The Gist

Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention brought dissension, a speech for the ages, and one good zinger.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the problem with corn dogs. Dan Pashman from the Sporkful podcast explains why Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don’t eat in public.  In the Spiel, it’s the return of the Trump Anxiety Hotline.  And check back for an a.m. Spiel about the Democratic National Convention’s first day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, comedian Hari Kondabolu says he doesn’t mind updating his jokes to heed the sensitivities of his fans. His new stand-up comedy album is Mainstream American Comic. He hosts the Politically Re-Active podcast with comedian W. Kamau Bell. For your Spiel fix, check out the three a.m. Spiels on the Republican National Convention. More of that to come for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump’s laundry-list speech on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention was full of falsehoods and gloom. Will it have any sway over voters who don’t already support the official GOP presidential candidate? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, regular guest Maria Konnikova returns to play “Is That Bulls--t?” The assertion: “Your dog is going crazy because he smells my dog on me.” Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game. Wherefore art the Spiel? Check back Friday morning for an a.m. Spiel on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Day 3 of the Republican National Convention brought a Ted Cruz crescendo, a little Cruz-splaining.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, crackers, rednecks, hillbillies—Nancy Isenberg explains the persistence of these terms and why they can’t be called ethnic identities. Her book is called White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America. Where’s the Spiel? Check back Thursday morning for another a.m. Spiel on the Republican National Convention.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A special morning Spiel on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, how not to blow your cover while laundering money for drug cartels. Robert Mazur was an undercover government agent who got an inside look at the Medellín Cartel. Bryan Cranston plays him in the film The Infiltrator, based on Mazur’s book. For the Spiel, the disaster otherwise known as Day 1 of the Republican National Convention.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, actor and director Matt Ross (who plays Gavin in HBO’s Silicon Valley) talks about parenting and a man’s place in the world. Ross directed the film Captain Fantastic, a story about an extreme father who is compelled to bring his kids out of their cocoon-like home in the woods and into mainstream society.  For the Spiel, what Ghostbusters can tell us about Hillary Clinton’s electoral chances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, disco is out, MTV is in, and we’re getting buns of steel with Olivia Newton-John. We harken back to the Billboard hits of 1981 with our regular guest Chris Molanphy. He writes Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” column.  For the Spiel, how does a Sharia test work? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Deborah Birx describes the challenges in fighting the AIDS/HIV epidemic. She oversees the nation’s plan for AIDS relief. For the Spiel, a brief meditation on renowned charmer Boris Johnson, now the United Kingdom’s top diplomat.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, we take a closer look at Type A. Is it real? How is it measured? Can it get you out of a ticket for aggressive driving? We get answers from Maria Konnikova, writer for the New Yorker and author of The Confidence Game. For the Spiel, Rudy Giuliani’s lies matter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, what political ad men might have picked up from Caravaggio. Adam Levine, associate director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, explains the thinking behind the upcoming exhibition, “I Approve This Message: Decoding Political Ads.” For the Spiel, screwing around with Zika funding.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, why it’s better to crash our spacecrafts than to litter the solar system with our earthly microbes. Summer Ash explains everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about the Juno space probe orbiting Jupiter. Ash is the Director of Outreach for Columbia University’s Department of Astronomy.  For the Spiel, discord will always be with us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Slate correspondentJustin Peters on the life and death of free-culture crusader Aaron Swartz and the history of copyright in the United States. Peters wrote The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet. In the Spiel, reflecting on recent shootings of black men by police and of police by a black man.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, a case for the modern office as a subject of high literature. J. Bradford Hipps discusses finding more than mockery in the anonymous office park where he set his novel, The Adventurist.  For the Spiel, an economical five minutes on the five hours the FBI director spent testifying at a congressional hearing.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Devin Leonard returns with the last installment of our postcard series to discuss the evolving economics of the U.S. Postal Service. Leonard’s book is Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service. Plus, Bruce Shapiro ponders the best way to cover mass shootings if the goal is to limit future massacres. Shapiro is executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School.  For the first-ever, midshow Spiel: Twinkies. For the traditional closing Spiel: dying in vain.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, are you really saving the planet with your recycling? New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova, takes on what may be our most controversial round of “Is That Bulls--t?” Konnikova is the author of The Confidence Game. On the Spiel, porn on the Juno spacecraft’s hard drive.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Xavier Dphrepaulezz, aka the Fantastic Negrito, returns to reflect on his second career in music, Prince’s influence, and the gentrification of America’s greatest cities. His new album is The Last Days of Oakland. For the Spiel, it’s time for another Lobstar of the Antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices