Best of the Left Podcast

Tue, 28 November 2017

#1148 Understanding the past to rebuild for the future (Democratic Party)

Air Date: 11/28/2017

Today we look at recent revelations about the conduct of the DNC during the 2016 campaign, a new Democratic Autopsy report that strives to shine light the failures and opportunities for the party and the recent election wins and what they can tell us about a path forward

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: Elizabeth Warren NAILS What's Wrong With The Democratic Party 'Hold This Party Accountable' - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date 11-04-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Vengeful - Warmbody

Ch. 4: Act 2: BOMBSHELL: Donna Brazile Admits DNC Rigged Primary Against Bernie - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 11-03-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Steamer - Arc and Crescent

Ch. 6: Act 3: Voters Reject Republican Candidates as New “Autopsy” Report Finds the Democratic Party in Crisis - @DemocracyNow - Air Date 11-08-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: Rotisserie Graveyard - Doctor Turtle

Ch. 8: Act 4: Autopsy: An Analysis of What Went Wrong with the Democratic Party in 2016 - @TheRealNews - Air Date 11-17-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: Passionate Ending - Soft and Furious

Ch. 10: Act 5: How to Fix the Democratic Party - @DavidPakmanShow - Air Date: 11-17-17

Ch. 11: Song 5: Homegrown - The Pine Barrens

Ch. 12: Act 6: You Can Transform the Democratic Party via @JusticeDems @DemSocialists & @TheDemocrats - Best of the Left Activism

Ch. 13: Final comments on Corruption 101 and what we’re actually protecting when we make rules against it

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone

(Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions & Free Music Archive)

TAKE ACTION!

Read the report: Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis

Get involved with Justice Democrats (or become a candidate!)

Get involved with Democratic Socialists of America (or become a candidate!)

Get involved in your local Democratic National Committee chapter (or become a candidate!)

Written by BOTL Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Support the show via Patreon & check out our WINTER FUNDRAISER!

Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores!

Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Review the show on iTunes and Stitcher!

Direct download: 1148_DNC.Autopsy_Air_Date_11-28-17_-_11-28-17_20.45.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Fri, 24 November 2017

#964 History of the Christian Right (Religion) (Encore)

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Air Date: 11/21/2017

Today we take a look at the history of how Christianity was, in large part, coopted by the Republican party on behalf of business interests and how anyone started getting the idea that we were founded as a religious, much less Christian, nation

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: How 'One Nation' Didn't Become 'Under God' Until The '50s Religious Revival Part 1 - Fresh Air - Air Date 3-30-15

Ch. 3: Song 1: Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre

Ch. 4: Act 2: The Origin of Religious Freedom Laws... - @Thom_Hartmann - Air Date: 04-27-15

Ch. 5: Song 2: Coaster - NOFX

Ch. 6: Act 3: Why Can't They Understand the First Amendment? - @davidpakmanshow - Air Date: 04-11-15

Ch. 7: Song 3: Very Soon ft Funsho Ogundipe - Wanlov the Kubolor

Ch. 8: Act 4: How 'One Nation' Didn't Become 'Under God' Until The '50s Religious Revival Part 2 - Fresh Air - Air Date 3-30-15

Ch. 9: Song 4: Kalamazoo - Jason Roseboom

Ch. 10: Act 5: What Would the Founders say about Religious Freedom Laws? - @Thom_Hartmann - Air Date: 04-27-15

Ch. 11: Song 5: The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary - Peter, Paul & Mary

Ch. 12: Act 6: Republicans Fire Woman For Not Going To Church - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 08-21-15

Ch. 13: Song 6: Dancing In The Streets - The Haymarket Squares

Ch. 14: Act 7: Fascism on the American horizon, wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross - @truthdig - Air Date: 10-11-13

Direct download: Rerun_2015.10.30_History_of_the_Christian_Right_Religion_-_11-22-17_23.09.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Tue, 21 November 2017

#1147 The thrill and horror of the Harvey Weinstein Effect

Air Date: 11/21/2017

Today we look at gender-based harassment and assault, the revolution in thinking on the subject we are currently in the midst of and some ideas to institutionalize positive change

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: Sexual Harassment, Revisited - On The Media - Air Date 10-26-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Open Flames - Aeronaut

Ch. 4: Act 2: #MeToo is a movement just to be believed - Backtalk from @BitchMedia - Air Date 10-19-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Streamer - Arc and Crescent

Ch. 6: Act 3: Understanding the Clinton legacy in the debate over sexual harassment - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 11-20-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: Marble Chase - Dorica

Ch. 8: Act 4: Alyssa Peterson on Campus Sexual Assault - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date 11-3-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: Lakal - Speakeasy

Ch. 10: Act 5: Hollywood Actors: Sexual Abuse Of Boys Is "Rampant" - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 11-01-17

Ch. 11: Song 5: The Envelope - Aeronaut

Ch. 12: Act 6: How to facilitate reporting of harassment in the workplace - @offkiltershow - Air Date 11-17-17

Ch. 13: Song 6: Chilvat - Lillehammer

Ch. 14: Act 7: Rebecca Traister on the ‘Harvey Weinstein Effect’ - The Breach - Air Date 11-21-17

Voicemails

Ch. 15: A few thoughts on guns, race and gender - Margareet from Northern California

Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics

Ch. 16: Final comments on working for gender equality while avoiding the unavoidable backlash (Reminder: Check out our Winter Fundraiser!)

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone

(Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions)

ACTION & INFORMATION

Need help? Call the 24-hour National Sexual Assault Hotline toll-free: 1-800-656-HOPE

RAINN Action Center

1 in 6 (Organization supporting men who have been sexually assaulted)

Know Your IX (Defending Title IX - Empowering students to stop sexual violence)

Your Reckoning. And Mine. by Rebecca Traister (The Cut)

Ellen Page on Brett Ratner Abuse & Reckoning (Ellen Page via Facebook)

There’s a little-known fund that goes to victims of sexual harassment on the Hill. You pay for it. (Vox)

Study: Hotel Housekeepers Are at Great Risk for Sexual Assault From Guests (New Republic)

700,000 Female Farmworkers Say They Stand With Hollywood Actors Against Sexual Assault (TIME)

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Support the show via Patreon & check out our Winter Fundraiser!

Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores!

Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Review the show on iTunes and Stitcher!

Direct download: 1147_Sexual_Harassment_Air_Date_11-21-17_-_11-21-17_19.41.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Fri, 17 November 2017

#1146 An Unmitigated Disaster (The GOP Tax Plan)

Air Date: 11/17/2017

Today we look at just a few of the many ways that the GOP tax plan is intended to help the well-off, harm the needy and defile a pristine wilderness just to top things off

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: Bowing to the paymasters - Start Making Sense from @TheNation - Air Date 11-8-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Villager - Blue Dot Sessions

Ch. 4: Act 2: ANALYSIS: Trump-Republican Tax Plan an Unmitigated Disaster - @DavidPakmanShow - Air Date: 11-07-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Stale Case - Darby

Ch. 6: Act 3: Taking aim at Obamacare (again) - @offkiltershow - Air Date 11-17-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: Wingspan - Bayou Birds

Ch. 8: Act 4: The effect of changing the standard deduction on charitable giving - @DecodeDC - Air Date 11-2-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: Weathervane - CloudCover

Ch. 10: Act 5: Scare tactics to push the tax cuts through - @Intercepted w @JeremyScahill - Air Date 11-8-17

Ch. 11: Song 5: Hickory Shed - Onesuch Village

Ch. 12: Act 6: Going after the Alaskan wilderness in the tax plan - @GreenNewsReport - Air Date 11-16-17

Ch. 13: Song 6: A Palace of Cedar - The Pine Barrens

Ch. 14: Act 7: Everyone from corporations to the Democrats is out of ideas - @RalphNader Radio Hour - Air Date 11-11-17

Ch. 15: Song 7: The Wooden Platform - The Bulwark

Ch. 16: Act 8: What the Paradise Papers Reveal - The Bernie Sanders Show - Air Date 11-14-17

Voicemails

Ch. 17: Looking critically at party structures - Anthony from Illinois

Ch. 18: Clarifying thoughts on guns and Democrats - Zach from Atlanta

Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics

Ch. 19: Final comments: Check out our WINTER FUNDRAISER!

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone

(Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions)

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Support the show via Patreon & check out our Winter Fundraiser!

Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores!

Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Review the show on iTunes and Stitcher!

Direct download: 1146_Taxes_Air_Date_11-17-17_-_11-17-17_19.21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Tue, 14 November 2017

#1065 The fight for truth in a post-fact world (Media) (Encore)

Air Date: 12/16/2016

Today we look at the problems with the media, so many problems, and what lessons we should learn in the wake of the election

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: The real kinds of bias that still exist in the media - @InDeepRadio w @AngieCoiro - Air Date 6-11-16

Ch. 3: Song 1: The System - Abscondo

Ch. 4: Act 2: Money isn't the only bad influence on the media - @RalphNader Radio Hour - Air Date 10-1-16

Ch. 5: Song 2: Follow The Money - Zounds

Ch. 6: Act 3: The media and President-Elect Trump - @LastWeekTonight w: @iamjohnoliver - Air Date 11-13-16

Ch. 7: Song 3: Sunrise - Norah Jones

Ch. 8: Act 4: Media lessons to learn from the election - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date 11-11-16

Ch. 9: Song 4: Having a Good Time - Theo Bard

Ch. 10: Act 5: Mainstream Media Fighting Trump...Don't Count On It - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 11-16-16

Ch. 11: Song 5: Old News - Rick Estrin & The Nightcats

Ch. 12: Act 6: Reporting on the editor of "The platform for the alt-right" - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date 11-18-16

Ch. 13: Song 6: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Ch. 14: Act 7: Stopping fake news - Popaganda from @BitchMedia - Air Date 11-24-16

Ch. 15: Song 7: Happy Song Is A Happy Song - Nick Rivera

Ch. 16: Act 8: Christiane Amanpour on the state of the media in a post fact-world - The Investigators with Diana Swain, CBC - Air Date 11-25-16

Direct download: 1065_Media_Air_Date_12-16-16_Rerun_-_11-14-17_18.03.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Sat, 11 November 2017

#1145 A government small enough to get inside your body (Reproductive Justice)

Air Date: 11/11/2017

Today we look at the many ways conservatives across the country are systematically chipping away at the rights of all people who require access to any kind of reproductive health services

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Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: The State Legislator Will See You Now - On The Media - Air Date 8-4-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Farmscrapers - Dad Rocks!

Ch. 4: Act 2: Texas fails to address skyrocketing rate of pregnancy-related deaths - Savage Love w: @FakeDanSavage - Air Date 6-6-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Long and Low Cloud - The Bulwark

Ch. 6: Act 3: 20-Week Abortion Ban Bill Treats Abortion as an Issue of Criminality, not Health Care - @TheRealNews - Air Date 10-6-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: Shift of Currents - Aeronaut

Ch. 8: Act 4: Taking aim at reproductive rights in all forms - @offkiltershow - Air Date 10-13-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: The Summit - K2

Ch. 10: Act 5: Keep Birth Control Copay Free #HandsOffMyBC via @Women_EqualityC - Best of the Left Activism

Ch. 11: Song 5: Homegrown - The Pine Barrens

Ch. 12: Act 6: Why you can't have economic justice without reproductive justice - The Breach - Air Date 8-8-17

Voicemails

Ch. 13: Bringing a gun into the home makes the owner less safe - Nick from California

Ch. 14: The party structures are a fundamental problem - Erica from Massachusetts

Ch. 15: What Sanders supporters are really emotional about - Greg from Baldwin Park, California

Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics

Ch. 16: Final comments on the show’s new sunshine policy and a clarification on the Democrats celebrity crushes

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone

(Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions & and Free Music Archive)

Activism:

TAKE ACTION

Take multiple actions with the Keep Birth Control Copay Free campaign:

Send Trump an invoice for your birth control costs
Write to the Department of Health and Human Services to defend free birth control
Get the Toolkit to speak up at Town Halls and put pressure on Congress
Share infographics to educate on birth control & share the campaign video
Join the conversation with #HandsOffMyBC

via Women's Equality Center

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Trump Administration Rolls Back Birth Control Mandate (New York Times)

The Economy Can’t Grow Without Birth Control (New York Times Op-Ed)

Notre Dame Will No Longer Provide Free Birth Control (The Cut)

Trump Be Damned: States Are Fighting to Make Birth Control Over-the-Counter (Finally) (Mother Jones)

California Suing Trump Administration Over Rollback Of Birth Control Rule (Huffington Post)

A.G. Schneiderman Sues To Protect New Yorkers' Access To Birth Control (NY.gov)

Not religious freedom, but the freedom to hate women (The Griffin)

Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Support the show via Patreon

Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores!

Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Review the show on iTunes and Stitcher!

Direct download: 1145_Abortion_Air_Date_11-11-17_-_11-11-17_20.27.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Tue, 7 November 2017

#1144 Denying and deconstructing with all their might (Environmental Regulations)

Air Date: 11/07/2017

Today we look at the systematic deconstruction of the environmental regulatory infrastructure at the hands of anti-environment radicals, otherwise known as the "Climate Denying Dream Team"

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Visit: https://www.patreon.com/BestOfTheLeft

Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: Trump’s ‘Dream Team’ of Climate Change Deniers Threatens the Planet - The Breach - Air Date 8-1-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Long and Low Cloud - The Bulwark

Ch. 4: Act 2: War on the EPA - Frontline - Air Date 10-17-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Passionate Ending - Soft and Furious

Ch. 6: Act 3: Trump Picks DAPL Lobbyist to Oversee EPA Water Safety in Same Week He Rolls Back Water Safeguards - @DemocracyNow - Air Date: 06-29-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: Rotisserie Graveyard - Doctor Turtle

Ch. 8: Act 4: Science under attack from Trump administration - Got Science? - Air Date: 8-15-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: Turning to You - Landsman Duets

Ch. 10: Act 5: How Will We Be Remembered? Demand Climate Action in Your Community Nov. 18th via Climate Legacy Time Capsule Project - Best of the Left Activism

Ch. 11: Song 5: This Fickle World - Theo Bard

Ch. 12: Act 6: Trump's PC Police Purging The Term 'Climate Change' - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 08-08-17

Voicemails

Ch. 13: Banning guns wouldn't work - Zach from Atlanta, GA

Ch. 14: An unarmed proletariat will always be dominated - Anthony from Salt Lake City, UT

Ch. 15: Dems were unfair to Bernie who wasn't a Democrat - Erica from Massachusetts

Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics

Ch. 16: Final comments defending my personal friend, Martin O’Malley

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone

(Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions and Free Music Archive)

Activism:

TAKE ACTION!

Demand Climate Action in Your Community on NOVEMBER 18th with the Climate Legacy Time Capsule Dedication demonstrations at State Houses and City Halls across the U.S.

Find a Dedication Day event near you

No event near you? Create one and get support!

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Robert Redford: Scott Pruitt Is 'Hell-Bent' On Dismantling EPA Rules (Time)

Scott Pruitt Declares War on Air Pollution Science (The New Republic)

Here’s the Expertise Scott Pruitt Is Removing From the EPA’s Advisory Boards (Slate)

EPA chief set to meet privately with chemical industry execs (ABC News)

GAO to review whether EPA violated anti-propaganda law (The Hill)

Another Trump aide seems to be caught up in the Russia probe (Vox)

Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Support the show via Patreon

Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores!

Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Review the show on iTunes and Stitcher!

Direct download: 1144_Climate_Air_Date_11-7-17_-_11-7-17_19.15.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Fri, 3 November 2017

#1143 Strategies for a winning coalition (Progressive Movement)

Air Date: 11/03/2017

Today we look at the battle at the heart of the rift in the progressive movement over strategies on the proper direction to go from here. As is so often the case, the answer is not one or the other but both

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Visit: https://www.patreon.com/BestOfTheLeft