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

Air Date: 4/17/2026 Today we examine how the U.S. war with Iran has exposed the deep structural rot at the heart of American power, the global economic catastrophe quietly building beneath the surface, and the cuts felt at home in order to pay for it all. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01 , or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Note...

Air Date: 4/14/2026 Today we examine the legal battles shaking the foundations of American citizenship and voting rights as Trump's legal team uses the courts as a weapon against democratic participation — and how advocates are fighting back. We'll hear about the three-D playbook of deceive, disrupt, and deny used by authoritarians and being deployed by Trump ahead of the midterms, and what ordina...

Air Date: 4/10/2026 Today we examine the ideology quietly driving Silicon Valley — a worldview that treats growth, extraction, and the erasure of human messiness as virtues. We'll hear how tech leaders from Sam Altman to Larry Ellison embody a kind of corporate psychopathy, why Zuckerberg never understood what Facebook actually is, and how the cult of "go for its own sake" may be the most dangerou...

Air Date: 4-1-26 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:   Ch. 1 - How to boycott better Ch. 2 - Why REI workers have voted to boycott the upcoming May sale and how you can help Ch. 3 - Why meatpacking workers are striking in Colorado Ch. 4 - Comparing the US labor movement with the Canadian labor movement Ch. 5 - Strengthening, and expanding the vision for, today's labor movement SOLVED! BAC...

Re-Air Date: 04-07-26 Original Air Date: 1-15-2025 Elon Musk is leading the way for his class of tech broligarchs anxious to take over the MAGA movement and shape it to their own ends of deregulation, tax cuts, and lucrative government contracts. The disappointment that is inevitable for the MAGA populists is coming even faster than expected. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us...

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 best...

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 displ...

Air 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 voice...

Air Date: 3/27/2026 Today we examine the relationship between labor education, moral ambition, and the possibility of a better world. We'll hear about IWW members building a "Philosophy 101" for organizers, a historian's argument that humanity is fundamentally cooperative rather than selfish, and why getting labor history into public schools may be one of the most important organizing projects of...

Air Date: 3/24/2026 Today we explore what happens when people reject religious dogma but still hunger for ritual, meaning, and the concrete benefits of community. We'll hear from secular assemblies building "church without creed," atheist Quakers finding silence sacred, and a Caribbean thinker designing a naturalistic pagan practice built around science and seasonal ritual — all asking what religi...

Air Date: 3–18-26 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - The dark history of money in politics, aka: corruption Ch. 2 - What the left must do to actually win Ch. 3 - What the rest of the world can teach America SOLVED! BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm (Members Only!): The reports of Christian fundamentalist "talk" in the military as the US attacked Iran   Leave us a message on our new...

Air Date: 3/19/2026 Today we explore the long history of technological disruption — from the Industrial Revolution to the rise of software engineering — and ask whether AI is genuinely different this time, all while autonomous weapons dissolve accountability for the militaries using them and capitalism prevents AI companies from maintaining their ethical aspirations. Be part of the show! Leave a v...

Air Date: 3/15/2026 Today we examine how a century of foreign intervention created incompatible national memories between the US and Iran and how Netanyahu exploited that history to maneuver Trump into a war he didn't understand, promising a quick decapitation strike while knowing full well it would become a months-long regional conflict, at minimum. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , me...

Air Date: 3/11/2026 Today is episode 1776, in the year of our nation's 250th birthday, and we thought the occasion called for something big. So, we're tracing the full arc — from the constitutional compromises that made this country possible to the authoritarian vanity project that those compromises eventually also made possible. We're talking about the history, the structures, and the insecure cu...

Re-Air Date: 01–26-25 Unless you were a member in January of 2025, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're working on slowly increasing our production again, but, for now, enjoy this episode from our archives (and before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: 00:00:00 - Ch. 1 - The mindset of...

Air Date: 3/7/2026   Welcome to this episode of the Award-Winning Best of the Left Podcast. Today we examine the life and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson civil rights icon, two-time presidential candidate and one of the most consequential political figures of the 20th century. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01 , or email Jay@BestOfThe...

Air Date: 3/3/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we examine the multi-front struggle for control: military force and economic coercion seizing resources abroad, institutions weaponized to constrain bodies at home, platforms and propaganda capturing minds, and the democratic resistance proving that organized people can still...

Original Air Date: 3-1-2024 We don't have to think too hard to understand the fears of a world in which work, and the ability of millions to support themselves, are lost to automation and artificial intelligence. But that is only a capitalist future in which the benefits of technological advancement are hoarded by the already-wealthy. Today we imagine a different path. Be part of the show! Leave a...

Original Air Date: 1/31/2023 Today, we take a look at just some of the nearly infinite ways in which our society, culture and economy are infused from top to bottom with Scam Culture™ that is bleeding us dry both financially and mentally. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01 , or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes Check out our n...

Air Date: 2-17-26 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:   Ch. 1 - The "dual state" concept coined by German Jewish political scientist and labor lawyer Ernst Fraenkel in his 1941 book " The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship" Ch. 2 - Navigating the psychological toll of living under authoritarianism Ch. 3 - "Woke 2.0" as a movement, and dismantling conservative critiqu...

Air Date: 2/23/2026 Today we examine how the platforms that monetize your attention are merging with state power. We'll hear how TikTok's new owners include Trump ally Larry Ellison, how DHS sent hundreds of subpoenas to unmask anonymous ICE critics, how Ring's Super Bowl ad cheerfully introduced AI-powered neighborhood surveillance, and how the social media addiction trials that are being likened...

Air Date: 2/19/2026 Today we trace the pipeline from masculine grievance to fascism. We'll hear how ICE agents' own family members describe them as low-IQ bullies chasing signing bonuses, why a former white nationalist explains that the alternative to unpacking discomfort is becoming overtly racist, how incel culture evolved from lonely forums into a MAGA recruitment tool, and what researchers fou...

Air Date 2/15/2026 Today we explore the gap between free speech rhetoric and the reality of arrested reporters. We'll hear how a decade of cancel culture panic over college students gave way to actual government suppression of journalists, why the DOJ is perverting a law designed to fight the Ku Klux Klan to prosecute Black journalists, how the administration that promised to "bring back free spee...

Air Date: 2-3-26 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:  Ch. 1 - Trump's Pillars of Support, and plugging into community building & local support networks Ch. 2 - Case studies in success: Avelo Airlines & Spotify and why they matter Ch. 3 - Pressure campaigns at home and abroad and why they are important Ch. 4 - The new cracks in MAGA, and building up the political opposition party we need S...

Air Date 2/10/2026 Today we explore what effective resistance actually looks like. We'll hear why Jamelle Bouie says the panic of those in power signals that opposition is working, what abolitionists teach us about fighting without knowing the ending, and how Minneapolis proved that democratic force can overwhelm physical force. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us on Signal at...