Slate Plus Podcasts

Prudence is joined this week by writer Helen Rosner. She is the food correspondent for The New Yorker, and a former editor at places like Eater, Saveur, and New York Magazine. Together they tackle letters about what to do when a lonely neighbor treats you  as if you were her grandchild, what to do when a member of your fine dining club can no longer afford to pay, but insists on coming anyway, how to share your secret financial struggles with your husband, what actions to take when your mother-in-law fat shames you after your pregnancy. Prudie and Helen also respond to a voicemail from a woman who discovered a man on her disability focused message board who may be posing to get attention from women.  Slate Plus members will hear Prudie and Helen discuss a letter writer who has conflicting feelings about her high school bully who recently committed suicide, and another letter from a woman who wants to reconnect with her ex through social media, but is being thwarted by her ex’s partner.   Email: prudencepodcast@gmail.com Production by Phil Surkis

Some of your favorite presidents have tried to pack the Supreme Court. So why does it sound like such an extreme tactic? And how did some of the top Democrats running for president come to embrace it? Guest: , Slate’s legal correspondent. Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin.

Dana Stevens, Isaac Butler, and Benjamin Frisch discuss HBO's documentary The Inventor about the Theranos scandal, the meteoric rise of Rupaul's Drag Race, and Netflix's awkward attempt at branding itself in the wake of cancelling the beloved show One Day at a Time. In Slate Plus: documentary recommendations.

On The Gist, it wouldn’t just be morally right for Trump to finally denounce white nationalism. It would be politically smart. In the interview, Jill Abramson’s was released to glowing reviews—but valid accusations of plagiarism and factual errors took some of that shine off. As Mike asks Abramson (a former executive editor of the New York Times), were the negative headlines so grabby that they’ve damned the book’s valuable insights? And would that in itself prove many of her worries about journalism in the 21st century?  In the Spiel, the New York Times, biased? You don’t say.

What we can learn about English from am , the seemingly simplest verb. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: