Episodes
Thursday Feb 27, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/27/14
Thursday Feb 27, 2014
Thursday Feb 27, 2014
Obamacare Could Cost Low-Income and Poorer Americans Their Homes
Nullification: The Power of Jurors to Balance the Scales of Justice
Jurors also are judges of the facts in a case and should exercise their power in the interest of justice, says our guest, Kirsten Tynan, executive director of the Fully Informed Jury Association. The organization has ramped up awareness of a central theme of its “juror education” program—a controversial concept called jury nullification, which says that jurors “must protect fellow citizens from the tyrannical abuses of power by government” by refusing to convict when the letter of the law conflicts with their consciences.
And noted economist Paul Craig Roberts, former editor of The Wall Street Journal, reveals a very scary downside to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): Estate recovery.
It sounds incongruous—considering that it applies to Americans who hardly consider themselves as having “estates.” But low-income and poorer Americans are especially at risk of total financial ruin with the ACA, because they are herded into Medicaid, which will require many enrollees to forfeit their homes and other assets they might have to the state to cover the cost of their medical care.
Wednesday Feb 26, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/26/14
Wednesday Feb 26, 2014
Wednesday Feb 26, 2014
The IRP6 & the FBI, Chapter 5: Bogus Trial, Bogus Verdicts
Listeners Ask Questions About This Unusual Case
Leid Stories concludes last week’s (Feb. 19) discussion of the trial of six executives (the IRP6) of an African American-owned software company who on June 9, 2009 saw their Colorado City offices raided by 21 armed FBI agents and boxes of intellectual and other property taken under a warrant alleging fraud.
Investigative Resource Planning Solutions (IRP) was a sham operation and engaging in fraud because it racked up substantial balances with several IT staffing firms for help in creating software products that didn’t exist, a 25-count federal indictment charged, although a previous grand jury had found the same charges to be totally without merit.
A trial that can only be described as bizarre resulted in convictions of the six men, who currently are serving terms of up to 11 years.
The IRP6 maintain that the raid, indictment and trial were designed to shut the company out of multimillion-dollar government contracts the company was on the verge of getting with an innovative software solution it designed and, eventually, to shut the company down permanently.
Listeners ask questions of two guests who worked at IRP and now are with A Just Cause, an organization seeking the release of the IRP6 and a full federal investigation of the case.
Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/25/14
Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
Say It Like You Mean It! It’s Open Forum on Leid Stories!
There’s no point to having a strong opinion about something and keeping it all to yourself. Let’s hear it! Step up and grab some air space on “Open Forum,” where great minds gather to trade information, opinions and ideas.
Dare to share your view of the world and of issues and events that matter. Whether people agree or disagree, the main thing is to buttress your case with credible arguments. Do so and you will be hailed a champion, for there will be no way to challenge you.
Call in! Victory is yours … until it isn’t!
Monday Feb 24, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/24/14
Monday Feb 24, 2014
Monday Feb 24, 2014
City Jobs, Pensions Take Huge Hit in Detroit’s ‘Adjustment’ Plan;
Obama’s Class Act: $140-Million High-Tech Project for Detroit Suburb
A draconian cost-cutting plan submitted Friday (Feb. 21) by emergency manager Kevyn Orr for approval by the federal judge overseeing Detroit’s disputed $18-billion bankruptcy set off a series of strategy meetings by groups all over the city vowing both challenges to the plan in court and amped-up protests in the streets.
Leid Stories speaks to two members of Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management—a former attorney for the City Council and a retired Water Department worker—fresh from a news conference responding to Orr’s plan.
Meanwhile, President Obama, whose administration has avoided any direct involvement in the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, announced Saturday (Feb. 22) that Canton Township, about 25 miles west of Detroit, will be the hub of a $140-million new-tech research and manufacturing institute specializing in lightweight and modern metals. It will “attract the good-paying jobs that a growing middle class requires,” a White House statement says. It is yet another example of Obama’s class-centered political priorities, Leid Stories says.
Friday Feb 21, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/21/14
Friday Feb 21, 2014
Friday Feb 21, 2014
Close Out the Week with “Free-Form Friday” on Leid Stories
It would be “Open Forum” if it were Tuesday. But Tuesday was Part 2 of a very important discussion on the Stand Your Ground law that began on Monday. Wednesday was booked and so was Thursday, so the logical thing to do was to do on Friday what we normally would do on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday being out of the question. But should a name associated with a Tuesday program be used for a similar program airing on a Friday? A reasonable mind would say, “No, that would cause confusion.” Hence “Free-Form Friday,” a very clever way to convey that while the Friday program may share some of the features of the Tuesday program, it is not to be expected that it will be the same. If it is, it will vary in exactness.
Now, show your genius at explaining things clearly and concisely, as has been done here.
Thursday Feb 20, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/20/14
Thursday Feb 20, 2014
Thursday Feb 20, 2014
False Profits: Snowden’s NSA Loot Launches Multimillion-Dollar Business
Detroit Update: Major Concerns As City Submits 10-Year Restructuring Plan
Let’s see here. A self-righteous Edward Snowden steals an alleged 1.7 million classified files from the NSA and flees the country with them. Soon, a few stories based on the files began to appear—most of them in the London Guardian under the byline of lawyer-turned-reporter Glenn Greenwald who, like his source, becomes an international hero for exposing the dark dealings of the NSA both at home and abroad. Then silence. Then word of a $250-million media operation, financed by e-Bay founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar, with Greenwald in a major role—and Snowden’s looted files as a main draw.
Leid Stories calls out the false prophets and the false profits.
This week the City of Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, is expected to present to the federal judge overseeing its controversial bankruptcy a plan for restructuring its purported $18-billion debt.
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire and Detroit organizer for the Workers World Parry, reports on the concerns and expectations of stakeholders, especially city workers and retirees, about Orr’s 10-year plan.
Wednesday Feb 19, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/19/14
Wednesday Feb 19, 2014
Wednesday Feb 19, 2014
The IRP6 & the FBI, Chapter 4: Trial & Tribulation
Leid Stories continues its report on the case of six executives of a small Colorado City-based software company, Investigative Resource Planning Solutions (IRP Solutions), who inexplicably found themselves and their company targeted by federal authorities just when they were about to land multimillion-dollar contracts with law-enforcement agencies with a case-management system they created.
Twenty-one armed FBI agents raided the minority-owned company on Feb. 9, 2005 under a warrant that said IRP Solutions was a sham and was engaging in fraud. They removed several boxes of “evidence,” including computer equipment and intellectual property. Federal prosecutors on Feb. 6, 2007 sought a grand jury indictment on fraud and conspiracy charges, but the grand jury found no reason to indict. In a highly unusual move, prosecutors convened a second grand jury on June 9, 2009, and obtained a 25-count indictment on each of the six men, charging them with conspiracy, mail and wire fraud.
The legal twists and turns in this case become more and more outrageous and bizarre as the IRP6 come to trial – the focus of our program today.
Tuesday Feb 18, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/18/14
Tuesday Feb 18, 2014
Tuesday Feb 18, 2014
No Safe Ground In ‘Stand-Your-Ground’ -- In Florida & 24 Other States
Florida was the first state to enact a “Stand Your Ground” law (2005), but 24 other states now enforce statutes similar to Florida Statute 776.013 (3).
“Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr., following yesterday’s discussion of the Michael Dunn case—in which Dunn was acquitted on a first-degree murder charge for killing Jordan Davis, 18, after a heated argument over loud music coming from an SUV Davis and three others were in—discusses the origins of the "Stand Your Ground" law.
Maddox places Stand Your Ground and similar laws in the context of the Slave Codes, Jim Crow law of the Deep South, the duality of natural rights vs civil rights, and racial re-entrenchment.
Monday Feb 17, 2014
Leid Stories - Injustice In ‘Stand-Your-Ground’ Florida - 02/17/14
Monday Feb 17, 2014
Monday Feb 17, 2014
Injustice In ‘Stand-Your-Ground’ Florida
Friday Feb 14, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/14/14
Friday Feb 14, 2014
Friday Feb 14, 2014
It’s All About Love on Leid Stories! A Valentine’s Gift for You!
Put the woes of the day and week on hold. Take a well-deserved breather right now, in the middle of the day. Relax and enjoy an all-music program designed just for you, the fine folks who listen to and love Leid Stories.
Here’s some extra love back at you on Valentine’s Day. Enjoy!