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

• #1711 How It Started, How It's Going- Assessing the Flooded Zone Full of Shit

  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. Direct Download BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: 100 Perfect Days - Pod Save America - Air Date 4-29-25 KP 2: 100 Daze of Trump's 'Fascist Death Spiral' with Heather Digby Parton of Salon, 'Driftglass' of 'Pro Left Podcast' - The BradCast - Air Date 4-30-25 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 5: Trump Is Losing A Lot In Court. Plus, the First Episode of The Divided Dial (S2). - On The Media - Air Date 5-9-25 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! Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X

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• SOLVED! #9 - A Pale Blue Dot of Anxiety

  Air Date: 5-19-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation) discuss: The origins of and problems with “the one way” Christian mindset Why Finland’s happiest country title and happiness itself are terribly misunderstood by Americans How our globalized world is messing with perceptions of our cultural similarities and differences The link between genocides, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories Naomi Klein’s analysis on the problems with how we talk about the Holocaust How we get back to humanization and recognizing our core similarities as beings floating on a rock in space Some Finnish wisdom that encapsulates life, the universe, and everything   FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube   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   Join our Discord Server Signal: Bestoftheleft.01 Leave a message at 202-999-3991   Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

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• #1710 The past is never dead. It’s not even past. Race, Religion, Culture and the Stories we Tell

  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. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Sinners: Director Ryan Coogler on His Latest Hit, Delta Blues, His Mississippi Roots & Vampires Part 1 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 4-25-25 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 Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere!

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• #1493 Marketing, Messaging and Mass Shootings (Throwback)

  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. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Igor Volsky on Ending Gun Violence - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-27-22 Ch. 2: NRA's "Good Guy With A Gun" Theory Failed In Real Time In Uvalde - All In with Chris Hayes - 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. 4: The Second Amendment Isn't About Killing Politicians or Overthrowing Democracy - The Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 5-31-22 Ch. 5: Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger speaking to Charlayne Hunter-Gault - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 12-16-1991 Ch. 6: How the Gun Industry Used Marketing to Change a Culture - Letters and Politics - Air Date 8-7-19 Ch. 7: Mass Shootings: American Exceptionalism of the Worst Kind - Breaking the Sound Barrier by Amy Goodman - Air Date 5-26-22 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 Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere!

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• #1275 So, Marxism. What is that all about? (Throwback)

  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. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! 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. Ch. 4: This Ruthless Criticism of All That Exists Marxism as Science - Revolutionary Left Radio - Air Date 2-2-19 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! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com ​ ​ ​

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