Author: Peach Fish Productions

Like so many dubious health claims, stretching before exercise has its roots in yoga culture. Maria Konnikova explains that stretching is exercise in-and-of itself and shouldn’t be treated like a warm-up. Then why do so many trainers and health nuts preach stretching as gospel? Konnikova is a regular guest on The Gist, a New Yorker staff writer, and the author of The Confidence Game.  

In the Spiel, Rachel Maddow’s report on President Donald Trump’s taxes was fine news but bad showmanship.  

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Control GX gray-reducing shampoo. It is the first shampoo that gradually reduces gray. 

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Todd Barry’s stand-up comedy falls along the lower end of the register: in volume, in speed, in tone. So maybe it makes sense that he’s happiest onstage when he doesn’t have to talk at all. Fans may wonder how Barry translates his dry delivery to the page. The answer: by making liberal use of italics. His new book is Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg: One Comedian’s Tour of Not-Quite-the-Biggest Cities in the World.

In the Spiel, joining forces with the News 4 Storm Tracker, it’s the most precise name in climate science: Wayne Tracker.

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The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get a Free Trial when you sign up by going toTheGreatCoursesPlus.com/gist.Green Mountain Coffee is passionate about making a smoother tasting cup. Try it today with $4 off, when you buy two boxes of most Green Mountain Coffee K-Cup pods at keurig.com with code TRYGMC.

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President Donald Trump’s management style has created lots of big, messy legal questions. With his new executive order on immigration, and his calls for a congressional investigation into wiretapping, Trump is plunging the government into uncharted territory. Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution is here to explain. Wittes is the editor in chief of the Lawfare blog.

In the Spiel, the fight for Tom Price’s old House seat has already become deeply silly.

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Indochino, the company that’s reinventing men’s fashion. Go to Indochino.com to get any premium Indochino suit for just $389, plus free shipping, when you use promo code gist at checkout.

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Anthony Salvanto, CBS News’ elections director, explains the CBS Nation Tracker poll and why it’s different from the surveys that tell you if you’re a Jessa.

In the Spiel, can you trust the job numbers?

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Wunder Capital, allowing individuals to invest in solar projects. Earn up to 8.5 percent annually while diversifying your portfolio and combating global climate change. Create an account for free, at WunderCapital.com/gist. Do well, and do good.

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President Donald Trump has overseen many shady deals, but New Yorker staff writer Adam Davidson thinks he may have found the most questionable one. Davidson says a Trump Organization hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, links the president to some shady oligarchs as well as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a shadow-government ideological group. Read Davidson’s piece, “Donald Trump’s Worst Deal.”

Maria Konnikova has today’s Spiel on the theory of trickle-down hate-speech.

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Green Mountain Coffee. Green Mountain Coffee is passionate about making a smoother tasting cup. Try it today with code TRYGMC.

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Donald Trump has promised lower costs, broader coverage, and better premiums in his health care plan. Well, the new bill is out, and it’s uniting liberals and conservatives in outright disdain. “I’ve only heard from two outside groups who like this bill,” says Vox health care correspondent Sarah Kliff. Everybody else hates it. Kliff walks us through the implications of “Trumpcare” and whether it has any chance of passing through Congress.

For the Spiel, how your smart TV became a sleeper agent for the intelligence community.

Today’s sponsors:

Green Mountain Coffee is passionate about making a smoother tasting cup. Try it today with $4 off, when you buy two boxes of most Green Mountain Coffee K-Cup pods at keurig.com with code TRYGMC.

And Stamps.com. Buy and print official U.S. postage using your own computer and printer. Sign up for Stamps.com and get a four-week trial, plus postage and a digital scale, when you use promo code THEGIST.

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In books like Moneyball and The Big Short, Michael Lewis has written about people who think in a completely different way from their colleagues. For his latest, The Undoing Project, Lewis profiles the patron saints of different thinking, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The two men completely upended the study of decision-making in the early 1950s.

For the Spiel, the artist formerly known as the Affordable Care Act. 

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ZipRecruiter. Post your job listing to all the top job sites with a single click. Try it for free by going to ZipRecruiter.com/Gist.

And Control GX gray reducing shampoo. It is the FIRST shampoo that gradually reduces gray. It’s easy to use and provides subtle, natural-looking results.

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Henry Winkler is an icon of American comedy. Between roles in Happy Days, Arrested Development, and Parks and Recreation, Winkler has been writing children’s books starring the character Hank Zipzer. Winkler says the stories have helped him come to terms with his own dyslexia, which he only discovered as an adult. His newest book is Always Watch Out for the Flying Potato Salad.

For the Spiel, you might want to learn to spell “wiretap” because you accuse someone of ordering a wiretap.

Today’s sponsors:

Stamps.com. Buy and print official U.S. postage using your own computer and printer. Sign up for Stamps.com and get a four-week trial, plus postage and a digital scale, when you use promo code THEGIST.

And The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get a free trial when you sign up by going toTheGreatCoursesPlus.com/gist.

Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

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The Gist’s Billboard charts Sherpa Chris Molanphy returns to hearken back to more recent musical history: the hits of 2012. We learn why Psy’s ubiquitous “Gangnam Style” isn’t technically on the list and how a Swedish stable of songwriters dominated the charts with “turbo pop.” Molanphy writes the Why Is This Song No. 1? column for Slate.

In the Spiel, chasing down a lesser-known lie.   

Today’s sponsors:

Green Mountain Coffee. Green Mountain Coffee is passionate about making a smoother tasting cup. Try it today with code TRYGMC.

Blue Apron. Create delicious, home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients delivered right to your door. Get your first three meals free when you go to BlueApron.com/thegist.

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The inexplicable oddness of Florida takes on a sort of logic after you listen long enough to Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize–winning humorist and longtime denizen of the state. On The Gist, Barry provides a mental atlas for the various regions of weird within Florida, its incompetent government (but what a bargain), and its unrivaled weirdos. His book is Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland.

In the Spiel, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stands confused and, now, recused.   

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Rocket Mortgage from Quicken Loans. When it comes to the big decision of choosing a mortgage lender, work with one that has your best interests in mind. Use Rocket Mortgage for a transparent, trustworthy home loan process that’s completely online at QuickenLoans.com/Gist.

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