Leid Stories

Untied Tongue: Trump Speaks American Ugly With A French Accent

Democrats Troll Flint: Misery Serves As A Political Backdrop

Donald

Trump, the frontrunner among Republican candidates in the 2016

presidential race, has an admirer in Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the

far-right, trenchantly racist National Front party in France. Gilbert

Mercier, editor in chief of News Junkie Post, draws parallels between

the ascendancy and growing appeal of Trump and that of LePen.

At the urging of Hillary Clinton, Sunday

night’s CNN-hosted Democratic “debate” with fellow contender Bernie

Sanders was held in the beleaguered city of Flint, Michigan, which

remains mired in a public-health disaster as the city concedes

responsibility for exposing tens of thousands of residents to lead

poisoning and bacterial infections from its water system. Abayomi

Azikiwe, a Detroit organizer for the Workers World Party and editor in chief of the Pan-African

Newswire, says Flint served as a convenient political backdrop, but

substantive issues affecting its residents went missing.

It’s Our Weekly Progressive Caucus—‘Free Your Mind Friday’ on Leid Stories!

Whatever your views about the significant issues and events of the week, let’s hear them! It’s “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories, a raucous caucus of astute minds. Call in (888-874-4888) and help us decipher just what the heck happened this week.

Election 2016: The Duopoly’s Problems With Its Frontrunners

They

are leading the pack of candidates vying for nomination by their

parties to be standard bearers in the general election, but even as

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are outpacing fellow contenders at the

polls in primary elections, they also are carrying a lot of political

baggage that not only weighs against them, but also could be too much

for their parties to bear. Leid Stories discusses the downsides to

Clinton’s and Trump’s upswings.

Election 2016: The Duopoly’s Super Tuesday Wins and What They Mean for the Rest of Us

Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s big wins in the Super Tuesday

primaries have all but cleared their paths to their parties’ nomination

and eventual matchup in November’s general election. Listeners decipher

the results of yesterday’s primaries and what they mean for

progressives.

Election 2016: On Super Tuesday,

An Alternative to the Quadrennial Charade

It’s The Big Day in the 2016 presidential

election. Bipartisan primaries and caucuses in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia,

Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and

Wyoming largely will determine which candidates are likely to capture their

respective party’s nomination for the general election in November. Leid

Stories listeners offer their ideas about a progressive alternative to the

duopoly’s quadrennial charade.

Hillary’s Triumph in South Carolina An Object Lesson in Political Slavery

In

a series of programs leading up to the presidential primaries in South

Carolina, Leid Stories has been explaining the pivotal role the South

would play in the political fortunes of presidential candidates. The

Feb. 27 Democratic primary in the former Confederate state delivered a

stunning victory for Hillary Clinton—the result, says Leid Stories, of

political slavery.

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.

What’s Your Vote? It’s ‘Super Thursday’ on Leid Stories!

Ahead of the March 1 “Super

Tuesday” runoffs in 12 states that will play a key role in determining who the

Democratic and Republican nominees will be, Leid Stories canvasses listeners

about the presidential election.

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?”

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.