Episodes
Tuesday Sep 30, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/29/14
Tuesday Sep 30, 2014
Tuesday Sep 30, 2014
Wizard of Odd: Obama Ramps Up on Race; Finds There’s No Place Like ‘Home’
Having carefully avoided the subject of race/racism/white supremacy for most of his tenure in office—except to make points about Blacks’ penchant for self-inflicted pathology—President Obama seemed to be ungagging himself. But wait. It was just another tell-them-what-they-want-to-hear moment.
Keynoting the black-tie dinner that caps the Congressional Black Caucus’s annual summit on illusory legislative power, Obama went “home,” touching on issues that remain raw with most of Black America. But just when you think he’s achieving his own “teachable moment,” he gives lets the cat out of the bag. It’s just a hook to introduce Eric Holder as the heir to Thurgood Marshall’s civil-rights legacy (and, possibly, his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?) and a lead-in to “bring souls to the polls” in the November election.
Leid Stories airs last night’s speech and follows with a commentary.
Friday Sep 26, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/26/14
Friday Sep 26, 2014
Friday Sep 26, 2014
It’s Imperative! For Your Own Good, Free Your Mind Now!
You have no choice. Too much stuff has crowded into your one and only working mind this week. It’s time to make room. Time to defrag, declutter and debunk, and “Free Your Mind” Friday” is here to help.
What’s your take on this week’s roster of news issues and developments? What do you know that we ought to? Give us a guided tour in this open forum designed specifically for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas—and for your mental health and well-being; we want you nice an calm so you can enjoy your weekend with family and friends.
Call 888-874-4888 and free your mind now!
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/25/14
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
Mass Water Shutoffs, Ouster of City Manager Top Detroiters' Concerns
A Settlement In Police-Brutality Case, But The Matter Isn’t Settled
The federal trial to determine whether Detroit’s bankruptcy-exit plan is fair and feasible resumed this week after a one-week pause to allow Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., the largest creditor, to meet with the city and mediators on a possible settlement deal.
But Judge Steven Rhodes began hearing testimony from angry Detroiters vehemently opposed to Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s draconian and arbitrary measures. Their objections, especially over extreme economic hardship, foreclosures and mass water shutoffs under Orr, are echoing beyond the courtroom; Detroiters want him gone by tomorrow, when his 18-month term ends.
Abayomi Azikiwe, our correspondent on Detroit’s bankruptcy, provides an update on the multipronged battle.
The City of Los Angeles last night settled a lawsuit by Marlene Pinnock, the woman seen on video being brutally beaten by California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Andrew on the side of a freeway on July 1.
Leid Stories explains why the $1.5 million settlement shouldn’t mean that the matter is settled.
Wednesday Sep 24, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/24/14
Wednesday Sep 24, 2014
Wednesday Sep 24, 2014
Russia, China and the Islamic State: The Triple Challenge to U.S. Foreign Policy
This is not President Obama’s finest hour. He’s in the doghouse with Americans on the economy and other major domestic issues, and in the tank on foreign policy. His job-approval ratings are at their lowest since taking office six years ago—a whopping 58 percent giving a thumbs-down on his overall job performance, and only 35 percent approving, according to RealClearPolitics’ latest poll. Most industry-standard polls are showing similar numbers.
Obama’s often bewildering foreign policies are a main reason, and they continue to haunt him and his administration.
Leid Stories illustrates this point in our discussion today on the triple challenge to U.S. foreign policy—Russia, China and the Islamic State. Our guest, scholar and prolific author Dr. Gerald Horne, puts Obama’s foreign-policy crises in proper perspective.
Tuesday Sep 23, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/23/14
Tuesday Sep 23, 2014
Tuesday Sep 23, 2014
Stupid Stuff: Behind Obama’s ‘Smart’ War in Iraq and Syria
Going Green: Big Money and the Climate-Change Movement
President Obama yesterday intensified his war against the Islamic State with airstrikes against IS strongholds in northern Syria. The foreign-policy philosophy Obama articulated earlier this year—“Don’t do stupid s[tuff].”—appears to be off the table; the war is now a three-pronged effort, Iraq also in the crosshairs.
In ordering the airstrikes in Syria and threatening retaliation against any of Bashar al-Assad’s forces if they should take any action in defense of Syria’s sovereignty, the president has taken his “stupid s[tuff]” doctrine to an exponential level of recklessness and lawlessness. Like his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama is shamelessly lying about the reasons for his military action in Iraq and Syria.
Investigative journalist Arun Gupta, former international news editor of The Guardian and contributor to several leftist publications and journals, discusses why he had “a bad feeling” about the People’s Climate March. Hint: He’s on the money.
Monday Sep 22, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/22/14
Monday Sep 22, 2014
Monday Sep 22, 2014
Voting: Young People Are Opting Out. Is It Time to Just Say No?
‘Historic’ March for Climate Change, But A Troubling Atmosphere
A study earlier this year by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that young Americans 18 to 29 years old aren’t interested in voting.
Only 23 percent of participants said they plan to vote in November. Their trust in government is “at a five-year low” and “their cynicism toward the political process has never been higher,” and they’re opting out of voting, said IOJ director Trey Grayson. Interestingly, disillusionment with politics was more prevalent among Democratic participants, but Conservatives and Republicans were most enthusiastic about the midterm and November elections, the study found.
Young people aren’t the only demographic turned off by politics in general, and the Obama administration in particular. So, will opting out catch on this November and beyond?
It certainly was historic. As many as 400,000 people, according to news reports, coursed through midtown Manhattan yesterday in the People’s Climate March in vivid demand for world action on measures to curb global warming. The United Nations tomorrow hosts a preliminary climate summit that will lay out an agenda for a major international conference next year in Paris.
Leid Stories discusses the climate-change march and why so much about it was and is troubling.
Friday Sep 19, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/19/14
Friday Sep 19, 2014
Friday Sep 19, 2014
Here’s Your Chance to Free Your Mind—And Ours, Too!
What a week it’s been—war, conspiracy, usurpation of democracy, corruption, terrorism, clandestine operations, lying leaders. And that’s just Washington!
Having survived yet another challenging week, what are your thoughts on the major issues that dominated the news? Or, maybe you’d like to introduce something entirely unrelated for consideration and/or debate.
It’s your call. You choose where you want the conversation to go. Offer your best, make your case, and you’ll know soon enough whether you’ve jiggled the brain cells of the world’s most discerning audience.
Now you can add your visit to the forum to your list of stellar accomplishments. And you’ve freed up enough space in your mind to fully appreciate a jazz concert this weekend.
Thursday Sep 18, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/18/14
Thursday Sep 18, 2014
Thursday Sep 18, 2014
License to Kill: Senate Hearing Peeps Plan for Syria—ISIS and Assad
The Leader Shipped: Sharpton Bails on Michael Brown, Eric Garner Cases
At a U.S. Senate hearing yesterday on President Obama’s declared war against the Islamic State(now occupying swaths of land in Iraq and Syria), Secretary of State John Kerry quickly urged a “classified” meeting with Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) when McCain insisted on a twofer: Annihilate both the jihadists and the country’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad.
But it was clear that the warhawk McCain was publicly stating the administration’s true intent in pursuing the Islamic State in Syria. Kerry disagreed only as to sequence; first, the IS terrorists, he said.
Leid Stories discusses the surreal and patently illegal nature of Obama’s “democratic” process of
Residents of Ferguson, Missouri, unleased their fury at a county council meeting Tuesday night, demanding the arrest of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown of Ferguson on Aug. 9. The justice-seeking locals appear to be no closer to that goal than when Bloviator in Chief Al Sharpton swooped into town and commandeered their movement as the guy who can get results. Similarly, 10 weeks after the police-chokehold killing of Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y., no arrests have been made of the officers involved.
Two epic fails by Sharpton--and proceeding as planned.
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/17/14
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
How Do You Like Him Now?: The ‘Peace’ President Is A Hostage of His War
Oddly, it was his Nobel Peace Prize lecture on Dec. 10, 2009 that first hinted that the “peace” candidate put into the White House just a year earlier by millions of Americans clinging to the Democrat’s promise of “hope” and “change [they] could believe in” was in fact a war hawk like George W. Bush, his Republican predecessor.
The ensuing years and last week’s “declaration of war” against Islamic State terrorists holed up in pockets of Iraq and Syria—a pretext for the re-invasion of the former and long-planned invasion of the latter—have removed all doubt. Obama’s bomb-first-talk-later directive and his reckless disregard for the rule of law and democratic principles, both domestically and internationally, make Bush’s state crimes against democracy look like mere slipups.
Leid Stories dismantles Obama’s warhead, explaining why the president feels compelled to out-hawk the war hawks, and how, ironically, this has made him a hostage of his cranked-up version of Bush’s utterly disastrous “war on terror.”
Tuesday Sep 16, 2014
Leid Stories - 09/16/14
Tuesday Sep 16, 2014
Tuesday Sep 16, 2014
Rules of Engagement: International Law and Obama’s War on Terrorism
The United States yesterday intensified its airstrike campaign in Iraq against the Islamic State, widening the theater of war to the southwest of Baghdad, where IS forces were said to be holed up.
Since Aug. 8, at least 162 U.S. airstrikes have been conducted in Iraq, according to reports—most of them in the north and west, near the Kurdish capital of Irbil, the dams of Mosul and Haditha, and the Sinjar mountain region.
When President Obama declared war against the IS on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the al-Qaeda-linked Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States—the war that is now intensified in Iraq--questions arose about the legality of his action based on U.S. constitutional law. But was he also flouting international law on why and when even how countries may go to war?
Our guest, Michael Newton, a professor of law at Vanderbilt University and an expert on terrorism and counterterrorism, transnational justice and conduct-of-hostilities issues, discusses the president’s action in the context of international law. He has published more than 80 books, articles and book chapters in his areas of specialty, and currently serves as senior editor of the Terrorism International Case Law Reporter.