My Favorite Podcasts and Blogs
Podcasts:
Arm and a Leg – Practical presentations on how to fight a hospital bill, how to deal with your insurance company, and other ways to fight the high cost of health care.
Behind the Bastards – Colorful oral histories of history’s villains, ranging from Caligua to Hitler, Stalin’s Beria, the founder of Scientology, Idi Amin, and many others. This show resembles the excellent historical podcast Slow Burn, but it’s free.
Best of the Left – each show is a melange of interviews, speeches, and articles read aloud, all on left-wing themes.
The Bulwark – weekly interviews with never-Trumpers. The podcast was founded by Charley Sykes.
Call Me Back – interviews conducted by Dan Senor, a conservative Israeli/American. He speaks mainly with prominent journalists and politicians from Israel.
Chauncey deVega -Presentations by an articulate opponent of every aspect of what he calls “social fascism.”
Commentary – lively panel discussion almost every day, chaired by John Podhoretz. John can use the phrase ‘chattering classes’ and then call John Eastman” a f—king idiot” and not miss a beat. The show has a definite neo-conservative bias.
Econtalk – Professor Russ Roberts has been doing hourlong interviews for over 15 years – and the quality is terrific. His guests take apart mis-assumptions about free markets, socialism, gun control, the Middle East, et al. Interview transcripts are readily available on the site.
Escape Student Loan Debt — contains very practical presentations on loan forgiveness.
Ezra Klein – He is polite, patient, and persistent. He has high-class guests like Ross Douthat, Tom Friedman, and Paul Krugman.
Fresh Air -This now-famous interview show with Terry Gross is still on almost every night. Most of her guests are in show business, but biographers and documentary film-makers sometimes sneak in. Terry is a national treasure.
Goodfellows – long exchanges between luminaries at the Hoover Institute, including Niall Ferguson and John Cochrane.
Hacks on Tap – Blunt and humorous exchanges on national politics, featuring professional consultants like David Axelrod and Mike Murphy – who can be hilarious and super-insightful. If I could go to a bar with Murphy, my life would be complete.
Honestly with Bari Weiss – picks out tough subjects in current affairs, and has challenging interviews. Bari was an editor at the New York Times, but was fired for not being woke enough.
Judging Freedom – Judge Andrew Napolitano brings on a series of guests who question the military policies of America, Israel, and Ukraine. Excellent interviews with the likes of John Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Sachs, Scott Ritter, and Col. Douglas McGregor.
Know Your Enemy— Host Matthew Sitman describes his goal as a “leftist’s guide to conservatives.” He has fascinating long shows on gay Republicans, Whittaker Chambers, and William F. Buckley.
McCarthy Report – Periodic interviews with Andrew McCarthy, former Justice Department prosecutor. Does a great job explaining legal strategies in high-profile cases.
Megyn Kelly – Megyn started off as an aggressive attorney, and it shows. Some of her guests are just Republican stalwarts, but she does find some radical authors and lets them ramble.
Pitchfork Economics – Each episode interviews a left-leaning economist, proposing a constructive reform. Founded and frequently hosted by tech-billionaire Nick Hanauer.
Rachel Maddow Ultra – Her current series is about the pro-Nazi movement in America before World War II. Her earlier series ‘Bag Man” is the story of Spiro Agnew’s bribes and conviction. She is a terrific producer!
Reason Round Table – Features several prominent libertarians like Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie, discussing the issues of the day
The Remnant – This show is all Jonah Goldberg — a highly literate dilettante who is mostly (but idiosyncratically) conservative. He brings on his buddies like Kevin Williamson.
Rubin Report – Dave Rubin is not an exciting host, but he interviews high-quality guests –Sam Harris, Ben Shapiro, and (in serious mode) Bill Maher.
Tradeoffs – Dan Gorenstein leads in-depth discussions of America’s health care system – and how to reform it.
What the Hell – Two neoconservatives – Danielle Pletka and Marc Thierry — stir up some debate; recent interview subjects include Sen. Tom Cotton and Israel’s Haviv Rettig Gur.
Victor Davis Hanson – I have been reading and listening to Victor for 25 years. He is arch-conservative, but presents his arguments well. He has a huge disdain for hypocrisy, i.e. the liberals who advocate for public schools but send their children to private academies, or who praise decarceration but live in gated communities. His works on the Second World War and the life of George Patton are especially memorable.
Blogs that I read
Counterpunch – This amazing blog cranks out 8-10 quality articles every single day, with a strong left-wing focus. They constantly refer to the ‘Gaza genocide’, which disturbs me but that’s what you get on the left. Edited now by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.
Goodman Institute Health Blog – features public policy discussions on Medicare, Medicaid, and free- enterprise health care. Supervised by Dr. John Goodman and Devon Herrick.
Ian Welsh – He has been blogging from England since 2003, and writes short but rather elegant editorials, from a left-pacifist point of view. I met Ian by phone several years ago – big deal, but it’s more than I can say about any other blogger cited here.
The Intercept– Fairly solid pro-left reporting. Not shy about the discussing the technical side of environmentalism.
Marginal Revolution – Wide-ranging observations, mostly by the energetic polymath Tyler Cowens. Has excellent reviews of new books in history, economics, and culture. The readers’ comments are very literate and lively.
Naked Capitalism – Lively articles from a decidedly leftist perspective; feature articles from economics experts like Michael Hudson. I used to leave comments on the blog myself, but I was kicked off after I questioned the 2nd-degree murder charges against Derek Chauvin.
Overcoming Bias – Editor Robin Hanson is a thoughtful libertarian. If you are interested, he has engaged in long, fascinating debates on health care with a physician-writer named Scott Alexander.
Power Line – Four or five short articles every night, with a highly conservative viewpoint. Produced near me in Minneapolis. Reader’s comments do not mince words….you will soon find out that Minnesota is not all liberals.
Pro Publica – Features old-fashioned muckraking….i.e. pointed articles and exposes of greed and corruption. Covers wage theft, silent wealthy political donors, denial of civil rights, etc.
ScheerPost – Somehow Robert Scheer is still going. Like Ralph Nader, he remains articulate and productive. His website features authors like Chris Hedges.
Truthout – solid left-wing articles every day on Trump, human rights, education, et al.
If you have any comments, or you wish to add more favorites, contact me at: