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!
- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 76 minutes
- Episodes
- 581
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
#1635 Democracy on the Decline: The US is not alone in facing threats to democracy, others countries are showing how democracies fail
Air Date 6/11/2024
Democracies don't break all of a sudden in a moment of crisis, they fail slowly over time and only by knowing the warning signs and responding effectively to the threat before it's…
Bonus Sample #307 Uncertain and Powerless
Air Date: 06-09-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - how focusing on the "politics" of an event trivializes the impact that event has on real people - the detrimental effects combining th…
#1634 Abortion as the Tip of the Iceberg: the fight for privacy, bodily autonomy, and functional democracy after Dobbs overturning Roe v Wade
Air Date 6/7/2024
Banning abortion is wildly unpopular and also one of the primary motivators for the group most strongly supporting the Republican Party and Donald Trump, the Christian Right, which …
#1633 Fights for Fair Pay, Journalism vs Sensationalism, Billionaire Bailouts, and Addiction Capitalism: Sports are a Microcosm of the Ills of Society
Air Date 6/4/2024
The problems that arise within the systems of sports are the same problems we all face everywhere which makes them a good lens through which to understand the mechanisms of broader …
Bonus Edition #305 Solved It! Conspiracy Theorists, Comment Sections, and Trump
Air Date: 6-2-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - How one MIT study used AI to reduce belief in conspiracy theories - How a new AI tool is attempting to make comments sections less awful…
#1134 Unnatural Disasters (Hurricanes and Humans) (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 9/19/2017
Today we look not so much at hurricanes and the climate science behind them (though we touch on that as well) but focus more on what we can see more clearly when it’s ill…
#1632 SiliCON Valley: The False Promises, Enshittification Economics, and Misguided Adventures of the Twits of Tech
Air Date 5/28/2024
Today we look at the most disappointing yet most idolized false heroes of our day, the titans of tech and the zany hijinks they've been getting up to recently.
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Bonus Sample #304 Not everything that counts can be counted
Air Date: 5-26-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - the con of supply and demand economics being about distributing goods with the greatest efficiency, and is instead nothing more than pr…
#1631 Body Neutrality in the World of Ozempic: Reassessing Weight, Body Positivity, Physical and Mental Health, and even the Economics of Body Size
Air Date 5/24/2024
Assessing the impacts of new diet drugs on physical and mental health in the context of our unhealthy food system and societal fat phobia
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#1630 Unrivaled Global Arms Dealer: Officially and Illegally Exporting the US Gun Culture Around the World
Air Date 5/21/2024
Whether by the US government playing matchmaker for the domestic weapons industry or through the illegal trade of the 'iron river,' the US is the leading seller of weapons around t…
#929 Looking to avert further tragedy (War on Drugs™) (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 5/9/2015
Today we take a look at the continuing failure that is the War on Drugs™ as well as some of the signs of hope that we may be making progress toward shutting it down
Be par…
Bonus Sample #303 At the Carwash: Living in a World Not Built for Humans
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Air Date: 5-16-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - How mega drive-throughs are ruining American towns an…
#1629 Hitting Where it Hurts in Our Era of Negative Partisanship: Messaging left-wing politics amid cultish politics
Air Date 5/15/2024
In an age of cultish in-group/out-group politics and media, we seek to find messaging for progressive partisans to achieve electoral success
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#1628 New Era of Antitrust for a New Era of Capitalism, Mega-Corporations and Big Tech
Air Date 5/11/2024
The effort to turn theory into practice that will open up new ways of thinking about antitrust lawsuits attempting to rein in big tech and other mega-corporations, which are operat…
#1627 Campus Protests and the Crackdown: Civil resistance against Israeli genocide in Gaza, responses from university presidents to Biden
Air Date 5/7/2024
Civil resistance on campuses across the country against Israeli genocide in Gaza calling for cease fire and divestment, university administrations up to the Biden administration res…
Bonus Sample #302 Satire requires a clarity of purpose and target lest it be mistaken for and contribute to that which it intends to criticize.
Air Date: 5-5-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Jerry Seinfeld blaming the "extreme left" and "PC culture" for the death of sitcoms - how Poe's Law (and the Amanda Principle) makes cre…
#1626 Remix - Protest Crackdown: Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand and the Response is Predictable
Air Date 5/3/2024
A look back at previous coverage of criminalizing protests, weaponizing civility, and violent responses to peaceful dissent.
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#1625 Society of Extreme Wealth and its Discontents: Tax avoidance, wealth inequality and the detrimental effects felt by us all
Air Date 5/1/2024
The past, present, and future of tackling the uselessness of extreme wealth by exposing and closing tax avoidance loopholes and pushing for a culture change to embrace the need for …
Bonus Sample #301 War Is the Continuation of Policy with Other Means
Air Date: 4-29-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - how the film 'Civil War' intentionally avoids any specifics about the "why", and in doing so becomes a …
#1513 The Morality of Debt and Forgiveness (Throwback)
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…