Leid Stories

Leid Stories—In Frenzied Pursuit of Alleged Sexual Attackers, Justice Seems to Mean Running Roughshod Over the Law—12.06.17

John Conyers, who represented Michigan’s 13^th congressional district for 53 years, unceremoniously ended his political career yesterday. Conyers, 88, had been battling a staffer’s sexual-harassment allegations against him and buckled under pressure from party leader Nancy Pelosi and others to quit (he had planned to run for reelection next year). Additionally, new sexual-harassment claims from another staffer surfaced on Monday.

Conyers became the biggest fish caught so far in a wide net that self-identified victims of sex crimes, most of them women, have cast to bring their alleged attackers, almost all of them men, to justice. But in pursuit of that justice, Leid Stories says, it seems that lawyers for accusers are playing fast and loose with the law.

Leid Stories—Charity Fraud Nets Ex-Congresswoman Corrine Brown 5 Years. Word to the Clintons?—12.05.17

A federal judge yesterday sentenced former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville), a 24-year congressional veteran, to five years in prison for creating a bogus charity that was to provide scholarships for poor students but instead turned it into an $800,000 slush fund for herself.

If stealing $800,000 from a so-called charity gets a former member of Congress five years in a federal prison, what would be the penalty for conviction of similar charges against a former president and a former senator/secretary of state/presidential candidate who together ran a bogus foundation that solicited and got billions of dollars allegedly to fund “charitable” projects all over the world?

Charles Ortel, a retired Wall Street banker turned financial investigator and our guide through his independent investigation of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation for two years, files his latest report on what he has concluded is “the largest unprosecuted charity fraud in U.S. history.”

Leid Stories—Behind Europe’s ‘Refugee’ Problem; Notes From the Margins—12.04.17

The European Union since 2015 has seen a huge increase in the number of people breaking through its borders, fleeing wretched conditions in their countries of origin. In previous years, those flocking to Western Europe were mostly refugees from repressive Eastern Bloc countries. But now, they are mostly West Africans fleeing war-ravaged countries. The EU wants to stop the illegal flow of Africans into several its 28 member-states.

Gilbert Mercier, cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of News Junkie Post and author of The Orwellian Empire, explains what’s behind the mass from West Africa. 

Leid Stories updates a few topics recently discussed on the program.

Leid Stories—Do Some Mental Maintenance and Free Your Mind!—12.01.17

Pleeeeze help put a lid on this crazy week. We really need it. Your perspective will go a long way in calming our frazzled nerves.

It’s “Free Your Mind Friday,” our weekly open forum on Leid Stories, and it’s all about talking to each other, sharing information, opinions and ideas.

Add your flavor to our delicious soup. Call 888-874-4888.

Leid Stories—Is This Why Trump Is the Way He Is?—11.30.17

Since taking office, President Trump’s conduct and actions have been the subjects of keen interest and discussion. And not in a good way. The president’s mental health has become an issue. In fact, members of Congress recently openly questioned whether his seeming “instability” and “volatility” should preclude him from making ultimate decisions on war, and especially nuclear war.

Psychotherapist Joseph Burgo, like many others in his field, became concerned about the president’s behavior and began paying attention as experienced clinicians. We listen to and discuss his assessment, which he shared at a professional conference last year.

Burgo is the author of several books and articles on psychology, including, most recently, The Narcissist You Know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me Age and Why Do I Do That? Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives.

Leid Stories—What’s Causing Elevated Levels of Radiation in New York City?—11.29.17

Investigative reporter, author, teacher and activist Paul DeRienzo, has been doing an ongoing series of reports on Leid Stories about the scary state many U.S. nuclear facilities are in, and the government’s repeated denials and coverups of leaks, explosions and widespread contamination at several plants throughout the country. His most recent reports were on the Hanford Site in Washington state, the nation’s most contaminated site.

DeRienzo files a new report that focuses on nuclear contamination in New York City, the epicenter of radiation-producing industries decades ago. But a 2005 control sampling found elevated levels of radiation in 80 spots across the city, including in a national park that was ordered closed.

Where is the radiation coming from? Do New Yorkers know? DeRienzo unfolds the story of his hunt for the truth.

Leid Stories—Finding A Safe Place In A World Going Crazy (Part 2)—11.28.17

Yesterday’s discussion—on how we cope with day-to-day stresses and adversities and continue toward our commitment to activism and self-realization—generated an extraordinary response, both on-air and via email. So, Leid Stories returns to the topic today to accommodate those who weren’t able to join the conversation yesterday due to time constraints, and others who’d like to add to their thoughts.

Leid Stories—Finding A Safe Place In A World Going Crazy—11.27.17

From time to time, the travails of the world seem far more daunting, far more powerful, than our capacity to cope, let alone resist. Yet we go from day to day, trying we’re doing our best, we say.

Is it our best? Or, are we living within boundaries already set, constantly trying to find a safe place within ourselves in a world going crazy?

Leid Stories goes philosophical.

Leid Stories—Do Some Mental Maintenance and Free Your Mind!—11.23.17

It’s Friday. Time to defrag, and Leid Stories is here to help.

Select from the zillion thoughts swimming around in your brain the one you’d most like to share. Then call in (888-874-4888) and free your mind. You just might be freeing ours, too.

You’re cordially invited to join us for “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories. It’s our  weekly open forum for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas, and everyone takes the conversation wherever they want it to go.

Leid Stories—Dr. Gerald Horne Deciphers Trump’s Challenges In Hot Spots At Home and Abroad—11.22.17

Historian and political scientist Dr. Gerald Horne discusses several developments around the world and at home that have serious implications for U.S domestic and foreign policy.

Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. A prolific author, he has written more than 30 books and 100 scholarly papers on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism and racism. His most recent book is The Rise and Fall of the Associated Negro Press: Claude Barnett's Pan-African News and the Jim Crow Paradox.

He regularly decodes complex social, political and economic issues on Leid Stories.