Krystal Kyle & Friends

This week’s guest, Amazon union organizer Christian Smalls, describes how solidarity between workers sets the stage for the massive unionization efforts currently being mounted by Amazon workers in different parts of the country. While Amazon can hire union-busting firms, pay for endless propaganda, and so on, these workers are tirelessly holding conversations, negotiating, and building support for a union that can win them the protections, compensation, and workplace democracy they need.

Our conversation with Christian also reminds us that even though big-name progressive politicians have attempted to signal their support for unionizing Amazon workers through retweets and posts, real solidarity extends into meaningful action, and support for workers facing exploitation from one of the world’s biggest corporations should be a real litmus test for our electeds. We talk about what this external solidarity looks like, along with much more on this episode of KK&F.

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This week’s guest is Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, who shares his insight on how the situation relates to Middle Eastern politics Reflecting on the resounding call for sanctions that’s currently coming from Washington, Dr. Parsi recalls the U.S.’s recent seizing of the Afghan central bank’s funds. This move, which attempted to paint a veneer of charity by putting half of the stolen assets into a humanitarian fund, was a clear grab for power and control over those who have suffered for decades under U.S. militarism. In the case of Russia, sanctions won’t convince a dictator to cease violence against innocent people in the Ukraine. They will, however, visit economic devastation and instability on innocent people in Russia. We believe there’s a better way.

This episode of KK&F is available to everyone through 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

We’re joined by foreign policy advisor Matt Duss to discuss the future of the conflict in Ukraine. What comes next? Matt is wary of the calls to sanction, ramp up military action, and escalate the conflict — after all, so many of these calls are coming from the Beltway, where war hawks and defense contractors would love to see a World War III. To him, the question for this moment is “How do we protect human life most effectively?” That doesn’t mean plunging millions more people into financial destitution through sanctions, or creating a no-fly zone that will launch us into a much more dire situation. Instead, the moment for diplomatic discussion and resolution is here. We hope that the most will be made of it.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

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

With the war in Ukraine on our minds, we talk to author Catherine Liu about how class position affects daily life, particularly on the issue of war and peace. How does your class identity shape your understanding of and interactions with American militarism? Catherine makes the great point that the massive wealth commanded by the American military’s adventurism is a cost paid by American civilians, and that today’s military conflicts are used to avoid the implementation of a robust healthcare system.

But she also connects the development of this militarism through the twentieth century to the rise of the PMC. Think tanks have played an increasingly important role in beating the drums of war, and Catherine points to the idea of “expertise” in foreign policy that they promote, adding a veneer of intellectualism, experience, and professionalism to this country’s practice of destroying the lives of people overseas in senseless, bloody wars.

Our conversation with Catherine helped us to think through this week’s troubling, complicated events, and we think you’ll enjoy the conversation, too. Thanks for your support! You can find this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, 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

The “million-dollar question” on the table, according to this week’s guest Michael Levitin, is how the Occupy ethos — rejecting corporatist obstruction of the people’s agenda — can galvanize American leftists looking to take on the current corporate henchmen of the Democratic Party. We know that policies like Medicare for All are widely popular, but candidates bringing them to the table face serious setbacks from the party. How can we achieve Occupy-style social reform with this set of Manchin-style elites in our way?

Michael’s answer is that it’s hard to see a way out of the bind we’re in without a mass populist movement — one that can demand the political changes we so desperately need to see, rather than asking politely for them and being rebuffed by Democrats and Republicans alike. We address questions like these and others with Michael, and we think you’ll want to hear his response.

You can listen to this episode 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

Joining us this week is Chapo Trap House co-host Felix Biederman. We get into the Chapo origin story, what it’s like when your podcast is on the front page of the Times, and Felix’s analysis of the period of precarity and despair that everyday people are living through. And we return to take a look at the 2020 election.

As he does in projects like Chapo and Fighting in the Age of Loneliness, Felix is able to speak to the despair of a generation promised a future that years of economic instability have taken away. Faced with mountains of debt and the exploitation of the gig economy, young people are staring down economic crisis. With Felix, we gain insight into how we ended up here, and what the stakes are for everyday people.

Audio of this conversation is available on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

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, Ben Burgis joins us to talk about the current events at the front of your mind. One of the major lightning rods for political discussion in the past weeks has been the movement to push Spotify to censor podcaster Joe Rogan. Among the things we discussed with Ben are what the prevailing narrative gets wrong about Rogan, how to understand his politics amidst the accusations of far-right sympathies that are ascribed to him, and how this fits into a larger story of censorship and free speech — a story in which the left can play a serious role.

You can listen to this conversation 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

Our conversation with this week’s guest, Johann Hari, moves from the individual to the collective as we discuss the digital algorithms that keep us locked into online life and the ways of resetting our consciousness — both personally and societally — that can lead us to a better way of being.

You might know Johann Hari from his books, including Lost Connection: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions (2018) and his newly released Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention. We focus on the latter, drawing on various perspectives — from the content creator to the everyday consumer of online media — to understand how the online world has eroded our collective attention spans, and to hear Johann’s argument on how we can reclaim them.

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In this conversation with author and journalist Peter Goodman, we delve into Peter’s argument for “how billionaires devoured the world” — how a few people with a lot of money are able to command massive control over our politics, our culture, our society at large. It’s also an opportunity to think about the world we might build instead. What rules and regulations could be implemented to stop our billionaire overlords? Do we need an entirely new political system to ensure that nobody reaches Amazon CEO levels of power ever again? We discuss all of this and more on this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends.

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’s guest, Henry Williams, gives us a look into how he and the Gravel Institute team have built a major digital platform to spread leftist ideas and debunk reactionary claims. As a Columbia undergrad, Henry helped to launch and run the campaign of Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel, the antiwar champion who put the Pentagon Papers in the Congressional Record. Now, as the co-founder of the Gravel Institute, he’s built a home for essential video primers on the struggles we face under capitalism — which have racked up a massive, eager online audience. We think you’ll enjoy hearing about Henry’s game-changing work, and we’re grateful to you for tuning in.

You can listen to this episode on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other 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