Left Jest

We're HIGH ON ALBANY this week, wading through the do's and do not's of NY's corrupt state legislature. Anders makes a sassy phone call to a local representative. Oh and keep an ear out for dolphins and PCP to make a guest appearance somewhere in there.

Harris Doran(@HarrisDoran) from the group Rise and Resist kicks off the episode, by telling us all about the Independent Democratic Conference in NY.

Also Alex would like to apologize for sounding like Voltron for the first 10 minutes of the podcast. He is sorry.

Andy Palmer and Sean McCarthy from the Democracy Later podcast graciously had us on to do a crossover episode. The riffs. Are. Flaming hot.

Papa Roach is going to play at the beginning of the show. While this is referenced in a joke later, Alex would like to emphasize that Last Resort is not played for the jokes, but merely because he thinks it is a cool song. Namaste.

Um a lot happens in this one.

First we have on our friend Hannah Boone (@BooneComedy) to talk mental health issues, insurance, and how exactly lions eat people.

After that Ryan Grim (@RyanGrim, Huffington Post)tells us a bit about the state of the U.S. congress as run by the softest and most crusty conservatives in America.

Then a guy named Bushwick Bill just shows up and starts rapping with a hook and everything. Also Anders raps for a second even.

Honestly now that I think about it, I'd recommend a listen.

Comedian Rufat Agayev (@RufatCamp) and Iain Marcks (American Cinematographer) head into the studio to talk media theory, television's death, internet's birth and how we can use propaganda to do something nice for once.

So here's what happened. The gang has to make a bunch of corrections for the first 15 minutes of the show and frankly the episode becomes very silly. After that there is an incredibly serious interview about racism against muslims in America for around 30 minutes. It's crucial everyone understands how this is going down now before things get jarring!

Sarah Havard of mic.com (@AmyHarvard_ on Twitter) joins the studio to talk about the muslim ban and the importance of listening to oppressed voices as a journalist.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@tweetertation)comes on the show to talk about her new book, The Perils of Privilege, and break down competitive wokeness in the circles of the cultural elite. Comedy guy Tim Platt (@TimothyPlatt) helps us translate how this relates to stand up. Anders admits he mostly hangs out with old people and Alex calls out Superman for his privilege.

Not to mention we start it all off with the long awaited follow-up on the amish dating website controversy! Ya gotta listen for that part at least.

SocialistWorker.org's Danny Katch drops in with his daughter to talk about his book (Socialism Seriously) and theorycraft some democratized economies. Alex is very sick. Anders is very handsome. Truly radio for the ages.

We edited the reading segment down by half so be sure to buy the book to read the whole thing. Or go to a library... look the money's not what's important here, just read a book for once in your life. Damn.

In the middle of a blizzard, the boys sit down with Foreign Correspondent Sid Gurung to make some expert predictions on how the next four years are going to go under Trump. Is everything going to explode? Will nothing explode? Will some things explode? Find out what gets the official Left Jest Prediction Stamp.

This may also be our first episode with no impressions which shows amazing constraint IMHO.

The Left Jest team tackles foreign soil in this episode covering the 2017 French presidential election. Do they know anything about it? Not really, but official LJ foreign correspondent Matthew Easton does. Alongside comedian / French expert Sarah Kennedy (@cerak) from the illustrious France Institute, there is enough information and disinformation going around to fill an hour pretty good.

Special shoutout to the Game Stop employees in Paris, Texas who handle customer service like damned professionals.

A mysterious tape of Bernie's inauguration speech sends the boys on a rant about other dimensions. Jake Flores (@FeralJokes) and Jaboukie Young White (@Jaboukie) hop in the mix with starkly different opinions on memes. Jake even takes the time to convert his election analysis into Super Smash Bros metaphors so even idiot children can understand. Honestly it's all pretty chill this time around, what with everybody chillin' & whatnot.