Explore every episode of the podcast Time To Say Goodbye

Hello!

Today we talk about Bad Bunny and the right’s fake outrage and then we bring back war correspondent Patrick Hultgren who is reporting live from New Jersey 11 about the primary victory of Analilia Mejia, the former Bernie campaign director and labor organizer who just upset a whole lot of big money candidates and will almost certainly be representing New Jersey in the House.

Enjoy!

Hello!

This week, we’re talking about the files, the media and how they’ve handled the story, and the coming populist revolt that feels both inevitable and impossible at this point.

Also, we have a YouTube page that we’ve finally populated with enough videos to make it worth sharing. Will be posting there from now on as well. Please check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8BC6kpomORTAHDU0AJICyQ

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we talk the killing of Alex Pretti, the depravity of the administration’s response, and Tyler’s recent article about the second amendment and how it should be for everyone, not just the right. How does a society organize against tyranny and the sight of masked agents shooting someone dead in the street? Can such a vision not include an armed populace? All this and more in today’s episode.

Hello!

Today, we are back talking about Minneapolis and ICE with Will Stancil, an attorney from Minneapolis who has been posting about neighborhood rapid response in the Twin Cities. We talked to him about a whole range of topics — what it feels like in Minneapolis, how these neighborhood watches have been organized, the resilience of the city, and, at the end, even a moment of hope that Will has seen in all this.

Very periodically, we will ask you to head over to that subscribe button and please help keep the lights on. We do not paywall any episodes and never have and that’s because we do this almost entirely as a free project that is accessible to anyone who can’t afford it. But if you can, five dollars a month goes a long way so we can keep doing this and bringing you free shows.

Please enjoy!

Hello,

This week, we talk about ICE in Minneapolis, the killing of Renee Good, and the destruction of a whole lot of what we hold sacred in this country. Is there something to do about all this? And how much of the country do we really think is cheering on what amounts to an invasion of people’s neighborhoods?

Hello!

Today, we have Matt Duss on the show. Matt is an executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, co-host of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, and the former foreign policy advisor for Bernie Sanders. We talked about what the hell Trump is doing in Venezuela, what Rubio’s vision for the world might be, the dangers of a fully unrestrained Trump administration, what Democrats could be doing to provide an alternative vision of the world, and also what is going to happen with Greenland. It’s a great episode and very informative and we hope you both check out Matt’s pod and take a listen.

thanks!

Kang did a Substack Live with repeat TTSG guests Max Read and John Ganz. We talked about the Trump Reiner tweet, the Compact white men article, and the future of the news.

Hello!

Today, we have an episode about how nobody can read anymore, AI, humans, and why we’re so afraid of the robots with Celine Nguyen, the great author of the Personal Canon substack, and repeat guest Leif Weatherby, who came by to talk about his book Language Machines: Cultural AI and the End of Remainder Humanism.

Enjoy!

Hello!

This is a good episode of the show and about something we’ve been thinking about for a while: What is the role of organized religion going forward and will we see a return to the church as the cruelty of politics, technology, and the general malaise of modern life start to overwhelm us? Our guest, Matt Sitman, has thought a ton of about this. He’s the co-host of Know Your Enemy and on the editorial board of Dissent. He’s written and thought about religion for a long time, including a big story in the New Republic from 2021 about the religious left and a very moving plea from 2017 in Dissent.

We talked about a lot: the Catholic church and its right wing converts, the alienation of tech, Tyler’s theory about whether AI was the antichrist, the need for community, and the question of how we build a moral framework in a time when everyone’s just on their f*****g phones all the time.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we have back our Consultant of War and the Joe House of the podcast, Patrick Hultgren, to talk about Pete Hegseth, the war crime memes, and we go over our favorite new theory about Trump: He’s spending all his time planning his big new fancy ballroom and doesn’t care anymore what happens with the government, which is why all these cabinet dudes are just doing their own agendas and pardoning random drug lords with no comment at all from the White House. Enjoy a day early!

Hello!

Today, we have on Bhaskar Sunkara, President of The Nation and founding editor of Jacobin. We talk about his best sports bets, the Larry Summers email scandal, and what Zohran’s early days and robust popularity might mean for the left. Very lively episode here so please give it a listen!

Hello!

Today, we talk about the big cave by the Democrats over the shutdown, whether it actually matters and a little bit about the declining box office numbers across the country and why people no longer seem to be going to the movies.

Enjoy!

We went live at 9PM as the polls closed in New York City and talked about Zohran, voting demographics, Graham Platner, and the “future of the Democratic party.” Enjoy!

Hello,

Today we play a game called “I didn’t read that article” in which one of us has read an article and the other one hasn’t and we ask questions about it. Today’s topics are the NBA betting scandal which made front page news last week and a new feature in Harper’s about the “Gooniverse” of young, pornography addicted young men.

Enjoy!

Hello!

We’re both back this week to talk about the No Kings protests, the space comedians take up in political commentary these days. Do we really want Andrew Schultz and other comedians to be the new pundits?

Enjoy!

On today’s episode, Tyler talks to Joshua Wheeler about his brilliant debut novel, The High Heaven. Focusing on a UFO cult survivor who is obsessed with NASA, the novel spans her entire life and decades of American history. Josh talks about his literary influences, how his working class upbringing in New Mexico shaped his work, and the state of contemporary fiction. Tyler also asks Josh about his obsession with Smokey Bear and his sprawling collection of Smokey memorabilia.

Hello!

Today we’re talking the media business, the news that Bari Weiss will now be the Editor in Chief of CBS News, and what we think will happen during a period of inevitable fracturing and consolidation. Our guest is longtime listener and excellent reporter Maxwell Tani of Semafor.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we take a break from politics and talk about hobbies and a thing that Tyler coined “hobby inflation” where everything from clay pigeons to green fees to surfboards to knitting tools have all skyrocketed in price since the pandemic. What does this mean to the future of “doing fun s**t” and how does it dovetail with the never-ending rise in the amount of time we spend on our phones?

Enjoy!

Hello,

Today, we have back on one of our favorite guests, Zena Hitz, a philosopher who teaches at St. John’s College. We talk about Kimmel’s canceling and uncanceling, the history of free speech in a conformist country like America, and the university’s place as the crucible for all discourse refereeing. Is this a good thing or is the modern university uniquely unqualified to hold such importance?

Enjoy!

Hello!

This week we talk about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, what he meant to the GOP and the right, in general, and the space he occupied within the broader political discourse. Our guest this week is John Ganz of Unpopular Front.

*Apologies in advance for a shift in audio in the middle — Kang’s internet kept freaking out and we had to switch from Zencastr to Zoom.

Hello!

This week we talk about the ICE raid of the Hyundai plant under construction in Georgia, the incoherence of the Trump agenda, the threat of national guardsmen being deployed in Chicago, Ezra Klein’s op-ed about the rise of authoritarianism and the lack of preparation within the Democratic party and we even talk some Week 1 NFL. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we have on a promised guest, Jonathan M Berman, an assistant professor in Basic Sciences at New York Institute of Technology, Arkansas, the co-chair of the 2017 March for Science, and the author of a 2020 book called Anti-Vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement. In light of last week’s turmoil and spate of resignations and firings at the CDC stemming from changes to vaccine policy, we wanted to invite Jonathan on to talk about the anti-vaccination movement and how it’s been turbo-charged by the rise of RFK.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we talk about Trump’s bid to create a sovereign wealth fund by investing in private companies, the parallels these actions have to his shakedowns of elite universities and Zohran’s attempt to throw up 135 on the bench press. We also talk about the “Badasses,” a group of Democrats who are trying to blend suburban mom vibes with their former careers in the CIA and military.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we have on Jessica Dai and Ben Recht to talk about AI culture, Jessica’s prescient article from 2 years ago about alignment and the priorities of AI companies. What do these companies actually want? And who will define what AI culture is going forward? A bunch of frothy people on Twitter or will it just be the priorities of companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google? If you want to know what “alignment” is and why its so important to the idea of AI, take a listen.

Hello,

This week, we have a long talk with an author we both have admired for a while, Jonathan Mahler. His new book, The Gods of New York: Egoists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990, is a chronicle of how a four year stretch in New York City laid down the groundwork for a new city, one that fully separated itself from its working class roots and any notion of civic unity for a fractured, polarized, and atomized city that gave rise to everyone from Donald Trump to Al Sharpton to Larry Kramer to Spike Lee. Really really good book and a great guest.

Hello!

Today we talk briefly about the Gilded Age (Jay is watching TV again) and what to make of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s statements about Gaza, America First, and foreign interventions. Is she trying to pull together the horseshoe? And will she actually succeed?

Enjoy!

Hello,

Today, we have on Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees international and a longtime humanitarian and emergency operator. He has served in senior appointments in two U.S. administrations. He was the director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the Obama administration and also worked in the Biden administration.

Jeremy has been sounding the alarm about the famine in Gaza for a number of months, and has done a series of really helpful explainer threads on Twitter that have gone viral. We’ve invited him on the show today to help us understand the starvation crisis that is now in full swing.

Tyler and I both learned a ton in this episode about how famines happen, the infrastructure for aid, and the political obstructions in the way. In the end, we both came away somehow feeling both appropriately horrified but also not as nihilistic as we did before we talked to Jeremy. A really important episode of the show.

Hello!

Today, we talk about what the hell ICE is wearing out in the streets of American cities, “operator cosplay” which is the phenomenon of yahoos dressing up like they’re in special forces, and we talk a whole lot about ICE’s policy of wearing masks in public. We also continue our long search for the pod’s Joe House and bring on Kang’s college roommate, a veteran Green Beret who explains what ICE is wearing and why.

Hello!

Today we talk about how the Epstein story and Schrodinger’s client list has fractured the right and whether this might finally be the thing that ol’ Donny Trump can’t wriggle out of. And we talk about climate change and the floods on the east coast as Tyler puts back on his environmental studies professor hat. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we talk a bit more about Zohran and go through our best and worst case scenarios for his reign in New York City. How will he deal with intensive media scrutiny? Will his immense political talent carry him through inevitable crises? And how will his victory change the Democratic party on the whole?

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we have on Leigh Claire LaBerge, a professor at CUNY and the author of Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism is a Joke, a funny and touching look back at what it was like to be young, naive, and have your whole life in front of you in 1999. We talk about the late 90s, the need for a bit of humor on the left, and start off with a few Zohran takes. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we welcome a guest from across the aisle to talk about what might be happening with the anti-war, anti-interventionist right in the face of Trump’s strikes against Iran. Sohrab Ahmari is the American editor of Unherd and the author of two books and one of the main intellectual forces shaping the ideas of a new right wing. A really great conversation with some interesting insights into what might be happening within Trump’s inner and less-than-inner circles and how influence might be peddled in the White House.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we talk about the protests in LA, give a short timeline of what’s been happening and talk about all the silly discourse about how “the protesters” should “do x” as if every person at a protest is receiving a newsletter about message control or whatever. We also talk about the very weird situation at Ohio State which just basically gave its campus over to OpenAI and had some administrator very embarrassingly say they wanted their students to be “bilingual” in English and AI whatever that means.

Also next week we will take a week off for our vacations. Enjoy the summer everyone!

Hello!

Today, we talk about Elon being full out of government and think back on all our favorite moments, discuss the funniest conspiracy theories/rumors about his time in Washington and think a bit more about the influence of Big Tech in Washington. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today, we have on Alex Thompson, co-author of the new book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, It’s Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” and all the reasons Joe Biden decided to run for President in 2024, what happened on that debate stage, how a small group of aides working for Joe and Jill Biden kept everyone in line, or, more commonly, walled off from the President, and how it all fell apart. This is a juicy episode and we all recommend you read the book and Tyler’s essay on it.

Hello!

Today we have on repeat guest Karen Hao to talk about her new blockbuster book “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.” It’s an amazing, deeply reported book that somehow encapsulates the history of AI, Silicon Valley, and OpenAI while also making a needed and clear argument about how we should think about this technology. Truly like if “Barbarians at the Gate” met “The Shock Doctrine” and it was about AI. We talk about the beginnings of OpenAI, how it burns a colonial path throughout the rest of the world in the form of data centers and exploitative labor, and how we might find a better alternative to Sam Altman’s plan to take over the world. Can’t recommend this book more highly — go get it!

Hello!

Today we take a break from Trump to bring back one of our favorite guests, Andrew Boryga, the novelist behind the brilliant book Victim, and the author of a funny and incisive substack. We talk about the latest compain-fest in the literary world about white millennial men and how they’re supposedly shut out of the fruits of culture like the NYPL Young Lions Award or whatever. Then we talk a little bit about the Pulitzer controversy surrounding James and Andrew’s own thoughts on who gets to write novels and who does not.

Hello!

Today we have on Bridget Read, the author of a great new book called “Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America.” (Out today!) We talk about the history of the MLM (multi-level marketing) from its alleged origins with the Yankee peddler and the frontier and the more insidious real story of eugenicists, scammers, and quackery. A lot of questions you might have about pyramid schemes and MLMs will be answered here: Why do they all do vitamins and supplements? Why did AmWay and the DeVos family have such a hold on Trump? Great book. Take a listen.

Hello!

Today we’re talking about a new essay in the New Yorker that asks how we might think about knowledge, learning, and the meaning of life in a world where Chat GPT replaces a lot of our core knowledge functions. To discuss this piece and its implications (and to argue back on it) we brought on Zena Hitz, a philosopher, a tutor at St. John’s College, and a founder of the Catherine Project. We talked about great books, luddism, overblown AI doomerism and how to think. We really enjoyed this conversation and honestly was hoping it would never end bc Zena was such a fun and compelling guest. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we’re talking Pope and the odds for each of the contenders. If you want a quick way to catch up with who the choices might be and what they represent politically, please tune in! Who is the continuation candidate? Who is the lib? And who is the arch right winger who only talks like an Elon Musk reply guy?

And we talk a bit about the Trump coalition and whether or not it might be feeling a bit shaky after all this chaos. Enjoy!

Hello!

This week we have on Zephyr Teachout, Professor at Law at Fordham University and columnist at the Nation, for a long talk about protectionism, neoliberalism, and how to capture the spirit of the country. Can liberals just sell free market capitalism and off-shoring to an angry public? Or will there have to be seem change in messaging that will allow the left to define the future of work in this country? We also talk a lot about corruption — Zephyr wrote a book about it — and the unprecedented corruption that we’re seeing now in the White House.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we talk about what the supporters of the tariffs might actually be thinking and why we might take the latest Trump gambit a little more seriously as a lasting movement/idea. What is it about the vision of a manufacturing/factory town America that seems like its so appealing to a portion of the population and how does nativism and “anti globalism” fit into the vision? Are we about to see a terrible horseshoe take hold of part of the country? All this and more this week!

Hello!

Today we have on Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff for AOC and one of the formers leaders of the Justice Democrats. Saikat is currently running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi. We talk about the possibilities of a Democratic Tea Party, how progressives need to think about actually doing stuff, and a lot about housing. This was a great episode and one that I think should inform you on what the political landscape could look like if the Democratic Party actually has a full-on rebuild.

Enjoy!

We talk about SignalGate, Trump’s clown show problem, and a little bit about Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” and why the Alex Jones from 25 years ago might have been ahead of his time. What does “combative centrism” mean? Does anyone actually care? All these topics and more discussed in this here episode.

Hello!

This week we talk about the growing tea party vibes around the Democratic party, Schumer’s shame, the anti-establishment energy that’s emanating from the Blue MAGA base, and the new attempts to rebrand old ideas into new ones. Will anyone in the Democratic establishment survive the next decade? Or is it all over but the crying? Also we talk about Columbia University and the cowardice of elite private colleges.

Enjoy!

Hello!

Today we talk with the authors of “In Covid’s Wake: How our Politics Failed Us” by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. We talk about what we got wrong during the pandemic, how to battle groupthink, especially when it comes to science, and why so many people were willing to accept one version of public health without proper debate or questioning. This was an informative and thought-provoking episode, one that made us rethink a lot of what we knew about what was happening in the early months of 2020.

Thanks!

Hello!

Today we talk about the big WWE showdown at the White House between Zelensky and the tag team of Trump and JD Vance, where our alarm meters are for “wait maybe Trump actually is going to do all the stuff he said he’s going to do,” and we talk about the Democratic plan to “play dead” and wait for the perfect moment to form like Voltron and come to save the day with their big glowing sword and tiger heads.

Enjoy!