The Gist

A Glacier’s uneven melting causes concern. Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough’s surprise nod causes tumult. And a pasta shape’s surprise popularity causes sequels. Massive chunks of ice, awards snubs, and Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful Podcast, constitute today’s show. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bob Delaney worked undercover in law enforcement, under the backboards as an NBA ref, and under the tutelage of mental health experts. His latest book is Heroes are Human: Lessons in Resilience, Courage, and Wisdom from the COVID Front Lines. Plus, we’re now shooting down sky detritus. And the perceived video game boycott over JK Rowlings’ opinions was much Aparecium about Nargles. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keith Humphreys—a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University who served as a drug policy advisor in the Bush and Obama White Houses—says Fentanyl really is a hugely destructive and disruptive force. He talks with Mike about how the rise of this drug is effected by, and might effect, the trend of marijuana legalization. Plus, Pete Buttigieg and the air-born toxic event. And on Valentine’s Day: to swoon or repugn? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Emily Hanford, host of one of 2022's best podcasts, Sold A Story, is here to discuss her deep reporting and well-told (if disturbing) documentation about how the way we’ve taught kids to read in this country is all wrong … and we haven’t done anything about it for decades. Plus, an orgy of celebrity becomes white noise in Super Bowl commercials. And so many weird floating objects, so few answers beyond those supplied by F-22 Raptors. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with Super Bowl Sunday upon us, we listen back to Mike’s September 11, 2017 interview with former Raider (and Eagles) cornerback, Nnamdi Asomugha. Despite being one of the best cornerbacks ever to play in the NFL, Namdi sees his time in football as a prep course for acting. Then we’re replaying Mike’s Spiel about San Francisco sex workers who are clogging up the streets.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Paul Farber, a scholar at UPENN's Center for Public Art & Space at the University of Pennsylvania, hosts the WHYY podcast series The Statue, which looks at Philadelphia's most notable icon…no, not the Liberty Bell, but Rocky. Plus, crazy plans to thwart the sun, and crazier plans to thwart Twitter's thwarting of questionable political content. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Fundraiser by Michelle Pesca : Deniushkina Family Resettlement Fund (gofundme.com) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hulu Series Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult of Sarah Lawrence tells the story of conman Larry Ray and his ten-year grip over a group of young people. Director Zach Heinzerling and survivor Dan Levin talk about the three-part series, which premieres tonight. Plus, AOC delivers the “DIS” but not the perfect “INFORMATION.” And Mike voluntarily sits for an online government training module. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Fundraiser by Michelle Pesca : Deniushkina Family Resettlement Fund (gofundme.com) Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Booing of Joe BIden was shameful, because the boo-ers were shameless. Mike analyses the incentives spurring on the most raucous in the GOP caucus. And we’re joined once more by Anthony Scaramucci, who holds forth on SBF, the January 6th Committee, and his own personal B.S. detector. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Fundraiser by Michelle Pesca : Deniushkina Family Resettlement Fund (gofundme.com) Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthony Scaramucci accumulated insights, enemies, and regrets during his short tenure in the White House. That’s all okay, and it’s what life his all about, he says. He is now talking to political, economic, and cultural authors and thinkers on his podcast Open Book. And in the U.S., politicians call Biden “weak” and Xi “wise” over Ballooonghazi, but in China they call Xi “dysfunctional” and question his leadership. Plus, San Francisco sex workers are clogging up the streets. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the Plain English podcast, says Americans are wonderful at invention but frustratingly bad at implementation. Plus, all the excitement over the spy balloon, and all the un-excitement over a presidential rematch. To contribute to our Ukrainian refugee fund, please use the link here: https://gofund.me/206f1eb1 Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, after a week of pondering how to fix the broken state of policing in the United States, we listen back to Mike’s September 2020 interview with Dr. Rashawn Ray, a sociologist studying methods of measuring implicit bias using virtual simulations of police officer decision-making at the Lab for Applied Social Science Research at the University of Maryland, College Park. He and his team are encouraged that by researching and educating law enforcement with real life social interaction training, they might be able to incite change in outcomes between officers and civilians. (This was originally run as a two-part interview in back-to-back episodes.) Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Mulroy is the District Attorney of Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes Memphis. Mulroy has been in office for a little over a year and was elected to bring down violent crime, while simultaneously ending the distrust the community has for the police. That’s a tall order. In this extended interview, we ask him if prosecuting the five officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols will advance that goal? Also, we discuss what lessons he draws from the failures and successes of other progressive prosecutors, and why he thinks Memphis will avoid the fate of Baltimore, Ferguson, and other cities that succumbed to the pattern of police abuse leading to a pull-back in policing which lead to a rise in murders. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Democrats debate the presidential primary calendar, we’re joined by Josh Putnam, a political scientist specializing in delegate selection rules, presidential campaigns, and elections. Plus, Biden gets the gift of criticism from Europe. And the short-sellers who exploded an Indian corporate giant. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Slip another gamma-ray-emitting capsule on the barbie, as we travel to the Australian Outback to locate a pulsing radioactive fleck of metal. Plus, Michael Imperioli remembers his time with his Sopranos co-star, James Gandolfini. And we mark the day objectivity died. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Actor Michael Imperioli talks about his novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, and his roles on the Sopranos and White Lotus. Plus, what should have been a huge trial of a terrorism suspect went largely unnoticed, despite a high death toll. And Laverne And Shirley, and Nostalgia … and quality. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Oppenheimer, host of the podcast Gatecrashers about the hidden history of the relationship between Jews and the Ivy League, argues that anti-Semitic impulses basically created the Ivy league, branding them as the citadels of elitism and exclusivity that they are today. Plus, arguing for police reform and against nihilism, what are the chances for reform in the wake of the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we’ve got some bonus material from Mike’s interview with Slate film critic Dana Stevens about the 2023 Oscar nominees, which were announced this past Tuesday. Then we’re replaying the Thursday Spiel about the resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern … a Spiel Mike is rethinking. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A woman talking to a man about Women Talking is one way to describe Mike’s conversation with Slate film critic Dana Stevens about the best films and the best reasons to care about the Oscars. Plus, Turkey Western Blocs Sweden and Finland. And it’s an Antwentig! Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Data scientist Ravi Iyer was a Facebook executive who tried to reform the company from within. Now, as Managing Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute at the University of Southern California’s Neely Center, he has some ideas for a better internet … but a more robust regime of content moderation is not one of them. Plus, Oreo Oreos. And Mike wonders if the celebration of the motives behind Jacinda Ardern’s resignation is misplaced. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston has analyzed Donald Trumps tax returns from 2015 to 2020 for his new book The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family. Johnston says Trump has broken easy-to-prosecute laws. Plus, the tanks are on the move! And a pollster-on-pollster spat that Nate Silver’s model estimated has a 26% chance of cruelty. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices