The Gist

David Grann, best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and Lost City of Z is out with another tale where humans are pushed to the extreme, and society is asked to define itself. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder is a NY Times #1 best seller, and it's also fodder for a discussion of methods of writing, research, and truth-telling. Plus, a rise in mass shooting belies the overall trend of declining homicide. And how Mali got to know so much about the U.S. military, thanks to a spate of typos. 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

Vladimir Putin's recent blow up with Wagner frontman Yevgeny Prigozhin took the world by surprise, but it didn't really take the Russia experts of the world by surprise. We talk with Andrew S. Weiss, a former Pentagon and State Department official turned Russia researcher with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about why Prigozhin's made sense if you consider the environment Putin has created in the upper echelons of Russian power. Also, cereal killing is much harder to crack down on than cereal stealing. 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 return to March 2017 to listen back to Mike’s interview with The Atlantic staff writer and U.S. Naval War College emeritus professor Tom Nichols, in which they tried to understand why Russia finds NATO so deeply offensive. Then, we replay Mike’s show opener from this past Tuesday, when he wondered about NATO … and Sweden … and nazis.  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 notorious Baltimore Police unit dramatized in the HBO Series We Own This City, is examined in a new documentary I Got a Monster that veers away from the charisma of the cops and focusses on the havoc they wrought. Filmmaker Kevin Abrams, and key defense attorney and current Baltimore State Attorney Ivan Bates join us. Plus, there have always been floods, there has always been rain, but these are worse. What to do with that? And a serial killer nabbed, but not yet named. 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

Striking writers have deprived Americans of late-night weather-related jokes, evil characters, and pat narrative. Soon-to-strike UPS drivers will deprive Americans of consumer goods. Which negotiation would you prioritize? Mike has a thought. Also, part two of our conversation with Lexicon Valley's John McWhorter about terms like "toxic masculinity," and how we are now arguing over the words instead of the concepts they define. And finally, Chipotle’s “Autocado” is poised to free its employees from … employment. 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

John McWhorter is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, a New York Times columnist, and host of the Lexicon Valley podcast. He's back for another iteration of McWhorter's Quarters, wherein we discuss language, society, and the intersection (though not intersectionality) thereof. Plus, the Willy Wonka origin movie answers all the questions no one was asking. And finally, the death of nicknames. 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 Jake Tapper is out with his third thriller. This one is set when Evel Knievel jumped gorges, Elvis was being mourned, and the Son Of Sam stalked couples. Mike discusses the new novel All the Demons Are Here and the current state of media and politics. Plus, the affirmative action ruling is a complex issue that represented trade-offs and competing values. Be suspicious of anyone telling you otherwise. And Sweden is in NATO! But also, somewhat run by Nazis. Huh. 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 U.S. is supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine, even though many countries (though not our own, and none currently being invaded) have signed a treaty against them. Plus, the Supreme Court's "crisis of legitimacy." And we're joined by Mark Baker, a journalist who discovered himself to be the subject of interest to communist secret-police units in the 1980s. He has written about his experience as "Inter," his code name among the Czechoslovakian police. 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

Today on The Gist. We play the spiel from this week about phosphogypsum. Then we go into the vaults and listen to a spiel from 2020 about the Oscars and Affirmative 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

Film maker / musician / director / podcaster Lola Blanc is out with a new film “Pruning” about a blonde right wing pundit who inspires a shooting and deals with the consequences in an interesting manner. We also talk cults and Smurfs. Plus, Forever Chemicals and how Pickleball and Fantasy Football are the two greatest leisure innovations of the last 30 years. 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

Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson are the authors of the new book “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.” We discuss how history shows (through evidence) that progress depends on the choices we make about technology. Plus, a movie about a doll got a Texas senator and a Tennessee representative upset. 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

Evelyn Gosnell is a behavioral scientist who, as Managing Director of Irrational Labs, studies and advises the biggest apps and social media sites in existence.  We discuss a recent TikTok intervention she designed to reduce the spread of misinformation. Plus, Joe Biden's non-difficult decision whether to pack the supreme court. And Bill de Blasio and his wife to separate but continue living together. 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

Happy July Fourth, Americans, and happy Tuesday to the rest of planet Earth. Today, the production staff of The Gist is off for the holiday, but we threw together a couple “independence” themed archival segments, so you'd have something to listen to at the beach once the couple sitting next to you stops arguing about their failed "open relationship." First up is Mike’s 2014 interview with Craig McAllister about the failed Scottish independence referendum of that year. Then we listen back to our 2017 interview with historian Gordon S. Wood about his book Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  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

No. He's Not. But the coverage of the phosogypsum issue might lead a concerned citizen to conclude otherwise. Wait, what phosphogypsum issue? The Gist offers the definitive coverage of the issue. Plus, T. J. Raphael host and produce of COVER UP: THE PILL PLOT talks about her exciting new podcast. And unrest in France and Manipur, which you may not have heard of, though its many times as deadly. 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 Thursday’s Spiel about Billy Joels We didn’t Start the Fire. Speaking of Billy Joel, we play an unaired segment from our interview with Anthony Scaramucci where he tells a story about Billy Joel. 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 writer and Pulitzer Prize Winner, Anne Applebaum has chronicled Eastern Europe's unstable relationship with communism, democracy, and Vladimir Putin. She's based in Poland, and we wanted to get her perspective on NATO, Progozhin, and Putin's next move. Plus, SCOTUS scraps the Student Debt Forgiveness Plan, while, in the Antwentig, all debts are settled. 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

Brett Forrest is a national security correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the author of a new book about how ... and who ... the FBI recruits to do its dirty work abroad. His book is Lost Son: An American Family Trapped Inside the FBI’s Secret Wars, a story of how a young man named Billy Reilly disappeared into Russia. Plus, SCOTUS scrap Affirmative Action in colleges, and Fall Out Boy fails to start the fire ... so Mike tries. 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 new study indicates that humans have been slurping up water at such a greedy pace, we're actually causing the Earth to tilt. And this means? Unclear. But to put this into perspective ... we can't. And we're joined once more by Lee Berger, the South Africa-based paleoanthropologist who discovered a species of early human who may have done some things we thought only we can do, but Homo Naledi did them 250,000 years prior. Physically accessing the remains was a harrowing adventure in itself. Plus, what would happen if a dog became President? And the retailer Giant is facing retail theft, but also still wants us to scan our own orange juice.  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

Homo Naledi is an extinct species of hominin discovered by a team led by Lee Berger. If Berger is right, Naledi's actions predate a few of the traits we had assumed to be uniquely Homo Sapien. Plus, Donald Trump crinkles paper on tape. And the signs of Generalized Epistemic Degradation.  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

Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Georgetown professor, and former National Security expert in the Obama and Clinton Administrations, discusses the motives and next moves for Validmir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin. Plus, Anthony Blinken's non-answerer extraordinaire. And how tracing down a stat can almost kill ya. 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