Political Gabfest

David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, the end of pandemic-era medicaid & food security protections, and the many legal fights over medication abortion.Here are some notes and references from this week’s showHannah Dreier and Kirsten Luce for The New York Times: “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.”Jeff Stein and Tony Romm for The Washington Post: “Biden Calls For Trillions In Tax Hikes And New Domestic Spending”Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “The Abortion Pill Fight”Redaction, by Reginald Dwayne Betts and Titus KapharInformation on the New York reading and book signing for RedactionHere are this week’s chatters:Emily: The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America's Top Secrets, by Matthew ConnellyJohn: Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology, by Chris MillerDavid: Defending Democracy with Malcolm Turnbull; Listener chatter from Rebecca Carr: Pat Sangimino for The Lincoln Journal Star: “Leading Off: In The Heat Of The Sexual Revolution, A Woman And Her Invention Made A Difference”; Pagan Kennedy for The New York Times: “Could Women Be Trusted With Their Own Pregnancy Tests?”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily talks to Reginald Dwayne Betts and Titus Kaphar about their book, Redaction. 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 Cheyna Roth. Research by Bridgette Dunlap.Make an impact this Women’s History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund girls in STEM. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss the Supreme Court challenge to loan forgiveness; lab leak v. wet market Covid politics; and the future of humanities education–with John Plotz.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Nathan Heller for The New Yorker: “The End of The English Major”Recall This Book podcast with John PlotzUrsula Le Guin's Earthsea, by John Plotz“The Eden of the Author of Sleep,” by Brian TeareSarah Fullerton for UC Berkeley: “Defying Negative Stereotypes, Humanities Majors Are Booming At UC Berkeley”Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop, by Martin PuchnerThe Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; and The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman Here are this week’s chatters:John: Drew Harwell for The Washington Post: “Tech’s Hottest New Job: AI Whisperer. No Coding Required.”Emily: Michelle Goldberg for The New York Times: “Don’t Let Politics Cloud Your View of What’s Going On With Teens and Depression”; Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: “Why Are Young Liberals So Depressed?”; Ross Douthat for The New York Times: “American Teens Are Really Miserable. Why?”David: Ben Taub for The New Yorker: “How the Biggest Fraud in German History Unravelled”Listener chatter from Arthur Baraf: The National High School Ethics Bowl For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, John, and Emily discuss the Bidens ordering the same entree at a restaurant. 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 Cheyna Roth. Research by Bridgette Dunlap.Make an impact this Women’s History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund girls in STEM. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

* Due to an audio issue, the original episode has been replaced.This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss the year of war on Ukraine with Anne Applebaum; the smoking gun Fox News text messages; and Google’s defense of Section 230 at the Supreme Court.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Anne Applebaum and Nataliya Gumenyuk for The Atlantic: “‘They Didn’t Understand Anything, But Just Spoiled People’s Lives’”Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “Biden’s Hope vs. Putin’s Lies”Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “Biden Went to Kyiv Because There’s No Going Back”Emily Bazelon for The New York Times Magazine: “Billionaires vs. The Press in the Era of Trump”Jenna Russell for The New York Times: “In Vermont, a School and Artist Fight Over Murals of Slavery”Here are this week’s chatters:John: The Kid Should See This: “How It’s Made” videosEmily: Jill Filipovic: “Fear of a Female Body”David: Morgan Wade; City Cast DC liveListener chatter from Dylan O’Leary: Miles Ellingham for The Financial Times: “After Hours With 10 Foot, London’s Most Notorious Graffiti Writer”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the artist suing to keep his mural depicting slavery on display at a school that doesn’t want it. 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 Cheyna Roth and Tori Dominguez. Research by Bridgette Dunlap.Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Bazelon talks with author Rebecca Makkai about her new book, I Have Some Questions For You. They discuss why it’s so easy to suspend disbelief with this type of story, the “cancelled” subplot, and whether we’d be better off without Twitter.Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign; the legal history likely to lead to the end of affirmative action; and Slate How To! podcast host Amanda Ripley’s reporting on the congressional committee that got things done.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Emily Bazelon for The New York Times Magazine: “Why Is Affirmative Action in Peril? One Man’s Decision.”Amanda Ripley for The Washington Post: “These Radically Simple Changes Helped Lawmakers Actually Get Things Done”Julia Ioffe for The New Yorker: “Russia on Fire”Becky Sullivan for NPR: “What To Know About The Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio”Here are this week’s chatters:John: CBS Sunday Morning: “Almanac: Abraham Lincoln's Beard”Emily: John J. Lennon for The New York Review of Books: “Peddling Darkness”David: David French for The New York Times: “Men Need Purpose More Than ‘Respect’”; City Cast DC liveListener chatter from Tim Anderson: CNN: “Johannes Vermeer Exhibition Stuns With Scientific Revelations”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, John, and Emily discuss the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in Ohio. 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 Cheyna Roth and Tori Dominguez.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss the raucous State of the Union; the spy balloon and U.S.-China relations; and Susan Dominus’s reporting on missed opportunities in treating menopause.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Katie Rogers and Peter Baker for The New York Times: “Kamala Harris Is Trying to Define Her Vice Presidency. Even Her Allies Are Tired of Waiting.”Susan Dominus for The New York Times Magazine: “Women Have Been Misled About Menopause” Stephen I. Vladeck for The New York Times: “Don’t Let Republican ‘Judge Shoppers’ Thwart the Will of Voters”Here are this week’s chatters:John: Andor; Kialo.com Emily: Sabawoon Samim for Afghanistan Analysts Network: “New Lives In The City: How Taleban Have Experienced Life In Kabul”David: City Cast DC live; The Brothers Ashkenazi, by I. J Singer. Join David Plotz for a live taping of the City Cast DC podcast at the Politics & Prose Union Market location, Wednesday March 1 at 6:30 pm. You can register here for a free ticket. Listener chatter from Ryan Clements: The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier, by Ian Urbina; The Outlaw Ocean podcastFor this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, John, and Emily discuss the use of “judge shopping”—picking a preferred judge by suing in a single-judge district—to invalidate legislation nationwide. 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 Cheyna Roth and Tori Dominguez. Research by Bridgette Dunlap.Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss the killing of Tyre Nichols; violence interruption efforts–with guest Alec MacGillis; and the upcoming State of the Union.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “The Police Cannot Be a Law Unto Themselves”Radley Balko for The New York Times: “Tyre Nichols’s Death Proves Yet Again That ‘Elite’ Police Units Are a Disaster”Alec MacGillis for The New Yorker and ProPublica: “Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?”Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, by Emily BazelonHere are this week’s chatters:John: The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, by Chris Whipple; The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, by Chris WhippleEmily: Deep Cover: Never Seen Again podcast; Dan Charnas: Breaking Atoms: The Hip Hop PodcastDavid: City Cast Madison; City Cast Portland; Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver Listener chatter from David Foreman: Artnet News: “See Scores of Unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright Structures That Have Been Computer-Rendered With Incredible Realism”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, John, and Emily discuss The Banshees of Inisherin. 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 Cheyna Roth and Tori DominguezResearch by Bridgette Dunlap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and guest host Josie Duffy Rice discuss the rise of Marjorie Taylor Greene; Ron DeSantis’ attacks on educators; and the bipartisan bashing of monopolist Ticketmaster.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Jonathan Swan and Catie Edmondson for The New York Times: “How Kevin McCarthy Forged an Ironclad Bond With Marjorie Taylor Greene”God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America, by Hanna RosinJosie Duffy Rice for iHeartPodcasts: Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro ChildrenThe Nickel Boys, by Colson WhiteheadHere are this week’s chatters:John: The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz Josie: The Uninnocent: Notes on Violence and Mercy, by Katharine Blake David: Vintage Contemporaries, by Dan KoisListener chatter from Pherabe Kolb: Fred Clasen-Kelly for The Greenville News: “Key Findings From The Cost Of Unity, A Series On The Displacement Of Black Greenville”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, John, and Josie discuss Josie’s new podcast, Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. 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 Cheyna Roth.Research by Bridgette Dunlap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Plotz talks with author Shahan Mufti about his new book, American Caliph: The True Story of a Muslim Mystic, a Hollywood Epic, and the 1977 Siege of Washington, DC. They discuss an Islamic group’s multi-location attack in D.C., the terror that hostages experienced while held captive for the two days, and the movie that started the whole thing. Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s home; the justices of the Supreme Court exhibiting open animosity toward one another; and fears of a “polycrisis” at Davos.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Matt Viser, Tyler Pager, Carol Leonnig and Yasmeen Abutaleb for The Washington Post: “Inside The White House Document Strategy And Its Pitfalls”Steven Mazie for The Atlantic: “The Supreme Court Justices Do Not Seem to Be Getting Along”Jess Bravin and Sadie Gurman for The Wall Street Journal: “Supreme Court Investigators Have Narrowed Leak Inquiry to Small Number of Suspects”Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post: “The Happiest, Least Stressful, Most Meaningful Jobs In America”Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, by Studs TerkelHere is the poem (by an unknown author) that listener Christina Roosen sent to David after his cat died:Eyes bright,claws sharp,tail held high.Go keenly into the mist, old warrior.Valhalla waits for youA compilation of poems about pet loss: Rome Thorstenson for In Valhalla: “Pet Loss Poems”Here are this week’s chatters:John: Joseph Berger for The New York Times: “Adolfo Kaminsky Dies at 97; His Forgeries Saved Thousands of Jews”Emily: Joshua Vaughn for Penn Live: “Dauphin County Made Millions On Jail Phone Calls And Spent It On Staff Perks, Contractors”David: His Dark Materials on BBC One; The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, by Philip PullmanListener chatter from Muirinn O'Neill: Josh Baker’s I'm Not a Monster podcastFor this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss the jobs people find most meaningful. 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 Cheyna Roth.Research by Bridgette Dunlap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices