Union leader Dave Regan has spent decades wielding California’s ballot system against the healthcare industry. Now, he’s the man behind California’s billionaire tax — a one-time, 5 percent tax proposal that has “unleashed a political earthquake” and pissed off everyone from Elon Musk to Gavin Newsom. Guest: Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW)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 Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck are joined by Reuters Media Editor Edmund Lee to revisit their 2016 predictions for the Comcast/NCBUniversal merger, now that the companies have announced their split. Then, they explore how the World Cup fits into our very American media landscape. And finally, the hosts look at Donald Trump’s latest mandatory earnings disclosure, which revealed that he’s made over a billion dollars on crypto ventures since his reelection. In the Slate Plus episode: Oh No! The Anchovies!Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? 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 Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As sex becomes more online, not only does it become more solitary, but also more surveilled. For instance: Back in December, OpenAI announced that they’d allow adult users to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT. On today’s encore episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by porn historian Noelle Perdue, author of the Porn World newsletter. While advances in AI and sex surveillance are intended to divide us, Noelle is confident that AI’s attempted sex-takeover will fail. This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help today from Kevin Bendis. Get tickets to our live show here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court just wrapped the term with a blitz of extremely consequential decisions, and the smoke hasn’t cleared yet. (In fact, it’s looming like a dark storm cloud over our Fourth of July and America 250th festivities…) In this week’s episode, cohosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern focus on two of the term’s bleakest legacies: first, the court’s catastrophically bad use of history and second, the demise of independent agencies. They discuss the court’s 6–3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter, which was rooted in shoddy originalism and reckless disregard for how an accountable democratic government actually functions. Meanwhile, the dissenters in Trump v. Barbara would have weaponized bogus history to end birthright citizenship for millions. To unpack this, Dahlia and Mark sit down with two law professors: Sam Bagenstos of the University of Michigan and a former general counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Jed Shugerman of Boston University (whom Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson cited this week). They deconstruct the myriad ways in which the high court ultimately embarrassed itself, history, and truth, with decisions that will affect millions of Americans for years to come.Slate Plus members! Don't miss the Amicus Plus Breakfast Table on Friday, July 10th at noon EDT. Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick will be in conversation with Professors Steve Vladeck, Sherrilyn Ifill, and Niko Bowie. Our Pluskateers can sign up to be in the live, online audience for this special end-of-term conversation. Go to slate.com/breakfasttable to sign up for online access. (Psst: Submit your questions now to [email protected])This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WARNING: This episode spoils Toy Story 5.Right on the heels of two new directors with two fresh new films, comes a five-installment franchise: Toy Story 5. But the consensus is split on this big screen screentime critique.Guest: Sam Adams, Slate senior writer and editor.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks for joining us during the holidays. White our team is taking a break, we want to share a series with you that we think you’ll love. It’s called Diving In. Getting food delivered should be simple — but somehow it's gotten outrageously expensive. Economist Justin Wolfers breaks down why food delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub make it nearly impossible to compare prices, and why that's no accident. Subscribe on YouTube https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics Subscribe on Substack https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.comFollow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Ruth Marcus discuss this week's momentous Supreme Court rulings. The FTC/Slaughter case overturns nearly a century of precedent protecting independent agencies from presidential power while Cook makes a suspicious exception for the Fed, birthright citizenship prevails on constitutional grounds but the close vote further reveals what's broken at the Court, and the Court rules against transgender people, again, by upholding state bans on trans athletes.For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, David, and guest host Ruth Marcus discuss how Trump's rally-turned-fireworks-delay, a militarized downtown, and a rebranded "Freedom 250" have turned DC's festivities into a loyalty test. They ponder whether skipping DC's fireworks means ceding the flag to Trump and if attending old-fashioned local cookouts and parades is the more patriotic move. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily Bazelon talks with Senator Chris Murphy about his new book, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America. Murphy lays out a provocative agenda for Democrats to call Americans to national service, break up corporate power, rebuild local communities, and create a bigger tent that reaches disaffected conservatives hungry for change. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Nina Porzucki Research by Emily DittoYou can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. 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 and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.   Follow@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted by Kate Helen Downey, CRAMPED is an investigative deep dive, exploring what the research actually says about menstrual pain and reproductive health, and the gap between what science knows and what options are given to patients. New episodes cover everything from pelvic floor PT to period poops, AI diagnoses to the history of women's health care. In this episode, Kate thinks about her own "abysmal menstrual health education" and wonders if it has gotten any better. Are there more resources and support out there for a young cramper? She speaks with Kat Samedova, who recently graduated from Kingston High School and is the former vice president of the Period Power! Club there.Period pain has been undertreated, understudied, and underfunded for decades. CRAMPED is here to ask why. If you—or your child–have ever been told your excruciating cramps were "normal", this podcast is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, the movement to change society so it stops heating up the world didn’t take, so now we need to figure out how to change society to deal with a hotter planet. That means new forms of insurance, new models for construction and—yes, looking at you, Europe—more air conditioning.Guest: Jeff Goodell, contributing writer at Rolling Stone and the author of the book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.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 Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elizabeth and Zak talk with Ash Brandin, author of Power On, about managing screen time without guilt or panic. They discuss realistic strategies and why screen time doesn’t define parenting quality. Then, a listener’s question about school tech mandates gets some thoughtful answers. If you’re not part of the Slate Plus community, we hope you’ll consider joining! Keep reading to learn how.Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask questions, share feedback, and suggest future topics. 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 an extra weekly grab-bag of content on the Plus Playground, an ad-free experience across the network, and support the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus — or try it out on Apple Podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.