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.
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!
Air Date 12/13/2024
The most important thing to understand about authoritarian and dictatorial governance is that it is neither efficient nor competent, contrary to the myth. The problem lies with the need to hire people based on their unquestioning loyalty rather than any kind of demonstrated ability to do the jobs they're tasked with. The results are, unsurprisingly, chaos.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: MAGA 2.0 w Quinn Slobodian & Wendy Brown - The Dig - Air Date 11-29-24
KP 3: A Slew Of A$$hole Nominations...- The Muckrake Political Podcast - Air Date 11-15-24
KP 5: Trump goes off the deep end with Cabinet pick - No Lie w Brian Tyler Cohen - Air Date 12-1-24
KP 6: The Trump Trials... Cases Closed - Americast - Air Date 11-29-24
KP 7: MAGA 2.0 w Quinn Slobodian & Wendy Brown - The Dig - Air Date 11-29-24
(54:37) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On why it's important to stay engaged
Don't Let Donald Trump Drive You Into Internal Exile - NYTimes
DEEPER DIVES
(58:44) SECTION A: THE LINEUP
(1:27:56) SECTION B: THE PLAYBOOK
(1:52:28) SECTION C: GLOBAL REFERENCE
(2:12:50) SECTION D: CRACKS IN AUTHORITY
SHOW IMAGE
Description: Composite graphic of Trump giving the double thumbs up over black silhouettes of people in suits with the clown face emoji on their heads and "MAGA" on their chests.
Credit: Composite design by A. Hoffman. Various images via Pixabay.
Air Date: 12-12-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - What the orcas are up to - Confronting the truth about eating meat - How to not let grief destroy leftist movements - Living a better life by accepting our own mortality
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REFERENCES:
Confessions of a Former Carnivore
For Our Movements to Win, We Must Learn How Not to Let Our Grief Destroy Us
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Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts!
Air Date 12/10/2024
In a moment of darkness, it's important to not only look for light but also understand how to create your own. Today we're exploring the philosophy of Tragic Optimism, the differing frameworks of freedom-from and freedom-to, and the slow progress of democracy but also the organizing strategies that are themselves the best coping mechanisms and path to progress.
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KEY POINTS
KP 3: How To Fight Fascism In America - Why, America? with Leeja Miller - Air Date 11-20-24
KP 4: Timothy Snyder: Is Freedom Misunderstood? - The Agenda - Air Date 10-9-24
KP 5: Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin, Why Can't We? - Unf*cking The Republic - Air Date 11-22-24
(49:55) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On holiday memberships
DEEPER DIVES
(52:31) SECTION A - ORGANZING
A1: Organizing in Rural America (w/ Luke Mayville) - Know Your Enemy - Air Date 11-27-24
(1:11:16) SECTION B - COPING
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
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Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Original Air Date: 11/29/2023
The movement for universal health care is still underway, though it rarely gets recognized in mainstream discourse. The murder of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson is an occasion worth using to look at the progress being made to improve our system of promoting the health of all people in the United States as well as efforts to rein in the power of big Pharma that's used to gouge the American people with exorbitant prices. So, that's what we're doing.
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SHOW NOTES
Healthcare activist Ady Barkan has died at the age of 39 of the neurodegenerative disease ALS. His story is told in the documentary Not Going Quietly. In 2021, Democracy Now! spoke with Ady Barkan just ahead of the film's premiere.
Ch. 2: Why your health insurance is tied to work - The Weeds - Air Date 10-18-23
The wartime policy that changed health insurance forever
Ch. 3: Rethinking the path to winning single payer - Code WACK! - Air Date 4-10-23
Winning Medicare for All in the U.S. may be at a standstill at the federal level, but it's a different story In the states. In 2021 alone, 18 single-payer bills were introduced in states such as Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, and Oregon.
If Medicare Advantage, the profit-driven entity that is decidedly NOT part of REAL Medicare, could be summed up in three words, they might be: deny, deny, deny.
Peter Maybarduk joins us to discuss how the new negotiation process aims to break up drug monopolies and disband the pharmaceutical industry's profit incentive.
Ch. 8: The Challenge of Caring for Our Elders - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 11-15-23
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Air Date: 12-6-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - The political origins of SimCity and how capitalism warps our choices - A new video game offering a very different vision of societal management - Naomi Klein's insights on the Left's missteps responding to the Mirror World - Applying cynicism and skepticism in moderation
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REFERENCES: SimCity Isn't a Model of Reality. It's a Libertarian Toy Land
Naomi Klein on her doppelganger (and yours)
Be Like Claud Cockburn: Tell Truths to the Masses
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Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening!
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Air Date 12/3/2024
At a time when there are very legitimate concerns about men's place in society, the Manosphere has stepped in to fill the gap in the cultural discussion to give an answer, not a good answer but an answer, to young men about modern masculinity which included a strong push to vote Trump.
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KEY POINTS
KP 1: The Role of the Press in This Moment with Matt Pearce - Why Is This Happening - Air Date 11-19-24
KP 5: Make America Male Again Fifteen years of aggrieved men - It's Been a Minute - Air Date 11-19-24
KP 6: Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation ( Feat Esosa Osa)- Gettin' Grown - Air Date 11-12-24
KP 7: How the Fediverse can make social fun again - WordPress - Air Date 8-12-24
(56:23) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the slow process of fixing our broken internet
DEEPER DIVES
(1:02:00) SECTION A - MEDIA LANDSCAPE
(1:22:06) SECTION B - MEN ARE NOT OKAY
(1:52:03) SECTION C - WHAT WE CAN DO
SHOW IMAGE
Description: Photo of the back of a young man standing on a subway platform putting headphones on as a silver train whizzes past.
Credit: "People guy man sound music" by StockSnap, Pixabay | License: Pixabay
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Air Date 11/29/2024
Today's episode is a remix of a 5-part series of episodes we did several years ago about telling native stories beyond what the US tends to share about its history. The series stretched all the way from Columbus to modern day and today we're sharing the highlights reel of what stuck out to us looking back.
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Ch 2: American expansion and violence against Native Americans - @BackStory - Air Date: 01-19-2018
Ch 4: Doctrine of Christian Discovery Part 1 - Let's Talk Native - Air Date 3-18-19
Ch 5: Beyond Tragedy: The Living History of Native America - Ideas from CBC Radio - Air Date 2-20-19
Ch 9: Sexual Violence and Native American Genocide - @Making_Contact - Air Date 11-26-13
Ch 10: 'Reel' Indians and the invention of Hollywood Indian English - Backstory - Air Date 11-22-14
Ch 13: What we inherit: Explaining intergenerational trauma - Code Switch - Air Date 6-6-18
MORE CLIPS IN FULL SHOW NOTES
Air Date 11/26/2024
In a world of infinite information but a finite amount of time to check your facts, we're living the logical conclusion of an online environment that favors false information over truth and the most popular online media reflects that reality perfectly.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Why is everyone suddenly an expert? (Even when they're not) - The Bunker - Air Date 5-20-24
KP 3: How Right-Wing Media Took Over America Part 1 - Why America? with Leeja Miller - Air Date 11-18-24
KP 5: We DON'T need a LEFTIST Joe Rogan - The Kavernacle - Air Date 11-14-24
KP 6: Stop Having an "Open Mind" - Breaking In The Habit - Air Date 5-31-24
KP 7: Birds Aren't Real? How a Conspiracy Takes Flight | Peter McIndoe - TED - Air Date 9-13-23
(49:25) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the nature of skepticism and open-mindedness
DEEPER DIVES
(55:48) SECTION A - THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE AND THE MEDIA
(1:27:00) SECTION B - TRUST AND BELIEF
(1:53:40) SECTION C - CENTRISM
(2:23:47) SECTION D - ROOTS
SHOW IMAGE
Description: A graphic depicting a silhouette of the Thinking Man statue with a chaotic swarm of letters coming from the top of his head. The word "Heterodoxy" is written along the curve of his back.
Credit: Composite design by A. Hoffman | "thinker words thoughts mind white" image by Convegni_Ancisa via Pixabay (Pixabay license)
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Air Date: 11-24-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Erin discuss: - A few sort of fun-ish news things because it's very necessary right now - A clear-eyed but concise take on why people voted the way they did - Why the hard right political philosophy and their lies are catching on, and what the left can do to stop the appeal
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REFERENCES: Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars'
Alex Jones Is Trying to Halt the Sale of Infowars. Elon Musk's X Just Got Involved in the Case.
Yes, Trump's Defense Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth Once Said 'Germs Are Not a Real Thing'
Americans Didn't Vote for What Donald Trump is About to Give Them
A Modest Proposal: Let Trump Be Trump
Steve Bannon Has Called His "Army" to Do Battle—No Matter Who Wins in November
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Air Date 11/20/2024
We're in the phase where prejudice still exists but it has become socially unacceptable to openly express it - but to deny the impact on our politics just because people don't admit to their prejudice would be to completely misunderstand the nature of the issue.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Some Americans Are Already Living in Trump's Purge - The New Abnormal - Air Date 10-1-24
KP 3: Why You Shouldn't Buy the Election Narrative About Black Men - Reveal - Air Date 10-23-24
(51:52) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the shifting landscape of social media
Follow BotL: Bluesky, Mastadon, Threads
Sky Follower Bridge: Find accounts that have migrated from Twitter to Bluesky
The OpenVibe app for cross-network access to new social sites
DEEPER DIVES
(56:28) SECTION A - A MIRROR FOR AMERICA
(1:25:17) SECTION B - WHITE SUPREMACY FOR THE WIN
(1:49:19) SECTION C - REVERBERATION
(2:09:22) SECTION D - WHAT NOW
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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