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

Air Date: 9/22/2026 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on the news from July and August without being overwhelming! Organized around a single idea: ask who the system is for, and every story this summer gives the same answer. The administration rewrites the national story while libraries lose their funding. Corporations fence off ideas as private property. Latin America gets treated like a portfolio and Greenland like a drilling site. Police cameras put every driver under permanent investigation. The seats it all runs from are held until death, and the fixes on the table aim at prying some of them open. Covering: July–August 2026 Full Show Notes BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) SECTION 1: OWNING THE STORY (00:01:52) #1815 - Sanctioned Ignorance: The Assault on Museums, Libraries, and American Memory 1: Trying to Rewrite History - Letters From an American - Air Date 7-28-26 2: Why Libraries Matter in a Fascist Moment Part 1 - Movement Memos - Air Date 3-19-26 (00:21:31) #1816 - IP'd to Death: How Intellectual Property Law Went from a Protection to a Weapon 3: We Are Being IP-ed to Death / Vicky Osterweil Part 1 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 5-27-26 4: Is AI Burning The Library Of Alexandria? - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 8-5-26 5: Everyone's Wrong About John Oliver's Trademark War - LegalEagle - Air Date 8-8-26 SECTION 2: THE WORLD AS INVENTORY (00:45:39) #1814 - Open Imperialism in Latin America: Trump Says the Whole Hemisphere Is His to Run 6: "Imperial Laboratory": Alexander Aviña on the "Donroe" Doctrine & U.S. Intervention in Latin America - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-6-26 7: 'Cuba Is Not Venezuela': Trump's Takeover Threat Collides with 'disciplined Revolutionary State' - FRANCE 24 English - Air Date 3-18-26 (01:02:20) #1817 - Worse on Purpose: Trump is Killing Our Response to the Climate Emergency 8: Fire Climate Hot, Dry, Windy Days Are Becoming Common, Making Wildfires Harder to Control - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-6-24 9: Is This How We Invade Greenland - The Rachel Maddow Show - Air Date 8-11-26 SECTION 3: EVERYONE ELSE (01:22:58) #1818 - Flock Cameras, ICE, and the Surveillance State Targeting Everyone 10: Ohio Professor Specialized in Policing Nails Why Flock Cameras Are a Threat to Everyone - More Perfect Union - Air Date 8-16-26 11: Police Surveillance Technology - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Air Date 8-3-26 12: Former ICE Lawyer Says the Point of Trump's ICE Is to "engender Fear" - The Current - Air Date 7-14-26 (01:42:24) #1813 - Suffering is the Strategy: ICE, Mass Deportation, and Demographic Engineering 13: Trumps National Killer Police Force Part 1 - The Intercept Briefing - Air Date 7-24-26 14: ICE Deports Family To Their Deaths In Guatemala - The Majority Report - Air Date 7-29-26 15: Lauren Bonds on ICE Murders Part 1 - CounterSpin - Air Date 7-17-26 (02:08:33) #1819 - Coerced Sterilization, Abortion Bans, and the New Pronatalism: Who Controls American Reproduction 16: Buck V. Bell Part 1 - 5-4 - Air Date 5-26-20 17: Explaining This Moment of Pronatalism Part 1 - rePROS Fight Back - Air Date 6-16-26 18: If Roe Was Never Enough, Why Was It Everything (And a Word to My Boom! Lawyered Fam) Part 1 - Boom! Lawyered - Air Date 6-11-26 SECTION 4: HELD FOR LIFE... UNTIL NOW (02:35:29) #1811 - Country for Old Men: Gerontocracy By Design and the Democracy Problem 19: Mitch, Lindsey and the Gerontocracy Part 1 - What Next - Air Date 7-13-26 20: What Is There to Say About Lindsey Graham - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 7-12-26 21: Where Is Mitch McConnell? - The NPR Politics Podcast - Air Date 7-10-26 (02:58:47) #1812 - Democracy or This Supreme Court, But Not Both 22: 'Unhinged and Racist': Hayes EVISCERATES Trump's Birthright Argument - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 6-30-26 23: Did the Birthright Citizenship Ruling Prove It's Time for SCOTUS Reform? Part 1 - Stateside with Kai and Carter - Air Date 7-1-26 24: Broke: Pack the Supreme Court. Woke: Pack ALL of the Courts - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 7-23-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date: 9/18/2026 Today we're doing something new and different but also very old. Occupy Wall Street just hit its 15th anniversary this month and we thought we'd do something that only we can, which is dip into our archives and pull out the best of the Occupy coverage we played in real time as it was happening as well as some other retrospective coverage that aired 10 years later. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) TOP TAKES KP 1: Keith Olbermann Reads First Collective Statement of Occupy Wall Street - Countdown - Air Date 10-6-11 KP 2: 99% V 1% the Data Behind the Occupy Movement Animation - Library Of Electronic Press - Air Date 11-16-11 KP 3: News Coverage Numbers of the Occupy Protests Vs Tea Party Protests - On the Media - Air Date 10-7-11 KP 4: What the Occupy Wall St Movement Wants Part 1 - Planet Money - Air Date 10-7-11 KP 5: The General Strike in Oakland - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 11-2-11 KP 6: Keith's Special Comment Why OWS Needs Michael Bloomberg - Countdown - Air Date 11-16-11 KP 7: UC Davis Police Pepper Spray Sitting Protesters at Point Blank Range - David Pakman - Air Date 11-21-11 KP 8: Occupy at 10 with Astra Taylor Part 1 - The Dig - Air Date 9-25-21 (01:01:34) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Democratic Primary Voters Keep Guessing What Everyone Else Will Do My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:12:59) SECTION A: THE STATE STRIKES BACK A1: Comparing the Occupation to the Bonus Army Encampment - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 10-26-11 A2: Erroneous Reporting on the Occupation - Counterspin - Air Date 10-27-11 A3: Protesting at Berkley, Past and Present - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 11-15-11 A4: If Cops Use Force Then Your Speech Wasn't Free (to Say the Least) - Matthew Filipowicz - Air Date 12-9-11 A5: Iraq Vet Scott Olsen on What He Hopes the Movement Will Achieve - Countdown - Air Date 12-2-11 (01:49:52) SECTION B: RIGGED SYSTEM, RIGGED COVERAGE B1: The Top 1% Vs YOU - The Young Turks - Air Date 10-31-11 B2: Panic of the Plutocrats - Green News Report - Air Date 10-11-11 B3: Three Quarters of Americans Believe Rich, Corporations Have Too Much Power - The Young Turks - Air Date 12-17-11 B4: World Economy Going to Hell - Dan Carlin - Air Date 9-28-11 B5: Leaked Republicans Scared of Occupy Wall Street - The Young Turks - Air Date 12-2-11 B6: Erin Burnett's Horrible Occupy Wall St Report - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-7-11 B7: The Screaming Majority Song on Occupy Wall St - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-7-11 (02:43:16) SECTION C: WHAT THE MOVEMENT WAS DOING C1: What the Occupy Wall St Movement Wants Part 2 - Planet Money C2: Prophetic Article Calling for the Occupation - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-25-11 C3: Occupying Our Homes - Rachel Maddow - Air Date 12-2-11 (03:13:08) SECTION D: THE LEGACY, 10 YEARS ON D1: Will Occupy Wall Street Affect 2012 Election Glenn Greenwald Interview - David Pakman - Air Date 11-14-11 D2: The Legacy of Occupy Wall Street, with Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit - Belabored - Air Date 9-24-21   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date: 9/13/2026 Today we trace the two-front war on the American press. On one side, government regulators and members of Congress are going after news outlets for the stories they choose to run. On the other, politically friendly buyers are taking ownership of major networks to turn them into free-market versions of state media. Full Show Notes Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Support and Get No Ads!) Everything in one place! (Support, contact, follow, books + merch) ..TOP TAKES KP 1: How to Build a State Media - Blonde Politics | The Silly Serious - Air Date 12-13-25 KP 2: Breaking: ABC SUES Trump Over Free Speech After Kimmel's WIN - The Beat with Ari Melber - Air Date 8-18-26 KP 3: How Thiel, Musk, and Other Tech Billionaires Bought the Liberal Media / Eoin Higgins - This Is Hell! - Air Date 2-4-25 KP 4: Congress Just Subpoenaed Our Newsroom for Doing Journalism - BreakThroughNews - Air Date 7-23-26 KP 5: Public Media - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - Air Date 11-17-25 KP 6: "A Victory for Journalism": Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Opinion Columnist Karen Attiah - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-26-26 KP 7: Coyote Vs. Acme Proves the CEOs Don't Know S***. - Adam Conover - Air Date 9-4-26 (00:56:23) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Corporate Media Cannot Be Trusted to Serve the Public Interest My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:06:24) SECTION A: THE FCC WEAPONIZED A1: ABC Says FCC Waging a Retaliatory Campaign Violating Free Speech Rights - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 8-18-26 A2: Trump's Scheme to Control the Media - Robert Reich and Inequality Media - Air Date 5-7-26 A3: Trump's "Authoritarian Takeover" of the Media, ABC Suing FCC & the Meta Trial: Free Press's Jessica González - Air Date 8-19-26 (01:23:10) SECTION B: JOURNALISTS IN THE CROSSHAIRS B1: FBI Raids Home of Washington Post Reporter as Attacks on Press Freedom Intensify Under Trump - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-15-26 B2: Media Under Scrutiny Following Tragic Death Of Jason Arday | Novara Live - Novara Media - Air Date 8-17-26 B3: A New McCarthyism? House GOP Subpoenas BreakThrough News in Escalating War on Progressive Groups - Democracy Now! Air Date 7-28-26 B4: US Media's Hasan Piker Derangement Syndrome Is Ridiculous - The Majority Report W/ Sam Seder - Air Date 8-11-26 B5: Katy Tur Sounds More Like 1930s German Propaganda Than Journalism - Paul Lance - Air Date 9-3-26 B6: Joy Reid & Dean Obeidallah: Fascism Tests Journalistic Integrity In Modern Media - Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture - Air Date 8-19-26 (02:06:18) SECTION C: WHO'S BUYING, WHO'S CASHING IN C1: The Playbook Putin Used Is Being Run in America Right Now | Media Consolidation - Jim Acosta - Air Date 3-23-26 C2: FOR SALE: Truth Social Selling Early Access to Trump's Posts - Connnect W/ Jacob Soboroff - Air Date 8-9-26 C3: The Meta Settlement Isn't The Victory You Think It Is - Leeja Miller - Air Date 8-28-26 C4: "Profoundly Corrupt": Trump Sued for Selling Early Access to His Truth Social Posts for $100K/Month - Democracy Now! - Air Date - 8-19-26 C5: Finance Bros Are Coming for the Public Airwaves - On The Media - Air Date 8-28-26 (02:35:41) SECTION D: BUILDING SOMETHING BETTER D1: The World After Billionaire Media - Lever Time - Air Date 6-21-24 D2: News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times - Citations Needed - Air Date 5-28-26 D3: From Deadspin to Defector: The Power of Worker-owned News Outlets - Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture - Air Date 8-12-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date: 9/9/2026 Today we look at the strategies being deployed by the Trump administration and their enablers to undermine the midterm elections and what it actually takes to fight back. The lawyers fighting in court against the efforts to destroy our democracy are clear-eyed that you cannot litigate your way to a free election. The most durable defense is a turnout margin too large to plausibly contest, and organizers are building toward it now. Full Show Notes Transcript Be part of the show! Leave a voice message, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] 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: President Trump Is Trying to Change How Elections Are Run. Where Do Things Stand - Consider This - Air Date 8-28-26 KP 2: Trump's Strategy to Rig the Midterms + Jake Lang's Christian Nationalist Spectacle Part 1 - Straight White American Jesus - Air Date 8-25-26 KP 3: Protecting the Midterms—at the Grassroots and in the Courts Part 1 - Start Making Sense - Air Date 8-19-26 KP 4: Is SCOTUS Letting Trump Meddle in the Midterms Part 1 - Strict Scrutiny - Air Date 8-31-26 KP 5: Will Dems Risk Being Called 'Election Deniers' If They Need to Challenge Midterms - The BradCast - Air Date 8-27-26 KP 6: Will Data Centers Cost Republicans the Midterms - Runaway Country with Alex Wagner - Air Date 8-27-26 KP 7: Protecting the Midterms—at the Grassroots and in the Courts Part 2 - Start Making Sense - Air Date 8-19-26 (00:54:01) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On Burnout and ADHD My commentaries on YouTube - Share them! DEEPER DIVES (01:00:47) SECTION A: THREAT AND BACKFIRE A1: What Happens if Trump Tries to Mess with the Midterms - The NPR Politics Podcast - Air Date 8-28-26 A2: Trump's Strategy to Rig the Midterms + Jake Lang's Christian Nationalist Spectacle Part 2 - Straight White American Jesus - Air Date 8-25-26 A3: Trump Accidentally Wrecks GOP Midterm Message in Dumbest Self-Own Ever - THE DAILY BLAST - Air Date 8-28-26 (01:32:06) SECTION B: CRACKS AND CONSTRAINTS B1: Trump Election Scheme Suddenly Blocked in Late Night Order Part 1 - Legal AF - Air Date 8-29-26 B2: Is SCOTUS Letting Trump Meddle in the Midterms Part 2 - Strict Scrutiny - Air Date 8-31-26 B3: Alarming Voting System Vulnerabilities Persist, with Guest Susan Greenhalgh, Election Security Expert Part 1 - The BradCast - Air Date 8-10-26 B4: Trump Election Scheme Suddenly Blocked in Late Night Order Part 2 - Legal AF - Air Date 8-29-26 B5: Alarming Voting System Vulnerabilities Persist, with Guest Susan Greenhalgh, Election Security Expert Part 2 - The BradCast - Air Date 8-10-26 (02:14:39) SECTION C: RESISTANCE AND RESPONSE C1: Distraction Drugs For America; A Crucial Voting Strategy For Before November Part 1 - The Politicrat - Air Date 9-2-26 C2: Powerful, Brave, and Free with Tamika Middleton Part 1 - The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast - Air Date 9-2-26 C3: Distraction Drugs For America; A Crucial Voting Strategy For Before November Part 2 - The Politicrat - Air Date 9-2-26 C4: Powerful, Brave, and Free with Tamika Middleton Part 2 - The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast - Air Date 9-2-26   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Re-Air Date: 8/5/26 Original Air Date: 4/24/26 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - Why victims of crime are underserved and actually prefer rehabilitative, root-case approaches to justice Ch. 2 - How cashless bail reform has shrunk jail populations and fueled momentum to block new jail construction Ch. 3 - The local fight over a proposed mega-prison in Arkansas making some conservatives question mass incarceration itself Ch. 4 - A think tank report that proves the glaringly obvious facts about what reduces recidivism, and an article on the community "solutionaries" already preventing and disrupting violence without police SOLVED! BACKSTAGE: Beyond the Algorithm (Members Only!): Aramark's inhumane "service" in the prison system Leave us a message on our new system! FOLLOW US ON: YouTube (This episode premieres on YouTube on Friday - please subscribe and share!) Bluesky Instagram Facebook Mastadon Nostr public key: npub1tjxxp0x5mcgl2svwhm39qf002st2zdrkz6yxmaxr6r2fh0pv49qq2pem0e REFERENCES The People Most Ignored by the Criminal-Justice System - The Atlantic Jails Are Closing Across America. Why? - The Nation Judge Orders Colorado to Stop Throwing Prisoners in Solitary for Refusing to Work - BOLTS Magazine The Prison Next Door - The Nation A better path forward for criminal justice: Changing prisons to help people change - A Report by the Brookings AEI Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform Making Communities Safe, Without the Police - Boston Review BACKSTAGE Prison Dining Giant Aramark Serves Inedible Food to Drive Commissary Sales, Lawsuit Alleges - The Appeal EXTRAS: BOOK: "We Do This Til We Free Us" by Mariame Kaba (Buying through this link supports indie book stores and this show!) BOOK: "The New Jim Crow" by Michele Alexander (Buying through this link supports indie book stores and this show!) DOCUMENTARY: "13th" by Ava DuVernay (Netflix) DOCUMENTARY: "The Alabama Solution" (HBO) TAKE ACTION: Stop the prison industrial complex with Critical Resistance and the Abolitionist Law Center Push for the passage of bills like the End of For-Profit Prisons Act of 2025 MayDayStrong.org - May 1st - No Work. No School. No Shopping. Stop Trump's Wars REI Co-Op Members: Vote to Boycott Greeley Meatpacking Workers (UFCW Local 7R) Strike Fund No Kings - What's Next? One Million Rising Trainings In a blue state? Help stop ICE overreach How to Support Minneapolis Communities Free DC Project: FOR ALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY 5calls.org Find your Indivisible group - or start one Join our Discord Server Reach us via Signal: Bestoftheleft.01 Leave a message Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Contact me directly at [email protected] Review the show on Apple Podcasts!