Hello, friends,

Today we’re doing a sequel to a previous article written on the old site from I think February 2024. It’s basically a collection of sources and content creators I appreciate, with the big distinction being that I’m gonna be scrubbing the list of all Twitter places and instead replacing them with Bluesky places.

Dis-inclusion on this list probably doesn’t mean, “Oh that person sucks now,” so much as it means, “I don’t see them as often on Bluesky, and I’m not linking Twitter.” I’m also going to avoid linking to Substack at just about every opportunity I can, even if some of the people I reference use Substack.

But before that, three quick action-items:

First, Yashar Ali reports that Tyler - the guy who runs Beehiiv - is supporting a big ‘ol Fascist for LA Mayor. So that’s bad to hear. It isn’t, “Substackers making Nazis a bunch of money” bad, but it’s noted.

Second, I’ve got a new novel coming out next Friday, AKA May 22nd. It’s called “Locker’s Rebellion, and here’s a link to pre-order the Amazon Kindle version. I hope you’ll consider buying it.

Third, if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Progressive Cafe. I’ve got ideas for articles, but if you leave a comment I’ll happily consider your suggestions, too.

Alrighty!

This is basically a list of sources I’ll check when a story comes out to see if they’re talking about it.

Shipwreck - To be honest, I don’t know that much about this guy. He says she’s an open-source intelligence analyst, but I’ve found that his reporting on military moves around the world is pretty accurate and ahead-of-the-curve. I check a few times a day to see what’s up, and more often if there’s an active crisis.

Leah McElrath - Leah does general-purpose news, and is also a Pagan like me, so she gets extra cool points. I trust her reporting pretty implicitly, and she’s good at correcting if she gets something wrong. She covers a lot of topics and a lot of space, but has had a focus on Middle-Eastern politics for some time.

Mark Chadbourn - Mark is great because he’s in the UK most of the time, so he’s “ahead” of us. I’ll especially check him when I wake up to see what’s happened, and while he does cover US related news, he also covers a lot of UK stuff, so you can get the gist of what’s up with that.

Elie Mystal - Elie’s back on this list, active on Bluesky, and doing about the same kind of stuff he was last time I made a list like this.   He writes for The Nation and is a frequent guest on news networks such as CNN and MSNBC.  He was apparently spoofed by Keean Thompson on Saturday Night Live?  Neat.

I referenced his work for The Nation, and I know my list is built to not require purchases of products, but his book “Allow Me To Retort:  A Black Guy’s Guide To The Constitution” is absolutely one of the best books on Constitutional issues I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and it’s worth seeing if a library has it. 

Zeteo - Zeteo is Mehdi Hasan’s second act, and it’s an impressive one. When he was fired by MSNBC for asking hard questions of high-ranking Democrats and Israeli officials and all of that jazz (In my previous article, I called him the best interviewer I’d ever seen), Mehdi started Zeteo. It covers a lot of news topics, but it has a bend towards the Middle-East. The only downside is I am fairly sure Zeteo’s website is powered by Substack.

Erin Reed - Returning to the list is Erin Reed, who covers Trans rights issues nation-wide. She’s fantastic. Sadly, she’s another one with a Substack-powered website.

Alejandra Caraballo - A lawyer and Trans rights advocate (and also a ski bum who posts interesting ski vids), Alejandra keeps track of legal changes impacting Trans and other Queer folk.

Marisa Kabas - Marisa runs The Handbasket, which is an independent media outlet definitively not powered by Substack. In fact, Marisa was one of the original “Substackers Against Nazis” organizers, if you can remember back that far. She is infamous on Bluesky for getting scoops that are then stolen - without crediting her - by major mainstream news agencies.

Aaron Rupar - Aaron Rupar might be the King Of Clippers, clippers being people who take clips of news events such as interviews, testimony, or press conferences and make little bite-size clips, then re-post them on his social media. Aaron gets ‘em out quick and accurately. I don’t always agree with him, but I respect him.

Dr. Tiffany Flowers - Dr. Flowers has a background in education, although a quick look at her Bluesky seems to show more stuff about Black culture, food, and aesthetics these days. Which is fine if - hypothetically! - you need to get outside of a sheltered life. She still posts frequently about education, so it’s worth checking her out.

Democracy’s Shield by Steve Doughtery - One of maybe two Substacks I’ll ever link to, these days, and only because it’s a friend’s publication. Who I really want to switch to Beehiiv or another alternative. Hey! Check him out, but also playfully nag him to change over, eh?

So, much of this is just a re-post of last time around’s, but there’s some changes and additions.

Belle Of The Ranch - Short-form News Youtuber:  So, if you remember Beau Of The Fifth Column from last time around, Belle is his wife. Belle took over the channel when Beau went into a burnout spiral (we wish him well), and she’s basically kept doing the same thing he did, with only a few tweaks. I believe she’s ex-navy and ex-air force, and she was a nurse for wounded soldiers among other things she’s done. She’s no joke, and it’s always funny when people just see a woman talking about military things and she gives ‘em a little verbal roughing-up. Belle has a second channel here where she does less-focused-on news-wrapups and the like.

The ‘new’ thing from the team there is that they’ve got a greatly expanded Patreon that does a couple of interesting things. First off, they have two additional shows - Research Road and The Interstate - that cover science/tech news and state-level news, respectively. Secondly, and perhaps importantly, they’ve got regional chat rooms for people in a certain region to connect with others in their neighborhood. This is important, say, if you’re planning some kind of action.

I listen to Belle every night when I clean my cats’ litter boxes and do other chores, or when I take walks.

Leeja Miller - Lawyer, Long-form Legal Video Essayist:  Leeja is a lawyer who specializes in political law.  She’s covered things ranging from the Supreme Court to Ronald Reagan’s impact on US History.  She’s very good at getting to the nitty gritty, and she does it without much personal animosity.

Here’s her discussing Project 2025, something we’ve discussed here as well.

Innuendo Studios - Long-Form Anti-Alt-Right video essayist:  Innuendo Studios is led by Ian Danskin, a Progressive (possibly Socialist?  I don’t know his exact self-identification, though he’s joking called himself ‘pinko scum,’ so that’s a clue-in) artist and video essayist.  The work I most strongly associate him with is The Alt-Right Playbook, which is his chronicling of various tactics and facets of the Alt-Right movement that had its peak around the election of Donald Trump in 2016, but continues to insidiously undermine American political life to this day.

I would strongly recommend his episode about White Fascism, as it was one of my first major clue-ins to historian Roger Griffin’s definition of Fascism as “Palingenetic Ultranationslism.”

Contrapoints - Long-Form Queer Video Essayist:  Natalie Wynn is Contrapoints, who I assume recently crossed the 1.75 million Youtube subscriber count and really doesn’t exactly need my recommendations (Not that most of the people on this list do).  Natalie is known for long (sometimes long) form content with lots of classical music and an eye towards philosophical evaluation of topics such as Envy and Darkness.

One of her recent videos is “The Witch Trials Of J.K. Rowling,” which is based on a podcast that someone did.  As a Trans woman, Natalie certainly has opinions on Rowling.

Some More News - Left-leaning deep dives with a comedic edge:  Some More News is a spoof show similar to The Daily Show, but with a lot more disheveledness.  Okay, maybe just a little more disheveledness.  Front-manned by Cody Johnston and backed up by Katy Stoll, SMN does deep dives into individual political topics, frequently connecting vital dots across multiple disciplines.  While it’s certainly got its share of personal attacks (like an episode which is titled, if I’m not mistaken, “Ted Cruz Is A Weird Little Online Freak”), it substantiates its narrative with facts drawn from Planet Earth.

This episode is a particularly prescient one, and it’s about how journalism is being corrupted through various forces like generative AI and corporate/billionaire buyouts.

Last Week Tonight W/John Oliver - HBO Deep-Dive Show:  I mean, who doesn’t know John Oliver, right?  He’s almost certainly the most famous name on this list.  His show is sort of like the mirror opposite of Some More News in that it’s the same type of in-depth analysis, but with slightly less edgy humor most of the time.  No, no actually, they’re fairly similar, but in opposing ways?  I don’t know.

SMN is American, John Oliver is British, you do the math.

Vaush - Youtube Political Streamer:  Vaush is probably the most polarizing person on this list.  He’s very far to the left (yes, further left than me), has roots in the “debate bro” culture (which can get silly), and sometimes uses harsh language (though he’s gotten better).

He does, however, deliver solid commentary on the issues he covers.  He will often read a news article and provide analysis as he does so, just as often as he engages with his chatters’ questions and concerns.

This episode is him talking about an online controversy regarding a separate creator who was, as Vaush succinctly put it, “Gay for women.”  A healthy appreciation for those one is attracted to is a good thing, and Vaush reinforced that point well.

Too Many Tabs/Pearlmania500 - Alex Pearlman (Pearlmania) made a legend out of being a red-headed guy who yells on TikTok, and he’s expanded that into a successful podcast called Too Many Tabs where he and his wife sit down and go on deep-dives through politically interesting topics. Here’s a video where they did a deep-dive on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Alex has also teamed up with Phil DeFranco for a podcast called Crashing Out which is exactly what it sounds like. I’ll put them on when I have a long ride with my wife, ‘cuz she loves Alex yelling, too.

Warfronts - Warfronts is a video-equipped podcast hosted by the guy who is almost everywhere on Youtube, Simon Whistler. In it, he and his team cover various ongoing wars. Recently that’s been a lot of the Iran war, but it covers conflict zones all over the world, though a lot of it is from the Middle East and/or Africa. I won’t link you to a particular video because I don’t know what you’ll be interested in, and those videos tend to be about the status-of-the-day so their long-term staying power is questionable, but I’d say check them out.

And yeah, that’s about it. I hope you found this useful, and I hope you consider picking up my novel, Locker’s Rebellion.