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Wednesday Jan 07, 2015
Wednesday Jan 07, 2015
ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Ferguson Grand Jury Decision
“Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr: ‘Hush Money Is Not Justice’
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri has filed a federal lawsuit in behalf of a grand juror who wants to reveal alleged irregularities in the way St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch conducted a hearing into the shooting death of Michael Brown by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9 last year.
The two-month-long probe ended with no indictment against Wilson.
Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of Missouri’s ACLU, discusses “Grand Juror Doe”’s complaint.
In a related development, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund has asked Circuit Court Judge Maura McShane to review McCulloch’s handling of the “fatally compromised” grand jury process and appoint a new grand jury to reconsider the case, but under a special prosecutor.
“Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr., who successfully had forced the appointment of special prosecutors in two highly charged, racially motivated cases in New York, says the ACLU and LDF actions are noble attempts to salvage the Brown case—not only from McCulloch’s manipulations, but also from the less-than-inspired lawyering of the legal team the Rev. Al Sharpton brought into the case to advise the Brown family.
Tuesday Jan 06, 2015
Tuesday Jan 06, 2015
No Justice, No Pleas: No Rape Charges Against Sharpton Lawyer Cut from Garner Case
Brown, Garner Cases Suggest Accommodation, Not Litigation Against System
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said yesterday that a three-month-long investigation into charges by a female executive of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network that she was sexually assaulted by the lawyer Sharpton had selected to handle litigation of the Eric Garner chokehold case against the NYPD proved her charges baseless. Sanford Rubenstein, a prominent attorney, said he was pleased that he was “fully cleared.” Sharpton, who cut Rubenstein from the case when the charges were filed against him, has said nothing of Vance’s decision. In 2012, Vance vindicated former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn of sexually assaulting a hotel housekeeper, saying she wasn’t “credible.” Kahn, a presidential hopeful in France, later settled a civil suit by Nafissatou Diallo.
The Rubenstein saga revives questions about the tactics Sharpton and his legal teams have taken in two major cases that are at the root of nationwide justice and anti-police brutality movements—the chokehold death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y. on July 17 last year, and the shooting death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri, both involving police.
Leid Stories says Sharpton and his legal teams are accommodating with the systems they are supposed to be litigating against. Large settlements, not justice, are what they’re after.
Monday Jan 05, 2015
Monday Jan 05, 2015
Lynch Mob: PBA Head’s ‘Protest’ Tactics Hold NYC Hostage; Mayor Dithers
The Dec. 20 ambush killings of two police officers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn have been feeding the police union’s gristmill of grievances with City Hall. Stalled contract negotiations and pay hikes top the list of a long list of complaints, says Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, and the deaths of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who was buried yesterday, are the battering ram Lynch is using to force concessions from Mayor William de Blasio.
Lynch, up for re-election as PBA head, has unleashed a particularly venomous campaign, and it’s not just against de Blasio. Increasingly, police officers are engaging in “protest” tactics that go way beyond insubordination. Lynch in fact is holding New Yorkers hostage with a veritable work stoppage while the mayor appears either unwilling or unable to bring the Lynch mob in line, says Leid Stories.
Ironically, the strong-arm conduct of the PBA and its membership is proving the validity of many long-held beliefs and criticisms of the New York Police Department.
Friday Jan 02, 2015
Friday Jan 02, 2015
It’s the First “Free Your Mind Friday” for the New Year!
Nice to be back with you for our first live broadcast for the new year. And, as fate ordained it, it’s “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories—the day we engage in free-wheeling conversation about whatever you think warrants further discussion or debate.
Call in (888-874-4888) and let’s get the conversation started!
Wednesday Dec 31, 2014
Wednesday Dec 31, 2014
2015: Getting A Heads Up On What the New Year Will Bring
We’re just about done with 2014—a great relief, most would say, considering the rough year we’ve had.
Here we are, on the cusp of a new year. Dare we hold out hope that things will be better in 2015? Or, do we brace ourselves for The Sequel?
Leid Stories’ listeners, the most discerning audience on the planet, call it right about what 2015 has in store for us mere mortals.
You’re in that number. Call in (888-874-4888) and get us ready!
Tuesday Dec 30, 2014
Tuesday Dec 30, 2014
20/20 Hindsight: Lessons Learned, and Not Learned, in 2014 (Part 2)
We continue the discussion we began yesterday: With the
advantage of 20/20 hindsight, what did we learn, or not learn, from 2014?
Leid Stories listeners undertake a comprehensive review of the year from their own vantage points, discussing what for them were the defining issues, events and people of the year.
Yesterday’s callers identified the following as significant issues in 2014: Police brutality/use of excessive force; U.S. support of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine; the global power shift and its potential for shifting the power equation in the United States; the global police state; co-optation of the media; and the individual vs. the state.
What will today’s crop of opinions bring? Call 888-874-4888 and share your thoughts.
Monday Dec 29, 2014
Monday Dec 29, 2014
20/20 Hindsight: Lessons Learned, and Not Learned, in 2014
The end of the year is always a good time for reflection.
Leid Stories listeners undertake a comprehensive review of 2014, discussing from their vantage point the defining issues, events and people of the year and, more particularly,
What lessons, if any, they have learned from them.
Friday Dec 26, 2014
Friday Dec 26, 2014
Give Yourself the Best Gift Ever. Free Your Mind!
’Tis the season to put yourself on your own gift-giving list for a change. Go big. Really, really big, and give yourself the best gift ever—a free mind.
It’s Leid Stories’ last “Free Your Mind Friday” for 2014, the perfect opportunity to clear your head before the new year (you don’t want to drag old stuff into the new year, do you?).
Friday Dec 26, 2014
Friday Dec 26, 2014
Latino Officers Association Leader Takes On PBA, NYPD
Activists Ignore Mayor’s Plea, Continue Protests in NYC
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association’s rancorous tirades against New York City Mayor William de Blasio crested after two police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley in an ambush shooting in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. "There's blood on many hands tonight. That blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the Office of the Mayor,” PBA President Pat Lynch, who heads the nation’s largest police union, declared at a news conference after Ramos and Liu were confirmed dead.
Tony Miranda, executive chairman of the National Latino Officers Association, says Lynch, seeking reelection as PBA leader, is “out of order” to blame de Blasio for the deaths of Ramos and Liu, and out of sync with the union’s Latino membership.
Miranda discusses these and other salient issues—including the burgeoning nationwide justice movement, racism within the police department, and a pervasive lack of leadership.
Following our discussion yesterday on coverage of the tragic event, listeners offer their perspectives on how it has been, and is being, handled by the media, police brass and City Hall.
Tuesday Dec 23, 2014
Tuesday Dec 23, 2014
Latino Officers Association Zaps PBA, NYPD on Cop Killings, Racism
Watching Their Language: When ‘Information’ Has A Mission
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association’s rancorous tirades against New York City Mayor William de Blasio crested Saturday, after two police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley in an ambush shooting in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. "There's blood on many hands tonight. That blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the Office of the Mayor,” said PBA President Pat Lynch, who heads the nation’s largest police union.
Tony Miranda, executive chairman of the National Latino Officers Association, says Lynch, seeking reelection as PBA leader, is “out of order” to blame de Blasio for the deaths of Ramos and Liu, and out of sync with the union’s Latino membership.
Miranda discusses these and other salient issues—including the burgeoning nationwide justice movement, racism within the police department, and a pervasive lack of leadership.
Leid Stories examines media coverage of this major story and the impact it has had on the public’s perceptions and opinions. Listeners are asked to cite blatant and subtle examples of ways in which the mission was not to inform, but to manipulate. And if so, to what end.