Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Expertly-curated progressive politics, news, and culture produced by leftist humans, not algorithms or AI. This is an award-winning podcast that dives deeply into a wide range of national and international issues facing society and governments. We draw from hundreds of sources of progressive news and commentary. Est. 2006. Save time by listening to a range of perspectives on a focused topic in each episode and be introduced to new sources you will not have come across on your own!
Episodes
Air Date 12/30/2025
The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we start with the infrastructure of imperial violence—from Dick Cheney's legacy to the arms race to Sudan's genocide. Then we expose how power exploits ordinary people through predation and financialized desperation. But here's the thing: resistance is working and the facade is crumbling. From courtroom wins t...
SOLVED! SAMPLE! #30 - Everything is Ugly: How Convenience Killed Beauty—And How We Can Bring It Back
Air Date: 12-23-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
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Ch. 1 - Why everything is so ugly these days
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Ch. 2 - The story of "Millennial Gray" and how our personal spaces are impacted by beauty
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Ch. 3 - How government intervention and regulation does (and could) impact the beauty in our surroundings
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Ch. 4 - How beauty impacts sustainability as well as our very important feelings of belongin...
Air Date 12/26/2025
Authoritarian governments are always very focused on making it look like they have everything on absolute lock down. Everyone in lockstep, everything proceeding according to plan. But they do this for propaganda purposes, not because it has anything to do with reality. In fact, the opposite is always true. All of which is to say that conservatives are not in chaos because Trump is particularly chaotic, though he...
Original Air Date: 7/4/2022
Today, for this milestone episode, I attempted to squeeze in as many clever and interesting ideas as I could and ended up writing a starter guide to understand the United States. Plus, there are jingles!
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Check out our new show, SOLVED! on You...
Air Date 12/22/2025
It's said that mockery is one of the most effective weapons against dictators. I guess it depends on your goal, but still, there's truth there. And the good thing in that regard is that they are so very mockable. No really nice, likable, non-clownish people make themselves dictators and so the people who do are, without exception, absolutely ridiculous lunatics who deserve all the mockery and disdain in the worl...
Re-Air Date: 12–18-25
Unless you were a member in December of 2024, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're slowing down production for a little bit to reorganize our production processes, so enjoy this episode from our archives (and before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
Air Date 12/14/2025
The sad ease with which we manage to ignore some atrocities, even while paying much attention to others, has to do with how visible or invisible to us the systems are that are propping up those events. Nothing happens in a vacuum and in our world, if you're willing to dig deep enough, you'll always find how we're all connected - across both time and geography.
Air Date: 12-10-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was out this week) discuss:
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Ch. 1 - Generational humor, and analysis of Gen Z's absurdist humor and the impact it's having
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Ch. 2 - The unexpected social side effects of NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's campaign on Gen Z volunteers
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Ch. 3 - The "App"stinence Movement helping people get off of social media
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Ch. 4 - How the peak Millennial humor...
Air Date 12/14/2025
Albert Einstein said, "Life is just like a game, first you have to learn rules of the game, and then play it better then any one else." (Or just get some insider knowledge about which team is paid off to lose and bet on the game rather than playing it, am I right?) Now, while it's well known that sports gambling has great potential to corrupt the game, I'm sure being able to bet on literally anything in life all...
Air Date 12/10/2025
Dick Cheney used to be thought of as Darth Vader but did he have an end-of-life conversion back to the light side of the force? No, he was bad all along and only thought Trump was worse.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube!
Re-Air Date: 12–2-25
Unless you were a member in May of 2024, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're slowing down production for a little bit to reorganize our production processes, so enjoy this episode from our archives (and B.Y: before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
Ch. 1 - How supply an...
Original Air Date: 1-23-2024
The recent discovery of hundreds of bodies buried behind a jail in unmarked graves sparks a renewed discussion about the futility and counter-productiveness of our system of incarceration and the context of our history that has brought us to this point.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or ema...
Air Date 12/2/2025
If you need more evidence for just how far from rationality our politics have slid in recent decades, Zorhan Mamdani is seen by many as a radical for mostly just saying that people should be able to afford to buy the things they need to live.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Air Date: 11-25-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
- Ch. 1 - The extremists trying to create race-based neighborhoods all over the U.S.
- Ch. 2 - What we can learn from Ireland's history of sectarian violence
- Ch. 3 - How the Irish became white
- Ch. 4 - An inconvenient truth from Frederick Douglas (and...
Original Air Date: 6–22-2020
Today we take a look at the history of racist policing which flows seamlessly into our present racist policing which itself flows into Trump's authoritarian glee at the opportunity to consolidate violent, racist power in response to protests against violent, racist power.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@Be...
Air Date 11/25/2025
We live in a world awash with baseless conspiracy theories but that doesn't mean there are no true conspiracies, as exemplified by Jeffrey Epstein. But it bears repeating, that we didn't need the exposure of a massive conspiracy to know that Donald Trump was a sexual predator because he said as much on tape before he was elected the first time in 2016.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3...
Re-Air Date: 11–18-25
Unless you were a member in December of 2024, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're slowing down production for a little bit to reorganize our production processes, so enjoy this episode from our archives (and B.Y: before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
...
Air Date 11/21/2025
In an ethical political system, being willing to break the law in order to starve people amid a political dispute wouldn't be a source of greater leverage and power but it is in ours and the shutdown put the wildly different senses of ethics between the parties on full display.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestO...
Air Date: 11-10-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:
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Ch. 1 - "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps"
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Ch. 2 - "Politically correct"
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Ch. 3 - "Ethnic cleansing"
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Ch. 4 - "Meritocracy"
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Ch. 5 - Our current "wealth pump" crisis and how it has been solved throughout history
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BACKSTAGE! Beyond the Algorithm (Members Only!): The best words to articulate the current moment
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...Air Date 11/7/2025
The most dangerous part of nuclear weapons has always been the people in charge of them. As we potentially enter a new arms race, some of the worst people in the world are in charge of the vast majority of nuclear weapons.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
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