The Gist

Jon Glaser makes his triumphant return to The Gist to talk about season two of the Adult Swim series Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter . Glaser has been a part of some of the most acclaimed shows on TV. He's written for Inside Amy Schumer and Late Night With Conan O'Brien . He played Laird in Girls and Councilman Jamm in Parks and Recreation . But he's feeling torn about making jokes for a living now, wit...

For college athletes, performance bonuses outweigh academic bonuses 15 to 1. That's not acceptable, says Arne Duncan. Duncan served as Barack Obama's education secretary. Now, he's on the Knight Commission, which is trying to lead reforms in college sports. In the Spiel, the strange evolution of Rod Rosenstein. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more....

Thursday morning, Roger Ailes died. The Fox News impresario changed the conversation in America and created a base of support for the current pPresident, Donald Trump. Isaac Chotiner has reported extensively on Fox News for Slate . His new interview podcast is called I Have to Ask. Plus, Mike hits the bar with Peter Fornatale to drink discuss the crown jewel of cocktails. Fornatale is author of Br...

What's the matter with Alabama? (You could ask the same thing of tens of other states with sleazy political histories, but we're going in alphabetical order.) Today, Alabama reporter John Archibald delves into the concentric scandals rocking the Montgomery establishment. Archibald writes for the Alabama Media Group . In the Spiel, why you shouldn't root for impeachment. Join Slate Plus! Members ge...

One piece of interview advice from Chuck Klosterman: You can't make a celebrity interview feel like a real conversation. "They know it's not real. They wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be asking these questions, if it wasn't for the tape recorder," says Klosterman. His new book, X , includes profiles and essays on some of the biggest names in pop culture from Klosterman's storied career, including...

Lists of inaccurate statements by Donald Trump are good and satisfying and a little funny. But they aren't what we need. We need reporting on the issues behind the lies, says Brooke Gladstone. She's co-host of On The Media and author of a new book, The Trouble with Reality , which looks at the malfunctioning of American democracy. In the Spiel, why voter ID laws are such a unique American con. Joi...

A century ago, bilingual children were seen as disadvantaged—a kid speaking English and Spanish was liable to become confused and might not learn properly. Now? Bilinguals are seen as better than the rest of us. They get dementia later. They have bigger brains and are better at focusing on tasks. So what's the truth? Our resident social science sleuth Maria Konnikova investigates. She's a New York...

We're zooming out on Russia's influencing machine with the help of Clint Watts , the national security expert who had a star turn in March with his soundbite-ready testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Watts explains why the partisan skew on fake news is "kind of garbage." Plus, he has tips for testifying—just in case you get a call from Congress. Watts is a senior fellow at the Fore...

Former FBI Director James Comey has been called "rapturous of his own righteousness," but by most accounts the man who assisted in Comey's ouster could be described the same way. Rod Rosenstein, No. 2 at the Department of Justice, wrote the memo justifying Comey's firing, but he's had a sterling reputation until now as a fastidiously apolitical prosecutor. Leon Neyfakh , justice reporter for Slate...

Soon, every person on Earth will be connected, via social media, to every other person. So why do we approach policy like it's the '70s? In his book The Great Questions of Tomorrow , David Rothkopf asks how we can change our policy outlook to reflect how people actually interact. Rothkopf is CEO and editor of the FP Group and host of The Editor's Roundtable podcast. In the Spiel: Is air travel get...

Trump adviser Stephen Miller seemed to burst onto the national scene this past February, with his memorable defense of the White House's travel ban and claims of voter fraud. But New York magazine's Reeves Wiedeman says Miller's education in punditry came years earlier, as a Duke University student commenting on the Duke lacrosse scandal for cable news. Back then, Miller was recognizably pugnaciou...

Vox health care writer Sarah Kliff returns to discuss the return of the health care reform bill that just won't die. In Kliff's estimation , the new bill, if passed in the Senate, would be great for the rich and terrible for the sick. Kliff is a columnist and co-host of The Weeds podcast. In the Spiel, why we were surprised by zombie health reform. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, excl...

A hallowed day is nearly upon us: Obscura Day on Saturday, May 6. Think of it like a worldwide quest to discover all things odd and remarkable. The whole thing was dreamed up by the surveyors and spelunkers at Atlas Obscura . Today, Mike steps in as your Obscura Day scout, venturing into the Lite Brite Neon Studio in Brooklyn. Saturday's expeditions include a kayaking trip to a ship graveyard in M...

Only a fire can prove what survives a fire. Well, no, says Sarah Manguso. It only proves what would survive that fire. Manguso, an essayist and poet, offers modern wisdom and witticisms in her new book 300 Arguments . Plus, Donald Trump gets the Ken Burns treatment. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gi...

Harvard professor Cass Sunstein returns to discuss his new book #Republic , which looks at polarization in the digital age. While America isn't more polarized than ever, Sunstein says it's important to focus on how today's problems are different and new. "You find yourself in a cocoon, even if you didn't choose it," says Sunstein. But he sees hope in sites that are actively trying to sell their re...

The Baxley family was cursed with a horrible disease—something like mad cow, but for human beings. The younger members of the family might have the disease, and there's a test that would tell them definitively. But knowing for sure could screw up their whole family relationship. In her book Mercies in Disguise , author Gina Kolata explores the family's incredibly painful decision. Kolata is a scie...

Weeks before the end of their third-year final exams, twins Keith and Kenny Lucas became law school dropouts to pursue careers in comedy. But their whole lives had been about going the other way: Growing up in drug war–ravaged Newark, New Jersey, they were self-professed nerds trying to figure out why their dad was in prison. The Lucas Bros: On Drugs Netflix special shows off Keith and Kenny's per...

Once upon a time, late-night talk shows were like boozy dinner parties, fun chat-fests where movie stars would reveal a little too much about themselves. Now, they're marked by anti-septic games of charades and sing-alongs. Comedian Guy Branum wants to bring anarchy back to late night with Talk Show: The Game Show . "We'll all watch these people in TV and singing; we know what they're good at," sa...

Slate columnist and Harvard University lecturer Yascha Mounk is worried about liberal democracy. He says Marine Le Pen's second-place finish in France isn't a cause for relief—it's a sign she's closer to power than ever. "It's easy to be right about the problems, it's difficult to be right about the solutions, and there the populists have nothing to offer," says Mounk. He writes the Good Fight col...

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes set out to write a book about Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid long before the home stretch of the campaign. In October, Allen got a note from their editor, who was having trouble reconciling his expectation of a Clinton win with his reporters' work uncovering the aimless mess behind the "I'm With Her" stickers. Then Election Day happened. Allen is co-author o...

Comedian Moshe Kasher is a self-professed lefty and a general fan of cultural sensitivity, but he has a big problem with outrage culture. His new talk show, Problematic , takes aim at any unabashed troglodytes, as well as their supposedly enlightened brethren. As Kasher puts it: "How could it be that both sides think the other side is arguing from a place of zero reality?" Problematic airs on Come...

It's 1987, and the breakthrough creativity of the early '80s is beginning to sour. Also, everyone's hair is ridiculous, but that's beside the point. Chris Molanphy is our guide to the year's Billboard 's hits, which taught us, as he says, that "fairly great art can result from commerce and studio polish." Molanphy writes Slate 's Why Is This Song No. 1 column. Plus, what to do about America's anti...

In 2012, a man named John B. McLemore wrote an email to This American Life asking the radio show to investigate a murder in his hometown. What resulted is S-Town , a podcast that explores McLemore and the people around him. Producer and host Brian Reed stops by to answer our burning questions about the show and how locals in Woodstock, Alabama, have responded since its release. (A warning: certain...

Experts have had a rough year. Tom Nichols sees a new fervor in the country's anti-intellectualism, and he thinks it stems from frustration with elites. Turns out, there's a difference between the people with expertise and the people with power. Nichols is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. His book is The Death of Expertise . In the Spiel, the two recent suici...

Why are crack users given such long, punishing sentences? It's because of political gamesmanship around crime in the '80s. In the new Audible series 100:1 The Crack Legacy , journalist Christopher Johnson looks at how inner-city drug panics led to today's mass-incarceration crisis. On the Spiel, a thought about America's warship debacle. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive membe...