Best Left Insert Topic Podcasts (2025)

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#1729 Monthly-ish Mix: Layers of Authoritarian Control and the Rising Resistance 3:48:40

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1d ago3:48:40

3:48:40

Air Date 8/12/2025 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month, we're covering the full spectrum of authoritarian threats—military in the streets, surveillance in our phones, conspiracies in our feeds, and corruption at the top—before turning to the grassroots organizers and Democratic Soc…

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SOLVED! #18 - How to Live Under Fascism 21:55

2d ago21:55

21:55

Air Date: 8–10-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was on vacation!) discuss: How modern fascism does not look like the jarring and brutal images people think of, and the “rituals of conformity” in Nazi Germany that remind us of another era we’ve lived through How despotism affects the citizen psyche and how to counter those effects The importan…

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#1728 The Lawfare Presidency: The Case of Trump v. Journalism 3:09:37

3d ago3:09:37

3:09:37

Air Date 8/10/2025 Trump has been condemning the media for all of his professional life and is pretty open about doing it so that people won't believe the negative press he so richly deserves. Now, with the power of the presidency, he's turned his battle with the press into a protection racket complete with payoffs and side deals in an attempt to t…

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#1727 Super-Powered Men For Good and Ill: Fascism, Media, and the Manoshpere 4:39:49

7d ago4:39:49

4:39:49

Air Date 8/6/2025 Today's slate of topics may feel disjointed at first until you realize that they're not. We set out to produce an episode in which we explored powerful men and those who look up to them from various angles and so that ended up including both real and fictional men from supervillains to superheroes. Be part of the show! Leave us a …

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#1573 Confronting Climate Chaos with Action and Adaptation (Throwback) 1:07:33

10d ago1:07:33

1:07:33

Original Air Date: 7–22-2023 Today, we take a look at the action needed to curb and adapt to the extreme weather that climate change is already delivering Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on the infamous Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new…

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SOLVED! #17 - How to Use the Bullsh*t Machine: A.I. LLMs’ insertion into childhood, school, work, and movements 20:57

11d ago20:57

20:57

Air Date: 8-1-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: The impact of A.I. LLM “friend” bots on childhood development How using A.I. LLMs negatively impacts critical thinking and information retention The importance of understanding how A.I. LLM tools work before using them The ways in which A.I. LLM tools could and shouldn’t help movements o…

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#1726 Epstein Forever: Trump flails as criticism finally comes from inside the MAGA house 3:29:05

13d ago3:29:05

3:29:05

Air Date: 7/31/2025 Who would have thought that a political movement built almost exclusively on conspiracy theories and a cult of personality would end up being threatened by the cult leader being implicated in the biggest and worst conspiracy coverup… even though it’s been well documented for decades? Content warning for detailed accusations leve…

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#1725 A Flood of Disinformation: A World of Climate Change and Conspiracies 2:58:47

17d ago2:58:47

2:58:47

Air Date: 7-27-2025 Back when I worked in the climate movement, just after the turn of the century, we knew that the extreme weather we were warning about would become ever-more clear to see in people's lived experiences and assumed that any doubts people had about the science of climate change would be wiped away with the evidence they could see w…

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#1724 How to Socialism: Einstein liked socialism, you think you know better? 3:47:42

22d ago3:47:42

3:47:42

Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! 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: Old Democrats Must Go or Trump NEVER Will - UNFTR Media - Air Date 7-15-25 KP 2: 'The Economy …

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SOLVED! #16 - Under Pressure: Aiming Higher to Fix Societal Problems 20:26

22d ago20:26

20:26

Air Date: 7–22-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: The need for universal childcare and the pressure release valve of fighting your employer over working from home The need for universal benefits and the pressure release valve of gig workers fighting for a patchwork of crumbs from giant corporations The need to get rid of the business m…

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#1375 The Militia Movement is Having a Moment (Throwback) 1:09:48

27d ago1:09:48

1:09:48

Original Air Date: 10–16-2020 Transcript Today we take a look at the history and origins of the American militia movement right up to the recent plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, the likelihood of more violence and the high probability that they will show up at polling places on Election Day. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text a…

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#1723 Scam Nation: Trumpism is the Art of Screwing You Over in Every Way Possible 4:39:27

28d ago4:39:27

4:39:27

Air Date 7/16/2025 It increasingly feels like we are completely past the era of legitimate differences in political philosophy and policy preferences. Now that the Republican governing style has been completely consumed by Trumpism, we've entered the era of scam politics which fits nicely with Trump's traditional retail scams, capitalism's continua…

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SOLVED! #15 - This is Propaganda Country: The Grotesque, Cruel, & Artificial Aesthetics of Modern Fascism 19:11

1M ago19:11

19:11

Air Date: 7–13-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: ⁃ The calculated, propaganda motives behind “Mar-a-Lago face” and bizarre MAGA hyper-femininity ⁃ How MAGA uses Kristi Noem’s “Border Barbie” vibes to attempt to soften its vicious immigration policy, and project victimization ⁃ How bad AI imagery is now the look of modern fascism ⁃ The…

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#1722 Imbalance of Powers: The Supreme Court and Executive Branch Collude for Unchecked Power Grab 3:18:29

1M ago3:18:29

3:18:29

Air Date 7/12/2025 The idea of the founders was to separate and balance the powers of the federal government and that, as Madison wrote, that ambition would counteract ambition. The problem we face now is that the ambition of the Supreme Court is to give as much power as possible to the executive branch because, ironically, they seem to be nostalgi…

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#1721 The Evolution of the Military Industrial Complex: Now with AI! 3:10:12

1M ago3:10:12

3:10:12

Air Date 7/9/2025 It's an old joke that "military intelligence" is a good example of an oxymoron so I just asked an AI chatbot to finish a joke about what a military becomes when they implement artificial intelligence. It said, "an oxymoron squared - or as the generals call it, "strategically enhanced stupidity with a confidence interval of 95%" wh…

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SOLVED! #14 - How to Be An Imperfectionist: Fighting the infighting and building a resilient Left movement 20:41

1M ago20:41

20:41

Air Date: 7–7-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Some advice on understanding how to identify imperfect allies vs. true opponents Good-faith critiques of (and agreements with) socialist NYU Professor Vivek Chibber’s views on identity politics on the Left Working Families Party head Maurice Mitchell’s ideas on “neoliberal identity” poli…

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#1376 Tell Stories, Not Myths- America is a Force But Not Always For Good (Throwback) 1:01:36

1M ago1:01:36

1:01:36

Original Air Date: 10-21-20 Today we take a look at some of the many zany foreign misadventures the United States has had over the past 100 years. And by "zany misadventures" I mean the naked pursuit of capitalism at any cost, the support of military coups and other undemocratic overthrows of foreign governments and wars for oil and resources in an…

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To My Left (Insert Topic)

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

BestOfTheLeft.com

1
#1729 Monthly-ish Mix: Layers of Authoritarian Control and the Rising Resistance 3:48:40

1
SOLVED! #18 - How to Live Under Fascism 21:55

1
#1728 The Lawfare Presidency: The Case of Trump v. Journalism 3:09:37

1
#1727 Super-Powered Men For Good and Ill: Fascism, Media, and the Manoshpere 4:39:49

1
#1573 Confronting Climate Chaos with Action and Adaptation (Throwback) 1:07:33

1
SOLVED! #17 - How to Use the Bullsh*t Machine: A.I. LLMs’ insertion into childhood, school, work, and movements 20:57

1
#1726 Epstein Forever: Trump flails as criticism finally comes from inside the MAGA house 3:29:05

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#1725 A Flood of Disinformation: A World of Climate Change and Conspiracies 2:58:47

1
#1724 How to Socialism: Einstein liked socialism, you think you know better? 3:47:42

1
SOLVED! #16 - Under Pressure: Aiming Higher to Fix Societal Problems 20:26

1
#1375 The Militia Movement is Having a Moment (Throwback) 1:09:48

1
#1723 Scam Nation: Trumpism is the Art of Screwing You Over in Every Way Possible 4:39:27

1
SOLVED! #15 - This is Propaganda Country: The Grotesque, Cruel, & Artificial Aesthetics of Modern Fascism 19:11

1
#1722 Imbalance of Powers: The Supreme Court and Executive Branch Collude for Unchecked Power Grab 3:18:29

1
#1721 The Evolution of the Military Industrial Complex: Now with AI! 3:10:12

1
SOLVED! #14 - How to Be An Imperfectionist: Fighting the infighting and building a resilient Left movement 20:41

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#1376 Tell Stories, Not Myths- America is a Force But Not Always For Good (Throwback) 1:01:36