Leid Stories

Leid Stories - 11/06/14

Ferguson: Grand Jury’s Decision Even More Pain for Obama, Democrats

The Republican Juggernaut Strategizes, But Where Do We Go From Here?

The indictment decision by a Ferguson grand jury in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown by local police officer Darren Wilson is about to deliver even more pain for President Barack Obama, his administration and the Democratic Party. No matter how the jury votes—although it is heavily rumored it will find Officer Wilson committed no crime—the imminent announcement will pile on yet more layers of hurt.

Leid Stories explains the inevitable.

 

Two days after Selection Day, and the Republican juggernaut that decisively routed the Democrats begins to strategize about harnessing the awesome power of its state and federal legislative shutout, now having full control of Congress, snatched at least 31 governorships from the Democrats, and control over 67 of 98 legislative chambers in the country.

Leid Stories continues our discussion on the salient question: In light of the current political situation, what are the implications for alternative political parties and movements, and what is to be done?  

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.

Leid Stories - 11/04/14

Selection Day: After the Charade, What Are We Going to Do?

 

Well, it’s here. Selection Day. The day the nation gets to “elect” people they had no part in selecting as candidates. By day’s end, some new face cards will be added to a trick deck loaded with Jokers; the Democratic-Republican duopoly will win; and party statisticians will run the numbers a thousand different ways for clues to victory in The Big Race two years ahead.

The tragedy is that third parties and many grassroots efforts will have little, if anything, to report in the way of victory at the polls, and this, says Leid Stories, will be the most troubling “Selection Day” outcome of all. The usual impediments to free and fair elections aside (big money, pro-duopoly media, state crimes against democracy) aside, the question must be asked: Why aren’t third parties and grassroots politics gaining ground, especially at a time that seems tailor-made for them to do so?

Listeners offer their opinions and ideas about what is to be done in the aftermath of today’s national charade.  

Leid Stories - 11/03/14

Ferguson, MO: Racist Public Policy and the ‘Sundown’ Town

Voting: Tantamount to Aiding and Abetting A Criminal Enterprise

The Aug. 8 killing of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a white local police officer, Darren Wilson, brought Ferguson, Missouri, to national and international attention as yet another example of the woefully lopsided power equation between African Americans and the systems that control them and their communities.

Our guest, Richard Rothstein, a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and senior fellow of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law, explains that Ferguson—and the Fergusons of America—were created and continue to be shaped by racist governmental policies that reflect and reinforce societal attitudes. Ferguson, he says, remains true to the letter and spirit of its origins—as a “sundown” town that required Blacks to disappear from sight at the end of the day.

Elections tomorrow will reshuffle the deck in America’s political house of cards. The Democratic-Republican duopoly, some hopeful contenders on the fringe and media outlets that depend on millions of dollars in political advertising are doing all they can to excite a badly bruised electorate into showing up at the polls.

Leid Stories in a commentary argues that for millions of Americans voting is tantamount to aiding and abetting a criminal enterprise.

Leid Stories - 10/31/14

Dust Off The Cobwebs! Free Your Mind!

It’s Halloween, and what’s scary is the week we’ve been through—mayhem and madness just about everywhere. But it’s “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories, and you can restore some degree of order and sanity to the world by putting things in perspective for us all, whether about news issues and developments that crowded in on us this week or on any subject you think merits discussion or debate.

Call in (888-874-4888) and share your thoughts with really nice people eager to hear what you have to say. You’ll be doing the scariest thing ever—helping us to dust off the cobwebs and free our minds! 

Leid Stories - Long Past Due: No-Frills, No-Thrills Democracy - 10/30/14

Midterm elections 2014 are providing strong clues about where we are as a nation. Depending on where locates oneself on the political spectrum, the clues are either assurances that a carefully calibrated system will remain relatively intact, or a harbinger of chaos and doom. Middle ground has all but disappeared.

Those feeling secure, of course, are not worrying about the political choices they will make. But large numbers of those who are worried are caught in an awful bind; they’re not at all comfortable with the political choices they will make.

Considering that the Republican-Democratic duopoly will dominate the political choices of most voters, will it also include Progressives and people of color this time around? Or, will midterm elections spawn new political activism and movements?

If the latter, says Leid Stories, the time has come for no-frills, no-thrills democracy and serious coalition building predicated on eradicating all impediments to freedom, equality and justice.

Leid Stories - 10/29/14

The Battle for Benton Harbor, Michigan, Unfolds in Weird Court Case

Spooky! Sharpton Plays A Trick on Ferguson As A Treat for Democrats

Whirlpool Corporation has its eyes on Benton Harbor, Mich., an almost all-Black town of just over 10,000 on the shores of Lake Michigan that looks nothing like the toney estates and swank shops the company wants instead. Whirlpool’s plan to gobble up the town was going well—until the Rev. Edward Pinkney rallied the locals not only against the corporation, but also against co-opted elected officials, including the mayor, willing to execute its plan.

In the aftermath of a Pinkney-led recall of the mayor, the fiery pastor found himself charged with five counts of election fraud—allegedly for changing dates on five petitions. A report from the courthouse yesterday said none of the prosecution’s witnesses could say Pinkney altered any petitions. Leid Stories gets an update today from Pinkney, who says his trial is “punishment” for organizing against Whirlpool and political corruption.

Bloviator in Chief Al Sharpton swoops into Ferguson, MO, on a four-day mission, starting on Halloween (Oct. 31), to mine votes for the Democrats in the name of Michael Brown, killed by local police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. It’s also a pacification program to keep the lid on growing outrage over the handling of the case and speculation that a grand jury will find no reason to indict Wilson.

Leid Stories discusses Sharpton’s trick-and-treat mission. 

Leid Stories - Elections Aside, What Should Our Political Focus and Priorities Be? - 10/28/14

With midterm elections upon us, the nation’s focus is even more dissipated than usual, driven by polls, regional contests, high-profile personalities and hot-button public-policy issues various media outlets are championing.

In this dizzying political atmosphere, it’s easy to lose sight of what our political focus and priorities should be.

Leid Stories, therefore, engages in that discussion today, asking listeners to define (or redefine) the elements of a progressive political agenda, election season notwithstanding, and what informs their views. 

Leid Stories - 10/27/14

Detroit: Massive Wave of New Foreclosures to Hit 150,000

Whose City?: The Big Plan for Your Big City Is … You’re Not There!

One-fifth of Detroit’s population, an estimated 150,000 homeowners, most of them African American, will receive foreclosure notices from the Wayne County treasurer’s office by year’s end that their properties will be sold at auction for nonpayment of property taxes. His does not include almost 30,000 who already are in the process of being evicted from their homesteads.

The new wave of pending foreclosures leaves no doubt about the real intent of the city’s forced bankruptcy, say local activists—a race-based plan to empty the city of its “undesirable” residents in order to “re-imagine” it for wealthier whites.

Abayomi Azikiwe, our correspondent on the battle over Detroit’s bankruptcy, reports on the announced foreclosures and related issues.

A recent Leid Stories guest, Joel Kotkin, author of the provocative The New Class Conflict, wrote an article that appeared in the New York Daily News yesterday that reinforced a major point in his book: America’s large urban centers are systematically being emptied of targeted populations and are fast becoming strongholds for the wealthy. New York City, he says, is a prime example. 

Leid Stories - Free Your Mind! It’s Your Best Defense! - 10/24/14

Here you are at the end of a very trying week, and you’re in relatively good shape. Good for you! You’ve triumphed over the conspiracy to drive you mad with a torrent of “news” and “information” designed mostly to confuse you, throw you off kilter, and dumb you down.

Defend your most precious asset—your facile mind, your ability to think things through!

Disassemble the mishmash we’ve been fed all week and offer instead a pristine analysis of what we really ought to know. Say no to mentacide! Free your mind!

Call 888-874-4888 and start the process.