The Value of Libraries and Perspectives on Borrowing Books

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the good U.S. economy and Americans’ bad feelings about it; the Supreme Court case of SEC v. Jarkesy and its threat to the system of U.S. government; and white evangelicals and Christian nationalists with The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta. Send us your Conundrums: submit them at slate.com/conundrum. And join us in-person or online for Gabfest Live: The Conundrums Edition! December 7 at The 92nd Street Y, New York City. Tickets on sale now!

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

Sam Sutton for Politico: Why a ‘soft landing’ may not solve Biden’s polling problem

Lydia DePillis for The New York Times: Even Most Biden Voters Don’t See a Thriving Economy; Paul Krugman: Bidenomics and the Guys in the Bar; Jim Tankersley: ‘Morning in America’ Eludes Biden, Despite Economic Gains; and Bryce Covert: Don’t Let Inflation Bury the Memory of a Government Triumph

Dylan Matthews for Vox: Why the news is so negative – and what we can do about it 

David Winston for Roll Call: Why Voters Are Still Wary 10 Years After the Economic Collapse 

Robert Barnes for The Washington Post: Supreme Court conservatives seem dubious about SEC’s in-house tribunals

Ronald Mann for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court to consider multi-pronged constitutional attack on SEC

Noah Rosenblum for The Atlantic: The Case That Could Destroy the Government

Ian Millhiser for Vox: A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump’s authoritarian dreams reality

Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism by Paul Sabin 

Tim Alberta for The Atlantic: My Father, My Faith, and Donald Trump and How Politics Poisoned The Evangelical Church

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta

Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: ‘The Embodiment of White Christian Nationalism in a Tailored Suit’

PRRI and Brookings: A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Brian Murphy for The Washington Post: Larry Fink, photographer who explored class divides, dies at 82 and Emily Bazelon and Larry Fink for The New York Times Magazine: Shadow of a Doubt

John: The New Yorker: “Bob and Don: A Love Story” a short documentary by Judd Apatow; CBS News Sunday Morning; and Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney

David: Matt Phillips for The New York Times: Shane MacGowan, Songwriter Who Fused Punk and Irish Rebellion, Is Dead at 65 and peyoteshaman on YouTube: Pogues 930 club mid 1980’s

Listener chatter from Nicola in Dublin, Ireland: Irish Archaeology: Pangur Bán and Tread Softy: Classic Irish Poems for Children edited by Nicola Reddy

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about the book lover’s dilemma: borrow or buy. See also A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin; Little Free Library; Adam Sockel for Perspectives on Reading: Library users are book buyers; and Pew Research Center: Libraries, patrons, and e-books.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with James Sturm about Watership Down: The Graphic Novel. See also James Sturm and Joe Sutphin in The New York Times: In Times of Danger, There’s Strength in Numbers.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

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