Leid Stories

Leid Stories - The Democratic Party’s Utterly Undemocratic Convention in Nevada; How Progressives Conspire to Thwart Progress - 05.16.16

The Nevada Democratic Convention ended in chaos Saturday, after 16 hours of backroom dealing by party hacks to produce the desired result: Nevada is Hillary country. In one of the most flagrant examples of vote fixing in this election cycle, state bosses scuttled the party’s own rules and ran roughshod over any semblance of fairness in the Clinton-Sanders battle for delegates. It was a patently fraudulent process that yielded a fraudulent result, but it appears to sit well with the Democratic Party leadership, which is decidedly pro-Clinton.

Dr. James Petras, Bartle professor emeritus of sociology at Binghamton University and author of more than 62 books and 600 scholarly papers on imperialism and global oppression, notes that “progressives” have a sordid history of offering themselves as alternatives to the system when in fact they are political acolytes working with the system to thwart progress.

Leid Stories - Defeat the Enemy! Free Your Mind! - 05.13.16

Congratulations! You’ve made it through yet another mind-numbing week and you’re still relatively sane. What an accomplishment!

Share your victory with others who survived the barrage of misinformation and disinformation that was “news” this week. It’s “Free Your Mind Friday" on Leid Stories, and 888-874-4888 is our lifeline to each other.

Leid Stories - First, Kill the Schools: The Nation's 'Urban Removal' Plan - 05.12.16

Last week’s teacher sickout in Detroit shut down its public school system for three days and put the national spotlight once again on the beleaguered city’s budget woes. The teachers’ action came after they were told that their salaries could not be guaranteed beyond June 30, when emergency funds allocated by the state would run out.

Detroit’s schools long have been the poster child for the many ills that plague the nation’s public schools, especially in high-density, predominantly people-of-color urban areas across America. Now, the city and just about everything associated with it are widely viewed as being beyond fixing.

Detroit’s school system didn’t just develop “problems;” it was targeted for oblivion long before the rest of the city, says Dr. Thomas Pedroni, an associate professor of curriculum studies and policy sociology at Wayne State University and Director of the Detroit Data and Democracy Project. Raced-based policies engineered the demise of the city to make way for a “re-imagined” Detroit, he says, and key to hastening that transition was a wholesale attack on its public schools. Further, Dr. Pedroni says, the model is being replicated all across “urban” America.

Leid Stories - Election 2016: Turning Political ‘Inevitabilities’ Around - 05.11.16

The results of yesterday’s primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska—with Donald Trump capturing both states and Bernie Sanders besting Hillary Clinton in West Virginia—have only moved political outcomes even closer to “inevitability.” Trump has no major impediments to clinching the Republican nomination, and Sanders’ win did little to blunt Clinton’s lead in delegates. The duopoly continues to take care of party business in the leadup to the general election in November, when, inevitably, there’ll be a new president in the White House.

Meanwhile, Leid Stories’ listeners ponder new approaches to politics and how best to prepare to cope with what soon will be our collective reality. We continue the discussion for the third day.

Leid Stories - Election 2016: Political Inevitabilities; Turning Things Around in Detroit - 05.10.16

Leid Stories continues yesterday’s discussion about developing alternatives to the political “inevitabilities” we face in this presidential election year.

Also, we look to Detroit, where, in the face of awesome challenges to community-controlled education and just about everything governing daily life, there is organized resistance, and it is gaining ground. Dr. Thomas Pedroni, associate professor of curriculum studies and policy sociology at Wayne State University, discusses ways in which the community is mobilizing to assure a quality education for Detroit’s schoolchildren.

Leid Stories - Election 2016: The ‘Inevitability’ of Trump and Clinton, and Other Self-Fulfilling Political Prophesies - 05.09.16

They’re distrusted, even hated, by significant numbers of voters, but Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton inevitably will be the standard bearers of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, say the sycophantic media that created them, and one of them will lead us.

Leid Stories discusses another self-fulfilling prophesy: We’ll help it all happen.

Leid Stories - Start Your Own Revolution! Free Your Mind! - 05.06.16

It's "Free Your Mind Friday" on Leid Stories, and listeners' opinions about the week's bumper crop of news issues and events--or anything they think warrants further discussion and debate--take center stage.

Add your own intellectual flavor into this delicious stew. Call 888-874-4888  to free your mind--and ours, too!

Leid Stories - Cinco de Mayo: 154 Years of Misunderstood American History - 05.05.16

Say “Cinco de Mayo” to the average American and you’d probably be asked, “Where’s the party?”

True, it is a celebration, but the advertising world and the mainstream media have all but erased its historical significance; most people associate Cinco de Mayo with after-work bar crawls and copious amounts of tequila and beer, and tacos and guacamole.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates this day in 1862, when an outnumbered, outgunned Mexican army repelled French invaders in the Battle of Puebla. Oddly, the event goes practically unnoticed in Mexico, and is more celebrated in the United States, particularly California and Texas.

Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, author of El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition and professor of medicine and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s School of Medicine, explains the connection between Cinco de Mayo and the abolition of slavery in the United States, the Civil War, the Declaration of Independence and, most importantly, the “Indo-Afro-Iberio Americano” sociopolitical achievements already made  long before English settlers founded Jamestown (Va.) in 1607, and Plymouth (Mass.) in 1620.

Leid Stories - Lessons Learned from Detroit, Flint and the Indiana Primaries - 05.04.16

And on the third day, there’s school. The Detroit Federation of Teachers has ended a two-day sickout that shut down 94 of its 97 public schools on Monday and Tuesday. Teachers were told over the weekend that the state’s largest school district would run out of money by June 30 and their salaries for summer school and thereafter could not be guaranteed.

Meanwhile, President Obama today visits Flint, Mich. He’ll get “briefings” there on the city’s water-contamination crisis—two years after it came to light. And in Indiana, the presidential primaries delivered many surprises. Leid Stories discusses the lessons to be learned from all three events.

Leid Stories - Water Shutoffs Add to School Shutdowns in Detroit; Election 2016: The Indiana Primaries: - 05.03.16

For the second day, most all of Detroit’s 97 public schools remain closed—the result of a sickout by teachers whose salaries are not guaranteed beyond June 30, when the state’s largest school district runs out of money. About 46,000 schoolchildren remain home today. Abayomi Azikiwe, editor in chief of Pan-African News Wire and a co-founder of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs, reports that the misery index goes several notches higher for many of their parents; more than 20,000 households face water shutoffs today.

Voting is brisk in Indiana, where Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls are duking it out for decisive delegate wins to assure nomination or for badly needed voter boosts to flagging campaigns. Leid Stories discusses the Indiana primaries.