This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss the good US economy and Americans’ bad feelings about it; the Supreme Court case SEC v. Jarkesy and its threat to the U.S. system of government; and white evangelicals and Christian nationalists with The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta. Send us your puzzles: Submit them to Slate.com/conundrum. And join us in person or online with our special guest – Steven Colbert from The Late Show – at Gabfest Live: The Conundrums Edition! December 7 at The 92nd Street Y, New York City. Tickets on sale now!
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Sam Sutton for Politico: Why a ‘soft landing’ may not solve Biden’s polling problem
Lydia DePillis for the New York Times: Even most Biden voters don’t see a thriving economy; Paul Krugman: Bidenomics and the boys in the bar; Jim Tankersley: ‘Morning in America’ eludes Biden despite economic gains; and Bryce Covert: Don’t let inflation bury the memory of a government victory
Dylan Matthews for Vox: Why the news is so negative – and what we can do about it
David Winston for Roll Call: Why voters are still cautious 10 years after the economic collapse
Robert Barnes for The Washington Post: Supreme Court conservatives appear to have doubts about the SEC’s internal arbitration panels
Ronald Mann for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court considers multi-pronged constitutional attack on SEC
Noah Rosenblum for The Atlantic: The case that could destroy the government
Ian Millhiser for Vox: A Supreme Court case on stocks could help make Trump’s authoritarian dreams a reality
Public Citizens: The Assault on Big Government and Remaking American Liberalism by Paul Sabin
Tim Alberta for The Atlantic: My father, my faith and Donald Trump and how politics poisoned the Evangelical Church
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in the Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “The Embodiment of White Christian Nationalism in a Tailored Suit”
PRRI and Brookings: A Christian Nation? Understanding the threat to American democracy and culture from Christian nationalism
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Brian Murphy for The Washington Post: Larry Fink, photographer who explored class differences, dies at 82 and Emily Bazelon and Larry Fink for The New York Times Magazine: Shadow of a Doubt
John: The New Yorker: “Bob and Don: A Love Story,” a short documentary by Judd Apatow; CBS News Sunday Morning; and Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney
David: Matt Phillips for the New York Times: Shane MacGowan, songwriter who fused punk and Irish Rebellion, is dead at 65 and Peyoteshaman on YouTube: Pogue’s 930 Club in the mid-1980s
Listener talk by Nicola in Dublin, Ireland: Irish Archaeology: Pangur Bán and Tread Softy: Classic Irish Poems for Children, edited by Nicola Reddy
In this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the book lover’s dilemma: borrow or buy. See also “A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin; Little Free Library; Adam Sockel for Perspectives on Reading: Library users are book buyers; and Pew Research Center: Libraries, Customers, and E-Books.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks to James Sturm about Watership Down: The Graphic Novel. See also James Sturm and Joe Sutphin in the New York Times: In times of danger, there is strength in numbers.
Email your chatter, questions and comments to [email protected]. (News may be referenced by name unless the author specifies otherwise.)
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth
Research by Julie Huygen
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