The Gist

Question: What's the best way to take a vacation in a Communist society? Answer: With utmost utilitarian seriousness, and possibly without your family. On this last week before Labor Day, guest host and Slate writer Leon Neyfakh talks to historian Diane Koenker about how the Soviet Union came to embrace personal holidays and reconcile them with the Communist doctrine. Koenker is the author of Club Red: Vacation Travel and the Soviet Dream. In the Spiel, the cautionary tale of Taylor Swift's latest single. 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.

Slate's Henry Grabar explains how rampant building in the Houston suburbs have made the area worse for wear during Tropical Storm Harvey. And in the Spiel, guest-host Osita Nwanevu breaks his self-imposed moratorium against criticizing columnist David Brooks. 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.

Al Letson was just trying to cover a demonstration – an anti-hate rally in Berkeley. When he saw a group of balaclava-clad men descend on an apparent right-wing agitator, he jumped into the fray, using his body to defend the man from kicks and punches. Letson is the host of Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. And for the Spiel, is "#whaboom" the worst of our culture today? 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 hype surrounding the Saturday night fight between boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA fighter Conor McGregor is overtly racially charged. Why? Because people are eating it up, says Wesley Morris, critic-at-large for the New York Times. Morris and Mike talk about the role of race in the NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick, Dana Schutz's Open Casket painting of Emmett Till, the closing of the Broadway show The Great Comet, and more. Morris is the co-host of the Still Processing podcast. In the Spiel: We live in interesting times. 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.

Understanding sexual consent is complicated. Colleges are working to clarify this issue while also policing sexual assault. But when does this cross over into legislating feelings versus facts? Vanessa Grigoriadis helps us understand the current iteration of the sexual consent debate happening on campuses today. Grigoriadis is the author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus. In the Spiel: Should we tear down statues? 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 antifa movement is resurging. It started in 1920s Europe to fight Hitler and Mussolini and has returned to oppose the current wave of xenophobia in the United States. Author Mark Bray walks us through the history of the antifa movement. Bray is the author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. In the Spiel: Trump's campaign speech in Phoenix. 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.

Filmmaker Bryan Fogel had a simple hypothesis: The worldwide anti-doping system is a joke. To test his theory, Fogel wanted to dope himself and evade detection. A Russian anti-doping lab director agreed to help. Months later, Fogel's personal doping coach was blowing the whistle on Russia's piss-swapping scam to get around anti-doping rules. Fogel's documentary, Icarus, is available on Netflix. In the Spiel: The Instagram drama of Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. 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.

Malcolm Gladwell's hit podcast Revisionist History spits out neat, distilled theories in every episode. Some of them are careful, others are reductive. But Gladwell says his theories aren't all meant to be airtight: They just help him organize his stories, or merely spruce them up. "In some of them I'm trying to make a very, very serious, moral point. Sometimes I'm just—I'm making intellectual mischief." In the Spiel: the parallels between the Obama administration and the Trump administration on race relations. 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 1982, MTV started guiding Billboard's taste in music. The year was filled with elaborate videos and cheesy ballads. Chris Molanphy takes us through all the hand claps and synth vibes of that year's Billboard hits. Molanphy writes Slate's Why Is This Song No. 1 column and hosts the podcast Hit Parade. In the Spiel: The last time anything good happened to Donald Trump. 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.

Did Steve Bannon really misunderstand the meaning of off the record during his now-infamous "interview" with the American Prospect? "Yup," says Joshua Green, author of Devil's Bargain, a book about Bannon's influence on the Trump presidency. Green addresses the latest rumors of Bannon's political demise, and tries to sort out why, exactly, Trump's chief strategist always wears three shirts at once. In the Spiel, a nuclear war with North Korea no longer feels inevitable. So what now? 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.

Political scientist Moshe Maor says Donald Trump's policy ideas are very, very over-the-top. But that's exactly the point. On issues like immigration and transgender service members, bold overreactions are the only kind of policies that speak to cynical voters. "People want immediate action," says Maor. "Morality aside, Trump is playing his cards right." Maor is a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the Spiel, is Donal Trump a smart racist or a stupid racist? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Guest host Leon Neyfakh speaks with retired Boston cop Tom Nolan about the politics of police unions. While unions in other industries put on a progressive face to the world, police unions tend to be defensive of everything from disrespecting the mayor of New York to rough treatment of prisoners. But Nolan says he's encouraged by their recent condemnation of President Trump's comments about police violence. "I think they know the speaker of those words does not know what the hell he was talking about," says Nolan, who now teaches at Merrimack College. In the Spiel, Google is a massive company. It's also an increasingly bad search engine. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Typically Congress has an order to follow when creating bills and passing them into law. There's committee writing, revisions, and a bipartisan back-and-forth. In recent years that order has broken down and caused major divides inside both parties. Georgetown senior fellow Joshua Huder details this process and how it went wrong. Huder's writing can be found on the blog Rule 22. In the Spiel, Mike heads to the Bobby Fischer museum in Iceland and explores the tricky balance of memorializing the controversial star. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Brandt Tobler has had a crazy life. His stand-up comedy is the sum of his stories as a small-town wayward kid busting out of Wyoming. He was the don of a criminal syndicate he called the "mallfia," he ran the Las Vegas strip placing bets for gambling titans, and he plotted to kill his estranged father. He's also kind of a sweetheart. Tobler's book is Free Roll. In the Spiel, how cynicism breeds fake news. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Google's reputation for openness took a tumble when its CEO fired James Damore, the author of a memo questioning the company's efforts to achieve gender parity. Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute, blames the internet. She says easy access to data is allowing us to make dumb arguments. In the Spiel, Mike has more thoughts on the Google memo. Guess what? He dislikes it. 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.

Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, but he didn't spend his entire life in the ring. During the Vietnam War, he spent his time trying to avoid the draft as a conscientious objector. Journalist Leigh Montville says the struggle changed Ali's life—and the country. Montville's new book is Sting Like a Bee. In the Spiel, a closer look at the CV of the most important soil-health civil servant in the news. 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.

Over the last few years, the meaningful fault line between political camps has separated people rooted to certain places and people rooted to certain ideas. David Goodhart says the anywheres have become too dominant, and the somewhere have rightly felt excluded. How can we bridge the divide? Goodhart's book is The Road to Somewhere. In the Spiel, speak loudly domestically and you might hurt your credibility. Speak loudly internationally and you might end civilization. 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.

Be bold, but not arrogant. Apologize when wrong, but don't accept blame. Stay calm in a crisis. These are some of the lessons Mike Richards has learned hosting GSN's Divided, the social experiment masquerading as a game show. In the Spiel, why the Dow is for fuddy-duddies. 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.

Maria Bamford has been making top comedian lists for years, but she knows her stand-up isn't for everyone: "I can bomb any moment of the week, any day." On The Gist, she rebuts Mike's assertion that comics are more likely to struggle with depression. Bamford also explains why she wishes ESPN's postgame analysis were swapped out for televised confessional booths for the athletes. Her new Netflix show is Lady Dynamite. In the Spiel, Mike reads some of the mail responding to his takedown of the term white privilege and names another Lobstar. 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.

It's a special combo Gist, with an interview and Spiel rolled into one segment: Zoe Chace, producer for This American Life, digs up some old audio from one of her conversations with Anthony Scaramucci. The tape is from 2016, when the Mooch was pondering whether to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign. What Scaramucci said back then may indicate what he'll do next. 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.

What would you expect from a video game inspired by Henry David Thoreau's sojourn in the woods? In Walden, a game, players can contemplate the forest, go boating with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and practice civil disobedience. The game was developed by the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California. Lab Director Tracy Fullerton explains why she thinks Thoreau might have liked the game. In the Spiel, our faith in the military might not be blind, but it is blinkered. 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.

Psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett is the grand inquisitor of human emotions. Her book, How Emotions Are Made, inspired a big chunk of the latest season of NPR's Invisibilia. Barrett says scientific research shows that emotions are highly variable and utter creations of our minds. Some of her resulting conclusions may surprise you. In the Spiel, Mike goes there: white privilege and rape culture. 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 few years ago, an unassuming young woman named Kelly Sun teamed up with Phil Ivey, the world's most famous poker player. Using some questionable strategies, the two managed to win millions of dollars from casinos across the world. Now the casinos are saying what they did is cheating, and they're trying to get their money back in court. Reporter Rose Eveleth tells Sun and Ivey's story in a new audio documentary, A Queen of Sorts, part of the ESPN podcast series 30 for 30. In the Spiel, yeah, no, #NoConfederate. 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.

Alan Alda's new book is called If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? The title comes from his own bad experiences talking to doctors and other science professionals, including one that screwed up his smile for years. "We need to get people talking like people…it's all about empathy," says the actor, who also founded the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. In The Spiel, why we should actually care about the bizarre Scaramucci–New Yorker interview. 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.

Tom Jennings dug through hours of archival media footage to tell the story of Son of Sam, the serial killer who terrorized New York City in 1976 and 1977. The resulting documentary is part of the Smithsonian Channel's Lost Tapes series. The Lost Tapes: Son of Sam airs Sunday on the Smithsonian Channel. Also, a breakdown of the Boy Scouts' apology for Donald Trump's jamboree speech. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

According to Joan C. Williams, about a third of the country feels talked down to. These are the white working class folks, the people who went for Trump, the people who feel that terms like disruption just mean more hassle and pain. "We can't expect people to have elite values if we don't give them elite lives," says Williams. She's the author of the book White Working Class. For the Spiel, why does everyone sound like Goodfellas while doing an Anthony Scaramucci impression? 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.

After the G-20 Summit, Ian Bremmer broke the news to Americans about Trump's secret second meeting with Vladimir Putin. He says he did it because so many American allies were commenting on the rendezvous in private. "The people in the room, they found it disconcerting that the person Trump was more comfortable with is their adversary," says Bremmer. He joins us to discuss Russia, Rex Tillerson's future in the White House, and the decline of American power. Bremmer is an author and risk analyst at the Eurasia Group. For the Spiel, did you know the Washington Post is owned by Amazon? Trump really wants you to know that. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

When Kevin McDonald moved to New York, his sketch troupe, Kids in the Hall, had a deal with Lorne Michaels to make a new comedy show. But these were during some lean years for Michaels. "We were in a closet," says McDonald, "and he was being audited, so it was us and a bunch of auditors. Once in a while, if we said something really funny, we could hear the auditors giggling on the other side of the room." While Kids in the Hall was never as famous as Saturday Night Live, the show became legendary for a discerning subset of comedy fans. "It's like unsweetened lemonade—only 20 percent of people like us, but those who do really love us." McDonald is now hosting a podcast with live shows across the U.S. For the Spiel, a not so surreal end for Salvador Dalí's remains. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

If things had gone well, America would still be in the Paris Agreement on climate change, green energy would be spreading across the country and Al Gore wouldn't have needed to make a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth. But it didn't work out that way. With his new movie hitting theaters next week, Gore remains hopeful during these depressing times. "If somebody told me five years ago, marriage equality would be the law in all 50 states, I would have asked what they were smoking," says the former vice president. "But it did happen, because it became a choice between right and wrong. That's where the climate movement is now." For the Spiel, why persuading doubters is so hard when it comes to climate change science. 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.

Mike Sacks is not just a comedian; he's also a comedy historian. This summer, he's unearthed a rare artifact, the cult classic, Dixie-fried action movie Stinker Lets Loose. "Some famous people have cited this movie as a big influence on them," says Sacks, citing Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. "You can hear it in some of his lyrics, for sure." A 40th-anniversary novelization of Stinker is available now, with an intro by Sacks. For the Spiel, why does Donald Trump keep saying stupid things to the New York Times, a newspaper he purports to hate? 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.

Maria Konnikova returns to look at a tool prosecutors have used for decades: handwriting analysis, or graphology. Older versions of the practice have used handwriting to predict everything from a person's mental state to their capacity for murder. "People have been convicted based on it," says Konnikova. "We're not talking about phrenology. Graphology is still something that exists in the United States. There are societies of graphologists." Konnikova is the author of The Confidence Game and host of the Panoply podcast The Grift. For the Spiel, Trump's voting commission may be hobbled, but it can still do some real harm. 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.

Economist Tyler Cowen is disdainful of social media, heartened by recent immigrants, and wary of pot. He thinks that, in our collective desire for comfort, we are postponing big and necessary changes that will sow instability in the years ahead. "Right now Americans are failing to regenerate sources of future progress," Cowen writes, "and thus they are borrowing against the future rather than paying their bills." Cowen's latest book is The Complacent Class. In the Spiel, are things going any better abroad? 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.

Our friend Dan Pashman from the Sporkful podcast returns to explain the new field of study known as gastrophysics and why our brains have a big influence over how we taste food. For example, research shows we like the taste of food served with heavy cutlery and ice cream presented with brighter colors. "It could be something evolutionary," says Pashman. "With brighter colors, ice cream tastes sweeter." Check out Pashman's interview with gastrophysicist Charles Spence. For the Spiel: Ann Coulter versus Delta, Day 3. 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.

Director David Lowery has made one of the most remarkable films of 2017 so far, and he's built it around a ridiculous image: a white sheet with two eye-holes cut out. So what makes "A Ghost Story" feel so epic? And what's with that 10-minute pie scene? Spoilers abound. For the Spiel: so, who was in the room with Don Jr. and the Russians? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Retired Admiral James Stavridis wants to remind us: Despite headlines about the rise of ISIS, there are bigger existential threats to America. "Terrorism is not apocalyptic, it's a tool," says Stavridis. He warns that conflicts with Russia and China are much more worrisome and likely to include a maritime component. "Again and again when there's a crisis, the first question from the president is, where are the [aircraft] carriers? They are flexible and they can strike." His new book is Sea Power. In the Spiel, making a supergroup of the musicians in Trump's White House. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

It's not that things are so terribly bad right now, it's that circumstances have failed to keep up with expectations. So says Edward Luce, chief U.S. columnist for the Financial Times, whose new book surveys the ensuing crisis of confidence in liberal democracies. Luce's book is The Retreat of Western Liberalism. In the Spiel, Bridgegate winds down. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes on the latest #ENSH (errant national security horses---) and the brewing scandal surrounding Donald Trump Jr.'s emails. In the Spiel, we're going back to the event that set all this in motion: the Miss Universe pageant of 2013. 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 jobs report has been good, the U.S. isn't in a shooting war, and the economy is booming. So why is Trump still in the high 30s in terms of popularity? Political scientist Seth Masket says it's because of Trump's abrasive presence on Twitter. Masket recently made the case for why it's in everyone's best interest for the president and the social media giant to part ways in the Pacific Standard. In the Spiel, Kellyanne Conway, the gift that keeps on giving. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Daniel Okrent did not have a lot of fun as the first public editor for the New York Times. "I was like internal affairs in a police department," said Okrent. "Nobody liked to see me coming." That said, Okrent defends the role ombudsmen play at news organizations, and he thinks the Times messed up earlier this year when it axed the public editor position. In the Spiel, there was no Labrador at the Trump-Putin meeting, so … good sign? 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.

Conservative Philip Klein doesn't think the presence of moderate senators means we'll get better health care policy. "Centrists always get credit and adoration by many elements of the media for talking to the other side and not being ideologically rigid," he says. "But I think that's another way of saying they can be bought off easily." Klein writes about health policy for the Washington Examiner. Also, the failing New York Times op-ed. 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.

Gov. Chris Christie's time in the national spotlight has been full of bloopers. But no goof appears as consequential as his call to cancel the ARC project, halting construction of an additional train tunnel between New Jersey and New York City. WNYC's Matt Katz explains why Christie killed ARC. In the Spiel, Chris Christie and the fat-man theory of optics. 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.

Eddie Izzard once thought about playing piano for a living. He's done one professional show. It was in front of tens of thousands of people. That's because fans will watch the comedian do pretty much anything, from running marathons, to telling jokes in German. His new book is Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens. Also, we celebrate an unheralded date in history: July 3rd. 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.

NPR's Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel explain what they learned about feelings from their third season of Invisibilia. Society has come around to the idea that emotions are a force to be reckoned with – is that a good thing? In the Spiel, it's time to name another Lobstar. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Crime writer Don Winslow says writing a novel about cops and cartels involves some pretty serious research. "In researching these books," says Winslow, "I meet people. I've been to the funerals, talked to the cops. I've made the sympathy calls!" His newest book, about the NYPD, is The Force. In the Spiel, Trump's worst tweet yet! Oh boy. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Reporter Marc Fisher explains why he called out a classic game of D.C. deceit in the pages of the Washington Post. And Michelle LaRue, the official Gist penguin expert, returns to explain some news about those troublesome birds. In the Spiel, how would a normal president handle our world affairs? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Anne Helen Petersen returns to discuss her new posting—as the Western correspondent for BuzzFeed. Petersen will be reporting on U.S. political culture from her new home, Missoula, Montana. "There's a reason every newspaper used to have bureaus in every part of the country," says Petersen, who recently covered the recent razor-thin House race in which notorious Republican Greg Gianforte came out on top. On the Spiel, when everything becomes a calamity, nothing is a calamity. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Anne Helen Petersen has made a career on the rigorous, deep, academic study of celebrity culture. In her new book Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, Petersen explores the rise of norm-breaking women such as Lena Dunham and Serena Williams and what their ascendency can tell us about the political moment we're living in. Petersen's day job is senior culture writer at BuzzFeed. Also, the Supreme Court makes a surprise ruling, and the Congressional Budget Office makes an unsurprising report. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.

Author Jeremy McCarter (co-writer of Hamilton: The Revolution with Lin-Manuel Miranda) has written a new book tracing five American radicals from the 1910s and '20s. "I had thought this was going to be a book about a chapter of progress in history we could learn from," says McCarter. "But 1917 is a lot closer to what I thought I would see in my lifetime." Young Radicals is available now. In the Spiel, a lot of people really, really did not like Otto Warmbier. 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.

Scaachi Koul, a writer for BuzzFeed, talks about growing up as a brown girl in Canada's "Cowtown," and how she set off a tweetstorm by soliciting job applications from writers who are "not white and not male." Koul's book of essays is One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter. In the Spiel, legislative and executive reaction to the healthcare bill. 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.

There are two Wallace Shawns. There's the character actor, known for playing eccentrics in The Princess Bride and The Good Wife and voicing cartoon dinosaurs. ("I don't get cast as a lot of real people," he notes.) Then there's the acclaimed playwright, thinker, and ardent leftist. Shawn is out with a new collection of political musings, Night Thoughts, which address everything from inequality to the changing climate. In the Spiel, Travis Kalanick, don't let the cab door hit you on the way out. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. 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.