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
- 582
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
#1470 Distorting History and Banning Books is a Power Play of Exclusion
Air Date 2/12/2022
Today we take a look at the recent uptick in banning and removing educational subjects and books from school curricula as well as specifically who is being harmed and who is being …
#1469 Geopolitical Brinksmanship Rekindling The Cold War (Ukraine Crisis)
Air Date 2/9/2022
Today we take a look at the simmering geopolitical crisis in Ukraine as Russia amasses military forces along the border. In particular, we hear from those who do not predict the imm…
Bonus Edition #245 Nouning Discrimination
Original Air Date: 1-13-22 Today, I am joined by Amanda, Erin and Deon to discuss: - Don't trust engineers - We were all assholes - Is Deon parenting wrongly? - It only takes two hours of talking - W…
#1468 Winning battles against the forces of neoliberalism around the world
Air Date 2/4/2022
Today we take a look at several vignettes of recent victories against conservative governments implementing exploitative, neoliberal policies that inspired the people to fight back.…
#1467 No One Asked For The Next Big Thing (Metaverse)
Air Date 1/31/2022
Today we take a look at the new buzz around the "metaverse" and why it is not only fairly dystopian in and of itself but also seems to require that the real world be a dystopia in …
#1394 White Terrorism and Willful Ignorance (Repost)
Original Air Date 1/26/2021
Today we take a look at our long history of ignoring domestic, right-wing terrorism from the Oklahoma City bombing through to the predictable actions of militia groups in …
#1391 The Road to Sedition (Repost)
Original Air Date 1/10/2021
Today, in our 15th-anniversary episode, we take a look at the years and years of warning signs we have been highlighting since 2006 that collectively predict the armed ins…
#1466 The Faustian Bargain of Technological Advancement and Societal Degradation (Audio Fixed)
Air Date 1/15/2022
Today we take a look at tradeoffs that are becoming ever more evident between the advancement of mass communication and social media technologies and the ways in which those advanc…
Sample Bonus 244 Come Correct or Not At All
Original Air Date: 12-21-21
Today, I am joined by Amanda, Erin and Deon to discuss:
- Empathy and the In-Group/Out-Group dichotomy
- Santa's new side hustles
- Races vs Racialized Groups
- Represent…
#1465 Epidemic of Patent Protection and Propaganda
Air Date 1/9/2022
Today we take a look at a few of the recent failures and challenges facing the Democratic Party in the face of an oncoming wave of anti-democratic forces bent on establishing an ent…
#1464 Fighting to Preserve Democracy With Only Democrats to Turn To
Air Date 1/5/2022
Today we take a look at a few of the recent failures and challenges facing the Democratic Party in the face of an oncoming wave of anti-democratic forces bent on establishing an ent…
Best of the Left Trailer
Expertly-curated progressive politics, news and culture produced by humans, not algorithms or A.I.. This is an award-winning podcast that dives deeply on a wide range of national, international and l…
#1402 Racism or Classism? Caste Explains that it is Both (Repost)
Original Air Date 3/6/2021
Today we take a look at the origins of race and the building of a caste system in the US based largely on the lessons from Isabel Wilkerson, author of "Caste: The Origins o…
#1387 Hyper-Partisanship is Baked Into the System, Not a Result of Bad Actors (Repost)
Original Air Date 12/15/2020
Today we take a look at the current state of hyper-partisanship and its origins. The system seems broken because it is broken and it was never designed to work this way i…
#1390 Tell Stories, Not Myths: Our Second Founding (Reconstruction) (Repost)
Original Air Date 1/5/2021
Today we take a look at the often-overlooked decade of Reconstruction in the wake of the Civil War. After hundreds of years of slavery, Reconstruction was a brief moment of…
#1463 People Are Waking Back Up To The Need For Labor Unions
Air Date 12/22/2021
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 struggl…
Bonus Sample: Mighty White
Original Air Date: 12-7-21
Today, I am joined by Amanda, Erin and Deon to discuss:
- Old and new usages of "White"
- A little-known version of class mobility in Spanish colonial America
- The Great R…
#1462 There Will Be No Reichstag Fire
Air Date 12/18/2021
Today we take a look at the roadmap to authoritarianism we are currently following including the detailed and multifaceted roadmap to a coup that was practiced leading up to Janua…
#1461 Neoliberalism is Hanging on for Dear Life in Changing Times
Air Date 12/15/2021
Today we take a look at the cracks and fissures appearing ever more quickly in the neoliberal order that was already widely criticized before the pandemic stripped it bare, exposi…
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