Each weekend on Best Of The Gist, we revisit an archival segment from the past and pair it with a replay of something from the past week. This weekend, we revisit Mike’s 2018 interview with cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand, who challenges us to think of societies not along the traditional “liberal to conservative” spectrum but instead as ranging from “tight to loose.” It’s a theory she explores in her book Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. From the past week, we replay Mike’s Tuesday Spiel about the acquittal of Daniel Penny.
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The Gist is produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
It’s been a banner year for banks. Even the worst performer among the big players is still up 40% year-to-date.
Motley Fool contributor Matt Frankel joins Ricky Mulvey for a look back at some of the biggest headlines in the financial sector from the past year. They also discuss:
Interview with Noah Lugeons; News Items: Have We Achieved AGI, Coming Bird Flu, Weekend Warrior Exercise, Theoretical Technosignature, Simulation Again; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Blood Thicker than Water; Science or Fiction
South Korea's parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for his attempt to impose martial law on the democracy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion medication to a Dallas-area woman. A drought in Brazil has caused the price of coffee on the futures market to reach a 47-year high.
We hear from a cafe in Massachusetts that spreads joy by asking customers to dance as they enter. Also: the toys made from cigarette butts; a community library destroyed by fire reopens; and Italy's festive Krampus Run.
Karin Kirk is a geologist, science writer, and professional ski instructor from Bozeman, Montana. Her writing spans topics from Earth science to EVs and often is centered around data-rich visualizations – always with the goal of bringing clear and relatable explanations to confusing topics.In addition to writing for Yale Climate Connections, Karin is a science writer for NASA, where she writes about climate science and current events that shape the planet, such as wildfires, volcanic eruptions, sea ice, and weather events. She uses satellite imagery to track current Earth happenings and describe their significance to the public.But perhaps the most important aspect of Karin’s work is that she regularly engages with policymakers and voters about climate and energy issues. These interactions have profoundly shaped her communication skills and helped her develop effective approaches for a wide range of audiences.Karin holds a B.A. in geology from Skidmore College and an M.S. in geology from Montana State University.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/author/karin/
Investing skeptically: Can a famouns Money Manager (and CNBC host) beat the market?
Chicago singer-songwriter hemlock wrote a song a day for a month, then continued that process for years. Some of the best of the bunch are collected on their new album “444.” The record includes previously released songs that have been reimagined with a band of Chicago musicians. Reset learns more and listens to some great music.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
A new documentary from Palladium Pictures and The Wall Street Journal examines how Britain's permanent bureaucracy—nicknamed “The Blob”—played a pivotal role in ending Liz Truss' brief tenure in late 2022 as prime minister.
Through interviews with Truss and other key players, director Michael Pack, a former CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, reveals how unelected technocrats and civil servants—Britain's equivalent of the American deep state—pushed back against her economic reforms, ultimately leading to her resignation after just 44 days in office.
Pack spoke with The Daily Signal about the growing power of Britain's administrative state—and lessons President-elect Donald Trump should glean from the episode as he assumes power in the United States.
"The Blob is a lot stronger than you think," Pack told The Daily Signal. "A lot of people on the Republican side seem to be pretty confident that they'll be able to radically reform the departments and organizations that they're nominated to head. But I think the Liz Truss story suggests 'the Blob' has a lot of power to fight back."
This is Pack's second documentary with The Wall Street Journal. His first film of the series, "'Get the Jew': The Crown Heights Riot Revisited," debuted in October. It tells the story of the America's worst antisemitic riot, which took place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991.
"The idea of the series was to cover events or things that happened in the past that were either misreported, ignored, or just sent down the memory hole," Pack explained.
Pack's most notable film, "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words," tells the remarkable story of the legendary U.S. Supreme Court justice.
With his latest documentary, Pack hopes to educate Americans about the fights facing the incoming Trump administration as it seeks to reform Washington. From his time at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Pack has firsthand experience with America's version of "the Blob."
"In my own little world, I did see what it was like to face the administrative state," Pack said of his seven months as CEO.
"Most of us, myself included, tend to think of the administrative state as an American problem, and the Liz Truss documentary makes clear that it is a problem of the West," he added. "These bureaucrats are the same in London, Paris, New York, D.C. They go to the same colleges, they're taught the same ideas."
Watch the full documentary below. Learn more about Palladium Pictures' incubator fellowship for America's future storytellers: https://palladiumpictures.com/incubator/
The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: https://www.dailysignal.com/
Rhetorical Democracy: How Communication Shapes Political Culture (Rowman and Littlefield, 2024) offers an explanation and diagnosis of the current state of American democracy rooted in the American pragmatist tradition. Robert Danisch analyzes the characteristics of communication systems and communication practices that inhibit or enhance democratic life. In doing so, this book provides a detailed explanation of the ways in which the communication systems and practices that constitute democratic life are currently fostering polarization and how they might be made to foster cooperation. Scholars of communication, rhetorical studies, political science, and media studies will find this book of particular interest.
Robert Danisch is Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo whose research interests include rhetorical theory, persuasion, and public communication in democratic societies. He is the author of Pragmatism, Democracy and the Necessity of Rhetoric, Building a Rhetorical Democracy: The Promise of Rhetorical Pragmatism as well as journal articles and several co-authored books. He is also the host of the podcast Now We’re Talking that focuses on communication skills.
Located on the island of Java in Indonesia, just 100 kilometers from the capital of Jakarta, lies what might be one of the most important archeology sites in the world.
While it has been known to locals for centuries and to professional archeologists for over 100 years, it has only been seriously studied in the last several decades.
Some of the estimates of the age of this site, if true, would radically transform what we know about early human civilization.
Learn more about Gunung Padang, perhaps the oldest and largest pyramid in the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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