Leid Stories

This edition of “Free Your Mind Friday,” the first for the new year, is a twofer.

As usual, listeners can talk about whatever they wish. Or, they may pick up from where we left off on yesterday’s discussion, “The New Order and the Politics of Vengeance.”

Call 888-874-4888 and help put us all on the right track.

President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill yesterday, a man on a partisan mission. At a Democrats-only, two-hour, closed-door meeting, he urged the party faithful to protect Obamacare, the health-care-coverage program he launched in 2010.

Also on Capitol Hill yesterday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence assured Republicans that dismantling Obamacare is a top priority for the incoming Trump administration, and they must support that effort.

In Obama’s waning days in office, hot-button issues like Obamacare are again reviving hard-edged political and ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats. Trump used these differences, including the problem-plagued Obamacare, to sink Hillary Clinton, and he will continue to mine them to support his presidential agenda and keep the faith with his political base. The Democrats, having suffered stunning losses in the 2016 presidential election, are determined to regain ground by just about any means necessary. It’s already a brutal fight, and it will get worse.

The New Order has reverted to its old ways, practicing the politics of vengeance—not only against each other, but inevitably against the people as well. What’s our plan?

Fake news--the gluten-free, lower-calorie term for what used to be called “disinformation,” “lies” and “propaganda”—played a significant role in shaping the attitudes and choices of millions of voters in the 2016 presidential election. Although fake news for a long time has been an integral component of the “information” disseminated by mass-media outlets, only recently was the widespread practice exposed as a national menace and a threat to the long-held principle of freedom of information.

Fake news has been feeding an insidious sibling: fake politics.

Leid Stories discusses the clear connection between fake news and the derailing of mass struggle in the United States.

The new year has begun the way 2016 ended—fraught with unsettling challenges. Typical year-to-year political carryover is scary enough. But 2017 is no typical year; it marks the beginning of a new era in U.S. politics, a seismic shift not only in the meaning of politics and how it gets done, but also in how we deal with it.

On Jan. 10, when President Barack Obama gives his farewell speech in his hometown of Chicago, he’ll recite for the record a litany of breakthroughs, progress and accomplishments the nation experienced under his two terms in office. On Jan. 20, when President Donald J. Trump takes the helm, he’ll give a snapshot, in his inaugural address, of the sweeping changes his fear-inducing administration will make.

The changes they have made or will make notwithstanding, the question, says Leid Stories, is: What changes have we made? 

Leid Stories listeners close out the year with wide-ranging discussions on the issues and events they believe were most significant or had the greatest impact this year. It’s our last “Free Your Mind Friday” for 2016. Call 888-874-4888 and help us adjust our rear-view mirrors.

Leid Stories listeners discuss the issues and events they believe were most significant or had the greatest impact in 2016.

Leid Stories listeners discuss the issues and events they believe were most significant or had the greatest impact in 2016.

Leid Stories listeners discuss the issues and events they believe were most significant or had the greatest impact in 2016.

No bows, no tinsel, no fancy wrapping. Just the plain, unvarnished truth.

You’re cordially invited to our weekly celebration of information, opinions and ideas. It’s “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories, and joy in our world is having our say about things that matter.

Call in (888-874-4888) and join the festivities!

Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans proudly announced Monday that the city had closed a “dark” chapter in its history that was written more than a decade ago. The city has worked out settlements, totaling $13.3 million, in three especially egregious police killings as well as with plaintiffs in other serious cases involving police brutality and lethal use of force. Most of the cases occurred during the time of Hurricane Katrina, in 2005.

With some family members at his side, Landrieu assured the public that the settlements were a sign of governmental transparency, accountability and a resolve to turn the city’s notoriously brutal and corrupt police department around. But the mayor’s news conference gave several clues about the price New Orleanians should expect to pay, says Leid Stories.

Listeners decipher the hidden messages in Landrieu’s message.