Emily Bazelon talks with author Zadie Smith about her new book, The Fraud. They discuss what happens when justice comes through an unjust symbol, how much Zadie does and doesn’t know about her characters, and more. 

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
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Gabfest Reads: Zadie Smith Knows You're a Fraud

Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks.

News

Politics

Government

In this week’s essay, John discusses an onboarding memo for his assistant Laura, and recounts his early days living and working in New York City. 
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75
Onboard memo for Laura

Notebook 3, page 44. May 1991
June 17 start job. Good stuff

Notebook 3, page 46. May 1991
Tips on buying renting in NYC
Ask about broker
20s and 30s East side. Murry Hill
Live on no major avenue
Interest bearing account for security deposit
Medeco locks

Notebook 4, page 15
Scared standing on 34th and Broadway
$6 cab fare

Notebook 4, page 42
Getting lost in the village

References:
The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes by Clifton Fadiman 
Medeco Locks
“Here is New York” by E.B. White
“Silly Job Interview” - Monty Python 
John Cleese on Creativity in Management
Herbie Hancock: Miles Davis’ Essential Lesson On Mistakes
 
Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
 
Host
John Dickerson
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John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Remembering Early 1990s New York

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the increasing and increasingly violent campus protests of Israel’s war in Gaza, Emily’s article on How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s chances of a vice presidential nomination after killing her dog and writing about it.
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
April Rubin, Kavya Beheraj, Tory Lysik, and Will Chase for Axios: Mapped: Where pro – Palestinian student protesters have been arrested
Sharon Otterman and Santul Nerkar for The New York Times: As Protests Grow, Universities Choose Different Ways to End Unrest
Mary Harris for Slate’s What Next podcast: Columbia Cracks Down
The University of Chicago: Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action
Jonathan Chait for New York’s Intelligencer: Why the Right Loves the Anti-Israel Encampments
Abigail Hauslohner for The Washington Post: House passes antisemitism bill over complaints from First Amendment advocates
Alexander Bolton for The Hill: Democrats split over campus protest crackdown
Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law
Regulations on YouTube
Calvinball on Wikipedia
The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law: A Conversation with Justice Amy Coney Barrett
Ian Millhiser for Vox: The Supreme Court appears poised to rein in its worst decision on guns
Ulysses S. Grant Revealed: President Ulysses S. Grant On The U.S. Constitution
Martin Pengelly for The Guardian: Trump VP contender Kristi Noem writes of killing dog – and goat – in new book
PBS American Experience: Nixon’s Checkers Speech
Marc A. Caputo for The Bulwark: Trump: ‘Marco has this residency problem.’

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Gal Beckerman for The Atlantic: A Prominent Free-Speech Group Is Fighting for Its Life
John: Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine: This Newly Deciphered Papyrus Scroll Reveals the Location of Plato’s Grave
David: Kenny Holston for The New York Times: Inside a Navy Submarine Navigating the Arctic
Listener chatter from Christina in Philadelphia: Marina Bolotnikova for Vox: Mega drive-throughs explain everything wrong with American cities; Wikipedia: Third place; Jake Blumgart for The Philadelphia Inquirer: Starbucks plans a new Center City location with no restrooms or seating; and Marin Cogan for Vox: The deadliest road in America.   
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk with Professor Deborah Tuerkheimer about the Harvey Weinstein case in New York. See Hurubie Meko and Maia Coleman for The New York Times: Prosecutors Say They Plan to Retry Harvey Weinstein as Soon as the Fall and Maria Cramer: Here are five takeaways from the overturned conviction. See also Deborah Tuerkheimer for CNN: Reversal in Harvey Weinstein case isn’t the demise of sex crimes prosecution and Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers by Deborah Tuerkheimer. 
 
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with David E. Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth
Research by Julie Huygen
 
Hosts
Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should Student Protesters Be Arrested?

In this week’s essay, John discusses the art of attention and how to develop the skill of slow-looking.
  
Notebook Entries:
 
Notebook 75, page 8. September 2021
1016
 
Notebook 1, page 54. June 1990
-       Magna carta 1215 at Salisbury
-       Girls skipping
-       The Haunch of Venison
-       Chris
 
 
References:
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
A Little History of the World by E.H Gombrich
Artist Jeff Koons
“The Art of Divination: D.H. Lawrence on the Power of Pure Attention” by Maria Popova for The Marginalian
“Gabfest Reads: A Woman’s Life in Museum Wall Labels” for Political Gabfest 
One Woman Show by Christine Coulson
“Grammy-winning artist Jason Isbell talks about the craft of songwriting and his latest music” for CBS News
A Journey Around My Room by Xavier De Maistre
“Just think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind” by Timothy Wilson, et.al for Science
“Our Rodent Selfies, Ourselves” by Emily Anthes for the New York Times
One Man’s Meat by E.B. White
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
  
Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.
 
Host
John Dickerson
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John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: The Power of Four Numbers

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the testimony of prosecution witness David Pecker in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, and the Supreme Court argument on presidential immunity. 
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: 
Matthew Haag for The New York Times: David Pecker, Ex-National Enquirer Publisher, Details How He Aided Trump
Richard L. Hasen in the Los Angeles Times: Opinion: Why it’s hard to muster even a ‘meh’ over Trump’s New York criminal trial
J. David Goodman, David Montgomery, Jonathan Wolfe, and Jenna Russell for The New York Times: Campus Protests Over Gaza Intensify Amid Pushback by Universities and Police
Spectator Editorial Board for the Columbia Spectator: Is Columbia in crisis?
Minouche Shafik in The Wall Street Journal: Columbia University President: What I Plan to Tell Congress Tomorrow
David Schizer in CNN: Opinion: To combat antisemitism, start by following the law
Michael C. Dorf for Verdict: Federal Antidiscrimination Law Does Not Require Campus Crackdowns
J Oliver Conroy for The Guardian: ‘Media firestorm’: Israel protest at professor’s home sparks heated free-speech debate
C-SPAN: Supreme Court Hears Case on Former President Trump’s Immunity Claim
Ann Marimow for The Washington Post: Supreme Court seems poised to allow Trump trial, but not immediately
Ian Millhiser for Vox: Donald Trump already won the only Supreme Court fight that mattered

Here are this week’s chatters:
John: Stephen Clark for Ars Technica: Recoding Voyager 1—NASA’s interstellar explorer is finally making sense again
Emily: Abbie VanSickle for The Washington Post: Supreme Court Appeals Sharply Divided in Emergency Abortion Case and Angela Palermo for The Spokesman-Review: Idaho has lost 22% of its practicing obstetricians in the last 15 months, report say
David: Exploring a Secret Fort on airbnb; City Cast: Work with us.; and Eve O. Schaub for The Washington Post: Don’t waste your time recycling plastic
Listener chatter from Michael Starr in New York City: Patrick Page in All The Devils Are Here; Richard the Third by Paul Murray Kendall; and Nancy Shute for NPR: No Hunch Here: Richard III Suffered From Scoliosis Instead
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about a question before the Supreme Court: can a city regulate homelessness? See Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Court divided over constitutionality of criminal penalties for homelessness; Esteban L. Hernandez and Meira Gebel for Axios: Supreme Court weighs case that could affect Denver’s approach to homelessness and Alayna Alvarez: Denver’s urban camping ban brings 10 years of turmoil; and Eli Saslow and Todd Heisler for The New York Times: A Sandwich Shop, a Tent City and an American Crisis. 
 
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with David E. Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth
Research by Julie Huygen
 
Hosts
Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Election Fraud Pure and Simple

In this week’s essay, John dives deep into the loss of his beloved dog, George, the essayist’s dilemma, the comfort of quiet mornings, and more.
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75, page 5. September 5, 2021
I go to the morning alone.
 
Notebook 75, page 6. September 6, 2021
Phantom nails on the stairs
 
 
References:
“Every Dog Is a Rescue Dog” by John Dickerson for The Atlantic
“Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds” by Miho Nagasawa et.al for Science
Haikus by Jennifer Gurney
“Which Pet Will Make You Happiest?” by Arthur C. Brooks for The Atlantic
“The Family Dog Is in Sync With Your Kids” by Gretchen Reynolds for The New York Times
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
  
Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

Gabfest Reads: Zadie Smith Knows You're a Fraud

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