Emily, John and David discuss the stimulus bill, sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo, and escalating voter suppression efforts.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Dahlia Lithwick for Slate: “Maybe It’s a Good Thing Andrew Cuomo Is Still Governor”

Charlotte Klein for Vanity Fair: “Pence Can’t Quit The Big Election Lie That Nearly Got Him Killed”

The Brennan Center’s State Voting Bills Tracker 2021

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Elizabeth Nolan Brown for Reason: “Science-Based Policy Means Decriminalizing Sex Work, Say Hundreds of Researchers”; Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires 

John: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Civics Test

David: David chattered in Seussian rhyme about the controversy over Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s decision to take six books with racist imagery out of print.

Listener chatter from Lily Shield: Amy Littlefield for the Nation: “As the Pandemic Raged, Abortion Access Nearly Flickered Out”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special 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, Emily, David, and John discuss when they first realized the coronavirus would be life-changing. 

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 Jocelyn Frank.
Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Sorry If...

Emily, John and David discuss the Tanden take down, Merrick Garland‘s DOJ, and how to stop police killings of Black people with guest Jason Johnson.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Isaac Chotiner on Twitter @IChotiner

Mitch Daniels for the Washington Post: “Senate Republicans Could Restore a Bit of Civility by Confirming Neera Tanden” 

Jacob Jarvis for Newsweek: “Neera Tanden Once Criticized Joe Manchin's Pharma CEO Daughter”

Wesley Lowery for GQ: “The Most Ambitious Effort Yet to Reform Policing May Be Happening in Ithaca, New York”

Slate’s A Word … With Jason Johnson

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Yes In My Backyard’s Mapping Inequality: Digitizing Our Redlining History

John: Isabella Kwai for the New York Times: “Von Trapped: The Family Is Stuck Inside, So Why Not Sing Parodies?”

David: Children get off a school bus in Mongolia

Listener chatter from @Yayadesigns1: “Watch an Archaeologist Play the “Lithophone,” a Prehistoric Instrument That Let Ancient Musicians Play Real Classic Rock”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special 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, Emily, David, and John discuss our cultural predispositions when it comes to risk and how to better deal with, ignore or address risks. 

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 Jocelyn Frank.
Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shocked, Shocked! By Her Tweets

Emily, John and David discuss Republican allegiance to Trump, schools during COVID-19, and they're joined by guest Jonathan Cohn to look back on Obamacare and to explore the current state of COVID-19 vaccinations.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Susan Dominus for the New York Times Magazine: “Rhode Island Kept Its Schools Open. This Is What Happened.”

Shawn Hubler for The New York Times: “Vaccinating Oregon’s Teachers Might Not Be Enough to Reopen its Schools.”

The Ten Year War by Jonathan Cohn

Here’s this week’s chatter:
Emily: Anna Holmes for the Atlantic: “The Magazine That Helped 1920s Kids Navigate Racism”
John: Radio Garden
David: Pick of The Litter
Listener chatter from Ming Richie: Cathy Free for the Washington Post: “This Man Mistakenly Left his Wallet in Antarctica. Some 53 Years Later, He Got it Back.”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special 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, Emily, David, and John discuss the legacy of Rush Limbaugh.

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let the Purge Begin

David, Emily and John discuss Trump’s impeachment trial; lawsuits about election lies; and the execution of a possibly innocent man.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States by Brian Rosenwald 

“New US Capitol Riot Video Shows Mob Rifling Through Senators' Desks” The Telegraph

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “Did Tennessee Execute an Innocent Man?”

Slate Culture Gabfest: “‘Magic or Manipulation’ Edition”

Slate’s The Gist: “Illusions, Delusions, and Flat Out Lies”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Christopher Z. Mooney for the Chicago Tribune: “How the Census Delay Could Hand Control of Illinois Redistricting to the GOP”

John: A letter from George Washington that ended with the sign-off: “Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant" may reveal, or remind us, what our contemporary sign-offs mean.

David: The New York Times Presents: “Framing Britney Spears”

Listener chatter from James Dillard: Amanda Ripley for Comment: “The Mystery of Trust”

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special 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, Emily, David, and John discuss Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself. 

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Impeachment Trial Again

Emily, John and David discuss the stimulus bill, racial inequities in vaccine distribution, the return to in-person learning, and Majorie Taylor Greene’s GOP.

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

Ezra Klein for the New York Times: “The Senate Has Become a Dadaist Nightmare”

Uché Blackstock and Oni Blackstock for the Washington Post: “White Americans Are Being Vaccinated at Higher Rates Than Black Americans. Such Inequity Cannot Stand.”

Shreya Kangovi and Uché Blackstock for the Washington Post: “Community Health Workers Are Essential in This Crisis. We Need More of Them.”

Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “The QAnon Delusion Has Not Loosened Its Grip”

David Blight’s Open Yale Course: “HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877”

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed 

Monica Potts for The New York Times: “In the Land of Self-Defeat”


Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Moe Tkacik for Slate: “The Lousy Tippers of the Trump Administration”

John: Vala Afshar’s tweet of a clip from DisruptTV, Episode 91.  

David: Stefanos Chen for the New York Times: “The Downside to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks”

Listener chatter from Phillip Cleveland @pwcleveland: a Twitter thread by Mark R. Miller
@4T9NER about a meaningful family photograph

Slate Plus members get great bonus content from Slate, a special 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, listener Norman Townsend asks John, Emily, and David to discuss David’s new startup, CityCast.

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish Space Laser

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 Allen

Here 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 Itself

David: 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 @JoaquimCampa

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 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Short Squeeze

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 speech
Inauguration video from former Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton
Kevin 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 Cecil
Emily: 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

End this Uncivil War

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 and
Evidence on Security Threats: “How Telegram Disruption Impacts Jihadist Platform Migration”

The music of Ludovico Einaudi
The music of Joan Armatrading
The music of John Prine
The music of M.I.A.
The music of Joan Jett
The music of Maren Morris
The music of Joni Mitchell
The music of Bob Mould and Husker Du
The music of Nick Thompson
Nicholas 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 Pacemakers
Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
Desire by Bob Dylan
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

Here 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Greatest Betrayal

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 video
Listener 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reaping the Whirlwind

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15th Anniversary

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 Weems

Marching Bands Are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Vol. 1 by Tim Siedell

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
 
David G. Savage for The Los Angeles Times: “Clarence Thomas is His Own Man

The Glory and The Dream by William Manchester

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey 

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson

FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Netflix

Fyre Fraud, Hulu

Black Mirror: “Nosedive,” Netflix

Black Mirror: “Arkangel,” Netflix

Here 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conundrum 2020

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barr-Barr-Barr, Barr-Barr is Gone

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 Giants

Here 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breaking Up Facebook

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/cocktail
Here 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neutral Laws of General Applicability

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/cocktail
Here 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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sabotage for Christmas

As part of our 15th anniversary celebration please share an original political cocktail recipe with us. Visit www.slate.com/cocktail to submit your recipe!

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

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times Magazine: “The Pandemic Election”

Isaac Chotiner for The New Yorker: “How We Can Contain the Second Wave of the Coronavirus”

Mike Pence for The Wall Street Journal: “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’”

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me on HBO

Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic: “The Case for Reparations”

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Josie Duffy Rice for Vanity Fair: “The Abolition Movement”

Barack Obama for The Atlantic: “I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America”

Jed Sugerman for The Washington Post: “Trump’s Legal Challenges to the Election Will Help Democrats”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

Emily: Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley 

John: John’s fundraising page for Covenant House's Virtual Sleep Out; Charlotte Regan’s short documentary, “No Ball Games: Life and Play Through the Eyes of Children Across the UK”

David: Washington Post: “Fort Hood is named for a Confederate traitor. Is it time for ‘Fort Benavidez’?”
 
Listener chatter from Mike @rifenbury: Kanazawa Kenichi video 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David and John discuss the holiday movies they’d like to see made.

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID Tsunami

The Slate Political Gabfest is turning 15 years old! We will be celebrating with a special live show on Dec 9th-- with wine! Please join us (drinking is optional). Learn more here.

Notes and references from this week’s show:

Karl Rove for The Wall Street Journal: “This Election Result Won’t Be Overturned” 

Rich Lowry for Politico: “The Completely Insane Electoral College Strategy”

The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple 

Michael D. Shear and Lisa Friedman for the New York Times: “Biden Could Roll Back Trump Agenda with Blitz of Executive Actions”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 

As part of our 15th anniversary celebration we'd love to have your ideas for politically themed cocktails. Please submit an original recipe (or 2) here!

Emily: Reis Thebault for the Washington Post: “Robin Kemp Lost Her News Job in Clayton County, Ga. — But She Kept Reporting the News. It Paid Off on Election Week.

John: The Queen's Gambit; Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany by Dwight Garner 

David: Robyn Dixon for the Washington Post: “Azerbaijan’s Drones Owned the Battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh — and Showed Future of Warfare”
 
Listener chatter from Joshua Weaver @we4v3r: Grace Perry for Chicago Magazine: “No One Can Agree On What Malört Tastes Like, But the Descriptions Are Always Amazing”

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 Emily, David, and John discuss how to redesign the inauguration in order to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biden Biding

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz reflect on the election results, the upcoming transition, how senior Republicans are dealing with Donald Trump's loss, and what comes next for Stacey Abrams and Pete Buttigieg.
You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. 
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 June Thomas.
Sign up for Slate Plus to support the Political Gabfest and the rest of Slate's journalism.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special Episode: Biden Wins

Professor Nate Persily of Stanford-MIT's HealthyElections.org joins the Gabfest to discuss vote counting and election lawsuits. Emily, John and David also discuss Democrats’ down-ballot disappointments, and the problems with polling.

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: 
Emily: Adam Liptak for the New York Times: “Supreme Court Weighs Legacy of Same-Sex Marriage Case”

John: Margaret McAleer for the Library of Congress Blog: “The Taft Papers and a Titanic Tragedy”

David: Katie Pickens for Eater: “Watch: How Benton’s Makes Its Perfectly Smoky Bacon”

Listener chatter from @ionictonic: Twisted Sifter: “This Animation of How Bridges Were Constructed in 14th Century Prague is Amazing”

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 Emily, David, and John talk about the lighter stories they want to indulge in whenever the Trump era comes to close.

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden???

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. 
 
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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