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

Best of the Left: Perspectives on Politics, Culture, and Economics
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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!

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  1. 1d ago

    Deep Cuts: Exxon Knew - The History Behind the Case to Make Polluters Pay

    Air Date: 10/7/2026 Today we trace the "Exxon Knew" story through a decade of our own archive, because that history is what the Supreme Court is weighing in Suncor v. Boulder in their first case this term. Exxon's scientists confirmed the climate science in the early eighties and the company chose to manufacture doubt. Communities like Boulder County have paid ever since and the question before the Supreme Court is whether any lawsuit like this will be allowed to go to trial. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Link in Bio - Everything in one place! (Support, contact, socials, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: Trump's Big Oil Case Heads to the Supreme Court - What A Day - Air Date 3-16-26 KP 2: Exxon's History of Climate Change Research - On The Media - Air Date 9-18-15 KP 3: Brendan DeMelle on Exxon's Climate Cover-Up - CounterSpin - Air Date 4-29-16 KP 4: Bill McKibben on Exxon, the Power of Divestment, and Being Targeted by Shadowy Right-Wing Group - Democracy Now! - Air Date 05-26-16 KP 5: Five Lies Republicans Tell About the Climate Crisis - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 8-9-26 KP 6: Nationalizing Oil It's About Saving the World - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 4-11-22 KP 7: Ex Oil-Engineer Turned Climate Whistleblower: We Face Collapse. with Kevin Anderson - Downstream - Air Date 8-10-26 (00:59:46) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR   My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:09:07) SECTION A: THE INDUSTRY'S PLAYBOOK A1: The Climate Deniers Began in 1940 - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 04-14-16 A2: Naomi Oreskes: Climate Change Disinformation Is Like Pro-Tobacco Lobbying - The David Pakman Show - Air Date 03-08-16 A3: Kert Davies on How the Climate Denial Industry Works - The David Pakman Show - Air Date 12-04-15 A4: Ari Rabin-Havt on the Climate Change Lie Machine - In Deep W/ Angie Coiro - Air Date 6-11-16 (01:37:18) SECTION B: TRUMP'S ROLLBACK AND THE LEGAL FIGHT TO STOP IT B1: Why Trump Will Go Down In History As The Exxon President -The Majority Report with Sam Seder - Air Date 03-18-17 B2: Trump SHREDDING Obama's Environmental Rules - The Young Turks - Air Date 03-30-17 B3: Rolling Back Obama's Clean Energy Policies Will Be Harder Than Trump Thinks - The BradCast W/ Brad Friedman - Air Date 3-29-17 B4: What Happens When the Bedrock of US Climate Policy Is Wiped Away - Climate Court Voices - Air Date 5-15-26 B5: Notes on the Fight Against Fossil Capitalism with Ashley Dawson - This Is Hell! - Air Date 12-14-16 (02:19:01) SECTION C: SUNCOR V. BOULDER AND THE ACCOUNTABILITY FIGHT C1: The Fight for Fossil Fuel Industry Accountability: Understanding Suncor V. Boulder Part 1 - Center for Progressive Reform - Air Date 9-3-26 C2: What's Suncor V. Boulder? And Why Does It Matter to Climate Progress? - Covering Climate Now - Air Date 9-23-26 C3: The Fight for Fossil Fuel Industry Accountability: Understanding Suncor V. Boulder Part 2 - Center for Progressive Reform - Air Date 9-3-26 (02:43:38) SECTION D: NATIONALIZE IT D1: Not Everything That's Profitable Is Good - Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff - Air Date 2-10-17 D2: Climate Incrementalism Is the New Denial with Kate Aronoff - Bad Faith - Air Date 5-15-21 D3: Should We NATIONALIZE the Oil Industry with Matt Bruenig & Johanna Bozuwa - Bad Faith - Air Date 3-21-22 D4: What If The Fed Bought Out The Oil Industry - Ralph Nader Radio Hour - Air Date 7-18-22 D5: Climate Scientist James Hansen Warns World Is on Wrong Track to Prevent Runaway Global Warming - Democracy Now! - Air Date 12-04-15 D6: With Congress Unwilling to Act, Pressure Grows on Biden to Declare National Climate Emergency - Democracy Now! - Air Date 7-21-22 D7: Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis Climate Change Could Be Catalyst to Build a Fairer Economic System - Democracy Now! - Air Date 10-05-15   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    Deep Cuts: Exxon Knew - The History Behind the Case to Make Polluters Pay

  2. 1d ago ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: Fair Game by Vanity Fair

    Introducing Sam Altman Talks Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and the Risk of Extinction (Part 2 of 2) from Fair Game by Vanity Fair. Follow the show: Fair Game by Vanity Fair In this second of two sitdowns with Vanity Fair’s Mark Guiducci, taped in San Francisco on October 2nd, OpenAI’s Sam Altman discusses the ‘accord’ signed by AI leaders and President Trump, defends his company’s record on safety-related slowdowns, and clarifies how he’d like to be remembered as the story of this era of technology is written. “I'm going to make many individual decisions you clearly won't like,” Altman says. “But if you look at the trajectory of what we have done over the last many years we've been offering this, it's imperfect, but I think remarkably good relative to what I feared it could have been.” This is the second installment of a two-part interview with Altman. You can find the first installment on YouTube and podcast apps now.  Listen to and follow Fair Game from Vanity Fair on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

    You Might Also Like: Fair Game by Vanity Fair

  3. 4d ago

    The Mechanics of Complicity from Nazis to Newsrooms to Fandoms

    Air Date: 10/3/2026 Today we examine the mechanisms of complicity. We're not all complicit in the worst atrocities but we are complicit in something so it's good to know how it works. Good people go along with bad ideas and thoughtful people allow themselves to be thoughtless all the time. The reasons are often structural but they can be resisted on both the personal level and collectively. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Link in Bio - Everything in one place! (Support, contact, socials, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: How To Live Happily Next to a Death Camp | The Zone of Interest - Life Is A Story - Air Date 2-11-24 KP 2: "Do Not Obey in Advance": Timothy Snyder on How Corporate America Is Bending to Trump - Democracy Now! - Air Date 12-20-24 KP 3: Harry Potter Is Manufacturing Your Complicity - Jessie Gender - Air Date 8-30-26 KP 4: Politically Neutral? - PissedMagistus - Air Date 9-15-26 KP 5: Ta-Nehisi Coates: American Culture 'complicit' in Dehumanizing Palestinians - Velshi - Air Date 10-12-24 KP 6: The Paramount/WB Merger Is a Disaster - Adam Conover - Air Date 9-24-26 KP 7: I Quit My Job Because of Harry Potter Part 1 - Hoots Hootman - Air Date 9-26-26 (00:53:31) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR The Antidote to Following the Crowd Is One Other Person My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:05:32) SECTION A: LESSONS FROM NAZI GERMANY A1: Confronting Complicity: Exploring Ordinary Germans' Roles in the Holocaust - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Air Date 2-8-24 A2: Before America's Midterms: Hitler Didn't Rise Because of Democracy - Resistance History with Tad Stoermer - Air Date 9-25-26 (01:22:39) SECTION B: COMPLICITY IN GAZA: MEDIA, GOVERNMENTS, AND CELEBRITIES B1: It's Not Complicated: The Israel - Palestine "Conflict" - Doomed - Air Date 5-17-21 B2: UK Sanctions Israeli Settlers. A Breakthrough Or A Cop-Out? - Owen Jones - Air Date 9-8-26 B3: Ed Sheeran's "Safety and Sanctuary" - Brenna Perez - Air Date 9-15-26 B4: Documenting the U.S. Media's Complicity in the Genocide of Gaza (with Robin Andersen) - The Chris Hedges Report - Air Date 8-26-26 B5: Theo Von and Joe Rogan Are Complicit - The Serf Times - Air Date 9-25-26 (01:55:10) SECTION C: THE MYTH OF NEUTRALITY: MEDIA, MODERATES, AND OBEYING IN ADVANCE C1: "It Might Not Be Good for America, But It's Good for Us": How the Media Got Rich on Trump's Rise - Democracy Now! - Air Date 11-9-16 C2: How "Moderates" Serve The Right - Second Thought - Air Date 12-17-21 C3: We Don't Need to Say Unalived! - PissedMagistus - Air Date 9-25-26 C4: Why Centrists and Ezra Klein Are Ruining Everything - Benaminute - Air Date 11-21-25 C5: Should The Press Boycott Trump? - Leeja Miller - Air Date 9-24-26 (02:28:45) SECTION D: FANDOM, CONSUMPTION, AND PERSONAL RECKONING D1: The 7 Levels of Complicity With The System - Extra Andrewism - Air Date 7-6-26 D2: I Quit My Job Because of Harry Potter Part 2 - Hoots Hootman - Air Date 9-26-26 D3: The Hidden Danger of Turning Villains Into Heroes | Plotlines - Storied - Air Date 9-22-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    The Mechanics of Complicity from Nazis to Newsrooms to Fandoms

  4. Sep 29

    #1825 We Are Still the 99%: Occupy Wall Street's Unfinished Business, 15 Years Later

    Air Date: 9/30/2026 Today we look at the legacy of Occupy Wall Street, which was in full swing 15 years ago and changed how the country talks about inequality and the 1%. In the meantime, the cumulative wealth of the 1% in the US has roughly tripled and Trump has the wealthiest cabinet in history running the country, so the concerns expressed at Occupy have only come into sharper relief. This miniseries helped inspire today's episode, check it out! Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Link in Bio - Everything in one place! (Support, contact, socials, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: Episode 1 The Invitation Part 1 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 7-7-26 KP 2: America Lost Trust in Its Government. Now Comes the Dangerous Part. Part 1 - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 9-17-26 KP 3: The Long Fight Against Equality in the United States with Kim Phillips-Fein Part 1 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 9-3-26 KP 4: Occupy Wall Street 15 Years Later; Fighting for Medicare for All with Yotam Marom, Nancy Altman Part 1 - The Majority Report - Air Date 9-23-26 KP 5: We Are the 99 - 15 Years Later, Occupy Wall Street's Impact Is Still Being Felt Part 1 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 9-18-26 KP 6: Episode 6 You Can't Evict an Idea Part 1 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 8-13-26 (00:59:24) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR I Made My AI Chatbot Talk Like My 14-Year-Old Self My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:07:45) SECTION A: INSIDE THE OCCUPATION A1: Episode 1 The Invitation Part 2 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 7-7-26 A2: Episode 3 A Fork in the Road Part 1 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 7-23-26 A3: Episode 4 They Walk Among Us Part 1 - Future Hindsight Part 1 - Air Date 7-30-26 A4: Episode 3 A Fork in the Road Part 2 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 7-23-26 A5: Episode 4 They Walk Among Us Part 2 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 7-30-26 (01:55:33) SECTION B: INEQUALITY'S LONG HISTORY B1: The Long Fight Against Equality in the United States with Kim Phillips-Fein Part 2 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 9-3-26 B2: The US Tradition of Inequality with Kim Phillips-Fein Part 1 - Behind The News - Air Date 7-16-26 B3: The Long Fight Against Equality in the United States with Kim Phillips-Fein Part 3 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 9-3-26 B4: The US Tradition of Inequality with Kim Phillips-Fein Part 2 - Behind The News - Air Date 7-16-26 (02:34:40) SECTION C: BILLIONAIRES AND THE BACKLASH C1: How Close Is the US to Crony Capitalism Part 1 - The Indicator From Planet Money - Air Date 10-2-25 C2: America Lost Trust in Its Government. Now Comes the Dangerous Part. Part 2 - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 9-17-26 C3: Bernie Sanders The World Is Moving in the Wrong Direction on War, Climate, Inequality & AI Tech Part 1 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 9-23-26 C4: Stanford Legal California Billionaires Tax with Darien Shanske Part 1 - Stanford Legal - Air Date 3-30-26 C5: Why Is Newsom Fighting Californias Billionaire Tax Part 1 - Lever Time - Air Date 6-18-26 C6: Stanford Legal California Billionaires Tax with Darien Shanske Part 2 - Stanford Legal - Air Date 3-30-26 C7: Why Is Newsom Fighting Californias Billionaire Tax Part 2 - Lever Time - Air Date 6-18-26 (03:32:56) SECTION D: FIFTEEN YEARS LATER D1: Fifteen Years Later, Revisiting the Promise and Limits of Occupy Wall Street Part 1 - NYC NOW - Air Date 9-16-26 D2: Leaving Occupy Anarchism in the Past with Ben Fong & Christie Offenbacher Part 1 - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 3-18-22 D3: Fifteen Years Later, Revisiting the Promise and Limits of Occupy Wall Street Part 2 - NYC NOW - Air Date 9-16-26 D4: Occupy Wall Street 15 Years Later; Fighting for Medicare for All w_Yotam Marom, Nancy Altman Part 2 - The Majority Report - Air Date 9-23-26 D5: Leaving Occupy Anarchism in the Past with Ben Fong & Christie Offenbacher Part 2 - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 3-18-22 D6: Episode 6 You Can't Evict an Idea Part 2 - Future Hindsight - Air Date 8-13-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    #1825 We Are Still the 99%: Occupy Wall Street's Unfinished Business, 15 Years Later

  5. Sep 26

    The Next Gilded Age: AI Doomsday and the Insatiable Business Model https://www.bestoftheleft.com/1824

    Air Date: 9/26/2026 Today we explore the layers of chaos surrounding the AI industry, including the idealistic nerds-turned-nazis, the grift, bubble, and doom-marketing business model, and what people are doing to fight back. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: Do Silicon Valley Billionaires Want to End Democracy? - Political Breakdown - Air Date 8-14-26 KP 2: The AI Bubble Is Bigger And More Dangerous Than You Think Part 1 - The Tea with Myriam François - Air Date 9-11-26 KP 3: OpenAI's Math Battle - Elena OnOffline - Air Date 9-9-26 KP 4: Muskism Is the New Fordism with Ben Tarnoff & Quinn Slobodian - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 5-7-26 KP 5: Monologue: Jacob Coxon and the AI Safety Grift - Better Offline - Air Date 9-10-26 KP 6: The Real AI Jobs Apocalypse - Blood in the Machine - Air Date 9-4-26 KP 7: AI Has Ruined the Internet - Adam Conover - Air Date 8-31-26 KP 8: You Don't Hate AI Enough. - Nash Keune - Air Date 9-20-26 (01:00:11) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR AI Turned "Just a Little Bit More" Into a Business Model My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:12:47) SECTION A: THE NERD REICH - WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY BELIEVE A1: We Uncovered The Master Plan That Peter Thiel Doesn't Want You To See - More Perfect Union - Air Date 6-29-26 A2: Valerie Veatch: Ghost in the Machine — AI as Eugenics - Pivot to AI - Air Date 9-11-26 A3: The 'End Times Fascists' of AI - Blood in the Machine - Air Date 9-13-26 A4: Silicon Valley's Dark Future Is Almost Here - Michael Burns - Air Date 9-2-26 A5: "The Nerd Reich": Author Gil Durán on Big Tech Fascism, Peter Thiel, JD Vance & the War on Democracy - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-17-26 (01:58:16) SECTION B: WHAT AI IS ACTUALLY DOING TO US B1: The Al Question No One Wants to Ask Part 1 - Struthless - Air Date 6-9-26 B2: "Deep Unlearning": Timnit Gebru on AI Hype, Ethics & Algorithmic Racial Bias - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-13-26 B3: The Al Question No One Wants to Ask Part 2 - Struthless - Air Date 6-9-26 B4: Never Learn Again! AI Will Do It For You - Harland Spinks - Air Date 8-31-26 B5: Cybersecurity Has An AI Doomer Problem. - Marcus Hutchins - Air Date 9-15-26 B6: AI Expert: A 10% Extinction Risk Is "Way Too Low" - W/ Nate Soares - Owen Jones - Air Date 9-10-26 (02:44:18) SECTION C: THE GRIFT, THE BUBBLE, THE DOOM MARKETING C1: Is AI The Terminator Or The Big Short? - The Lever - Air Date 9-15-26 C2: The AI Bubble Is Bigger And More Dangerous Than You Think Part 2 - The Tea with Myriam François - Air Date 9-11-26 C3: Slow Down Your AI Expectations! - PissedMagistus - Air Date 9-20-26 C4: Why Tech Can't Determine Our Future - Side Burns - Air Date 9-10-26 (03:06:54) SECTION D: FIGHTING BACK - WORKERS, COMMUNITIES, ALTERNATIVES D1: Tech Workers of the World, Unite (ft. JS Tan, Clarissa Redwine) - This Machine Kills - Air Date 9-3-26 D2: Why I Think I'm a Luddite... and I'm Pretty Sure You Are, Too - Hello Tomorrow Podcast - Air Date 8-18-26 D3: How Mass Layoffs Changed Working in Tech with Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 8-27-26 D4: Government Is Putting AI Before People and the Planet with Matt Haugen - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 8-13-26 D5: Why We Can't Prevent an A.I. Crisis... and Shouldn't Want to - Hello Tomorrow Podcast - Air Date 9-8-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    The Next Gilded Age: AI Doomsday and the Insatiable Business Model https://www.bestoftheleft.com/1824

  6. Sep 23 ·  Bonus

    Monthly-ish Mix #12 The Great American Heist

    Air Date: 9/22/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on the news from July and August without being overwhelming! Organized around a single idea: ask who the system is for, and every story this summer gives the same answer. The administration rewrites the national story while libraries lose their funding. Corporations fence off ideas as private property. Latin America gets treated like a portfolio and Greenland like a drilling site. Police cameras put every driver under permanent investigation. The seats it all runs from are held until death, and the fixes on the table aim at prying some of them open. Covering: July–August 2026 Full Show Notes BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) SECTION 1: OWNING THE STORY (00:01:52) #1815 - Sanctioned Ignorance: The Assault on Museums, Libraries, and American Memory 1: Trying to Rewrite History - Letters From an American - Air Date 7-28-26 2: Why Libraries Matter in a Fascist Moment Part 1 - Movement Memos - Air Date 3-19-26 (00:21:31) #1816 - IP'd to Death: How Intellectual Property Law Went from a Protection to a Weapon 3: We Are Being IP-ed to Death / Vicky Osterweil Part 1 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 5-27-26 4: Is AI Burning The Library Of Alexandria? - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 8-5-26 5: Everyone's Wrong About John Oliver's Trademark War - LegalEagle - Air Date 8-8-26 SECTION 2: THE WORLD AS INVENTORY (00:45:39) #1814 - Open Imperialism in Latin America: Trump Says the Whole Hemisphere Is His to Run 6: "Imperial Laboratory": Alexander Aviña on the "Donroe" Doctrine & U.S. Intervention in Latin America - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-6-26 7: 'Cuba Is Not Venezuela': Trump's Takeover Threat Collides with 'disciplined Revolutionary State' - FRANCE 24 English - Air Date 3-18-26 (01:02:20) #1817 - Worse on Purpose: Trump is Killing Our Response to the Climate Emergency 8: Fire Climate Hot, Dry, Windy Days Are Becoming Common, Making Wildfires Harder to Control - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-6-24 9: Is This How We Invade Greenland - The Rachel Maddow Show - Air Date 8-11-26 SECTION 3: EVERYONE ELSE (01:22:58) #1818 - Flock Cameras, ICE, and the Surveillance State Targeting Everyone 10: Ohio Professor Specialized in Policing Nails Why Flock Cameras Are a Threat to Everyone - More Perfect Union - Air Date 8-16-26 11: Police Surveillance Technology - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Air Date 8-3-26 12: Former ICE Lawyer Says the Point of Trump's ICE Is to "engender Fear" - The Current - Air Date 7-14-26 (01:42:24) #1813 - Suffering is the Strategy: ICE, Mass Deportation, and Demographic Engineering 13: Trumps National Killer Police Force Part 1 - The Intercept Briefing - Air Date 7-24-26 14: ICE Deports Family To Their Deaths In Guatemala - The Majority Report - Air Date 7-29-26 15: Lauren Bonds on ICE Murders Part 1 - CounterSpin - Air Date 7-17-26 (02:08:33) #1819 - Coerced Sterilization, Abortion Bans, and the New Pronatalism: Who Controls American Reproduction 16: Buck V. Bell Part 1 - 5-4 - Air Date 5-26-20 17: Explaining This Moment of Pronatalism Part 1 - rePROS Fight Back - Air Date 6-16-26 18: If Roe Was Never Enough, Why Was It Everything (And a Word to My Boom! Lawyered Fam) Part 1 - Boom! Lawyered - Air Date 6-11-26 SECTION 4: HELD FOR LIFE... UNTIL NOW (02:35:29) #1811 - Country for Old Men: Gerontocracy By Design and the Democracy Problem 19: Mitch, Lindsey and the Gerontocracy Part 1 - What Next - Air Date 7-13-26 20: What Is There to Say About Lindsey Graham - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 7-12-26 21: Where Is Mitch McConnell? - The NPR Politics Podcast - Air Date 7-10-26 (02:58:47) #1812 - Democracy or This Supreme Court, But Not Both 22: 'Unhinged and Racist': Hayes EVISCERATES Trump's Birthright Argument - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 6-30-26 23: Did the Birthright Citizenship Ruling Prove It's Time for SCOTUS Reform? Part 1 - Stateside with Kai and Carter - Air Date 7-1-26 24: Broke: Pack the Supreme Court. Woke: Pack ALL of the Courts - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 7-23-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    Monthly-ish Mix #12 The Great American Heist

  7. Sep 19

    Deep Cuts: Occupy Wall Street in Real Time, 15 Years Later

    Air Date: 9/18/2026 Today we're doing something new and different but also very old. Occupy Wall Street just hit its 15th anniversary this month and we thought we'd do something that only we can, which is dip into our archives and pull out the best of the Occupy coverage we played in real time as it was happening as well as some other retrospective coverage that aired 10 years later. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: Keith Olbermann Reads First Collective Statement of Occupy Wall Street - Countdown - Air Date 10-6-11 KP 2: 99% V 1% the Data Behind the Occupy Movement Animation - Library Of Electronic Press - Air Date 11-16-11 KP 3: News Coverage Numbers of the Occupy Protests Vs Tea Party Protests - On the Media - Air Date 10-7-11 KP 4: What the Occupy Wall St Movement Wants Part 1 - Planet Money - Air Date 10-7-11 KP 5: The General Strike in Oakland - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 11-2-11 KP 6: Keith's Special Comment Why OWS Needs Michael Bloomberg - Countdown - Air Date 11-16-11 KP 7: UC Davis Police Pepper Spray Sitting Protesters at Point Blank Range - David Pakman - Air Date 11-21-11 KP 8: Occupy at 10 with Astra Taylor Part 1 - The Dig - Air Date 9-25-21 (01:01:34) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Democratic Primary Voters Keep Guessing What Everyone Else Will Do My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:12:59) SECTION A: THE STATE STRIKES BACK A1: Comparing the Occupation to the Bonus Army Encampment - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 10-26-11 A2: Erroneous Reporting on the Occupation - Counterspin - Air Date 10-27-11 A3: Protesting at Berkley, Past and Present - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 11-15-11 A4: If Cops Use Force Then Your Speech Wasn't Free (to Say the Least) - Matthew Filipowicz - Air Date 12-9-11 A5: Iraq Vet Scott Olsen on What He Hopes the Movement Will Achieve - Countdown - Air Date 12-2-11 (01:49:52) SECTION B: RIGGED SYSTEM, RIGGED COVERAGE B1: The Top 1% Vs YOU - The Young Turks - Air Date 10-31-11 B2: Panic of the Plutocrats - Green News Report - Air Date 10-11-11 B3: Three Quarters of Americans Believe Rich, Corporations Have Too Much Power - The Young Turks - Air Date 12-17-11 B4: World Economy Going to Hell - Dan Carlin - Air Date 9-28-11 B5: Leaked Republicans Scared of Occupy Wall Street - The Young Turks - Air Date 12-2-11 B6: Erin Burnett's Horrible Occupy Wall St Report - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-7-11 B7: The Screaming Majority Song on Occupy Wall St - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-7-11 (02:43:16) SECTION C: WHAT THE MOVEMENT WAS DOING C1: What the Occupy Wall St Movement Wants Part 2 - Planet Money C2: Prophetic Article Calling for the Occupation - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-25-11 C3: Occupying Our Homes - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 12-2-11 (03:13:08) SECTION D: THE LEGACY, 10 YEARS ON D1: Will Occupy Wall Street Affect 2012 Election Glenn Greenwald Interview - David Pakman - Air Date 11-14-11 D2: The Legacy of Occupy Wall Street, with Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit - Belabored - Air Date 9-24-21   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    Deep Cuts: Occupy Wall Street in Real Time, 15 Years Later

  8. Sep 15

    The State Media Playbook: The FCC and Billionaires Are Waging a War on the Free Press

    Air Date: 9/13/2026 Today we trace the two-front war on the American press. On one side, government regulators and members of Congress are going after news outlets for the stories they choose to run. On the other, politically friendly buyers are taking ownership of major networks to turn them into free-market versions of state media. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) ..TOP TAKES KP 1: How to Build a State Media - Blonde Politics | The Silly Serious - Air Date 12-13-25 KP 2: Breaking: ABC SUES Trump Over Free Speech After Kimmel's WIN - The Beat with Ari Melber - Air Date 8-18-26 KP 3: How Thiel, Musk, and Other Tech Billionaires Bought the Liberal Media / Eoin Higgins - This Is Hell! - Air Date 2-4-25 KP 4: Congress Just Subpoenaed Our Newsroom for Doing Journalism - BreakThroughNews - Air Date 7-23-26 KP 5: Public Media - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - Air Date 11-17-25 KP 6: "A Victory for Journalism": Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Opinion Columnist Karen Attiah - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-26-26 KP 7: Coyote Vs. Acme Proves the CEOs Don't Know S***. - Adam Conover - Air Date 9-4-26 (00:56:23) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Corporate Media Cannot Be Trusted to Serve the Public Interest My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:06:24) SECTION A: THE FCC WEAPONIZED A1: ABC Says FCC Waging a Retaliatory Campaign Violating Free Speech Rights - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 8-18-26 A2: Trump's Scheme to Control the Media - Robert Reich and Inequality Media - Air Date 5-7-26 A3: Trump's "Authoritarian Takeover" of the Media, ABC Suing FCC & the Meta Trial: Free Press's Jessica González - Air Date 8-19-26 (01:23:10) SECTION B: JOURNALISTS IN THE CROSSHAIRS B1: FBI Raids Home of Washington Post Reporter as Attacks on Press Freedom Intensify Under Trump - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-15-26 B2: Media Under Scrutiny Following Tragic Death Of Jason Arday | Novara Live - Novara Media - Air Date 8-17-26 B3: A New McCarthyism? House GOP Subpoenas BreakThrough News in Escalating War on Progressive Groups - Democracy Now! Air Date 7-28-26 B4: US Media's Hasan Piker Derangement Syndrome Is Ridiculous - The Majority Report W/ Sam Seder - Air Date 8-11-26 B5: Katy Tur Sounds More Like 1930s German Propaganda Than Journalism - Paul Lance - Air Date 9-3-26 B6: Joy Reid & Dean Obeidallah: Fascism Tests Journalistic Integrity In Modern Media - Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture - Air Date 8-19-26 (02:06:18) SECTION C: WHO'S BUYING, WHO'S CASHING IN C1: The Playbook Putin Used Is Being Run in America Right Now | Media Consolidation - Jim Acosta - Air Date 3-23-26 C2: FOR SALE: Truth Social Selling Early Access to Trump's Posts - Connnect W/ Jacob Soboroff - Air Date 8-9-26 C3: The Meta Settlement Isn't The Victory You Think It Is - Leeja Miller - Air Date 8-28-26 C4: "Profoundly Corrupt": Trump Sued for Selling Early Access to His Truth Social Posts for $100K/Month - Democracy Now! - Air Date - 8-19-26 C5: Finance Bros Are Coming for the Public Airwaves - On The Media - Air Date 8-28-26 (02:35:41) SECTION D: BUILDING SOMETHING BETTER D1: The World After Billionaire Media - Lever Time - Air Date 6-21-24 D2: News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times - Citations Needed - Air Date 5-28-26 D3: From Deadspin to Defector: The Power of Worker-owned News Outlets - Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture - Air Date 8-12-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

    The State Media Playbook: The FCC and Billionaires Are Waging a War on the Free Press
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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!

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