Surprise! Welcome to a live-stream broadcast of this week’s Slate Political Gabfest.

Join the discussion in the live-chat area. At the end of the show, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon will answer a few of your questions.

This is a new feature we're experimenting with—please bear with us if we experience any technical hiccups.

As usual, the podcast and this week’s show page will publish on Friday.

You can provide feedback about today’s show here.

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.