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
- 580
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
#1665 The GOP Is A Grift And Was Long Before Trump
Air Date 10/29/2024
Trump has only come close to perfecting the grift of the American conservative, he certainly didn't invent the strategy. Today we look at some current and past grifts and explore …
#1543 Capitalism doesn't live up to the hype (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 2/14/20223
Today, we take a look at some origins, alternatives and misunderstandings of capitalism from the Dutch East India Company, to Adam Smith and up through the planned obsol…
#1664 All That Gets Wrongly Blamed on Immigrants: Lies about the economy, crime, election integrity, Social Security, and more!
Air Date 10/22/2024
This is your one-stop reference guide to every issue that is being wrongly blamed on immigrants as the Trump campaign rhetoric turns evermore fascist and xenophobic.
Be part of th…
Bonus Edition #325 A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing
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Air Date: 10-20-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Yet another GOP animal abuse horror - Why weather ma…
#1491 Mismanaging Capitalism Can Lead to Fascism (Inflation and the Working Class)(Throwback)
Original Air Date: 5/27/2022
Today we take a look at the disruptions to society that can unfold in times of economic distress such as high inflation, price gouging, wage stagnation and income inequal…
#1663 Recovering from Disaster(ous) Policy Amid Disinformation: Hurricanes and Wild Fires at the forefront of our climate emergency
Air Date 10/15/2024
Just as COVID tended to expose the preexisting fractures and inequalities in our society causing undue harm, supercharged by disinformation, so do natural disasters. And the impac…
Bonus Edition #324 The Mess Joe Made
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Air Date: 10-14-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - A member voicemail about autopilot cars - Some call…
#1662 Renewing the Nuclear Age: Weapons, Energy, Climate Mitigation, and Risk
Air Date 10/11/2024
Humans insatiable need for increasing amounts of energy and our tendency to want to at least have the option to wipe entire populations off the map has led to a renewed age of ris…
To See Each Other: A Beloved Nursing Home
Presenting an episode of 'To See Each Other,' a show that complicates the narrative about small town Americans in our most misunderstood, and often abandoned, communities. This season, host George Go…
#1661 Immigration is Actively Good for the Country Unless You're Racist
Air Date 10/8/2024
Immigration dominates our politics in the worst way because one side benefits from lying about it and the other can't get their messaging together to create an effective rebuttal. …
Bonus Sample #323 Solving Antisemitism
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Air Date: 10-7-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - The Today Show's take on viral phenom Moo Deng - The …
#1660 Criminalizing Pregnancy: The high cost in health, freedom, and even lives of the campaign to keep people pregnant.
Air Date 10/4/2024
When women's value is seen only in relation to their ability to bear and raise children, you get policies that strip them of the right to choose whether that is something they actu…
#1659 Conflagration Through Escalation: Israel expands the war to Lebanon to defend their ongoing genocide in Gaza
Air Date 10/1/2024
There's still no end in sight to Israel's war on its neighbors and the US continues its toothless efforts to de-escalate while maintaining seemingly unconditional support in spite …
Bonus Sample #322 Things That Go Vroom
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Air Date: 9-29-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Why Cards Against Humanity is fighting Elon Musk - Ho…
#1658 Pileup on the Information Superhighway: Information Dispensation in the Age of Deep Doubt
Air Date 9/27/2024
Let's just say that it's not a coincidence that right-wing authoritarians are on the rise at the same time as people around the world are having a harder time than ever figuring ou…
#1657 Modeling Positive Masculinity: Between Tim Walz and the Manosphere, boys are looking for guidance
Air Date 9/24/2024
The positive dad vibes of Tim Walz came onto the national scene in the middle of an ongoing crisis of masculinity that stretches from the youngest generations to the oldest. Both p…
Bonus Sample #321 Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty
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Air Date: 9-23-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Musk's latest - J.D. Vance's war on truth and brown p…
#1550 Red States, Where Democracy Goes to Die and Terrible Legislation is Born (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 3/21/2023
Today, we take a look at how GOP-controlled states are subverting democracy with a form of "competitive autocracy" and some of the horrifying legislation these states the…
Bonus Sample #320 Calculated Misery
Air Date: 9-19-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - the fallout from the debate, Trump's lies, and how his incoherence is being sanitized - The inadequacy of workplace protections, even i…
#1656 How Far He Will Go: Election lies, intimidation, interference, insurrection
Air Date 9/17/2024
It's not just the threat of the electoral college handing the presidency to the loser of the popular vote, nor the specter of a repeat of a January 6th-like event hanging over the …