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PODCAST

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy

BestOfTheLeft.com

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!

news politics

All Episodes

19:01

SOLVED! SAMPLE! #23 - ROBBING YOU BLIND: ‘Buy Now Pay...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/28

Air Date: 9–24-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - Intro, and quick follow up on bad satire Ch. 2 - The new culture of ‘buy now pay later’ and how these companies are manipulating the public to normalize the culture of overconsumption Ch. 3 - How companies pass the environmental toll of their products on the public, and the rise of “cute” debt Ch. 4 - The way heavy ‘buy now pay later’ marketing has dramatically changed people’s impression of how they spend their money

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01:20:44

#1526 A History of Political Violence in the US...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/26

Original Air Date: 11/15/2022 Today, we take a look at our extremely steady history of political violence from the Revolution, through the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, into the Civil Rights era, the Militia Movement and domestic terrorism, and now to our current once-again-radicalized, right-wing movement willing to use and tacitly condone violence as a political tactic. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01,

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03:29:37

#1739 The Charlie Kirk Assassination and the Plans to...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/23

Air Date 9/23/2025 All that is happening in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination was quite predictable because we've actually seen this game plan play out before. The only thing we didn't know was what would be the catalyst to really put the autocracy into high gear. 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 Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube

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18:51

SOLVED! #22 - The Culture Wars at 10,000 Feet

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/22

Air Date: 9–20-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - The right-wing’s continued attempts at satire Ch. 2 - Manufactured outrage about male cheerleaders and sorority dances Ch. 3 - How political outsiders always adopt new tech, and how that ties to pushing back against misinformation Ch. 4 - Final thoughts on how when bad actors make gains, there is always a reaction SOLVED! BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm: The doctor exposing insurance companies’ worst behavior FOLLOW US ON:

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03:28:50

#1738 Escalations: Russia, Israel, And What We Are...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/20

Air Date 9/20/2025 The escalations are happening so fast now that even though this episode is about Russia increasing tensions by violating NATO airspace in Poland with drones and Israel intensifying their belligerence by bombing inside Qatar, those aren't even the most recent incidents now that Russian jets have entered NATO airspace in Estonia and Israel has launched a new attack on Gaza City while Netanyahu says he wants Israel to become like the doomed city-state of Sparta, which was weird. Be

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03:31:51

#1737 State of the Resistance: Labor, Anger, and...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/16

Air Date 9/16/2025 Between recent Labor Day rallies and Republican Town Hall meetings, we're seeing that resistance to Trump's deeply unpopular policies is alive and well. Plus we're going to look at some historical legacies of resistance movements that can both inform and inspire us today. 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 Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube

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03:38:26

#1736 Not the Opposition Party the Country Need Right...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/11

Air Date 9/11/2025 I've always learned the high-level understanding that the Nazis were partly able to come to power because the opposition at the time was too caught up with infighting to create a coherent resistance. With hindsight, it's easy to lament how badly they miscalculated the circumstances but living through the modern day and watching the Democratic Party struggle gives even more clarity to how that kind of inability to get organized in the face of existential threats to democracy can

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03:48:33

#1735 Trump's Making Friends of Enemies and Enemies...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/07

Air Date 9/7/2025 Trump has been setting a new tone both at home and abroad which is shaking up everything from the war in Ukraine to threats of force against Mexico, Venezuela, and our own American cities with the militarization of domestic policing. And we made all of this before Trump posted an Apocalypse Now meme about using the Department of War against Chicago. 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

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21:07

SOLVED! #21 - GerryF**ked: How to Fix Congressional...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/05

Air Date: 9–3-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - The surprising origins of Gerrymandering Ch. 2 - The options we have to improve congressional representation for everyone in the country Ch. 3 - Democratic states response to Republican gerrymandering threats Ch. 4 - The argument for DC statehood and the people to blame for why it hasn’t happened yet Ch. 5 - How to end homelessness and what you can do to help those being targeted in DC SOLVED! BACKSTAGE: Beyond the

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01:03:13

#1567 How to Sell an Immoral Economic System to the...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/03

Air Date: 6–20-2023 Today, we take a look at the story of how neoliberalism was born, how corporations were organized to help push it into the mainstream, and how the courts were reshaped to permanently tilt the rules in favor of corporate 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@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus

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03:11:37

#1734 Where is the Revolutionary, Anti-Fascist Art?

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/09/01

Air Date 9/1/2025 The way people consume almost every variety of media, entertainment, and art is different now than it was only 10-15 years ago. That means that the way protest music, revolutionary art, and even mass market productions and performances are going to be different, feel different, and likely find you in different ways than in the past. But the drive to create never dies and art will always be part of the resistance to oppression. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at

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26:57

SOLVED! #20 - America’s Brain Drain: How Scientific...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/29

Air Date: 8–28-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - How scientific empires fall Ch. 2 - How fascists of the past have destroyed their country’s scientific progress in fear of inconvenient truths Ch. 3 - How other countries are taking the opportunity to poach American scientists Ch. 4 - Living in a society that is shifting away from believing in evidence based science Ch. 5 - The 1938 pro-science manifesto that defended democracy against fascism BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm -

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03:09:37

#1733 The Impossible Promise of Make American Healthy...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/27

Air Date 8/27/2025 RFK Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement aren't completely wrong about everything, they often identify the larger structural problems with the US health industrial complex even if their proposed solutions are wildly off the mark. But the problem they failed to see coming when partnering with Trump and the Republicans is that they're only going to be allowed to misguidedly defund and dismantle parts of the government that support health which is in line with the broader

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02:53:34

#1732 It's Never Just About the Kids (Online...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/24

Air Date 8/24/2025 The nature of politics and public policy is that there's always a need to balance opposing interests. Almost nowhere is there a more intractable set of opposing interests than in the attempt to protect children from harmful content on the internet while maintaining free access to adults, particularly because people wildly disagree about what qualifies as harmful and what degree of privacy invasion is an acceptable tradeoff. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at

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03:41:10

#1731 Raw Power, the Presidency, the Courts, and...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/20

Air Date 8/20/2025 There's been a faction of conservatives who have been trying to instill king-like powers into the presidency for a long time, so it shouldn't be surprising that Trump is getting so much help from the packed court and the apparatchiks in the states who are more than happy to turn their precious federalism on its head as long as their king is in charge. 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

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16:35

SOLVED! #19 - Big Data: Putting Digital Fingerprints...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/19

Air Date: 8–19-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch.1 - The Trump administration’s unprecedented attempts to get your data from the states Ch. 2 - Why Trump’s new private health tracking system is a wolf in sheep’s clothing Ch. 3 - How HIV patients suffering in the 80s, 90s and early 00s from constant health data breaches is a hint of what could come Ch. 4 - Why a new UK law trying to protect children from seeing terrible things online is doing more harm than good Ch. 5 - Tips on

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03:52:59

#1730 The Axis of the Dark Personality Triad: Unfit...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/16

Air Date 8/16/2025 There's the old Douglas Adams quote stating that, "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job" which is a good general rule to live by. But then there are the real baddies, those would-be leaders who possess one or more of the dark triad of traits that spells real doom for the societies that elevate them to power: narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellianism. Today we compare and contrast Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin,

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03:48:40

#1729 Monthly-ish Mix: Layers of Authoritarian...

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/12

Air Date 8/12/2025 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month, we're covering the full spectrum of authoritarian threats—military in the streets, surveillance in our phones, conspiracies in our feeds, and corruption at the top—before turning to the grassroots organizers and Democratic Socialists who are building the resistance and winning. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the infamous Signal at

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21:55

SOLVED! #18 - How to Live Under Fascism

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/11

Air Date: 8–10-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation!) discuss: How modern fascism does not look like the jarring and brutal images people think of, and the “rituals of conformity” in Nazi Germany that remind us of another era we’ve lived through How despotism affects the citizen psyche and how to counter those effects The importance of countering Orwellian language under fascism Advice on living under authoritarianism, with a big focus on community for sanity and resistance

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03:09:37

#1728 The Lawfare Presidency: The Case of Trump v....

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on... ·

2025/08/10

Air Date 8/10/2025 Trump has been condemning the media for all of his professional life and is pretty open about doing it so that people won't believe the negative press he so richly deserves. Now, with the power of the presidency, he's turned his battle with the press into a protection racket complete with payoffs and side deals in an attempt to turn the media into pro-Trump propaganda. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the infamous Signal at the handle

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