The Gist

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