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

Air Date 1/14/2023

This Martin Luther King Day weekend, we take a look at a wider range of Black radicals who all helped build the unfinished Civil Rights Movement and who our history either whitewas…

Air Date 1/11/2023

Today, we take a look at the way unscientific guidelines, government subsidies, corporate propaganda, cultural context, capitalism, community stigma, and many actively and loudly w…

Air Date 1/7/2023

Today, we take a look at the criminal charges against Donald Trump that the January 6th Committee has referred to the DOJ but examine them through the lens of past presidential crim…

Air Date 1/3/2023

Today, we take a look at the emerging implementation of facial recognition technology in public and commercial spaces along with the tracking and "amplifagandizing" capabilities of …

Original Air Date: 12-15-22

Today, Jay!, Amanda, Erin, and Deon discuss:

- Why framing corporations are moral actors is a step on the path to conspiratorial thinking

- Conservative framing that doesn…

Original Air Date 10/27/2021

Today we take a look at some of the ways that 25 years of Fox News has reshaped our media and political landscape. Crucially, understanding Fox isn't just about their inf…

Air Date 12/24/2022

Today, we compare the far-right religious extremists who are fighting to gain power in the US with the protests against the theocratic regime in Iran supporting women's rights in …

What if California seceded from the United States? If it did, what would happen? Would it usher in a new era of peace and prosperity? Or plunge the US into a new civil war? This is The Last Resort, a…

Original Air Date: 12-1-22

Today, Jay!, Amanda and Deon discuss:

- That the youth are doing away with "You're welcome"

- Words Matter: Building solidarity or maintaining power structures through voca…

Air Date 12/17/2022

Today, we take a look at the fringe philosophy of accelerationism that is having a bigger impact on society than you will likely have realized as it's been behind some of the wors…

Air Date 12/13/2022

Today, we take a look at the labor dispute within our freight rail industry as well as other unionization fights that corporations are vehemently opposing while the Democrats and …

Original Air Date 11/9/2021

Today we take a look at the Facebook business model that is driving hate, lies, violence, extremism, and the breakdown of democracy around the world as well as some of the…

Air Date 12/6/2022

Today, we take a look at some of the factors driving hyper-partisanship in the US right now along with multiple arguments to not give up on the power of persuasion. 

Be part of the…

Air Date 12/3/2022

Today, we take a look at the mega-companies that touch all of our lives and the monopolistic practices that have been developed to keep power and wealth concentrated with the few w…

Air Date 11/30/2022

Today, we take a look at the context of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar including the labor abuses endemic in the construction of the facilities, the authoritarianism and anti-LGBTQ p…

Original Air Date 11/27/2018

Today we take a look at the literal and figurative bloody messes of the history of Thanksgiving and the identities of native peoples. This episode is the second in an ong…

Air Date 11/22/2022

Today, we take a look at three recent incidents of celebrities using their platforms to spread antisemitic tropes all in the context of greater openness to antisemitism within the…

Original Air Date 4/16/2019

Today we take a look at just a few of the aspects of modern life for Native Peoples that we can see as stemming from the racism and colonialism that have been endemic in p…

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…