Time To Say Goodbye

Latest Episodes:

Has AI Sold Out? with Jessica Dai and Ben Recht Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Four Years of New York City that Changed the World with Jonathan Mahler Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Marjorie Taylor Greene pulls in the Horseshoe and Gilded Age Takes Aug 06, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Starvation in Gaza with Jeremy Konyndyk Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

The ICE Fashion Show, Operator Cosplay and Masked Federal Agents with Patrick Hultgren Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Trump says 'nobody cares about Epstein' and the disastrous floods on the east coast Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Zohran: The best, worst, and most likely case scenarios Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

A New Book About Fake Work and Some Zohran Takes with Leigh Claire LaBerge Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

What Happened to the Anti-War Right with Sohrab Ahmari Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

The LA Protests and AI Invades The Ohio State Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

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!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe