Leid Stories – Election 2016: Turning Political ‘Inevitabilities’ Around – 05.11.16

The results of yesterday’s primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska—with Donald Trump capturing both states and Bernie Sanders besting Hillary Clinton in West Virginia—have only moved political outcomes even closer to “inevitability.” Trump has no major impediments to clinching the Republican nomination, and Sanders’ win did little to blunt Clinton’s lead in delegates. The duopoly continues to take care of party business in the leadup to the general election in November, when, inevitably, there’ll be a new president in the White House.

Meanwhile, Leid Stories’ listeners ponder new approaches to politics and how best to prepare to cope with what soon will be our collective reality. We continue the discussion for the third day.

Resistance Radio – Vivian Stockman – 04.24.16

Vivian Stockman is project coordinator for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), which is based in Huntington, West Virginia. Stockman’s photos of mountaintop removal and the movement to stop this extreme coal-mining practice have been published in newspapers, magazines, books, and documentaries and on websites. Publications credits include the New York Times, the Washington Monthly, Orion Magazine, World Watch Magazine, E Magazine, French Geo and dozens more. She has assisted with, consulted for and been filmed for several documentaries including Time to Choose, The Last Mountain, Burning the Future, Goodbye Gauley Mountain and others. Today we talk about mountaintop removal.

Black Agenda Radio – 02.22.16

Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective with Glen Ford and his co-host, Nellie Bailey.

– Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of political science at the University of Houston, has another book out. It’s titled, “Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.” Paul Robeson was an NFL-class athlete, spoke 12 languages, a movie star who was one of the biggest draws in the American musical theater, and was probably the best-known American in the world at the height of his popularity, in the early 1940s. Yet, no more than 20 years later, the crusading artist and social activists’ name had been all but erased from public discourse in the United States. How could that happen? We asked Dr. Horne.

– An analysis of employment statistics shows the Black jobless rate in Virginia, the state with the lowest Black unemployment rate in the nation, is the same as the white jobless rate in West Virginia, the state with the highest white unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent. What does this tell us about the so-called economic recovery? We spoke with Dr. Valerie Wilson, of the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute.

– Turkey is threatening to invade neighboring Syria, creating a direct confrontation with Russian military forces. Political analyst Eric Draitser, founder of StopImperialism.com, appeared recently on Russia Today’s “Cross Talk” program. Draitser says Turkish President Erdogan is playing with fire.

– Hillary Clinton is one step closer to becoming Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, with her victory in Nevada. That’s a scary thought, as far as Dr. Stephen Zunes, is concerned. Zunes is Professor of Politics and International Studies, at San Francisco University. He says Hillary Clinton stoked the flames of war while Secretary of State.

– Ticket sales are soaring for Beyonce’s world tour. The Superstar seems to have profited from the controversy over her Black Panther-flavored performance at the Superbowl. Black Agenda Report editor Ajama Baraka, a co-founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, says there’s nothing oppositional, much less revolutionary, about Beyonce’s “Formation” album. He also maintains that neither Bernie Sanders nor Ta-Nehisi Coates represents a challenge to the U.S. imperial order.

– Public television last week showed the acclaimed Stanley Nelson film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” which previously had been playing in selected theaters. Former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver was honored at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, in Detroit. Cleaver recounted how she became involved with the Black Panther Party.

– The nation’s best-known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, is also a renowned author. Abu Jamal gives a boost to a former political prisoner’s latest book.

– Khalil Bennet is also imprisoned in Pennsylvania. Bennet is what inmates call “a child-lifer” – a person given a life sentence for a crime committed while he was a juvenile. The Supreme Court recently ruled that such sentences are cruel and unusual, setting the stage for the release of thousands of prisoners. Khalil Bennet says, when these former child-lifers are let loose, they can become the cadre of a new movement.

Fearless Parent Radio – Vaccine Exemption Rights in Schools – 11.04.15

All fifty states provide for medical exemptions to mandatory vaccination for day care and school admission. Forty-eight offer a religious exemption and 20 have a personal belief or philosophical opt-out provision…

Until July 1, 2016, anyway… when SB277 takes effect and California joins Mississippi and West Virginia as the three states in this country to deny the option for a parent-directed vaccine exemption.

More states may follow California’s lead; they are surely trying.

On the heels of this legislative offensive and irrespective of state statutes, schools across the country have been putting the pressure on parents this fall.

Can a school choose not to follow state law?
Can a school exclude a child based on vaccination status?
Do I have to explain my religious beliefs to obtain an exemption? Is this constitutional?
What happens when a private day care or school won’t honor a religious vaccine exemption?
What can we do to protect our rights?

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 08.18.15

We discuss NUKES ON THE ROAD TO SHUTDOWN with the great KEVIN KAMPS.

As the atomic industry slumps to total market failure decrepit nukes like Ohio’s DAVIS-BESSE and California’s DIABLO CANYON slide toward complete collapse.

With his unique comprehension of the industry’s complex realities, Kevin walks us through the on-going downfalls in Illinois, Ohio and New York, along with the technical collapse of reactors like Indian Point, Pilgrim and Diablo Canyon.

In particular, these reactors are in violation of water quality laws on both the state and federal level and should have shut many moons ago.

DONNA GILMORE then fills us in on the battles over decommissioning California’s SAN ONOFRE . In particular, the fight over substandard dry casks for storing high level fuel rods has moved center stage as ratepayers are socked with hundreds of millions on costs that Southern California Edison does not want to cover. Donna’s assessment of this epic confrontation has especially serious implication for the future of us all.

Wave of homeschooling sweeps California: Public schools poison minds of children while SB 277 poisons their bodies by Jonathan Benson

California Governor Jerry Brown has reportedly signed into law the contentious Senate Bill 277, which eliminates the freedom of California parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for personal reasons. All school-age children without an approved medical exemption will now be forced to get vaccinated in order to attend public or private school, a tyrannous mandate that has already driven many …

EXCLUSIVE: Why SB 277 will totally backfire on the vaccine industry and uncover the truth about vaccine science fraud by Mike Adams

One of the reasons vaccine propagandists are so cognitively impaired is because they’ve all been partially brain damaged by the very same vaccines they keep pushing on everyone else. As a result, not a single one of them had yet come to realize how they’ve painted themselves into a corner with SB 277. In fact, SB 277 will disastrously backfire on the …

Monsanto Ordered To Pay $93 Million For Poisoning Residents With Agent Orange

Earlier this month the State Supreme Court of West Virginia dealt a huge blow to the biotech company Monsanto, ordering it to pay $93 million to the small town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning local citizens with Agent Orange chemicals. Approved last year, the details were only recently worked out a few weeks ago as to how the funds would be …

Obesity Rate Lowest in Hawaii, Highest in Mississippi by Justin McCarthy and Diana Liu

Nationally, obesity rate rises to 27.7% in 2014 Obesity rates highest in Southern and Midwestern states Higher obesity rates linked to lower well-being WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hawaii residents were the least likely to be obese in 2014, and Hawaii was the only state where fewer than one in five residents are obese. Mississippi had the highest obesity rate in the …

Coal is dying all by itself – Tim McDonnell

Coal, the No. 1 cause of climate change, is dying. Last year saw a record number of coal plant retirements in the United States, and a study last week from Duke University found that Even China, which produces and consumes more coal than the rest of the world put together, is expected to hit peak coal use within a decade, in order to meet its promise to President …