Emily and John are joined by guest host Mary Harris to talk about the dangerous debt ceiling games; blowing the whistle on Facebook; and new revelations about January 6th and the plan to overturn the election.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Wall Street Journal: The Facebook Files
Wall Street Journal: The Facebook Files, A Podcast Series
Nathaniel Persily for the Washington Post: “Facebook Hides Data Showing It Harms Users. Outside Scholars Need Access.”
Charlie Warzel’s Substack, Galaxy Brain: “The Algorithm Tweaks Won't Save Us”
Katie Benner for The New York Times: “Report Cites New Details of Trump Pressure on Justice Dept. Over Election”
Mike Stobbe for The Associated Press: “More Than 120,000 Us Kids Had Caregivers Die During Pandemic”
YouTube video: “Richard Feynman Magnets”
Slate’s What Next With Mary Harris
Here’s this week’s chatter: John: The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth, by Matthew Algeo
Mary: Gary Shteyngart for The New Yorker: “A Botched Circumcision and Its Aftermath”; Robert Kolker for The New York Times Magazine: “Who Is the Bad Art Friend?”
Emily: Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law: Annual Awards Virtual Event–Championing Disability Rights for 49 Years; Sabrina Tavernise and Katie Benne for The New York Times: “Federal Judge Pauses Strict Texas Law Banning Most Abortions”
Listener chatter from Kyle Amann: Matthew Fox for Insider: “A Hamster Has Been Trading Cryptocurrencies In A Cage Rigged To Automatically Buy And Sell Tokens Since June - And It's Currently Outperforming The S&P 500”
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment John and Emily talk to Mary about work as a daily podcaster.
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.