# Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587.md RSS feed: https://hippiesympathizer.libsyn.com/mp3.rss Official site: https://www.bestoftheleft.com/listen Author: Jay Tomlinson Episodes: 200 ## Resource Expertly-curated progressive politics, news, and culture produced by leftist humans, not algorithms or AI. This is an award-winning podcast that dives deeply into a wide range of national and international issues facing society and governments. We draw from hundreds of sources of progressive news and commentary. Est. 2006. Save time by listening to a range of perspectives on a focused topic in each episode and be introduced to new sources you will not have come across on your own! ## Machine-readable JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587 Markdown: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587.md ## Episodes - [#1798 FIFA Sportswashing Fascism: The World Cup from Mussolini to Trump](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1798-fifa-sportswashing-fascism-the-world-cup-from-mussolini-to-trump) — 2026-06-06T03:13:00+00:00 - [#1797 AI Spent $540 Billion to Make You Lonelier: Betting Against Jobs, Art, and Community](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1797-ai-spent-540-billion-to-make-you-lonelier-betting-against-jobs-art-and-community) — 2026-06-03T15:05:00+00:00 - [#1796 1.8 Billion for the Mob and a Kill List for Dissent: Trump's payout fund and counterterrorism strategy, decoded](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1796-1-8-billion-for-the-mob-and-a-kill-list-for-dissent-trump-s-payout-fund-and-counterterrorism-strategy-decoded) — 2026-05-30T21:15:00+00:00 - [#1795 You Say You Want A Revolution: Successful Revolutions are the Boring Ones](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1795-you-say-you-want-a-revolution-successful-revolutions-are-the-boring-ones) — 2026-05-27T06:30:00+00:00 - [#1794 From MAHA to Measles: RFK's Public Health Purge Will Make America Sick Again](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1794-from-maha-to-measles-rfk-s-public-health-purge-will-make-america-sick-again) — 2026-05-24T02:07:00+00:00 - [#1793 Anti-Immigrant Brutality Costs Countries More Than Their Morals: ICE, Mass Deportation, and the Global Far-Right](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1793-anti-immigrant-brutality-costs-countries-more-than-their-morals-ice-mass-deportation-and-the-global-far-right) — 2026-05-21T02:10:00+00:00 - [#1792 Capitalist Class Warfare: AI, Billionaire Capture, and the How to Fight Back](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1792-capitalist-class-warfare-ai-billionaire-capture-and-the-how-to-fight-back) — 2026-05-16T00:14:00+00:00 - [#1791 Jim Crow 2.0 — SCOTUS Kills the Voting Rights Act and Unleashes the Gerrymandering War](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1791-jim-crow-2-0-scotus-kills-the-voting-rights-act-and-unleashes-the-gerrymandering-war) — 2026-05-13T02:30:00+00:00 - [#1790 Assassin Nation: How Political Violence Got Normalized And How To Reverse It](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1790-assassin-nation-how-political-violence-got-normalized-and-how-to-reverse-it) — 2026-05-10T02:00:00+00:00 - [#1789 Boomcession: Why the Economy Looks Great on Paper and Hurts in Real Life](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1789-boomcession-why-the-economy-looks-great-on-paper-and-hurts-in-real-life) — 2026-05-06T16:00:00+00:00 - [#1788 Monthly-ish Mix: The America That Almost Was—Empire Abroad, Control at Home, and the Long Arc of Resistance](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1788-monthly-ish-mix-the-america-that-almost-was-empire-abroad-control-at-home-and-the-long-arc-of-resistance) — 2026-05-01T15:30:00+00:00 - [#1787 The American President vs The American Pope: Leo XIV, Trump, and the MAGA-Catholic Rift](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1787-the-american-president-vs-the-american-pope-leo-xiv-trump-and-the-maga-catholic-rift) — 2026-04-29T10:00:00+00:00 - [#1786 Defeating Viktor Orbán in Hungary and the Authoritarian Playbook Worldwide](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1786-defeating-viktor-orb-n-in-hungary-and-the-authoritarian-playbook-worldwide) — 2026-04-24T15:09:00+00:00 - [#1329 Our Longest War Has Been a Lie All Along (The Afghanistan Papers) (Throwback)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1329-our-longest-war-has-been-a-lie-all-along-the-afghanistan-papers-throwback) — 2026-04-21T09:00:00+00:00 - [SOLVED! SAMPLE! #38 - Keepin' it Class-y: How Class Structure and Wealth Inequality Keep Us Stuck](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/solved-sample-38-keepin-it-class-y-how-class-structure-and-wealth-inequality-keep-us-stuck) — 2026-04-20T21:00:00+00:00 - [#1785 Iran and the Chain Reaction: The War Nobody Thought Through (Or, Bomb First, Think Never)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1785-iran-and-the-chain-reaction-the-war-nobody-thought-through-or-bomb-first-think-never) — 2026-04-18T07:00:00+00:00 - [#1784 Who Gets to Be American, Who Gets to Vote, and Who Decides](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1784-who-gets-to-be-american-who-gets-to-vote-and-who-decides) — 2026-04-14T07:00:00+00:00 - [#1783 The Ideology of a Cancer Cell: AI, Surveillance, and Silicon Valley's Psychopath Problem](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1783-the-ideology-of-a-cancer-cell-ai-surveillance-and-silicon-valley-s-psychopath-problem) — 2026-04-10T20:00:00+00:00 - [SOLVED! SAMPLE! #37 - Solidarity Forever: Boycotts, Strikes, & the Labor Movement We Need](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/solved-sample-37-solidarity-forever-boycotts-strikes-the-labor-movement-we-need) — 2026-04-09T22:00:00+00:00 - [#1683 Oligarchy Unmasked: President Musk, the crackup of capitalism, and the MAGA meltdown (Throwback)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1683-oligarchy-unmasked-president-musk-the-crackup-of-capitalism-and-the-maga-meltdown-throwback) — 2026-04-07T07:00:00+00:00 - [#1782 Cuba's Crisis: Trump's Deadly Embargo, Blackouts, and Dream of Regime Change](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1782-cuba-s-crisis-trump-s-deadly-embargo-blackouts-and-dream-of-regime-change) — 2026-04-03T20:30:00+00:00 - [#1781 Your Team Is a Hedge Fund Now: How Gambling and Billionaires Captured American Sports](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1781-your-team-is-a-hedge-fund-now-how-gambling-and-billionaires-captured-american-sports) — 2026-04-01T03:00:00+00:00 - [ALMOST SOLVED! SAMPLE! #1 - Liberation Theology & What Redemption Really Looks Like](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/almost-solved-sample-1-liberation-theology-what-redemption-really-looks-like) — 2026-03-31T03:26:00+00:00 - [#1780 Cynicism Is a Scab: Hope, Solidarity, and the Labor Fight That Never Stopped](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1780-cynicism-is-a-scab-hope-solidarity-and-the-labor-fight-that-never-stopped) — 2026-03-28T10:00:00+00:00 - [#1779 Community After God: Why the Left Needs What Church Provided](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1779-community-after-god-why-the-left-needs-what-church-provided) — 2026-03-24T10:00:00+00:00 - [SOLVED! SAMPLE! #36 - Bribery Jazz - Corruption is the Water We Swim In](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/solved-sample-36-bribery-jazz-corruption-is-the-water-we-swim-in) — 2026-03-23T14:22:00+00:00 - [#1778 AI, the Pentagon, Labor and Capitalism: The Fight Over Who Controls the Future](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1778-ai-the-pentagon-labor-and-capitalism-the-fight-over-who-controls-the-future) — 2026-03-19T19:31:00+00:00 - [#1777 How Christian Nationalism, Oil, and Zionism Built The War Against Iran](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1777-how-christian-nationalism-oil-and-zionism-built-the-war-against-iran) — 2026-03-16T00:00:00+00:00 - [#1776 Trump's Pharaoh Complex, Our Flawed Constitution, and the 250th Anniversary](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1776-trump-s-pharaoh-complex-our-flawed-constitution-and-the-250th-anniversary) — 2026-03-12T18:27:00+00:00 - [SOLVED! FROM THE ARCHIVES - "Collaborators, Internal Exiles, and Dissidents" (Original Air Date: 01-26-25)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/solved-from-the-archives-collaborators-internal-exiles-and-dissidents-original-air-date-01-26-25) — 2026-03-09T21:00:00+00:00 - [#1775 Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and the Remaking of American Politics](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1775-jesse-jackson-s-rainbow-coalition-and-the-remaking-of-american-politics) — 2026-03-07T19:00:00+00:00 - [#1774 Monthly-ish Mix: Who's in Charge?—The Scramble for Control of Nations, Bodies, and Minds](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/1774-monthly-ish-mix-who-s-in-charge-the-scramble-for-control-of-nations-bodies-and-minds) — 2026-03-03T08:00:00+00:00 ## Actions Episode pages expose an explicit `request_transcript` action. 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