Meet You at the Hawks Game

<p>This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host <u><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-leonhardt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Leonhardt</a></u> discuss the GOP&#39;s failed witch hunt against Jack Smith and bizarre moments from the hearing, the Supreme Court&#39;s decision to allow the Trump administration&#39;s cruel third-country deportations to continue for now and broader issues of immigration and asylum, and the mixed bag of a college sports bill that sidesteps the key question of whether college athletes count as employees.</p><br><p><strong>Here are this week’s chatters:</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Emily: <em><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Womans-Work-Reclaiming-Radical-Mothering/dp/0593472705/tag=slatmaga-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Woman&#39;s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering</a></u> </em>by Elinor Cleghorn</p><br><p>David Plotz: <u><a href="https://www.secretfortdc.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Explore D.C.&#39;s Secret Fort</a></u> with David Plotz; Owen Gleiberman for Variety: <u><a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/heart-of-the-beast-review-brad-pitt-1236870505/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">‘Heart of the Beast’ Review: Brad Pitt Is a Veteran Stranded With His Combat Dog in David Ayer’s Stirringly Crafted Survival-in-the-Wild Saga</a></u>; Paramount Pictures on YouTube: <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfCgu83suHs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heart of the Beast | Official Trailer 2</a></u></p><br><p>David Leonhardt: ESPN: <u><a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/50060522/2026-wnba-playoffs-scores-results-takeaways-analysis-fever-aces-liberty-lynx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WNBA playoffs 2026: How the Liberty swept the Lynx and the Fever stayed alive</a></u>;<strong> </strong><u><a href="https://www.wnba.com/playoffs/2026/news" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WNBA Playoffs News 2026</a></u></p><br><p>Listener chatter from Dileep Rao in Los Angeles, California: Annie Roth for The New York Times: <em><u><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/science/what-did-jurassic-forests-sound-like-like-this.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What Did Jurassic Forests Sound Like? Like This.</a>;</u></em> J. Gu, F. Montealegre-Z, T. Jonsson, C. Woodrow, E. Celiker, M.N. Islam, J.B. Linde, F.A. Sarria-S, F. Shi, H. Song, D. Robert, &amp; D. Ren, <u><a href="h