Political Gabfest

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 AllenHere 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 ItselfDavid: 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 @JoaquimCampaSlate 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 speechInauguration video from former Presidents Obama, Bush, and ClintonKevin 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 CecilEmily: 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. 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 andEvidence on Security Threats: “How Telegram Disruption Impacts Jihadist Platform Migration”The music of Ludovico EinaudiThe music of Joan ArmatradingThe music of John PrineThe music of M.I.A.The music of Joan JettThe music of Maren MorrisThe music of Joni MitchellThe music of Bob Mould and Husker DuThe music of Nick ThompsonNicholas 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 PacemakersTusk by Fleetwood MacDesire by Bob DylanIn Search of Lost Time by Marcel ProustHere 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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. 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 WeemsMarching Bands Are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Vol. 1 by Tim SiedellAtlas Shrugged by Ayn RandThe Fountainhead by Ayn RandWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyFifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James David G. Savage for The Los Angeles Times: “Clarence Thomas is His Own ManThe Glory and The Dream by William ManchesterThe Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-ReedEminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey The Twelve Caesars by SuetoniusThe Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill WatersonFYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, NetflixFyre Fraud, HuluBlack Mirror: “Nosedive,” NetflixBlack Mirror: “Arkangel,” NetflixHere 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. 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. 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 GiantsHere 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. 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/cocktailHere 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. 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/cocktailHere 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.