This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the second Republican presidential primary debate; the next federal case against Senator Bob Menendez, and the latest lawsuit of United States v. Big Tech. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Madison, Wisconsin on October 25!

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

Dan Balz for The Washington Post: “Republican debate brings chaos, attacks and a slog for second place”

G. Elliott Morris for 538: “How outlier polls happen – and what to do with them”

Nicole Hong for The New York Times: “Gold Bullion and Halal Meat: Inside the Menendez Investigation”

John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “FTC chair Lina Khan discusses need for regulations on big business”

Lina M. Khan in The Yale Law Journal: “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox”

Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves for AP: “House Speaker McCarthy is back to square one as the Senate pushes ahead to avert a federal shutdown”

John Dickerson and Kris Van Cleave for CBS News: “How a government shutdown could cause chaos at airports”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Mary Harris for This American Life: Act One of The Call; Slate’s podcast What Next hosted by Mary Harris; Never Use Alone Inc. National Overdose Prevention Lifeline; Dr. Alison Block for the Post-Roe America series of The Nocturnists podcast; and Slate’s podcast Amicus hosted by Dahlia Lithwick: “SCOTUS Is Not Done With Guns and Abortion”

John: Michael Schneider for Variety: “CNN and Now-Canceled ‘Vice News Tonight’ Lead News & Documentary Night 1 Winners List” and John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “How to stay safe online, according to CISA”

David: Jonathan O’Callaghan for Nature: “This is what Earth’s continents will look like in 250 million years”

Listener chatter from Kevin McEvilly: Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser in The New York Times: “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss the possible shutdown of the U.S. government.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Zadie Smith about her book, The Fraud: A Novel.

In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career.

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

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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