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
Original Air Date 9/14/2022
Today, we take a look at the history and hysteria behind debt and debt forgiveness while Biden is canceling student debt and opponents of the idea are reacting in the most predictable way possible because they misunderstand the relationship between debt and morality.
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Air Date 4/24/2024
Only by understanding the past can we understand the present and the histories of Cuba and Haiti have very stark lessons to impart about the cruelty of the Cuba embargo, the repercussions of imperial exploitation, and the dangers that arise amid dysfunctional democracy.
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Air Date: 4-22-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- How Israeli citizens and government officials use of the US's settler-colonialist past, westward expansion, and religious fundamentalism to justify their own settler expansion
- How the members of the extreme right are put in positions of power within the Israeli government, which is then used to...
Air Date 4/20/2024
Old habits die hard and the American establishment's unquestioning support for Israel is a very old habit indeed. Israel's government drifts farther and farther to the right, culminating in a genocidal push into Gaza. Meanwhile, President Biden, standard-bearer of the old establishment, seems destined to be the very last Democrat to see the need for a change.
Air Date: 4-18-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- how a tech start-up is trying to sell a shortcut to bliss
- the world of drug-free psychedelic experiences
- the capitalists trying to solve the loneliness epidemic
REFERENCES:
The Meditation Start-Up That’s Selling Bliss on Demand
What’s it like to take a $249 drug-free psychedelic trip? We found out
Original Air Date 2/12/2019
Today we take a look at both the BDS movement and the backlash response to it resulting in firings and legislation in many states (and pending federally) to restrict employment and business opportunities from those who fail to pledge in writing to not support of the boycott of Israel
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Air Date 4/12/2024
The forces of capitalism and deregulation loom large as industrial transport disasters continue to pile up with new focus brought to the issue by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and the series of dangerous and deadly failures from Boeing.
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Air Date 4/9/2024
The neoliberal legacy of the New Democrats continues to loom large but it really does seem like the progressive wing of the party and the broader demand for populist economic policies has had an impact. Now people just need to know that it's happening.
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Air Date: 4-7-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- Many facets of our society are clearly broken by capitalism, and bizarrely for some, chaos is the only thing that beings agency to their life
- The delusion of RFK Jr. voters, the understandable desire to vote third party, and the age-old cry of the 'uniparty'
- The trend of conservative voters among communities of color and where they find themselves in Trump's Repub...
Original Air Date: 11/10/2020
Today we take a look at the long and shifting history of the myth of democracy in America. We've never had it since the beginning but the reasons have shifted, ebbed and flowed over time. Now, in the midst of an attempted slow-motion coup, we look back at this most central American myth.
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Air Date 4/3/2024
As the country gears up for the election in November, we look at a variety of ways the GOP and their election-denialist supporters are preparing to subvert the democratic process to get the result they want.
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Air Date: 4-1-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- how Trump uses humor to normalize his behavior and engage his supporters
- how humor is not always a great weapon against fascism and autocracy
REFERENCES:
Can Parents Prevent Their Sons From Sliding to the Right?
In on the Joke: The Comedic Trick Trump Uses to Normalize His Behavior
Laughing All the Way to Autocracy
Leave a m...
Air Date 3/30/2024
We are living through an age of protest from the opposition to the Iraq war, the Arab Spring uprisings, Occupy Wall Street, through to marches against Trump, and now the war in Gaza. So, we thought we should take a look at the art and science of protest itself.
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Air Date: 3-28-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- how the wealthy use psilocybin to deal with stress and break the rules of time
- the working class get bath time and training on how to self-care their stress away
- the
REFERENCES:
It’s Time to Give Up on Email
The Working Woman’s Newest Life Hack: Magic Mushrooms
Original Air Date: 12/23/2021
Today we take a look at some of the history of labor struggles in America and the current wave of strikes that is giving renewed energy to the labor union movement and the struggle for better working conditions for all.
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Air Date 3/23/2024
Equality has been at the heart of civil rights movements for decades but what we have failed to see is that in striving for equality we cannot help but reinforce the unquestioned preexisting structures of society which, themselves, may be at fundamental odds with true freedom for all.
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Air Date: 3-21-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- how AI became a tool in the gender culture war
- the real reasons "soft girls" and "tradwives" are a thing
REFERENCES:
You Will Not Believe the Dumb Reason My Son Gave Me for Refusing to Wipe His Butt
AI has come to the gender culture war, yielding some truly dumb content
The False Escapism of Soft Girls and Tradwives
Leave a message at 202...
Air Date 3/19/2024
We break down some of the pseudoscience the trans panic is built on, look at the political drive to erase trans people, understand how language of panic shifts over time, and present and alternate view of societal healing for a healthier humanity.
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Air Date 3/15/2024
Republicans have been trending toward Putin fandom for more than a decade but with each passing year the stakes get higher, the propaganda gets more brazen, and what they're willing to support gets more grotesque.
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Air Date: 3-11-24
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss:
- mascuzynity and the conservative male ethos
- talking to young men to prevent their slide to the right
- and that brutal man camps that are more a symptom and cry for help than a solution
REFERENCES:
Mascuzynity: How a nicotine pouch explains the new ethos of young conservative men
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