2025 Conundrums!

<p>This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and special guest Stephen Colbert answer listeners’ conundrums of all kinds: the meaningful, the trivial, and the delightfully absurd.</p><p>Thanks to all Conundrums contributors: Karl, Elodie, Mitchell, Brian, Phil, Eric, Christian, Kyle, Matthew, Katie, Jesse, John, Bjorn, David, Colin, Alan, Emily, Marie, and Liam!</p><p><br></p><p>Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)</p><p> </p><p>Podcast production by Nina Porzucki with live show support from Katie Rayford and the team at the New York Society for Ethical Culture</p><p> </p><p>Research by Emily Ditto</p><p><br></p><p>You can find the full Political Gabfest <a href="slate.com/podcasts/political-gabfest">… pages here</u></a>.</p><p> </p><p>Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on <a href="podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-gabfes… Podcasts </u></a>and <a href="open.spotify.com/show/2oXS9kkKiXdkkCYB3YfqYZ&q…;. Or visit <a href="slate.com/gabfestplus"><u>slate.…; to get access wherever you listen.</p><p> </p><p>Find out more about <a href="secretfortdc.com/"><u>David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy,</u></a> the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park. </p><p><br><strong>Follow</strong>@SlateGabfest on X / <a href="twitter.com/SlateGabfest"><u>htt… Political Gabfest on Facebook / <a href="facebook.com/Gabfest/"><u>https:…; </p><p>Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our <a href="slate.com/podcastfaqs#plusbenefits"; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FAQ</a> at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy<…; for more information.</p>