Slate's The Gist with Mike Pesca. A daily afternoon podcast about news, culture, and whatever else you'll be discussing with friends and family tonight. Part of the Panoply Network.
In 1982, synth-pop came in strong, Hall and Oates crossed over into R&B, and Paul McCartney learned about racial harmony.
28 Min
Aug 18, 2017
Author Josh Green on the rumors around Trump’s chief strategist
31 Min
Aug 17, 2017
Moshe Maor on how Trump’s over-the-top policy ideas are actually good politics
22 Min
Aug 16, 2017
Even if Google was right to fire James Damore, why does it insist that employees can still expect freedom of expression at work?
Zoe Chace, producer for This American Life, digs up the audio from her 2016 interview with the former White House communications director. His past suggests he’ll bounce right back.
In Walden, a game, players can pick berries, walk in the woods, or spend the rest of their virtual lives in jail for tax evasion.
Scientist Lisa Feldman Barrett says the results are in: Your feelings are a construct.
In the new ESPN podcast documentary A Queen of Sorts, the story of a woman who turned the tables on casinos around the world.
In his new book, the MASH star shares his hope for better communication between scientists and us regular folks
A Smithsonian Channel documentary revisits the media hysteria surrounding the 1970s serial killer known as the Son of Sam.
Joan C. Williams says a third of the country is feeling talked down to. Here’s how to stop it.
Ian Bremmer broke the story of the second Trump-Putin meeting. But are we blowing it out of proportion?
Kevin McDonald on the special alchemy that made Kids in the Hall a truly groundbreaking comedy troupe.
The former vice president returns with a sequel to his climate change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
Comedy writer Mike Sacks on the 40th anniversary of the Dixie-fried action caper "Stinker Lets Loose."
The Gist’s resident guff detector Maria Konnikova returns to look at the (appropriately) lost art of graphology.
How a classic Halloween costume inspired one of the most profound films of the year.
The retired admiral answers all of our questions about ISIS, H.R. McMaster, and life on a submarine.
Financial Times columnist Edward Luce introduces us to a new word: oikophobia, fear of fellow countrymen.
Political scientist Seth Masket argues the harassment, the trolling, and the misinformation need to stop now
Daniel Okrent, the first public editor for the New York Times, sticks up for the journalists everyone loves to hate.
Conservative writer Philip Klein says compromise won’t lead to better health policy. It has to be all or nothing.
A conversation with the famed comedian, author, runner and one-day-only concert pianist
The hosts of NPR’s hit podcast say there’s been a quiet revolution in the way we understand our feelings.
Crime writer Don Winslow on the deep research that goes into writing modern crime fiction
In one paragraph, Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher held the line against anonymous sources and “outright awfulness.”
Anne Helen Petersen returns to discuss her new posting—covering politics in Montana for BuzzFeed.
In her new book, author Anne Helen Petersen on how our culture treats women defying norms.
Author Jeremy McCarter on the five people who changed the course of America in 1917.
The playwright and actor on the struggle of making a creative statement in the face of political chaos.
A few problems with the recent study suggesting white terrorists get less media play than Muslim terrorists.
The Welsh journalist on his new movie, the meat-is-murder fantasy adventure Okja.
Robb Willer on how to reframe debates in a way the “other side” will understand.
Bill Schutt on his comprehensive new book, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History
Comedian Bassem Youssef satirized two Egyptian presidents. They were not amused.
Criminal justice quant John Pfaff says to bring down the prison population we must rein in prosecutors. Can that be done?
Our resident debunker, Maria Konnikova, on the truth and the fiction about nondairy milks.
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz combs internet search data to uncover secrets that elude pollsters.
Guest host Zoe Chace talks to Al Franken about jokes you can’t say out loud in Washington.
New Republic editor Jeet Heer on how the election of Donald Trump has remade the Democratic Party.
Why is it so hard to talk about Trump without sounding like warmed-over commentary on CNN?
MSNBC host Chris Hayes on how the law-and-order policies of Richard Nixon have created a bifurcated America
The editor of Lawfare returns to wade through the past two weeks’ worth of ENSH (errant national security horses--t).
Josh King on why Donald Trump is looking kind of respectable during his first foreign trip.
A longtime defense policy reporter on the tragedy unfolding in the Trump White House.
The star of Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter isn’t sure the world needs more dumb jokes, but he’s making them anyway.
Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, wants to help college athletes out of their plight.
Isaac Chotiner on the death of a man who created Fox News and elevated Trump to political power.
John Archibald, dean of the Alabama press corps, unpacks the scandal that brought down his state’s governor.
Chuck Klosterman on his new book X, which includes profiles of everyone from Kobe Bryant to Taylor Swift.
The On The Media host says press tallies of Trump lies are not enough; we have to cover the consequences.
Our social science sleuth Maria Konnikova returns to take on the question of whether bilinguals are brighter than the rest of us.
The star of March’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing says we need to get better at knowing information warfare when we see it.
How did Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein become a presidential hatchet man?
The Vox healthcare writer returns to discuss the AHCA, which passed the House on Thursday.
On Saturday, May 6th adherents to the Atlas Obscura worldview will venture out to explore oddities near and far. We checked out a funky neon shop in our neighborhood.
The author and poet writes aphorisms for modern times in her new book 300 Arguments.
The Harvard professor on his new book, #Republic, which looks at what’s new about American polarization.
Comedy Central’s Problematic is part talk show and part town hall, tilting at a variety of incendiary topics and urging candid discussion. Can it also be funny?
In 1987, the big acts got bigger. Hair metal got hairier. Slick pop stars got slicker. And Michael Jackson was Bad as ever.
In 100:1 The Crack Legacy, Christopher Johnson draws a line between the ’80s epidemic and overpolicing today.
In her memoir, The Rules Do Not Apply, Levy ponders the price of her own plucky, third-wave feminism.
A special presentation of Maria Konnikova’s new podcast, about long cons and the characters who perpetrate them.
Is The Handmaid’s Tale really the most fitting dystopian novel we could be reading right now? Guest host Alexandra Petri talks to Slate’s Mallory Ortberg.
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on the hectic process behind the new poker comedy Win It All
In his book, The Last Giant of Late Night, reporter Jason Zinoman explains how The Late Show was like nothing else on TV.
Does your right to free speech entitle you to silence the speech of someone else? Mike Pesca debates Slate’s Osita Nwanevu.
How does President Trump’s attack on a Syrian air base fit into U.S. policy toward the Assad regime?
Charlie McDowell imagines a world where the afterlife is scientifically proven in his film The Discovery.
For 15 years, Tabitha Soren followed a group of baseball minor league draft picks with a camera. The results are stirring.
GOP strategist Mike Murphy on why Democrats won’t get an “Aaron Sorkin moment” where the whole party righteously turns on Trump.
Creator Joel Hodgson and head writer Elliot Kalan on the return of the iconic movie-riffing show that changed comedy.
What are we missing in all the coverage of the Kremlin’s election skullduggery?
Resident myth-debunker Maria Konnikova returns to trace the spotty history of homeopathic remedies.
The Whigs were destroyed in the 1850s by divisions over nativism, free trade, and government spending. Sound familiar?
Should your favorite video game or Netflix show come with a surgeon general’s warning?
Alyssa Mastromonaco, who served as deputy chief of staff in Obama’s White House, on why mess ups like the Kellyanne Conway couch photo actually matter
The Free Beacon’s film critic reviews the delightful romp that is our conservative vs. liberal political death match.
Slate’s Jordan Weissmann and Jim Newell look at Trump’s no-win situation, a day before the AHCA gets a House vote.
The president’s allies are being investigated for connections to Moscow. Are we making a big enough deal of this?
