The Gist

Today on The Gist, as rockets rain from Gaza, Israeli society is resigned to the fight. We speak with Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, who explain what makes the current military goal different from past conflicts. Plus, Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker explains how so-called bandwidth poverty strains our mental resources and makes decision-making harder. For the Spiel, parents are now getting arrested for letting their kids out. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Gist, political analyst Jonah Blank from RAND explains how young democracies navigate fair elections. Plus, Mike speaks with Sonja Lyubomirsky, the author of The Myths of Happiness, about how we can make ourselves into happier people by doing the things that happy people do. For the Spiel, no, you probably won’t succumb to a brain-eating amoeba. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today at Slate, we announced a changing of the guard. Mike talks with David Plotz, who after 6 years as editor is stepping down, and Julia Turner, who just became Slate’s first female editor in chief. Plus, Mike gets help from memory champ Nelson Dellis in memorizing the rest of The Star Spangled Banner with help from Pauly Shore. For the Spiel, Mike vets stats with a stats vet—stat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border President Obama’s Katrina? Josh King from Polioptics explains how he would best position Obama if (slash when) he does makes a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. Then Sarah O’Holla tells us about her blog My Husband’s Stupid Record Collection and plays a few recent finds. For the Spiel, Mike unwraps what 20,000 book sales really mean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, writer Mike Sacks explains how it’s easier than ever to begin a career in comedy. In his book Poking a Dead Frog, Sacks asks comedians to explain their process without killing their humor. Plus, Dru Johnston reads his essay “I Think I Should Get More Credit for Killing Hitler” from the Occasional. And Ivan Oransky of MedPage Today and Retraction Watch unwraps the illicit world of peer-review fakery. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For what was Mike’s most enjoyable visit to the principal’s office, today’s Gist assembled a panel of educators to discuss teacher tenure. We’re joined by Alisa Algava, former director of the Randolph School, Ada Rosario Dolch, retired high school principal, and Margaret Ryan from the Harlem Link Charter School. Our panelists are all alumnae of Bank Street College. Plus, Slate’s Ken Early describes what it was like in the stadium when Brazil fans learned a hard truth. For the Spiel, the world through a lens of strong and weak.  Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Gist we discuss a new cache of steamy missives from Warren G. Harding to his mistress. The bootleg microfilms were first uncovered by James D. Robenalt, author of The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War. But first, was Boston College’s oral history archive politically motivated? Kevin Cullen from the Boston Globe explains how the project, which recorded the raw details of life in the IRA, opened old wounds in Northern Ireland. In today’s Spiel, Mike’s done tooting his own horn. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Washington State’s recreational marijuana law goes into effect on Tuesday, Steve Elliot of Toke Signals explains the problems recreational and medical users should anticipate. Then, how do you set boundaries with a toxic family member when beginning your own family? Slate’s Emily Yoffe joins us for a Post-Prudence Impact Statement with past letter writer Unmolested. For Mike’s Spiel, David Gregory of Meet the Press stems the tide of evasion. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s famous farewell to baseball, we talk to author Jonathan Eig about what Gehrig did with the rest of his short life. Also, Maria Konnikovia on Facebook’s emotions study, and no one’s going to breaka Mike’s stride. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Gist, Mike talks with Alice Goffman, author of On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. Goffman, who’s white, lived in a black Philadelphia neighborhood while attending the University of Pennsylvania and chronicled how differently her classmates and her neighbors were treated for similar offenses. In today’s Spiel, Mike considers the way the story of three murdered Israeli teenagers has been covered in the Middle East. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Alan Mulally packs up his desk, Bryce Hoffman explains how the outgoing Ford CEO harnessed talent and led a cultural change from within the company. Then, Jen Banbury explains what happens when the Amish start learning how to make and invest millions. Mike’s Spiel responds to the U.S.-Belgium World Cup results before they are decided. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An obscure U.S. government agency called the Export-Import Bank is under fire from the GOP. Rana Foroohar of Time explains why politicians gunning for this credit agency could hurt the export market. Also, flop analyst Geoff Foster explains why so much of the World Cup involves players dramatically lurching and clutching their injured body parts. In today’s Spiel, Mike takes a step way back to evaluate the Hobby Lobby verdict. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski was secretly recorded calling his country’s alliance with the U.S. “worthless,” and other choice insults. Foreign Affairs editor Gideon Rose explains why the concerns of our even our smallest allies should be heard. Then, Mike heads to a bench outside of PS11 to chat with Paul Raeburn about new science on the role of fathers in shaping their children. For the Spiel, the difficulty of acknowledging progress. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s Gist, the stock market’s volatility, or fear, index called the VIX is about as low as it can get, but maybe that’s a bad thing? Broker David Siegel from MPS Global Securities explains why traders are freaking out over this lack of volatility. Then, Adam Davidson from Planet Money shares an unpopular solution to the housing shortage in New York that economists hate talking about. In today’s Spiel, can this great chant save Team USA? Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Gist, judicial biographer Bruce Allen Murphy explains how Anton Scalia became a lone wolf of the high court. Then Slate’s Emily Bazelon and Mike Pesca debate how sexual assault is being discussed and dealt with on campuses today. Is it possible to overcompensate for the silence and injustices of the past? For the Spiel, a heapin’ helpin’ of portion control.  Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you sue the United Nations over a tragic cholera outbreak in Haiti? Well, first you have to figure out how to serve top diplomats with papers. Today on The Gist, lawyer Stanley Alpert says U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was served last week outside of the Asia Society, but U.N. spokesman says a security guard interceded. Then, Invisibles author David Zweig explains a path to professional success that doesn’t involve relentless self-promotion. And forget Upworthy—in today’s Spiel, everything’s crapworthy. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Gist, song lyrics made literal. Wits host John Moe has written a book of imagined pop culture correspondences called Dear Luke, We Need to Talk, Darth. Plus, Mike speaks with RAND political scientist Jonah Blank for an anthropological look at negotiating in Afghanistan’s Pashtun society. For the Spiel, Mike debuts his new imaginary radio show “Least Qualified.” Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s Gist is a special New Haven hotel room dispatch. Mike shares an excerpt from the New Haven ideas festival event “Thinking About Sports.” He was a panelist there alongside legendary sportswriter and NPR commentator Frank Deford, poet Elizabeth Alexander, and author Nicholas Dawidoff. Also in today’s show, we ask Dartmouth professor of pediatrics James D. Sargent about McDonald’s new happy meal branding, and how other countries limit marketing to young children. In today’s Spiel, some ideas about ideas festivals.  Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the Gist, political writer Harry Enten from Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight handicaps Democratic and Republican chances in November’s key Senate races. Plus, Adam Davidson from Planet Money explains why economic theory says a higher minimum wage is a terrible, terrible idea, but economic reality may differ. In today’s Spiel, Mike teaches us his special song hack with help from “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot and “Whoomp! (There It Is)” by Tag Team. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do nasty comments affect how readers perceive an article? Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker discusses research on the psychology of negative Internet comments. Then, in light of GM CEO Mary Barra’s testimony before the House on Wednesday, law professor David Luban explains why lawyers sometimes hide or compartmentalize information to protect their companies from liability. For the Spiel, Mike does the numbers. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices