The Gist

A new study shows more plastic than could be imagined, and certainly seen, in bottled water. The coverage demands a freakout, rationality demands you take a deep breath, a deep sip, and relax. Plus, the Trump immunity appeal makes for captivating viewing. And we're joined once more by Yaroslov Trofimov, author of OurEnemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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

Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign-Affairs Correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, discusses his new book, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence. Plus, our undisclosed, indisposed SecDef. And how Joe Biden defines White Supremacy. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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, we listen back to the episode published the evening of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. It was a defining moment in our nation’s history, and we have a pretty clear understand of what went down that ugly day. On January 6, 2021, though, we didn’t have much detail, but Mike went on to try to put some context around what we were all seeing.    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

Let's not forget a fact that could be swallowed up in all the big international news: the Houthi rebels—no good, no good at all. Even rhyming chants won't change that. Plus, Biden hits the campaign trail with a focus on protecting democracy. And we're joined by Michael MacCambridge, author of the new book The Big Time: How the 1970s Transformed Sports in America. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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

Donald Trump's emoluments entanglements receive further scrutiny. And would a soon-to-explode American airliner have witnessed such an orderly exit? Plus, Adam Nagourney continues his discussion of The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn and the Transformation of Journalism. 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

Adam Nagourney is the author of The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn and the Transformation of Journalism. Mike questions him about the extent that the NYT actually has escaped scorn. Plus, Israel takes out a top Hamas commander, which threatens to escalate regional tensions, suggesting the region might not want top Hamas commanders taken out. And is Claudine Gay a martyr, a victim or merely a transcription enthusiast? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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

David Duchovny (like "the truth") is out there as an actor, director, musician, and novelist (or Novella-ist) in the case of his latest The Reservoir. Plus, Nikki Haley didn't say "slavery," but what in the world was she saying? A look at 14 years of her hard-to-parse comments on the causes of the Civil War. Also on the show, the highest paid employees of each state fight in a violent yearly ritual. Programming Note: Our interview with the President of Harvard has been cancelled. Please use the course catalogue to determine your schedule for the Spring Semester. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities | MikePesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today is Mike Pesca’s birthday, and as a gift to himself, he requested we replay two classic interviews that he considers some of his favorites. So we’ll be listening back to his conversation with comedian Gary Gulman from 2019 and actor/writer/Fonzie Henry Winkler from 2017. See you in 2024!  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

Mike gives his list of the best podcasts of the past calendar year. He also talks with Sonari Glinton, host of the Shattering the System podcast, which tells the story of a politically connected predator who operated out of West Hollywood, and Lauren Chooljian, host of the The 13th Step, which tells the story of a politically connected predator who operated out of New Hampshire.    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

Russian dissident Alexi Navalny has been located. It’s someplace cold and inescapable, but he's able to make some Christmasy jokes, so that's “good.” Plus, The Gist has found an interview thought lost, about a 17th Century mathematician who was also, in his way, a little lost. Bernoulli's Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science is the book, we talk with its author Aubrey Clayton.    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

On this day after Christmas, we are choosing to eschew the news cycle and instead have a little fun. We found some oldies-but-goodies from Mike's pre-Gist time at New York Public Radio's On The Media and NPR's Day To Day. With puns, oddities, parodies, and peccadillos galore, it's the perfect soundtrack to accompany you while you return all the awful gifts you got for store credit.    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

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we replay Mike’s Tuesday Spiel about Chicago’s disgruntled neighborhoods, overwhelmed by newly resettled migrants. But lest you think it’s wealthy white people doing the complaining, well … it’s not. Then we rewind to 2016, before Trump, back when newspaper headlines were less terrifying and a bit more song-inspiring. Also … Merry Christmas.    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

Don't Worry … it's actually good news. Part of the spate of good news that we can't quite accept or process. Plus, the greatest face-melting rock anthems of all time. And Minnesota's new flag rings out the last Vexillology Corner of 2023, with Ted Kaye, author of Good Flag, Bad Flag.    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

Reena Ninan, veteran broadcast reporter for CBS, ABC, and Fox has been in earlier versions of Hamas tunnels, and she tells us about underground ambitions and over-the-air coverage. Plus, Fat Leonard, Poor Rudy, and the Houthi Creed. And comedian Alex Edelman discusses the difference between anti-semitism and anti-Zionism and anti-Netanyahu-ism. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara The Gist Youtube Channel: The Gist - YouTube Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump is barred from the ballot in Colorado, for now, interesting reasoning contributed to the court's decision, which probably won't survive SCOTUS. Plus, Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at SOAS University of London assesses Israel's neighbor's relations with Palestinians and what hopes there are for a permanent peace. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara The Gist Youtube Channel: The Gist - YouTube Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's not just bomb-throwing conservative House members who think migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border are a problem. Turns out, the people who's communities are slated as their new homes feel similarly, and those people are often people of color. And we are joined again by Ryan Grim to continue our interview about his new book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution. And, whether you call them the Houthis or the "Hooties," they are a problem. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Grim, author of The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution describes the ascent, tactics, behaviors, and personalities of AOC and other young leftists in Congress. Plus, it's hard to talk about immigration, as Joe Manchin, the President of Illinois' NAACP, and, most insensitively of all, Donald Trump show in myriad ways. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we rewind to Tuesday to listen back to Mike’s treatise on New Jersey’s sludge barge, though, for reasons pertaining to the O’Jays song “Love Train,” we are calling it the Sludge Train. Then we rewind way back to 2018, when Mike felt the need to warn listeners about culturally sensitive seasons greetings.    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

Ukraine's EU funding is thwarted by the Hungarian leader whose less Buddah and more Pest, Victor Orban. Plus, Kate Mara and Shawn Bannon drop by to talk about their documentary about hog pollution in North Carolina, The Smell of Money. And an emergency Antwentig, in which secret geopolitical lyrics to OJay's songs are divulged. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twelve hundred Israelis were killed by Hamas. Perhaps 15,000 Gazans have died as Israel has pursued its attacker, many Hamas fighters among them. But those numbers alone do not help us understand the concept of proportionality in international law. Ben Wittes of Lawfare is here to help us think through the idea. Plus, delving into "Homonationalism." Also on the show, Rudy has defamed and also suffers from having lesser fame than his old client, Donald Trump. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Gift The Gist at https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/gifts 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: PescaProfundities| Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices