This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and Special Counsel Robert Hur’s congressional testimony; crime and punishment with the Wren Collective’s Jessica Brand; and Congress’s move to ban the Chinese government from TikTok. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now. Planning to attend? Submit a Listener Chatter to gabfest@slate.com and you might be picked to chatter live. 

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

C-SPAN: 2024 State of the Union Address and Former Special Counsel Hur Testifies on Biden Classified Documents Report, Part 1and Part 2

House Committee on the Judiciary: Recorded Interview: Robert Hur, President Biden Transcript, Date of Interview: October 8, and Date of Interview: October 9

Kaitlan Collins for CNN: Fmr. Mar-a-Lago employee who helped move classified docs speaks with CNN

Adam Serwer for The Atlantic: How Hur Misled the Country on Biden’s Memory

Jack Goldsmith in The New York Times: Jack Smith and Robert Hur Are the Latest Examples of a Failed Institution

Erica Pandey and Russell Contreras for Axios: Blue cities go red with conservative policies on crime

Michael Barbaro and Mike Baker for The New York Times’s The Daily podcast: Oregon Decriminalized Drugs. Voters Now Regret It.

Madaleine Rubin for The Texas Tribune: Sean Teare unseats Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in primary

Stefanie Dazio for AP: Progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón advances to runoff

Jeffrey M. Jones for Gallup: More Americans See U.S. Crime Problem as Serious

Stephanie Sy and Shoshana Dubnow for the PBS News Hour: As concerns grown around surging violent crime, the numbers tell a different story

David Leonhardt for The New York Times: Should China Own TikTok?

CBS News: FBI Director Wray says China targeting U.S. civilian infrastructure, economic security

Laura He for CNN: If the US bans TikTok, China will be getting a taste of its own medicine

CBS Mornings: Jon Stewart on why he’s going back to “The Daily Show” anchor desk

Mike Pence on Fox News: TikTok is digital fentanyl and Congress, Biden must act before it’s too late

Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein for The Washington Post: How Donald Trump switched to defending TikTok

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Josh Gerstein for Politico: Federal courts move against ‘judge-shopping’ and John Dickerson and Jessica Levinson for CBS News Prime Time: New rules aim to prevent “judge shopping” in major court cases

John: Emily Goulet for Philadelphia: Fight Like a Girl: The New Wave of High-School Wrestling and Alex Bellos for The Guardian: He ate all the pi: Japanese man memorises π to 111,700 digits

David: Lend A Box

Listener chatter from Steven in Queens, New York: New York Times: Soon Finds Mother For His 5 Children; Widower Discovers Six Women Eager to Marry Him and Care for His Brood.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about marriage proposals. See Caroline Kitchener for The Atlantic: Marriage Proposals Are Stupid; Sadiba Hasan for The New York Times: 10 Great Ways to Pop the Question; and Parija Kavilanz for CNN: After 2023 wraps up, get ready for a spike in marriage proposals.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kiley Reid about her book, Come and Get It.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

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