Political Gabfest: What Is The Comstock Act?

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4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the John Durham report on the FBI investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign; the mifepristone case heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the 12-week abortion ban in North Carolina; and the legal showdown between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Frum for The Atlantic: “A Sinister Flop: Special Counsel John Durham served up not an investigation, but an excuse for future partisan abuses.” Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How a 150-Year-Old Law Against Lewdness Became a Key to the Abortion Fight” Debra Michals for the National Women’s History Museum: “Margaret Sanger Stephen Neukam for The Hill: “Rick Scott on Disney-DeSantis feud: ‘Cooler heads have to prevail’” Will Saletan for The Bulwark: “The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A case study in the rise of authoritarianism.” Here are this week’s chatters: John: Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis for BBC News: “Titanic: First ever full-sized scans reveal wreck as never seen before”; Lilit Marcus and Sania Farooqui for CNN: “Sherpa breaks record with 27th Mount Everest summit” Emily: Divide Me By Zero by Lara Vapnyar David: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann; join David at a live taping of City Cast DC on Saturday June 3 at 1 p.m., Right Proper Brewing's Brookland production house and tasting room. Tickets are free. RSVP here. Listener chatter from Jon: “Trappisten verlassen Abtei Engelszell” [Trappists leave Engelszell Abbey] For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and John discuss with The Bulwark’s Will Saletan @saletan his book, “The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A case study in the rise of authoritarianism.” In the latest edition of Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Curtis Sittenfeld @csittenfeld about her book, Romantic Comedy. Join us for a live taping! Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C., Wednesday June 28, 7:30 p.m., Sixth & I, 600 I St. NW. Tickets are on sale now. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Slate political Gabb Fest.
0:16.2	May 18th, 2023.
0:18.6	So what is the Comstock Act edition?
0:21.9	I am David Plots of CityCast in Washington, D.C.
0:24.1	I'm joined by Emily Bazzlon of the New York Times Magazine and Yale University Law School
0:27.6	from New Haven.
0:28.6	Hello, Emily.
0:29.6	Hi, David.
0:30.6	Hey, John.
0:31.6	And by John Dickerson of CBS Primetime, he's just been musing on some of the bigger questions
0:37.7	that we prepared to tape this morning.
0:39.7	Hello, John.
0:40.7	Hello, David.
0:41.7	Hello, Emily.
0:42.7	No two people.
0:43.7	I would rather muse about lives and ponderables with than the two of you.
0:47.5	That's good because you're stuck with us.
0:49.6	Exactly.
0:50.6	Can you muse on imponderables?
0:52.8	Well, that's a very good point, isn't it, because by the very act of musing you are pondering
0:57.7	and therefore it is no longer imponderable.
1:00.1	Maybe that's the way you can absolutely eviscerate all your imponderables, is just merely
	...

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