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In this Trumpcast Plus preview, Virginia Heffernan talks to comedian Kathy Griffin about the beheading performance art piece seen round the world, which spiraled into a nightmare scenario of harassment, the cancellation of her comedy tour, subsequent Hollywood blacklisting, and frequent check-ins with the FBI.

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The images are familiar now. The police in their face shields, armed with batons and cans of pepper spray. The protestors, sporting bruises, pouring milk on each others’ faces. What happened in the spring might make you feel uncomfortable and angry. Kellie Carter-Jackson says: that’s the point. And she says that a nice, peaceful protest may not accomplish the structural change America needs.

Guest: Kellie Carter-Jackson, PhD, a professor at Wellesley College and the author of Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists the Politics of Violence.

This episode originally aired in June, 2020. 

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Emily, John, and David end 2020 considering listeners’ most perplexing conundrums—with special guest Alexandra Petri!

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

The Life of George Washington: With Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself, and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen by Mason Locke Weems

Marching Bands Are Just Homeless Orchestras, Half-Empty Thoughts Vol. 1 by Tim Siedell

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

David G. Savage for The Los Angeles Times: “Clarence Thomas is His Own Man

The Glory and The Dream by William Manchester

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey 

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson

FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Netflix

Fyre Fraud, Hulu

Black Mirror: “Nosedive,” Netflix

Black Mirror: “Arkangel,” Netflix

Here are some of the conundrums tackled on the show: 

• To save the world from eventual destruction, you have to live and work in one of two locations that you cannot leave for three years: one on the ocean floor, the other on the moon. Which do you choose and why? 

• What pre-1900 social custom (especially one related to how people interact with each other in public) that has fallen out of fashion should be revived in 2021 and beyond?

• Would you rather have read War and Peace but not be able to talk about it, or to have read Atlas Shrugged and have to talk about it?

• A pair of 80s style magical leg warmers must be visibly worn all day to activate superhuman cheetah speed. Do you wear them? 

• For the rest of quarantine, you must share your home with a fictional character. Who is your new roommate?

• You can have your portrait painted by any artist from any period of history, or your biography written by any author. Whom would you pick?

• If you could banish any widely accepted canard from people’s minds, what would it be?

• If you, and only you, could see one statistic hovering over every person’s head, what would you want it to be?

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, John, and Alexandra explore some bonus conundrums.

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

The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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The coronavirus that gave rise to our present pandemic started in China as a bat virus that eventually made contact with humans. Researchers say this leap between species was highly predictable – so why were communities and governments caught flat-footed? 

Guest: Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance.

This episode originally aired in March, 2020.

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Dahlia Lithwick talks to Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme Court for a Slate Plus exclusive, as part of Slate’s 80 over 80 coverage.

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Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies. 

In this special holiday preview episode, Felix and Anna are joined by Yinka Adegoke, the Africa editor for Quartz, to discuss the classic Christmas/commodities-trading comedy Trading Places. They talk about the rampant 1980s-ness of it all, what is actually happening with the frozen concentrated orange juice, and how the film stacks up as a finance movie overall. 

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

Twitter: @felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas

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Congress has agreed on another stimulus package, but to do so both Republicans and Democrats had to give up on high-priority demands. Why did this bill take so long, and why isn’t anyone all that excited about it?

Guest: Jordan Weissmann, Slate's senior business and economics correspondent

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The United States is contending with a computer hack unprecedented in scope, and it could take months or even years to understand exactly what happened. But the hack has roots in vulnerabilities understood since the beginning of the internet, so why and how did this happen? 

Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s "War Stories" columnist 

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Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to talk about lessons learned from this election cycle, and what it’s like to be in the eye of the “unleash the kraken” storm. 

Next, Dahlia talks with Professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law about Bill Barr’s departure from the Justice Department, and they try to shed some light on the latest signals emerging from the Supreme Court’s shadow docket. 

In our Slate Plus segment, Mark Joseph Stern joins Dahlia for all the Supreme Court news we couldn’t cram into the main show, including analysis of the Covid closure cases and Mitch McConnell’s unprecedented lame-duck judicial appointment spree.  

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Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

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Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Anna Szymanski discuss Massachusetts regulators’ complaint against the Robinhood app, how MacKenzie Scott is giving away billions, and all the One Percenters leaving big cities.

In the Slate Plus segment: Currency manipulation. 

Email: [email protected]

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

Twitter: @felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @EmilyRPeck

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