{"podcast":{"title":"Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy","slug":"best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587","podcast_index_feed_id":457587,"rss_url":"https://hippiesympathizer.libsyn.com/mp3.rss","website_url":"https://www.bestoftheleft.com/listen","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/a/7/a/a/a7aad30e2da4890d/BotL_Scaled_up_Portrait_Logo.jpg","author":"Jay Tomlinson","episode_count":200,"summary":"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!","last_synced_at":"2026-06-07T02:20:28.101189+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587"},"episode":{"title":"#1788 Monthly-ish Mix: The America That Almost Was—Empire Abroad, Control at Home, and the Long Arc of Resistance","slug":"1788-monthly-ish-mix-the-america-that-almost-was-empire-abroad-control-at-home-and-the-long-arc-of-resistance","published_at":"2026-05-01T15:30:00+00:00","page_url":"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","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587","url":"https://www.bestoftheleft.com/1788","audio_url":"https://pdrl.fm/829673/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/hippiesympathizer/1788_Monthly-ish_Mix.mp3?dest-id=22784","summary":"Air Date: 05/01/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we open with Jesse Jackson's death as a reckoning with the multiracial coalition America chose not to build, trace the American playbook from the 1953 Iran coup to Cuba to the current war on Iran, examine how the same logic of control operates at home through AI monopolies, sports money, and captured courts, and close with the religious and labor traditions that have always driven change — plus Orbán's defeat in Hungary as proof that authoritarian projects don't last forever. Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube ! Be part of the show! Leave a voice message , message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community ! PART 1: AMERICA, CONTESTED (00:01:19) #1775 - Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and the Remaking of American Politics (00:23:12) #1776 - Trump's Pharaoh Complex, Our Flawed Constitution, and the 250th Anniversary PART 2: THE AMERICAN WAY (00:45:27) #1777 - How Christian Nationalism, Oil, and Zionism Built The War Against Iran (01:06:48) #1782 - Cuba's Crisis: Trump's Deadly Embargo, Blackouts, and Dream of Regime Change (01:29:45) #1785 - Iran and the Chain Reaction: The War Nobody Thought Through (Or, Bomb First, Think Never) PART 3: CONTROLLING THE GAME (01:51:40) #1778 - AI, the Pentagon, Labor and Capitalism: The Fight Over Who Controls the Future (02:15:29) #1781 - Your Team Is a Hedge Fund Now: How Gambling and Billionaires Captured American Sports 02:29:38) #1783 - The Ideology of a Cancer Cell: AI, Surveillance, and Silicon Valley's Psychopath Problem (02:51:36) #1784 - Who Gets to Be Americ…","meta_description":"Air Date: 05/01/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we open with Jesse Jackson's…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":16677,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-left-leftist-perspectives-on-progressive-politics-news-culture-economics-and-democracy-457587/episodes/1788-monthly-ish-mix-the-america-that-almost-was-empire-abroad-control-at-home-and-the-long-arc-of-resistance/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"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.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}