The Waves

The “Bottle Service for Breakfast” Edition

The Waves on Mariia Butina, how we talk about Trump and Putin, and the infamous Refinery29 money diary.

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On this week’s episode of the Waves, Hanna, Noreen, and June discuss why the indictment of Mariia Butina has captured our imaginations, and how her story matches up (or doesn’t) with the “sexy Russian spy” trope. Then, they unpack the way we talk about Trump and Putin’s dynamic, whether jokes about a gay relationship between the two are homophobic, and the language we can and should be using to describe foreign policy generally. Finally, they take on the now-infamous Refinery29 money diary from a wealthy 21-year-old intern living rent free in New York City: Is it real? Is the backlash justified? And what would the hosts’ own money diaries look like?

Slate Plus: Is it sexist that women’s haircuts are more expensive than men’s?

Other items discussed on the show:

Recommendations:

This podcast was produced by Jessamine Molli. Our production assistant is Alex Barasch.

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