Political Gabfest

David, John and Emily discuss Liz Cheney's defiance of Trumpists; Trump’s Facebook suspension; and meatlessness getting (more) political.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Kimberly Robinson for Bloomberg Law: “Video: The Wild Hypotheticals Posed by Justice Stephen Breyer”

John Dickerson for CBS News: “Ron Klain on ‘Face the Nation,’ May 2, 2021”

Evelyn Douek for Lawfare: “It's Not Over. The Oversight Board's Trump Decision is Just the Start.”

These Truths: A History of the United States, by Jill Lepore

Ezra Klein for the New York Times: “Let’s Launch a Moonshot for Meatless Meat”

John Dickerson for Slate: “Go for the Throat!: Why if He Wants to Transform American Politics, Obama Must Declare War on the Republican Party.”

John Dickerson for JohnDickerson.com: “End of the Year Thoughts 2020 (Five Months Too Late).”

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Hard Knocks, HBO

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Emily: Mom Genes: Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct, by Abigail Tucker

David: Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Season 3, Episode 9: Man on Fire

Listener chatter from Michael Sagmeister: Mitchell Clark for The Verge: “Bad Software Sent Postal Workers to Jail, Because No One Wanted to Admit It Could Be Wrong.”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss how the freedom they feel to share their opinions has changed with their jobs and the journalism environment.

If you enjoy the show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the Political Gabfest. Sign up now at slate.com/gabfestplus to help support our work.

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A live Gabfest with Emily, David and John on the policies and politics of Biden’s first 100 days— with special guest Jamelle Bouie!

A reference from this week’s show:

Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: “Should Biden Emphasize Race or Class or Both or None of the Above”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis; Gertrude Stein on punctuation from Lectures in America. 

Emily: Rosanna Xia for The Los Angeles Times: “DDT Waste Barrels Off L.A. Coast Shock California Scientists”

David: Steven Johnson for The New York Times Magazine: “How Humanity Gave Itself an Extra Life”

Listener chatter from David Friedlander-Holm: Cara Giaimo for The New York Times: “One of the World’s Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David take questions from the live audience.

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial with guest Dwayne Betts; Andrew Yang’s campaign for Mayor of New York City; and why the U.S. invaded Iraq with guest Noreen Malone (host of the Slow Burn podcast).

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Netflix Is A Joke: “Richard Pryor's 1979 Joke About Police Still Applies”

“When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving” by Reginald Dwayne Betts

Jack Shafer for Politico: “How Substack Revealed the Real Value of Writers’ Unfiltered Thoughts”

The Million Book Project

Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts

A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by Reginald Dwayne Betts

Slow Burn Season 5: The Road to Iraq

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: The Ezra Klein Show: “That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Break”; Bob Yirka for Phys.org: “Teaching Children to Play Chess Found to Decrease Risk Aversion”; Joe Trippi’s Twitter thread about Walter Mondale

Emily: PBS’s Philly D.A.

David: Michael E. Ruane for the Washington Post: “Harriet Tubman’s Lost Maryland Home Found, Archaeologists Say”; Peter Jamison for The Washington Post: “An ‘Insane’ Covid Lockdown Two Miles From the Capitol, With No End in Sight”

Listener chatter from Adam Siegel: The Economist: “How spooks are turning to superforecasting in the Cosmic Bazaar”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Dwayne Betts recites his poem, “When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving.”

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the vaccine “pause,” the death of Daunte Wright, and Biden’s commission on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Ronald Brownstein for The Atlantic: “The Decision That Will Define Democrats for a Decade”

Ryan D. Doerfler and Samuel Moyn for The Atlantic: “Reform the Court, but Don’t Pack It”

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How To Fix the Supreme Court: How We Got Here”

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 

Tom Whyman for The New York Times: “Why, Despite Everything, You Should Have Kids (if You Want Them)”

This week’s chatter:

John: Call My Agent; The Irregulars 

Emily: Daniele Selby for The Innocence Project “8 Things You Need to Know About Pervis Payne Who Is Facing Execution”

David: Janelle Bitker for The San Francisco Chronicle: “Boba Shortage: Bay Area and the Rest of the U.S. May Soon Have No Bubbles for Tea”

Listener chatter from Gabe Jacobs: 99% Invisible: “Freedom House Ambulance Service”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, John, David, and Emily talk about the decision to have children in the face of climate change and other catastrophes which could make the future more painful than today. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the corporate backlash to Georgia’s voting restrictions, Matt Gaetz and shamelessness in government, and they are joined by Amanda Ripley to talk about her new book High Conflict.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jonathan Rauch for the Atlantic: “How American Politics Went Insane”

Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign by Frances E. Lee

High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley

The Gottman Institute’s “Love Lab”

Emotions in Conflict: Inhibitors and Facilitators of Peace Making by Eran Halperin

L. M. Hartling, E. Lindner, U. Spalthoff and M. Britton for Psicología Política: “Humiliation: A Nuclear Bomb of Emotions?”

Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, Míriam Juan-Torres, Tim Dixon for More In Common: “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape”

The Irregulars

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Dan Zak for the Washington Post: “Goodbye to Gate 35x, Cursed Portal to the Rest of America”

Emily: Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

David: City Cast Denver

Listener chatter from Paul John Rudoi: Passing English of the Victorian era, a Dictionary of Heterodox English, Slang and Phrase available at The Public Domain Review; Karen Strike for Flashbak: “Not Up To Dick: 100 Wonderful Victorian Slang Words You Should Be Using”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, John, David, and Emily contemplate whether vaccinated people have a moral obligation to go out and spend. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, David and guest host Andrea Valdez discuss the fourth wave of the virus, Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, and fixing the U.S.’s caregiving infrastructure.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

How to Be a Texan: The Manual, by Andrea Valdez

Ko Bragg for the 19th: “Four Girls Testified in the Derek Chauvin Trial. Here’s What They Told the Jury.”

The University Will Require All Students to Be Vaccinated Before Arriving on Campus in the Fall, Rutgers University March 21, 2021

Bill Chappell for NPR, ”I Believe I Witnessed A Murder,' Witness Says Of 911 Call In Chauvin Case

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Andrea: Skip Hollandsworth for Texas Monthly: “The Larry McMurtry I Knew”; Paula Mejía for Texas Monthly: “Selena at 50: Celebrating the Life, Art, and Influence of a Tejano Legend”

Emily: Elie Mystal for the Nation: “The Supreme Court May Be About to Blast Another Hole in Gun Control”

David: City Cast Chicago podcast, hosted by Jacoby Cochran.

Listener chatter from Wally Vinovskis: Theresa Machemer for Smithsonian Magazine: “This High Schooler Invented Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection"

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Andrea, David, and Emily discuss running a media startup. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss immigration, violence against Asian Americans and how Amazon is shaping the American economic landscape.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for Slate: “Stop Telling Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Retire: It's Counterproductive”

David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “The Democrats’ Immigration Problem”

Nicole Narea for Vox: “Migrants Are Heading North Because Central America Never Recovered From Last Year’s Hurricanes”

One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger by Matthew Yglesias

Slate’s Political Gabfest, “The “Rage” Edition” (with Matthew Yglesias)

Claire Jean Kim for Politics and Society: “The Racial Triangulation Of Asian Americans” 

How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev 

Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis

Michael Corkery and Karen Weise for The New York Times: “Amazon Workers’ Union Drive Reaches Far Beyond Alabama”

Lina M. Kahn for The Yale Law Journal: “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox”

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 

The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency by John Dickerson

John Dickerson for 60 Minutes: “Studying Coronavirus Spread in One Georgia School System”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily chattered about her forthcoming article about the exoneration of Yutico Briley. Matt Sledge for The New Orleans Advocate: “A Man Serving 60 Years For Armed Robbery Is Free After Jason Williams Clears The Way For Release”

John: Howard Schneider for Reuters: “U.S. Covid Response Could Have Avoided Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths - Research”

David: Janelle Shane for Substack: “GPT-3 Tries Pickup Lines”

Listener chatter from Mathew Dicks: Philip Hoare for The Guardian: "Sperm Whales in 19th Century Shared Ship Attack Information"

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss a wrong but unappealable call by high school basketball referees. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David, John and Josie discuss the politics of vaccine acceptance, the changed conversation on policing, and how Texas, undeterred by failing to find voter fraud, continues its assault on voting rights.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Dan Diamond for The Washington Post: “‘We Want To Be Educated, Not Indoctrinated,’ Say Trump Voters Wary of Covid Shots”

Charles Duhigg for The New Yorker: Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the Lead. New York’s Did Not”

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why by Amanda Ripley

Washington Post Editorial Board: “Reimagining Safety” 

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.

Josie Duffy Rice for Vanity Fair: “Abolition’s Promise”

Vann R. Newkirk II for The Atlantic: “American Democracy Is Only 55 Years Old—And Hanging by a Thread” 

Ross Douthat for The New York Times: “Can Anything End the Voting Wars?”

This American Life: “Squirrel Cop” 

“Irish Family vs Bat”

Zak Cheney-Rice for New York Magazine: “Ahmaud Arbery's Death and the Politics of Black Joy”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Josie: We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice (Abolitionist Papers) Paperback by Mariame Kaba 

John: “Ian McKellen Explains the Difference Between Acting on Stage and in Movies | The Dick Cavett Show”

David: The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Listener chatter from Rebecca Vernon: Andrew Chamings for SF Gate: “The Bizarre Tale of the World's Last Lost Tourist, Who Thought Maine Was San Francisco”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Josie, David, and John discuss the art and literature they wish they could experience for the first time again.

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the unprecedented American Rescue Plan. Author Heather McGhee joins the Gabfest to talk about her new book outlining how racism hurts all Americans and Dr. Michael Mina answers questions about how to improve the nation's pandemic-fighting strategies.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Pew Research Center: “Broad Public Support for Coronavirus Aid Package; Just a Third Say It Spends Too Much”

The Debrief with Major Garrett: “$2 Trillion For What?”

The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans--And How We Can Fix It by Dorothy A. Brown

John: “‘The Secret Apartment’ Is The Story Of A Vietnam Vet Who Claims To Have Lived In Veterans Stadium For Years”; The Secret Apartment: Vet Stadium, a surreal memoir by Tom Garvey; Jeremy Irons Reads the Psalms  

David: The Fourth Child by Jessica Winter

Listener chatter from Seth Milhoan: Sarah Brookbank for the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Del Hall, The Cincinnati Man Who Lives on a Beer-only Diet for Lent, Is Doing It Again and Raising Money”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss how they decide whether to rescue or abandon a failing project.

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the stimulus bill, sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo, and escalating voter suppression efforts.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Dahlia Lithwick for Slate: “Maybe It’s a Good Thing Andrew Cuomo Is Still Governor”

Charlotte Klein for Vanity Fair: “Pence Can’t Quit The Big Election Lie That Nearly Got Him Killed”

The Brennan Center’s State Voting Bills Tracker 2021

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Elizabeth Nolan Brown for Reason: “Science-Based Policy Means Decriminalizing Sex Work, Say Hundreds of Researchers”; Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires 

John: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Civics Test

David: David chattered in Seussian rhyme about the controversy over Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s decision to take six books with racist imagery out of print.

Listener chatter from Lily Shield: Amy Littlefield for the Nation: “As the Pandemic Raged, Abortion Access Nearly Flickered Out”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss when they first realized the coronavirus would be life-changing. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the Tanden take down, Merrick Garland‘s DOJ, and how to stop police killings of Black people with guest Jason Johnson.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Isaac Chotiner on Twitter @IChotiner

Mitch Daniels for the Washington Post: “Senate Republicans Could Restore a Bit of Civility by Confirming Neera Tanden” 

Jacob Jarvis for Newsweek: “Neera Tanden Once Criticized Joe Manchin's Pharma CEO Daughter”

Wesley Lowery for GQ: “The Most Ambitious Effort Yet to Reform Policing May Be Happening in Ithaca, New York”

Slate’s A Word … With Jason Johnson

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Yes In My Backyard’s Mapping Inequality: Digitizing Our Redlining History

John: Isabella Kwai for the New York Times: “Von Trapped: The Family Is Stuck Inside, So Why Not Sing Parodies?”

David: Children get off a school bus in Mongolia

Listener chatter from @Yayadesigns1: “Watch an Archaeologist Play the “Lithophone,” a Prehistoric Instrument That Let Ancient Musicians Play Real Classic Rock”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss our cultural predispositions when it comes to risk and how to better deal with, ignore or address risks. 

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest, or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss Republican allegiance to Trump, schools during COVID-19, and they're joined by guest Jonathan Cohn to look back on Obamacare and to explore the current state of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Susan Dominus for the New York Times Magazine: “Rhode Island Kept Its Schools Open. This Is What Happened.”

Shawn Hubler for The New York Times: “Vaccinating Oregon’s Teachers Might Not Be Enough to Reopen its Schools.”

The Ten Year War by Jonathan Cohn

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Anna Holmes for the Atlantic: “The Magazine That Helped 1920s Kids Navigate Racism”

John: Radio Garden

David: Pick of The Litter

Listener chatter from Ming Richie: Cathy Free for the Washington Post: “This Man Mistakenly Left his Wallet in Antarctica. Some 53 Years Later, He Got it Back.”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss the legacy of Rush Limbaugh.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David, Emily and John discuss Trump’s impeachment trial; lawsuits about election lies; and the execution of a possibly innocent man.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States by Brian Rosenwald 

“New US Capitol Riot Video Shows Mob Rifling Through Senators' Desks” The Telegraph

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “Did Tennessee Execute an Innocent Man?”

Slate Culture Gabfest: “‘Magic or Manipulation’ Edition”

Slate’s The Gist: “Illusions, Delusions, and Flat Out Lies”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Christopher Z. Mooney for the Chicago Tribune: “How the Census Delay Could Hand Control of Illinois Redistricting to the GOP”

John: A letter from George Washington that ended with the sign-off: “Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant" may reveal, or remind us, what our contemporary sign-offs mean.

David: The New York Times Presents: “Framing Britney Spears”

Listener chatter from James Dillard: Amanda Ripley for Comment: “The Mystery of Trust”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself. 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the stimulus bill, racial inequities in vaccine distribution, the return to in-person learning, and Majorie Taylor Greene’s GOP.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Ezra Klein for the New York Times: “The Senate Has Become a Dadaist Nightmare”

Uché Blackstock and Oni Blackstock for the Washington Post: “White Americans Are Being Vaccinated at Higher Rates Than Black Americans. Such Inequity Cannot Stand.”

Shreya Kangovi and Uché Blackstock for the Washington Post: “Community Health Workers Are Essential in This Crisis. We Need More of Them.”

Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “The QAnon Delusion Has Not Loosened Its Grip”

David Blight’s Open Yale Course: “HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877”

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed 

Monica Potts for The New York Times: “In the Land of Self-Defeat”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Moe Tkacik for Slate: “The Lousy Tippers of the Trump Administration”

John: Vala Afshar’s tweet of a clip from DisruptTV, Episode 91.  

David: Stefanos Chen for the New York Times: “The Downside to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks”

Listener chatter from Phillip Cleveland @pwcleveland: a Twitter thread by Mark R. Miller

@4T9NER about a meaningful family photograph

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, listener Norman Townsend asks John, Emily, and David to discuss David’s new startup, CityCast.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the Senate obstruction that may be ahead; delegating deplatforming; and GameStop.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jamelle Bouie for the New York Times: “Democrats Should Act as if They Won the Election”

Tom Wilson and Kate Starbird for The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review: “Cross-Platform Disinformation Campaigns: Lessons Learned and Next Steps” 

Matt Levine for Bloomberg: “GameStop is Just a Game”

David Leonhardt for the New York Times: “Underselling the Vaccine”

Andy Rose for CNN: “Health Workers, Stuck in the Snow, Administer Coronavirus Vaccine to Stranded Drivers”

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet; Matt Stieb for New York Magazine: “The Fyre Festival of Vaccine Rollouts”

John: Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself

David: David Blight’s Open Yale Course: “HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877”; Dessa’s “Who’s Yellen Now?”

Listener chatter from Ghael Fobes @GhaelFobes: a Twitter thread of animals interrupting wildlife photographers by @JoaquimCampa

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment a listener asks John, Emily, and David to discuss how they organize their work, lives, and minds.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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Emily, John and David discuss the unusual but uplifting inauguration, Joe Biden’s priorities, and the Trump aftermath.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Joe Biden’s inauguration speech

Inauguration video from former Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton

Kevin Quealy for the New York Times: “The Complete List of Trump’s Twitter Insults (2015-2021) 

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: The books of P.G. Wodehouse read by Jonathan Cecil

Emily: Beth LeBlanc and Craig Mauger for the Detroit News: “Michigan Republicans Seek to Replace GOP Canvasser Who Certified Election”

David: Jules Suzdaltsev’s Twitter thread of photos of weird things Trump did in office.

Listener chatter from Clay Jeffries @clayjeffries: Sam Kean for the Atlantic: “22 Orphans Gave Up Everything to Distribute the World’s First Vaccine”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John imagine some classes they would like to teach.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, David and John talk about impeachment, whether Americans can be deradicalized, and guest Juliette Kayyem joins in to discuss vaccine distribution.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “People Are Dying. Whom Do We Save First With the Vaccine? 

Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America by John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavrek 

Amarnath Amarasingam’s Twitter thread on de-platforming extremists. 

Amarnath Amarasingam, Shiraz Maher, and Charlie Winter for the Centre for Research and

Evidence on Security Threats: “How Telegram Disruption Impacts Jihadist Platform Migration”

The music of Ludovico Einaudi

The music of Joan Armatrading

The music of John Prine

The music of M.I.A.

The music of Joan Jett

The music of Maren Morris

The music of Joni Mitchell

The music of Bob Mould and Husker Du

The music of Nick Thompson

Nicholas Thompson for Wired: “To Run My Best Marathon at Age 44, I Had to Outrun My Past”

“Iko Iko” performed by the Grateful Dead 

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” performed by Gerry and the Pacemakers

Tusk by Fleetwood Mac

Desire by Bob Dylan

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: Nathaniel Popper for The New York Times: “Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes”

Emily: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell 

David: The Dancing Bird of Paradise Scene from “Our Planet”

Listener chatter from Richard Medlicott: Steven Levy for Wired: “A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due: Has Tech Destroyed Society?”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John talk about the music they turn to in order to clear their heads.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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Emily, John and David discuss the invasion of the U.S. Capitol and Democrats’ historic win in Georgia.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: 

Yuval Levin for the National Review: “Failures of Leadership in a Populist Age”

Anne Applebaum for the Atlantic: “History Will Judge the Complicit”

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “The Pandemic Election”

Emily Bazelon for Slate in 2013: “Voting Rights 2.0”

Steven Lance for Atavist: “The Secret Formula: Could Shrunken Heads From the Amazon Hold the Key to Curing Cancer? One Man Thought So—and Spent a Lifetime Trying to Prove It.” 

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812,by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: Agence France-Presse, “Exceptionally Well-Preserved Snack Bar Unearthed in Pompeii”

David: David Segal for the New York Times: “It’s Mother vs. Son in Britain’s Priciest Divorce War” 

Emily: Tweet by Kyle Machulis @qDo of the most important competitive dog dancing video

Listener chatter from Cyrus Farivar @cfarivar: Jason Kottke for Kottke.org: “The Last Documented Widow of a Civil War Veteran Has Died at the Age of 101”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John consider in what time period they would first go to see a doctor, given what we know now about the history of medicine.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz reminisce about 15 years of podcasting together. They look back on past mistakes and deliver fresh kindnesses. This live show was recorded on Dec 9, 2020.

You can watch a special tribute video here and a video of the entire 15th Anniversary Show is here. 

Here are some references from this week’s show: 

Jonathan Rauch for the Atlantic: “How American Politics Went Insane”

Conor Friedersdorf for the Atlantic: “Working Mom Arrested for Letting Her 9-Year-Old Play Alone at Park”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: The Washington Post: “Sept. 8 in History: Evel Knievel’s Canyon Jump, Nixon Pardon”

Emily: Catrin Einhorn and Christopher Flavelle for The New York Times: “A Race Against Time to Rescue a Reef From Climate Change”

David: Washington Post: “Plastic Surgeons Say Business Is Up, Partly Because Clients Don’t Like How They Look On Zoom”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John share politically-themed cocktail recipes from listeners and of their own.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John, and David end 2020 considering listeners’ most perplexing conundrums—with special guest Alexandra Petri!

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

The Life of George Washington: With Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself, and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen by Mason Locke Weems

Marching Bands Are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Vol. 1 by Tim Siedell

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

David G. Savage for The Los Angeles Times: “Clarence Thomas is His Own Man

The Glory and The Dream by William Manchester

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey 

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson

FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Netflix

Fyre Fraud, Hulu

Black Mirror: “Nosedive,” Netflix

Black Mirror: “Arkangel,” Netflix

Here are some of the conundrums tackled on the show: 

• To save the world from eventual destruction, you have to live and work in one of two locations that you cannot leave for three years: one on the ocean floor, the other on the moon. Which do you choose and why? 

• What pre-1900 social custom (especially one related to how people interact with each other in public) that has fallen out of fashion should be revived in 2021 and beyond?

• Would you rather have read War and Peace but not be able to talk about it, or to have read Atlas Shrugged and have to talk about it?

• A pair of 80s style magical leg warmers must be visibly worn all day to activate superhuman cheetah speed. Do you wear them? 

• For the rest of quarantine, you must share your home with a fictional character. Who is your new roommate?

• You can have your portrait painted by any artist from any period of history, or your biography written by any author. Whom would you pick?

• If you could banish any widely accepted canard from people’s minds, what would it be?

• If you, and only you, could see one statistic hovering over every person’s head, what would you want it to be?

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, John, and Alexandra explore some bonus conundrums.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss the massive Russian hack-- with guest Alex Stamos, Bill Barr’s resignation, and Joe Biden’s cabinet.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Alex Stamos for The Washington Post: “Enough Is Enough. Here’s What We Should Do to Defend Against the Next Russian Cyberattacks.”

John Dickerson for 60 Minutes: “Excited Delirium: The Controversial Syndrome That Can Be Used to Protect Police From Misconduct Charges”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: “America, We Have a Problem”; The New Yorker Documentary, Episode 30: “The Man Who Invented More Than Eight Hundred Iconic Toys”

Emily: Daniel Nichanian for The Appeal: “Newly Elected Prosecutors Are Challenging The Death Penalty”; Rob Hayes for KABC: “LA County Da George Gascon's Plan To Reduce Sentences Sparks Concern From His Own Prosecutors”; Daniel Nichanian’s Twitter feed, @taniel 

David: Azam Ahmed for The New York Times: “She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One”

Listener chatter from @greenneck: Eric Simons for Bay News: “With Fewer than 2,000 Butterflies Counted So Far, Western Monarch Takes an Astonishing Step Closer to Extinction”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John discuss John’s reporting on “excited delirium,” the dubious medical justification for an increasing number of deaths of young Black men in police custody.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David talk about the coup attempt, Facebook’s legal troubles, and which presidential norms to restore or discard, with guest Tim Wu.

It's conundrum season! Pass along your most pressing conundrums here: www.slate.com/conundrum. Our annual Conundrum show is coming soon.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Tim Wu for the New York Times: “What Really Saved the Republic From Trump?”

Zeynep Tufekci for the Atlantic: “ ‘This Must Be Your First’ ”

They Might Be Giants

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: Dalya Alberge for the Guardian: “ ‘Sistine Chapel of the Ancients' Rock Art Discovered in Remote Amazon Forest”

David: Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield

Emily: Esmé E. Deprez for Bloomberg Businessweek: “How Medela Lost Moms”

Listener chatter from Charlotte Hope, @charlottehope: Elizabeth Yuko for Architectural Digest: “How Previous Epidemics Impacted Home Design”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John consider a question from listener Daniela Koontz about ideal road trips.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's conundrum season! Pass along your most pressing conundrums here: www.slate.com/conundrum. Our annual Conundrum holiday show is coming soon.

Emily, John and Jamelle discuss presidential pardons; coronavirus exemptions for houses of worship; and David joins in for a conversation with Australia's former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about disinformation.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “It Started With ‘Birtherism’”

Greg Nunziata for The Atlantic: “Republicans With Any Love of Country Must Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost”

Spencer S. Hsu for The Washington Post: “Court-Appointed Adviser in Michael Flynn Case Says Justice Dept. Yielded to Corrupt ‘Pressure Campaign’ Led by Trump”

Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: “Christian School in Kentucky Asks Justices to Intervene in Dispute Over In-Person Classes at Religious Schools”

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation”

A Bigger Picture, by Malcolm Turnbull 

To celebrate our 15th anniversary we'd love to know about your clever, politically themed, original cocktail! Please send us the details here: www.slate.com/cocktail

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Jamelle: Jamelle chatted about the superior experience of watching films on a Blu-Ray player, as opposed to streaming.

John: Caroline Lange for Food52: “A History of The American Milkman”; Matt Novak for Smithsonian Magazine: “The Milkman’s Robot Helper”; Atticpaper.com’s prints from the Mid-century advertising campaign “Beer Belongs” 

Emily: The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans 

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.  

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John learn about navigating water sports in shark-infested waters from Former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's conundrum season! Pass along your most pressing conundrums here: www.slate.com/conundrum. Our annual Conundrum holiday show is coming soon.

This week, Emily, David and John discuss the Trump Administration's efforts to hobble the Biden transition; ethical problems in vaccine distribution; and how to deal with the damage of the election fraud lie.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Alex Kalman for the Atlantic: “The Letters That Outgoing Presidents Wrote to Their Successors”

John Dickerson for The Atlantic: “Why You Don’t Mess Around With Presidential Transitions”

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: “A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus”

Kathryn Olivarius for The New York Times: “The Dangerous History of Immunoprivilege”

Jeanna Smialek and Alan Rappeport for The New York Times: “Mnuchin Cites Principles in Clawing Back Fed Money. Democrats See Politics.”

Kevin Roose, Mike Isaac, and Sheera Frenkel for The New York Times: “Roiled by Election, Facebook Struggles to Balance Civility and Growth”

Colin Dickey for Medium: “How to Talk to a Conspiracy Theorist”

To celebrate our 15th anniversary we'd love to know about your clever, politically themed, original cocktail! Please send us the details here: www.slate.com/cocktail

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

John: W.E.B. Du Bois: Writings; The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry 

David: Death, Sex & Money: “51 Years Loving A Man Named Sissy”; David’s twitter thread pitch for remaking Love Actually every year.

Emily and listener Barbara Torrey Workman @thethirdbarbara: Twitter thread by United Farm Workers @UFWupdates featuring farm workers at work harvesting the ingredients in favorite Thanksgiving recipes. 

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John discuss the elements of pre-pandemic Thanksgiving that they won’t miss this year and don't plan to reinstate next year.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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As part of our 15th anniversary celebration please share an original political cocktail recipe with us. Visit www.slate.com/cocktail to submit your recipe!

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times Magazine: “The Pandemic Election”

Isaac Chotiner for The New Yorker: “How We Can Contain the Second Wave of the Coronavirus”

Mike Pence for The Wall Street Journal: “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’”

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me on HBO

Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic: “The Case for Reparations”

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Josie Duffy Rice for Vanity Fair: “The Abolition Movement”

Barack Obama for The Atlantic: “I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America”

Jed Sugerman for The Washington Post: “Trump’s Legal Challenges to the Election Will Help Democrats”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley 

John: John’s fundraising page for Covenant House's Virtual Sleep Out; Charlotte Regan’s short documentary, “No Ball Games: Life and Play Through the Eyes of Children Across the UK”

David: Washington Post: “Fort Hood is named for a Confederate traitor. Is it time for ‘Fort Benavidez’?”

Listener chatter from Mike @rifenbury: Kanazawa Kenichi video 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David and John discuss the holiday movies they’d like to see made.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Slate Political Gabfest is turning 15 years old! We will be celebrating with a special live show on Dec 9th-- with wine! Please join us (drinking is optional). Learn more here.

Notes and references from this week’s show:

Karl Rove for The Wall Street Journal: “This Election Result Won’t Be Overturned” 

Rich Lowry for Politico: “The Completely Insane Electoral College Strategy”

The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple 

Michael D. Shear and Lisa Friedman for the New York Times: “Biden Could Roll Back Trump Agenda with Blitz of Executive Actions”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

As part of our 15th anniversary celebration we'd love to have your ideas for politically themed cocktails. Please submit an original recipe (or 2) here!

Emily: Reis Thebault for the Washington Post: “Robin Kemp Lost Her News Job in Clayton County, Ga. — But She Kept Reporting the News. It Paid Off on Election Week.

John: The Queen's Gambit; Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany by Dwight Garner 

David: Robyn Dixon for the Washington Post: “Azerbaijan’s Drones Owned the Battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh — and Showed Future of Warfare”

Listener chatter from Joshua Weaver @we4v3r: Grace Perry for Chicago Magazine: “No One Can Agree On What Malört Tastes Like, But the Descriptions Are Always Amazing”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss how to redesign the inauguration in order to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz reflect on the election results, the upcoming transition, how senior Republicans are dealing with Donald Trump's loss, and what comes next for Stacey Abrams and Pete Buttigieg.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. 

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by June Thomas.

Sign up for Slate Plus to support the Political Gabfest and the rest of Slate's journalism.

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Professor Nate Persily of Stanford-MIT's HealthyElections.org joins the Gabfest to discuss vote counting and election lawsuits. Emily, John and David also discuss Democrats’ down-ballot disappointments, and the problems with polling.

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Adam Liptak for the New York Times: “Supreme Court Weighs Legacy of Same-Sex Marriage Case”

John: Margaret McAleer for the Library of Congress Blog: “The Taft Papers and a Titanic Tragedy”

David: Katie Pickens for Eater: “Watch: How Benton’s Makes Its Perfectly Smoky Bacon”

Listener chatter from @ionictonic: Twisted Sifter: “This Animation of How Bridges Were Constructed in 14th Century Prague is Amazing”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John talk about the lighter stories they want to indulge in whenever the Trump era comes to close.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. 

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are some references from this week’s show:

David Wasserman for the Cook Political Report: “What One Florida County Could Tell Us About a ‘Gray Revolt’ on Election Night”

Rosemary Quigley’s Slate diary

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury book series by Maud Hart Lovelace

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Anne of Green Gables book series by L.M. Montgomery

John Dickerson for Slate: “To the Teacher Who Changed My Life”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Casey Newton’s newsletter, Platformer

John: El País: “A Room, a Bar and a Classroom: How the Coronavirus Is Spread Through the Air”; The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

David: David asked whether there is a word for the extreme discomfort he felt watching people embarrassed in terrible ways in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Listener chatter from Alana @snarkoutgirl: Wikitongues: “Aydyn Speaking Tuvan”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment ahead of Halloween, Emily, David, and John share memories of times they were deeply scared.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss Jeffrey Toobin’s suspension from The New Yorker.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Here are some references from this week’s show:

Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan for the New York Times: “The Real Divide in America Is Between Political Junkies and Everyone Else”

Caitlin Dickerson for the New York Times: “Parents of 545 Children Separated at the Border Cannot Be Found”

Michael D. Shear, Katie Benner, and Michael S. Schmidt for the New York Times: “ ‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said”

Jake Tapper for CNN: “Administration Officials Alarmed by White House Push to Fast Track Lucrative 5G Spectrum Contract, Sources Say”

Eric Lipton for the New York Times: “Trump Issues Order Giving Him More Leeway to Hire and Fire Federal Workers”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Joe Sexton for ProPublica: “He’d Waited Decades to Argue His Innocence. She Was a Judge Who Believed in Second Chances. Nobody Knew She Suffered from Alzheimer’s.”

John: Nate Chinen for the New York Times: “Keith Jarrett Confronts a Future Without the Piano”

David: David Plotz for Medium: “The Future is Local: That’s Why I’m Launching City Cast, a Network of Daily Local Podcasts.”

Listener chatter from @greenneck: Rose Eveleth for Smithsonian Magazine: “There Are Whales Alive Today Who Were Born Before Moby Dick Was Written”

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Slate's Political Gabfest will be published on Friday this week. Listen to this 15 second note to find out why!

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

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Emily, John and David discuss Barrett’s confirmation hearings; the First Amendment and disinformation; and the latest election machinations.

Here are some references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation”

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill 

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt 

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore

The New York Times interactive: “How To Vote”

“Better Know A Ballot: Stephen Colbert's State-By-State Guide To Voting In The 2020 Election”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Angela Morris for Texas Lawyer: “Chief Justice's Election Bid Puts Spotlight on Texas' Mandatory Judicial Retirement”; Shtisel 

John: “Learning in War-Time” by C. S. Lewis; Antonia Cundy for the Financial Times: “What Would a City Designed by Women Look Like?”; McDonald & Dodds

David: Dan Goodspeed’s data visualization of COVID cases state-by-state by date; Fighting With My Family; Ted Lasso

Listener chatter from Kevin O'Donnell @kevinodIRL: Patrick Blanchfield for The New Republic “The Town That Went Feral”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss their voting plans.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Emily, John and David discuss the White House virus outbreak, vice-presidential debate, and Senate races

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Matt Zapotosky for the Washington Post: “New Justice Dept. Election Fraud Guidance Could Allow Boosting Of Trump’s Exaggerated Claims, Legal Observers Say”; Jim Rutenberg for the New York Times Magazine: “The Attack on Voting”

John: Dave Philipps for the New York Times: “The Army Rolls Out a New Weapon: Strategic Napping”

David: 99% Invisible podcast; The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt 

Listener chatter from Kevin Collins @kevinkwc: colorized footage of an 1896 snowball fight in Lyon, France.

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss whether White House staff and journalists should report for work at the White House during the outbreak.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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In this special episode of Slate's Political Gabfest, Emily, John and David talk about President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis and what happens next.

Here are some references from the show:

Matt Stevens for the New York Times: “Kristin Urquiza, a Debate Attendee Whose Father Died of the Virus, Says Trump Showed ‘No Regard For Human Life.’

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

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Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire for the New York Times: “Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses And Years Of Tax Avoidance”

Adam Davidson’s Twitter thread on signs that Trump might have engaged in money laundering.

Daniel Shaviro for Just Security: “Ten Quick Takeaways from the New York Times’ Bombshell Article on Trump’s Tax Returns”

NYT: Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Noah Weiland for The New York Times: “Study Finds ‘Single Largest Driver’ of Coronavirus Misinformation: Trump”

Nathaniel Persily and Charles Stewart III for the Wall Street Journal: “Actually, We Will Know a Lot on Election Night”

Edward-Isaac Dovere for The Atlantic, “The Deadline That Could Hand Trump the Election”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Jordan Nickerson and David H. Solomon: “Car Seats as Contraception”

John: McDonald and Dodds

David: Raymond Antonio Vargas for the New Orleans Advocate: “In New Orleans, Case of Staged Accidents, Disbarred Lawyer, Stuntwoman Attorney Takes a Dark Turn”

Listener chatter from Megan Murray @mkmurray9: Alec MacGillis for The New Yorker: “The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss what unprofitable businesses they would like to run if they were engaging in tax evasion or avoidance schemes.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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In this special bonus episode Emily, John and David debrief and decompress after the first presidential debate of 2020.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Emily, John and David discuss the unseemly rush to replace Justice Ginsburg, the coming presidential debates, and 200,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg Refused to Step Down”

The Long Game by Mitch McConnell 

Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “Five Things Biden and His Allies Should Be Worried About”

Linda Chavez for the New York Times: “Democrats, You Can’t Count On the Hispanic Vote”

John Dickerson for the Atlantic: “The Slow-Fingered President”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Shaila Dewan for the New York Times: “Few Police Officers Who Cause Deaths Are Charged or Convicted”; Michael Tanenbaum for Philly Voice: “Pennsylvania's 'Naked Ballot' Ruling Will 'Cause Electoral Chaos,' Philly Commissioner Warns”

John: Tariro Mzezewa for the New York Times: “The Flight Goes Nowhere. And It’s Sold Out.”

David: Tara Parker-Pope for the New York Times: “Does Wearing Glasses Protect You From Coronavirus?”

Listener chatter from Katerina Barry: Mike Pomranz for Food & Wine: “Italy's 'Wine Windows' Were a Product of the Plague—Now They're Making a Comeback”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss where they’ve found moments of peace amidst the chaos.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Emily Bazelon joins Mike Pesca, host of Slate's Gist, for a special episode on the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After discussing Ginsburg’s history as a justice and legacy on the court, they begin to unpack the future political ramifications of her death. Emily and Mike talk through the ways a nomination could quickly slip through the Senate before January, the impact a conservative court could have on issues besides abortion rights, and if Ginsburg should have stepped down under President Obama.

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley.

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Emily, John, David and Jamelle discuss the impacts and threats of wildfires and the climate crisis, apocalyptic election talk, and the four of them envision a new and improved post-pandemic work week.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s special show -- part of the Texas Tribune Festival!:

Abrahm Lustgarten for The New York Times Magazine: “The Great Climate Migration”

Galen Durke for FiveThirtyEight “The Challenges Of Holding An Election During A Pandemic”

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “Trump’s Perverse Campaign Strategy”

Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: “Whose America Is It?”

Isaac Stanley-Becker for The Washington Post: “Pro-Trump Youth Group Enlists Teens in Secretive Campaign Likened to a ‘troll farm,’ Prompting Rebuke by Facebook and Twitter”

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamont

Here are the week cocktail chatters for this week:

Emily: Janet Malcolm for The New York Review of Books: “A Second Chance”

John: @AmeliaFrappolli’s, twitter thread about the mad hatter who shot John Wilkes Booth, Boston Corbett, as chronicled in Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West by Dale L. Walker.

Jamelle: Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin; The Mandalorian, Season 2 

David: The Oddly Satisfying channel on YouTube.

Listener chatter from Janet Green @janetcetera: Jonathan Ore and Kevin Ball for CBC: “Paddle of the Century”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, John, and Jamelle take questions from viewers of the Texas Tribune Festival livestream. 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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What Trump knew about the virus, DOJ’s move to end E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit, and Matthew Yglesias on One Billion Americans.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Rage by Bob Woodward

The Washington Post: “32 Times Trump Said the Coronavirus Would Go Away”

One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger by Matthew Yglesias

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Jaclyn Peiser for the Washington Post: “A Black Seventh-Grader Played with a Toy Gun During a Virtual Class. His School Called the Police.”

John: Laurie Gwen Shapiro for The New Yorker: “The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes”

David: Cecily Zander @CNZander’s Twitter thread on Civil War generals as Muppets

Listener chatter from Paul: The Economist: “Marvin Creamer Died on August 12th”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss TV shows from their youth that they would like to see rebooted. 

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Emily, David and John discuss the politics of violence in the U.S. and are joined by bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel to talk about COVID vaccine distribution, and by Edward Ball to talk about his new book, Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “Trump Needs His Own Sister Souljah Moment”

Science Magazine: “An Ethical Framework for Global Vaccine Allocation”

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: “National Academies Release Draft Framework for Equitable Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine, Seek Public Comment”

Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy by Edward Ball

Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball

Julian Kozlowski, Laura Veldkamp, and Venky Venkateswaran for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: “Scarring Body and Mind: The Long-Term Belief-Scarring Effects of COVID-19, Working Paper 2020-009A”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Marc Levy for the Associated Press: “Pennsylvania High Court Takes Up Another Election Lawsuit”

John: Elizabeth Bernstein for the Wall Street Journal: “The One Thing You Can Control Right Now: Yourself”

David: Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

Listener @GreenNeck: Bridget Alex for Discover: “Which Ancient City Is Considered the Oldest in the World?”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss whether we’ll consider this the most important election of our lifetimes thirty years from now. 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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The Republican convention, violence in Kenosha, and whether the Falwell and Conway families’ dramas matter.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “‘I Fear That We Are Witnessing the End of American Democracy’”

Omar Wasow for the Washington Post: “The Protests Started Out Looking Like 1968. They Turned Into 1964.” 

Black Lives Matter Protests in Wisconsin: Charles Franklin Marquette Law School Poll 2020-08-26

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Keith Johnston for Independent Voter News: “The 18th-Century Reason Biden's VP Pick Should Be a Night Owl”

Emily: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ; Honeyland 

David: Erin Berger for the New York Times: “Meet the National Parks’ ‘Ranger of the Lost Art’”

Listener Qiyu Liu @BlueSuedeQ: the Ikea Museum’s collection of 70 years of catalogues.

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss what they wanted to be when they grew up and how close they came.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Emily, John and David discuss the Democrats’ virtual convention, the U.S. Postal Service, and the bipartisan Senate report exposing more Trump ties to Russia.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

PowerToThePolls.org

Vote-absentee.com

Election Protection Hotline

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Keith Johnston for Independent Voter News: “The 18th-Century Reason Biden's VP Pick Should Be a Night Owl”

Emily: Claire Cain Miller for the New York Times: “‘I’m Only One Human Being’: Parents Brace for a Go-It-Alone School Year”

David: Shtisel 

Listener Rich Bravo: “Hieronymus Bosch Butt Music” 

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John talk about the first concerts they attended.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

 The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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David, John and Josie Duffy Rice discuss the Biden-Harris ticket, stimulus gridlock, and rapid, ubiquitous coronavirus testing-- with guest Dr. Michael Mina.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Monica Potts for The New York Times: "In the Land of Self Defeat" 

Zak Cheney-Rice for New York Magazine: "Tara Reade Is Making It Harder to Hide Joe Biden"

This Week in Virology, “Episode 640: Test Often, Fast Turnaround, with Michael Mina”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Denise Lu for the New York Times: “The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000”; Jamie Gangel and Elizabeth Stuart for CNN: “Details, Title and Cover Revealed for Bob Woodward's Upcoming Book on Trump”

Josie: Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman; WorthRises.org, dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it targets

David: Carla Marinucci for Politico: “San Francisco Becomes First County in the Nation to Offer Free Calls to Jail Inmates”

Listener Tim Anderson @TimAnderson_r2: Mark Johanson for the BBC: “How a Long-Forgotte Word Rallied a Nation”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Josie, David, and John talk about what they would do with their time if the world was free from the pandemic for one day.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Messing with the census, undermining the election, and guest Juliette Kayyem on competent crisis response.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Alex Thompson for Politico: “Trump’s Campaign Knocks on a Million Doors a Week. Biden’s Knocks on Zero.”

Ben Smith for the New York Times: “How the Media Could Get the Election Story Wrong”

Franklin Foer for the Atlantic: “Putin Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election”

Alice Miranda Ollstein for Politico: “Lawmakers Demand Explanation for Cutting Federal Funding to States for National Guard Deployments”

Juliette Kayyem for The Atlantic: “Reopening Schools Was Just an Afterthought”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson 

Emily: Deep Cover: The Drug Wars

David: This Week in Virology, “Episode 640: Test Often, Fast Turnaround, with Michael Mina”; Elian Peltier for The New York Times: “3 Men Marooned in the Pacific Are Rescued After Writing SOS in the Sand”

Listener Carol Palmer, @AgnetaAnderso: Larry Kanter for Medium “Inside the Company Trying to Solve the Global Bicycle Shortage”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John talk about missing their work friends.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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David, John and Ruth Marcus discuss Biden’s campaign, Big Tech, and author Anne Applebaum joins to discuss her new book Twilight of Democracy.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

John Dickerson for the Washington Post: “The Ultimate Test of Presidential Character Is Restraint”

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum

Anne Applebaum for the Atlantic: “History Will Judge Trump’s Enablers Harshly”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: The Underground Railroad and The Nickleboys by Colson Whitehead; Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Ruth: Sophie Haigney for The New Yorker: “An Elegy for the Landline in Literature”

Anne: MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman by Ben Hubbard

David: Meredith Cash for Business Insider: “Take a Peek at Alabama Football's Stunning New Locker Room That Was Part of a $16 Million Renovation”

Listener chatter from Mark Allender @markwallender for ProPublica: Jodi S. Cohen for ProPublica: “A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Ruth, David, and John discuss David’s dilemma concerning the best interests of his cats.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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Emily Bazelon, David Plotz and Jamelle Bouie discuss Trump’s assault on Portland, the filibuster, and Julian Zelizer’s new book about Newt Gingrich’s power tactics.

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Jamelle, David, and Emily discuss the people they consider the greatest living Americans after the death of John Lewis.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jamelle Bouie for the New York Times: “The Border War in Portland”

Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party by Julian E. Zelizer 

The Weeds: “Biden Reloaded”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Jamelle: Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi

Emily: Amicus Presents: “The Class of RBG” by Dahlia Lithwick 

Dahlia Lithwick and Molly Olmstead for Slate: “The Class of RBG” 

Dahlia Lithwick for Slate: “It’s Amazing to Me How Distinctly I Remember Each of These Women

The Lie That Binds by Ilyse Hogue and Ellie Langford

David: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Listener chatter from Joshua Bennet: Ann Gibbons for Science: “Why 536 Was 'the Worst Year to Be Alive'” 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, David and guest host James Forman Jr. discuss the pandemic catastrophe, the racial justice movement, and “cancel culture.”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment James, David, and Emily discuss the program James has started at Yale Law School to help individuals from the New Haven area to get law degrees, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Neil Gross for the New York Times: “Want to Abolish the Police? Consider Becoming an Officer Instead”

Paul Butler for the New York Times: “The System Must Counteract Prosecutors’ Natural Sympathies for Cops”

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy

Unpacking the Boston Police Budget, ACLU Massachusetts

Harper’s Magazine: “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”

Ross Douthat for The New York Times: “10 Theses About Cancel Culture”

David Plotz for Business Insider: “Government Data Is Getting Worse.”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

James: Vertellis card game

Emily: Pam Fessler and Elena Moore for NPR’s Morning Edition: “Signed, Sealed, Undelivered: Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots Rejected For Tardiness” 

David: Kerry Allen for the BBC: “US-China: Pompeo Dog Photo Has Netizens Asking If US Is Toying With China”

Listener chatter from James Edward Dillard @jamesdillard: ChinaTalk podcast: “How Corruption Works in China” 

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, John and David discuss Biden's understated presidential campaign, the new Supreme Court decisions, and Hamilton.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “Maybe This Isn’t Such a Good Time to Prosecute a Culture War”

David Weigel for The Washington Post: “The Trailer: Who's Afraid of Joe Biden?”

Michael W. McConnell for the New York Times: “On Religion, the Supreme Court Protects the Right to Be Different”

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Annette Gordon-Reed

The New York Times Magazine: “The 1619 Project”

Winds of Change podcast

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige; “426 Years: An Examination of 25 Wrongful Convictions

in Brooklyn, New York”

John: Jake Rossen for Mental Floss: “10 Examples of the Mandela Effect”; Chess.com: “What is Zugzwang?” 

David: Meghann Myers for Military Times: “Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Who Testified Against Trump, Announces Retirement From the Army”

Listener chatter from Emmy Rald @RaldEmmy: Phoebe Weston for The Guardian: “‘Landscape of Fear’: What a Mass of Rotting Reindeer Carcasses Taught Scientists”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David and Emily discuss the shaming of wealthy companies that took Paycheck Protection Program loans.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.