Slate Daily Feed

Dana Stevens, Forrest Wickman, and Inkoo Kang spoil Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs.

Dana Stevens, Forrest Wickman, and Inkoo Kang spoil Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs.

David Plotz, Emily Bazelon and New York Time's technology columnist Farhad Manjoo discuss Robert Mueller's job security, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and compare today's political climate to the 1960s. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/gabfestplus.Twitter: @SlateGabfestFacebook: facebook.com/GabfestEmail: gabfest@slate.comShow notes at slate.com/gabfest

A show about how sounds from household items and nature get turned into something else. First Kurt Andersen talks with Ben Burtt, the legendary sound designer who came up with the iconic noises in “Star Wars,” “WALL-E” and more. Then Kurt gets a lesson on the theremin from a master of this out-there instrument, Pamelia Stickney. Many people find the cacophony that comes from old steam radiators to be aggravating, but the writer Henry Alford hears music in his, and sets to work to make a symphony from the clanks and hisses. And then it all goes to the birds: Artist Nina Katchadourian replaced her car alarms with recordings of bird calls … and Ben Birin fuses birdsong with beatboxing.

Carvell Wallace, Gabriel Roth, and Rebecca Lavoie discuss an educational math game called Prodigy, and how to deal with a kid's potential over-interest in a video game, then a follow-up to the controversial chicken pox discussion from a few weeks back, and "Triumphs and Fails" and recommendations. 

El Presidente Trump aumenta sus ataques contra su propio Departamento de Justicia y las investigaciones de Robert Mueller, todo mientras salen más noticias de posibles fraudes electorales en su campaña del 2016. El panel de periodistas latinos del Gabfest en Español discuten el significado de la tensión en Washington. León Krauze en Los Angeles habla con sus colegas de Washington, DC, Janet Rodriguez y Ariel Moutsatsos. Entrevistan a una nueva candidata a la gobernatura de California, Amanda Renteria, que como mujer, Latina e hija de inmigrantes, se dice la candidata del futuro. También: las novedades con la renegociación del TLC, preguntas sobre el efecto de un boicot sobre empleados de un restaurante y un video de propaganda política muy, muy entretenido.

This week, Hanna, June and Noreen discuss Stormy Daniels, Cardi B with producer Veralyn Williams, and microcheating.

Virginia Heffernan talks to The New Yorker's Andrew Marantz about Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. They also discuss Andrew's latest story on Reddit and meditate on free speech and how we navigate the Internet.

On The Gist, even if we get a law to make Robert Mueller unfireable, President Trump could trample all over it.  In the interview, sports journalist Mary Pilon tells the story of Olympic sailor Kevin Hall’s struggle with the Truman Show delusion (where someone believes he or she is the focus of a reality TV program). Pilon’s new book is The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete’s Battle With Mental Illness. In the Spiel, Stormy Daniels might win the right to talk. But can her story trouble Trump’s presidency, or would it just be tabloid fodder?

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus take a deep look into gerrymandering and the highly specialized mapping technology that has allowed for political parties - especially the GOP since 2010 - to drastically change the way political districts are drawn and controlled. The hosts are joined by David Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of  Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy. This interview was recorded on March 13th, so no news or tabs this week, but we’ll be back to our regular schedule next week. Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Gabriel Roth discuss Armando Iannucci's new film The Death of Stalin about the power struggle's in the days after Stalin's death in 1953 Soviet Russia, NBC's new musical series Rise about a high school drama director, and the power or lack thereof of Twitter metrics and if we'd be better off without them. 

Pierre Bienaimé has three things to know today—from the explosions in Texas, to Mohammed bin Salman, to the death of a species.

On The Gist, before Donald Trump’s headline-hogging presidency, things like bridge collapses made news for more than a few days.  In the interview, Cass Sunstein’s new book asks if the U.S. is fundamentally immune to authoritarianism, or whether president Trump has proved the opposite. His new book—Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America—puts the question to more than a dozen leading writers. In the Spiel, Betsy DeVos is totally incompetent, but at least that’s made obvious every time she speaks.

Prudence is joined by Olga Kreimer, a journalist and grad student who writes an aggressively earnest advice column at the LA Review of Books. First up: will it be awkward if I don’t mention my husband in the acknowledgment of my first book since he was super unsupportive of my writing process? As a teacher near Parkland, I’m having serious anxiety about our school’s preparedness for a shooting, but administrators aren’t taking my concerns seriously - what can I do? And lastly, my in-laws make wild accusations about folks in their hometown where I now live - what can I do and what if some of them are true? Hear more Prudence by joining Slate Plus: Slate.com/Prudiepod.Email: prudencepodcast@gmail.comProduction by Max Jacobs

John McWhorter on what Washington, Franklin and Hamilton may have sounded like.Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyEmail: lexiconvalley@slate.com