Some media recommendations.
Good morning everyone! Honestly, yesterday was a slow news day and we’re feeling a little burnt out. Instead of the usual, we’re going to recommend some things we enjoy and explain why we enjoy them. They’re all going to be political, so if you like our politics, maybe you’ll like some of this, too. It’s also going to be all new media (as in, not books) because I’m a dumbass who likes moving images and lots of noises!
Check this stuff out, if you want!
Radio Show / YouTube Channel: The Majority Report With Sam Seder
The Majority Report is probably the outlet I can most easily point to and say: that’s what sucked me into the world of politics. I don’t mean shaping my worldviews necessarily, moreso the actual nitty gritty of what goes on within the system.
Sam Seder’s been at this for a while, but before that, he was a comic and actor. That background adds a lot to a daily political talk show; I’ve seen plenty of people throw the term “smug” around when talking about them. Personally, I find it very charming.
There’s plenty of diversity in opinions, too. Some of the voices on the show tend more towards social democracy, where others are much closer to socialists or anarchists.
They’re also willing to talk to whoever calls in and gets through on the phone. That’s lead to plenty of hilarious encounters, including making libertarian presidential candidates scream or dunking on the “Intellectual Dark Web.”
They also do long-form interviews with experts in a huge variety of fields. Sam’s an excellent interviewer and they’re always really informative.
Truthfully, though, most of the time I just watch clips on their YouTube channel. I don’t have the attention span for one-to-two hour podcasts (that’s why I made this newsletter!), but there are definitely options here.
Check out Michael Brooks’ show too. It’s got some of the same staff and is a bit more of a radical show, covering foreign policy issues that don’t get the attention they deserve and digging into ideas that are more blatantly critical of neoliberalism.
YouTube Channel: ContraPoints
ContraPoints. If you’re one of those people who really wants to cancel her, fine, I get it, but with nearly one million subscribers, it’s hard to imagine that she’s done more harm than good.
Contra’s videos are sometimes dizzying in their production value. Costume changes, original music, philosophy, social justice, characters, elaborate sets: it’s clear that Contra spends an anguishing amount of time on every video she releases.
Contra’s videos are usually pretty long, these days they clock in between half an hour up to an hour and a half. While they can be dense, they cover a lot of ground.
In the past, she’s done more political content like critiques of capitalism or even just commenting on current political movements. She then moved on to more social justice areas, particularly pertaining to gender and sexuality. Lately, her videos have been on more abstract topics, with her last three uploads being titled “Cringe,” “Shame,” and “Canceling.”
Her work is such a good combination of personal and political and it’s no wonder that people end up with such polarized opinions about who ContraPoints is.
If you like long form YouTube political content, I’d also highly recommend hbomberguy (who does dense videos on politics and media) and Shaun (whose production levels are almost on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Contra, but he’s got great dry humor and good arguments to boot).
Magazine: Current Affairs
Current Affairs. If you’ve ever read Jacobin, you have some idea of what to expect from Current Affairs; it’s an unabashedly left magazine that covers a lot of ground. The face of Current Affairs is Nathan J. Robinson, who may look like he stepped out of a different century (and sounds a bit like it, too), but he’s a great public speaker and a prolific writer.
Their tagline is “Like The New Yorker, But Readable.” That’s fuckin’ dope, sorry, but it is.
In fact, I find a lot of their marketing and public presence to feel much more human than most outlets do. I’m just a fan of their general aesthetic!
Robinson also does some good video content. The way he speaks is similar to the way he writes: playful, ultimately bouncing about in your mind.
Anyway, they talk about things that you’ve likely never heard much about.
Journalism: The Intercept
The Intercept has a tendency to really piss people off. That’s a good thing if you ask me. They tend to tell the stories no one else is telling and their reporters are absolutely out for blood at times. There is such a willingness to stand up to establishments that runs through all of their work that I find myself checking their website almost daily and it’d be dishonest if I didn’t admit that they’re often the inspiration for what I write for this newsletter.
They’ve got some of the best voices out there right now: Aída Chávez, Ryan Grim, Glenn Greenwald, Lee Fang, and many more.
They have some interesting podcasts going on too, but what I find most compelling is their dedication to investigative reporting.
You seriously won’t find the stories they report on elsewhere. They’re a diamond in the rough.
Podcast / Authors: The Bruenigs
The Bruenigs are kind of weird to group together because they’re a family and not a business, but they also have a podcast titled that, so I’m gonna go ahead and do it anyway. Their podcast is great, but both of them deserve all the praise in the world for their writing.
Elizabeth Bruenig used to write for The Washington Post and is now at The New York Times. She writes about a huge range of topics, but her voice at The New York Times is something you won’t find elsewhere within the publication. I also like her Twitter account because she wholesome-posts about her family.
Matt Bruenig formed the think-tank People’s Policy Project. He has also written for a slew of newspapers and magazines, he’s been on Chapo Trap House, and he’s a dedicated socialist whose work has really stood out in the past couple of years.
Podcast: The Insurgents
The Insurgents is a relatively new podcast that also publishes through Substack. Co-hosts Jordan Uhl and Rob Rousseau are probably some of the most recognizable voices on left-Twitter, but they’re also fun dudes who run a cool show.
They talk to some of the coolest folks on the left, like everyone’s favorite Ken Klippenstein, my favorite The Young Turks person Emma Vigeland, and someone I’ve been told is an “Alpha Chad,” Hasan Piker.
They’ve just got good chemistry and I like listening to them.
Streamer: Vaush
Vaush is a YouTube streamer. His content is mainly either debates or reacting to content that only extremely-online people would understand. That said, he’s one of those bloodsport leftists who’s actually a chill dude and is one of the few politics live streamers I still pay attention to.
Have you ever wanted to hear a white nationalist get absolutely humiliated? Just see every possible argument they might have totally picked apart and destroyed? No? It doesn’t appeal to everyone, so I get it. But sometimes, it just hits the spot!
He’s also pretty edgy and like anyone who is too online, he’s mired in controversy. If you hate him, I get it.
That said, I think he truly believes in what he argues for and I personally really enjoy hearing his thought process. This kind of thing is also important in what has been described as “deprogramming” far-right extremists (see also: ContraPoints, above).
END OF THE LINE...
That’s it for today.
That’s what we’ve got. Remember, we’re only able to do this every day because of readers like you. Drop your friends, family, or anyone else whose email you happen to have a referral link and help us grow. We’d truly appreciate it.
Have a good one,
The Bread Line
we’re listening to: