Air Date 3/12/2025 The (Approximately) Monthly Mix is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we look at the future for Gaza, Trump's plans for mass deportations, the decline of the US on the international stage, the wrecking crew dismantling the federal government, RFK Jr. and the threat to public health, and Trump's endemic corruption. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes | Transcr...
Mar 12, 2025•3 hr 28 min•Ep 1696•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 3–9-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - The Founding Fathers’ prophetic concerns that we don’t ever talk about - FDR VP Harry Wallace’s op-ed on American fascism from 1944 - Philosopher Richard Rorty’s chilling predictions from 1998 - A few reasons - with caveats - why U.S. Democracy might make it through Trump 2.0 - Some hope and advice from a country that recently defeated their authoritarian regime BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Hear the Full Show, Members Get Bonus Shows +...
Mar 09, 2025•33 min•Ep 340•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 3/7/2025 Corruption, for those who indulge, isn't just a perk of power, it can also be a method of maintaining it. Trump is not bothering to hide the corruption he's working to facilitate or how it's geared toward supporting his desire for unchecked power. 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 ...
Mar 07, 2025•3 hr 26 min•Ep 1695•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 3/4/2025 An old proverb says that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and we're all about to see how dangerous as know-nothings and science skeptics take over the government agencies staffed by doctors and scientists with the goal of keeping the population healthy. 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 ...
Mar 04, 2025•2 hr 24 min•Ep 1694•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 3-2-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - How “entrepreneurialism” has gained unearned adoration and disempowered labor organizing - The 100-year-old “New Thought” era and how it shaped our current culture of work - The social critic Theodore Roszak’s accurate predictions about the dark turn of tech and work - What Democrats should learn from Steve Bannon’s approach to Musk FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39q...
Mar 02, 2025•19 min•Ep 339•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: 615/2022 The many reasons why we are experiencing a housing crisis in the US and beyond but it mostly comes down to treating housing as a commodity to be profited from rather than a basic human need or, if you're feeling radical, a basic human right. 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...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep 1496•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/25/2025 Racism is at the core of most of what Trump believes so it should be no surprise when he aligns himself and the country with explicitly supremacist projects like the perceived Jewish superiority over Palestinians and the assumed "reverse racism" against White South Africans 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 sho...
Feb 25, 2025•3 hr 1 min•Ep 1693•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 2-23-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - The heavy influence of a Nazi political theorist (propagandist) on the MAGA movement - How our disagreements on baseline reality lead us to devastatingly different conclusions - What many Trump supporters hoped for vs. what they got - How so-called Timeline apps may help us extricate ourselves from social media FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r...
Feb 23, 2025•21 min•Ep 338•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/21/2025 There is nothing other than racism at the heart of Trump's immigration policy. He wants to deport as many brown people as possible, stop as many immigrants and refugees as possible unless they're White people from South Africa or the nearly 40 million Canadians he's inviting to enjoy immediate US citizenship. This is not complicated. Trump is a disgusting, blatant racist (and always has been) who's trying to turn the US into a White ethnostate. Be part of the show! Leave us a ...
Feb 21, 2025•3 hr 11 min•Ep 1692•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/18/2025 Democracies slide into dictatorship in two ways, first slowly and then all of a sudden. We have been sliding in this direction for at least as long as I have been paying attention to politics and we're finally at the moment where that slow slide shifts into full speed. 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 (Membership 20% off for the Holiday! Get Bonus Shows + No Ads...
Feb 18, 2025•3 hr 46 min•Ep 1691•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 2-16-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Why we may be forced to bring back bullying - The impact of algorithms and what we can do about it - Democrats and the meaning of 'the medium is the message' - The unbelievable stupidity of techbro dweebs and their followers - The sociopathic reasons why Musk is doing this Not a member? BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Hear the Full Show, Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr pu...
Feb 16, 2025•21 min•Ep 337•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: 8/4/2015 The dysfunctional state of the US immigration system and the political fight brewing over what to do about it 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! Show Notes Act 1: Coming Out As An Undocumented Immigrant - Latino Voices - AJ+ (@aj...
Feb 15, 2025•48 min•Ep 943•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/11/2025 The very rich, as has been noted before, are not on the side of regular people. And even if you think that the federal government needs a major reboot, no one but the ultra-wealthy are going to be happy with what they build in the aftermath of the administrative coup currently underway. 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...
Feb 11, 2025•3 hr 1 min•Ep 1690•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 2-10-25 Today, Jay! and Amanda (Deon and Erin were sick) discuss: - Why you should be using an RSS reader - The danger of Mystification as humans try to cope - Musk and Trump's flagrant law breaking - What Dems and you can do, with some tips from our own experience FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: You should be using an RSS reader Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein Q & A: Jar...
Feb 10, 2025•14 min•Ep 336•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/7/2025 Trump came in with a plan to subdue the media and large swaths of the media came in with a plan to acquiesce. But it's important to understand why because it's not a conspiracy or people wanting to do harm, it's structural to the system. 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-...
Feb 07, 2025•2 hr 8 min•Ep 1689•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 2/4/2025 The era of unquestioned US hegemony is undoubtedly on the decline but the future is much more complicated and uncertain than the straightforward idea of China rising to take our place that we've been told. Though Trump is not the cause of US decline, he may send us out in a tragic blaze of glory. 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!...
Feb 04, 2025•4 hr 32 min•Ep 1688•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 2-2-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: - How the resistance is transforming, not over - What actually worked when resisting Trump's first term - A curation of good advice on being effective and staying sane this time around FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: Goodbye, ‘Resistance.’ The Era of Hyperpolitics Is Over. How to Take Heart From What Really Worked in...
Feb 03, 2025•27 min•Ep 335•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/31/2025 The genocide and subsequent ceasefire in Gaza is only the latest horrifying consequence of botched military misadventures in the Middle East and if the history of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons can teach us anything it's that atrocities have long shadows. 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!...
Jan 31, 2025•3 hr 52 min•Ep 1687•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/28/2025 The existence of out-of-control wildfires in Los Angeles amid the rising climate crisis is not confusing or strange. How to deal with such an emergency during our ongoing political and information crisis is a completely different story. 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-...
Jan 28, 2025•3 hr 21 min•Ep 1686•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 1-26-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: - The mindset of collaborators - Why many people turn inward and drop out - at their own risk - under authoritarianism - The nature of true dissidents and what we can learn from them FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: History Will Judge the Complicit The Desire to Turn Inward Is a Delusion How to Keep Your Moral Compas...
Jan 26, 2025•22 min•Ep 334•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: 3/7/2017 Today we look at the dangerous myths of individualism and the American Dream™, some of their origins and some of their consequences Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes Show Notes Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill Act 1: Cultural influences on our perspective of self w/Gish Jen - Think Again - Air Date 3-4-17 Act 2: You are not as free as you think you are w/Ra...
Jan 24, 2025•57 min•Ep 1085•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/21/2025 Decades ago, the conscious decision was made to exacerbate inequality for the sake of economic growth that would supposedly lift all boats. What probably wasn't understood at the time is that the logical conclusion of that choice would be to break democracy and usher in oligarchy. Now working people are left with only bad choices and empty promises. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes | Transcript BestO...
Jan 21, 2025•3 hr 38 min•Ep 1685•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 1-20-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: - Our new show name! - Getting over hurdles to find and form local community as a form of resistance and preparation - The study groups teachers are forming to teach and learn real history - How Citizen Assemblies could transform American politics for the better FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: A New Year's resolutio...
Jan 20, 2025•22 min•Ep 333•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/18/2025 We are looking back on Jimmy Carter's life and legacy as a lens through which to more clearly see and understand the current state of our politics, our incoming president, the Middle East, the climate, and more. 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 p...
Jan 18, 2025•3 hr 49 min•Ep 1684•Transcript available on Metacast 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 us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Membership, Get Bonus Shows + No Ads...
Jan 15, 2025•3 hr 30 min•Ep 1683•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 1/11/2025 Today, we look back to the warnings we gave ourselves at the beginning of the first Trump administration. In 2017 there was concern about corruption and his business dealings, ethics around his nominees, and the inability of the media to cover him properly. 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 f...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep 1682•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/8/2025 Trump's first term was marked by all of the friendships he built with some of the world's worst, most oppressive leaders. His second term is getting an early start as he has begun making threats toward traditional allies and friends including Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and Panama. 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 (Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Send the Gift of Membe...
Jan 08, 2025•2 hr 8 min•Ep 1681•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date: 1-6-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: - Why people love villains - How plutocracy kills - Why the path forward is through membership organizations FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: The Year Villainy Won Plutocracy Kills Democracy Is Not a Customer Loyalty Program Join our Discord Server Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for...
Jan 06, 2025•21 min•Ep 332•Transcript available on Metacast Air Date 1/4/2025 The murder of a health insurance CEO being met with widespread approval and the risk of going backward on life-saving vaccines pretty much sums up the current state of our approach to health care in this country. 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!) Join our Discord community ! KEY POINTS KP 1: Weekly Roundup Luigi Mangione and the...
Jan 04, 2025•2 hr 49 min•Ep 1680•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: 4/19/2023 Today, we take a look at the history and present of the interconnected movements to privatize education and dismantle democracy. 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 (Membership 20% off for the Holiday! Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Send the Gift of Membership ! (Or on Patreon ) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing e...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 1554•Transcript available on Metacast 
