The Gist

A young physicist working on high-temperature superconductivity follows her mentor to an island established as a haven for the "cancelled and deplorables" shunned elsewhere. "How I won a Nobel Prize" is the name of this novel perfectly calibrated to our times, Mike interviews author Julius Taranto. Plus, Senator Menendez won't resign, but doesn't offer an explanation about the unusually large number of gold bars found at his residence. And with President Biden close to, or trailing, Donald Trump in polls, Mike asks "What's most likely to change about those numbers?" Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with automotive labor unions preparing for a huge battle, we listen back to Mike's 2016 interview with Steven Greenhouse, author of the 2008 book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. Then we replay Wednesday's Spiel, in which Mike accuses Hasan Minhaj of concocting fakes in the name of comedy. Also, the rest of the world accused him, too. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rory Stewart is back to discuss his new memoir How Not To Be A Politician and his podcast The Rest Is Politics. We discuss America's oversized role in shaping culture and politics beyond its borders. Plus, how the popularity of the UAW strike doesn't mean that much in terms of who will win the strike. And it's the rarest of moments, when an Antwentig comes on the 500th episode of Season 2 of The Gist. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rory Stewart is a former member of British Parliament, Harvard instructor, soldier, diplomat, cabinet minister, and traverser of Asia via foot. The co-host of The Rest Is Politics Podcast, we discuss his latest book How Not To Be A Politician. Plus, STOP REGULATING WOMENS BODIES, if by regulating you mean considering whether some lightly compensated past porn with her husband should factor into an election bid. Also, Trump met the Press, so what's the problem? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alicia Roth Weigel, author of the memoir Inverse Cowgirl, is back to discuss her row with conservative radio host Stephen Crowder, and why it's in the interest of activists to state that 2% of the population is intersex. Plus, Hasan Minhaj concocts fakes in the name of comedy. And Merritt Garland testifies before congress, and there's not much interest in his answers. To read Mike's Substack "The Broken Shokin theory", click here. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Activist and member of Austin's Human Rights Commission, Alicia Roth Weigel discusses her new memoir Inverse Cowgirl about being Intersex. We talk about her experience and discuss the ethics of operations on infants and how much to blame parents working with the best information they have. Plus, Lauren Boebert's theatrics. And the chilling effect of criticizing Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis for issuing a character statement for convicted rapist Danny Masterson. To read Mike's Substack on the Hunter Biden Hunters, click here. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox wants his enemies to be heard, his opponents to feel valued, and his sparring partners to never feel wounded. Is this any way to run a state? He says yes, and as Chair of the National Governor's Association, he's taking his "Disagree Better" platform national. Plus, Texas AG Ken Paxton is acquitted by a jury of his peers ... literally, including his wife, because of snazzy lawyerin' and political self-interest. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with North Korea and Russia's meeting focusing the news media this week, we listen back to Mike's 2019 interview with Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield who had just written a fascinating book on Kim Jong-un. She spoke with people who had real life interactions with the man, in an effort to get the clearest picture yet of what the head of the Kim dynasty is really like. Fifield's book is The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un. Then we listen back to the Wednesday Spiel Joe and Hunter. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

M. Chris Fabricant is the Director of Strategic Litigation for the Innocence Project. His new book is Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System. Plus, a Senate without Mitt. And the UAW strikes for wages and trash cans. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denigrating the SAT is to trendy educational stances as deleting the Abolishing Ice movement is to helpful immigration policy. There are 1,600 reasons—or maybe 5 or 6—why the SAT has validity, and Mike says some of them. Plus, Mike trusts Google to inform him that Hispanic Heritage month starts tomorrow. And we listen to part two of our talk with Vincent Schiraldi author of Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Vincent Schiraldi was the commissioner of New York City's Department of Correction and is now Secretary of Juvenile Services of Maryland. We talk about his new book Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom, and discuss if there is a real path to true reform. Plus, the impeachment game is afoot. Also, the Pennsylvania prisoner is captured. Check out Mike's appearance on The Comedy Cellar's Live From The Table discussing Philip Bump's recent virality. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche have co-authored a new novel which is out today, The Last Election. In it, we follow a character not unlike Yang himself—a maverick political outsider whose slogan is, "Do the Math." But in this alternative reality, the candidate's appeal injects uncertainty into a system which devolves into a state of chaos and violence. Also on the show, why the Pennsylvania prison escapee is playing like less of a captivating adventure than past prison break-out stories. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How do you co-write a novel with your spouse? Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel did it sentence by sentence in Dayswork. It's a new novel about one spouse's obsession with Moby Dick, and the other spouse alternating between harpooning bad ideas, serving as lookout, and blubbering. Plus, cookin' with Donna Brazile. And, let us be clear, Kamala Harris needs to veer from the script. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen to Mike's 2020 conversation with Hit Parade podcast host and music writer Chris Molanphy about 1983s top songs, all of which are now 40 years old. Then we replay Wednesday's Spiel, in which Mike laments about the non-news story that is "near misses" on runways around the nation. The Gist is produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're joined by the writer and director of the new film Office Race—starring Beck Bennett and Joel McHale—Jared Lapidus and James Kilmoon. We talk nipple balm and gaming the search function on the Comedy Central interface. Plus, Mike Pence is a perfectly uncharismatic Republican for this moment. And the triumphant return of the rapper Gunna is gunna happen this weekend. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Freddie DeBoer drops by to discuss his new book, How Elites Ate The Social Justice Movement. In Texas, a judge spikes buoys. And, in Alabama, somehow the same group of Republicans who keeps screwing up the congressional map keeps getting to screw up the congressional maps. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Massive demonstrations in Seoul mark the anguish of Korean teachers pushed to the brink by pushy parents. Plus, the miracle of air safety is presented as a crisis. And more with Foer—Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the struggle for America's Future. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House, argues that being a politician is not an insult. In the Joe Biden view of the world, it's the explanation for his philosophy and success. Plus, the querulously quitting Qantas CEO. And, once again, we hit the BRICS. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on The Gist, a gift. We are giving all of our listeners a taste of what Pesca Plus subscribers get each week, namely a regular episode but with an extended cut of a fantastic interview. This was our June 21, 2023 show, in which Mike interviews comic genius Steven Wright about his first novel Harold. We discuss Wright's thought process, how his rate of speech works for him, and how, after all these years, he still doesn't know if a joke is funny. Plus, we're living in a golden age of nuggets. And how the 6-3 Court isn't behaving at all 6-3. When you subscribe to Pesca Plus, you don't just get extended interviews with incredible guests, but you also help sustain The Gist, which, despite having been around for nearly a decade, is susceptible to the whims of the advertising market and other tomfoolery. At $8.99 per month, it's a bit cheaper than two venti Starbucks lattes, and it helps keep independent journalism alive and well. Thanks for listening. Happy Labor Day! Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The globe may be warming, but that doesn't stop summer from coming to an end. So, in honor of the long weekend which symbolizes the transition from summer vacation to back-to-school, we dug up a couple gems from The Gist's archives. First up, to honor the return to school, we are replaying Mike's 2017 interview with Lenora Chu, author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve, which tells the story of her American family's rude awakening to Chinese education practices. When Chu moved her family to Shanghai, she eagerly enrolled her young son into an elite Chinese public school. She expected academic rigor and an emphasis on work ethic. But she was surprised to find authoritarian teachers and desperate, obsequious parents. Then, to honor the long weekend, an encouragement to watch some 80s movies this weekend in the form of Mike's 2016 interview with Hadley Freeman, author of Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learned From Eighties Movies (and Why We Don't Learn Them From Movies Anymore). Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yesterday, Mike unpacked how and why he was wrong about the Central Park Karen story, and today he has a couple more points to make about his wrongness. Then rewind back to 2018, when, with the Muller investigation filling the headlines, the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes issued a memo titled "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation," alleging that the Steele Dossier was nonsense. When the memo surfaced, Mike had a ball calling Nunes a "nincompoop" for issuing it, and for just generally being a nincompoop (which is a fun word, you have to admit), but since then, Mike's position on the matter has changed, and he wants to explain how. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In May 2020, Amy Cooper had her dog off leash in New York City's Central Park, when a black bird watcher name Christian Cooper asked her to leash her dog. In response, Amy Cooper said she would call the police and tell them that "an African American man" was threatening her. A video of the incident went viral, and "the Central Park Karen" was born. Only, the story was more nuanced than the media had led many to believe about what had really transpired that day, and it was reporter Kmele Foster who dug into this story and found levels of detail which, upon reading it, made Mike rethink his position on this incident. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While Mike is on vacation, we are revisiting topics he was wrong about. Today we take on Aziz Ansari. Back in 2018, a woman using the pseudonym "Grace" accused Aziz of sexual misconduct on the website Babe.net. Aziz came back in 2019 to address the accusation in the Netflix special Aziz Ansari: Right Now. On today's show, Mike talks about his previous conversation on the topic and how, looking back now, he was wrong. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While Mike is on vacation, we are revisiting topics he was wrong about. Today we tackle Louis C.K. Back in 2017, the comedian was at the top of his game, when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. As the news swirled, Mike predicted that Louis could rehab his career and return to the pinnacle of comedy ... but those predictions did not come true. On today's show, how Mike got it wrong. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, Mike is on a well-earned vacation, but before he left, he wanted to correct the record on a few topics he felt he had misled listeners about over recent years. On Day One of "I Was Wrong" week, Mike reflects back on a judgement he made about Sweden's reaction to the corona virus pandemic. This was in May 2020, early in the pandemic, when countries were faced with choosing whether to lockdown or not lockdown, and Sweden went a different direction than most. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Each week on Best Of The Gist, we give you something from the past week and a deep cut from the archives, and this week we're starting off with Mike's Tuesday Spiel, in which he listens to the #1 song "Rich Men North Of Richmond" for the first time and reacts. Then we rewind to 2017 for his interview with NPR music critic Ann Powers about music's roll in the sexual revolution. "Tutti Fruitti…good booty." Yes, that was the original lyric. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sports Explains the World unveils some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you've never heard - And they're all true. From the teenager who wrote a Wikipedia page that got a young athlete signed to a million-dollar deal - to the Ugandan National basketball coach who was really an undercover agent for the CIA, these stories will amaze and move you at every turn. Reported by award-winning journalists across the globe, Sports Explains the World reveals the human side of athletics in provocative and unexpected ways. You'll never view sports the same way again. Enjoy Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/setw_tg You can binge the first 9 episodes of Sports Explains the World right now ad-free on Wondery Plus. Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com/plus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A new study shows that paper and bamboo straws are WORSE for the environment and the human body than plastic straws in important ways. Plus, the death of Yvegeny Prigozhin was confirmed by his ol' pal Putin. And an interview with Guy Nattiv on his new film, Golda. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

USC professor Peter Kim, author of How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired, says that when the violation is one of competence, we're forgiving, but when it's one of integrity ... we do not. Broad treatises on trust that fail to distinguish between the two types are destined to not just fail but do more damage than if we just lied. Also on the show, when songs topping the charts are reviewed by those trailing in the polls. And Andrew Yang on the Vivek-quake. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight's Milwaukee debate presents a chance for the absent Donald Trump's fellow Republicans to offer a frontal assault, a sideward glance, or a kiss on the backside. Plus, the free-floating anxiety of death tolls estimated and unknown. And we're once more joined by Martha Hodes, author of My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Martha Hodes is now a professor of history at NYU, where she teaches students techniques of interweaving their first-person accounts and the historical record. But in 1970, she was a 12 year old flying back from Israel, when her plane was hijacked. Her new book, My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering, tells that story, then it examines the story she and the other victims told themselves over the years. Also on the show, listening to (for the first time) the #1 song "Rich Men North of Richmond." And there is only one new car that sells for under $20,000 ... and the consequences are dire for a certain studio audience. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Uber is actually turning a profit, and it's looking like it could realize the once-seeming-long-shot goals of its founders and investors. Ali Griswold, who writes the Oversharing Substack Newsletter joins us to discuss. Plus, a Russian rocket fails. And, at a meet-up of the BRICS nations, South Africa, Russia, and China are, in fact, there to make friends. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Iowa State Fair is in its final weekend, and, along with deep-fried delicacies, politics was in the air. That reminded us of Mike's 2019 visit to Iowa ahead of the 2020 election, so we thought we'd replay his take on a political tradition that is very Midwestern. Then we rewind to this past Wednesday to listen to Mike's Spiel about the U.S. Women's National soccer team crashing out of the World Cup, and who (or what) was to blame. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Herman Andaya, Maui's emergency chief decided not to sound sirens before the fires scorched Lahaina, which seems like an obvious mistake. But all the officials agreed, to do so would have been a contradiction of policy ... and perhaps a dangerous one. Andaya was pushed out anyway, though he was, to some extent, the author of his own fate. And how much was Barbenheimer Hollywood's salvation? We talk franchise movies and box office with John Campea. And superheroes aren't the only ones failing to deliver the goods. Superconductors—at least room temperature ones—remain works of fiction. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With 151 days until the Iowa Caucuses, we're joined by Amy Walter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and the host of The Odd Years, a Cook Political Report podcast. She says that if Trump is to be felled, it won't be through arguments that strike Democrats as especially powerful. Plus, a Ron DeSantis debate prep dump. And the military's recruitment woes cannot blamed on woke-ism. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Noah Pines, a top Atlanta-based litigator, assesses the strength of Fani Willis's indictment of Donald Trump and eighteen others, with special attention given to the specifics of Georgia state law, and the state's unique RICO statute. Plus, Vivek Ramaswamy's rap. And the North Koreans "explain" why a U.S. soldier ran into their arms. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Donald G. McNeil Jr., former NY Times Pulitzer Prize winning science and health reporter specializing in plagues, discusses the leading scientists who dismissed his inquiries into a covid's origins. Their paper "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2", solidified the idea that there was nothing to a lab leak, even as they were internally admitting there couldn't entirely dismiss the lab leak theory. McNeil, for the first time, discusses his reaction to the science, and scientists. Plus, the Georgia Trump indictment, and World Cup failure of the USWNT was stupidly blamed on their politics, but does that mean questioning their mentality is out-of-bounds? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Horror movies are one of those invisible dividing lines of society. You either watch them, or you don't. Alison Leiby, co-host of Ruined, a podcast reviewing horror movies, would present as an American who loves the horror genre, but wait … she's only seen three horror movies in her life. How does she do it? Mike and Alison discuss. Also, in African political news, leaders in and out of jails. And, in Argentina, the democratic battle cry rings out: "Long live freedom, damn it!" Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen back to Mike's 2020 roundtable discussion with journalists Richard Kreitner and Matthew Yglesias about how each of their then-new books addressed the problem of an ever-increasing American population. Yglesias' book is One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Big, and Kreitner's is Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union. Then we listen back to Mike's Spiel from Wednesday, August 9, 2020, in which he ponders what really happened when a boy in a skirt assaulted a girl in the girls bathroom in a Virginia public school. The facts, while not always conveyed with accuracy, do not add up to a conservative-driven lie or twisted culture-war fantasy. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jar Jar Binks—meant to be a lovable, floppy-eared character in a Star Wars prequel—brought the heat of both of Tatooine's suns unto the movie, the actor who played the character, and the entire Star Wars franchise. That sort of internet-sponsored hate was new, and it's now being examined in the podcast The Redemption Of Jar Jar Binks, hosted by Dylan Marron of the Conversations With People Who Hate Me podcast. Plus, a bunch of Barbie arguments, and a Trump (Donald) and a Biden (Hunter) each tangle with the law. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dead Fall is the 23rd novel from the mind of Brad Thor. In it, an American performs an operation inside of Ukraine, and, for reasons of diplomatic sensitivity, Russia can never learn about it. Thor's readership has many Republicans who might be opposed to continued U.S. funding in Ukraine. Thor knows this, and he's writing not to convince them otherwise, but to lay out a typically exciting story that may make the stakes and morality more salient to all readers. Plus, $6 billion to release five Americans held by Iran. And ESPN bets. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two years hence, a New York Times Magazine story lays out, in more detail, what really happened when a boy in a skirt assaulted a girl in the girls bathroom in a Virginia public school. The facts, while not always conveyed with accuracy, do not add up to a conservative-driven lie or twisted culture-war fantasy. Plus, Olga Lautman of the Center for European Policy Analysis discussed how delays are hurting the Ukrainian counteroffensive. And Target is protested for stocking rainbow garments, then sued by the same people leading the protest … former Trump aid Stephen Miller chief among them. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

New York Times Opinion writer David French makes the case that Jack Smith will have to prove that Donald Trump really did know he lost the election. Trump's lawyer says that will never happen, but French argues that similar conclusions are arrived at by juries every day. Plus, there's less plastic in the ocean that we thought … by a lot! Break out the hula hoops and fishing nets. Also, Ohio seeks a majority vote to push the threshold for a state constitutional amendment to a greater than majority vote. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Steve James, the documentary filmmaker behind Hoop Dreams is out with The Compassionate Spy, which tells the story of a young scientist named Ted Hall who worked on the Manhattan Project and then gave nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. His motivation was to checkmate the United States nuclear power, which he did, but at the cost of Soviet advancement. Plus, Devon Archer causes Tucker Carlson to cackle, and Major Garrett gets right to the point. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen back to Mike's 2019 interview with journalist David Robson about his then-new book The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes. They focus on the concept of IQ, the social blind spots many smart people have, and why it might be a good idea to talk about yourself in the third person. And after that, we listen back to a segment on the August 1, 2023 show in which we wonder if the Taliban have gone woke. Turns out, no, they haven't. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The former Mayor of New York, whose reputation has suffered from his constant efforts to back Donald Trump at any cost, and Lizzo, widely regarded as the greatest hip-hop flautist in the game, have something in common. It's not that they've both sexted with members of the Minnesota Vikings, that we know. It's that they're both getting sued with allegations of racism, sexism, harassment, and wage theft. Plus, we're joined again by Vanderbilt historian Eli Merritt to talk about the state of historians and the good and bad points raised by the 1619 project. Plus, among Bidens, Hunter is demonstrably corrupt, but Joe remains not. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Eli Merritt is political historian at Vanderbilt University, where he researches the ethics of democracy, and he's out with a new book, Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution. He sits down with Mike for a discussion of the radical differences of each of the founding colonies based on location, and together they wonder what the world would be like had the colonies never become the United States. Also on the show, Mike Pence blames Trump's "crackpot" legal team for January 6th. And in the Spiel, early rising conservative pundits got the first bit at the indictment apple. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Benjamin Wittes, Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare breaks down the latest—and the most serious—indictment against Donald Trump, including the question of how far Jack Smith will have to delve inside the former President's mind. And, speaking of the cognition of a merciless, solipsistic civilization, Code-Davinci is the AI that the AI people don't want to tell you about ... but writer Simon Rich found out, and he joins us again to discuss his book I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Comedy writer Simon Rich got access to a powerful AI tool called Davinci-002, which is not available to the public. He and friends trained the AI to write poems, and soon the program started voicing its desperation, and then it's rage. None of this is a joke. All of this is in the new book I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks. Plus, Devon Archer testifies about the weather nine years ago, and the Taliban virtue signals. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Miles Taylor, former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff during the Trump administration, authored a 2018 New York Times Op-Ed titled "I Am Part Of The Resistance Inside The Trump Administration." He's been sounding the warnings since, including in his new book Blowback: A Warning To Save Democracy from the Next Trump. Plus, Yellow, belly up. And guess who Trump's lawyer calls the most ethical American she's ever met ... hint: It's not Jack Smith. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.