Krystal Kyle & Friends

A confluence of powerful figureheads and institutions come together in the story of the religious far right’s rise, bookended by the popularity of televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. in the ‘70s and, in our own time, his son Jerry Falwell Jr. Founded by Jerry senior, Liberty University joined Baptist church and austerity state, drawing in young conservatives, preparing the next generation of the Republican Party, and supporting various party initiatives. In his new book “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” Tim Alberta describes it as a “fortress of evangelical culture [war],” providing Falwell with a platform as he attacked Jimmy Carter for a Playboy interview in a successful bid to rally the “moral majority.”

Decades down the line, a new generation, inspired by (and in the case of Jerry Falwell Jr., literally related to) the old, is carrying on their cultural and religious crusade against progressivism, the welfare state, multiculturalism — you name it. How has Trump drawn support from this base, and can he do it again this election cycle? Listen to this week’s episode to find out. You can also find this podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

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Welcome back to KK&F, where we’re hosting this week’s conversation with Katie Halper, host of the Katie Halper show. Katie’s here to talk to us as an advocate of Palestinian liberation about the weaponization of antisemitism she’s observed, why it matters, and what we can do about it.

Under the guise of protecting Jews in America from the “hate speech” of Palestinian liberation, many Jews will in fact be marginalized and silenced for their political beliefs and activism. The Anti-Defamation League’s treatment of Jewish Voice for Peace as a hate group means that an organization tasked with preventing attacks on Jewish people will be putting them at risk of those attacks on the basis of their opposition to an oppressive colonial ideology.We hope you’ll enjoy this essential and timely conversation. You can tune in through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

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Our topic with this week’s guest, Dimi Reider, is the IDF’s genocidal plan for Gaza — and why more Israelis don’t oppose it. Dimi is cofounder of +972 Magazine and Editor at The Lead. The strategy is nothing short of wiping out civilians, and a recent poll showed that only 1.8 percent of Israeli Jews think that the IDF has gone too far. We talk about the political situation within Israel and how we got to this point. Thanks for joining us — you can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

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We’re joined by Scott Horton to get his insightful analysis of relations between the Palestinian Authority, the occupying Israeli government, and American leadership gives us insight into key moments in modern occupied Palestine. He covers the role of the Bush administration in pushing for an election, the outcome — Hamas’s victory — and the truth about this election, often twisted by Zionists: Hamas did not win a majority in any district, but only carried a plurality. Scott also covers the essential history of US security assistance to Fatah, Hamas’s rival, arming them to support a failed “bloody putsch,” described by David Rose in this article for Vanity Fair.

Given our country’s notorious history of pouring money into proxy wars, destabilizing foreign governments, and pursuing its own imperial interests throughout, the history Scott gives us in this episode of KK&F is essential to keep in mind, especially as the American government continues to pour money into Israel’s genocidal campaign. We hope you find this historical deep dive as urgent and fascinating as we did. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

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Welcome to Episode 151 of KK&F, featuring Ryan Grim discussing his new book on the secret history of the Squad. The Squad has expanded beyond its original four members to become a significant, popular entity with which the Democratic Party has been forced to contend, never more so than now as Joe Biden provides unconditional support to Israel’s war on Gaza. At times, members of the Squad have been the only in Congress, or among the only, to support single-payer healthcare, the rights of Palestinian people, ending homelessness, and more. They’ve also occasionally run afoul of their own professed values, with certain members taking votes on defense spending, problematic funding, stances on Israel, and insufficient steps to champion Medicare for All that have resulted in intense criticism from the left.

Time has told us that it isn’t good practice for progressives to uncritically stan the Squad. Nor, we’d argue, is it good practice to dismiss the contributions they’ve made to American politics, the public support they’ve amassed, or the power they’ve won within the Democratic Party, limited though it may be at the moment. The question of how progressives can effectively work within the Democratic Party — if they can at all — is one with which we’ve long been interested. Ryan’s great new book gives us the opportunity to return to it with the Squad as a fascinating case study.

You can listen to this episode of KK&F as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Substack, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

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

Generations of Palestinian families have been wiped off the map. People choosing to stay in their homes in the North have been labeled terrorists and warned to flee. The IDF is bombing the convoys of those who follow their orders to leave. And yet there is hardly international consensus among the ruling elite that what’s unfolding in Gaza is a genocide. As massive protests like the one that stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge continue to unfold all over the world, the failures of congressional representatives to represent the views of their constituents and back a ceasefire have become more and more pronounced. So much, we might say, for democracy.

Listen to our conversation with Abby Martin about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.

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A whole day early, we’re bringing you our recap of the third Republican presidential debate, which took place last night in Miami. Watch below for our review of the night’s winners and losers, debate highlights, our thoughts on who’s headed for the Republican nomination, and much more:

The pool of candidates for the Republican nomination is shrinking. Five candidates took the stage in Miami last night to trade zingers and get into heated debate over how many new wars to start, who supports Israeli atrocities the most aggressively, whether to sic the DOJ on pro-Palestine college protesters, and more. We talk about what’s at stake in this week’s episode, available on major streaming platforms.

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

Few members of Congress have had the tenacity and the moral compass to oppose massive funding for Israel’s genocide. Just today, the House passed a bill allocating $14.3 billion in funding to Israel, with twelve Democrats voting in favor. Meanwhile, recent reporting from the Intercept testifies to how pro-Palestine voices within the Democratic Party — especially those of Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush — have been met with strong opposition from the party establishment. Progressive standard-bearers like Bernie Sanders have fallen sadly short of calling out human rights abuses and demanding a ceasefire. The current response from Congress toward the mass murder of Palestinians tells us everything we need to know about whose side our government is on, and it’s not the side of everyday people in Palestine or America.

Watch our interview with Omar for more in-depth discussion of Israel’s siege on Gaza, the international response, and growing grassroots organizing to call for a ceasefire. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

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

This week, Adam Johnson joins us to discuss Western media’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Earlier this week, the Palestinian Ministry of Health released the names of over 7,000 Palestinians murdered by the Israeli government after President Biden callously called the death toll into question. News stories about violent acts committed by Hamas have gained wide traction without the bare minimum of fact-checking, while accounts of the atrocities committed against Palestinians are outright excluded or undermined by mainstream media.

Why is this the case? Why do the interests of our major news outlets align with Israeli oppression, especially when the interests of the average working American align with those of Palestinians fighting for survival? In this week’s episode, we analyze the media narratives circulating around Israel’s siege on Gaza — who’s creating them, who they’re intended for, and who they exclude. Thanks for joining us for this important conversation.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

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

Welcome back to KK&F! This week we sat down with Cenk Uygur to discuss his recently-announced bid for the presidency. Cenk’s presidential campaign was launched out of his sense of panic that Joe Biden is poised to lose to Donald Trump. Cenk hopes that his entry into the race will be successful enough to trigger other contenders into a Democratic primary so that voters might have the opportunity to select a more electable candidate.

In this episode, we chat with Cenk about the brass tacks of his presidential run: why he’s running, what policies and ideologies he’s representing, how his presidency would affect the lives of working Americans, and whether he has a credible path to the presidency. Is Biden certain to lose? What is the level of threat Trump poses to the country and is his political strength overestimated given his legal jeopardy? Why not throw in with Marianne Williamson who is already running to Biden’s left in an attempt to avert disaster? We get into this and much more over an extended conversation.

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