Leid Stories

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.

Leid Stories - School’s Out in Detroit, and That’s the Plan; Hillary Had Dinner in Detroit, Total Contempt on the Menu - 05.02.16

Almost all (94) of Detroit’s 97 public schools are closed today—the result of a sickout by teachers reacting to news over the weekend that the state won’t be able to pay them after June 30, when emergency aid to the bankrupted city runs out. Elena Herrada, an elected member of the school board whose authority over local education was overridden during the imposed bankruptcy, says the sickout protest is a publicity stunt to cover up the union’s complicity in the main objective: destroying the public education system in Detroit.

Presidential candidate was the keynote speaker at the Detroit NAACP’s Freedom Fund Dinner last night. Leid Stories discusses the main item on the menu: total contempt for the very people chiefly responsible for her viability as a political candidate.

Leid Stories - Out of It: Why Election 2016 Should Radically Reshape our Thinking About Politics and Activism - 04.26.16

In the throes of a media-induced frenzy about the 2016 presidential race, it’s hard not to get caught up in the bizarreness of it. But rather than join the madness, says Leid Stories, this election cycle should cause us to overhaul our thinking about the political process, our political orientation and ideology, and the nature of our relationship with “the system.”

Leid Stories - Massive Leak At Nuclear Site ‘Anticipated,’ Says DOE; Getting Berned: It’s Way Past Time to Call Sanders Out - 04.25.16

Paul DeRienzo, who has been reporting on “America’s Fukushima”—actual and looming disasters of America’s nuclear program and at several nuclear power plants—discusses a massive leak at the notorious Hanford Site, a sprawling nuclear-reactor complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington state. Regulatory agencies, however, are saying there is no cause for alarm.

Bernie Sanders’ insists that his campaign is a “revolution.” Sounds great, and he’s got millions of votes to back up that contention, but his actions increasingly suggest that it’s something else. Leid Stories says it’s way past time to call him on it.