Political Gabfest

Latest Episodes:

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

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 Prisonby 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.

Blood Clot Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

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.

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

Midnight Train From Georgia Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

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 Outby Amanda Ripley

The Gottman Institute’s “Love Lab”

Emotions in Conflict: Inhibitors and Facilitators of Peace Makingby 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.

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

Impending Doom Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

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.

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

Unfulfilled Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

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 Americaby 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"

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.

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

I'll Get the Vaccine If You Give Me A Pony Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

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.

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

Zero Sum Mar 12, 2021

Show notes

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 Usby 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 Itby 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 memoirby 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.

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

I'm Sorry If... Mar 04, 2021

Show notes

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.

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

Shocked, Shocked! By Her Tweets Feb 25, 2021

Show notes

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.

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

Let the Purge Begin Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

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.

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