The “Read My Letter” Edition

Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show:

• The New York Times fact-check’s President Trump’s letter to Nancy Pelosi protesting impeachment.

• Derek Thompson for the Atlantic: “Why Is the Young Left Out to Get Buttigieg? Here Are Four Theories.”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: the soon-to-be end of an era with her warm and welcoming neighborhood grocery store, Romeo and Cesare’s.

John: Thomas Fuller and Josh Haner for the New York Times: “Portrait of an Oakland California Homeless Encampment.” Also, a A 5700-year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch in the journal Nature.

David: Anna Fifield for the Washington Post: “Taiwan’s tea party aims to burst Beijing’s one-China bubble.”

Chatter from listener Ionic Tonic @ionictonic about a series of tweets from Surprised Eel Historian @greenleejw about the importance of eels in the economies of British medieval and renaissance times.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John recite some favorite passages of poetry and nonfiction.

Emily: Blood History by Dwayne Betts

John: Sorting It Out by Philip Booth

David: Lytton Strachey’s book Eminent Victorians writing about Florence Nightingale

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter or post it to our Facebook page. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research by Bridgette Dunlap.