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This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss Raphael Warnock beating Herschel Walker, and oral arguments at the Supreme Court in the anti-gay marriage website designer case and the “independent state legislature” election case.

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

Fr. James Martin, S.J. for Outreach: “When Is Religious Liberty A Fig Leaf For Homophobia?”

Ian MacDougall for ProPublica: “What’s Really at Stake in a Politically Charged Supreme Court Case on Elections”

Jed Sugarmen’s thread on oral arguments in Moore v. Harper.

Kevin Roose for The New York Times: “The Brilliance and Weirdness of ChatGPT”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Associated Press: “HBO To Air Nancy Pelosi Doc Shot By Daughter Alexandra”; Pelosi in the House

November 28, 2022

Emily: The Janes

David: Tour Fort DeRussy with David; City Cast Portland has launched; Caitlin Doughty for The New York Times: “If You Want to Give Something Back to Nature, Give Your Body” 

Listener chatter from Adam Barhamand: Karen Bakker for Noema: “How To Speak Honeybee”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss ChatGPT.

Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected]. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

Research by Bridgette Dunlap.

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Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper known for criticizing the regime with his music, has been arrested by the Iranian government. His friends and family now worry he could face the death penalty. 

Guest: Nahayat Tizhoosh, Producer at the CBC.

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Three botched lethal injections in Alabama have once again highlighted the practical complexity and possible illegality of the death penalty. Even states that are adamantly in favor of capital punishment are being stalled on a purely pragmatic level. 

Guest: Elizabeth Bruenig, staff writer at The Atlantic

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Even after a campaign awash in scandals, gaffes, and the occasional speculation on werewolves vs. vampires, Herschel Walker still can’t be counted out in the run-off election to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. What can the parties take away from the last race of the 2022 midterms? 

Guest: Jim Newell, Senior Politics Writer for Slate.

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Even after a campaign awash in scandals, gaffes, and the occasional speculation on werewolves vs. vampires, Herschel Walker still can’t be counted out in the run-off election to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. What can the parties take away from the last race of the 2022 midterms? 

Guest: Jim Newell, Senior Politics Writer for Slate.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Amicus—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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The U.S. has welcomed thousands Afghan refugees since pulling out of Afghanistan in 2021. Safe from the Taliban, but without social security numbers,credit ratings, or even sometimes basic English, they have to make a new life relying on a patchwork of volunteers and their wits.  

Guests:

Elena MacFarlane, volunteer with the Immigrant and Refugee Outreach Center and assistant Professor in the Johns Hopkins Department of Genetic Medicine.

Lila and Basheer, Afghan refugees living in Maryland.

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The Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are both staffed with accomplished progressives who are proving more aggressive than their predecessors in either the Trump or Obama eras. But can Big Tech be tamed?

Guest: Leah Nylen, reporter for Bloomberg News 

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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For many years, tech professionals dismissed the threat of disinformation. Christopher Bouzy was one of them, until the 2016 election changed his mind. Bouzy founded and leads the organization Bot Sentinel to fight online disinformation. On today’s episode of A Word, he talks with host Jason Johnson about how best to detect lies and false narratives in social media, and how Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter complicates his mission. 

Guest: Christopher Bouzy, founder and C.E.O. of Bot Sentinel

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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When Christian conservatives lost in Masterpiece Cake Shop back in 2018, they regrouped and picked up the trail of breadcrumbs from Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent that suggested a freedom of speech approach. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in 303 Creative v Elenis - another case that takes aim at Colorado’s anti discrimination laws. This time, arguments about whether a website designer has the right to advertise that she will not design websites for same-sex weddings, will be focused on freedom of speech. But as this week’s guest, Hila Keren, argues, excluding people from the marketplace and humiliating them in the process is not a matter of free speech, and it is a matter progressives have been largely silent about. Together, Dahlia Lithwick and Professor Keren dig deep into a case that hasn’t been given the attention its potential wide-ranging consequences demand. 

In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Mark Joseph Stern to talk about another big case - this past week’s arguments in US v Texas, including brazen judge-shopping, nationwide injunction-slapping, and President Biden’s immigration policy. Then Mark explains exactly what is - and isn’t - in the same sex marriage bill that’s making its way to President Biden’s desk. 

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Dahlia’s book Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25% discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout.

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This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers talk about the CEO shakeup at Disney, shrinkflation, and Sam Bankman-Fried’s unusual post-scandal media appearances.

In the Plus segment: the controversy over Balenciaga’s new ad campaign.

Podcast production by Anna Phillips.

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