Leid Stories – 02.26.16

Madness Behind, Madness Ahead. Give Your Take on ‘Free Your Mind Friday!’

We wrap up a week of madness and brace ourselves for even more with our weekly town-hall meeting. Listeners call the shots on “Free Your Mind Friday,” a free-wheeling open forum for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas. Call 888-874-4888 and join the conversation.

Leid Stories – 02.24.16

Follies 2016: The Duopoly Is Taking Care of Business. What’s Our Plan?

As Democrats and Republicans rev up their pitched battle for the White House, candidates are looking for even greater momentum in their individual campaigns with Super Tuesday’s (March 1) contests in 12 states. Half the number of delegates needed for both parties’ nominations will be won that day—632 for Republicans; 1,007 for Democrats. The duopoly is taking care of business and proceeding according to plan. But Leid Stories asks: “What’s our plan?”

Leid Stories – 02.23.16

Party Favors: The Jesse Jackson-Bernie Sanders Diss-Connection

Four days to the Democratic Party’s fourth primary—this one in South Carolina—and all eyes are on the state’s black vote, which could put Hillary Clinton way ahead of Bernie Sanders on the road to the party’s nomination or validate and broaden the appeal of Sanders’ populist campaign. Either way, the South Carolina primary will be a historic marker, a watershed moment, as it was three decades ago, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a long-shot bid for the presidency and found political salvation in the black vote from his home state and support from the then-mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Leid Stories explains the parallels in Jackson’s and Sanders’ presidential bids and the civil-rights leader’s sudden aversion to progressive politics.

Leid Stories – 02.22.16

Haiti’s Interim President Jocelerme Privert’s Ties to Washington

The Nevada Primary: Race to the Finish for Republicans and Democrats

Hillary Clinton’s handpicked president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, prohibited by law to seek reelection after his five-year term, unwillingly left office Feb. 7, leaving behind a leadership vacuum and a nation mired in poverty, corruption, political chaos, protests and partisan violence. Haiti’s Parliament named Jocelerme Privert, president of the National Assembly, interim president on Feb. 14, and immediately he began talking about putting the nation on the right track. But Kim Ives, editor of Haïti Liberté, reports that many are concerned about Privert’s ties to Washington.

The Feb. 20 primary elections in Nevada netted wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a fatal blow to Jeb Bush’s candidacy, and incontrovertible proof that race matters in America. Leid Stories explains.

Leid Stories – 02.19.16

Cast Your Vote in Your Own Referendum! It’s ‘Free Your Mind Friday’ on Leid Stories!

It’s our weekly referendum on The System. Listeners analyze and deconstruct what it’s up to on “Free Your Mind Friday,” an open forum for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas. In the midst of national “selections” for president, the shenanigans of the duopoly may take center stage, but callers are free to discuss whatever they wish.

Cast your vote by calling in and sharing your views—888-874-4888.

Leid Stories – 02.18.16

Election Primaries 2016: The Republicans’ Offensive Counteroffensive to the Democrats’ Shenanigans

The presidential race is at full throttle. Skirmishes earlier this month in Iowa and New Hampshire have winnowed the ranks of contenders, and a further culling might occur before Super Tuesday (March 1) after primaries in Nevada and South Carolina. Leid Stories has been discussing the shenanigans on the Democratic side, a fierce battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to be the standard bearer in the general election. We look at how the other wing of the duopoly is faring as six survivors of a brutal political editing execute an offensive counteroffensive.

Leid Stories – 02.17.16

The “This System Is Rigged, But What Will We Do About It” Blues

Drawing from previous programs about the 2016 presidential election and what they have learned from other coverage, Leid Stories listeners offer their own analyses of where things—and they—stand, and what they see as workable strategies, choices and actions in this election cycle and beyond.

Leid Stories – 02.16.16

A Court Supreme: The Not-So-Endearing Legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia

The Un-Democratic Party Helps Hillary Win Without Actually Winning

Dr. Gerald Horne, the John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, discusses the enduring impact of Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court, decisions that reflect both its politicization and rightward shift in recent decades, and whether President Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia could substantially change the tenor and direction of the court.

Bernie Sanders’ underdog campaign almost torpedoed Hillary Clinton in Iowa, and she definitely “felt the Bern” in New Hampshire with Sanders’ double-digit victory margin. Yet she’s winning. Big. Leid Stories explains how the Democratic Party’s rigged delegate system could cause Sanders to lose the party’s nomination, even if he wins in the primaries.

Leid Stories – 02.03.16

Analyze This!: Is ‘Feeling the Bern’ A Viable Option and Strategy?
Expanding on yesterday’s discussion (the Iowa caucuses and implications of the results), Leid Stories asks, especially of those who reject duopoly politics: Given the situation as it stands, is Bernie Sanders, the self-titled Democratic Socialist who virtually tied Hillary Clinton’s caucus votes, a viable choice? What is to be gained by supporting his candidacy? What is the biggest hurdle you’ll have to overcome to consider supporting him?