Political Gabfest

Latest Episodes:

Failed Justice Breyer Countdown Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Emily Bazelon is joined by Ruth Marcus and Jamelle Bouie to discuss the infrastructure negotiations, alarming Supreme Court decisions and Bill Cosby’s release.

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

Catherine Rampell for The Washington Post: “Three Things That Could Still Blow Up The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal”

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, by Ari Berman

Ruth Marcus for The Washington Post: “I’ve Urged Supreme Court Justices to Stick Around — But Never to Retire. Until Now.”

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food: The Classic Cookbook, Expanded and Updated, with New Recipes and Contemporary Variations on Old Themes, by Claudia Roden

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “I Write About the Law. But Could I Really Help Free a Prisoner?”; My Octopus Teacher

Ruth: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

Jamelle: Croupier; Athletic Brewing Company

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 Danny Lavery's show Big Mood, Little Mood and you’ll be supporting the Political Gabfest. Sign up now at slate.com/gabfestplus to help support our work. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, Jamelle, and Ruth talk about their favorite summer foods and recipes.

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

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F School, F Softball, F Cheer, F Everything Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic workforce, Tucker Carlson, and student wins at the Supreme Court.

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

Ben Smith for the New York Times: “Tucker Carlson Calls Journalists ‘Animals.’ He’s Also Their Best Source.”

Slate: “David Plotz and Tucker Carlson Debate Scott Brown, Health Care, and More”

Andrew Van Dam for the Washington Post: “The Seven Industries Most Desperate for Workers”

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport

John Dickerson for 60 Minutes: “Colleges and Universities Prepare for Fall Classes in the Middle of the Coronavirus Pandemic”

The Sound Scene Festival: an annual free and interactive audio arts festival organized by the D.C. Listening Lounge, an audio collective of Washington-based sound artists and enthusiasts.

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Steve Rathje, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Sander van der Linden for the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences: “Out-Group Animosity Drives Engagement On Social Media”

Emily: Associated Press: “Connecticut Is Firstst State to Make All Prison Phone Calls Free”

David: Mad Men

Listener chatter from Laura Forsythe: Stephanie Lai for the Washington Post: “26 Years After Being Convicted Of Murder, A D.C. Jail Inmate Is Elected To Public Office”; campaign videos at https://neighborsforjusticedc.org/takeaction/

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 Danny Lavery's new show Big Mood, Little Mood" and you’ll be supporting the Political Gabfest. Sign up now at slate.com/gabfestplus to help support our work. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss things that have gotten better since their childhoods.

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 Morgan Flannery.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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

New, New, New Cold War Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Emily, John and David discuss President Biden's G7 summit and the meeting with President Putin, McConnell’s plans to block a Biden Supreme Court nominee, and they are joined by guest Melissa Murray on what “critical race theory” is and is not.

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

Julia Ioffe for Tomorrow Will Be Worse: “‘Everyone Gets What They Deserve’: Biden Takes On the Putin Singularity”

Strict Scrutiny podcast

Amicus podcast

The New York Times Magazine: “The 1619 Project”

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Elizabeth Dilts Marshall for Reuters: “Morgan Stanley Ceo to Staff: Be Back at New York Headquarters by September”; Lauren Weber for The Wall Street Journal: “Forget Going Back to the Office—People Are Just Quitting Instead”

Emily: Adam Liptak for The New York Times: “Affordable Care Act Survives Latest Supreme Court Challenge”; Adam Liptak for the New York Times: “Supreme Court Backs Catholic Agency in Case on Gay Rights and Foster Care”

David: Six Months Later: Episode 22: David Plotz

Listener chatter from Leslie Camp: Doug Fraser for The Cape Cod Times: “‘I Was Completely Inside’: Lobster Diver Swallowed by Humpback Whale Off Provincetown”

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 Danny Lavery's new show Big Mood, Little Mood" and you’ll be supporting the Political Gabfest. Sign up now at slate.com/gabfestplus to help support our work

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss the things they miss doing which modern technology has pushed out of circulation.

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.

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

Manchin on the Hill Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Emily, John and David discuss Joe Manchin, how the Trump DOJ lives on, and George Packer’s four Americas.

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

John Dickerson for CBS News: “Sen. Joe Manchin on Face the Nation, June 6, 2021”

Ruth Marcus for the Washington Post: “Attorney General Garland, Please Stop Digging”

George Packer for the Atlantic: “How America Fractured Into Four Parts”

Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, by George Packer

George Packer for the Atlantic: “Can Civics Save America?”

The Ezra Klein Show: “Obama Explains How America Went From ‘Yes We Can’ to ‘MAGA’ ”

Jane Mayer for the New Yorker: “Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Elizabeth Weise for USA Today: “This Man Spent Last Year Flushing Hundreds of Toilets. The New Fear as the Pandemic Wanes: Legionnaires' Disease”

Emily: Michael Powell for the New York Times: “Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis”

David: Rachel Gutman for the Atlantic: “A Crumpled, Dried-Out Relic of the Pandemic”

Listener chatter from Andrew Goetz: Mick West's YouTube videos explaining UFO footage.

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 Danny Lavery's new show Big Mood, Little Mood" and you’ll be supporting the Political Gabfest. Sign up now at slate.com/gabfestplus to help support our work. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David consider how their names may have shaped their personalities.

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.

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

The “Murder Mystery” Edition Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

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

The Ezra Klein Show: “Obama Explains How America Went From ‘Yes We Can’ to ‘MAGA’”

Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence, by Patrick Sharkey

AmericanViolence.org

Monica C. Bell for the Yale Law Journal: “Police Reform and the Dismantling of Legal Estrangement”

Penn Wharton Budget Model: “COVID-19 School Closures: Long-Run Macroeconomic Effects”

Hang Up and Listen: “The Naomi Osaka Withdraws Edition”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Kathryn Schulz for TED: “Don’t Regret Regret”; Cal Newport for The New Yorker: “What if Remote Work Didn’t Mean Working from Home?”

Emily: Mare of Easttown; Julie Miller for Vanity Fair: “Kate Winslet on Mare of Easttown and Creating a Real Heroine for Tired Times”

David: CityCast Denver: “Responding to 911 Calls With Sweatpants and Snacks, Not Guns”

Listener chatter from James Williams: Arnstein Aassve, Guido Alfani, Francesco Gandolfi, and Marco Le Moglie for Health Economics: “Epidemics and Trust: The Case of the Spanish Flu”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about Naomi Osaka withdrawing from the French Open.

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 Margaret Kelley.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz

Follow

@SlateGabfest on Twitter / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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

The “Gain of Function” Edition May 27, 2021

Show notes

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

David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “The Lab-Leak Theory”

Nicholson Baker for New York Magazine: “The Lab-Leak Hypothesis”

Nicholas Wade for The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “The Origin of COVID: Did People or Nature Open Pandora’s Box at Wuhan?”

Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “Other Regimes Will Hijack Planes Too”

The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, by Brendan I. Koerner

Eric Levitz for New York Magazine: “David Shor on Why Trump Was Good for the GOP and How Dems Can Win in 2022”

Eric Levitz for New York Magazine: “David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Mark Mortensen and Heidi K. Gardner for Harvard Business Review: “WFH Is Corroding Our Trust in Each Other”

Emily: Patrick Smith for WBEZ: “Mayor Lori Lightfoot Blamed Gun Violence On Judges, But Emails Show Her Staff Knew It Wasn’t True”

David: Apple Photos “Memories” feature

Listener chatter from Jen Overbeck: Alan Burdick for The New York Times: “So You Want to End the Conversation?”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about the difficulties of ending a conversation that has run its course.

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 Margaret Kelley.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz

Follow

@SlateGabfest on Twitter / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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

Hot Button Issue May 20, 2021

Show notes

Emily, John and David discuss the violence between Israel and Gaza, abortion at the Supreme Court, and the book Nine Nasty Words with author John McWhorter.

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

John Dickerson for CBS: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on "Face the Nation," May 16, 2021”

Bernie Sanders for the New York Times: “Bernie Sanders: The U.S. Must Stop Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government”

Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever, by John McWhorter

John McWhorter for the Atlantic: “How ‘White Fragility’ Talks Down to Black People”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Tariro Mzezewa for the New York Times: “Hear a Harlem Choir Rejoice Again”

Emily: Adam Liptak for the New York Times: “Ban on Non-Unanimous Verdicts Is Not Retroactive, Supreme Court Rules”

David: Children of Timeby Adrian Tchaikovsky

Listener chatter from Susan Bates: AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about the objects that most define them.

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.

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

Million Dollar Jab May 13, 2021

Show notes

Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic economy; vaccine hoarding; and they're joined by Alex Stamos to talk about infrastructure, cybersecurity and the Colonial Pipeline hack.

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

David Leonhardt for the New York Times: “A Misleading C.D.C. Number”

Dana Goldstein for the New York Times: “President of Key Teachers’ Union Shares Plea: ‘Schools Must Be Open’ in Fall”

Brian Krebs for Krebs on Security: “A Closer Look at the DarkSide Ransomware Gang”

Here’s this week’s chatter:

John: Craig Welch for National Geographic: “Groundbreaking Effort Launched to Decode Whale Language”

Emily: A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon; America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton

David: B-Side Books: Essays on Forgotten Favorites by John Plotz “

Listener chatter from Adam Schear: Walker Caplan for LitHub: “The Key to Dodging Cyber Censorship Rules Might Be . . . A Minecraft Library?”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David each recount a decision that changed the trajectory of their lives (not marriage related).

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.

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

Martyrdom of Liz Cheney May 06, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

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

Live at 100 Days Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

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.

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