The Gist

Today on The Gist, political analyst Jonah Blank from the RAND Corporation explains the geopolitical impact of election results in Sri Lanka. Plus, are any of those detox diets worth your while? Mike asks Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker to explain the cleanse she does every day. For the Spiel, beast mode explained. Today's sponsors: Stamps.com. Sign up for a no-risk trial and get a $110 bonus of...

Today on The Gist: a visual avenger for the beauty of Woodside, Queens. His canvas? FDNY fire call boxes, many dating back the 1920s. With a fresh coat of glossy paint (that's also urine-proof and barf-resistant), they look beautiful. We speak with John Colgan, whom you can follow as the Fire Alarm Guy on Facebook. For the Spiel, it's an antentwig. That's our name for a three-week period wherein w...

Fellow dads Mike Pesca and Adam Davidson of NPR are saving up to send their kids to college and are taking advantage of so-called 529 plans. Today on The Gist, why they think these plans shouldn't exist as a public policy. Plus, journalist Murray Carpenter explains our complicated relationship with an acceptable addiction. He's the author of Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks...

Do Chris Christie's outbursts make him impossible to elect as president or beloved for candor? Today on The Gist, WNYC reporter Matt Katz explains his complicated relationship with the New Jersey governor. Katz is the host of the new podcast The Christie Tracker. For the Spiel, Mike unearths an early experiment from NPR's Day to Day, an ode to the Garden State's wave of corruption. Today's sponsor...

Does the GOP's 2016 candidate need to figuratively lose the primaries to win the general? On The Gist, Slate's Reihan Salam shares which Republican candidates stood out at the Iowa Freedom Summit, and which ones decided not to show. Plus, Slate's Lily Hay Newman joins us to discuss why Windows 9 got skipped, and Internet Explorer got stuck. For the Spiel, winter weather is snow joke. Today's spons...

How exactly should the United States go about countering the jihadi narrative? Today on The Gist, we're joined by Farah Pandith, the first ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States. She says the solution needs to come from civil society and the private sector, not from government alone. Plus, storyteller Matt Dicks tells us about five seconds from his life. He's going...

Before the Revolutionary War, the tavern founded by Samuel Fraunces in lower Manhattan was the meeting place for the Sons of Liberty. During the Revolutionary War, the tavern took a cannonball through the roof, and after the war's end, it's where George Washington bid farewell to his officers. The tavern's last true brush with history came 40 years ago. On Jan. 24, 1975, Puerto Rican nationalists...

Winning the public relations war against ISIS won't be easy, but maybe we're not using the right weapons. On The Gist, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg calls for SEAL Team Six–style social media barrage and an army of entertainer-diplomats, including Jason Alexander, aka Seinfeld's George Castanza. Plus, songwriter David Lowery tells how musicians are banding together against the corporate music industry....

After elementary school, who will cater to your learning style? Today on The Gist, Mike asks Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker if learning styles are bulls---. She's the author of Mastermind, and her learning style is best described as "give me the information and please don't make me work in groups or make a craft." In the Spiel, Stephanopoulos and sugar daddies. Today's sponsors: GoToMeeting.com...

When it comes to international monetary shockers, you'd be remiss to dismiss the Swiss. Today on The Gist, Felix Salmon from Fusion explains the currency flux in Switzerland. You can hear more from Felix on the Slate Money podcast. Plus, University of Wisconsin professor John Parrish explains what Toystory the bull's life was really like. For the Spiel, in a commitment to fairness, Mike sticks up...

From a statistical standpoint, should we all be so concerned about Islamic terrorists? On The Gist, UNC professor Charles Kurzman makes a public health analogy for the terrorism threat. He's the author of The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists. Plus, I didn't come here to make astronaut friends. Mike Pesca asks NASA scientist Ellen Stofan if they've ever considered funding mis...

On The Gist, Slate's Reihan Salam shares the Republicans he'd like to see consider a run for the presidency. Plus, efficiency expert Jill Duffy from PC magazine joins us armed with biometric tracking devices for your wrists. Did Mike write off the "PivLiv" too soon? For the Spiel, what if there was an audio equivalent to displaying the Mohammed cartoons? Today's sponsors: Stamps.com, Promo Code: T...

Today on The Gist, Michael Levi from the Council on Foreign Relations helps us find the right analogy for describing the impact and scale of the Keystone XL pipeline. Plus, when Silicon Valley profits, who is losing? Internet entrepreneur Andrew Keen joins us to discuss The Internet Is Not the Answer (and Pesca offers the one scenario in which the Internet is always the answer). For the Spiel, thi...

How real is the possibility of a terrorist strike in America this week? Today on The Gist, RAND's Colin Clarke explains were terror cells are grown. We also speak with Plus Magazine editor Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger about their book Numericon: A Journey Through The Hidden Lives of Numbers. For the Spiel, the teaming masses of Buddhist extremists who are bent on murdering civilians. Do t...

Did Lyndon B. Johnson really move Washington with his own chutzpah? On The Gist, Princeton professor Julian Zelizer offers a corrective for how we think of LBJ and all presidents. His new book is The Fierce Urgency of Now. Plus, starting next week Chicago transit riders will be targeted with strange ads, letting riders know the truth about squirrels and trying to get Vanessa back. We'll ask Ben La...

Why do the American public and political leadership have a hard time taking the military seriously? On The Gist, we speak with James Fallows from the Atlantic about his recent feature "The Tragedy of the American Military." Plus, what's with all those ASMR videos on YouTube? Mike asks Maria Konnikova of the New Yorker about the hard-to-describe sensation for a game we call "Is That Bulls—t?" For t...

Can terrorism ever be defeated? As a tactic? As an ideology? On The Gist, Colin Clarke explains how we can best counter the terror trends. Plus, poet Matthea Harvey shares from her collection If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? For the Spiel, Mike's prescription for Western media in wake of the Paris terror attacks. (Please note: We are all media.) The Gist's sponsors today are: Stamps.com, whe...

From campus codes to moderated online forums, fairness is the rule. On The Gist, Hua Hsu explains why top-down mandates for civility don't work. Plus, Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson explains why a national conversation about race just isn't possible. He editing the forthcoming book The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth. For the Spiel, the Gambian goof. Get The Gist by email as soon...

What did Mario Cuomo accomplish and set in motion during his three terms as New York governor? On The Gist, we examine a fascinating figure in American politics through the lens of a single Time Magazine luncheon from 1992. Slate's Jacob Weisberg and NPR's Adam Davidson explain how Cuomo's policies hold up all these years later. Weisberg profiled the liberal icon in a 1994 article for New York Mag...

As a Long Island teenager in the 1980s, Mike Pesca called an answering machine every week to hear a new They Might Be Giants song. Every Monday in 2015, he'll premiere a new TMBG song before it gets released on the band's revived Dial-a-Song line. Members John Flansburgh and John Linnell talk with Mike about the project, their career, and their plans for the new year. For the Spiel, it's time to n...

A week ago, Obama told CNN he's doing everything he can to shutter the Guantánamo Bay prison. On The Gist, we speak with Clifford Sloan about his work as the special envoy for Guantánamo closure at the U.S. State Department. His recent departure was called "another blow to President Obama's efforts" in the New York Times. He's also a former publisher for Slate. Plus, we get lost in translation wit...

Michael Daly of the Daily Beast on the challenges ahead for new NYPD academy graduates and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Plus, sportscasting legend Al Michaels on his infamous "Miracle on Ice" call. And in the Spiel, "Cos" and effect. 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 u...

Thanksgiving cocktails are about a nice drink with your family, but for Christmas it's fully medical. Today on The Gist, we return to Hudson Clearwater for a drink with Peter Thomas Fornatale and Chris Wertz. For the Spiel, Mike reveals the real reason the Grinch hated Christmas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm....

How open are Cubans to the idea of democracy? Today on The Gist, Emily Parker weighs the chances of a less repressive government in Cuba. She's the author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground. Plus, Mike asks Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker how much we can trust eyewitness testimony. For the Spiel, a Christmas miracle in Oklahoma. Get The Gist by email as soon...

Are we experiencing a fundamental reshaping of the status quo in the oil market? Today on The Gist, Keith Johnson from Foreign Policy explains why America's notion of energy independence through domestic oil production is a fallacy. Plus, wildlife biologist Rae Wynn-Grant from Columbia University shares tips for luring, tagging, and tattooing bears. For the Spiel, the problem with the "jokes" of t...