Political Gabfest on Sen. Ted Cruz, the Supreme Court’s Confederate flag license plate case, and the tragic Germanwings plane crash.

Are License Plates Protected Speech?

Are License Plates Protected Speech?

Slate's weekly political roundtable.
March 27 2015 10:40 AM

The “Say It With Me: President Ted Cruz” Edition

Listen to Slate’s show about Sen. Ted Cruz, the Supreme Court’s Confederate flag license plate case, and the tragic Germanwings plane crash.

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This week’s episode is sponsored by Stamps.com. If you go to stamps.com, click on the microphone at the top of the home page and enter GABFEST for a $110 bonus offer, including up to $55 in free postage and a no-risk trial. To listen to the discussion, use the player below:

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For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, the hosts discuss the anniversary of the horrific My Lai massacre. Slate Plus members get an ad-free version of this podcast with bonus segments. Visit slate.com/gabfestplus and try it free for two weeks.

On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, special guest Jamelle Bouie, staff writer for Slate; Emily Bazelon; and David Plotz discuss Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, becoming the first major candidate to launch his 2016 White House run, the U.S. Supreme Court case on Confederate flag license plates and freedom of speech, and the apparent suicide and mass murder in the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525.

Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:

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Emily chatters about Shani Boianjiu’s powerful novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, a fictionalized account of her experiences in the Israeli army.

Jamelle chatters about the 2015 Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature, Disney’s Big Hero 6.

David chatters about the The Land, the fantastic new documentary about a Welsh “adventure” playground where kids are empowered to learn to manage risks on their own. Earlier, he also chatters about Slate’s Working, which this week explores what its like to be a bail bondsman.

Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest.

Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook.

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 Mike Vuolo. Links compiled by Tarik Barrett.