The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest for April 13th, 2017, the Red, Red Line Edition.

I'm David Plotz of Atlas Obscura.

I'm in New York today. Emily Bazelon of the New York Times

magazine is in New Haven. Hello, Emily. Hey, David. And John Dickerson, host of Face the Nation on

CBS, is in Washington. Is that right, John? That's true. I'm in Washington. We are all scattered to the winds.

It means, however, an assault, you could hit any one of the three Gabfest spots, but two-thirds

of the show would survive.

So we're safe.

The show can continue in case there's a surgical strike on New York, New Haven or Washington. That's

reassuring for all of us and for our listeners. On this week's Gap Fest, the aftermath of the

administration's attack on Syria and its growing showdown with Russia. Then, how excited and delighted should Republicans be that they held on to

a house seat in Kansas? What's going on with these special elections? Do they portend anything for

2018? Then the United Airlines passenger dragging flap. Is this a silly viral story? Why are you giggling, John?

Because some reason an incomplete image of a passenger dragging flap came into my head.

So is anyway, is that United Airlines story? Is that just a silly viral story? Is it or is it a portent of

terrors to come in economy class where we will all be flaps on an airplane? We will all be tools in the

hands of the Chicago authorities. Plus, we'll have cocktail chatter. And for Slate Plus, how much

presidential golf is too much presidential golf. Is there any amount of

presidential golf, which would be too much presidential golf? If you were not yet a Slate Plus member,

go to slate.com slash gabfest plus. Two very exciting announcements, not one, but two. As we've

mentioned before on the show, we have a live Gabfest in Washington, D.C. in a few weeks on May 10th at the Warner Theater. You can get tickets at slate.com slash live. And that show is going to be particularly exciting because we have Evan McMullen, the conservative presidential candidate, the former intelligence official, the very active Trump critic, will be a guest at that show.

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