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 12/8/2023
Neoliberalism has created a lot of economic suffering and insecurity in addition to weakened social ties over the past few decades. And now, in what may be the most devastating result of the ideology yet, neoliberalism may be leading much of the world toward fascism bolstered by legitimate grievances about economic precarity which are coopted by the false promises of right-wing populis...
Air Date 12/5/2023
It's important to focus on positive visions and not only get stuck in doom cycles of complaining about what's going wrong. So, we're looking at a variety of positive visions including rethinking human nature, reimagining our relationship with consumerism, considering how design can work with nature instead of against it, and understanding why cooperation is better than individualistic ...
Original Air Date: 10/8/2022
Today, we take a look at the recent elections in Italy, Brazil and Sweden where far-right parties are either taking power or looking to maintain it as well as the parallels to our own politics including moderate conservatives helping to legitimize the far-right while delegitimizing elections.
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Air Date 11/29/2023
The movement for universal health care is still underway, though it rarely gets recognized in mainstream discourse. The death of Medicare For All (M4A) activist Ady Barkan is an occasion worth using to look at the progress being made to improve our system of promoting the health of all people in the United States as well as efforts to rein in the power of big Pharma that's used to gou...
Air Date 11/26/2023
As the hottest year in 125,000 years or so begins to come to a close, we turn to two projects still in their infancy that have big plans to decarbonize our electricity generation on one hand and give us a bit more time to turn our climate futures around on the other. The first is a reinvigoration of the geothermal power industry with the hopes of scaling up globally and the second is ...
Original Air Date 10-5-2022
Today, we take a look at the life and legacy of President Ronald Reagan, the last transformational U.S. president who's regime we are still living in. Between his neoliberal economics, anti-government ideology and white supremacist appeal to authoritarians, he did more to shape the last 40 years of the politics of the country and conservative movement than anyone else.
Air Date: 11-17-23
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Erin and Deon discuss:
- The internet culture of putting people on blast,
- a reexamination of kids who want their parents to track their movements,
- trying to learn about the human condition but getting tricked into watching poverty porn,
- and using AI to talk to whales and save all life on earth
REFERENCES:
Teens Want Parents to Track Their Phones and Monitor Their Every Move - Wall Stre...
Air Date 11/14/2023
The Supreme Court turned the table on average, working people back in the 70s when they empowered wealthy individuals and corporations to have an outsized role in our politics. Now we're trapped in the reality that shift in power created and are dreaming of a better way to manage our economic and political systems for the benefit of all people.
Air Date 11/10/2023
Violence and oppression are destructive and corrosive to both the victim and perpetrator and this goes a long way toward explaining many of the dynamics at play in the holy land between Israelis and Palestinians.
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Air Date 11/6/2023
Media literacy is a basic requirement for understanding the war in Gaza, as propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation are being distributed for both ideological and financial reasons.
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Original Air Date: 8/31/2022
Today, as the news of Trump's various trials continues to drop out, we take a look back at this episode covering the long and illustrious history of powerful people avoiding prosecution in the United States.
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Original Air Date: 8/16/2022
Today, we take a look at the strategies underway to systematically dismantle democracy in the United States including installing Big-Lie™ believers in elected and poll-working positions, preventing state-level Supreme Courts from holding GOP-dominated state legislators to the state constitutions, and wiping out tens of thousands of career civil servants from the federal gover...
Air Date 10/23/2023
The people who want to pull the country in directions that are only supported by a small minority of the population have to develop very intricate plans to have any hope of succeeding. This is the story of the latest plan to establish unchecked rule to implement unpopular policies supported only by the far right.
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Air Date: 10-21-23
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Erin and Deon discuss:
- the complainers at The Atlantic
- why a mindful workforce is an oxymoron
- the myriad problems with creeping on people
- how Taylor Swift is going to solve anti-native racism
REFERENCES:
The Microwave Makes No Sense - The Atlantic
Real mindfulness would transform the economy - Vox
Maybe think twice before making an innocent stranger go viral? - NPR
Air Date 10/17/2023
There is absolutely no understanding of the conflict in Israel and Gaza without deep context, history, and human psychology. Those who attempt to find moral clarity through simplification of the situation will only find themselves supporting atrocities by one side or the other and demonstrate themselves to be fools in the process.
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Air Date 10/13/2023
Understanding the historical context of the civil war within the GOP as they have just fought their way out of being able to govern at all with an empty Speakership in the house that is grinding congress to a halt.
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Original Air Date: 2/22/2023
Today, we take a look at some of the work of the chaotic wrecking crew that is the GOP of the 118th Congress including their plan to hold the world economy hostage and weaponize the government against Democrats all while infighting their way to the 2024 presidential election.
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Air Date 10/7/2023
Spanning the gamut of terrible policy choices and their impacts on children, we look today at the perverse reality at odds with conservatives' claim to be standing up for "family values" and saving children from the abuse of Democrats.
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Air Date 10/3/2023
The Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta is the current tip of the spear of the police accountability movement but the instinct of elected officials to lean into building more and bigger policing facilities is likely to spread as part of the backlash to the backlash against police violence which calls for defunding and redistributing resources to programs that actually help people.
Air Date: 9-29-23
Today, Jay!, Amanda, Erin and Deon discuss:
- The economics of witch trials
- The creation of content for capital
- Layers and layers of bullshit obscure reality
- Post script: visit to the Salem museum
REFERENCES:
How Social Turmoil Has Increased Witch Hunts throughout History - Scientific American
To Be a Consumer of Culture Means Living in a Hostage Situation - Slate
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