Leid Stories

It's our last open forum before the Nov. 6 midterm elections, and we ask: What are your plans for that day? 

Midterm elections are just five days away. Candidates are making last-ditch efforts to woo voters; media outlets are making predictions about who'll win and who'll lose; voters are making up their minds about who'll get their support; and others aren't at all interested in participating in a superhyped circus.

We round out yesterday's discussion on our attitudes about voting. Or not.

What shapes our attitudes about voting? Why do we, or don't we, vote? Should voting be mandatory? Do we vote with our heads or our hearts?

In the home stretch of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Leid Stories listeners get personal about voting--or not.

 

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump go to Pittsburgh today to pay respects to the 11 people killed and several others wounded in an attack by a self-avowed white-supremacist gunman during a Sabbath service on Oct. 27. 

Many in the Squirrel Hill community--where the Tree of Life Congregtion, the scene of the  carnage, is located--are demanding that Trump not appear there until he denounces white supremacy. 

Trump and his advisers continue to dismiss criticisms that the president continually stokes the fires of racisl hatred and has emboldened the rise of hate groups.

Leid Stories completes yesterday's discussion on the subject.

Nine days to midterm elections on Nov. 6, what do we see? What will our reality be as of Nov. 7?

One thing's for sure: Donald Trump and his cancerous Republican administration will still be standing, with another two years to regroup and recover from any serious body blows sustained in the midterms. Even if Democrats win many seats Nov. 6, the power status in Washington will remain essentially quo until the general election in 2020--unless there is massive resistance well before then. 

But the Democratic Party and other opposition parties are woefully underfunded, aren't working together on key issues, and aren't organizing their respective communities well. The darkness of recent past week alone should embolden political consciousness and action. We simply cannot let darkness win.

It's "Free Your Mind Friday" on Leid Stories--our weekly gathering for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas.

Call 888-874-4888 and free your mind  by speaking truth to power!

President Trump disavows any connection between his frequently hate-filled and violence-extolling language and  several homemade bombs that mysteriously have turned up at offices and home addresses of high-profile people, most of them Democrats, who Trump repeatedly had lambasted for making the United States lose its status at home and abroad as a world-leading nation.

Targets included former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and former CIA Director John Brennan. An FBI investigation is under way.

Despite his disavowal and, now, urging civility and unity, did Trump's hate mongering spawn these assassination attempts? And by whom?

Immigration. It has come to be a central issue in national politics and a dog-whistle signal to man the ramparts against further racial decimation of America. It is, in fact, at the heart of what President Donald Trump says will "Make America Great Again." 

Leid Stories listeners share their perspectives on how immigration is shaping people's attitudes and U.S. policy.

Kim Ives, editor of the English edition of Haïti Liberté, reports on ongoing protests against government corruption in Haiti. He also updates his story about Haitian exiles in Central and South America who against almost insurmountable odds are trying to return home.

Former President Barack Obama in the waning weeks before the Nov. 6 midterm elections has ramped up his stumping skills, hoping for a windfall for the Democratic Party. Obama's selected rally appearances seem to be going well enough, but is he the Democrats' chief weapon against Trump and the Republicans?

Next month's midterm elections, held halfway into a president's term, have taken on a special significance. In the first midterm for President Donald Trump, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are being contested, as are 35 of 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. Additionally, 39 state and territorial governorships are up for grabs, and several states are holding elections for state and local offices.

Trump and the Republican Party will be a decisive point of reference for midterm voters.

Which raises the question: For other voters, will the choice once again be not which party best speaks to their concerns, but which is least galling?