The Going Nuclear Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about the fiscal cliff, the prospects for filibuster reform, and the ethics of outing bullies online.
Posted Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, at 2:57 PM ET
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the prospects for a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, whether the long-discussed option of limiting the filibuster is really going to happen, and the ethics of outing bullies online.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
- Email your conundra to gabfest@slate.com! Examples from our 2010 and 2011 conundra Gabfests.
- John offers an analytical filter to help you interpret the progress of the fiscal cliff discussions.
- Emily refers to a liberal justification for not making cuts to health care spending; as Jonathan Cohn puts it, we should wait and see if the Obamacare reforms create savings.
- David asks John about Obama’s efforts to rally public support for his agenda.
- John mentions a point advanced by Peter Orzag, that vague plans to reform tax breaks will get harder as the negotiations get specific.
- Wonkblog has a collection of links to filibuster reform coverage.
- Emily refers to a 2011 Slate piece about the filibuster by Akhil Reed Amar.
- Emily wrote about the online confrontation between internet group Anonymous and a group of teen bullies.
- John chatters about elephant tusk poaching statistics.
- Emily chatters about tales of “misdirected mating” in the New York
- David chatters about the modern challenge of depicting what people do all day. And—congrats to former Gabfest intern Gail Sullivan and Jared Moshe on their engagement! The first Gabfest wedding!
Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest
The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Michael Vuolo. Links compiled by Jeff Friedrich.
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Emily Bazelon is a Slate senior editor and writes about law, family, and kids. Her forthcoming book, Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Empathy and Character, will be published in February. Find her at emilybazelon@gmail.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com. Read his series on the presidency and his series on risk. Follow him on Twitter.
David Plotz is the Editor of Slate. He's the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank and Good Book. He appears on Slate's Political Gabfest.