Stay ConnectedExpertly-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.
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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 to wield dictatorial power, sure. Benefit his supporters or the working class more broadly, or rid the government of waste, fraud, or corruption... not so much.
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KEY POINTS
KP 1: 100 Perfect Days - Pod Save America - Air Date 4-29-25
KP 3: There is no president, really - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 4-26-25
KP 4: 100 days of payback - Today, Explained - Air Date 4-29-25
KP 6: 100 Days of Hypocrisy - Main Justice - Air Date 4-29-25
KP 7: A Trumped Up Police State Is Coming Part 1 - The Intercept Briefing - Air Date 5-8-25
KP 8: 100 Days of Chaos Skye Perryman - Future Hindsight - Air Date 5-1-25
(52:39) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the upcoming No Kings protest on June 14
DEEPER DIVES
(57:36) SECTION A: EXECUTIVE POWER
(1:35:05) SECTION B: IMMIGRATION & FORCE
(1:58:20) SECTION C: INCOMPETENCY AND SELF ENRICHMENT
(2:40:49) SECTION D: RESISTANCE
SHOW IMAGE CREDITS for #1711 - Trump 100 days
Description: Black and white photo of Trump at a podium at the White House looking stern, with a policeman standing behind him.
Credit: "P20250519JB-0425P20250519JB-0425" by The White House, Flickr | Government work, Public Domain
Produced by Jay!
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Air Date: 5-19-25
Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation) discuss:
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REFERENCES:
My Miserable Week in the Happiest Country on Earth - The New York Times
Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein (If you buy via this link, you can support indie bookstores and SOLVED! at the same time!)
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan (If you buy via this link, you can support indie bookstores and SOLVED! at the same time!)
A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by Camille Peri (If you buy via this link, you can support indie bookstores and SOLVED! at the same time!)
"Pale Blue Dot" - An excerpt from Carl Sagan's book "Pale Blue Dot" (If you buy via this link, you can support indie bookstores and SOLVED! at the same time!)
SOLVED! SONG! "Pale Blue Dot" - Concepts: Human Intelligence. Song: Artificial Intelligence.
TAKE ACTION:
June 14th - "No Kings" Nationwide Day of Action
Signal:
Leave a message at 202-999-3991
Produced by:
Jay! Tomlinson
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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 past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity." The new film, Sinners, set in the Jim Crow South, attempts to take on some of the subjects that make up that web of history and consequence. The theme of today's episode is an attempt to dig into many of the subjects of the film.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Sinners and the General State of Things - The Morbid Zoo - Air Date 5-10-25
KP 3: Western Christianity and White Supremacy Part 1 - Meant For This - Air Date 3-23-22
KP 4: How Do You Put A Price On America's Original Sin? - Consider This - Air Date 3-27-23
KP 5: Storm and Stress: Jim Crow America Part 1 - History is US - Air Date 6-5-22
KP 6: Trump's first 100 days, but it's just the racism - Garrison Hayes - Air Date 5-2-25
(48:29) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On how to talk about the interplay between economics and identity politics
DEEPER DIVES
(57:48) SECTION A: CHRISTIANITY
(1:33:29) SECTION B: RACE
(2:18:56) SECTION C: CULTURE
SHOW IMAGE CREDITS
Description: Portion of the 1830s painting "Slave Market" (Brazil) depicting two white men discussing the sale of enslaved, black Brazilian men with a church with steeple and cross in the background and the iconography of the Virgin Mary on the wall above.
Credit: "Slave Market" by Johann Moritz Rugendas, New York Public Library Digital Collections | Copyright status undetermined by NYPL | Changes: Cropped with increased contrast and brightness
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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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 gun ownership and explore the origins of how Gun Culture™ was invented by corporations as the frontier era need for guns began to vanish pushing them to convert guns from tools that were needed but not loved into items that were loved though no longer needed.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Igor Volsky on Ending Gun Violence - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-27-22
Ch. 3: Jordan Klepper Debunks The "Good Guy with a Gun" Argument - The Daily Show - Air Date 12-11-15
Ch. 6: How the Gun Industry Used Marketing to Change a Culture - Letters and Politics - Air Date 8-7-19
SHOW IMAGE: Description: A pencil sketch of a larger-than-life hand gun on the shoulders of a weary man, in the image of Jesus carrying the cross. He stands in a pool of red blood.
Credit: "Gun Culture" by Christopher Dombres, Flickr | Public Domain | Changes: Cropped
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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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 and social study known as Marxism.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: The Contributions of Karl Marx Part 1 - Economic Update - Air Date 5-25-18
Professor Wolff takes a deeper look at the life and work of Karl Marx in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Ch. 2: Marxism Today - Analysis - Air Date 6-19-16
Robin who was a BBC reporter for 25 years thinks Marx was always in the background discourse of politics, an influence he partly feared and didn't fully understand. He takes a walk through central London in the footsteps of the great revolutionary.
Ch. 3: David Harvey on Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason - Left Out - Air Date 11-5-17
David Harvey is arguably the most influential living geographer, as well as one of the world's leading Marxist scholars. He is among the most cited intellectuals of all time across the humanities and social sciences.
J. Moufawad-Paul, a Marxist philosopher and author of "Continuity and Rupture", "The Communist Necessity", and "Austerity Apparatus", joins Breht to discuss his most recent essay "This Ruthless Criticism of All That Exists: Marxism as Science".
Ch. 5: Erosion of Consumer Choices - David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles - Air Date 4-24-19
Prof. Harvey discusses Marx's theory of Capital and its relevance today. Consumers have less and less autonomy. Their choices, even how they will spend their leisure time, are increasingly influenced by capitalists.
Ch. 6: The Contributions of Karl Marx Part 2 - Economic Update - Air Date 5-25-18
Professor Wolff takes a deeper look at the life and work of Karl Marx in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Produced by Jay!
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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 refugee communities, the shifting landscape of American culture brought on by Christian Nationalism and the emerging broligarchy, and grassroots movements challenging institutional power.
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PART 1: GOVERNMENT POWER & ITS MISUSE
#1697 The Trump World Order: Are we the Baddies?
(00:27:13) #1699 A Government Of the People, By the People, and Weaponized Against the People
(00:41:10) #1704 Weaponization and Capitulation: Trump vs Immigrants, Universities, and Media
(01:05:30) #1706 Trump's Kafkaesque Deportation Nightmare is the Shame of the Nation
PART 2: VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES & CIVIL RIGHTS
(01:29:29) #1700 Dehumanizing Trans People is Always the First Step for Fascists
(01:49:55) #1705 Threatened Social Safety Nets Are Foundational to Healthy Societies
PART 3: CULTURAL & SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION
(02:24:21) #1703 The Broligarchy and the Rise of Techno-Feudalism
PART 4: OPPOSITION & RESISTANCE
(02:39:54) #1698 Resistance is Not Futile: Support the collective revolt against Trumpism (Special Podcasthon!)
(02:53:32) #1701 Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: Installing the Backbone Democrats Need
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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' famous quote that could give some insight into today's incels
- The Matt Walsh/Megan Kelly skirmish that exposes Walsh's siloed world-view
- A small but interesting group of former Trumpers who seem to have woken up to the bullshit of traditional gender roles
- The studies that show women have better sex under socialism
- SOLVED! SONG! "Love's Not a Game" (Directly inspired by this episode!)
FOLLOW US ON:
REFERENCES:
Sigma grindset: TikTok's toxic worshipping of Patrick Bateman is another sign young men are lost - GQ Magazine
John Adams Writes to Abigail: 'I must study politicks and war'
Daily Wire's Matt Walsh: "Men are generally not attracted to ambitious career-driven women" - Media Matters
The Vibe Shifts Against the Right - The New York Times
Why Women Had Better Sex Under Socialism - The New York Times (August 2017)
SOLVED! SONG! "Love's Not a Game" - Concepts: Human Intelligence. Song: Artificial Intelligence. Based on SOLVED! Ep. #8: Part 2
EXTRAS
"The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love" by bell hooks (If you buy via this link, you can support indie bookstores and SOLVED! at the same time!)
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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 many recent converts.
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KEY POINTS
KP 3: The Meaning of Pope Francis - Know Your Enemy - Air Date 4-25-25
KP 5: Opus Dei A Catholic Cult with Gareth Gore - Free Thought Matters - Air Date 2-20-25
KP 6: To Understand JD Vance, You Need to Meet the TheoBros - Mother Jones - Air Date 10-2-24
(53:23) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the benefits of democracy
DEEPER DIVES
(1:04:00) SECTION A: THE POPE
(1:22:49) SECTION B: IN POLICY
(1:43:34) SECTION C: POST-LIBERAL CATHOLICS
(2:17:50) SECTION D: MEN
SHOW IMAGE CREDITS
Description: Composite image. Showing a disgruntled looking JD Vance looking toward an image of Pope Francis smiling while blessing a child in a crowd. A quote in a box says "What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly, and will end badly."
Credit: Design by A. Hoffman | Components: "JD Vance" Gage Skidmore, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, used in composite | "Blessing of children pope" by ansehen, Pixabay | License: Pixabay
Produced by Jay!
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 best.
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Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience!
KEY POINTS
KP 1: The Lost History of Trump's Tariff War Part 1 - Lever Time - Air Date 4-4-25
KP 2: What we can learn from a past tariff tiff - Make Me Smart - Air Date 2-11-25
KP 5: Is Trump (Already) Giving Up On Tariffs? - TLDR News - Air Date 4-25-25
KP 6: The tariffs are just stupid. - Factually! with Adam Conover - Air Date 4-18-25
(00:48:40) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the related topics of masculinity and labor
DEEPER DIVES
(00:53:39) SECTION A: MOTIVATION
(01:17:08) SECTION B: DOMESTIC EFFECT
(01:57:28) SECTION C: INTERNATIONAL EFFECT
(02:43:36) SECTION D: HISTORY
Tariffied: Exposing Trump's Artless Deal
Description: Composite image. An illustrated outline of Trump's bust, including hair and suit and tie, with overlapping tariff stamps where the eyes and nose should be, and a wide open mouth with a globe between his teeth.
Credit: Design by A. Hoffman | Components License: Pixabay
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
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Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
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 "Make America Manly Again" movement
- The "Sigma grindset" guys' obsession with - and complete misunderstanding of - disturbing fictional movie characters
- Cliffhanger! Jay explains our upcoming schedule
- SOLVED! SONG! "Blinded" (Directly inspired by this episode!)
FOLLOW US ON:
REFERENCES:
Manufacturing jobs are never coming back - Vox
The strange link between Trump's tariffs and incel ideology - Vox
Trump's Tariff Pause Sets Back the "Make Men Manly Again" Movement - The Nation
Sigma grindset: TikTok's toxic worshipping of Patrick Bateman is another sign young men are lost - GQ
SOLVED! SONG! "Blinded" - Concepts: Human Intelligence. Song: Artificial Intelligence. Based on SOLVED! Ep. #8: "Part 1: Drowning Men Will Clutch at Straws: Masculinity in a MAGA world" (April 26th)
TAKE ACTION:
May Day nationwide action - May 1st
Find your Indivisible group - or start one
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Use the 5 Calls app for scripts and to reach all your elected officials
Reach us via Signal:
Leave a message at 202-999-3991
Produced by:
Jay! Tomlinson
Thanks for listening!
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
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