Best of the Left

As people migrate to Bluesky, Starter Packs from sources you already know and trust are a great way to begin to build your community. Best of the Left has put together a pack of writers, activists, and organizations. Share this post to encourage others to create their own. go.bsky.app/EDS2NgH

Our host Jay answers the episode's own listener question, how the propaganda about women's sports affected his thinking. Full episode on women's sports: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1830

The Trump administration says it protects women's sports, but it gutted the office enforcing Title IX for women and aimed the rest at a few trans athletes. Via Slate's @maggiemertens.bsky.social, read on @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social. Full episode: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1830

England's soccer federation banned women's games from its grounds in 1921 because men didn't like the competition. Women were kept out for 50 years. Via @sarahspain.com on Here We Go Again. Full episode: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1830

The PATRIOT Act turns 25 today. The surveillance state it launched six weeks after 9/11 outlived the emergency: Congress let the warrantless spying law lapse in June, and spying goes on under secret court approvals. Our episode on the surveillance state: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1818

Women’s sports are about power. England banned women’s soccer for 50 years for fear it would pull focus from the men’s game. WNBA players built power and won more league revenue as their popularity soared. Our new episode on the women’s sports boom: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1830

15 years ago today, Oakland police tear-gassed the Occupy camp and fractured an Iraq War vet's skull. It backfired: a week later a general strike marched on the Port of Oakland. Hear the 2011 coverage as it happened, plus Oakland's 1946 general strike: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1823

Under the Republican budget law a state can be charged for food aid paid in error, never for wrongly denying a hungry family. We've incentivized deprivation. Via @annielowrey.bsky.social on Fresh Air. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

March to the polls together through Election Day, Nov 3. "1,000 Marches to the Polls" is a nonpartisan campaign by Bishop William Barber's Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People's Campaign. Find a march or lead one: https://breachrepairers.org/100-days-1000-marches-sign-up/#findamarch

The paperwork is the point. A vote to cut a program has to be defended but paperwork shrinks it quietly, and that's deliberate cruelty. Via @annielowrey.bsky.social on @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Jay here 🙋🏻‍♂️: Our upcoming ep. argues women's sports were held back on purpose while we were told they’d fail. How did that propaganda affect you? Growing up, it made women's sports invisible to me, a non-entity. Reply, send a voice message, or both: https://podline.fm/best-of-the-left

Nearly 3,000 No Kings early-voting events happened Saturday. Tonight at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, No Kings and @indivisible.org host a call on what's next: turning those crowds into an election defense network before Nov 3. Virtual, join from anywhere: https://bestoftheleft.co/nokings-call

States purge their voter rolls before elections, and eligible voters get removed all the time. Midterms are Tuesday, Nov 3, and deadlines vary by state, so check your registration with @votedotorg.bsky.social. It only takes a minute, so remind a few friends too. https://bestoftheleft.co/vote-check

Why should taxpayers fund rich kids' college? Same as parks, libraries and fire departments: free to use, paid through taxes. Proving you're poor adds paperwork and invites cuts. Via @citationspod.bsky.social. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Wage theft equals all other theft combined. Just 600 to 700 federal investigators nationwide catch it, and Florida has no state labor department at all. Via @terrigerstein.bsky.social on CounterSpin (@fairmediawatch.bsky.social). Full episode: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

About 3 million fewer people had Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage in 2026, a 13% drop, after Republicans let the extra premium subsidies expire. Our episode on why poverty is hard: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Hours on hold and proof you already gave: that's the time tax, and it falls hardest on the poor. "The Time Tax" by @annielowrey.bsky.social inspired much of our episode on why poverty is hard (affiliate link, supports the show): https://bestoftheleft.co/book-lowrey

22 days before her election, federal agents searched the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (@ilhanmn.bsky.social) and took her phone, passport and computers. Reported goal: strip her citizenship and deport her. No charges. We did a whole episode on revenge prosecutions: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1802

Libro.fm (@libro.fm) supports indie bookshops, and it's where we always send people for their political books. Starting today through Oct 29, members get buy one, get one on select titles. Our affiliate link sends a little our way: https://bestoftheleft.co/librofm-bogo

Every denied or delayed claim is an averted payout. An insurer profits on the gap between premiums and claims paid, so your care is bad for its business. America runs on sick care. Via Max of @unftr.com. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Social Security runs on wages, and a quarter of the workforce is stuck in part-time hours or poverty wages. That's the shortfall, not "too many retirees." Via Rey Fuentes of @rooseveltinstitute.org on @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social. Full episode: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Social Security's shortfall is money that never pays in: wages above the payroll-tax cap, about $185,000, and investment income. Rey Fuentes (@rooseveltinstitute.org) makes the case from our episode on why poverty is hard. Free: https://bestoftheleft.co/read-fuentes

Being poor in America is hard on purpose. Kicking people off food aid or Medicaid is unpopular, so no politician wants to vote for it and then defend the vote. Paperwork does it quietly and cruelly by design. Our new episode on why poverty is hard: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

34.5 million Americans live in poverty, by the Census Bureau's count, and the United States has the second-highest relative poverty rate in the OECD, a group of mostly wealthy countries, behind only Costa Rica. Our episode on why poverty is hard: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1829

Meta locked the No Kings coalition out of Instagram Saturday, during nearly 3,000 early-voting events. Meta calls it an error. Whatever the reason, let's make it backfire. Follow and share @indivisible.org so the message goes further, then make your plan to vote: https://nokings.org/vote-plan

Thank you for making No Kings Day the single largest early vote activation in American history! This is how we will stop Trump’s election sabotage.

A quick guide to avoiding sexual assault: don't put drugs in people's drinks. When you see a woman walking by herself, leave her alone. That's how to answer the claim that men can't control themselves: mock it. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

Women uphold rape culture too. Megyn Kelly called the woman accusing seven Cornell frat brothers of rape "not the most attractive gal." Our rape culture episode: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828 Tell SiriusXM to drop her with @ultraviolet.bsky.social: https://bestoftheleft.co/uv-megyn-kelly

It's easier to call rape culture bad than to describe what should replace it, and the predictable reply is that it's unavoidable. The harder work is normalizing the alternative: boundary setting. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

A 2020 study found physical aggression in 45% of Pornhub scenes, women the target in 97% of scenes with aggression. Every viewing strengthens the pathway until objectifying thoughts run by default, a porn-recovery coach says. Our ep. on rape culture: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

Strangers online hunted for the identity of the woman suing Cornell over an alleged fraternity rape. Other women answered "I am Jane Doe," because most women recognize her story. Via @jessiegender.bsky.social. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

"Rape culture doesn't tell us what rape is, it tells us what rape means." Political theorist Alisa Kessel on her book "Rape Fantasies," featured in our episode on rape culture (affiliate link, supports the show): https://bestoftheleft.co/book-kessel

People think you speak up about sexual violence and get a Netflix deal. What you actually get is called a slut and told you deserved it, which is why survivors build whisper networks. Via @katblaque.bsky.social. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

We rooted for Ross to get Rachel. But Ross thinks being kind means he's owed something, and that entitlement stays invisible up until he's analyzing another "nice guy." Via Marina McBain. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

Assault apologists treat sexual assault like bad weather: it's coming, so you can only prepare. But calling it normal keeps it normal, and would-be perpetrators restrain themselves when accountability looms. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

In the Cornell 7 case, a prosecutor wouldn't charge until a lawsuit forced it. Political theorist Alisa Kessel named the pattern in 2018: a "politics of protection," where men decide who gets defended. Her free essay pairs with our ep. on rape culture: https://bestoftheleft.co/read-kessel

In a meta-analysis of nearly 6,000 rape survivors, about 60% didn't call it rape at the time. "She'd have known right away" is an expectation, not a fact. Via Therese (@theresehlee.bsky.social) on YouTube. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

"Jefferson survives in every American man who believes his promise is worth more than someone else's present." Historian Tad Stoermer, on the Cornell 7 and the great men we excuse. Our episode on rape culture: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

When did you last see a man sexually assault his boss? Men behave fine when it would cost them, so "he couldn't help it" is a lie. Via Huey Li and the news (@hueyli.bsky.social). Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

The midterms are Nov 3, and this Saturday, Oct 17, is No Kings Day: a nonpartisan push to vote early, check your registration and make a plan to vote. The No Kings coalition, including grassroots group Indivisible (@indivisible.org), is organizing it. Events near you: https://www.nokings.org/#map

A boy pulls a girl's hair and the adults say he likes you. That's where rape culture starts: she learns unwanted attention is love, he learns bothering girls works. Via Therese on YouTube. Full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

Only 3% of adult rape cases given a police outcome in 2019-20 ended in a charge, and in 57% of all adult rape cases the victim felt unable to go on, the UK's 2021 rape review found. Our episode on rape culture: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

"Not all men" can be true and still useless: nearly all men keep up the structure that lets sexual assault happen, including the ones who stay quiet. Our new episode on rape culture: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1828

"Man is now engaged in a vast geophysical experiment with his environment, the Earth." A 1968 report for the oil industry's trade group, read by @hartmannreport.com in our episode on Big Oil's Supreme Court case: https://pod.link/124960485/episode/Yzc0ZTQwOTctMzBmZC00NDgwLTkwYzUtMzYxYjAzYTUxZGJm

Columbus Day runs on myths, and so does the "city upon a hill" story America tells about itself. In our episode "Tell Stories, Not Myths," Native podcasters take on Columbus in his own words and Vox explains why the US celebrates him at all: https://bestoftheleft.co/ep-1374

How often does a man sexually assault his boss? A commentator asks that in our upcoming ep. and it clarifies why rape is about power more than sex. Has something clarified an element of rape culture for you? Tell us. Reply right here, send a voice message, or both: https://bestoftheleft.co/voice

Best of the Left merch is on sale store-wide through Monday, October 12, and the discount applies automatically. The store has t-shirts, stickers and a phone case. Shop here: https://bestoftheleft.co/merch

In 2018, Boulder County, Colorado, estimated that adapting to climate change would cost it $96 million to $157 million through 2050, and called that conservative. It sued Exxon and Suncor that year. The history: https://pod.link/124960485/episode/Yzc0ZTQwOTctMzBmZC00NDgwLTkwYzUtMzYxYjAzYTUxZGJm

"The relationship between the government and the press is adversarial by design. It is meant to be tense." Leeja Miller, a lawyer and YouTuber, on covering Donald Trump. Featured in our episode on complicity: https://pod.link/124960485/episode/ZDQyMzhkNmItN2NiNi00OGRkLWI4MWEtMDY3YWNjZGJhNWJi

Banned Books Week is a good excuse to buy a banned book. @bookshop.org, which supports indie bookstores, has 15% off select banned and challenged books with code BBW26 through Oct 18. Start at our affiliate storefront and it supports the show too: https://bestoftheleft.co/bookshop-bbw26

The midterms are November 3, and today there's a livestream on voting-machine security and election privacy. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (@eff.org), a digital civil liberties nonprofit, hosts "Protect the Vote" from 11am to noon Pacific, with a Q&A. RSVP: https://www.eff.org/livestream-evote