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

• #1741 Global Uprisings: Dissatisfaction Roiling France, the UK, and Nepal

  Air Date 10/3/2025 People around the world are angry, often for different reasons and even more frequently based on falseities - though not always. For instance, the Right in the UK and France are upset about immigration though most of those who are angry are wrong about the facts. But there's also widespread dissatisfaction with national governments and pessimism about their ability to make life better over the short term which is leading to much less predictable politics. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, 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! KEY POINTS KP 1: Block Everything W/ Sebastian Budgen Part 1 - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 9-16-25 KP 2: Why France Might Soon Have a Far-right Government Part 1 - The Global Story - Air Date 9-15-25 KP 3: What's Behind the Anti-immigration Protests in the UK Part 1 - The Inside Story Podcast - Air Date 9-15-25 KP 4: Is the Government Inflaming Protests on the Left and Right Part 1 - Pod Save the UK - Air Date 8-13-25 KP 5: Why Trumpworld Is Obsessed with Free Speech in Britain Part 1 - The Global Story - Air Date 9-18-25 KP 6: Anger, Rage, and Love - Trump's Visit to the UK and Tommy Robinson's Far-right Rally Part 1 - Pod Save the UK - Air Date 9-17-25 KP 7: Inside Europe 11 September 2025 Part 1 - Inside Europe - Air Date 9-11-25 KP 8: Social Media Ban Sparks Deadly Protests in Nepal - The World - Air Date 9-8-25 (01:01:29) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On free speech and framing DEEPER DIVES (01:15:16) SECTION A: BLOQUONS TOUT (01:48:32) SECTION B: UK FAR-RIGHT (02:19:45) SECTION C: AMERICA AND THE EU (02:46:06) SECTION D: NEPAL SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Photo of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President of France Emmanuel Macron walking down a street. Credit: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Ukraine” by Number 10, Flickr | CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Cropped

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• #1740 Monthly-ish Mix: The Enemy Within and the Enemy Without—America's Two-Front

  Air Date: 09/30/25 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we track the dangerous convergence of domestic collapse and international chaos by looking at political violence and martyrdom accelerating division, institutional capture from the courts to the media, the dismantling of voting rights and public health infrastructure, military deployments at home and wars abroad, plus the resistance movements fighting back through town halls, labor organizing, and revolutionary art despite overwhelming odds. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, 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: THE HOME FRONT CRUMBLES (00:01:50) #1739 The Charlie Kirk Assassination and the Plans to Weaponize It 1: Chris Hedges: The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk - The Chris Hedges Report - Air Date 9-12-25 2: The "Both Sides" Scam: How False Balance Fuels Extremism - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 9-12-25 3: No, Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way - Mother Jones - Air Date 9-12-25 (00:22:18) #1736 Not the Opposition Party the Country Needs Right Now 4: Why Democrats Should Cut Off Weapons Sales to Israel and Reject AIPAC Money - Pod Save America - Air Date 8-29-25 5: Journalist Exposes Dark Money on the Left - UNFTR Media - Air Date 8-30-25 (00:40:43) #1728 The Lawfare Presidency: The Case of Trump v. Journalism 6: Corporate Media's Surrender to Trump a Wake-up Call for Urgent Reforms Needed to Save Journalism, Democracy - Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine Podcast - Air Date 7-16-25 7: Trumps War on the Media - Courier - Air Date 7-29-25.mp3 08-01-26-762 8: Trump's Presidential Library Grift. Plus, the Hacker Behind the NYT_s Mamdani Story. - On the Media - Air Date 7-25-25 (01:02:37) #1731 Raw Power, the Presidency, the Courts, and Democracy in the Balance 9: When Unaccountable People Come for Your Vote - Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick - Air Date 7-26-25 10: Executive Lawlessness W/ Leah Litman on the Supreme Court Enabling Presidential Overreach Part 1 - The Intercept Briefing - Air Date 7-18-25 PART 2: INSTITUTIONAL DECAY AND CONTROL (01:17:27) #1732 It's Never Just About the Kids (Online Censorship, Age Verification, and the Project 2025 Agenda) 11: Age Verification Will Kill Free Speech Online - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 6-6-25 12: Can the UK Child-proof the Internet? - Front Burner - Air Date 7-31-25 13: Meet the Creepy Pro-Trump Billionaire Profiting Off of Internet Censorship - The Humanist Report - Air Date 8-7-25 (01:43:50) #1733 The Impossible Promise of Make American Healthy Again: MAHA vs MAGA 14: Despite 'MAHA' Fuss, Truth of Trump Admin's Health Priorities Seen in Drastic Cuts - The Briefing - Air Date 5-23-25 15: The Nutrition Lies We All Fell For Part 1 - Rich Roll - Air Date 8-11-25 16: Dr. Mikes Fight to Save Medicine From RFK Jr. Part 1 - Bulwark Takes - Air Date 8-4-24 (02:04:58) #1730 The Axis of the Dark Personality Triad: Unfit Leaders and the Suffering They Cause 17: The World War II Lessons Trump, Putin, & Netanyahu Actually Learned - Tad Stoermer - Air Date 8-8-25 18: 'Not About Crime': Maddow CRACKS OPEN Trump's Real Motives in Deploying the National Guard to D.C. - The Rachel Maddow Show - Air Date 8-11-25 19: Trump Pushes Forward with Revenge Presidency - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 8-8-25 PART 3: THE WORLD BURNS (02:26:54) #1735 Trump's Making Friends of Enemies and Enemies of Neighbors (Foreign and Domestic Wars) 20: NATO Lost in Ukraine and the West Is In Denial, W Vijay Prashad Part 1 - BreakThrough News - Air Date 8-20-25 21: Trumps National Guard Strategy—Plus, the Secret Behind Huck Finn - Start Making Sense - Air Date 8-27-25 22: Why Are US Warships Going to Venezuela Part 1 - The Take - Air Date 8-28-25 (02:51:27) #1738 Escalations: Russia, Israel, And What We Are Allowed to Say About It 23: Israel Bombs Qatar, Nepal Protests, Russian Drones Enter Polish Airspace - American Prestige - Air Date 9-12-25 24: UK Bans Palestine Action as 'Terror Group' - Mehdi & Owen on Censorship, Silencing of Pro-Palestinian Voices - Two Outspoken - Air Date 7-3-25 25: 'Putin Is Mocking' Trump, Polish Foreign Minister Says After Russian Drone Incursion - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 9-10-25 PART 4: RESISTANCE DESPITE FRAGMENTATION (03:15:52) #1737 State of the Resistance: Labor, Anger, and Knowing That We've Been Here Before 26: While We Were Out An Eye-opening Roundup of Everything We Missed or Wished We Had Over the Past Week - The Bradcast - Air Date 9-2-25 27: What A Raucous Nebraska Town Hall Says About The Country's Mood - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 8-6-25 28: This Is An Invasion - Pritzker, Trump, and the Union Coming Apart + Venezuelan Boat Attack - Straight White American Jesus - Air Date 9-5-25 (03:39:51) #1734 Where is the Revolutionary, Anti-Fascist Art? 29: Is Revolutionary Art Possible In The Age Of Trump? - The Majority Report W/ Sam Seder - Air Date 8-17-25 30: On Kennedy Center Stage, Folk Musicians Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman Protest Trump_s Takeover - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-18-25 Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X

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• SOLVED! SAMPLE! #23 - ROBBING YOU BLIND: ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ and Mass Consumer Manipulation

  Air Date: 9–24-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - Intro, and quick follow up on bad satire Ch. 2 - The new culture of ‘buy now pay later’ and how these companies are manipulating the public to normalize the culture of overconsumption Ch. 3 - How companies pass the environmental toll of their products on the public, and the rise of “cute” debt Ch. 4 - The way heavy ‘buy now pay later’ marketing has dramatically changed people’s impression of how they spend their money Ch. 5 - Why poor voters are America’s swing voters and why that’s extremely important right now SOLVED! BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm: How we should address young boy’s anger FOLLOW US ON: Bluesky Mastadon Instagram Facebook YouTube (This episode drops on YouTube on Friday - please share!) Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES: Buy now, pay later usage for groceries nearly doubles as consumers struggle with food costs - Fox Business Consumers Are Financing Their Groceries. What Does It Say About the Economy? - The New York Times Inside the Manipulative “conspiracy” of consumption - Fast Company The Rise of ‘Cute Debt’ - The Atlantic The ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Bubble Is About to Burst - The Atlantic Poor People Are America’s Swing Voters - Time MEMBERS Child Soldiers - Slate TAKE ACTION: No Kings National Day of Action - Oct. 18th Free DC Project: FOR ALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY - Tell Congress to stand down the federal escalation One Million Rising Trainings In a blue state? Help stop ICE overreach Use the 5 Calls app for scripts and to reach all your elected officials Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

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• #1526 A History of Political Violence in the US (Throwback)

  Original Air Date: 11/15/2022 Today, we take a look at our extremely steady history of political violence from the Revolution, through the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, into the Civil Rights era, the Militia Movement and domestic terrorism, and now to our current once-again-radicalized, right-wing movement willing to use and tacitly condone violence as a political tactic. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, 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!) Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Capitol Attack Wasn't the 1st Violent Incident in Congress - Inside Edition - Air Date 1-20-22 Ch. 2: A history of US political violence Part 1 - Americast - Air Date 11-2-22 Ch. 3: Storm of White Right Wing Violence Isn't Coming... It's Here Featuring Luke Mogelson Part 1 - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 9-15-22 Ch. 4: Political Violence Is No Anomaly in American History - System Check - Air Date 1-8-21 Ch. 5: Today's Republicans were made in the 1990s - Part 1 - The Gray Area with Sean Illing - Air Date 11-7-22 Ch. 6: Storm of White Right Wing Violence Isn't Coming... It's Here Featuring Luke Mogelson Part 2 - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 9-15-22 Ch. 7: Pelosi Attack Leads to Conspiracies, Obama Crushes GOP - The David Pakman Show - Air Date 10-31-22 Ch. 8: A history of US political violence Part 2 - Americast - Air Date 11-2-22 Ch. 9: Political Violence - In the Thick - Air Date 11-4-22 Ch 10. Today's Republicans were made in the 1990s - Part 2 - The Gray Area with Sean Illing - Air Date 11-7-22

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• #1739 The Charlie Kirk Assassination and the Plans to Weaponize It

  Air Date 9/23/2025 All that is happening in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination was quite predictable because we've actually seen this game plan play out before. The only thing we didn't know was what would be the catalyst to really put the autocracy into high gear. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, 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! KEY POINTS KP 1: No, Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way - Mother Jones - Air Date 9-12-25 KP 2: Who Is THEY? - We Gon Be Alright - Air Date 9-15-25 KP 3: Blackpill Aesthetics: A Crash Course in Meme Extremism - Cy Canterel - Air Date 9-15-25 KP 4: The 1933 Nazi Playbook That Explains Why ABC Cancelled Kimmel - Tad Stoermer - Air Date 9-18-25 KP 5: How You Die Does Not Redeem How You Lived Charlie Kirk - The Benjamin Dixon Show - Air Date 9-15-25 KP 6: Charlie Kirk = Horst Wessel - CounterVortex Podcast - Air Date 9-14-25 KP 7: Chris Hedges: The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk - The Chris Hedges Report - Air Date 9-12-25 (00:48:55) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the new cancel culture and bloodlust DEEPER DIVES (00:57:52) SECTION A: KIRK (01:37:38) SECTION B: NAZI PLAYBOOK (02:31:41) SECTION C: HISTORICAL CONTEXT (03:03:36) SECTION D: IT'S NOT BOTH SIDES SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Photo of Donald Trump hugging Charlie Kirk on stage at a Turning Point USA event.  Credit: “Charlie Kirk & Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore, Flickr | 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]

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