Author: Peach Fish Productions

On The Gist, President Trump’s demonization of journalists is awful, but it’s not the first thing to blame for the Capital Gazette shooting.

The Atlantic recently ran a lengthy article about kids who consider the process of gender transition. Many critics took issue with the author’s approach, accusing him of bias and an obsession with trans children. But were his efforts really in bad faith? Alex Barasch wrote a response to the piece for Slate and joins us to add to the debate.

In the Spiel, FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were sloppy, but their take on Trump was right on the money.

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On The Gist, the return of In Search Of hosted by Zachary Quinto, which used to be hosted by Leonard Nimoy, made us notice all the times actors have filled the shoes of others through multiple different reboots.

The FIFA World Cup is great, but only the ConIFA World Football Cup has competitors from Székely Land, Abkhazia, and the County of Nice. Slate’s Josh Keating wrote the book on Invisible Countries, those tiny nation-states with little recognition but great stories to tell. 

In the Spiel, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Joe Crowley in the recent Democratic primary race for Congress. Many commentators have called her authentic, but does that word have any actual meaning?

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On The Gist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s primary victory was thanks to low voter turnout. She still deserves it!

Lawfare’s executive editor Susan Hennessey says Trump’s SCOTUS-approved travel ban is more dangerous in how it changes norms than how it changes facts on the ground. Also: Reality Winner’s guilty plea is a no-brainer.

In the Spiel, Justice Kennedy’s upcoming retirement is the perfect occasion to talk about … Justice Clarence Thomas.  

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On The Gist, what a Trump tweet can teach us about wine.

The latest school shootings have galvanized an already politically minded generation. Harvard’s John Della Volpe studies the voting habits of millennials, and how they could swing election results in 2018 and beyond.

In the Spiel, the Supreme Court’s support for Trump’s travel ban is what happens when our checks and balances fail.

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On The Gist, why is the Democratic National Committee being held responsible for Hollywood and the media?

Calvin Buari dealt crack in the Bronx, but that doesn’t make him a killer. Buari was convicted of a double murder in 1995 and started a campaign to prove his innocence from behind bars. A big part of that was making phone calls to journalist Steve Fishman, who turned his years of reporting into the binge-worthy Panoply podcast Empire on Blood, and joined us on the Gist.

In the Spiel, Mike tackles the decline of civility, whether democrats should jeer at Trump’s staff in public, or if we’ve just found a new stasis.

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On The Gist, Rep. Jim Jordan’s underwhelming attention to detail. 

Franchesca Ramsey burst onto the YouTube scene with her viral video, “Shit White Girls Say… to Black Girls.” Ramsey’s latest video project, MTV News’ Decoded, is similar: fun, earnest, and educational. Ramsey’s book is Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist. 

In the Spiel, about Melania’s jacket. 

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On The Gist, those beacons of honesty—retiring Republican members of the Congress.

Cremation has the carbon footprint of a 1,000-mile road trip, your average bee has nearly 1 million brain cells, and only 3 to 4 percent of gossip is actually “malicious.” Those are all statistics relayed in Walt Hickey’s Numlock News, the daily newsletter he started after four years at FiveThirtyEight. 

In the Spiel, graduation songs over the years. 

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On The Gist, how President Trump made not breaking up families look like his idea.

Why are the U.S.’s political parties weak? Is the “job guarantee” policy smart? Do voters perceive the economy accurately? Dan Pfeiffer has all the answers. He’s a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and part of the Pod Save America posse. Pfeiffer’s new book is Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump.

In the Spiel, the United States shouldn’t be leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council. It should work to make it better.

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On The Gist, the inaugural edition of “whoah there, girl!”

Political parties are like people: They grow and change, their values shift, and sometimes they become downright belligerent. Lilliana Mason says America’s two political parties are in the middle of a shift, and it won’t be over anytime soon: “What happened to conservative southern Democrats after the Civil Rights Act passed? They didn’t like it. … It took an entire generation for conservative Southern Democrats to become Republicans.” Mason is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.

In the Spiel, “angel moms” deserve sympathy, but they’re being used. 

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On The Gist, if we can’t pronounce Peter Strzok’s name right, how will we remember his newfound infamy?

If you consider yourself progressive, chances are Trump’s presidency feels like a nightmare. But Politico’s Michael Grunwald returns to the Gist with the argument that Obama’s legacy is mostly intact—at least on the domestic front. Grunwald’s latest book is The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.

In the Spiel, lookism be damned, it’s time to make fun of Stephen Miller.

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