Emily and David are joined by guest host David Leonhardt to discuss the pandemic economy; a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, and the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.

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

John J. Mearsheimer for Foreign Affairs: “The Inevitable Rivalry: America, China, and the Tragedy of Great-Power Politics”

Corey Robin for The New York Times: “Why the Biden Presidency Feels Like Such a Disappointment”

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas, by Corey Robin

Mike Baker for The New York Times: “The Sisters Who First Tried to Take Down Jeffrey Epstein”t

Andrew Anthony for The Guardian: “Meet Julie K Brown, The Woman Who Brought Down Jeffrey Epstein”

Jill Filipvoc’s newsletter 

Matthew Yglesias’ Slow Boring newsletter

Joe Sheehan’s baseball newsletter

Matt Levine’s Money Stuff newsletter

Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American newsletter

Here’s this week’s chatter:

Emily: Leah Litman for NBC News: “The Death Penalty Cases Before The Supreme Court That Could Keep Innocent People In Prison”: Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: “Conservative Justices Scoff at Maine’s Exclusion of Religious Schools From Tuition-Assistance Program”

David Leonhardt: Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite

David Plotz:: Work at City Cast; Sex Lives of College Girls

Listener chatter from Andrew Lacko: “Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and David talk about newsletters and what they do well.

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Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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