Time To Say Goodbye (private feed for richardmwhitten@gmail.com)

What Can RFK Actually Do and the History of Anti-Vaccine Movements with Jonathan Berman

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! 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 Seizes the Means of Production and Zohran's Bench Press

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! 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

Has AI Sold Out? with Jessica Dai and Ben Recht

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

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

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