This Can’t Be Happening – 03.02.16

TCBH! Host Dave Lindorff interviews Kansas prairie radical Michael Caddell about the Bernie Sanders surge developing in his state days ahead of the Saturday Democratic Party caucuses, and says that it could be a repeat of the caucus on Tuesday in neighboring Colorado, which Sanders won handily. Caddell also talks about his having just registered “for the first time in my life” as a Democrat in order to run for the Kansas state legislature “and raise hell there.” In the second half of the program, guest and fellow PRN show host Glen Ford explains why Sanders is unlikely to win over many black voters in his primary campaign, saying most black voters simply want to “keep the White Party (the Republicans) from winning.”

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 – 02.22.16

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.

Alternative Visions – The Billionaires Behind The US Presidential Election – 02.19.16

In today’s show host, Jack Rasmus , focuses on who is providing the big money behind US presidential candidates—Rubio, Cruz, Bush, Clinton, and Trump. The names of the big right wing donors behind the Republicans candidates are noted, where they’ve made their billions and how much they’ve contributed. How the Clinton’s have amassed more than $110 million in assets since 2001, including more than $100million in speaking fees. Hillary’s billionaire contributors. The legal corruption of the US election system is explained, including ‘dark money’ from 501 (c) groups that hide their contributors. (see his blog, jackrasmus.com, for a more detailed analysis of ‘billionaires behind the US election’). Jack then digresses to comment on the recent death this past week of the right wing ideologue, Supreme Court justice, Antonin Scalia, whose legacy includes advancing the corruption of the US electoral system from Citizens United case to restricting voting rights, and limits on civil liberties of minorities. At the ‘top of the show’ Jack reviews the major economic developments of the past week, including actions by central banks in the Eurozone, Japan and China; prospects for a ‘deal’ on global oil prices between Russia and Saudi Arabia; and the negotiations in Brussels in progress between the UK’s prime minister, David Cameron, and the European Union on the coming June 2016 UK election to decide whether to ‘exit’ the EU or not. Jack concludes the show with a review of his late 2015 predictions of the ‘fault lines’ in the global financial system in China, Europe, Emerging Markets, and the US, which now appear to be emerging as predicted. (see his blog, jackrasmus.com, for a free chapter from his book, ‘Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy’, on why China will likely be the locus of the next financial crisis).

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.

You Cannot Be a Republican and a Christian

by SquareForceOne, Daily Kos No one in American life today proclaims their allegiance to Christ more conspicuously than those who have rejected most of what Christ actually taught: Republicans. The modern Republican Party’s hell-bent embodiment of nearly everything Christ warned against has become so serious that we have to call it out. You cannot be a Republican and a Christian. …

Economic Update – 03.29.15

Updates on Trans-Pacific Partnership secrets, the Heinz-Kraft merger, the overly costly, underperforming US medical care system, fines for Graco selling faulty child car-seats, China’s real-estate bubble, and estate tax repeal by Republican House. Response to listener on property: private versus public. Major discussion of how system change happened in the past and and how in capitalism today.

Burt Cohen Show – The Republican Budget Could Hurt You; What We Can Do – 03.22.15

Generally it seems that people’s eyes glaze over when the subject is the federal budget.  This years it’s different. The Republicans are now in control of both the House and the Senate. Their PR machine is calling it “A balanced budget for a stronger America” but the truth is, as discussed herein, it has the potential to hurt a lot …