Leid Stories

Leid Stories - 01/24/14

Apocalypse Now: Detroit’s Engineered Collapse As the New Urban Paradigm

It’s a story unfolding before our eyes, but we’re encouraged not to see it for what it really is. Detroit’s gone bankrupt, the media and the political establishment tell us, because its mainstay auto industry tanked, its population and tax rolls dwindled, its political leadership was inept and corrupt, and the city can’t meet its operational costs and pension payouts to city workers.

But Leid Stories’ guests over the past few months have made credible arguments that Detroit’s bankruptcy was not inevitable; it was engineered. And long before the city got the green light from the governor to declare bankruptcy, there was a grand plan re-imagining its rebirth – with a “different” population.

Leid Stories contends that Detroit’s engineered collapse is the new urban paradigm – one that suits corporate interests, the political establishment, and the aims and objectives of race and class warfare.

Leid Stories - 01/23/14

U.N. Sued for Cholera Epidemic in Haiti; Damages Sought

Detroit’s Grassroots Emboldened By Recent Victory

A lawsuit against the United Nations and operations under its command in Haiti after the devastating earthquake four years ago is seeking damages for the deaths of 8,500 people and the infection of more than 60,000 others from a cholera epidemic caused allegedly by lax sanitation practices of peacekeepers assigned there.

Dr. Jean-Ford Figaro, a public-health specialist and Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, discuss the cholera epidemic and its impact from medical and legal perspectives.

And Leid Stories returns to Detroit, where grassroots political pressure yesterday forced Gov. Rick Snyder to release $350 million to the distressed city – money widely viewed as the city’s tax-levied share to begin with.

Activists Elena Herrada and Abayomi Azikiwe discuss the growing opposition to Detroit’s old political order.

Leid Stories - 01/22/14

Public Banking Seeks Your Interest; Open Forum Part 2

A people- and community-centered alternative banking system is looking to make greater inroads across America this year. It’s called public banking – a system “operated in the public interest via institutions owned by the people through their representative governments.”  So far, North Dakota is the only state that has adopted the concept, but at least 20 other states are considering establishing public banks.

Ellen Brown, chairperson of the Public Banking Institute, explains the concept and how it works.

And because Open Forum had more traffic yesterday than we were able to accommodate, we’ll provide air space for those calls today.

Leid Stories - 01/21/14

Are You the Brightest Bulb in the Bunch? Enlighten Us All!

It’s Tuesday, so it’s Open Forum on Leid Stories, and your insightful thoughts and considered opinions about major issues and events of the day not only are welcome, they’re greatly appreciated.

Share your unique take on what’s happening in the world. But expect to be questioned closely by some of the brightest minds on the planet -- with great respect, of course!

 

Leid Stories - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "A Time to Break the Silence" - 01/20/14

Leid Stories commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day with purposeful contemplation of a guiding principle in his life’s work: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

At a meeting in New York City of the nondenominational Clergy & Laity Concerned, Dr. King exhorted leaders in the faith community -- and people of conscience generally -- to be true advocates for the poor and oppressed by relentlessly opposing U.S. laws and policies that are morally wrong and inhumane – not only for fellow Americans, but for people all over the world.

America’s appetite for war, he said, is sated always by unimaginable hardship, suffering and sacrifices by those least able to bear them – the poor at home and in far-flung corners of the world where America introduces itself with bombs and utter destruction.

This speech was delivered at Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, a year to the day of the assassination of Dr. King in Memphis, Tenn., where he was mobilizing a march in support of 1,300 African American sanitation workers striking for recognition of their union, better working conditions and a living wage. 

Leid Stories - 01/17/14

A Victory Over Banksters in Detroit; CNN in the Crosshairs

Detroiters who long had blamed their city’s financial crisis on predatory deals banks and other lending institutions were able to close with a corrupt previous administration felt vindicated yesterday, when the judge overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy rejected a $169-million settlement offer from two creditor-banks as being “just too much money.”

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire, discusses the court battle, Gov. Rick Snyder’s latest lackluster response to the crisis, and what lies ahead.

Listeners discuss how best to convey outrage at CNN’s “coverage” of Dennis Rodman’s recent basketball-diplomacy trip to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Leid Stories - 01/16/14

Obamacare Faces Major Legal Challenges: Will Pending Lawsuits Sink It?

The contentious Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), off to a wobbly start, is about to come under a series of blistering attacks that, legal experts say, can significantly alter the health-care-reform law if not kill it altogether.

More than 100 major lawsuits are pending, filed by a wide array of litigants that include public-policy and interest groups, health-care providers, insurance companies and state governments. Several of these cases will come before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Law professor Josh Blackman, and expert on the U.S. Supreme Court and author of the recently released Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare, joins Leid Stories for a discussion on the key cases the legal community is watching, the constitutional issues they raise, how they likely will fare at trial, and their potential impact on Obamacare.

Leid Stories - 01/15/14

CNN Continues Its Campaign of Terror Against Rodman and Teammates

Leid Stories continues its examination of CNN’s campaign to destroy Dennis Rodman and his ex-NBA teammates who went to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on what they intended to be a goodwill mission to promote people-to-people contact through basketball. Instead, for purely political reasons, they are being pilloried by the U.S. media for insisting their mission was not political.

CNN has made no attempt to disguise its offensive, openly racist “coverage” of the issue – a stark contrast to its supportive disposition when the New York Philharmonic accepted an invitation from Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il to perform a concert in Pyongyang. President George W. Bush had called the DPRK “the axis of evil,” but it neither deterred the Philharmonic from staging a full-orchestra concert on Feb. 6, 2008, nor did it generate anything but the highest praise from CNN.

Listeners register their reaction to CNN’s “coverage.”

Leid Stories - 01/14/14

Think Out Loud, Share It with A Crowd! It’s Open Forum on Leid Stories!

Let’s hear your take on world affairs or what’s happening in your world. It’s Open Forum, where great minds like yours gather to exchange information, opinions and ideas, and create a community of interest.

No “wrong” or “right” way of thinking; all points of view are welcome. But be prepared to be questioned closely – with love and respect, of course!

Leid Stories - Bait-and-Switch Journalism (Part 2) - 01/13/14