Leid Stories – D-Day As Democratic Convention Opens; WWBD? – 07.25.16

Well, it’s D-Day—as in opening day of the four-day Democratic Party’s national convention in Philadelpia—and the question is: What Will Bernie Do?

Thousands who’d felt the Bern during the voter-fraud-plagued primaries are descending on the City of Brotherly Love, not feeling too brotherly (or sisterly) toward the ex-presidential contender right now, and downright disgusted with the Democratic Party and its soon-to-be nominee, Hillary Clinton. They hope to persuade Sanders to stay the course with the “revolution” they started together, outside of what they believe is a corrupt party and rigged political process. Dare they keep hope alive?

A Wikileaks dump over the weekend of 20,000 Democratic National Party officials’ emails showed the party’s efforts to sabotage Sanders’ campaign. It caused DNC leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt resignation and has emboldened Sanderistas in their quest for a WWBD showdown. It won’t be pretty.

In his prime-time speech tonight will Bernie once again tout “party unity,” as he did when he capitulated to Clinton and endorsed her two weeks ago? Will he once again sell the “logic” of coming into the Democratic fold to “expand” the party’s mission and vision? Will he claim that the most important thing to do right now is defeat Donald Trump? Leid Stories says the answer is, yes. And yes. And yes.

Leid Stories – So Much to Talk About, So Let’s Talk (Part 2) – 07.19.16

Last week ended, and this week began, with turmoil—the kind that requires time and space to talk about and make sense of. Leid Stories, therefore, is devoting the entire week to this purpose, extending the “Free Your Mind Friday” format to “Free Your Mind Week.”

Leid Stories – Your Call. Talk About It All! – 07.15.16

Start a conversation of your own or add your two cents to someone else’s. It’s up to you. Either way, it’s all about what YOU think, and that’s what “Free Your Mind Friday,” Radioland’s best open forum, is all about.

Now is the time for all good folk to speak their minds. Call 888-874-4888 and carpe both diem and mic!

Leid Stories – Unifier-in-Chief Obama Shines A Light on Problems Already Known – 07.14.16

President Barack Obama met for more than four hours at the White House with a diverse group of leaders yesterday—the same day he spoke at the funeral of five police officers killed by an ex-soldier in a sniper attack July 7 in Dallas. The Unifier-in-Chief said he wanted their ideas and input on how to build “trust” between police and the communities they serve, the main focus of The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing he created by executive order in December 2014.

The task force in May last year delivered a 116-page report, with recommendations for nationwide changes in six key areas—building trust and legitimacy; policy and oversight; technology and social media; community policing and crime reduction; training and education; and officer wellness and safety. Yet, Obama continues to plead for deeper understanding of, and solutions for, the “trust problem.”

It’s not as if there’s a dearth of information about law-enforcement (and especially its problems); the task force’s report pales in comparison to books, articles and scholarly papers on the subject. Why, then, is Obama stalling on implementing his own task force’s—and other credible–recommendations?

Leid Stories – Amid the Clamor for Unity, Clarity Takes A Lethal Hit (Part 2) – 07.12.16

Leid Stories concludes a two-part discussion on how The System is managing the current crisis in law enforcement, brought to national attention once again in the back-to-back killings of two African American men by white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and an African American ex-soldier’s revenge shooting of white police officers in Dallas, Texas, that killed five and wounded seven of them, and also wounded two civilians.

The System pleads for national “unity” and “healing.” Leid Stories pleads for clarity about The System—the kind of clarity that would help the historically disfranchised and oppressed people it targets change the power equation.

Leid Stories – Amid the Clamor for Unity, Clarity Takes A Lethal Hit – 07.11.16

Officials and “responsible” leaders of almost every stripe are calling for unity in the aftermath of a gruesome week that sparked national outrage over back-to-back killings of two African American men by white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and an African American ex-soldier’s revenge shooting of white police officers in Dallas, Texas, that killed five and wounded seven of them, and also wounded two civilians.

It is customary for leaders to sing rousing choruses of the “We-Are-One-America” anthem at times like this—when public thought and action must be managed and controlled. The “unity” plea achieves this through distraction—by changing both the nature and dimension of the national crisis and limiting the people’s power to do anything about it.

Leid Stories discusses why, amid the clamor for unity, clarity about the current crisis is taking a lethal hit.