The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Ep 1006: Pump Up The Venom

Episode 1006 uses the beloved 1990 teen rebellion movie "Pump Up the Volume" to ask a deeper question: what happens when you take "Truth is a virus" and unrestricted free speech into the real world, where the fascists aren't outsiders trying to break in—they're already running the show? Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the death of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 through the rise of Hate Radio, Gingrich's language wars, Citizens United, and the collapse of every institution that was supposed to protect democracy from tyranny. The episode explains why lying became profitable, why corporate media's "Both Sides" obsession taught citizens that democracy was somebody else's job, and why an uninformed public is the only thing tyranny has ever needed. It's about how free speech got inverted, and why the FCC villain in a 1990 teen movie may have been onto something after all.Links for this episode: The movie “Pump Up The Volume” (1990) is streaming ($) on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home.  Clips are available on YouTube.  Music from the “Pump Up The Volume” soundtrack can be found at this YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjDvaXwceFJTg_uhw4cymaJGtBdJZT7OJ&si=RxUS9h7X1OeGsbY2 Music clips from this episode: Was Not Was:  Dad, I’m In Jail   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MZKkz4xefk Above the Law: Freedom of Speech  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q338zPrnwGw The movie “Pump Up The Volume” (1990) is streaming ($) on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home.  Clips are available on YouTube.  Driftglass on other podcasts!   Nicole Sandler   https://nicolesandler.com/7-8-26/ Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

Ep 1005: Meanwhile, In Local News...

Episode 1005 of The Professional Left makes the case that if you really want to understand America — not a focus group of twelve Trump voters in Florida, not three congressional primaries in Brooklyn, not the punditocracy's endless parade of confident predictions about things they fundamentally don't understand — you should probably be paying attention to Illinois, the most statistically representative state in the country, which the elite media treats as flyover country and nothing more. Driftglass and Blue Gal dispatch the Maine Senate mess quickly and cleanly, remind everyone of the crucial difference between how Democrats handle scandal and how Republicans do, and then spend the bulk of the episode doing what almost no one else in political media bothers to do — reporting on what an actual Democratic majority government looks like when it's governing well. The episode also takes a long, hard look at the prediction industrial complex and why mistaking a focus group for a national trend, or a New York City primary for a Democratic Party revelation, is not journalism — it's just filling airtime between mattress ads. Illinois, it turns out, has all the answers. Too bad nobody's asking.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

Ep 1004: The MAGA Merry-Go-Round

It goes in circles but never gets anywhereIt’s all horses’ assesAnd there is no brass ring.Driftglass on the Bob Cesca Show : https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-day-7-1-26/ Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

Ep 1003: Science Fiction University - Trust

Science Fiction University returns at long last, with an extended deep dive into one of the oldest and most unsettling questions in the genre — who can you trust when the threat is wearing a human face? The episode traces the theme of trust through three very different versions of the same story: John W. Campbell's 1938 novella "Who Goes There?", Howard Hawks' 1951 Cold War-era adaptation "The Thing from Another World", and John Carpenter's 1982 masterpiece "The Thing" — showing how the same basic plot was transformed by the very different Americas that produced each version. Along the way there are detours through the nature of storytelling itself, the difference between trust and faith, the rise of the "mad scientist" trope, and why Carpenter's bleak, exhausted ending hits so differently than Campbell's optimistic one. If you've ever wondered why the 1982 version of The Thing feels so much more modern and unsettling than its predecessors, this episode will explain exactly why — and the answer has everything to do with Vietnam, Watergate, and the slow collapse of American institutional trust.  Links for this episode: John W. Campbell’s book/novella "Who Goes There?" (1938) is available from major ebook retailers.  Also, many libraries offer a physical or digital borrowing option.  "The Thing from Another World" (1951) is currently streaming on Criterion Channel, Tubi, The Roku Channel, YouTube, Amazon, and Apple TV."The Thing" (1982) is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and YouTube. Answers to our QUIZ!  Terminator 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ8nofcN1gI Dr. Who: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQvn5sWNVtk Star Trek – Picard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsDg01EuniQ Batman Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a71VqHpza58 The Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqVrB1TTGo Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

Ep 1002: It’s Still the Republican Party

No rebranding!  They cashed all those checks with the Tea Party.  Episode 1002 of The Professional Left opens with a pop quiz, and the reveal says everything you need to know about how this particular cycle always ends. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the long, depressing, and darkly funny history of Republicans who were "done with Trump" until they weren't — Beck, Cruz, Graham, Vance, Ingraham, and a cast of dozens — making the case that what looks like a new political reckoning is actually just the same old rebranding operation being assembled from the same wreckage by the same people. Two classic films provide the episode's organizing metaphors: one about building a new plane out of the pieces of the one that crashed, and one about the uncomfortable truth that you can't put an entire party into a lifeboat when the entire party is the problem. The Republican Party didn't get captured by its worst impulses — it revealed them. Driftglass was also on two other podcasts this week! The Nicole Sandler Show:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NlPMu5Y29QThe Brad Cast with Desi and Digby:  https://bradblog.com/?p=17822 Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show