Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
561 episodes — Page 1 of 12
#1821 Election Sabotage, Voting System Vulnerabilities, and the Defense of the 2026 Midterms
SOLVED! #39 - Why You Should Care About Prisons in the Fight for a Better World (Throwback)
#1820 Science and Public Health Under Attack by Our Own Government
#1819 Coerced Sterilization, Abortion Bans, and the New Pronatalism: Who Controls American Reproduction (Transcript)
#1818 Flock Cameras, ICE, and the Surveillance State Targeting Everyone
#1817 Worse on Purpose: Trump is Killing Our Response to the Climate Emergency
#1816 IP'd to Death: How Intellectual Property Law Went from a Protection to a Weapon
#1815 Sanctioned Ignorance: The Assault on Museums, Libraries, and American Memory
#1814 Open Imperialism in Latin America: Trump Says the Whole Hemisphere Is His to Run
#1813 Suffering is the Strategy: ICE, Mass Deportation, and Demographic Engineering
#1434 Confronting Climate Chaos Through Time (Throwback)
#1812 Democracy or This Supreme Court, But Not Both
#1811 Country for Old Men: Gerontocracy By Design and the Democracy Problem
Monthly-ish Mix #11 The Loneliest Superpower: What America Gets for Pushing Everyone Away
#1810 Post-American Europe: How to Lose Friends and Influence People to Protect Themselves Against You
#1809 Democrats Seek a Blue Wave, Progressives Push Democratic Socialism, GOP Revive the Red Scare
#1634 Abortion as the Tip of the Iceberg (Throwback)
#1808 Billionaires vs. Democracy: They're Not Coming For Your Job, They're Coming For Your Government (And The Entire Economy)
#1807 What the World Cup Exposes: Identity, Colonialism, and Racism in 2026
#1806 America at 250: The Declaration, the Constitution, and our Crisis of Democracy
#1805 Trump Giving Iran $300 Billion to End His Own War
#1804 Elon Musk, the First Trillionaire, and the Broken System That Made Him
#1803 Monthly-ish Mix: Manufactured Legitimacy and the Fight to Reclaim It
#1802 Department of Injustice: Revenge Prosecutions, Judges Threatened, and Incompetence All the Way Down
#1801 Counterfeit Populism: Trump, the 2026 Primaries, and the Era That's Ending (Transcript)
#1800 How Capitalism Created Loneliness and How To Joyfully Organize Our Way to Community
#1799 The US and China Are Fighting Over Taiwan, Semiconductors, and Africa's Minerals
#1798 FIFA Sportswashing Fascism: The World Cup from Mussolini to Trump
#1797 AI Spent $540 Billion to Make You Lonelier: Betting Against Jobs, Art, and Community
#1796 1.8 Billion for the Mob and a Kill List for Dissent: Trump's payout fund and counterterrorism strategy, decoded
#1795 You Say You Want A Revolution: Successful Revolutions are the Boring Ones
#1794 From MAHA to Measles: RFK's Public Health Purge Will Make America Sick Again
#1793 Anti-Immigrant Brutality Costs Countries More Than Their Morals: ICE, Mass Deportation, and the Global Far-Right
#1792 Capitalist Class Warfare: AI, Billionaire Capture, and the How to Fight Back
#1791 Jim Crow 2.0 — SCOTUS Kills the Voting Rights Act and Unleashes the Gerrymandering War
#1790 Assassin Nation: How Political Violence Got Normalized And How To Reverse It
#1789 Boomcession: Why the Economy Looks Great on Paper and Hurts in Real Life
#1788 Monthly-ish Mix: The America That Almost Was—Empire Abroad, Control at Home, and the Long Arc of Resistance
#1787 The American President vs The American Pope: Leo XIV, Trump, and the MAGA-Catholic Rift
#1786 Defeating Viktor Orbán in Hungary and the Authoritarian Playbook Worldwide
#1329 Our Longest War Has Been a Lie All Along (The Afghanistan Papers) (Throwback)
SOLVED! SAMPLE! #38 - Keepin' it Class-y: How Class Structure and Wealth Inequality Keep Us Stuck
#1785 Iran and the Chain Reaction: The War Nobody Thought Through (Or, Bomb First, Think Never)
#1784 Who Gets to Be American, Who Gets to Vote, and Who Decides
#1783 The Ideology of a Cancer Cell: AI, Surveillance, and Silicon Valley's Psychopath Problem
SOLVED! SAMPLE! #37 - Solidarity Forever: Boycotts, Strikes, & the Labor Movement We Need
#1683 Oligarchy Unmasked: President Musk, the crackup of capitalism, and the MAGA meltdown (Throwback)
Ep 1782#1782 Cuba's Crisis: Trump's Deadly Embargo, Blackouts, and Dream of Regime Change
Air Date: 4/3/2026 Today we examine how decades of U.S. policy toward Cuba set the stage for the current crisis, we explore the human cost of the U.S. oil blockade on Cuba's 11 million people, and how the U.S. justifies an illegal siege while claiming to act in Cuba's interest using time-tested propaganda tactics. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! TOP TAKES KP 1: Explainer 509 Is Cuba Next on Trumps Hit List - The Foreign Desk - Air Date 3-18-26 KP 2: Medea Benjamin Its a Very Dire Situation in Cuba Right Now Part 1 - The Marc Steiner Show - Air Date 3-17-26 KP 3: Will President Trump Act on His Threat to Take Cuba Part 1 - Fresh Air - Air Date 3-24-26 KP 4: Current Affairs Is Going to Cuba Part 1 - Current Affairs - Air Date 3-21-26 KP 5: Aid Convoy Goes to Cuba & Iran War Has Right Wing Media Bugging Out Ft. Brandon Sutton, Nathan Robinson, & Alex Skopic Part 1 - Left Reckoning - Air Date 3-17-26 KP 6: The Future of Democrats and the Desperation of Centrist; The Cuba Blockade with Hasan Piker Part 1 - The Majority Report - Air Date 3-27-26 (00:49:58) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR The Word "Sanctions" Is Hiding a Blockade — US Propaganda Hides Human Rights Abuses in Cuba DEEPER DIVES (01:00:46) SECTION A: HISTORY (01:35:03) SECTION B: CURRENT CRISIS (02:20:27) SECTION C: SOLIDARITY SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Composite image of the Cuban flag with the shadow of the United State of America over it. Credit: Internal design. Component images from Pixabay Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X
Ep 1781#1781 Your Team Is a Hedge Fund Now: How Gambling and Billionaires Captured American Sports
Air Date: 3–31-2026 Today we examine how money and power have captured American sports from every angle — gambling platforms operating as unregulated casinos, private equity turning franchises into financial assets, leagues suppressing player pay while selling access to politicians, and a sports media apparatus too compromised to report any of it. It's almost all the problems with America on display in one industry. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! TOP TAKES KP 1: Trump's Record $239M Inauguration & the Sports Owners Who Funded It | Spolitics - Jemele Hill - Air Date 4-30-25 KP 2: We Investigated The Shady Business Behind The UFC - More Perfect Union and Luke Thomas - Air Date 3-6-26 KP 3: World Cup CHAOS As Trump And FIFA Abuse Iran - The Ring of Fire - Air Date 3-21-26 KP 4: ESPN & the Death of Journalism - Drew Gooden - Air Date 3-3-26 KP 5: This WNBA CBA Deal Is Bigger Than Basketball… - The Women's Hoops Show - Air Date 3-24-26 KP 6: Senator Chris Murphy CRACKS DOWN on Prediction Markets | PTFO - PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT - Air Date 3-26-26 (00:46:46) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Sports Expose Everything Wrong With America — And Fans Have More Power Than They Think DEEPER DIVES (00:58:11) SECTION A: SPORTS ARE POLITICS & CULTURE (01:58:11) SECTION B: GAMBLING ON EVERYTHING IS BAD IDEA (02:30:27) SECTION C: THE WOKE NBA, NOT THAT WOKE (03:08:12) SECTION D: THE BILLIONAIRES ARE ALWAYS THE PROBLEM SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Composite image of the silhouette of a business man in a suit holding up an upside-down golden umbrella full of sports balls in a celebratory way as money rains down behind him. Credit: Internal design. Component images from Pixabay Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft
Ep 1ALMOST SOLVED! SAMPLE! #1 - Liberation Theology & What Redemption Really Looks Like
bonusAir Date: 3–26-26 Welcome to ALMOST SOLVED!, the show that's almost like SOLVED! but one or more things are missing, namely the guarantee of a solution at the end and possibly also one of our cohosts. Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon discuss: Ch. 1 - Deon's research for his recent Best of the Left episode #1779: "Community After God: Why the Left Needs What Church Provided" Ch. 2 - Listener voicemail & comments on past episodes Ch. 3 - How to heal from the harm of this mess with the article "Culture of Healing" from The Reframe BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm (Members Only!): Some chit chat about expectations and healing. Leave us a message on our new system! FOLLOW US ON: YouTube (This episode premieres on YouTube on Friday - please subscribe and share!) Bluesky Instagram Facebook Mastadon Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES Best of the Left #1779: Community After God: Why the Left Needs What Church Provided Culture of Healing by A.R. Moxon (The Reframe) EXTRAS: SOLVED! #5: Keep Your Birch Rod Handy: Puritan influence, dictator bosses, & FDR zingers (4-15-25) SOLVED! #34 The Dual State: Life Under Authoritarianism & Your Role in Fighting It (2-20-26) SOLVED! #32* How Progressives Are Always Right Too Soon (With Receipts) (1-30-26) *mentions the Cassandras Books by Mariame Kaba: (FYI: Buying books via the Bookshop affiliate links below supports indie bookstores and this show!) "We Do This 'Til We Free Us" by Mariame Kaba "Let This Radicalize You" by Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba TAKE ACTION: Stop Trump's Wars In a blue state? Help stop ICE overreach No Kings - March 28th One Million Rising Trainings How to Support Minneapolis Communities Free DC Project: FOR ALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY 5calls.org Find your Indivisible group - or start one