Episodes
Thursday Feb 13, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/13/14
Thursday Feb 13, 2014
Thursday Feb 13, 2014
Obama: The I-Don’t-See-You, I-Don’t-Hear-You President
Five years into his two-term tenure, and President Obama is as indifferent to the harsh realities of life for his core constituencies as any segregationist Dixiecrat or benign-neglect Northern pseudoliberal ever was. He’s got “a pen and a phone” this year, he said, as some sort of threat to Republicans that he’ll bypass their legislative roadblocks either by executive order or extra-skillful schmoozing.
The truth is, Obama cares less about the people who put him in office and more about the big-money corporate interests and a demimonde of ruthless, ambitious political vampires who appear to be high on his list of priorities. They get his personal attention and even guarantees; his repeatedly abused political base gets scripted platitudes.
Leid Stories keeps tabs on the I-don’t-see-you, I-don’t-hear-you president, documenting for those unwilling to do so themselves additional reasons to abandon hope of redeeming the recidivist Obama and, ultimately, to abandon the gutless Democratic Party itself.
Wednesday Feb 12, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/12/14
Wednesday Feb 12, 2014
Wednesday Feb 12, 2014
The IRP6 & the FBI, Chapter 3: A Blizzard of Federal Charges
On June 9, 2009, four years and four months after their offices were raided by 21 armed FBI agents, six executives of Investigative Resource Planning Solutions (IRP Solutions)—David A. Banks, Demetrius K. Harper, Gary L. Walker, Clinton A. Stewart, David S. Zirpolo and Kendrick Barnes—found themselves facing 25 counts each on federal conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud charges.
But it was the second time federal prosecutors convened a grand jury to consider the charges. A grand jury was convened on Feb. 6, 2007, but unanimously found no reason to indict. Bent on a conviction in the case, federal prosecutors convened another grand jury the following month and got what they wanted—an indictment.
Leid Stories delves into the unusual legal maneuverings that produced the charges and that raise serious questions about the possible violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights.
Tuesday Feb 11, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/11/14
Tuesday Feb 11, 2014
Tuesday Feb 11, 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 10, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/10/14
Monday Feb 10, 2014
Monday Feb 10, 2014
De Blasio’s New York—Still A Tale of Two Cities
Early in his turn at the helm, Mayor Bill de Blasio is already showing that any hopes he will break with the business-as-usual, neoliberal political mindset are futile.
Leid Stories examines several cases in which he could have made significant reforms that are long overdue but instead upheld the status quo—policies that historically have been hostile to the city’s distressed communities.
“Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr. explains ways in which de Blasio’s policy decisions already are having major impact on the constitutional rights of Blacks and Latinos in New York City and are sending a disturbing signal that the mayor feels no particular obligation to the constituencies that delivered victory at the polls for him.
Friday Feb 07, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/07/14
Friday Feb 07, 2014
Friday Feb 07, 2014
Detroit At Ground Level: The Fight’s Far From Over
When the City of Detroit last July 18 formally sought a federal court decree to file for bankruptcy—making it the largest municipal collapse in U.S. history, with a claim of $18 billion in debt—it did so with confidence not only that it would prevail in court but also that it could withstand the firestorm the bankruptcy petition surely would ignite.
On both counts, however, people power is blowing that confidence to bits.
Longtime community builder, school board member and union organizer Elena Herrada discusses the role of grassroots, people-centered coalition activism in successfully challenging the status quo on many levels in Detroit.
Listeners ask questions after her presentation.
Thursday Feb 06, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/06/14
Thursday Feb 06, 2014
Thursday Feb 06, 2014
Really, Really Sick!: Racial Disparities in Health Care (Part 2)
Concluding her two-part presentation on racial disparities in health and health care, law professor emerita Vernellia Randall (University of Dayton), author of Dying While Black, makes the case that a major impediment in the battle for health and health-care equality in the United States is in the Civil Rights Act of 1964—which, ironically, was enacted to eliminate racial discrimination in all forms.
Professor Randall explains the problems with the Civil Rights Act and makes recommendations on a law that would close the disparity gap. Additionally, she tackles the contributing problem of “colorblind racism,” focusing particularly on President Obama’s brand of it.
Professor Randall writes extensively on and speaks internationally about race, women’s issues and health care. She is the recipient of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health Chairman’s Award. A public-health professional as well, she administered a statewide health program in Alaska. For the past 15 years, she has focused on eliminating disparities in health care for minorities and the poor.
Wednesday Feb 05, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/05/14
Wednesday Feb 05, 2014
Wednesday Feb 05, 2014
Really, Really Sick!: Racial Disparities in Health Care
In practically every area of life in the United States, race-based inequality remains significant, persistent and devastating. A stark illustration is health care. African Americans today are sicker than whites at almost every income level, and if the death rate were about the same for both groups, between 80,000 and 100,000 African Americans would not die each year.
In the first of a two-part presentation, law professor emerita Vernellia Randall (University of Dayton), author of Dying While Black, discusses the health status of African Americans and how a history of slavery, legal apartheid, racism and racial re-entrenchment have led to health problems that merely eating right and exercising will not correct. What is needed, she argues, is a human rights act for the 21st century that outlaws all forms of discrimination, including negligent and nonintentional discrimination.
Professor Randall writes extensively on and speaks internationally about race, women’s issues and health care. She is the recipient of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health Chairman’s Award. A public-health professional as well, she administered a statewide health program in Alaska. For the past 15 years, she has focused on eliminating disparities in health care for minorities and the poor.
Tuesday Feb 04, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/04/14
Tuesday Feb 04, 2014
Tuesday Feb 04, 2014
The Best Exchange Ever! Trade Your Ideas and Opinions on Open Forum!
It’s Tuesday, a brisk trading day for listeners on Leid Stories’ “Open Forum.”
Bring your intellectual best to “the gathering place for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas,” and vigorously engage in the fine art of discussion and debate.
It matters not whether people agree or disagree with your position, but it is important that you capably defend your point of view.
Test your mettle! Call in! Be heard!
Monday Feb 03, 2014
Leid Stories - 02/03/14
Monday Feb 03, 2014
Monday Feb 03, 2014
The IRP6 & the FBI, Chapter 2: A Raid That Really Wasn’t?
On Feb. 9, 2005, 21 armed FBI agents without warning swarmed the Colorado City offices of Investigative Resource Planning Solutions (IRP Solutions), a fledgling black-owned software-development company that had created an effective, integrated case-management system for law-enforcement and national-security agencies.
By then IRP’s Case Investigative Life Cycle (CILC) solution had been getting enthusiastic reviews and, from one agency alone, quote requests for more than $100 million in software support. By then, too, FBI Director Robert Mueller had suffered a humiliating dressing down by a Senate subcommittee for blowing $170 million and more than three years to develop a similar program but had nothing to show for it. Testimony by Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department’s inspector general, sealed the FBI program’s fate; it was scuttled.
IRP associates Samuel Thurman and Cliff Stewart recall the day of the raid and peculiar things that happened that day that strengthen their belief that sinister motives were behind it. It was, after all, the reason six of the company’s core executives inexplicably were charged with fraud, and why IRP’s promisingly lucrative future came to an ignominious end.
Thurman and Stewart are advocates with A Just Cause, which is seeking a Justice Department investigation into the targeting of the IRP6.
Friday Jan 31, 2014
Leid Stories - 01/31/14
Friday Jan 31, 2014
Friday Jan 31, 2014
Hard ‘Justice’ Kills Software Company, Imprisons Its Execs
Advocates Charge It Was An Organized Hit; Demand Probe
Six men who formed the core of Investigative Resource Planning Solutions (IRP Solutions), a small but tenacious black-owned software-development company specializing in solutions for law-enforcement agencies, believed they were on the brink of a multimillion-dollar breakthrough after two years in the cutthroat business.
They had developed a software solution for a major communications and coordination problem that law-enforcement, national security and intelligence agencies said affected not only the response to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, but to any such attacks and even day-to-day investigations. Their product, an interagency case management and investigation system, got rave reviews; one agency requested quotes for more than $100 million worth of business.
But without warning on Feb. 9, 2005, 21 FBI agents swarmed their Colorado City, Colo., offices under a warrant to gather evidence of fraud. And thus began for the six men a nightmare in which their company was destroyed, they were convicted on highly contentious charges in a most unusual federal trial, and currently in federal prison serving between 7 and 10 years.
The first part of this story on Leid Stories today.