Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, Title 42, and the current prayer in school debate.


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

Daphne Keller for The Center for Internet and Society: “What Does The DSA Say?”

John Dickerson for Slate: “Born Identity”

Here are this week’s chatters:

David: Ed Kilgore for New York Magazine: “Utah Democrats Endorse Independent Evan McMullin in Challenge to Mike Lee”; CityCast.fm/jobs 

John: Reddit thread: “This is a 3200-year old attendance sheet found in Deir el-Medina, Egypt. Reasons for worker absence include ‘embalming brother’, ‘brewing beer’ and ‘bitten by scorpion’”; The British Museum: Ostracon 

Emily: Ronald Brownstein for The Atlantic: “Why California Wants to Recall Its Most Progressive Prosecutors”; Vanessa Romo for NPR: “The LA Sheriff Now Says No Charges For The Reporter Who Wrote About A Cover-Up”


Listener chatter from J.T. Horn: Mary Pols for Downeast Magazine "Why Maine Owes Its Most Breathtaking Public Lands to One 1972 Newspaper Story" 


For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss John’s prescient 2011 piece about Trump’s birtherism.

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 Kevin Bendis.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.
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