The Gist

At the DNC, Brat Summer is still alive, despite Democratic delegates' inability to articulate Harris' "day one" promises. Also, at the DNC, Mike huddles with New York Times Magazine journalist Ross Barkan about who is leading the left wing of the Democratic party ... or, more accurately, who isn't leading them. Plus, former President Barack Obama flops on the DNC stage. Yeah, right! He crushed 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

On his way into the Democrats big show in Chicago, Mike is confronted by protestors, stoned and angry. Inside, he talks to delegates, which makes him wonder who is more in touch with mainstream America ... the screamers or the Kool-Aid drinkers? Also on the show, University of Minnesota bioethicist and whistleblower Carl Elliott is out with a new book, The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No. 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

Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law and the author of several books, including his latest, No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States. He thinks our democracy is under threat, but he sees simple solutions that just require updating our aging Constitution. The thing is, getting that done is anything but simple. Also on the show, the Olympic break dancing pile-on continues. 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 a June 2019 interview with Kyle Pope. He was the editor of the Columbia Journalism review. Plus we play the spiel from earlier in the week about Margaret Sullivan who runs the ethics center at the Columbia School 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 | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a series of high school students began to have odd tics and spasms their upset community didn’t know what to do. Was it poisoning? A mad-cow like neurological disease? Or something no less real, but much more psychological. Dan Taberski, host of the amazing new podcast Hysterical stops by to discuss. Plus, Trump's insults of Kamal Harris, Strategic? Haphazard? Or just stupid? 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

Vibes and Memes translate to cheers and screams for the Harris/ Walz ticket. Mike has 3 theories on what vibes may really mean. Plus, Minouche Shafik is out as President of Columbia, and while we're announcing university HR developments, there's an opening in the Physics department of University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley. https://careers.utrgv.edu/postings/43154 And, Leon Neyfahk and Arielle Paredes are back to talk Juul, Vape and the importance of mangoes, both sliced and whole, in part two of their discussion of their podcast Backfired: The Vaping Wars 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

Is vaping bad for you? If you don't know the answer to that question it means the wars were never really settled. Luckily Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes the reporters behind the podcast Backfired: The Vaping Wars are here with answers. Plus, the Russians take New York, and Trump is talking differently about Kamala. 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

Kevin Allison, member of MTV's The State, and decade long host of the podcast RISK! talks about chances he's taken in comedy life, sex, and podcasting. Plus, JD Vance's thought experiment and Elon Musk talks particulate matter parts per million with Donald Trump 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

Dr. Ann Burgess is a pioneering profiler of serial killers, and a primary character in the Netflix series Mindhunter. A new Hulu series directed by Abigail Fuller is out, titled Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. Both director and subject are on today's show. Plus, the two journalism poo-bahs with consistently terrible ideas about journalism. And our broken breaking discourse. 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, with Presidential polling and prognosticating in the air, we listen back to Mike’s 2018 with Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about his book How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. We also listen back to Mike’s Spiel, in which he recounts the RFK bear fiasco … in song.    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 president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the former President of the United States (POTUS) each gave press conferences. One was much much much more unhinged than the other. Guess which one. Plus, a full-show interview with poker player, forecaster, and author Nate Silver about his new book, On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything. 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

Kamala and Tim are in their honeymoon period as a presidential ticket. They are brat. They are joy. They are vibes. They are happy. Why the hell would they throw away all this momentum, just so they could tell Americans where they stand on issues that matter? It's a good question, and they better come up with the right answer or suffer the fate of candidates who hide from the press in their Delaware bunkers. Capisce? Also on the show, a double-interview day. Mo Rocca on his new book about old folks, Roctogenarians: Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs. Plus, Kiki Friedman on her online abortion-care company, Hey Jane. 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 full analysis of Tim Walz's entry into the 2024 presidential race. Discussed are the chants of "coach," the claims of "joy," the new ways of thinking about key issues that he's introduced into the race. Plus, former Ambassador to Moscow and Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan discusses his book Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West. 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

Minnesota's current governor, Tim Walz has been named Kamala Harris' Vice Presidential pick. Nate Silver is here to tell us what it means and what Harris missed out on in not picking Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Plus, Shad White, state auditor for Mississippi joins to discuss his new book Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America. 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 a day when the Dow dipped considerably, we're joined by Kayla Scanlon, the coiner of "vibe session" and author of In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work. Plus: RFK. Bear. A bicycle. A coverup. A recap in story and song.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on The Gist, we listen to a 2007 interview from NPR, wherein Mike spoke with Tim Walz, who has emerged as a serious contender to be Kamala Harris' Vice President, should she win). Also, a little extra segment with our guest earlier this week Corey Brettschneider about John Adams' strange relationship with democracy. 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

Kamala Harris is on the verge of a Vice Presidential choice, and we will evaluate the arguments against the Jewish Governor of Pennsylvania over the perception that his Judaism is a liability. Plus, more on the Olympic Boxers who are women but also did have size and strentgh benefits of testosterone that their fellow competitors did not. Also on the show, Washington And Lee University professors Chris Gavaler and Nat Goldberg discuss their new book, Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World. 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

With Biden now out of the 2024 Presidential race, the polling data has gotten cleaner … so says conservative pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson. She joins us to talk about Kamala’s sugar rush, Trump’s lack of a nickname for his new opponent, and the breaking of Biden’s negative effect on Democratic polling numbers. Also, an Olympic boxer punches “too hard.” And prisoners are swapped. 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 a day when former President Donald Trump told black journalists that Kamala Harris denied being black (fact check: untrue), we speak about former President John Adams, who himself ran athwart many Constitutional norms ... or, at least, what we have come to accept as norms. Our guest is Corey Brettschneider, author of Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. Plus, what Israel's reported assassination of the political leader of Hamas does to the "Israel is doomed to fail" narrative. 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

With charges of weirdness and cat lady-dom flying around, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana gets into the act by calling Kamala Harris a "ding dong." Fox News host Neil Cavuto was not having it. Plus, in other Kamala news, she apparently also can't stand Jewish people, which is weird, because she's married to a Jewish person. And Corey Brettschneider is out with a new book in which he contrasts anti-Constitutional acts by such presidents as Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and John Adams, and identifies the citizens and politicians who worked to preserve constitutional order. 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