In Memory of Michael Brooks.

Well written, Lauren.

I discovered Michael Brooks on The Majority Report. I'm not a big fan of TMR, and thought, "What is this super-sharp guy doing this side-kick role here for? He should be doing his own thing." Soon enough he was.

The Michael Brooks Show was like Jimmy Dore 40 IQ points higher. No disrespect to Jimmy, I love what he does and watch every video. But Brooks not only could segue from a stupid joke to deep commentary - often combining the two! - but he had a breadth of international politics and leftism that is sorely missing in US politics. I had envisioned Brooks filling the shoes of Prof. Richard Wolff someday.

Therein lies something else that Michael was doing that is also sorely lacking: building an on-line talent pool. Not only did Brooks collab with an incredible number of lefties, in addition on his own show you could watch him let the less experienced staffers start to spread their wings and start to fly on their own. It can't be overstated how important it is for someone to be so confident as to give the spotlight to others as Brooks did.

I have no idea what took Brooks from the world at such an young age. I'm very sad that we'll never get to see what he could have become after already going so far.