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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, the U.S. relationship with NATO, and federal policies around breastfeeding.
Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show:
- John Cassidy for the New Yorker: “Why It’s Right to Be Mad About Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court”
- Benjamin Wittes for Lawfare: “Brett Kavanaugh and the Mueller Investigation: What Do His Writings Really Say?
- Emily Tillett for CBS News: “Sen. Chuck Schumer Vows to Oppose Kavanaugh Nomination With ‘Everything I’ve Got’ ”
- Jonathan Chait for New York: “Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart—or His Handler?”
- Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times: “Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution by U.S. Stuns World Health Officials”
- The Lancet: “Breastfeeding: Achieving the New Normal”
- Merrit Kennedy for NPR: “Trump Administration Denies Threatening Ecuador Over a Breastfeeding Resolution”
- William Saletan for Slate: “Jim Jordan Says His Accusers Are Lying. If They’re Not, He Is.”
Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:
- Listener chatter from Zach Hamed: “Inside San Francisco’s Fire Department, Where Ladders Are Made by Hand”
- Emily: Adam Sternbergh’s tweets pointing out that of the nine SCOTUS justices, six are oldest or only children and three are middle children in their families.
- John: While reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder, he was fascinated by swarms of locusts in the 1800s.
- David: A Twitter thread from Anton Troynikov that outlines things that Silicon Valley and the Soviet Union have in common
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, the hosts discuss the Jim Jordan scandal. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gabfestplus.
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Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Links compiled by Izzy Rode.