Political Gabfest Slate Podcasts

David Plotz talks with author Sierra Greer about her new book, Annie Bot. They discuss how much discomfort Annie (a “Cuddle Bunny” type of robot) can feel, how the story of a robot is really about the right to control a body, and more.  

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

David Plotz talks with author Sierra Greer about her new book, Annie Bot. They discuss how much discomfort Annie (a “Cuddle Bunny” type of robot) can feel, how the story of a robot is really about the right to control a body, and more.

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.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Biden’s new asylum policy; the recent European Parliament elections with The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum; and the jammed congestion pricing in New York City.
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Corvid Research: Help, I’ve found a baby crow!
Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz for The New York Times: In Shift, Biden Issues Order Allowing Temporary Border Closure to Migrants and Miriam Jordan: Biden Opens a New Back Door on Immigration
Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: Biden is doing the right thing on asylum
Matt Collette for Vox: Our identity crisis on immigration
Alex Nowrasteh for the Cato Institute: The Most Common Arguments Against Immigration and Why They’re Wrong
Statista: U.S. immigration/migration – statistics & facts
Andres Triay, Robert Legare, Nicole Sganga, Pat Milton, and Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS News: ICE arrests 8 with suspected ISIS ties
BBC: What is the UK’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda? and Nick Beake and Kostas Kallergis: Greece boat disaster: BBC investigation casts doubt on coastguard’s claims
Anthony Faiola, Imogen Piper, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Klaas van Dijken, Maud Jullien, and May Bulman for The Washington Post: With Europe’s support, North African nations push migrants to the desert
Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: Trump Is Not America’s Le Pen
Sam Jones for The Guardian: EU elections 2024: how did key countries vote and what does it mean?
CBS News: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander announces legal challenge to congestion pricing pause
Michelle Kaske, Laura Nahmias, and Zach Williams for Bloomberg: New York Governor Shocks Manhattan With Halt to Congestion Pricing
Lauren Sforza for The Hill: Murphy says ‘the biggest policy mistake of the past 50 years in New Jersey’ was Christie’s decision to cancel Gateway tunnel project
The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Curt Anderson for WJHG: Florida jury finds Chiquita Brands liable for Colombia deaths, must pay $38.3M to family members 
John: Well, This Is Me: A Cartoon Collection from the New Yorker’s Asher Perlman by Asher Perlman and Taylor Orth for YouGov: In-flight drama: Where Americans sit on airline etiquette
David: City Cast Nashville and Hey Nashville; City Cast Austin and Hey Austin; Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi; Dartmouth: 2024 Commencement Address by Roger Federer at Dartmouth; Maxi 4 NBA: Michael Jordan I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.; and Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis—Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison 
Listener chatter from Jason Anderson in Chicago, Illinois: Neil Steinberg for the Chicago Sun-Times: Sorry, Ken Griffin – Chicagoans will call the Museum of Science and Industry what they please
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about Hunter Biden’s conviction. See Jonathan Lemire for Politico: Biden’s team was waiting for a Hunter verdict. That didn’t make it easier when it arrived. and Abby Phillip for CNN: Hear how conservatives reacted to Hunter Biden’s conviction. See also Perry Stein for The Washington Post: Gun counts Hunter Biden faces are rarely stand-alone charges and John Miller for CNN: Meanwhile, Trump said during pre-sentencing interview he had a gun in Florida, weeks after his conviction.
 
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the fallout from Donald Trump’s felony conviction; the spin-up for Hunter Biden’s trial; and the upshot for college speech from campus protests with Charles Homans.
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Nathaniel Rakich for 538: Trump’s conviction may be hurting him – but it’s early
Sarah Longwell in The Atlantic: The Two-Time Trump Voters Who Have Had Enough
Dafydd Townley for The Conversation: Trump guilty verdict: the fallout for US democracy
Politico Magazine: 22 Experts Predict What the Trump Conviction Will Mean for 2024 and Beyond
CBS News: Watch: Biden speaks at D-Day commemoration ceremony
Perry Stein for The Washington Post: Gun counts Hunter Biden faces are rarely stand-alone charges and Perry Stein, Devlin Barrett, and Matt Viser: How a fight over immunity unraveled Hunter Biden’s plea deal
Cris Barrish for WHYY: Lawyers spar in Wilmington court over whether Hunter Biden ‘knowingly’ lied on federal gun purchase form about drug use
Eugene Daniels for Politico: Biden issues a rare statement on his son’s criminal trial
Mini Racker for Time: How Hunter Biden’s Scandals Compare to Those of Trump’s Family Members
Matthew Yglesias for Vox: Nepotism and the 2020 election, explained
Emily Bazelon and Charles Homans for The New York Times: The Battle Over College Speech Will Outlive the Encampments
Here & Now on WBUR: Pro-Palestinian protesters at Brown reach deal with university
Emma H. Haidar and Cam E. Kettles for The Harvard Crimson: Harvard Will Refrain From Controversial Statements About Public Policy Issues
Paul Alivisatos in The Wall Street Journal: Why I Ended the University of Chicago Protest Encampment
Greta Reich and Caroline Chen for The Stanford Daily: Pro-Palestine protesters detained following occupation of president’s office, face immediate suspension

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Liz Goodwin for The Washington Post: Senate Republicans vote against making contraception a federal right and Ellen Wexler for Smithsonian Magazine: The 150-Year-Old Comstock Act Could Transform the Abortion Debate
John: Marco Hernandez, Jeffrey Gettleman, Finbarr O’Reilly, and Tim Wallace for The New York Times: What Ukraine Has Lost and Helena Skinner and Emma Ogao for ABC News: Satellite images show devastation in Sudan 1 year since conflict began
David: Alina Chan in The New York Times: Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Points
Listener chatter from Kevin Cassidy in Sawyer, Michigan: Dyartorin Crafts: How to make Leonardo Da Vinci Bridge using popsicle sticks and HeyDadHey: How To Make A Da Vinci Bridge
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about changes at the Washington Post and the state of journalism. See Oliver Darcy for CNN: Washington Post abruptly replaces executive editor Sally Buzbee in shakeup, David Folkenflik for NPR: New CEO of ‘The Washington Post’ puts former colleagues in power, and David Bauder for AP: With its top editor abruptly gone, The Washington Post grapples with a hastily announced restructure. See also Edward Helmore for The Guardian: ‘The final act’: fears US journalism crisis could destabilize 2024 election and Jack Shafer for Slate: The New Vanity Press Moguls. 
 
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s essay, John discusses instinct versus obligation, his daughter’s wit, how he has changed since episode one, and more.
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 58, page 10. September 16, 2021
“You don’t measure your life the way you measure your writing.” - Nan

Notebook 75, page 46-47. September 2021
When your dog dies and son goes to college and you are confronted with your life’s work it all boils down to one alarm: the clock is ticking. If a scream is better than a thesis, I was hearing some kind of scream, but what was the thesis?

References:
Everything Is Copy – HBODocs 
 The Power of Regret – Daniel Pink

The Mezzanine – Nicholson Baker 
“The Creative Process” – James Baldwin
Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
“Three Paths Toward the Meaning of Life” - Arthur Brooks for The Atlantic

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the U.S. Senate seats that might turn from blue to red in 2024; The Fall of Roe with The New York Times’s Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer; and the rise of Lauren Boebert with City Cast Denver’s Bree Davies and Paul Karolyi. 
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter: 2024 CPR Senate Race Ratings
Jonathan Weisman for The New York Times: 10 Senate Races to Watch in 2024
Ben Kamisar for NBC News: Rich people are spending more than ever to run for Congress. A big test is coming in Maryland.
Nate Silver for 538: Are The Democrats Screwed In The Senate After 2024?
The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer and The New York Times Magazine: The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade
Ian Ward for Politico: The Group Behind Dobbs Does Not Want to Talk About What Comes Next
Bree Davies and Paul Karolyi for City Cast Denver: Lauren Boebert Can’t Lose
 CBS Colorado: Beto O’Rourke Talks Gun Violence At Aurora Campaign Stop

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Law & Justice Journalism Project: 2024 Fellowship
John: Katie Razzall, Darin Graham, and Larissa Kennelly for BBC News: FBI investigating missing ancient treasures from British Museum and Rebecca Mead for The New Yorker: The British Museum’s Blockbuster Scandals
David: Meilan Solly for Smithsonian Magazine: Giant Pandas Are Coming Back to Washington, D.C.; Maura Judkis and Travis M. Andrews for The Washington Post: Let’s argue about the giant pandas; and Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute: Red panda
 
Listener chatter from Annamarie Smith in Sacramento, California: Sukey Lewis and Julie Small for KQED: On Our Watch: New Folsom
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David talk about pronatalism and the Collins family. See Jenny Kleeman for The Guardian: America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world: ‘There are going to be countries of old people starving to death’. See also Luke Munn for The Conversation: Pronatalism is the latest Silicon Valley trend. What is it – and why is it disturbing?; Sarah Jones for Intelligencer: There’s Nothing New About Pronatalism; and The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank by David Plotz.
 
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices