Political Gabfest: Justice Alito's Upside Down Flag

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s right-wing flag-flying; David Leonhardt’s take on A New Centrism; and OpenAI’s use – or not – of Scarlett Johansson’s voice. 

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

Jodi Kantor for The New York Times: At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display; Jodi Kantor, Aric Toler, and Julie Tate: Another Provocative Flag Was Flown at Another Alito Home; Jodi Kantor and Abbie VanSickle: Display at Alito’s Home Renews Questions of Supreme Court’s Impartiality; and Abbie VanSickle: What Do Judicial Rules Say About Alito and a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol?

V: The Original Mini Series on Prime Video 

Mark Sherman for AP: Roberts, Trump spar in extraordinary scrap over judges and Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst: Supreme Court Justices Barrett and Sotomayor, ideological opposites, unite to promote civility

David Leonhardt for The New York Times: The Rise of a New Centrism and A New Centrism Is Rising in Washington

John Dickerson for Gabfest Reads and New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the Westby David E. Sanger

Bobby Allyn for NPR: Scarlett Johansson says she is ‘shocked, angered’ over new ChatGPT voice

Nitasha Tiku for The Washington Post: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show and Molly Roberts: Scarlett Johansson’s ChatGPT face-off confirms our fears about AI

Midler v. Ford Motor Co., 849 F.2d 460 (9th Cir. 1988) on Justia

Blake Brittain for Reuters: New York Times denies OpenAI’s ‘hacking’ claim in copyright fight

Michael Sainato for The Guardian: Consultant behind deepfaked Biden robocall indicated for Democratic primary scheme

Her by Warner Bros. Pictures

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Hacks on Max 

John: Lauren Aratani for The Guardian: Majority of Americans wrongly believe US is in recession – and most blame Biden

David: 99% Invisible: Towers of Silence

Listener chatter from Aaron Tax in Washington, D.C.: Andrea Sachs for The Washington Post: A beloved alley cat now lives in the Watergate. Was she kidnapped, or rescued?  

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about Republican politicians’ answers to the question: will you accept the results of the 2024 presidential election? See Alec Hernandez for NBC News: Here’s what top Trump VP picks say about the 2020 election results – and whether they’ll accept the 2024 outcome; Justin Green for Axios: Listen to Republicans on whether they’ll accept 2024 election results; and Patrick Svitek for The Washington Post: Top Republicans, led by Trump, refuse to commit to accept 2024 election results.

In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Sierra Greer about her new book, Annie Bot: A Novel.

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

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