John, Emily and David discuss the fate of the Build Back Better agenda; vaccine mandates working; and journalist Caitlin Dickerson helps explain the recent U.S. immigration actions and to identify some fresh strategies for change. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “It’s All or Nothing for These Democrats, Even if That Means Biden Fails” Josh Marshall for Talking Points Memo: “Kill the Bill” Caitlin Dickerson for The Atlantic: “Democra...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Emily, John and David discuss what it will take to save the Biden agenda, the abortion doctor's defiance of the Texas ban; and true crime mania. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Josh Marshall for Talking Points Memo: “Policy vs Positioning Has Dems in a Stalemate” Michael Dorf for Dorf on Law: “Texas Could Not Get Away With This Absent SCOTUS-Created Limits On Constitutional Adjudication” Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “The Dawn of the Post-Clinic Abortion” Impeac...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Emily, John and David discuss the Biden’s administration’s vaccine rule, the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, and the new book from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Isaac Stanley-Becker for The Washington Post: “Top General Was So Fearful Trump Might Spark War That He Made Secret Calls To His Chinese Counterpart, New Book Says” Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa Susan B. Glasser for The New Yorker: “‘You’re Gonna Have a Fucking War’: M...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Emily, John and David reflect on 9/11; the fight for the infrastructure agenda, and declining college enrollment among men. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Garrett M. Graff for the Atlantic: “After 9/11, the U.S. Got Almost Everything Wrong” The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, by Garrett M. Graff Ady Barkan for The New York Times: “Home Care Keeps Me Alive. It Should Be Fully Funded.” Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “$1 Trillion Isn’t as Much as It...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min
John, Emily and David discuss SCOTUS letting the Texas abortion ban go into effect; the Afghanistan exit; and Dr. Atul Gawande joins the show to explain how Costa Rica has surpassed US life expectancy by getting serious about public health. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Atul Gawande for the New Yorker: “Costa Ricans Live Longer Than Us. What’s the Secret?” Here’s this week’s chatter: John: Erin Donaghue for CBS News: “Officers and Paramedics Charged in Death of Elijah...
Sep 04, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Jamelle, Emily and David discuss the Afghanistan evacuation, starting school during delta, and the path forward for infrastructure. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Jamelle Bouie for the New York Times: “$1 Trillion Isn’t as Much as It Sounds” Here’s this week’s chatter: Jamelle: Godzilla: The Album Emily: Jessica Stoya for Slate: “What We Can Really Learn From the OnlyFans Debacle” David: Atul Gawande for the New Yorker: “Costa Ricans Live Longer Than Us. What’s the Sec...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Emily, David and Alexandra Petri discuss the Afghanistan withdrawal, with guest Annie Pforzheimer; California’s recall election; and personal pandemic ethics. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Annie Pforzheimer for the Washington Post, “Leaving Afghanistan Will Lead to Yet Another Civil War There” Annie Pforzheimer for the Washington Post, “In Afghanistan, a Summer of Pain Awaits” Annie Pforzheimer for the New York Times, “The Long Road Out of Afghanistan” Rachel Feintzei...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism, by Paul Sabin Paul Sabin for the New York Times: “How Liberals Can Attack From the Left—and Win” Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, by Emily Bazelon The Genius Factory: Unravelling the Mystery of the Nobel Prize Sp...
Aug 12, 2021•58 min
John and David are joined by Andrea Valdez of The Atlantic to discuss New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo refusing to resign, the survival of the eviction moratorium and the arrival of vaccine passports. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Annie Lowery for the Atlantic: “The Time Tax” Here’s this week’s chatter: Andrea: Planet Money: “Three Reasons for the Housing Shortage”; Jerusalem Demsa for Vox: “Homeownership Can Bring Out the Worst in You” John: Jason Kottke for Kottke.org: “...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Emily, John and David discuss the January 6th Commission, the return of masks and they are joined by guest Annie Lowrey to talk about the "time tax." Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Annie Lowrey for The Atlantic: “The Time Tax: Why is so much American bureaucracy left to average citizens?” Here’s this week’s chatter: John: Max Fisher for the New York Times: “Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming” Emily: The Vanishing Half and The Mothers by Brit...
Jul 29, 2021•56 min
Emily, John and David discuss the Delta variant and the vaccination decline, the bipartisan infrastructure plan living another day, and the pandemic Olympics. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “Why Aren’t the Vaccines Approved?” Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: “Let's Get More People Vaccinated” Ross Douthat for The New York Times: “How to Reach the Unvaccinated” John Dickerson for CBS News: “Governor Asa Hutchinson on ‘Face the Na...
Jul 22, 2021•51 min
John, David and Josie discuss the escalating threats to democratic elections, minors’ rights to vaccination, and Josh Levin on the podcast One Year: 1977. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Slate’s One Year: 1977 The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth, by Josh Levin Citizen Kane Ulysses, by James Joyce Here’s this week’s chatter: John: Gaia Pianigiani and Emma Bubola for The New York Times: “Italy’s Government to Ban Cruise Ships From Venice”; The New York T...
Jul 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Emily, John and David discuss New York City’s primary election, J.D. Vance’s Senate run, and injustice illuminated by Britney Spears. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance Molly Ball for Time: “Breakfast with J.D. Vance, Anti-Trump Author Turned Pro-Trump Candidate” Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino for The New Yorker: “Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Nightmare” Caitlin Flanagan for The Atlantic: “You Re...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr
Emily Bazelon is joined by Ruth Marcus and Jamelle Bouie to discuss the infrastructure negotiations, alarming Supreme Court decisions and Bill Cosby’s release. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Catherine Rampell for The Washington Post: “Three Things That Could Still Blow Up The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal” Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, by Ari Berman Ruth Marcus for The Washington Post: “I’ve Urged Supreme Court Justices to Stick...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic workforce, Tucker Carlson, and student wins at the Supreme Court. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Ben Smith for the New York Times: “Tucker Carlson Calls Journalists ‘Animals.’ He’s Also Their Best Source.” Slate: “David Plotz and Tucker Carlson Debate Scott Brown, Health Care, and More” Andrew Van Dam for the Washington Post: “The Seven Industries Most Desperate for Workers” Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distr...
Jun 24, 2021•55 min
Emily, John and David discuss President Biden's G7 summit and the meeting with President Putin, McConnell’s plans to block a Biden Supreme Court nominee, and they are joined by guest Melissa Murray on what “critical race theory” is and is not. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Julia Ioffe for Tomorrow Will Be Worse: “‘Everyone Gets What They Deserve’: Biden Takes On the Putin Singularity” Strict Scrutiny podcast Amicus podcast The New York Times Magazine: “The 1619 Projec...
Jun 17, 2021•58 min
Emily, John and David discuss Joe Manchin, how the Trump DOJ lives on, and George Packer’s four Americas. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: John Dickerson for CBS News: “Sen. Joe Manchin on Face the Nation, June 6, 2021” Ruth Marcus for the Washington Post: “Attorney General Garland, Please Stop Digging” George Packer for the Atlantic: “How America Fractured Into Four Parts” Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, by George Packer George Packer for the Atlantic: “C...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: The Ezra Klein Show: “Obama Explains How America Went From ‘Yes We Can’ to ‘MAGA’” Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence, by Patrick Sharkey AmericanViolence.org Monica C. Bell for the Yale Law Journal: “Police Reform and the Dismantling of Legal Estrangement” Penn Wharton Budget Model: “COVID-19 School Closures: Long-Run Macroeconomic Effects” Hang Up and Listen: “The Naomi Osaka Wi...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “The Lab-Leak Theory” Nicholson Baker for New York Magazine: “The Lab-Leak Hypothesis” Nicholas Wade for The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “The Origin of COVID: Did People or Nature Open Pandora’s Box at Wuhan?” Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “Other Regimes Will Hijack Planes Too” The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, by Brendan I. Koerner Eric Levitz for New...
May 27, 2021•1 hr
Emily, John and David discuss the violence between Israel and Gaza, abortion at the Supreme Court, and the book Nine Nasty Words with author John McWhorter. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: John Dickerson for CBS: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on "Face the Nation," May 16, 2021” Bernie Sanders for the New York Times: “Bernie Sanders: The U.S. Must Stop Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government” Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Fo...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic economy; vaccine hoarding; and they're joined by Alex Stamos to talk about infrastructure, cybersecurity and the Colonial Pipeline hack. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Leonhardt for the New York Times: “A Misleading C.D.C. Number” Dana Goldstein for the New York Times: “President of Key Teachers’ Union Shares Plea: ‘Schools Must Be Open’ in Fall” Brian Krebs for Krebs on Security: “A Closer Look at the DarkSide Rans...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 7 min
David, John and Emily discuss Liz Cheney's defiance of Trumpists; Trump’s Facebook suspension; and meatlessness getting (more) political. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Kimberly Robinson for Bloomberg Law: “Video: The Wild Hypotheticals Posed by Justice Stephen Breyer” John Dickerson for CBS News: “Ron Klain on ‘Face the Nation,’ May 2, 2021” Evelyn Douek for Lawfare: “It's Not Over. The Oversight Board's Trump Decision is Just the Start.” These Truths: A History of th...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 6 min
A live Gabfest with Emily, David and John on the policies and politics of Biden’s first 100 days— with special guest Jamelle Bouie! A reference from this week’s show: Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: “Should Biden Emphasize Race or Class or Both or None of the Above” Here’s this week’s chatter: John: The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis; Gertrude Stein on punctuation from Lectures in America. Emily: Rosanna Xia for The Los Angeles Times: “DDT Waste Barrels Off L.A. Coast Sh...
Apr 29, 2021•51 min
Emily, John and David discuss the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial with guest Dwayne Betts; Andrew Yang’s campaign for Mayor of New York City; and why the U.S. invaded Iraq with guest Noreen Malone (host of the Slow Burn podcast). Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Netflix Is A Joke: “Richard Pryor's 1979 Joke About Police Still Applies” “When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving” by Reginald Dwayne Betts Jack Shafer for Politico: “How Substack Revealed the Real Value of ...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Emily, John and David discuss the vaccine “pause,” the death of Daunte Wright, and Biden’s commission on the U.S. Supreme Court. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Ronald Brownstein for The Atlantic: “The Decision That Will Define Democrats for a Decade” Ryan D. Doerfler and Samuel Moyn for The Atlantic: “Reform the Court, but Don’t Pack It” Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How To Fix the Supreme Court: How We Got Here” The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robi...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Emily, John and David discuss the corporate backlash to Georgia’s voting restrictions, Matt Gaetz and shamelessness in government, and they are joined by Amanda Ripley to talk about her new book High Conflict. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Jonathan Rauch for the Atlantic: “How American Politics Went Insane” Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign by Frances E. Lee High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley The Gottman Instit...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Emily, David and guest host Andrea Valdez discuss the fourth wave of the virus, Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, and fixing the U.S.’s caregiving infrastructure. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: How to Be a Texan: The Manual, by Andrea Valdez Ko Bragg for the 19th: “Four Girls Testified in the Derek Chauvin Trial. Here’s What They Told the Jury.” The University Will Require All Students to Be Vaccinated Before Arriving on Campus in the Fall, Rutgers University March 21, 202...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Emily, John and David discuss immigration, violence against Asian Americans and how Amazon is shaping the American economic landscape. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Emily Bazelon for Slate: “Stop Telling Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Retire: It's Counterproductive” David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “The Democrats’ Immigration Problem” Nicole Narea for Vox: “Migrants Are Heading North Because Central America Never Recovered From Last Year’s Hurricanes” One Billion Ameri...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 16 min
David, John and Josie discuss the politics of vaccine acceptance, the changed conversation on policing, and how Texas, undeterred by failing to find voter fraud, continues its assault on voting rights. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Dan Diamond for The Washington Post: “‘We Want To Be Educated, Not Indoctrinated,’ Say Trump Voters Wary of Covid Shots” Charles Duhigg for The New Yorker: Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the Lead. New York’s Did Not” The Unthinkable:...
Mar 18, 2021•58 min
Emily, John and David discuss the unprecedented American Rescue Plan. Author Heather McGhee joins the Gabfest to talk about her new book outlining how racism hurts all Americans and Dr. Michael Mina answers questions about how to improve the nation's pandemic-fighting strategies. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Pew Research Center: “Broad Public Support for Coronavirus Aid Package; Just a Third Say It Spends Too Much” The Debrief with Major Garrett: “$2 Trillion For Wha...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 9 min
