The Gist

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was already the country's deadliest fraternity when it became famous in 2015 for its racist chants. But Bloomberg News senior editor John Hechinger says SAE's response to its scandal was unusual, as leaders used his reporting to try to reform members. Even so, the rising costs of insuring national fraternities might cause local chapters to shut down before reforms can take root. "The leaders of SAE know they are a legal judgment away from oblivion," writes Hechinger. His book is True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities. In the Spiel, Trump's speech at the United Nations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why does the movie Revenge of the Nerds continue to resonate today? Because, aside from how funny it is, it stands up for outcasts. Actor Curtis Armstrong explains what he took away from the film playing Booger, who was accepted by the nerds despite not really being one of them. Armstrong is the author of Revenge of the Nerd: Or… The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger. In the Spiel, health care for all!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike talks to one of his favorites: Musician Ted Leo discusses letting his political frustrations fuel his songwriting (see his song, "William Weld in the 21st Century") and explains how he finds solace in the tarot card image of the hanged man, which inspired the name of his new album. The Hanged Man is available now. For more on Ted Leo, read Michael Tedder's story in Stereogum, "Ted Leo Is Like You." In the Spiel, why it's silly to say that speech equals violence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Gretchen Rubin explains why her system of sorting people into four personality types (Rebel, Obliger, Questioner, and Upholder) will make your life easier. Rubin is the author of The Four Tendencies and host of the podcast Happier.  In the Spiel, what happens when politics seeps into sports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Late-night talk shows adhere to a form: a host behind a desk, pre-produced interviews, and tightly choreographed bits. Chris Gethard wants to break that form apart. With absurd gags like getting dunked in ice water or staying awake for 36 hours, Gethard wants to disarm his celebrity guests and put his viewers in charge. Gethard's new season of The Chris Gethard Show airs Thursday nights at 11 p.m. Eastern on truTV. In the Spiel, the fatberg of London.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do germaphobic parents doom their kids to a lifetime of allergies and irritable bowels? This sounds like a question for our favorite game, "Is That Bullshit?" Returning champion Maria Konnikova helps us sort good bacteria from bad. Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game.  In the Spiel, what should we consider before changing the definition of sexual assault? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former NFL cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha sees his time in football as a prep course for acting.  On The Gist, he explains how he learned to study other people while developing his own style. Asomugha stars in Crown Heights, a film based on the true story of a Brooklyn man trying to prove the innocence of his imprisoned friend. Crown Heights is in select theaters and will be available nationwide starting Friday, Sept. 15.  In the Spiel, why does anyone listen to Ivanka Trump?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Standup comic Ms. Pat is used to getting follow-up questions about her jokes. Did your mom really shoot a gun in the house? Did you really get pregnant when you were 13? Did you really have fleas? It's all true, and now it's even been fact-checked. Patricia Williams tells Mike about what it was like to write her book, Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat. In the Spiel, a special statement from the president of Equifax.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hurricane Harvey has caused a huge amount of property damage, but so far the death toll remains remarkably low. Why? Mike talks to John Mutter, a Columbia University professor who studies how natural disasters affect the poor. Mutter is the author of The Disaster Profiteers. In the Spiel, the deal-making wizardry of President Trump.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did the sexual revolution inspire rock 'n' roll or vice versa? Was Elvis Presley a knowing sex symbol or a total innocent? Is it true that there are still blue laws on the books against playing "Tutti Frutti" after dark? NPR's music critic Ann Powers tackles these and other questions in her book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music.  In the Spiel, the perfect late-summer sports scandal.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The nation has weathered another major natural disaster, and the Army Corps of Engineers once again finds itself under scrutiny. NPR's national desk correspondent Wade Goodwyn says the corps made a choice to open the floodgates of two major reservoirs in southeast Texas, flooding certain neighborhoods and sparing others.  Mike Pesca is back to take his rightful place as spieler in chief. Tuesday's topic: Jeff Sessions finally gets to stick it to the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosting today's Gist is Robert Smith from NPR's Planet Money. On the show, he'll talk to Lina Khan, whose research encouraging tighter regulations on Amazon caught some heat from the company's general counsel. Khan works at the Open Markets Program, formerly housed under the New America Foundation.  And in the Spiel, Robert Smith observes a new trend in broadcast news: reporters becoming heroes on live television. What could possibly go wrong? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's guest host is Dan Savage, from the Savage Lovecast. Dan is the internationally syndicated columnist of "Savage Love" and the author of several books. With his husband Terry Miller, he cofounded the It Gets Better project and edited the It Gets Better collection. On The Gist, Dan talks to author Peggy Orenstein about the lack of sexual education for young women and how book tours can change the writing process. Orenstein is the author of Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape. In the Spiel: the clueless conservatism of the Nashville Statement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Slate's Henry Grabar explains how rampant building in the Houston suburbs have made the area worse for wear during Tropical Storm Harvey. And in the Spiel, guest-host Osita Nwanevu breaks his self-imposed moratorium against criticizing columnist David Brooks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Al Letson was just trying to cover a demonstration – an anti-hate rally in Berkeley. When he saw a group of balaclava-clad men descend on an apparent right-wing agitator, he jumped into the fray, using his body to defend the man from kicks and punches. Letson is the host of Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX.  And for the Spiel, is "#whaboom" the worst of our culture today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hype surrounding the Saturday night fight between boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA fighter Conor McGregor is overtly racially charged. Why? Because people are eating it up, says Wesley Morris, critic-at-large for the New York Times. Morris and Mike talk about the role of race in the NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick, Dana Schutz's Open Casket painting of Emmett Till, the closing of the Broadway show The Great Comet, and more. Morris is the co-host of the Still Processing podcast.  In the Spiel: We live in interesting times.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Understanding sexual consent is complicated. Colleges are working to clarify this issue while also policing sexual assault. But when does this cross over into legislating feelings versus facts? Vanessa Grigoriadis helps us understand the current iteration of the sexual consent debate happening on campuses today. Grigoriadis is the author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus. In the Spiel: Should we tear down statues? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The antifa movement is resurging. It started in 1920s Europe to fight Hitler and Mussolini and has returned to oppose the current wave of xenophobia in the United States. Author Mark Bray walks us through the history of the antifa movement. Bray is the author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. In the Spiel: Trump's campaign speech in Phoenix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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