Best of the Web

Best of the Web

Theological

Religion and Politics: Fit for Polite Company:  A web magazine from Washington University in St. Louis, which features readable articles from scholars and journalists who meld religion and politics and explore how these subjects in tandem pervade life.   Intentionally non-partisan, non-sectarian.

Political Theology Network:  a hub for exploring the intersection of religious and political ideas and practices. The Network is interdisciplinary, publicly engaged, and committed to building links between theologians, practitioners, and humanities scholars.

Political

Alternet:  was launched in 1998 by the non-profit now known as the Independent Media Institute.  In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of The Raw Story. Some AlterNet content is republished on Salon.  Coverage is divided into several special sections related to progressive news and culture, including News & Politics, World, Economy, Civil Liberties, Immigration, Reproductive Justice, Economy, Environment, Animal Rights, Food, Water, Books, Media and Culture, Belief, Drugs, Personal Health, Sex and Relationships, Vision, and Investigations.

AxiosAxios (stylized as AXIOS) is an American news website founded in 2016 by former Politico staffers Jim VandeHeiMike Allen, and Roy Schwartz. It officially launched in 2017. The site’s name is based on the Greekἄξιος (áxios), meaning “worthy”

Bellingcat:  uses open source and social media investigation to investigate a variety of subjects.  Bellingcat brings together contributors who specialize in open source and social media investigation, and creates guides and case studies so others may learn to do the same. They primarily cover Russian and Syrian stories.  They source all of their information.

Black Agenda Report   As the site’s sub-title puts it, the Black Agenda Report consists of news, analysis, and commentary from the perspective of the Black political left.

Buzzfeed 

Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR)  Excellent resource bank of books, blogs, news, and economic calculators.  Several academically-oriented writers and editors provide much basic progressive economics information.

Climate Nexus: A sophisticated resource of climate change information

Climate Now: Climate Now collects and categorizes all the vital climate change news from around the world daily.  Climate Now collects and categorizes stories that are of interest to a wide range of viewpoints and don’t necessarily reflect the views of Climate Now. And while positive and hopeful stories are included whenever possible, those that feature pessimism are welcome too, since there is a divergence of views about which approach is best.

Climate One  This is basically a long-running podcast that is one of the best sources of climate information on the web.  The podcast can be found on Spotify and other podcast feeds.  Several of the podcasts explore the intersection of race and climate change.

Common Dreams  Common Dreams is a non-profit independent news center created in 1997.  Like other sites on this list it is left leaning and independent.  It is supported by thousands of donations by readers.

Covering Climate Now  Covering Climate Now is a global journalism initiative committed to more and better coverage of the defining story of our time. Organized by journalists, for journalists, CCNow was co-founded in April 2019 by the Columbia Journalism Review, and The Nation, in association with The Guardian.

Counterpunch

The Daily Beastleft of center slick website with emphasis on popular culture.

Democracy Now

Daily Kos:  is a group blog and internet forum focused on the Democratic Party  and liberal  American politics.  The site features a participatory political encyclopedia (“DKosopedia”), glossaries, and other content. It is sometimes considered an example of “netroots” activism.

Economic Policy Institute:  this left-leaning think tank focuses on a variety of labor and economic issues with the aim toward improving the lives of poor and moderate income workers.  The EPI is famous for its periodic publication, “The State of Working America.

Grist written for liberal-minded 20- and 30-somethings”.  Grist consists of several elements, including Main dish, which offers news and features, the Muckraker and Daily grist blogs, comment sections and interviews with “environmental footsoldiers”.  Launched in 1999 as a charity, Grist looks great and is packed with regularly-updated stories and features on all things green.

The Guardian

Huffington Post

Hechinger Report   The Hechinger Report continues Fred Hechinger’s efforts to produce and promote high-quality education coverage.

In These Times:  According to its purpose statement, In These Times is an independent, nonprofit magazine dedicated to advancing democracy and economic justice, informing movements for a more humane world, and providing an accessible forum for debate about the policies that shape our future.  Seeing itself as representing the struggle against corporate power, In These Times has adhered to the belief that to thrive, a progressive political movement needs its own media to inform, educate and orient itself.  In These Times proudly lists former sponsors including Daniel Ellsberg, E.P. Thompson, Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Julian Bond and Herbert Marcuse.

Inequality.org:  Inequality.org, an Institute for Policy Studies project, has been tracking inequality-related news and views for nearly two decades.  The site collects information and resource lists.  The staff of professional contributors comes from the United States and around the world. The site’s theme is, “What can we do to narrow the staggering economic inequality that so afflicts us in almost every aspect of our lives?”

The Institute for Policy Studies Dating from 1961 when Marcus Raskin and Richard Barnet of the Kennedy Administration struggled to influence change during the Cold War, the IPS is a progressive think tank dedicated to building a more equitable, ecologically sustainable, and peaceful society. In partnership with dynamic social movements, we turn transformative policy ideas into action.  Foci include economics, race, gender, peace, and leadership.

The InterceptLeft of center news and opinion and at one time featuring Glenn Greenwald, who has now left the publication.  The Intercept is particularly critical of the Democratic Party, which is infected with neo-conservative ideology and which blends into the general conservatism of the American political landscape.

Type Investigations:  Formally “The Investigative Fund” and parented by The Nation Institute, “Type Investigations” features a team of left-leaning talented writers who work to bring to the public under-reported stories in what they consider a traditional journalistic ethos.  The organization works also to promote diversity in its staff of investigative reporters.  Topics include immigration, labor, environment, corporate and government malfeasance, and civil and human rights.  Favoring “deep investigative” reporting, Type Investigations is filled with long-read articles.   I feel especially aligned with writer, Sarah Posner’s work.

Jacobin  a magazine aimed at the American Left based in New York. It offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics and culture. Jacobin as a radical publication being largely the product of a younger generation not quite as tied to the Cold War paradigms that sustained the old leftist intellectual milieux like Dissent or New Politics, but still eager to confront, rather than table, the questions that arose from the experience of the left in the 20th century.

New Left Review

Naked Capitalism

The Nation

Politico

The Progressive  Founded On January 9, 1909 by Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. of Wisconsin founded, this publication aims to document the work of those resisting corruption and working to protect representative government.  “The Progressive” seeks to amplify voices of dissent and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of championing grassroots progressive politics. It’s bedrock values are nonviolence and freedom of speech.  Additionally, it has spun off Public School Shakedown, which covers educational issues and the Progressive Media Project, which aims to diversify the nation’s op-ed pages.

ProPublica  a nonprofit organization based in New York City that aims to produce investigative journalism in the public interest.  In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists and published in The New York Times Magazine, as well as on ProPublica.org.   ProPublica has partnered with more than 90 different news organizations, and it has won six Pulitzer Prizes.

RealClimate: Top rated climate change blog written by and for climate scientists.

Recode

Right Wing Watch: is a project of People For the American Way (PFAW) dedicated to monitoring right-wing activists and organizations.  Researchers keep track of of broadcasts, emails and websites, and use their expertise on right-wing movements to digest that information for media, allies, and the general public.

Sheerpost:  With the collapse of the Truthdig site, most of that site’s lead writers have reestablished a platform to carry their progressive reporting and opinion.  The site’s lead writer is Pulitzer Prize winner, Chris Hedges, and the posts are enhanced by the artwork of “Mr Fish.”

Tax Policy Center  This site features top national experts in tax, expenditure, budget policy, and microsimulation modeling to concentrate on overarching areas of tax policy that are critical to future debate.  Articles are data rich and feature sound analysis.

ThinkProgress:  an American progressive news website founded by the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action).   Judd Legum founded ThinkProgress in 2005. The site’s reports have been discussed by mainstream news outlets and peer-reviewed academic journals.  ThinkProgress features a strong climate emphasis.

Tomdispatch.com  The creation of Tom Englehardt, a Chinese History scholar turned journalist.  Engelhardt created TomDispatch in November 2001, and in 2002, it received support from The Nation Institute.  He has described the site as the “sideline that ate his life”. Contributors have included Rebecca SolnitBill McKibbenJonathan SchellFatima BhuttoNick TursePepe EscobarNoam Chomsky, and Andrew Bacevich.

Truthout

The Roosevelt Institute  Left-leaning think tank associated with the FDR Presidential Library.  This group emphasizes economic justice and works to maintain ties with college-age participants.

Vox Ezra Klein’s data intense think tank.

Yale Program on Climate Change Communications :   Conducts scientific research on public climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy preferences, and behavior, and the underlying psychological, cultural, and political factors that influence them. Yale Program on Climate Change Communications also engages the public in climate change science and solutions, in partnership with governments, media organizations, companies, and civil society, and with a daily, national radio program, Yale Climate Connections.

Political–Right Wing

Ars Politica Podcast–This is the podcast which makes public Stephen Wolfe’s thinking.  Wolfe is the author of the just-published The Case for Christian Nationalism.  Wolfe’s thinking is a feast of faulty thinking, both politically, but especially theologically.

National Policy Institute

The American Conservative

Front Porch Republic

National Review

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research:  An influential conservative think tank specializing in urban affairs, environment, energy, race, legal reform, economics, public sector and the like.

The Epoch Times  is a far-right international, multi-language newspaper and media company widely read by Trump constituents.  The Epoch Times is affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement, based in Midtown Manhattan.   The newspaper is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television.   The Epoch Times has websites accessible from 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.

Religious Education

Education and Ministries:  A massive, but ageing site of links to dozens of web resources of interest to teachers of adults in church context.  These are  grouped into the categories.  

The Thoughtful Christian:  An extensive resource for adult education in Mainstream Christian congregations.

Tyndale University Reading Room: This is a thorough catalog of the most important books and resources for theology, arranged by category.  Users can use these lists to go immediately to the most influencial, if traditional theological works.  No longer being maintained.

Think Tanks

Pew Research

Southern Poverty Law Center

Media

Columbia Journalism Review  is a high end journal dedicated to general media criticism and comment, with a clear commitment to enhance reporting on climate change.   Articles are pitched to media professionals and others whose professional interest encompasses media and media products.   The CJR opens windows to the movement in the thought life of Americans with particular focus on journalism.  The CJR aspires to be the leading voice in its field.

Open Secrets

Nieman Foundation

Media Matters

Politifact

Media Bias/Fact Check  rates, with minimal scientific credibility, factual accuracy and political bias in news media. The site classifies media sources on a political bias spectrum, as well as on the accuracy of their factual reporting

Blogs and Podcasts

Angry White Men:  dedicated to tracking the adherents of the new white supremacy: the Alt-Right movement, neo-reactionaries, Red Pillers, Identitarians, and Dark Enlightenment thinkers.

Homebrewed Christianity Podcast:  Hosted by Tripp Fuller, this is a fun interview-oriented site that features leading theologians.  Fuller manages to book top drawer theologians for lengthy and informal conversations.  I would call Homebrewed Christianity is a cross between Christian Century magazine and Theology Today, all in an chatty podcast format.  I would recommend Homebrewed Christianity to laypeople who might wish to sample academic theology.  Fuller is a process theologian with a killer black book of phone numbers.

Grace Saves All Podcast: Hosted by David Artman, this website and podcast is oriented around Universalism and a recovery of a hopeful Christianity.

The Bias Magazine:  speaks to the intersections of Christianity and the politics of the Left, better represents the church within the politics of the Left, and help nurture new social formations within the church and society at large.

Crackers and Grape Juice: Four podcasts bundled together.  Coming from a United Methodist perspective this podcast provides ample lectionary reflection.

The Magnificast:  a podcast exploring Christianity and the political left. A lot of people around the world are looking for ways to resist growing reactionary trends, but don’t know where to start. We think the Christian tradition and the tradition of leftist politics provide unique resources, historical examples, and theoretical tools for engaging these problems in ways that go beyond the usual conservative/liberal divide that characterizes a lot of Christian and political discourse.

Faith and Capital:  A podcast on the merger of Christian Faith and Economics.

Postbarthian: Hosted by former pastor and theologian, Wyatt Houtz

Climate One:  Long-running podcast that is one of the best sources of climate information on the web.  The podcast can be found on Spotify and other podcast feeds.  Several of the episodes explore the intersection of race and climate change.

New Evangelicals:  This site, launched in 2021, is a high quality gathering place for displaced evangelicals who discuss their personal deconstruction experiences.

Queer Theology:  Weekly comment on biblical passages from an LBGTQ perspective.

Straight White American Jesus:  Hosted by Dan Miller and Bradley Onishi, these two former evangelical academics teach at San Franciscon University and Landmark College respectively.  They are robust podcasters, posting 3 episodes weekly in addition to their teaching and publishing work.  This is a premier resource for keeping track of the politicized church world and Christian nationalism.

Data Over Dogma:  Granular Bible study from outside the church.  Hosted by Bible scholar Dr. Dan McClellan and atheist podcaster Dan Beecher.

Bible/Faith for Normal People:  Excellent scholarship with a good dose of very dry humor.  Hosted by Pete Enns and Jared Bayas.  Pete holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.  Jared is As a former pastor and professor of both philosophy and biblical studies and has published several books.  This site as much as any other makes me wonder if seminary-level education is now widely available outside both the church and the academy.

Progressive Book Publishers

1 Haymarket Books Our mission is to publish books that contribute to struggles for social and economic justice. We strive to make our books a vibrant and organic part of social movements and the education and development of a critical, engaged, and internationalist Left.
2 New Press New Press has emerged as a thriving independent publisher of books for general readers, on subjects ranging from criminal justice, education, labor, and immigration to racial equity, media reform, economic inequality, gender, and democracy. The New Press is a trademark of The New Press, Inc.
3 Pluto Press Though our collective outlook has developed over time, we proudly identify as anti-capitalist, internationalist and politically independent.
4 Verso Books New Left Books was launched by New Left Review in 1970, and took as its logo the Tatlin Tower—a planned monument to the Third International. Focusing initially on translating works of European political and social theory, economics and philosophy,

Web Development and Graphics

Creative Bloq:  Large resource of professional-level design insights, tutorials, and ideas.  Pitched towards professional graphic designers and web developers.  Accessible to non-professionals.

Creative MarketA graphics resource site including fonts, backgrounds, and pictures of various types.  Each Monday, Creative Market offers five free graphics assets, many of which are quite useful for graphic design.