Hello from a 90-degree day in New York!

This week, we’re joined by Alex Han, executive director of In These Times and a longtime organizer based in Chicago. Alex previously worked for Bernie’s 2020 campaign and SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana. We get into the context behind the surprise mayoral win by former teacher and organizer Brandon Johnson, over “corporate reformer” Paul Vallas. We discuss [15:45] the values (neoliberal versus progressive) at stake in this race, [25:08] which strategies can, and can’t, be reproduced by other candidates, and [1:01:30] the role of left-labor publications like In These Times in counteracting corporate media.

In this episode, we ask: 

What made the Chicago Teachers Union become such a central player in city politics? 

How has “defund the police” evolved, rhetorically, on the left? 

How do you build a coalition that’s led by progressives but populated by centrists? 

What should left media do to engage young people and other big yet hard-to-reach groups? 

For more, read: 

* Alex’s post-election editorial for In These Times

* This reflection on bargaining for the common good and the influence of the CTU 

* More on the deep, grassroots organizing behind Johnson’s victory: 'It Was 100-Percent People Power' (Block Club Chicago) and Chicago’s Rich Organizing Tradition Paid Off (The Nation) 

* An interview with Alex on the past and present of In These Times: What Do Movements Need from Progressive Media?

* The book Jay mentions, After Black Lives Matter: Policing and Anti-Capitalist Struggle, by Cedric G. Johnson

* Horrifying news of the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Kansas City

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from Jay’s COVID den!

Mai would like you to know that she begged Jay to skip recording and rest after he tested positive for COVID, and did the same with Tammy a few weeks ago. They did not listen. Please don’t follow their bad example!

This week, Tammy and Jay chat with repeat guest Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network and longtime organizer for immigrant rights. [1:45] We start, though, with a discussion of “Veep,” which Jay has been rewatching—a show that continues to be relevant and prescient ten-plus years on. [14:40] Then we talk about Biden’s disappointing policies on immigration, including the continuation of Title 42 and other policies designed to exclude asylum seekers, [50:00] and reflect on some small wins that follow years of organizing by groups like the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). 

In this episode, we ask: 

How do anti-immigration policies actually worsen the same border conditions that some claim to be fighting through deterrence?  

What makes immigration intersectional? 

How might the immigrant-rights movement adopt a broader framework of immigrant justice? 

For more, see: 

* More on the Biden administration’s anti-immigrant moves, including immigration-family-detention.html">a potential reinstatement of family detention 

* Hannah Dreier’s NYT report about migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html">migrant child labor in the U.S.

* fire-ciudad-juarez.html">The fire at a Juárez migrant detention center that killed dozens

* A glimmer of good news: DHS expands protections for whistleblowers 

* The Tennessee GOP’s attack on two Black legislators

Plus, listen to Silky’s August 2022 TTSG appearance, ​​Immigration’s “catalyst moments,” and a September episode where we discuss Ron DeSantis’s migrant-busing stunt: GOP cruelty gone wild. 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from the Bay Area! 

This week, it’s just Jay speaking with Malcolm Harris, the author of the recently published Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. We talk about [5:40] why Malcolm wrote a 600-plus-page epic instead of a shorter, more personal book; [27:25] Palo Alto’s origin story, including Leland Stanford and immigrant labor on the railroads; and [43:20] what mainstream histories get wrong about the New Left and Silicon Valley’s development. (Heads-up: There is a brief discussion of suicide between 11:30 and 14:10.)

In this episode, we ask: 

Why does Palo Alto give off such a weird vibe, and how does Stanford University's approach to real estate contribute? 

What did Jay and his daughter learn about the exploitation of Chinese rail workers at the California State Railroad Museum? 

Is Malcolm worried that AI could take his job? 

For more, read: 

* Malcolm’s colossal Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World

* An archetypal business book: Barbarians at the Gate, by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar

* Mae Ngai’s book on Chinese migration and the gold rush, The Chinese Question—and listen to Andy’s episode with Mae! 'History is not a straight line': on the Chinese Question with Prof. Mae Ngai 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. And email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from Jay’s flooded basement! (Apologies for our less-than-ideal audio.) 

This week, our guest is Bryce Covert, a writer who covers the culture and work of child care (and its increasingly dire state) in the U.S. Bryce tells Jay and Tammy [14:50] what she’s been hearing from providers as pandemic-stimulus funding dwindles; [27:55] why care workers haven’t been able to win better pay, even in a strong labor market; and [52:25] how private-sector incentives might help—but don’t go nearly far enough. (A lot of our references are to hetero nuclear families, but the pain is universal!)

In this episode, we ask: 

Why do Jay and Bryce have to apply to 94 summer camps to make sure their kids aren’t marooned?

What would an ideal child care system look like? At what age would public care and schooling begin? 

What can we learn from previous U.S. policy and experiments elsewhere?

Why does an adequate child care system feel politically impossible? 

For more, see Bryce’s writing… 

In The Nation: 

The Childcare Crisis Is Getting Worse

Child Care Providers Are Organizing, Demanding More, and Winning 

In Early Learning Nation: "I Can't Compete": Child Care Providers are Losing Staff to McDonald's and Target

In Lux: magazine.com/article/universal-child-care-portland/">Child Care: The Radical is Popular

Also read:

* James Butler on the social care crisis in the U.K. 

* Dana Goldstein on care-centers-private-equity.html">child care and private equity 

* fleishman-is-in-trouble-effect.html">The ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’ Effect (i.e. wealthy parents’ version of this crisis) 

* More on care-chip-makers-biden.html">the childcare provision in the CHIPS Act

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. And email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from Tammy’s COVID bunker! 

This week, after a short tribute to Montana’s “dean of journalism,” Chuck Johnson, R.I.P., Tammy speaks with Kshama Sawant, the three-term socialist Seattle City Councilmember who recently announced that she will not seek reelection after this year. Instead, she has launched Workers Strike Back, “an independent, rank-and-file campaign” to support organizing nationwide. We discuss [9:42] the Amazonification of Seattle, [31:05] a historic municipal bill banning caste discrimination, and [38:28] critiques of Sawant’s approach to politics and organizing. Plus: Tammy and Kshama debate union strategy.

In this episode, we ask: 

Does socialism provide answers to today’s woes? 

What did the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 reveal about identity politics?  

How might the Dobbs ruling and other failures of Democratic leadership help us envision a new political party? 

What does DSA get right and wrong? 

For more, read: 

* Tammy’s 2019 mini-profile of Kshama 

* Kshama’s labor history fave: Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs   

* A Kentucky worker on “How We’re Fighting for a Union at Amazon’s Biggest Air Hub”

* Kshama’s recent bill, making Seattle “the first U.S. city to ban caste discrimination"

And some extras from the TTSG team: 

* Tammy and Mai recommend the French-German-Belgian film, to-seoul-davy-chou-laure-badufle.html">“Return to Seoul,” currently playing in some U.S. theaters.

* Tammy semi-recommends the return of the LA-catering comedy “Party Down” (though the first two seasons remain vastly superior) and really recommends these sly, tingly novellas, translated from the Japanese, by Yoko Ogawa. 

* A happy follow-up to the housing episode with Ritti Singh and Navneet Grewal, reported by TTSG guest Wilfred Chan: “‘It’s legal, there’s just no precedent’: the first US town to demand a rent decrease”

* More news in racial impostors, via Andy: evita-saraswati-ethnicity-lgbtq-racial-identity-philadelphia-community-harm-20230320.html">“Raquel Evita Saraswati pretended to be a woman of color. Her deception traumatized the communities she claimed to help.”

* Some devastating TikToks by college applicants, courtesy of Jay 

Thanks for listening! As always, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and get in touch via email at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from Jay’s tradlife mancave! 

It’s just us this week, dissecting all the ways our culture has gone too far. We begin with [0:20] a debrief of the most Asian (American?) Oscars ever. Then, updates [20:40] on feminism in South Korea and [40:38] the Stepford wives of TikTok.  

In this episode, we ask: 

Are Asians now overrepresented in Hollywood?! 

What happens when electoral politics revolves around gender relations? Why doesn’t anyone want to give birth in South Korea, despite myriad family supports? 

How much of the “tradwife” lifestyle movement is about aesthetics, as opposed to a particular politics? 

For more, see: 

* movement-feminism-south-korea.html">Anna Louie Sussman’s article about the 4B movement in Korea

* An interview with Hawon Jung, author of Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement and What It Means for Women’s Rights Worldwide

* Zoe Hu on the tradlife movement and its “central hero,” the tradwife

And revisit these TTSG episodes: 

* "Everything Everywhere All At Once" deep dive 

* “Tár,” a film for the chattering class, with Vinson Cunningham

* On Korean feminism—

* Fantasies of progress on K-TV, with Jenny Wang Medina 

* A feminist(?) K-drama about abortion 

* Harper's, Boba Bros, Korean Feminism, and the NBA bubble 

If you’re in NYC this Sunday, come to BAM for a screening of Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” with Q&A by Tammy! Info and tix here: https://www.bam.org/film/2023/parasite

Thanks for listening. As always, you can subscribe on Patreon or Substack, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and get in touch via email at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from a D.C. hotel! 

This week, our guest is Ken Chen, writer, professor, and former director of the Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW). We discuss [6:45] Ken’s recent piece for n+1, about photojournalist and activist Corky Lee and the deep histories of class, race, and violence woven into his work, centered in Manhattan’s Chinatown. [1:03:20] We also chat about writing, publishing, and Asian American literature as a social-realist project. 

In this episode, we ask: 

When does a photo achieve representation?

What if we thought of Corky not as a photojournalist, but as a durational artist? 

Can an identity be created through accumulation and aspiration, even through economic shifts?

Why are there so many books by Asian Americans coming out now, compared to a few decades ago? 

For more, see: 

* Ken on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée

* Repeat guest Hua Hsu on Maxine Hong Kingston, author of the classic novel, The Woman Warrior

* Ryan Lee Wong on Corky Lee’s photos of protests against police brutality 

And revisit these TTSG episodes: 

* Our book club with Lisa Hsiao Chen, wherein we discuss the work of performance artist Tehching Hsieh 

* Working-class unity, with organizer JoAnn Lum, the director of NMASS (the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops)

* "I want you to care when people are still alive," with Yves Tong Nguyen of Red Canary Song

Our first-ever TTSG Movie Club is happening THIS FRIDAY, March 10th, at 8pm ET / 5pm PST! We’ll be watching "Better Luck Tomorrow," and you can join our TTSG Discord to attend the viewing by subscribing on Patreon or Substack. 

Thanks for listening! As always, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and get in touch via email at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from our normal, boring lives! 

Tammy returns from her reporting trip out West, and Jay is back at work after taking half his parental leave. It’s just us this week, talking through [3:20] the political disaster that has unfolded around the derailment and chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio. Plus, [28:25] a new Intercept interview with D.E.I. consultant Tema Okun, about her viral paper “White Supremacy Culture.”

In this episode, we ask: 

Have we learned anything since the 2016 election about the risk of ignoring working-class communities? 

How should the Democrats have responded to the derailment? 

Why are people so obsessed with the term “white supremacy”? What anxieties does it mask? 

Are diversity trainings really necessary? 

For more, see: 

* Our recent episode with train conductor Nick Wurst

* Field trips to East Palestine, Ohio, by Senator J.D. Vance and Trump

* Tema Okun’s interview with Ryan Grimm of The Intercept

* Okun’s original paper, plus the updated website

For our first-ever TTSG Movie Club, happening March 10th at 8pm ET / 5pm PST, we’ll be watching "Better Luck Tomorrow"! Join the TTSG Discord to attend the viewing. You can subscribe on Patreon or Substack. 

Thanks for listening! As always, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and get in touch via email at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from a sci-fi future!

Tammy’s on a reporting trip this week, so it’s just Jay talking to our guest Ben Recht, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at UC Berkeley. We talk about the history of artificial intelligence, the new bots from Open AI (ChatGPT) and Microsoft (Bing A.I.), and share some of the reasons why they are both skeptical but also kinda impressed. 

In this episode, we ask:

Well, what really is A.I., and how does it differ from machine learning?

Is this Silicon Valley hype cycle any more believable than those we were sold on crypto, Web3, and the metaverse?

What is the actual technology behind ChatGPT? What’s so special about it?

Where do we get our doomsday fantasies from, and how worried should we really be?

Is the remedy for bad AI takes just better science fiction? 

How is A.I. Doomerism like Scientology? 

To read more, see: 

* Ted Chiang on super intelligence and capitalism 

* Maciej Ceglowski with a funny and comprehensive breakdown of why people talk about A.I. in the way they do. As well as the case for better science fiction. 

* A compelling history of A.I. by Stephanie Dick 

* James Vincent on the idea of A.I. as a mirror

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. As always, feel free to email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Hello from an ongoing ecological disaster! 

Our guest this week is Nick Wurst, a freight-rail conductor and a member of the SMART-TD union, who joined Tammy and Jay after an overnight shift. Nick is also a socialist and a member-organizer with Railroad Workers United, a cross-union solidarity organization. He was featured in Tammy’s recent New Yorker piece about the state of union power in the U.S. 

On Friday, February 3, a train carrying volatile chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing dangerous fumes and forcing the town to evacuate. State and federal authorities encouraged residents to return to their homes after a “successful” controlled release of the substances, but many are skeptical that the air is safe to breathe, given reports of animals dying en masse, highly acidic rain, and the post-industrial area’s baseline pollution levels. 

Nick explains how corporate avarice—encapsulated in the ideology of “precision scheduled railroading”—and government complicity led to this dangerous derailment. He tells Jay and Tammy how railroad companies successfully lobbied against common-sense safety regulations, and what feels different about this disaster, despite rising rates of train derailment. Nick connects the accident in Ohio to last year’s threatened rail strike, a fight which was widely mischaracterized and eventually squashed by Biden and a Democratic Congress. How drastically has precision scheduled railroading changed conditions on the railroads? What can be done to rein in this greedy industry and the existential dangers it poses to us all?  

Thanks for listening. Subscribe on Substack or Patreon to join our Discord and participate in an upcoming movie night with Jay, Tammy, and fellow listeners, and to vote on the movie pick! As always, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and stay in touch via email at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com.