mastodon 4.7.3Exec Dir Professional Left Podcast; Happy wife of Driftglass, and mom of 3 remarkable adults.
Why are there hundreds of docs about the Roman Empire but not 1 tracing GOP's descent into fascism? Because it would implicate certain people. Ep 979: What lasts, what crumbles to dust, and why the next Dem admin can't make Obama's mistake of "looking forward."
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18903283
Republicans are already rehearsing their "I was never MAGA" speeches. The amnesia machine is warming up. Trump's rigging the midterms while the media prepares its "both sides" framing. We will not forget. We will not forgive. Relentless pressure is the only answer.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18594355
In the latest Professional Left Podcast, we ask the musical question, "Hey, Tim Scott, what was the 107th most racist thing you’ve seen out of this White House?" https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18660832
Three acts. Three flavors of the same bad faith. New episode of The Professional Left — "Schrödinger's Alliances" — asks who really gets a free pass in the "pro-democracy coalition," and why the media keeps telling the same tired story. Support the show at proleftpod.com. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/19069130
When a bully grabs power, lecturing them about the rules isn't a strategy. New episode of The Professional Left — "The Vice of the People" — digs into where authority really comes from, and what history tells us about how to actually fight back. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/19056880
"The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter." 🎬 New episode of The Professional Left breaks down what "normalizing" actually means — and why the people yelling loudest about it are the last ones who should be lecturing. Give it a listen. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/19018352 #ProLeft
Just dropped: Ep 960 with John Amato of Crooks and Liars! The early days of political blogging (pre-YouTube!), the 2000 recount chaos, and how blogs filled the gap left by mainstream media. Plus: 2025 TV recs and noir talk. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18504862
New Proleftpodcast! Liberal bloggers like Driftglass and Blue Gal have been sounding true, critical alarms for 21 years while GOP grifters get rich on lies.
Happy 21st Blogiversary Driftglass!!!
NEW Professional Left Podcast Episode 978: 22 years ago, Bush joked about WMD while the press corps laughed. Now Trump's Iran war uses the same playbook—lies, profiteering, attacking critics—just louder and dumber.
NEW Professional Left Podcast EP 974: Why are Democrats winning special elections? Trump promised "No Foreign Wars" and releasing the Epstein files. Now he's launched an illegal war with Iran, covered up the Epstein files, and the MAGA base is fracturing.
Fact-checkers brought data to a culture war. They lost.
Episode 971: Why the only thing that beats Republican lies is better stories. Plus, why centrist pundits are melting down now that "hysterical resistance libs" were right about fascism all along.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18715901
New ep! We tackle the slipperiest words in politics: "the American people," "the voters," "the public."
Who do these phrases actually include? Who gets left out? And why does everyone from Lincoln to Mike Johnson fight so hard to claim they speak for them?
Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18673274
NEW Blue Gal #Knitting Podcast! Includes January socks and casting on the now famous "Melt the ICE Hat"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCnH_x5vXmk 🧶
New episode! We break down the St. Paul church protest against an ICE official masquerading as a pastor, dissect Trump's unhinged Davos meltdown, and explain why DOJ arresting peaceful protesters while ignoring ICE violence is textbook fascism. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18556309
You'll want to read the last paragraph of my dad's obituary. So proud to call him dad! https://www.staabfuneral.com/obituary/Ian-Short
NEW Proleft Podcast Episode 964:
This isn't murder. It's lynching. Alex Pretti and Renee Good were killed by Trump's thugs who walked free. No national awakening is coming. Only relentless pressure will stop this fascism. We cannot—we will not—forget.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18582222
NEW Proleft Podcast Ep! Democrats can't reach "the center." Because every time they try, the media shifts the goalposts to keep Both Sides looking equally bad. Meanwhile, Trump never moderated his fascism once and "won" anyway? https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18633715
NOTE: Last night's upload of The Professional Left Podcast contained an editing error. That error is fixed on both Youtube and in the episode shown below. Thanks! https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18517389
Episode 973: Why the man possessed by "Legion" matters now. Why there's no forgiveness without repentance. And a perfect diamond of Both Sides stupidity while Trump builds concentration camps.
New at Blue Gal: Fox News and the Art of Scandalword Brainwashing https://bgalrstate.blogspot.com/2026/01/fox-news-and-art-of-scandalword.html
MSM keeps checking the fridge for Republican integrity, honesty, and accountability. Spoiler: It's been empty for decades. The GOP restocked it with fascism, lies, and Stephen Miller's creepy Nazi face.
Episode 970 of The Professional Left Podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18703742
Reagan's 11th Commandment sounded harmless enough. Then it ate the entire GOP. New episode of The Professional Left — "AmeriKKKan Gothic" — traces how we got from "don't criticize your own" to where we are now — and where it's all heading next. proleftpod.com
They call it "authenticity." But when everyone's selling you exactly what you want to hear, that's not authentic — that's Velveeta. New episode of The Professional Left unpacks the biggest con in modern politics and media here in episode 989... https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/19132722
NOTE: Last night's upload of The Professional Left Podcast contained an editing error. That error is fixed on both Youtube and in the episode shown below. Thanks! https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18517389
New #Knitting podcast - What I've finished and am still knitting in February 2026 - plus a blanket KAL for Lent. And some thoughts on the sacred space needles make for yarn.
Ep 984: "War On Hiatus Due To Bad Ratings" 🎙️
Another GOP president. Another Middle East war. Another playbook. Driftglass & Blue Gal connect the dots from Iraq to Iran — and explain why the MAGA figures suddenly "breaking with Trump" aren't exactly profiles in courage. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18992744
NEW Professional Left Podcast Episode 972 traces the through-line from Michele Bachmann's 2011 lies (pretending the Great Recession never happened) to Trump's 2026 lies (pretending away ICE murders & Epstein files). https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18759003
"The world we knew is gone, but keeping our humanity? That's a choice."
Episode 980: We're living in a Republican zombie apocalypse. The inciting incident was 2004. Obama tried compromise—they got worse. Now they want ouchless absolution. Again.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18915987
Signs are everywhere: Trump's base is fracturing. Special election upsets. Even his handpicked candidate forced into a runoff in an R+19 district.
NEW Professional Left Podcast Episode 976: Why Trump's broken promises are finally catching up with him. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18839530
Certain pundits want Dems to rerun 'Obama 2008' in 2028. As if the Republican party didn't spend 8 years proving bipartisanship was dead. As if they're not full-on fascists now.
Episode 977: An apple made of razors, false choices, and why "unity" isn't the answer.
New Proleftpod Ep! Back from Chicago with lessons about scale, survival, and economic collapse. Why Trump's oil crisis, job losses, and ACA cuts will destroy small-town America first. Plus Gen Z reclaims...the C word? https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18827026
The right-wing media said "Defund the Police" 200,000 times. Want to guess how many Democrats actually ran on it? New episode of The Professional Left — "Straining at Gnats, Swallowing Camels" — runs the numbers on how propaganda actually works. https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/19144053
New Professional Left! Why is Trump's regime doubling down on lies about Renee Good's murder & flooding Minneapolis with ICE thugs? How decades of right-wing conspiracy theories are being "actualized"—and why downballot GOP are trapped. Plus personal news. Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18517389
NEW Professional Left Podcast, Episode 982.
Artemis II: successful launch.
Trump's Iran address: blew up on the pad.
Plus: Buh-bye, Pam Bondi, see you on trial!
NEW Pro Left Ep 983: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" Who gets a megaphone — & who gets told to sit down and shut up? The decades-long project that got us here, a streamer nobody asked about, and Never Trumpers who keep forgetting Liberals exist.
Are Republican base voters too tired to rebrand? Meanwhile, corporate media calls appeasement "Courageous Centrism," & Trump writes unhinged letters demanding Nobel Prizes. And today's resistance isn't breaking—it's growing. Ep 962: https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18544659
NEW ProLeftPod episode 966: The media's "Both Sides" lie is the rotting corpse they've been hiding *in their beds* for decades. But Minneapolis resists, and one brave judge compares ICE to King George's tyranny.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229/episodes/18622142