Thu, 21 May 2020
Air Date 5/21/2020 Today we take a look at the classic battle between good and... not evil exactly but worse than just 'bad'... 'malicious indifference to suffering in the pursuit of ideology over real-world outcomes' maybe?... as seen through the lens of trying to destroy or save the US Post Office, the battle for basic labor rights and protections and the struggle to define the revolutionary change we are going to experience on the back end of the pandemic for either good or ill. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) EPISODE SPONSORS: Clean Choice Energy SHOP AMAZON: Amazon USA | Amazon CA | Amazon UK SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: USPS - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Air Date 5-10-20 As the U.S. Postal Service faces financial catastrophe, John Oliver discusses why the service is so important, what brought it to this point, and what we can do to help. Ch. 2: Far from a loser, the post office is a money-making operation - Jim Hightower - Air Date 4-21-20 Antigovernment ideologues and privatization dogmatists hate the very word “public” and they’ve long sought to demonize the US Postal Service, undercut its popular support, and finally dismantle it. President Trump has lashed out at the U.S. Postal Service as the pandemic brings it to the brink of collapse and more people than ever are relying on the mail. Ch. 4: Is Postal Banking a Good Idea? - David Pakman Show - Air Date 05-14-18 Audience question: Is postal banking a good idea? Ch. 5: Should Trump be America’s Postal Potentate? - Jim Hightower - Air Date 5-7-20 The humble Post Office is a community fixture, a civic inheritance, a rural lifeline, and one of the last vestiges of a shared civic culture in America. The revolutionary history of May Day is recognized around the world in a way that should inspire workers in the United States to continue their fight. Ch. 7: Mike Elk on Frontline Worker Rights - CounterSpin - Air Date 4-10-20 Mike Elk discusses essential workers and the power of labor and strikes. Ch. 8: Food Workers and the Virus - Belabored by Dissent Magazine - Air Date 5-9-20 We talk with Raj Patel, research professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and the author of Stuffed and Starved. Ch. 9: Charles Derber Upstairs/Downstairs Economy - Unauthorized Disclosure - Air Date 4-5-20 Charles Derber on whether the pandemic may significantly alter the structure of the economy in the United States. It’s a historic stimulus bill that will finally offer some financial relief to those affected by the coronavirus outbreak. But will Americans be able to prove they’re mature enough to spend it responsibly? Ch. 11: Ricardo Salvador on the Food System & COVID-19 - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-8-20 As for food workers—farm laborers, meatpackers, grocery and restaurant workers—how can they be deemed “essential” and yet treated as expendable? Ch. 12: Demand Congress Pass The #PeoplesBailout via ThePeoplesBailout.org Go to The People’s Bailout dot org to easily write and call your members of Congress demanding they take effective, inclusive, equitable and preventative legislative action. Ch. 13: Coronavirus Capitalism and How to Beat It - The Intercept - Air Date 3-16-20 This video is about the ways the still-unfolding COVID-19 crisis is already remaking our sense of the possible. Ch. 14: The Georgia Experiment - Social Distance - Air Date 4-30-20 Staff writer and Georgia native Amanda Mull join to talk about the political forces pushing to reopen her home state. Ch. 15: A New Economy for a post-COVID world - Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray - Air Date 5-3-20 As President Trump and many states’ governors are pushing (largely minority) workers to go back to work in unsafe conditions for less than a living wage in the midst of a pandemic, is the word “revolution” too strong to use or is it not quite enough? FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 16: Final comments on the best-laid intentions TAKE ACTION! Write & Call Your Members of Congress & MORE at ThePeoplesBailout.org Follow @_PeoplesBailout on Twitter Spread the word with #PeoplesBailout on social media EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE The Bailout is Working - For the Rich (ProPublica) Retail workers at Amazon and Whole Foods coordinate sick-out to protest Covid-19 conditions (The Guardian) For immigrants without legal status, federal coronavirus relief is out of reach (Vox) Essential workers still lack basic safety protections on the job (Vox) Millions Of Americans Have Lost Health Insurance As Unemployment Soars (NPR) Vote safely by mail in November? Not so fast, say Republicans (The Guardian) Republicans plan to spend at least $20 million to combat voting rights lawsuits in 2020 (Vox) Want To Jump-Start The Economy? Include A Green New Deal In The Stimulus Package (Forbes) Elizabeth Warren and Ro Khanna Unveil Essential Workers Bill of Rights (Warren.senate.gov) Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Ed Markey to introduce a Senate bill to give Americans $2,000 a month until the coronavirus crisis ends (Business Insider)
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more 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 Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
Direct download: 1350_USPS.Labor.Economics_Air_Date_5-3-20_-_5-21-20_15.44.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:23pm EDT |
Fri, 15 May 2020
Air Date 5/15/2020 Today, Amanda and I discuss the new film Executive Produced by Michael Moore, Planet of the Humans. We try to hit as many topics as we can but do not claim this is an exhaustive list of problems with the film. In short, the film tries to make a few good points but they are completely drowned in a sea of misinformation potent enough to send climate deniers into a joyous tizzy. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) EPISODE SPONSORS: Clean Choice Energy | DemandJustice.org/Best SHOW NOTES 00:00:00 Ch. 1: Intro and Index
Articles for Further Reading (Or Just to Marvel at the Sheer Number of Them) Planet of the humans: A reheated mess of lazy, old myths, Ketan Joshi This is where hard work got us (another post about the bad film), Ketan Joshi The great giving up (and the film that made it worse), Ketan Joshi 6 Reasons Why “Planet of the Humans” is a Disaster of Misinformation, Ben Wehrman 10 Reasons « Planet of the Humans » Gets Everything Wrong on Climate, Benjamin Tincq Why “Planet of the Humans” is crap, Tom Athanasiou, EcoEquity Film Review: Forget about PLANET OF THE HUMANS by Jeff Gibbs and Michael Moore by Neal Livingston Michael Moore produced a film about climate change that’s a gift to Big Oil, Leah Stokes Planet of the Humans Comes This Close to Actually Getting the Real Problem, Then Goes Full Ecofascism, Brian Kahn, Gizmondo Inside Clean Energy: 6 Things Michael Moore’s ‘Planet of the Humans’ Gets Wrong, Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News A Bomb in the Center of the Climate Movement’: Michael Moore Damages Our Most Important Goal, Bill McKibben, Rolling Stone POTH Traffics in Myths, Errors, and Dangerous Misdirection, John Rogers, Union of Concerned Scientists Planet of the Humans: Let’s just have a think…, Dave Borlace, Just Have a Think (note: a video response) Michael Moore’s ‘Planet of the Humans’ Film Trashes Clean Energy, Offers Zero Solutions, Sally Ho, Green Queen The Important Debate POTH Misses, Kate Aronoff, New Republic Michael Moores New Film Turns Heroes into Villains and Villains into Heroes, Dr. Michael Mann, Newsweek The absurdity of releasing Planet of the Humans in April 2020 #POTH: Michael Moore’s (@MMFlint’s) false choice & a lesson in how not to build a movement How Did Michael Moore Become A Hero to Climate Deniers and the Far Right? (George Monbiot, The Guardian) Extinction Rebellion Response (Twitter) Sunrise Movement's Response (Twitter) George Monbiot's Breakdown of the #PopulationGrowth in Response (Twitter thread) Joanne Doroshow, Michael Moore's Former Fact Checker, Responds (Facebook) MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more 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 Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
Direct download: Bonus_Show_208_Public_-_5-15-20_16.30.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT |
Thu, 7 May 2020
Air Date 5/7/2020 Today, Amanda and I discuss the dangerous, pervasive epidemic of hope fueled by desperation spreading throughout the country that is leading people to self-destructive thoughts and actions. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) EPISODE SPONSORS: SHOP AMAZON: Amazon USA | Amazon CA | Amazon UK SHOW NOTES Dr. Celine Gounder talks to Peter Staley and Mark Harrington, members of Act Up, co-founders of the Treatment Action Group, and dedicated HIV/AIDS activists who know firsthand what it is like to live through a large-scale pandemic. Ch. 2: The placebo reject Ch. 3: Waiting For a Game-Changer - On The Media - Air Date 5-6-20 Derek Lowe, the organic chemist behind the science blog In the Pipeline, urges caution. He speaks with Bob about how to report on the so-called "game-changer" drugs, and where he believes reporting on the "race for a cure" falls short. Ch. 4: Profiteering off of the desperation of those with rare diseases Dr. Wen gives her unique insight into the dilemma that Fauci and Birx face in dealing with an inarguably crazy president. Ch. 6: Strategic lying to save the lives of the irrational and those with whom they come in contact MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more 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 Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook! |
Sun, 3 May 2020
Air Date 5/3/2020 Today we take a look at the unique, profound dysfunction at the heart of the train wreck that is Trump's response to the Coronavirus. Plus, we explore the death cult that is the group of people still supporting the president. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) EPISODE SPONSORS: Clean Choice Energy SHOP AMAZON: Amazon USA | Amazon CA | Amazon UK SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Memory Hole - On the Media - Air Date 4-18-20 McKay Coppins [@mckaycoppins], staff writer at The Atlantic, on the latest pivots in the Trump administration's ever-evolving "disinformation architecture." Mehdi talks with Glenn Kirschner about Trump's inaction and misinformation that is leading to deaths. We look at how President Trump led the country to this point with Eric Lipton, lead author of The New York Times’s explosive new exposé, “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.” Ch. 4: Warnings To The White House - Frontline - Air Date 4-10-20 Trump and the government's response to the Pandemic are explored. Ch. 5: Explaining why he can't do that but just did anyway - The Bugle - Air Date 4-18-20 The answer to everything strange in America is slavery. In The Fifth Risk, Lewis portrayed Donald Trump as a man totally ignorant of and disinterested in the actually functioning of the federal government. President Donald Trump says he will cut U.S. support for the World Health Organization. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, called it a “crime against humanity.” Ch. 8: Bleach? Nevermind - The Bugle - Air Date 4-25-20 Andy, Nish and Hari attempt to make sense of another week of transatlantic buffoonery. Ch. 9: Is the Trump Cult a Death Cult? - Deconstructed with Mehdi Hasan - Air Date 3-25-20 The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the President’s continuing refusal to take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously. Jared Yates Sexton reflects on his childhood and life in Trumplandia and the power that Trump’s cult holds over so many white right-wing so-called “Christians.” Tim Wise reflects on how only white men such as Donald Trump and his cabal could still be viewed as competent given their gross and willful negligence in how they chose to (not) respond to the pandemic. Joshua Kahn Russell joins us to analyze the reopen America protests. Kurt Andersen, the author of Fantasyland, explains what happens when the departure from empirical, reality-based thought plays out during a global pandemic. FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 14: Final comments on my use of The Al Franken Show MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more 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 Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
Direct download: 1349_Coronovirus_Trump.Followers_Air_Date_5-3-20_-_5-4-20_12.32.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT |