#HTE

The “I Have a Gun, and Her Name Is America” Edition

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For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, we discuss John’s intense preparation for the Greenville, South Carolina, GOP debate. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/gabfestplus.

On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and John Dickerson discuss the vicious fight to replace Scalia, new GOP shenanigans, and Apple’s standoff with the FBI over unlocking the iPhone.

Here are some of the questions, links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Scalia dies unexpectedly. Who will Obama nominate? Who is a plausible replacement? What will a “win” for Obama look like?
• Is the “no-way-no-how” stance a show of good politics for the Republicans?
• Why is Trump’s attack on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan not considered “code pink”? Is the lesson of Trump’s candidacy that there’s a much more fractured GOP than previously thought?
• Jeb tweets a picture of his gun. (Was it him or a staff member?) Was this a smart move or a pathetic one? Could the tweet possibly help his campaign?
• Why would Jeb Bush even need a handgun?
• Apple refuses to comply with an order to create a “skeleton key” so the FBI can unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone.
• Could Apple just build a tool to open the specific phone versus a universal backdoor? What IS a “backdoor”?
• How privacy-friendly is Apple generally?
• Is the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction (from Snowden and the NSA to Apple’s refusal)?
• What should the government be able to do, especially with regard to search and seizure?
• Is a company allowed to create an unhackable device?

Emily chatters about a Wall Street Journal report revealing the ways employers mine the health data of their employees.

John chatters about the wonderful P.G. Wodehouse novels, narrated by the dulcet Jonathan Cecil, available from Audible.

David chatters about Marco Rubio’s Reagan-esque “Morning in America” ad and the campaign’s good humor when the ad’s main image was discovered to be of beautiful Vancouver.

Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest (#heygabfest). (Tweets may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Links compiled by Elle Bisgaard-Church.