The Gist

On The Gist, should you swear off summer cookouts? Our regular guest Maria Konnikova joins us for a round of "Is That Bulls---?" Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game . For the Spiel, the parade of worries ahead of the Olympic Games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz....

On The Gist, Jessi Klein explains her theory that women can be sorted into two categories: poodles and wolves. It's an idea she explores in her new book, You'll Grow Out of It . Klein is the head writer on the Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer . For the Spiel, Trump is giving voice to an element we've known about—but he's still losing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co...

On The Gist, we bring you this never-before-aired interview with writer and human rights advocate Larry Siems , who edited the writings of Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohamedou Slahi for the 2015 book Guantánamo Diary . Slahi has been approved for release . For the Spiel, a quick game of "Have You Even Read the Constitution?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted...

100 years ago, a man named Michael Kristoff strolled onto an island in the New York harbor armed with explosives cooked by German chemists. He was there to blow up a stockpile of munitions pledged to the Allied Powers. On The Gist, Chad Millman tells the story of the first major act of foreign terrorism on the United States. His 2006 book, The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an...

Hillary Clinton's remarks to the Democratic National Convention didn't match those of the exceptional orators who preceded her, but she'll have significant advantages in the presidential debates this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data f...

On The Gist, Mike confesses his nerdy fascinations to Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen , hosts of WBEZ's Nerdette podcast . Check back Friday for another a.m. Spiel, complete with a Quick and Dirty Dissection of the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswiz...

A Quick & Dirty Dissection of Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention, where heavy hitters lined up to vaunt the nominee President Obama called "the woman in the arena." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, Mike realizes he's not the liberal he thought he was, and the film Tallulah shows you what a sympathetic child-snatcher looks like. The movie's writer and director, Sian Heder , (who also writes for Orange Is The New Black ) and starring actress Tammy Blanchard stop by to discuss (fictional) women with abandonment issues. Check back for another a.m. Spiel offering a Quick and Dirty Di...

On Day 1, the speakers galvanized. On Day 2, they humanized. A Quick & Dirty Dissection on the latest from the Democratic National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, should Sandra Bland's mother be part of the DNC's Day 2 lineup? Then, former political advance man Josh King shows us how to spot the subtle stage-managing of the nominating conventions. His book is Off Script: An Advance Man's Guide to White House Stagecraft, Campaign Spectacle, and Political Suicide . Check back for an a.m. Spiel Quick & Dirty Dissection of the DNC, Day 2. Learn mor...

Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention brought dissension, a speech for the ages, and one good zinger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, the problem with corn dogs. Dan Pashman from the Sporkful podcast explains why Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don't eat in public. In the Spiel, it's the return of the Trump Anxiety Hotline. And check back for an a.m. Spiel about the Democratic National Convention's first day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz compa...

On The Gist, comedian Hari Kondabolu says he doesn't mind updating his jokes to heed the sensitivities of his fans. His new stand-up comedy album is Mainstream American Comic . He hosts the Politically Re-Active podcast with comedian W. Kamau Bell. For your Spiel fix, check out the three a.m. Spiels on the Republican National Convention. More of that to come for the Democratic National Convention...

Donald Trump's laundry-list speech on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention was full of falsehoods and gloom. Will it have any sway over voters who don't already support the official GOP presidential candidate? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pers...

On The Gist, regular guest Maria Konnikova returns to play "Is That Bulls--t?" The assertion: "Your dog is going crazy because he smells my dog on me." Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game . Wherefore art the Spiel? Check back Friday morning for an a.m. Spiel on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

Day 3 of the Republican National Convention brought a Ted Cruz crescendo, a little Cruz-splaining. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, crackers, rednecks, hillbillies— Nancy Isenberg explains the persistence of these terms and why they can't be called ethnic identities. Her book is called White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America . Where's the Spiel? Check back Thursday morning for another a.m. Spiel on the Republican National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/a...

A special morning Spiel on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, how not to blow your cover while laundering money for drug cartels. Robert Mazur was an undercover government agent who got an inside look at the Medellín Cartel. Bryan Cranston plays him in the film The Infiltrator , based on Mazur's book . For the Spiel, the disaster otherwise known as Day 1 of the Republican National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...

On The Gist, actor and director Matt Ross (who plays Gavin in HBO's Silicon Valley ) talks about parenting and a man's place in the world. Ross directed the film Captain Fantastic , a story about an extreme father who is compelled to bring his kids out of their cocoon-like home in the woods and into mainstream society. For the Spiel, what Ghostbusters can tell us about Hillary Clinton's electoral...

On The Gist, disco is out, MTV is in, and we're getting buns of steel with Olivia Newton-John. We harken back to the Billboard hits of 1981 with our regular guest Chris Molanphy . He writes Slate 's " Why Is This Song No. 1? " column. For the Spiel, how does a Sharia test work? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.ad...

On The Gist, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Deborah Birx describes the challenges in fighting the AIDS/HIV epidemic. She oversees the nation's plan for AIDS relief . For the Spiel, a brief meditation on renowned charmer Boris Johnson, now the United Kingdom's top diplomat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com f...

On The Gist, we take a closer look at Type A. Is it real? How is it measured? Can it get you out of a ticket for aggressive driving? We get answers from Maria Konnikova , writer for the New Yorker and author of The Confidence Game . For the Spiel, Rudy Giuliani's lies matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adsw...

On The Gist, what political ad men might have picked up from Caravaggio. Adam Levine, associate director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, explains the thinking behind the upcoming exhibition, " I Approve This Message: Decoding Political Ads ." For the Spiel, screwing around with Zika funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz...

On The Gist, why it's better to crash our spacecrafts than to litter the solar system with our earthly microbes. Summer Ash explains everything you didn't know you wanted to know about the Juno space probe orbiting Jupiter. Ash is the Director of Outreach for Columbia University's Department of Astronomy . For the Spiel, discord will always be with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...