Author: Peach Fish Productions

On today’s Gist, why the YouTube shooter’s use of a handgun doesn’t take anything away from arguments to outlaw the AR-15.

Plus, Radley Balko tells the story of two men who put innocent Mississippians behind bars using junk science and pseudo-expert testimony. Balko is the co-author, along with Tucker Carrington, of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South.

In the Spiel, why the Roseanne reboot isn’t harmful pop culture.

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On Tuesday’s Gist, an ode to the end of March Madness.

Plus, Maria Konnikova returns to play our favorite game. Are parabens really bad for you? Konnikova is a contributing writer to the New Yorker and author of The Confidence Game. 

In the Spiel, why David Shulkin got the boot. 

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On Monday’s Gist, the White House press corps needs a break. And guest host Mary Wilson knows who should take their place in the interim.

Plus, NationalReview.com editor Charles C. W. Cooke explains why he thinks repealing the Second Amendment would be such a losing proposition for gun control advocates.

And in the Spiel, Slate’s Osita Nwanevu says the media doesn’t have a liberal bias problem. 

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On The Gist, Good Friday is actually pretty great, from a cosmic perspective.

In the interview, Aparna Nancherla tells us how to go from introverted kid (“my mom was very afraid of how unassertive I was”) to making it in comedy.

In the Spiel, a deep dive into the world of acronyms.

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On The Gist, the Department of Energy has a chief creative officer? Let’s roll with it.

In the interview, upstanding Pennsylvanian Amanda Holt updates us on the state’s new congressional district lines.

In the Spiel, some hyperlinks are all hype, especially when it comes to censoring conservative opinion writers.

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On The Gist, Sean Hannity doesn’t like this podcast.

In the interview, Korea expert Bruce Bechtol tells us what might be going on in Kim Jong-un’s mind and how to set it on denuclearization.

In the Spiel, president Trump might be acting tough on Russia, but he doesn’t get what the big deal is. 

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On The Gist, forget Stormy Daniels. The Kushners’ massive loan deals are where the real dirt is at.

In the interview, the world’s growing complexity can be measured in dusty cables, useless features, and lines of code. Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik talk about the problems that snowball when even the smallest thing goes wrong. Clearfield and Tilcsik are the authors of Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It.

In the Spiel, any census that asks people about their citizenship status will be pricey and inaccurate. 

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On The Gist, “affair” is too rich a word to describe anything Donald Trump is emotionally capable of.

In the interview, arts reporter Mary M. Lane tells us about the art collection looted by Hitler’s art dealer, inherited by that dealer’s son, and finally confiscated by the German government.

In the Spiel, a survey of Republican bloviating on Sunday’s news shows.

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On The Gist, Donald Trump’s presidency brings race relations, at best, to a standstill. Case in point: the police shooting in Sacramento, California.   

The Americans is back for its final season next week. Showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg talk about their research into ruthless Soviet tactics, their obsession over historical detail, and why these spies are the good guys.      

In the Spiel, what sound does a giraffe make? Also: It’s time for the Lobstar of the Antentwig.  

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On The Gist, what to make of yet another round of White House reshuffling.   

As mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu has used his office to take down four of the city’s Confederate monuments. His new book reckons with race relations in his city, the South, and the country. Landrieu’s book is In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History.  

In the Spiel, semantics, sexuality, and Cynthia Nixon.

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