Author: Slate Podcasts

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer to discuss Joe Biden’s White House and The Last Politician; the war in Ukraine and the possible meeting of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin; and Americans’ views on the value of higher education. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Madison, Wisconsin on October 25!

 

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

The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future by Franklin Foer

Seung Min Kim, Stephen Groves, and Farnoush Amiri for AP: “How Biden and McCarthy struck a debt limit deal and staved off a catastrophe”

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias: “This was Biden’s core promise …”

Jasmine Wright for CNN: “Kamala Harris found her voice on abortion rights in the year after Dobbs. Now she’s making it central to her 2024 message”

Imtiaz Tyab for CBS News: “Ukraine counteroffensive makes “notable” progress near Zaporizhzhia, but it’s a grinding stalemate elsewhere”

Paul Tough for The New York Times Magazine: “Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?”

Ramesh Ponnuru in The Washington Post: “How to restore intellectual diversity on college campuses 

Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. in The Washington Post: “Could income-share agreements help solve the student debt crisis?”

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber 

Sarah Wood for U.S. News & World Report: “Paying for Meals at College: What to Know About Costs”

Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court’s Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences by Joan Biskupic 

Here are this week’s chatters: 

Emily: Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim for The New York Times: “Georgia Judge Says Two Defendants in Trump Case Will Get Early Trial Together” and Sam Gringlas for NPR: “In the Trump Georgia case, conflicting legal strategies complicate the path to trial”

Frank: The Dan Patrick Show: “Does Messi Make MLS Appear Inferior?”; How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer; Essays on Music by Theodor Adorno; and On Late Style: Music and Literature Against the Grain by Edward W. Said 

David: One Life: Frederick Douglass at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.; Michel Martin for NPR’s All Things Considered: “Picture This: Frederick Douglass Was The Most Photographed Man Of His Time”; and NPR: “’What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass’ Speech”

Listener chatter from Nicole Dorn: Jennifer Senior for The Atlantic: “The Ones We Sent Away” 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Frank, Emily, and David discuss the writing of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily, David, and John talk with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling book, Demon Copperhead. 

 

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Franklin Foer, Emily Bazelon, and David Plotz

 

Follow

@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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On this episode: Zak interviews Jake Gyllenhaal, Greta Caruso, and Dan Santat about their new book, The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles. They dive into what makes that particular relationship so special, why it’s overlooked in children’s literature, and even what goes into crafting a kids book. 

We also go over our week in triumphs and fails. Then, if you’re sticking around for Slate Plus, we share some Instagram accounts that are actually making our lives better.

Zak recommends: 

• @owen.han
• @daily dad 
• @inspiredtowrite (author Amy McNee)

Elizabeth recommends: 

• @games.4two (The Board Game Couple)
• @sexpositive_families
• @adailycloud

Jamilah recommends: 

• @singleblackmotherhood
• @goodmoms_badchoices

And of course, you can always follow your hosts on Instagram, too:

• Jamilah: @jamilahlemieux
• Zak: @bestadviceshow
• Elizabeth: @ejdn

Join us on Facebook and email us at momanddad@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Mom and Dad are Fighting. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Rosemary Belson and Maura Currie.

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On this month’s episode of Future Tense Fiction, host Maddie Stone talks to Janelle Shane about her short story “The Skeleton Crew.”

The House of A.I. is a next-level haunted house: In it, a suite of advanced A.I.s read visitors’ facial expressions to generate perfectly tailored scares. Or at least, that’s what the marketing materials want you to believe. It turns out, the house is actually operated by a group of underpaid gig workers, tasked with posing as spooky A.I.s as they guide visitors through the mansion. When two gunmen sneak into the house in search of a famous rock artist who’s there visiting, things go south quickly—and everyone ends up really grateful for the humans behind the house’s spooky machines.

After the story, Maddie and Janelle discuss why the human workers behind A.I. are so often invisibilized—and why you should be suspicious when a company oversells its tech.

Guests: Janelle Shane is a research scientist. She writes about A.I. on her blog, aiweirdness.com, and she’s also the author of You Look Like a Thing and I Love You.

Story read by Kat Bohn

Podcast production by Tiara Darnell

You can skip all the ads in Future Tense Fiction by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/plus for just $15 for your first three months.

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On this episode: Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater joins to talk about her new book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. It’s a story of a teen sharing extremely racist memes and photos of classmates on a private instagram and what happened when the account was discovered. It led to even more hurt, protests, botched mediation, and a community-wide conversation about justice and what it means to be complicit. 

Besides the interview, hosts Jamilah Lemieux, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen share their parenting ups and downs of the week—including a late night before the first day of kindergarten and big-kid summer camp. Then, on Slate Plus: we share lots of listener letters ranging from two player games to suggestions for handling the great bathroom conundrum of 2023. 

Join us on Facebook and email us at momanddad@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Mom and Dad are Fighting. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Rosemary Belson and Maura Currie.

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