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

Air Date 5/27/2025

Slippery slope arguments persist because good ideas taken to extremes become bad ones. Eugenics exemplifies this—often starting with good intentions.

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Air Date: 5-26-25

*CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE “SINNERS”*

You thought you were going to listen to SOLVED! today, and you're not alone. We also thought we were going to make an episode of SOLVED!,…

Original Air Date: 6/29/2020

From 2020: Today we take a look deeper at the concept of "I can't breathe," going beyond the literal utterances by victims of police brutality and COVID-19 sufferers to t…

Air Date: 5-21-2025

A popular MAGA refrain is, "promises made, promises kept." The key is having known which promises to take seriously. Weaponizing the government against his enemies and attempting …

Air Date: 5-19-25

Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation) discuss:

• The origins of and problems with “the one way” Christian mindset
• Why Finland’s happiest country title and happiness it…

Air Date 5/18/2025

The full quote from today's title is from one of the most celebrated writers of Southern American literature, William Faulkner, who said, "The past is never dead. It’s not even pas…

Original Air Date 6/4/2022

Today we take a look at some of the obvious steps we need to take to reduce gun violence in the United States, debunk some of the favored propaganda supporting unfettered g…

Original Air Date 5/24/2019

As the neoliberal order collapses from the pressure of its failures to provide for working people, we take a look at the much-maligned, rarely-understood field of economic…

Air Date 5/6/2025

The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we look at government surveillance overreach, challenges facing immigrant and…

Air Date: 5-5-25

Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin continue our discussion on masculinity and dive into:

- The dangers of the online obsession with Patrick Bateman from American Psycho

- John Adams’…

Air Date 5/2/2025

We're taking the passing of Pope Francis as an opportunity to explore the deeper political implications of the extremist, rightward turn for some in the Catholic Church, including m…

Air Date 4/29/2025

The economic and political fallout of Trump’s misguided tariffs, exposing his self-proclaimed deal-making prowess as a fraud and his grasp of the relevant issues to be childlike at…

Air Date: 4-28-25

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

- Why the “manly” manufacturing jobs Trump and MAGA want are never coming back

- Why incels love Trump’s tariffs

- The sad flails of the …

Air Date 4/26/2025

For those of us who knew that Trump was lawless and deeply racist in his desire for mass deportations of brown people, we're getting exactly what we expected. For others, at least …

Air Date 4/22/2025

George W. Bush proposed privatizing Social Security and didn't succeed. But, as with appointing Justices that would eventually overturn Roe V. Wade, groundwork was being laid as pa…

Air Date 4/18/2025

Before the election, I heard interviews and statistics about Trump supporters responding to his stated desire to weaponize the government against his political enemies. Their respo…

Air Date 4/14/2025

Everything, it turns out, is a double-edged sword. Democracy and freedom are great but it also contains the keys to its own destruction. Love is pretty good but it turns out that o…

Original Air Date: 3/5/2019

From 2019: Today we take a look at how the illiberalism of the Israeli government has alienated the vast majority of democratic nations and individuals who support human r…

Air Date 4/5/2025

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. And with Trump in place, the Christian Nationalists are looking to rewrite history to their li…

Air Date 4/2/2025

Love them or loathe them, the Democratic Party is the political institution available to the left to structurally take on Trumpism but we need a whole lot of new energy and new comm…