Robinson  Bobby Braddock  *Brian Wilson Bob Dylan Carole King Randy Newman Dolly Parton Stevie Wonder *Sly Stone The Flatlanders (Butch Hancock/Jimmie Dale Gilmore/*Joe Ely) Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan Nile Rodgers David Byrne Mark Eitzel Chuck D & the Bomb Squad Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Stephin Merritt Liz Phair John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats) Missy Elliott & Timbaland The Love Junkies (Hillary Lindsey/Lori McKenna/Liz Rose) Outkast (Big Boi/Andre 3000) Josh Osborne/Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally Phoebe Bridgers Endorsements:  Julia: The SNL sketch featuring Teana Taylor, Grandpa At The Wedding. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQC0U5reTb4] Rebecca: The new Lord Of The Flies adaptation [https://www.netflix.com/title/82709727] on Netflix.  Dana: The article in Vogue: Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour on Power, Fashion, and Acting the Part [https://www.vogue.com/article/meryl-streep-anna-wintour-may-cover-2026-interview] by Chloe Malle. Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com [culturefest@slate.com].  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.