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

Re-Air Date: 01–26-25 Unless you were a member in January of 2025, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're working on slowly increasing our production again, but, for now, enjoy this episode from our archives (and before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: 00:00:00 - Ch. 1 - The mindset of collaborators 00:07:55 - Ch. 2 - Why many people turn inward and drop out - at their own risk - under authoritarianism 00:32:14 - Ch. 3 - The nature of true dissidents and what we can learn from them Leave us a message on our new system! FOLLOW US ON: YouTube (This full episode premieres on YouTube on Friday - please share!) Bluesky Instagram Facebook Mastadon REFERENCES: "People, Power, Change" by Marshall Ganz History Will Judge the Complicit - The Atlantic The Desire to Turn Inward Is a Delusion /// Don't Let Donald Trump Drive You Into Internal Exile - The New York Times How to Keep Your Moral Compass /// A Mindset for the Trump Era - The Atlantic TAKE ACTION: How to Support Minneapolis Communities In a blue state? Help stop ICE overreach No Kings - March 28th Free DC Project: FOR ALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY - Tell Congress to stand down the federal escalation One Million Rising Trainings Use the 5 Calls app for scripts and to reach all your elected officials Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 Find your Indivisible group - or start one Join our Discord Server Reach us via Signal: Bestoftheleft.01 Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Contact me directly at [email protected] Review the show on Apple Podcasts!

Air Date: 3/7/2026 Welcome to this episode of the Award-Winning Best of the Left Podcast. Today we examine the life and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson civil rights icon, two-time presidential candidate and one of the most consequential political figures of the 20th century. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes 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! TOP TAKES KP 1: Remembering Jesse Jackson - Here & Now Anytime - Air Date 2-17-26 KP 2: I Am Somebody - Jesse Jackson -Sesame Street - Air Date 2-17-26 KP 3: Why Jesse Jackson Mattered - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie -Air Date 2-23-26 KP 4: Slap in the Face. Speaker Mike Johnson Declines to Honor Rev. Jesse Jackson - Roland S. Martin - Air Date 2-21-26 KP 5: Ryan Grim: "We've Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC..." - The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow - Air Date 4-29-19 KP 6: Was The Rev. Jesse Jackson A Man Before His Time? Part 1 - In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons - Air Date 10-20-25 KP 7: From the Archives: Jesse Jackson's Speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention - CBS News - Air Date 2-17-26 KP 8: The Historic Presidential Campaigns Of Rev. Jesse Jackson - Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast - Air Date 2-29-24 KP 9: Jesse Jackson Fought for Justice at Home & Abroad: Juan González & Bishop William Barber - Democracy Now! - Air Date 2-18-06 (00:47:43) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Don't hate the game, change the rules DEEPER DIVES (00:58:53) SECTION A: PRESIDENTIAL RUNS A1: Rev. Jesse Jackson Speaks at 1988 Democratic National Convention During 2nd Presidential Run - CBS Chicago - Air Date 2-17-26 A2: "Keep Hope Alive": Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Icon Who Twice Ran for President - Democracy Now! - Air Date 2-17-26 A3: Making Jesse Jackson - Making - Air Date 10-26-22 (01:36:11) SECTION B: RAINBOW COALITION B1: The Original Rainbow Coalition - Code Switch - Air Date 1-24-23 B2: Is a New Rainbow Coalition of Voters Possible? - Some of My Best Friends Are - Air Date 2-15-23 B3: The Life and Times of a 'revolutionary Hillbilly' - The Real News Podcast - Air Date 9-1-21 B4: We Can't Erase the Radicalism of the Rainbow Coalition - The Real News Podcast - Air Date 3-19-21 (02:14:46) SECTION C: THE MAN C1: Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1975 Message to America - THIRTEEN PBS - Air Date 2-18-26 C2: Bomani Jones Reflects on the Life of Jesse Jackson: The Last Civil Rights Icon - The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Air Date 3-19-26 C3: Jesse Jackson Interview: Marching the Righteous Path with Martin Luther King Jr - Life Stories - Air Date 8-26-24 C4: "I Am – Somebody:" Reflecting on the Life and Legacy of Rev. Jesse Jackson - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 2-19-26 (02:49:46) SECTION D: HIS LEGACY D1: Was The Rev. Jesse Jackson A Man Before His Time' Part 2 - In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons - Air Date 10-20-25 D2: Jesse Jackson's Legacy: From Marching with MLK to Building the Rainbow Coalition - Democracy Now! - Air Date 2-17-26 D3: Jesse Jackson: Crash Course Black American History #44 - CrashCourse - Air Date 8-9-22 SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Black and white photo of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1983 Credit:"Jesse Jackson, half-length portrait of Jackson seated at table, July 1, 1983" via Wikimedia Commons | U.S. News & World Report collection at the Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions. Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date: 3/3/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we examine the multi-front struggle for control: military force and economic coercion seizing resources abroad, institutions weaponized to constrain bodies at home, platforms and propaganda capturing minds, and the democratic resistance proving that organized people can still win. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes 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! PART 1: TAKING WHAT THEY WANT (00:02:31) #1762 - Trump's Imperialistic Shakedown of Venezuela 1: Trump Admits Venezuela Attacks Are All About Their Oil - The Majority Report W/ Sam Seder - Air Date 12-18-25 2: USA Is the Worst Pirate on Earth: Trump Boasts of Stealing Venezuela's Oil - Geopolitical Economy Report - Air Date 12-26-25 3: Trump's Piracy in the Caribbean - The Real News Podcast - Air Date 12-23-25 (00:29:28) #1768 - The End of an Era: The International Rules-Based Order Gives Way to Trump's Might-Makes-Right Plutocracy 4: Gaza, Venezuela, and Greenland Mark End of World Legal Order Set up in 1945 - Redeye - Air Date 1-19-26 5: "Empire in Decline": Historian Alfred McCoy on U.S. Aggression in Venezuela, Iran & Beyond - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-13-26 6: Mark Carney and the New World Order - Front Burner - Air Date 1-20-26 (00:53:33) #1764 - Wealth Inequality is Bad for Society and There's No Good Counterargument 7: The Capitalist Mindset - The Market Exit - Air Date 12-9-25 8: Where Are Americas Leaders? - Robert Reich and Inequality Media Civic Action - Air Date 1-6-26 PART 2: CONTROLLING BODIES (01:04:42) #1766 - The Fragility of State Violence: The ICE Occupation, Renee Good, and the Minneapolis Uprising 9: Abolish ICE - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 1-7-26 10: ICE Is a Way to Deal With Surplus Males - Therese - Air Date 1-9-25 11: ICE Can Hack Your Phone Without You Knowing - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 9-5-25 (01:30:58) #1763 - It's Not a Health Care System, it's a Wealth Extraction System 12: 20M Americans Set to Lose Healthcare Coverage Jan. 1 After Congress Goes on Recess - Democracy Now! - Air Date 12-30-25 13: Agonizing Choices on ACA Deadline Day Part 1 - Brian Lehrer_ A Daily Podcast - Air Date 12-15-25 14: Medicare For All Non-Negotiable #3 Part 1 - UNFTR - Air Date 2-8-25 (01:57:14) #1767 - Wars Are Won By Teachers and Trump is Attacking Them Like a Foreign Adversary 15: 'Abandoning' Kids' Futures AFT Pres. Slams Trump Dept. of Education Changes - MS NOW - Air Date 11-19-25 16: How Trumps Agenda Hurts College Students - Right Now With Perry Bacon - Air Date 11-19-25 17: Trump Set to Garnish Wages for Student Loan Defaults - Democracy Now! - Air Date 12-30-25 PART 3: CONTROLLING MINDS (02:20:20) #1773 - How Big Tech Captured Attention, Kids, and Democracy 18: Trouble at TikTok Part 1 - Today, Explained - Air Date 2-4-26 19: Is Social Media Having Its Big Tobacco Moment Part 1 - The Global Story - Air Date 2-16-26 20: DMs! My Kingdom For DMs! - The Muckrake Political Podcast - Air Date 2-17-26 (02:46:22) #1765 - AI Capitalism Will Not Deliver an AI Utopia 21: The AI Bubble Part 1 - Today, Explained - Air Date 10-28-25 22: Desperate OpenAI Turns To Erotica - Novara Media - Air Date 10-16-25 23: Trump Considers Order to Override State Regulations on Artificial Intelligence - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 11-20-25 (03:09:13) #1772 - From Fragile to Fascist: How Broken Masculinity Feeds Authoritarianism 24: The Terrifying Rise of "Vice Signalling" - JimmyTheGiant - Air Date 1-28-26 25: The Incel to ICE Pipeline (with F.D Signifier and Caroline Kwan) Part 1 - Matt Bernstein - Air Date 2-6-26 26: The Rise of the Authoritarian-Curious - Then & Now - Air Date 2-9-26 (03:35:07) #1769 - Politics Beyond the Ballot Box: Elections and the Movements that Power Them 27: Donald Trump Wants to Cancel the Midterm Elections Part 1 - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 1-16-26 28: The Next Socialist In Congress with Claire Valdez Part 1 - The Majority Report - Air Date 1-22-26 PART 4: THE PEOPLE PUSH BACK (03:48:36) #1770 - Getting in the Fight Against ICE and Authoritarianism 29: What I've Learned From Reading History - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 1-28-26 30: Americans Flex Democratic Muscles to Show That, Together, They're Stronger Than Trump - The Rachel Maddow Show - Air Date 1-27-26 31: ICE Out of Minnesota: Unions & Churches Lead Economic Blackout in "Day of Truth and Freedom" - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-23-26 (04:04:47) #1771 - They Need You in the Dark: Information, Journalism, and the Fight Against Fascism 32: AG Bondi Confirms FBI Executed Search Warrant at WaPo Reporter's Home - MS Now - Air Date 1-13-26 33: Why Trump Arresting Journalists Is a Sign of Weakness - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 1-30-26 34: Humor Can Topple Dictators Part 1 - Why, America with Leeja Miller - Air Date 10-18-25 Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Original Air Date: 3-1-2024 We don't have to think too hard to understand the fears of a world in which work, and the ability of millions to support themselves, are lost to automation and artificial intelligence. But that is only a capitalist future in which the benefits of technological advancement are hoarded by the already-wealthy. Today we imagine a different path. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes 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! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Introduction to Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Srnicek & Williams - Dank Audio Stash - Air Date 4-8-21 Introduction to Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams Ch. 2: The People's Republic of Walmart Interview with Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski - Novara Media - Air Date 6-13-19 Since the demise of the USSR, the mantle of the largest planned economies in the world has been taken up by the likes of Walmart, Amazon and other multinational corporations. Ch. 3: The Two Futures Of Automation Capitalism VS Socialism - Second Thought - Air Date 12-15-21 With jobs being automated and handed off to machines at an ever-increasing pace, it's only natural to consider what our future will look like. Ch. 4: Planet of the Robots: Four Futures of AI (Documentary) - 1Dime - Air Date 10-15-21 In this video we will be discussing automation, which is often confused with being the 'technological revolution' in it of itself as it is what the mainstream focuses on, and for good reason, as how we handle automation will determine the trajectory or co Ch. 5: Universal Basic Income Explained (An Automation Solution) - Futurology - Air Date 5-28-24 With jobs being automated and handed off to machines at an ever-increasing pace, it's only natural to consider what our future will look like. Ch. 6: The Two Futures Of Automation Capitalism VS Socialism Part 2 - Second Thought - Air Date 12-15-21 In this video we will be discussing automation, which is often confused with being the 'technological revolution' in it of itself as it is what the mainstream focuses on, and for good reason, as how we handle automation will determine the trajectory or co Ch. 7: Universal Basic Income Explained (An Automation Solution) Part 2 - Futurology - Air Date 5-28-24 Since the demise of the USSR, the mantle of the largest planned economies in the world has been taken up by the likes of Walmart, Amazon and other multinational corporations. Ch. 8: The People's Republic of Walmart Interview with Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski Part 2 - Novara Media - Air Date 6-13-19 Ch. 9: The People's Republic of Walmart Interview with Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski Part 3 - Novara Media - Air Date 6-13-19 SHOW IMAGE CREDITS: Description: Photo of a patch on a backpack that says "What would you do if your income were taken care of?" Credit: "Berlin UBI March" by Patrick Maynard, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Original Air Date: 1/31/2023 Today, we take a look at just some of the nearly infinite ways in which our society, culture and economy are infused from top to bottom with Scam Culture™ that is bleeding us dry both financially and mentally. Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes 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! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: The Grift Economy: Everything is a scam, always. - Thought Slime - Air Date 11-5-21 For those that need to read this: you aren't a capitalist. You're capital. Ch. 2: Power and Corruption: The Devos Family - iilluminaughtii - Air Date 1-20-23 Betsy DeVos and her family have been important figures in the business world for decades. They're involved in a massive MLM, invest in shady businesses, and have put their money toward politics for as long as anyone can remember. Ch. 3: Bill Black: The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One - theAnalysis.news - Air Date 5-31-21 How does a corrupt mortgage scam by brokers in California become a massive national fraud that puts the whole economy into a deep crisis? Bill Black on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay. Ch. 4: Why FTX's Crypto Scam Is A Tale As Old As Time - The Problem With Jon Stewart Podcast - Air Date 12-7-22 "Whatever fun name you wanna put on it, it's the same damn thing we've seen over and over again." David Dayen, Executive Editor of The American Prospect, joins us to talk through the spectacular rise and fall of crypto exchange FTX Ch. 5: The Gig Economy Was Always A Scam - Wisecrack - Air Date 8-8-22 The gig economy has revolutionized how we think about work, but not necessarily for the better. How have a bunch of multi-billion-dollar companies like Uber or Instacart so fundamentally changed our economy? Ch. 6: Why Spotify Will Ultimately Fail - Benn Jordan - Air Date 1-9-23 An investor's guide to breaking the thing you're trying to sell. Ch. 7: James O'Brien caller wrote his dissertation on 'incel' culture - LBC - Air Date 1-27-23 Explaining the appeal of Andrew Tate and his accolites to young, insecure men Ch. 8: TikToker Exposes New A.I. Scam That Is Absolutely TERRIFYING - Rebel HQ - Air Date 1-13-23 TikToker @benno56 shares his family's experience with a terrifying new A.I. voice-mimicking scam. Max Burns breaks it down. Ch. 9: Mark Rober's Prank And The Truth About Scammers And Capitalism - Second Thought - Air Date 6-17-22 Scam call centers are just one cancerous offshoot of bureaucracy under capitalism, and while pranking these places may be cathartic, it's not enough to tackle the root cause. Ch. 10: Is all money just a ponzi scheme? | Vicki Robin - Big Think - Air Date 7-22-18 "Money, it's a gas," wrote Pink Floyd's Roger Waters for their hit 'Money'. Author, speaker, and social innovator Vicki Robin would probably agree: she posits that most people don't understand the true, human, working value of money. Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]