Homicides are down 14% from pre-pandemic levels and other major crimes have followed suit. But what can today's drop teach us about the last great decline, the one that transformed New York in the 1990s? Mike talks with Peter Moskos, former Baltimore cop turned John Jay College professor, about his new book Back from the Brink , an oral history of the NYPD's crime-fighting turnaround. They dig into the role of CompStat, broken windows, and the delicate balance between aggressive policing and com...
Aug 08, 2025•39 min•Ep. 2780
Diplomacy via tweet rarely ends well, but US ambassadors are now flailing into their way through international tensions with sarcasm, memes, and zero restraint. Plus Steven Hahn, NYU historian and author of Illiberal America: A History, joins to unpack how liberalism has always shared the stage with its illiberal twin. From eugenics to temperance to the penitentiary, Hahn explains how our progressive myths overlook the darker undercurrents of American history. Produced by Corey Wara Production C...
Aug 07, 2025•37 min•Ep. 2779
E. Jean Carroll joins to talk about the lawsuit she won, the president she sued, and the dressing room encounter that changed everything. The author of Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President opens up about the attack by Donald Trump, how she fought to be heard, and what it took—mentally and emotionally to face him in court. They talk trial prep, media backlash, mock juries, and what it means to be believed. Also, what happens when the guy in the courtroom points at your photo and says it's his e...
Aug 06, 2025•41 min•Ep. 2778
Jonathan D. Cohen, author of Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling , joins to explain why our national rush into online sports betting might be a bigger mess than we realize. They talk sketchy app rollouts, bad state deals, and how betting lines went from shady corners to college campus. Plus, why Malaysian women's doubles badminton at 3 a.m. says more about America than we'd like to admit. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesc...
Aug 05, 2025•38 min•Ep. 2777
The NCAA's $2.8 billion settlement doesn't just change the rules—it rewrites the entire playbook. Mike talks with Gabe Feldman, director of Tulane's Sports Law Program, about what happens now that schools can pay athletes directly. They get into how the money will be split, why Olympic sports are suddenly on the chopping block, and whether this new system can survive Title IX scrutiny. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertis...
Aug 04, 2025•35 min•Ep. 2776
Today on The Gist we air Mikes appearence on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact ad-sales@libsyn.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: ...
Aug 02, 2025•39 min•Ep. 2775
Former NIH director Elias Zerhouni reflects on the agency's triumphs and shortcomings in light of his new memoir, Disease Knows No Politics . He defends the NIH's legacy while addressing critiques from figures like current NIH head Jay Bhattacharya, and warns that proposed funding cuts could severely undermine scientific progress. Also: the decline of late-night TV amid political sameness, the comic potential of Sydney Sweeney's controversial jeans ad, and a failed auction bid for Larry King's d...
Aug 01, 2025•38 min•Ep. 2774
Carl Zimmer joins to discuss Airborne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe , a book that excavates the forgotten science of airborne disease transmission—from Louis Pasteur's broth experiments to why COVID's airborne nature was dismissed by health authorities. Also : praise for the New York Times ' recent front-page study that honestly asses the failure of a cash transfer program to aid in childhood development. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at theg...
Jul 31, 2025•46 min•Ep. 2773
Criminologist Nick Cowen joins to explore how drunk driving transformed from a tolerated norm to a societal taboo, and how deterrence works best when paired with norm-shaping—catching people before tragedy and using lighter sanctions to nudge behavior. He argues that even violent crime clusters could be tackled through community-level norm shifts. Plus, after the worst mass shooting in New York City in 25 years, the New York Times' spotlights the shooter's CTE claims and symbolic vendetta agains...
Jul 30, 2025•36 min•Ep. 2772
Filmmaker Justine Bateman argues that Hollywood's creative spark has been smothered by fear, corporate consolidation, and algorithmic decision-making. In her view, true artistry requires fearlessness—and God, or something like it—but today's studios follow data, not inspiration. Also in the episode: Trump's presidential library fund keeps growing thanks to defamation settlements and nearly launched merch like MAGA-branded Instant Pots. In the Spiel, The European Union's timid trade posture, favo...
Jul 29, 2025•33 min•Ep. 2771
Marc Raimondi discusses Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Professional Wrestling's New World Order Changed America , his new book on Hulk Hogan's heel turn and how WCW's edgy branding reflected a broader cultural shift. We learn how steroid scandals, media savvy, and black t-shirts reshaped wrestling—and maybe U.S. politics. In the Spiel, Russell Vought's viral soundbites about cocaine beagles and government-funded lizard wind tunnels. Plus: The worst job in Tehran as the wells run dry. Produced by...
Jul 28, 2025•33 min•Ep. 2770
Today on The Gist. We play back Mikes appearance on the 21st Show where they discuss NPR and its funding. It originally aired on Monday July 28th. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact ad-sales@libsyn.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/chann...
Jul 26, 2025•28 min•Ep. 2769
Former Senator Phil Gramm joins to defend capitalism's record, arguing that the Industrial Revolution improved lives, the New Deal prolonged the Depression, and modern welfare undermines work. He supports Keynesian stimulus in theory—but only if governments also run surpluses, which he says they never do. Plus, Gaza aid failures, Macron's recognition of Palestine, and why peace requires clear-eyed power dynamics, not symbolic gestures. And in The Spiel: Benjamin Crump returns to the spotlight in...
Jul 25, 2025•38 min•Ep. 2768
Unf**k America Tour founder Z Cohen-Sanchez and Washington Examiner contributor Jesse Adams join for a tour through Trump's waning immigration support, the public broadcasting defunding that will hurt the next generation of Jesse Adamses, and why even Epstein truthers may be losing the thread. They debate whether GOP border hawks want actual deportations or just spicy cable-news optics, and whether NPR got PBS defunded by sheer association. Meanwhile, the Democrats try to square "abolish ICE" wi...
Jul 24, 2025•54 min•Ep. 2767
Editor-in-Chief, co-founder of Semafor, and host of the Mixed Signals podcast Ben Smith assesses how the media lost its footing during the Trump years—not through lies, but through disproportion. He critiques the rise of "disinformation" as a catch-all beat and notes that Substack surprised him by housing everything from bug-eating conspiracies to teen memoirists. Plus the structural distrust in media—and how even flawless reporting wouldn't have prevented audience collapse. Produced by Corey Wa...
Jul 23, 2025•45 min•Ep. 2766
Psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman explains how a rare genetic mutation affecting the enzyme FAAH, and a ubiquitous neurotransmitter called Anandamide may account for unusually low anxiety, reduced drug cravings, and an innate buoyancy, the type of which you might find in a daily podcast host. Plus, Louisville reverses its immigration detainer policy under federal pressure, reigniting the debate over sanctuary cities and local autonomy. And in the Spiel a burial standoff concerning the former Pres...
Jul 22, 2025•33 min•Ep. 2765
Historian Daniel Immerwahr eviscerates RFK Jr. as a master of glib misinformation—"profoundly informed," yet wielding that knowledge in bad faith to undermine truth and public trust. Kennedy is the conductor of an orchestra of error. Also discussed: how science became political dogma during COVID, how Fauci's certainty helped fuel backlash, and why a provocateur like Kennedy thrives in epistemological gray zones. Also on the show: Trump's obscure-commission chess moves, as he "Truths" his way th...
Jul 21, 2025•32 min•Ep. 2764
On this Saturday we play some of Mikes conversation on the podcast Live From America Hatem Gabr, one of the cohosts talks to Mike about NPR and the media landscape. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact ad-sales@libsyn.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www...
Jul 19, 2025•28 min•Ep. 2763
The self-proclaimed "Trash Daddy" riffs on meat-in-a-can cuisine, possum PR, and how his accent disarms blue-state crowds, Plus: white supremacist losers, Fruit Loop vape rights, and how cheap heat works in comedy and pro wrestling. Trae takes us through his upbringing, in Celina Tennessee, and discusses his travails with child support bureaucracy , plus he discusses his interpersonal interactions with JD Vance who hit big about the same time Trae did. The two became friendly. For a while. Produ...
Jul 18, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 2762
Jake Tapper returns to dissect his book Original Sin and the failures of mainstream media to report on Joe Biden's decline. He traces how social pressures, cultural taboos, and partisan incentive structures are ongoing threats to the type of journalism he practices and associates with the best forms of truth-telling. Tapper says CNN still strives to flesh out the full story, but acknowledges the shrinking market for non-ideological reporting. Plus, a glimpse into the spectacle of immigration enf...
Jul 17, 2025•55 min•Ep. 2761
Sadie Dingfelder returns to assess the national stomp-fest against lantern flies and asks: did it do anything, or was it all buggage and bluster? Then, a deep dive into the Supreme Court's CASA ruling on nationwide injunctions, and how a seemingly dramatic limitation on judicial power proved to be less than world-shifting in practice. Finally, Trump disavows Epstein file disclosure demands, setting off a civil war within MAGA media as conspiratorial cracks widen and cranks rage. Produced by Core...
Jul 16, 2025•37 min•Ep. 2760
Times of Israel analyst Haviv Rettig Gur discusses the next phase of the war in Gaza and Israel's many enemies. Also discussed are the ideological roots of Hamas's mission to destroy Israel, settler violence in the West Bank, and the difficulty of safely getting food to the citizens of Gaza. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact ad-sales@libsyn.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com...
Jul 15, 2025•59 min•Ep. 2759
Murderbot showrunners Chris and Paul Weitz join to discuss their sci-fi series' blend of chamber thriller, workplace satire, and reluctant hero tale—all orbiting a security unit who just wants to be left alone to binge it's stories. They talk robot servitude, world-building exhaustion ("every chair must be a space chair"), and how Alexander Skarsgård's performance brings Scandinavian placidity to a roiling interior monologue. Also: the GOP goes ball(point)istic over Biden's legal use of an autop...
Jul 14, 2025•45 min•Ep. 2758
The TSA is finally starting to phase out its decades-old shoe removal policy. We take a look back at the post-9/11 panic that made bare feet in airport security lines a national ritual—and wonder how we went from hypervigilant to oddly indifferent about terrorism. Plus, from the vaults: A classic Spiel from July 17, 2017, revisits Ann Coulter vs. Delta, Day 3 . Yes, it somehow made it to Day 3. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To...
Jul 12, 2025•20 min•Ep. 2757
Tony Tost, now showrunning Poker Face , reflects on the show's expertly woven mysteries, genre roots, and why women who don't want to pick up a gun keep finding themselves forced to fire. Tost, an expert in poetry and Johnny Cash, brings a reverence for populist storytelling to a format that straddles the procedural and the mythic. He also discusses why westerns are still a hard sell in Hollywood—even when they're smart, stylish, and starring Sydney Sweeney. Plus, Mike gets hit with a burst of e...
Jul 11, 2025•40 min•Ep. 2756
Boston Globe columnist Carine Hajjar and five-time Emmy-winning comedy writer and proprietor of the I Might Be Wrong Substack, Jeff Maurer, join to discuss the flood of ICE agents and President Trump's growing suspicion that Putin isn't on the up-and-up. Plus, in Goat Grinders: teeny-tiny air conditioning in New York, misinterpreting the cane toad, and (hardly ever) exploding sawdust. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise...
Jul 10, 2025•56 min•Ep. 2755
Josh Dawsey joins to discuss 2024: How Donald Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America , digging into Kamala Harris's campaign missteps, Biden's loyalty hangups, and Hunter's oversized influence. In the Spiel, a statistical deep dive tests whether so-called "100-year floods" are actually happening more often as seems to be the case. Spoiler: the data is murkier than the headlines suggest, and the NOAA interface could use a century's worth of upgrades. Produced by Corey Wara Pr...
Jul 09, 2025•37 min•Ep. 2754
An interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey, co-author of 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America , covers Biden's decline, Trump's courtroom rage, and the political strategy behind legal delays. Also , how potent are Iranian-directed assassination crews? And, as the TSA begins phasing out its decades-old shoe removal policy, a look back on how we were very very concerned with terrorism then, and weirdly blasé about terrorism now. And finally a quiz s...
Jul 08, 2025•36 min•Ep. 2753
Zee Cohen-Sanchez, a Bernie Sanders campaign veteran, launched "Un**** America" (we're going with Unfudge America ) to counter Charlie Kirk's influence on college campuses. But internal drama and performative purity politics quickly sabotaged the project. She recounts how influencer apologies empowered whiny critics and fractured the left's ability to wield electoral power. Plus, with nearly 100 dead from the Texas floods, we examine the explanations. Climate change likely played a role, but his...
Jul 07, 2025•43 min•Ep. 2752
Today on The Gist we play from Mike Pesca's panel at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival about the book Original Sin with the Authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact ad-sales@libsyn.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.yout...
Jul 05, 2025•47 min•Ep. 2751
