Political Gabfest

The “Come On, Man, I Heard You Liked Me” Edition

Tara Reade’s allegations against Joe Biden, reopening schools, and astronaut Scott Kelly on confined living.

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Episode Notes

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

Michael J. Stern for USA Today: “Why I’m Skeptical About Reade’s Sexual Assault Claim Against Biden: Ex-Prosecutor”

Brian & Eddie Krassenstein for Medium: “Biden Accuser, Tara Reade, Allegedly Stole from Non-Profit Organization”

Seren Morris for Newsweek: “What is 1 Day Sooner? Scientists Seek Volunteers to Become Infected with Coronavirus to Speed Up Vaccine Development”

Peter Singer and Richard Yetter Chappell for the Washington Post: “Pandemic Ethics: The Case for Experiments on Human Volunteers”

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Linda Villarosa for the New York Times Magazine: “‘A Terrible Price’: The Deadly Racial Disparities of Covid-19 in America”

John: Kathryn Krawczyk for the Week: “Michigan Governor Introduces a GI Bill for Frontline Workers”;  Rosalind Adams and Ken Bensinger for Buzzfeed: “After One Tweet To President Trump, This Man Got $69 Million From New York For Ventilators”

David: David’s new newsletter for Business Insider; Johnny Diaz for the New York Times: “Cities Close Streets to Cars, Opening Space for Social Distancing”

Listener chatter from Püblic Üniversal Fiend @UniversalFiend: Associated Press: “Dutch Students Complete Trans-Atlantic Voyage Forced by Coronavirus”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John discuss the ethics of human challenge trials for vaccine development.  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 and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

About the Show

Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says, “Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest.” The Gabfest is hosted by Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz. Listen for the debates, stay for the cocktail chatter.

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Hosts

  • David Plotz is a host of the Slate Political Gabfest, an editor at large at Business Insider, and the former CEO of Atlas Obscura.

  • Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, the author of Charged and Sticks and Stones, and co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.

  • John Dickerson is a 60 Minutes correspondent, co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest, host of the Whistlestop podcast, and author of Whistlestop and On Her Trail.

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