The Gist

Journalist Matt Katz's father was barely in his life, and when he was, it was fairly unpleasant for Matt. Then a genetics test tore up Matt's script. That deadbeat dad might have been a deadbeat, but he didn't seem to actually be his dad. Who was? His nine-part podcast Inconceivable Truth details the journey to find out. Also, the cold, hard facts about Cold Lava. Plus, the Obi Wan argument on college campuses and in Gaza. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Economist Allison Schrager, Bloomberg columnist and author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk, makes the case for working well into your 70s. And even if you think the case is "poor," that's exactly what you'll be if you opt out of the workforce at 62. Plus, a French gangster known as La Mouche, or "The Fly," shoots his way to freedom as the French fret about the Olympics. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

A cicada invasion dawns, and edible bugs are all the, if not rage, then opportunity for a quirk filled cooking segment. Plus, protesters at Harvard negotiate their way out of trouble, whereas their Princeton counterparts are redefining hunger, or at least "hunger strike". And we are joined by Wall Street Journal columnist and India expert Sadanand Dhume to discuss Narendra Modi and the world's most sprawling election. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

A glimpse into the Trump Trial, where a sleepy former President is somehow more compelling than hush money, off-the-book payments, and getting stiffed on your bonus. Plus, life expectancy by race complicates the narrative of "white supremacy." And we're joined by Sarah McCammon, National Political Correspondent at NPR and author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, Mike’s December 5, 2023 interview with author, journalist, and former director of the International Crisis Group’s Arab-Israeli Project, Nathan Thrall. Nathan won the Pulitzer Prize this past week for his most recent book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Andy Mills and Matthew Boll are out with a new podcast Reflector. Now available. Episode 1 concerns Naltrexone, a drug that actually works to stop alcohol cravings, and yet 12-Step programs are much more popular, despite being much less effective. We are joined by Andy to also talk about media capture and the great podcast fake enthusiasm epidemic. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Fishman is the host and executive producer of The Burden, a podcast which focuses on the string of iffy convictions attained thanks to the police work of a high-flying Brooklyn cop in the 1990s. Plus, balloon releases and issues of cultural insensitivity. And of all of Donald Trump's positions over the years, "missionary" might be the least objectionable. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cindy McCain says there's a "full-blown famine" going on in Gaza. The agency she heads at the UN does not agree. Plus, a House of Representatives hearing into NPR bias was skipped by NPR's CEO and not even covered on CPSPAN, but it did feature a House Republican saying he likes his NPR station, a House Democrat saying maybe NPR really should consider the allegations of bias. And we're joined once more to talk Paul Manafort and other fans of sumptuous fabrics with Brody Mullins, author of The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government. https://surfshark.deals/GIST Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Wolves Of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government is a new book detailing how the influence business took root and metastasized in federal politics. Co-author and Wall Street Journal Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Brody Mullins discusses. Plus, President Biden decries anti-semitism as he stands by Israel as it begins the Rafah phase of the war. And we hear from Nibbles, an overlooked participant in the Kristi Noem quadruped killing spree. https://surfshark.deals/GIST Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New York Times Executive Editor proclaims the paper to not be in the business of defeating Trump. Howls of outrage ensue. Plus, Donald Trump seems fine with fines. And in a talk with Danielle Clode, author of Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future, we rehabilitate the reputation of the supposedly dim, diseased antipodal cuties. https://surfshark.deals/GIST Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Infrequently, we offer listeners a taste of something we think you may like that isn’t from our kitchen, to torture the metaphor. Such is the case today. You may think you know Malcolm Gladwell. He is, after all, the New York Times bestselling author of Outliers, The Tipping Point, Blink, and other books. He’s also the host of the podcast Revisionist History, and it’s true that his work is heralded and his opinion asked by many folks on a wide array of issues. But what makes Gladwell so different that he has become one of the most successful journalists of our day? In this episode of the acclaimed podcast No Small Endeavor, Malcolm tells his own story, from receiving endorsement from his mother to cut class, to attending a Mennonite barn-raising with his mathematician father, to spending three days a week in Freudian therapy as a young adult.  And if you enjoy what you hear, listen to more episodes of No Small Endeavor here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, a break from our typical format for the weekend. Today we’ll listen to Mike’s recent appearance on WILL, which is Illinois Public Media. He was invited to sit on a panel to discuss if NPR is biased. Mike is just one voice of several in the conversation you will hear (which gets a bit heated in a few spots), but it was an excellent discussion and one we hope you’ll enjoy.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

For decades, bad posture was seen as everything from a moral failing, to a health risk, to a military vulnerability. In her new book, Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America, University of Pennsylvania historian of medicine Beth Linker discusses how concerns over standing up straight touches eugenics, pseudo-science, and power posing. Plus, Columbia University students inveigh against presumed exclusionary practices at a proposed Tel Aviv campus while supporting a campus in Beijing schooling more Chinese students than any other college. And Chris Hayes of MSNBC argues we've all been paying too much attention to college protests. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charles Kupchan, Georgetown Professor and former Obama National Security official, says that the funding for Ukraine is necessary for the desperate country but probably won't lead to retaking much territory controlled by Russia. He also says, the money will stabilize the country which is exactly what is needed for a true peace process to occur. Plus, Kristi Noem crashes in the polls ... expert's say. And an Arizona senator bucks her party on abortion. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA is attacked, and the police are no where to be found. A pro-Palestinian building takeover is thwarted at Columbia, and the police are found at fault. Plus, more uncomfortable conversations with a Jew and a former NFL linebacker. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Analyzing what the campus divestment movement is really asking for. Is it doable? It is. It is advisable? It isn't. What effect will it have on the war in Gaza? None. Let's riot. Plus, Donald Trump is found guilty of a criminal offense. The experts say this could have little to no effect on his election chances ... Mike thinks otherwise. And Noa Tishby and Emmanuel Acho engage in Uncomfortable Conversations With A Jew. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Kristi Noem, the Republican Governor of South Dakota, is out defending her shooting of her dog, which has us wondering why she brought it up in the first place. Today on the show, an extended interview with Becca Rothfeld, the non-fiction book critic for the Washington Post and author of the new book, All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, a jumbo archival interview (originally a two-parter, combined to one) with Prison Consultant Craig Rothfeld, who also happens to be a childhood friend of Mike’s. Rothfeld prepares soon-to-be inmates on the rules and survival techniques of prison life, because, as you might imagine, he himself once did time. In this capacity, Rothfeld was once employed by Harvey Weinstein, whose New York rape conviction was tossed out by an appeals court this week. Then we will listen back to Mike’s April 25, 2024 Spiel addressing the Weinstein ruling.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Dana Mattioli is the Wall Street Journal's "Amazon Reporter," and author The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power. Plus, Harvey Weinstein's overturned conviction is portrayed as a defeat of the reality of rape prosecutions. Mike argues that we actually don't have to choose between justice for sexual assault victims and giving criminal defendants the full protections of the law. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Tracie McMillan's new book, The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America, the author documents the lives and experiences of a handful of white Americans, including herself, and then attempts to quantify their racial benefit. Plus, Harvey Weinstein's NY State conviction is thrown out—a history and analysis of the Sandoval ruling. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Joe Biden's uncle mostly likely wasn't eaten by cannibals, but he could have been, which is more than some members of the public can swallow. Germany resumes UNRWA funding after a UN investigation. And a legal breakdown with Tyler McBrien, managing editor of Lawfare, who has a seat inside the courtroom for the Trump trial into hush money payments and election fraud. McBrien details the judge's upbraiding of defense council and lays out what exactly the jury will have to wade through in order to render a verdict. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Ray Suarez is here to talk history, policy, and personal journeys as he discusses his book, “WE ARE HOME: Becoming American in the 21st Century: An Oral History.” Plus, Binghamton NY's "Smoke Outside the Binghamton Police Station” does not go particularly well for all those who actually smoked outside the Binghamton Police Station. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

College campuses are spoiled by protests, the White House calls out antisemitism, but the NYPD says the soon-to-be-expelled students were perfectly nice. Not nice are calls for 10,000 more October 7ths. But there's a difference between "not nice" and "not acceptable." On the show today, Mike plumbs the difference and explains when anti-zionism really is antisemitic. Plus, the Dems should bail out Mike Johnson. And we're joined once more by Damon Linker to talk politics and shrubbery. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, the first half of our interview with Damon Linker, author of the Notes From The Middleground Substack about his recent Guest Essay for the Opinion page of The New York Times titled, "Why Is Biden Struggling? Because America Is Broken." Then we listen back to Mike’s analysis of NPR’s choice of its new CEO, Katherine Maher.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Today a special show, wherein Mike discusses former NPR editor Uri Berliner's critique of the network he no longer works for, including claims about Berliner's veracity and validity. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Canadian police are making arrests in the 2023 theft of $14 million of gold from an Air Canada flight. The criminals weapon of choice? Guns? Dynamite? How about fraudulent bills of lading for scrod? Also on the show, Max Stearns is the author of the new book Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken Democracy. We will discuss the needed repairs. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Evan Waite, writer for Family Guy and The Onion, discusses his career, theories of comedy, and his new book, Life Wants You Dead: A Calm, Rational, and Totally Legit Guide to Scaring Yourself Safe. Plus, why can't Ukraine have the defenses that Israel has? And a new NPR CEO critiques truth. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Arwa Damon, recently back from Gaza, is a former CNN International Correspondent who has transitioned to relief work. Her organization is INARA, the International Network for Aid, Relief & Assistance. She discusses the situation in Gaza, how opaque Israeli inspection protocols delay aid, how the killings of World Central Kitchen workers complicated the job of relief workers, and how Gaza compares to other war zones she's covered. ln the Spiel, we can now declare that murder is down, even if we've been falsely declaring it for some time now. And Donald Trump loves comparing himself to Al Capone. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

On the show today, an Iranian attack repelled. And, in a full-show interview, Will Thomas, assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan, joins to talk about Trumps recent bond hearing and explains the process behind the bond and how people go about paying it. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, listen to Mike’s show opener this past Thursday about the death of O.J. Simpson. Then we listen back to our December 6, 2016 interview with Ezra Edelman, whose documentary O.J.: Made In America, explored Simpson’s life. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 2016 Academy Awards.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are the eco-directors of Food Inc 2, which raises questions about how American agribusinesses have an unhealthy relationship with politicians, communities, and our bodies. Plus, the beatings out of Chechnya will continue ... within strict BPM limits. And part two of our look at On The Media's featherbed of a segment on UNRWA and Israel. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Chris Molanphy drops by to count down the hits of 1988, a time when we weren't worried, we were happy, and we were making the transition from the exiting of dreams and the entering of cars. Also, in 1988 OJ Simpson was in a new movie called The Naked Gun. Today, OJ Simpson, football great, and adjudicated killer of two people is dead. We can say that and be factual. Plus, an On The Media segment on UNRWA leaves out a bit of context, namely a single inculpatory fact about UNRWA's members involvement in October 7th, or support of Hamas. Link to Episodes mentioned in Spiel: On The Media What Matters Now to Haviv Rettig Gur: UNRWA's problem isn't the terrorists in its ranks Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

The Bulwark's Marc Caputo says Florida's six-week limit on abortion is vulnerable, but not certain, to go down via popular referendum. Even so, Donald Trump has such a huge advantage in the state he's unlikely to suffer from its presence on the ballot. Caputo also says Trump's strategic ambiguity, or even avoidance, of the issue will probably work, based on the general Trump unaccountability theory. Plus, the Tik Tok Taoiseach. And also, what's a "Taoiseach?" Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

The Arizona Supreme Court has banned almost all abortions in the state, deferring to a law written in 1864. Also on the show, a brief history of Ecuador and embassies. Plus, the continuation of our interview with Keith Humphreys, Stanford Professor and co-author of the Atlantic story, "Why Oregon’s Drug Decriminalization Failed." Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Keith Humphreys, Stanford Professor and author of Addiction: A Very Short Introduction, talks about the of failure of a local Oregon ordinance he was called in to offer expertise about. We discuss his Atlantic story, "Why Oregon’s Drug Decriminalization Failed." Plus, the path of totality, and dealing with Hamas over hostages. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, Mike’s Thursday Spiel about the carnage at NPR and the reason for it. Then we listen back to part of Mike’s January conversation with Jeremy Hobson, host of The Middle and long-time public radio personality, about what’s going wrong at NPR. This part of the interview with Jeremy was formerly a PescaPlus extra.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Jena Martin is a pathologist by day who has produced a six-part podcast series looking back at the recovered memory movement of the late 1980s and early 90s. Everyone was having them, were any real? Plus, a partial traipsing down the path of totality in advance of Monday's eclipse. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Another round of bloodletting in the world of podcasting and public radio. NPR listenership is down 15-20%, and the excuses the industry is relying on wither, don't apply, or are flat out wrong.  Mike offers a path to course correction that he doubts his old colleagues will take. But one public broadcaster is crushing it ... the BBC. Could this be because Mike is prominently featured in Episode 3 of Helen Lewis Has Left The Chat? And we're joined by Emily Blout, author of Media and Power in Modern Iran to talk about her recent article, "The Disturbing Rise of Strategic Antisemitism." Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Atlantic Staff writer Tim Alberta, author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism says many Christians support Donald Trump because they are forgiving, and specifically because he isn't. Plus, the President of Argentina assails the anatomical properties of his hemispheric peers. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

U.S. leaders put Netanyahu on notice. And is it worth knowing about all the stupid Francis Scott Key Bridge conspiracy theories? Plus, CNN's Jim Sciutto analyses Donald Trump's many mixed feelings towards NATO, and tries to divide the tough talk from the actual courses of action. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

CNN's Jim Sciutto comes by to discuss his new book, The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War. Plus, the Women's NCAA tournament draws the wrong court, and an April Fools game asks you to spot the fake Rolex. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, the rise of women’s college basketball knows no (re)bounds, and yet somehow has still been overstated. We also listen back to his 2018 interview with Barbara Lipska, whose career as a neuroscientist did not prepare her to identify the dark effects of her own brain tumors diagnosed in 2015. There’s studying a damaged brain, and then there’s having one. Lipska is the author of The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery.   Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

The Miracle Weight-Loss Drugs would radically transform the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. Hundreds of millions. So maybe the Government should foster this human flourishing. There's always a cost. Jonathan Gruber Chairman of the Economics Department at MIT discuss his New York Times opinion piece about how drugs like Ozempic can be afforded. Plus, the My Pillow fellow loses his lease, if not his moxie. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're joined by Anthony Fowler Professor of political science in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago where he researches political polarization and the credibility of empirical research. He is also the host Not Another Politics Podcast. Plus, the totally wasteful process of processing g plastic waste. And Trump happens to be rich. Sadly enough. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

We're joined by David Simon Assistant Dean for Graduate Education, Senior Lecturer in Global Affairs and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University. Simon explains that what’s going on in Gaza is not a genocide and offers analysis as to why the charge has become ubiquitous. Plus, RFK Jr's new vice president once, apparently, was married to some rich guy. It’s hard to know how important that part of her bio is.  And Mike offers some anguished thoughts about the fighting and the famine in Gaza. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Annie Jacobsen. author of Nuclear War: A Scenario takes us through what would really happen if an enemy of the U.S. fired the first missile in a nuclear exchange.  Plus, more MSNBC Rona reax, and the rise of women’s college basketball knows no (re)bounds, and yet somehow has still been overstated. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

A staff revolt at NBC protests the network’s move to hire former RNC head Ronna McDaniel. Plus, Trump wins in court, and those who are committed to a narrative of his penury are aggrieved. And we're joined by Whitney Downard of the Indiana Capital Chronicle, to discuss a social service funding and forecasting debacle that puts the families of the severely disabled in a bind. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, Mike goes on vacation and comes nose to nose with tradition. We also listen back to his 2016 interview with actor Michael C. Bernardi, who played Mordcha the Innkeeper in Fiddler On The Roof, which was then on Broadway. His father, Herschel Bernardi, was the third man to play Tevye in the musical.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Kate Middleton's sad announcement about her health should prompt self examination, not only from the rumor mongers, but the audience, too. And how Donald Trump's $500-million bond bill will effect the little guy, according to Fox legal experts. Plus, we're joined once more by Ken Bensinger to talk about his new podcast, Chameleon: The Michigan Plot, and to answer the question, "Does the public have an accurate assessment of how real the plot was?" Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ken Bensinger is co-host of Chameleon: The Michigan Plot, which details the trials of militia members who sought to (or at least talked a lot about) kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. There were, at times, more government informants and undercover officials than bonafide ill-intentioned militia members driving the plot, which was more aspirational than operational. And, speaking of hot air, we talk helium, medical devices, and smuggled coolant in "Gas News." And who, day and night, must scramble for a living? The podcasters! THE PODCASTERS! Tradition! Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you believe the news, shoplifting is many things: “on the rise,” “a scourge,” and “way up.” The thing is … is it really? In truth, it’s very hard to know, because the variables are myriad. We discuss this conundrum with Adam Gelb, President and CEO of Council on Criminal Justice, a non-partisan think tank, and a pretty darn knowledgeable person on the topic. Then we pivot to tackle the role prison and parole play in our criminal justice system. We talk with Ben Austen, author of Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change. Ben is joined by Johnny “Khalif” Veal, who was convicted of murder in 1970 and paroled in 2021, a man who says prison changed him in all types of ways. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On day two of Crime Week on The Gist, we change our focus from individual crimes in the U.S. to the crimes of nations and the effectiveness of international courts at punishing countries for doing wrong. We are joined for the whole show by Kenneth Anderson, Professor of Law at American University's Washington College of Law, where he focuses a lot of his energies on the law of war.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Crime is a major factor in how our society acts, votes, and perceives the world. So you would think statistics about it would flow like a vast river of knowledge. And in so thinking, you would be wrong. Trustworthy data on criminal activity and its victims is strangely hard to come by. So, to kick off Crime Week on The Gist, we will be devoting a full show to parsing the numbers we do have with Jeff Asher, the co-founder of AH Datalytics, where he is the resident guru about crime data. He is also the author of the Jeff-alytics Substack. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, this past Wednesday, Mike used The Spiel to rebut a Joy Reid segment mischaracterizing Robert Hur's testimony before the House Judiciary committee. We listen back. Then we listen way back to a September 2018 Spiel about Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing to join the Supreme Court, which had parallels to Hur’s testimony.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Host of CNN's State Of The Union, Jake Tapper joins us to discuss his new CNN series United States Of Scandal, which includes the unethical behavior of Rod Blagojevich, Mark Sanford, John Edwards, and more. Plus, the Fani Willis case against Trump can continue if she or special prosecutor Wade remove themselves. And ... its an Antwentig. Are you ready for the truth? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Landslide, a new podcast from producer and host Ben Bradford tells the story of the 1976 Presidential race, which was seminal in the invention of modern conservatism. It’s a well rendered, compelling history that resonates with the present. Plus, what's worse, a disaster or a catastrophe?  And Pod Save America joins in the misreporting on Joe Biden's memory. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Rebutting a Joy Reid segment mischaracterizing Robert Hur's testimony before the House Judiciary committee yesterday. Plus, Aaron Rodgers is a frustrating teammate, would he make a good running mate? And we talk to Quico Toro about how the Global South will be where the true costs of climate change are felt. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We talk to Barbara Kellerman, author of Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers. She argues that you can't blame Adam Neumann for all of We Works crash, just as not all of Xi Jinging's excesses are on Xi. Plus, recently resigned Special Counsel Robert Hur testifies before Congress. He does pretty well.  Few others on the Judiciary can say the same. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Gaetz is both a force of nature and a force for chaos. Dexter FIlkins of The New Yorker profiled his upbringing and ongoing potency in national politics. Plus, Nancy Mace will not be shamed by George Stephanopoulos and Katie Britt can't believe you thought she meant what she very clearly wanted you to think she meant. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 https://surfshark.deals/GIST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, a podcast extra from our Thursday conversation with Sir David King, formerly the UK's Government Chief Scientific Adviser, who is now the Founder and Chair at Cambridge's Center for Climate Repair. Mike just had to ask him about climate activists who glue themselves to pieces of famous art. Then we listen back to our 2019 interview with writer Katy Lederer about Greta Thunberg, an activist unlike any we had seen before. Never glued herself, though.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Its Oscar talk with Decoding Everything and Filmcast's David Chen. Why Mike thought Maestro hit sour notes ... and why David thought the structure of Oppenheimer was more stamped from a hard plastic mold than Barbie. American Fiction was the rare non-farcical satire, and Past Lives articulated a heretofore unexamined but familiar emotional ambivalence. Plus, Joe Biden was more normal than Katie Britt. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Sir David King, formerly the UK's Government Chief Scientific Adviser, is now the Founder and Chair at Cambridge's Center for Climate Repair. He advocates carbon capture technology as part of the mix of solutions to climate change. Many environmentalists are not sold. Plus, blue cities get tough on crime, but also the opposite.  And in the Spiel, the state of the State of the Union as a speech, phrase, and dance floor banger. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Rob Henderson, author of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, grew up in foster care among the people that the elites of Yale University say they care about. But when Henderson got to the Ivy League, he found that the cares of the elites, on behalf of the marginalized, and the cares of the actual people he grew up with at the margins, often greatly diverged. Plus, Chris Murphy and John Fetterman defend loathed colleagues. And, in the Spiel, what the Gopher State uncommitted contingent actually means. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announces her intention to become Former Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Also on the show, The New York Times' union says the paper is racially profiling its own MENA staffers over a leak, Mike provides analysis plus he explains the meaning of MENA, in case you are unfamiliar. And we're joined once more by Jonathan Blitzer, who profiled Alejandro Mayorkis for The New Yorker and is the author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Jonathan Blitzer author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, profiled DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for The New Yorker.  Plus, The Intercept's lengthy attempt to question widespread Hamas rapes. And Trump will be on the ballot. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we tackle the important topic of poor-quality, quick-heating food innovations. From the archive, we listen back to Mike’s 2022 interview with Nathan Allebach, brand consultant and the twitter voice of Steak-umm brand meats for many years. As such he engaged with gaseous comedians and angsty millennials and has some theories as to why it all worked. Then, from the past week, Mike’s spiel about Wendy’s surge pricing strategy.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Cass Sunstein joins us to talk about how, without knowing it, we habituate to our circumstances ... regardless of the circumstances. This is both a good thing and bad thing, and it's the subject of Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There. Plus, Trump and Biden visit the border. And Mike spiels about best practices for reigning in talk show guests spewing nonsense. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

We're joined by James Swanson author of The Deerfield Massacre: A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early America. Plus, a little squiggle of Europe called Transnistria. And 40 years on from Jesse Jackson's Presidential run, Mike spiels about progress. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Wendy's experiments with dynamic pricing, but generally lethargic french fries. Plus, it was a week from hell for Richard Lewis and Mitch McConnell. Well, a bit more for Lewis. And we're joined once more by Steve Coll author of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Steve Coll, author of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq, worked to declassify the personal recordings of Sadam Hussein. They proved to be an important piece of insight into the dictator, whose nuclear bluff was so good it got him killed. Plus, "Hugs Not Bullets" in Mexico. And in the Spiel, what percentage of the vote in the Michigan Primary for "uncommitted" should worry Joe Biden? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Joe Biden's foreign policy team has mixed success, or some "non-failures," depending on if you regard the Afghanistan withdrawal plan as a regrettable misstep or bungled necessity. Alexander Ward is out with a new book, The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump. Plus, Shane Gillis hosts SNL, Trevor Noah hosts the Grammys, Joe Koi hosts the Golden Globes, and Twitter hosts pointed critiques of each. And are we really going into government shutdown watch ... again?!? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Wondery’s podcast American History Tellers takes you to the events, times and people that shaped America and Americans — our values, our struggles and our dreams. In the early 1800s, slavery rapidly expanded across the American South. But each year, thousands of courageous enslaved men, women, and children fled their owners in search of freedom. And in Philadelphia, secret allies came to their aid. Quaker abolitionists collaborated with free Black people to bring the freedom seekers to safety. It was the start of the Underground Railroad, a clandestine network of activists, safe houses, and escape routes that would help tens of thousands of enslaved people flee bondage in the decades before the Civil War and challenge the very roots of American slavery. This is just a preview of American History Tellers. You can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or at American History Tellers - Wondery | Premium Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with the Oscars fast approaching, we listen back to Mike’s Thursday Spiel in which he tries to figure out if 2023 was a great or terrible year for women in Hollywood films. We also listen back to our 2015 interview with filmmaker Leslie Headland, whose film Sleeping With Other People had just come out.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Kinmen Islands is a part of Taiwan, but it's only five miles from China, the main Island of Taiwan laying over 100 miles across the Taiwan Straight. S. Leo Chiang is the director of the Oscar-nominated short documentary about Kinmen called Island In Between. Plus, a Magician apparates in the middle of the Democratic primaries. And, five years on, where would we be without the Green New Deal? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Andrew Fleischman is an Atlanta-based litigator, and he joins us to discuss the Fani Willis Trial and which way he thinks Judge McAfee will lean in his decision. Plus, in China monkeys are hard to come by, which is something South African wish they could say about ships filled with cattle wallowing in their own feces. And was 2023 the year of the woman in Hollywood? Mike Spiels an answer. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Even after Tucker Carlson issued his double coupon day dasvidaniya, the ghost of Navalny trails him. Plus, Putin arrests a U.S. ballerina for donating $51 to Ukraine. And we speak with Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

William Ury, author of Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict has worked on peace negotiations in Norther Ireland, South Africa, and Colombia joins us to share some lessons and tactics. One is to imagine your loathed rival delivering a speech to their public. What would he say. If it's Kim Jong Un, would he shout-out Dennis Rodman? Plus, Nikki Haley takes the low road, too. And Donald Trump pays the piper, but the piper only requires 5% down. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

We are off on this Holiday, but we wanted to share two interviews from the archive. One is from 2019 with founding CEO of C-SPAN Brian Lamb and Co-CEO Susan Swain are here to discuss their new book The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America’s Best—and Worst—Chief Executives. Also from 2018 is Kate and J.D. Dobson are out with a book that considers Ulysses S. Grant’s quiet charisma, Franklin Pierce’s youthful charm, and the distinguished eyebrows of a certain Warren G. Harding. The Dobsons are the authors of Hottest Heads of State, Volume 1: The American Presidents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen back to Mike’s December 6, 2023 interview with Aric Toler about the storied Hamas tunnel network, which, depending on where you get your news, is either a "vast labyrinth" or a 160-yard tunnel with little room for a command center capable of orchestrating the October 7th attack. Aric Toler is a reporter on the Visual Investigations team at The New York Times, where he combines traditional reporting techniques with "open-source" reporting practices, and he recently contributed to a Times investigation about the tunnels. Then we rewind to this past Tuesday so Mike can again ask the question, “Would a ‘Winter Wonderland’ occur to any songwriter today?”    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Donald Trump is ordered to pay over $350 million ... bad judgement for him there.  Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hits back hard at defense attorneys seeking to toss her off the Georgia racketeering case. And we speak with Quico Toro, a Contributing Editor at Persuasion, who tells us the story of Guatemala, where a duly elected president actually got to assume office. He calls it "January 6th in reverse." Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Shootings at Joel Osteen's megachurch and the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl Parade illustrate an American tendency to find meaning in shootings based on the oddest factor: the shooter's motivations and tactics. Plus, we're joined once more by Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware, co-author's of God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. Also on the show, Chicken Wings: Appetizer, Entree, or symbol of the imponderable mysteries at the edges of human comprehension? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Bruce Hoffman & Jacob Ware are leading terrorism experts out with a new book titled God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. We discuss the rise of the far right. Plus, Santos out, Democrat in. And Mike analyzes some Super Bowl commercials ... three days after the game. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonathan Metzl, Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University and author of What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms on examining the flaws in our gun-control strategy and how we talk about gun owners. Plus, the race to replace George Santos comes down to snow. And would a "Winter Wonderland" occur to any songwriter today? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

George Hale is the reporter behind Rush To Kill, the eight-part podcast series that looks at federal death row, which lay dormant for years ... until the waning days of the Trump administration. Plus, many Biden defender's attest to the President's unparalleled sagacity and staggering mental capacity rivaling the greatest seers of our age. And President Trump gets the world excited with what amounts to a NATO non-humble brag. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, in honor of Superbowl Sunday, we listen back to Mike’s 2019 interview with former Baltimore Raven offensive lineman John Urschel. After his time in the NFL, Urschel went on to get a PhD and have an accomplished career as a mathematician. He is joined by his co-writer, Louisa Thomas—who is also his wife—to discuss their book Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football. Then, to honor the Sunday political shows, Mike’s recent Spiel following up on the question of Kristen Welker's insistence on follow-up questions.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

We end DEI week with the second half of our interview with Denise Hamilton, author of Indivisible: How to Forge our Differences into a Stronger Future. We discuss areas where racism might very well be at play, though focusing on identity isn't necessarily the best way forward. And our President is a well-meaning elderly gentleman, qualities that are apparently much more of an electoral vulnerability than being a vindictive old man who forever holds a grudge. Plus, why freezing liquified natural gas matters ... all states of matter, in fact. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Colorado's Lawyer gets schooled by SCOTUS. Bud Light tries to counter the forces of stupidity via the power of goofy Super Bowl ads. Plus, DEI educator and consultant Denise Hamilton, author of Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences into a Stronger Future. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

SCOTUS is considering if Donald Trump should appear on Coloradoans ballot in November, and if not, why not? The officially decreed "not immune for all prosecution" former POTUS faces scrutiny from SCOTUS, and we're joined by Jeffrey Rosen, President of the National Constitution Center and host of the We The People podcast. Plus, DEI week continues with more from Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America. We probe areas where colorblindness might not be the best way toward progress. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America stops by to add a diversity of thought in his inclusion on DEI week. Plus, our country seems intent on getting nothing done in years divisible by 2. And following up on the question of Kristen Welker's insistence on follow-up questions. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

All week, we'll be taking a deep dive into DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—which has come under attack from conservatives. A great defense would be to point to the many demonstrable successes of DEI, but that's not always easy, because many of the highest profile expressions of DEI haven't yielded quantifiable successes. To kickoff DEI Week, we're joined today by Northwestern School of Education's Ahmmad Brown, a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) scholar. This is the first part in our week-long series discussing DEI in a way that expresses doubts, allows for eye-opening revelations, and relies on inquiry. Also, as a bit of an appetizer, we poke gentle fun at "Woke Kindergarten," which is a real thing. "Real" being defined as, the curriculum costs schools that choose to participate $250,000. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen back to Mike’s 2019 interview with Anthony Ray Hinton, who was wrongfully convicted for the murder of two teenagers in Alabama in 1985. After 30 years on death row, Hinton’s conviction was overturned, and he was released. He’s since become an advocate for those facing the death penalty and the abolishment of it in the United States. Hinton’s book is titled, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. Then we hear Mike’s Wednesday Spiel about Kenneth Eugene Smith’s recent execution by nitrogen hypoxia. Observers were disturbed by the process of Smith's final five minutes on Earth, but officials of the state of Alabama where only disturbed by others’ disturbed-ness.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

Political experts and podcast partners in the Night Owls Podcast, Joe Klein and John Ellis analyze the political pitfalls of Democrats in the next election and contrast those with the co-situational dangers of Trump. Plus, smushy-faced dogs and the dire lack of cow-part funding. Finally, Mike criticizes a New Yorker magazine story about Oregon overdoses that defied credulity. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Luppe Luppen is a lawyer who is also the Twitter pugilist @nycsouthpaw. He is now the co-author of a new book, The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the future of the Democratic Party. Plus, a beheading with talking points from Tucker. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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 | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On January 25th, Kenneth Eugene Smith was the first American executed by nitrogen hypoxia. Observers were disturbed by the process of Smith's final five minutes on Earth, but officials of the state of Alabama where only disturbed by others disturbed-ness. Also on the show, Joshua Green discusses his new book, The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle For A New American Politics. And, when the status quo is objected to, it doesn't mean the change is agreeable. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

Jeremy Hobson has been hosting The Middle, a call-in public radio program. That sounds scintillating enough, but it gets even spicier when you learn that the show is dedicated to non-extremism. As much as this reasonable-seeming description might evoke thoughts of high-minded even-handedness, in practice it's actually quite exciting and exceedingly rare. Plus, the newest members of The Squad squander the brand name, while every Republican on the House Homeland Security committee claims that Alejandro Mayorkis has committed the High Crimes and Misdemeanors worthy of impeachment. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

We're joined by the show runner of the Peacock series Dr. Death, Ashley Michel Hoban, to discuss why we are drawn to doctors who first do some harm. Lots of it in fact.  Plus, Nikki Haley just has no idea about any details of Donald Trump's Trials. And the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is making progress, yet it feels like ghoulish wound-opening. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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

In the spring of 2017, a police corruption scandal rocked the city of Baltimore. And at the heart of it was an elite undercover unit called the Gun Trace Task Force. American Scandal is a podcast from Wondery that takes you deep into the most infamous scandals in American history, from presidential lies to environmental disasters and corporate fraud. Their new season looks at a Baltimore police unit that was supposed to reduce violence in the community. But they operated with little oversight, and instead became a breeding ground for rogue cops who were abusing their power. This is just a preview of American Scandal. You can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or at Wondery.fm/AS_TheGist. LINKS: Wondery.fm/AS_TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, upon hearing the news that researchers had discovered four previously unknown colonies of emperor penguins with the help of satellite imagery, we give to you Mike’s 2017 interview with penguin researcher Michelle LeRue. Then we replay Mike’s January 24, 2024 Spiel about The Los Angeles Times, which isn’t his favorite news source.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  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

The International Court of Justice rules on the plausibility of Israel committing genocide, one particularly incendiary Israeli official tweets "Hague Schmague." Taylor Swift pics are everywhere, as is always true, but these were invented by a perverted computer. And we're joined once more by Professor Brian Klaas, who takes down certainty and his own field of political science in his new book, Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 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