Where does Krystal actually stand on (getting informed on) China?
Taiwan is not recognized as an independent state by any country including the United States. It is a part of China under international law and so it impossible for China to “invade” its own territory as your show relentlessly claims. A recent WaPo report revealed the US has had troops in Taiwan for over a year, training and arming separatists, which is equivalent to a foreign country training and arming Californian secessionists. Furthermore, the allegations of genocide in Xinjiang have been thoroughly and meticulously debunked by independent media, most notably The Grayzone, and have recently been largely walked back by even mainstream outlets like AP, yet you continue to casually state these evidence-free claims of genocide as hard fact. Krystal, will you please have someone like Carl Zha or Gareth Porter or Daniel Dumbrill or Brian Becker or anyone from the anti-war movement on your show to give your audience some much needed context and counter the extremely dangerous disinfo propagated by the Realignment bros and hacks like Jacob Helberg. It’s so frustrating watching Krystal give zero pushback, as if this is completely unrelated to Afghanistan and Russiagate, about which you all had some fairly decent takes. Not holding my breath for any retractions, but perhaps a shift away from the neo-con narrative?
Saagar: A crisis of young men segnment
Question: Have you looked into tech school rates around the world? I desperately wish this country did more to incentivize people to work with their hands in skilled trades. Context: I heard that something like 50% of equivalent "high school graduates" in Germany go into a trade. Obviously, the automakers are a big deal, there, but Germany has a ridiculous number of traditional companies that value traditional labor. I once did a project for Knorr-Bremse based in Munich - a company that has been manufacturing rail and vehicle brakes for over 100 years! You can make really good money as a machinist, an electrician, a plumber, a pipefitter, etc. Also, becoming an electrician or carpenter is not prone to replacement by robots or software any time in the next decade. If you get a "business degree," and your primary job is TPS reports and building Excel spreadsheets ... I hate to say it, but the software to do that already exists. A lot of the "white-collar work" that used to bring middle-class paychecks and lifestyle is going to disappear (if it hasn't already) to the ravenous black hole that is automation and AI. But a robot that can show up at a job site and wire a few 20A circuits to the backup generator? It's going to be a few years before Boston Dynamics has a robot that can do that work autonomously. Ironically, I personally have no college degree and have lived a hell of a life. I've had several years where I had to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax. However, that was a very special (and lucky) circumstance unique to techies who grew up as hacker kids in the 80's and 90's. It is often a surprise to reveal at various meetings that, no, I don't actually have a degree, but I'm working on it. I'm over 50, getting tired of the constant grind of tech, and want to "retire" into teaching math at a local high school. The lesson here isn't "don't get a degree" - I was massively impacted by 2001 and 2008 because of not having a degree. The lesson is: You can always go back and get one later if you choose. Young men should "get out there." Make something. Do something. Learn a craft or a trade. Be a sous chef for a few years. The idea that you should know what you want to do with your life at 18 is one of the most poisonous lies our current society tells you. 1 in 10 people might know their path at that age. And even then, I bet most of them would tell you later that it worked out, but they were still winging it at first. Z
Saagar: A crisis of young men segnment
Saagar you only touched the tip of the iceberg regarding men. Bringing blue-collar jobs won't help because in general women don't want to marry men less educated than them, even if they bring more money (which will not be the case for blue-collar anyway). The problem has been building over the last 50 years, the indicators you brought are just the visible sign of a deep rot in society. I hope you will have the courage to see and talk about it because part of the problem is that everyone is so afraid to speak. I suggest you interview Warren Farrell after reading his book The Boy Crisis.