Wars in East Asia and Los Angeles

Hello from Tammy’s surfing hagwon! 

This week, we’re celebrating 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS! Sounds fake, we know, but Substack doesn’t lie. Thanks for tuning in to our ramblings for the past two and a half years—long live TTSG!

At the top of the show, we listen to a posthumous podcast with New Yorker editor John Bennett and several of his writers. We reflect on “Bennettisms” about the editor-writer relationship and how writers can help their readers. 

Next, Tammy reports on the heightened military tensions in Korea and across Asia. What makes this moment feel different in a region accustomed to confrontation and nuclear threats? How has the mainstream response to these threats shifted? And what does the war in Ukraine mean for state sovereignty and Cold War alignments? Plus: Korea’s most economically valuable young men (BTS) report for mandatory military service. 

Last, we go long on the L.A. City Council mess. As we discussed briefly last week, three council members and a union leader were caught making racist remarks in a closed-door discussion last year about redistricting. We dig into the deeper political arrangement in L.A. and the good and bad of ethnic solidarity. Could this incident, which has confirmed some cynical suspicions about local politics, be an earthquake moment that leads to stronger coalitions along race and class lines? Will this turn Jay and Tammy into Republicans? 

Next week, we’ll be recording a 🎉BONUS EP 🎉 for paid subscribers where we answer listener questions. Subscribe via Patreon or Substack to submit your questions and hear the episode! 

Also: Tomorrow, 10/20, at 6:30pm ET, Jay will join historian Erika Lee, New Yorker editor Michael Luo, and NYU’s Rachel Swarns to discuss anti-Asian violence and the complexity of America’s racial divide. Register here!

As always, you can follow us on Twitter and email us at [email protected]. 

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