Two requests
Krystal, someone has to do something about Bill Maher and his seemingly massive ignorance about the Gaza situation. I’m a former USAF officer with am MS in International Relations. He’s so off. Only Krystal can school Bill. Even Bill Burr can’t give him a spoon full of medicine for his total lack of thought. It’s like a cult has emerged. You should talk about it. And you should go back on his show even though I know you hate it. But do it for your country. 2nd, a lot of talk about China and manufacturing, etc this week. You should have someone in trade who can actually talk about these issues from experience and expertise. I have never heard anyone, like me, who is in trade and manufacturing and actually travels to these areas and has long term relationships, talk in a straight forward way about this issue. Lots of macro but no micro. There is never a human element. The truth isn’t macro, it’s 100% micro and no one gets it. Their anpproach is always technical. That isn’t what trade and foreign business are about. Ryan got close this week but is still missing the real human element of what is happening with real people. Lifetime member, daily listener since day one. You guys make me proud and hopeful as we meander through the bizzaroland of planet earth.
Saagar’s Boomer sarcasm
Saagar, can you please limit or refrain altogether from referring to people of my demographic as “Boomers” and “White Suburban Ladies”? Insulting. Condescending and at times wholly inaccurate. For example, my life has been spent as a proud NorthWesterner, a professional violinist schooled in Paris, a hospital and retail pharmacist, a NPR radio host, a mother of twins, a globalist, an English Channel swimmer (successfully crossed at age 62), a cancer survivor, a puppeteer, a technical writer, an event coordinator, a Full Ironman finisher, a cross country ski racer, and a traveler (Including Cuba, High Andes of Peru, Europe as student and visitor). I am multi-lingual. I am an active and vociferous protestor against the genocide in Gaza. I hate both Biden and Trump. I am an avid scholar of history just like you. Yet I am white. Born into suburbia. Scottish Protestant work ethic. Comfortable middle class upbringing. Does this background disqualify me from claiming I have a brain? I will add that my friends and colleagues are also diverse, well informed and engaged. Sure, certain polls may indicate otherwise but they do not take into consideration the individuality of “Boomers” or those of any other age group. From my vantage point I could easily group you with young, privileged and inexperienced thirty somethings who have yet to be challenged by life. A former Frat boy. Unable to consider a path to success other than college. So please, please jettison the stereotyping. Honestly, I lose respect for you every time you offhandedly throw around misnomer labels. All that said, I am still a huge fan of you and BreakingPoints, and will continue to support the show.
Content not found on the BreakingPoints site?
I feel this is a dumb question or perhaps I missed an announcement. Is there a reason why some content only seems to be on Youtube? I love just pulling up the next video here as my one-stop-shop for great news reporting, but recently I have noticed more segments which are not published here and are only on Youtube like "Ozempic Expert: 'Next Opioid Crisis?'" "Meet the Ex-Marine Running to Replace Joe Manchin in West Virginia" so am I missing them somewhere? If these segments didn't get their own video link, they would be included toward the end of a regular daily episode or be bundled together and hosted here, like this one "4/12/24: Would Boeing Murder A Whistleblower, Ticketmaster Criminal Conspiracy". It's not a deal breaker, I just keep missing segments I am interested in because I'm no longer checking Youtube since subscribing with BreakingPoints. (which has perhaps provided the most value of any other subscription of mine, so great job!)
Aid to Gaza
Hey Krystal and Saagar. I love your show. Been loving your debates as well ( your personal ones as well as the ones hosted by counterpoints ). I am curious if the United States is directly involved in giving Aid to the Palestinian people or is it always through a third party. It seems bonkers that the US first provides weapons to the one side and then comes with aid on the other side. WTF???
New Website Layout?
What was the impetus for the new "Subscriber_v2" website design? It seems like the new AMA doesn't allow us to view and vote on questions asked. It's been very obvious that the AMA has become an outlet for your viewers to try to pitch stories and influence coverage. I've often wondered how you feel about this, and I asked about it once in the AMA, but I think it got drowned out. Are you reconsidering the AMA? Is there maybe another way you could give people a forum to pitch stories for coverage, without getting rid of the AMA? Is it broken? Are you getting tired of it? I can absolutely see how the AMA could become a chore to pick through and answer every week, especially with the volume of submissions that are just people venting or pitching ideas (I'm guilty of doing that too).