The Gist

Despite numerous allegations of child abuse in the years before his death, Michael Jackson's songs can still get you tapping your foot. It can feel confusing, but luckily we have Leon Neyfakh on the show today to explain Jackson's confusing place in pop culture and his new Audible Originals series Think Twice: Michael Jackson. Plus, at long last, our latest installment of "Names In The News." Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stephen Marche is the author of Death Of An Author along with an entity known as "Aidan Marchine," which is a pseudonym for a suite of AI services. The novella works, as does the author, with the computer in a close collaboration. Plus, an analysis of all that went wrong in a CNN Town Hall meeting featuring Donald Trump. And the toll of decades worth of shootings in Chicago. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henry Grabar is the author of the newly published Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World. It does explain it, a lot more than you'd think. Plus, CNN's Town Hall with Donald Trump gets poor previews from MSNBC. And the woman who taught her children a valuable lesson in grief ... by allegedly poisoning her husband. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Benjamin Wittes, Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare and writer of the Substack Dog Shirt Daily, has been projecting Ukrainian messages onto the Russian Embassies in D.C., and throughout the world. The Russians have fought back, and Twitter, once an amplifier of these "Special Operations" has kicked Wittes off its platform. Plus, the stupid statements under oath that may have doomed Trump's Civil defense. And why would any Hispanic American want to fund reparations for African-Americans, a wealthier group than Hispanics? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guns that recognize specific users biometrics are almost ready to be shipped, as the firm Biofire is taking orders for their reliable, and forceful, smart gun. Biofire CEO Kai Kloepfer joins us. Plus, the coronation, debt ceiling, AI, and writers' strike are on the list of worries, but not such specific worries that they should take up too much of your time. And HUMANS ... is there anything they can't figure out? Especially when it comes to the destruction of other humans. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Elon Musk posted a video of himself arriving at Twitter HQ carrying a white sink along with the message "let that sink in!" it marked the end of a dramatic takeover. Musk had gone from Twitter critic to "Chief Twit" in the space of just a few months but his arrival didn't put an end to questions about his motives. Musk had earned a reputation as a business maverick. From PayPal to Tesla to SpaceX, his name was synonymous with big, earth-shattering ideas. So, what did he want with a social media platform? And was this all really in the name of free speech...or was this all in the name of Elon Musk? From Wondery, the makers of WeCrashed and In God We Lust, comes the wild story of how the richest man alive took charge of the world's "digital public square." Listen to Flipping The Bird: Wondery.fm/FTB_TG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we remember singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who passed away on Monday, by revisiting a 2014 Spiel, in which Mike realizes that all songs can be contained within one of Lightfoot's. It's hard to explain … just listen. Then we play Mike's Wednesday Spiel about NBC disinformation reporter Ben Collins. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeffrey Toobin, author of Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism, traces the ideology of right-wing extremism from the 1990s to today. Plus, NJ Pasta dump and the often hard-to-document claims behind the day of awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Justice Day on The Gist. Justice for the Proud Boys, Ed Sheeran, and the question of defining justice for a man choked to death on the NYC subway. Plus, Justice Clarence Thomas keeps getting benefits for just being Clarence Thomas. And Mike speaks with Ben Smith, author of Traffic, about Gawker, Buzzfeed, and the rise of the New York slice of digital media in the 2010s. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After an early round loss, NBA great Giannis Antetokounmpo had a much watched, quite heartfelt press conference in which he asserted that there's no such thing as failure in sports. Ethan Strauss, NBA expert and former beat writer has a nuanced counter take. Yes, there is. Plus, The Montana Legislature shames itself through censure. And an NBC reporter needs to mix it up, no matter the costs to his credibility. Check out more from Ethan Strauss at his Substack - House of Strauss | Ethan Strauss | Substack Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices