Leid Stories - 11/05/14

Mayoral Recall Issue Claims Activist Battling Corporate Land Grab in Michigan

The Day After the Duopoly Settled Scores: Where Do We Go From Here?

 

Following directives from a judge and prosecutor that a person can be convicted without evidence, an all-white jury on the eve of elections stunned residents of the almost all-Black  town of Benton Harbor, Mich., by convicting a leader of an effort to recall the mayor, widely viewed as the henchman for Whirlpool Corporation’s plan to drive them out of the town and take over their land.

The jury found the Rev. Edward Pinkney guilty of five felony counts of voter fraud, saying he changed dates on some of the recall petitions and others were signed more than once. Berrien County prosecutor has mentioned the possibility of a maximum life sentence looms for Pinkney at his scheduled sentencing on Dec. 15. The firebrand pastor joins Leid Stories to discuss the verdict and what’s ahead.

 

Well, Selection Day—the day voters elected people they had no part in selecting—is done. The duopoly settled scores; wily, old-guard Republicans gave the smart-set Democrats and President Barack Obama a blistering beatdown, capturing both houses of Congress and a slew of governorships besides. 

Leid Stories’ listeners provide their own analyses of the duopoly’s scorched-earth battle, focusing particularly on implications for alternative political parties and movements.