The Lean to the Left Podcast

NFN writer Chris Waldron backs Pete Buttigieg for President and explains why. Second of a series by NFN writers about their choices. With the average age of the top tier candidates being 75, Pete Buttigieg, at the tender age of 37, represents a fresh face on the political frontier. While some may argue that having a leader with little or no political experience is exactly like our current presiden...

NFN writer Lauren Kligman backs Elizabeth Warren for President and explains why. First of a series by NFN writers about their choices. My vote is Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Well, let me backup, I will vote blue no matter what person is chosen to be the Democrat nomination. But my number one choice is Elizabeth Warren. Why did I land on Elizabeth Warren? Listen for more... Become a supporter of this po...

As the presidential election looms large, several scenarios could play out as the results roll in. None would be good for democracy. Already we are seeing Russian interference on both sides. While Bernie Sanders (DS-VT) is calling for Russia to stay out of American elections, Trump is denying the evidence of his own intelligence community that Russia is interfering on his behalf. What is the motiv...

As Sen. Bernie Sanders surges in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes, many centrist Democrats are worried that the nomination of the avowed socialist-democrat will all but guarantee the re-election of President Donald Trump and doom down-ballot candidates across the nation. For some the specter of past election wipeouts of perceived extremist candidates -- Barry Goldwater at the hands of LBJ a...

The economy is humming along nicely. Unemployment is down and the stock market is up. All indicators see no end in sight to this 11-year joy ride. So, of course, Trump and his supporters constantly tout his economic accomplishments, while belittling the tremendous strides President Obama made to right the sinking ship he inherited from George W. Bush during the Great Recession. Listen for more......

On February 16, 2018, Robert Schentrup lost his sister, Carmen, when she was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL -- shot four times by a gunman in her classroom who was armed with a weapon of war. Today, Robert and his mom, April Schentrup, are working with the Brady Campaign in its effort to convince lawmakers across the country and in Washington, DC to support common...

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to roll back an Obama-era regulation that among its benefits protects kids from brain damage even before they are born. The regulation involved is designed to limit harmful pollutants, like mercury, from power plants. The Trump administration wants it watered down to help the coal industry, even though that could put our health at risk. Ironicall...

Some 1,100 former officials of the U.S. Justice Department have sent an open letter urging Attorney General William P. Barr to resign and warning that President Trump's use of that department as his own personal hit squad, enabled by Barr, threatens to lead the U.S. into autocracy."Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not co...

A 74-year-old Canadian recently wrote in a Huffington Post article that he and his 64-year-old wife have decided that climate change is unstoppable, so the best they can do is to move someplace where they will be least affected so they can live out their remaining days in peace. But what about those who are younger and the generations to follow? Is it any wonder today's young voters aggressively e...

Who is the "manly man?" Donald Trump, the big mean spirited blowhard name caller, or the shorter (in stature) but potentially dangerous Democratic candidate, Michael Bloomberg, or the gay Pete Buttigieg, who has surged to become a serious contender for his party's presidential nomination? For more...Listen... Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lean-to-the-left...

Check out the latest edition of The Bob & Jackie Show, recorded on Valentine's Day, that explores the somewhat wacky version of the English language spoken by many native residents of Pittsburgh, PA.The city is home to some of the most wonderful people in the world -- kind, caring, friendly, warm, generous -- but they also have their own special way of talking. What's "yunz?" Or "slippy", or "aarn...

Thwarted by Congress for the funds he demanded to build his vanity wall along the southern border, President Trump is ripping off some $7.2 billion from the Pentagon's budget this year to build 900 miles of wall before the November presidential election. Listen for more... Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lean-to-the-left-podcast--4719048/support .

Perhaps its a stretch to suggest that President Trump is wielding an iron fist, like dictators Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong-Un, but his retribution against perceived impeachment enemies and his tweet "suggesting" the Justice Department's sentencing request for convicted felon Roger Stone was 'horrible and very unfair" certainly makes it look that way. Listen for more...  Become a supporter of this p...

On the same day Kaiser Permanente reported it had nearly tripled its income in 2019, governors of both parties warned that a proposed Trump administration regulation could lead to huge Medicaid cuts, reducing healthcare access for vulnerable, low-income Americans. While neither of those facts are directly connected, combined they're a microcosm of what is wrong with healthcare in America today and...

Donald Trump, preening a  usual, celebrated his impeachment trial acquittal with nastiness, name calling, and vindictiveness, claiming false credit and threatening to cast out his enemies. Republicans, meanwhile, offered their excuses as they fell in lock step wit their adopted hero. By Chris Waldron Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lean-to-the-left-podcast-...

This is the personal story of a young woman, Lauren Kligman, of Myrtle Beach, SC, who has been battling depression and a serious eating disorder for a long time. In and out of rehab centers, her weight having dropped to 70 pounds, she now is doing fine. Lauren, in her own words, tells her story and encourages others with similar issues to seek help. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www....

It is time for the Democratic presidential candidates to stop taking swipes at each other and focus on the real enemy -- Donald John Trump, the just impeached president who has co-opted the Republican Party and turned it into his own personal cheering section. This stuff with Mayor Pete Buttigieg taking shots at former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders needs to stop. All of these ca...

The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champs for the first time in 50 years! Congratulations are certainly in order and to the people of their home state. Problem is, Donald Trump apparently doesn't know where that is. Never at a loss for words for “important issues” Trump tweeted his congratulations to the team and “the Great State of Kansas”. Whoolps! The Chiefs are based in Kansas City, Missour...

Regardless of the Trumplican-controlled Senate which is refusing to hear witnesses or subpoena key documents in the Trump sham impeachment "gathering" (it's hardly a trial), the truth about this president's illegal acts ultimately will be revealed. While it will be too late for the see-no evil, hear-no evil Senate to consider those revelations, it will be in plenty of time for the American people...

The other day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo excoriated a female reporter who asked him a question about Ukraine he didn't like, then President Donald Trump, male chauvinist pig-in-chief, commended him for it. "That was very impressive, Mike," Trump said at a White House event after Pompeo was introduced to applause. "That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday, huh? I think y...

In this episode, Jackie and I explore the hearafter and how Jackie, after she dies, would like to come back in her second life either as an assassin or a nun.  What? Where did that come from? I thought maybe it's because some nuns were mean to her in school when she was a kid, making her want to be an assassin. But no, she says, that's not the reason. But I think she has some first-hand experience...

The Trump administration yesterday took action to dilute school lunch nutritional standards pushed by former First Lady Michelle Obama, allowing schools to offer less healthy foods to students, despite staggering rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. The proposal to lay waste to one of the former first lady's cornerstone achievements just happened to come on her birthday. Anybody believe that was...

Depending upon how the U.S. Supreme Court decides, it is entirely possible that in some states voters in the electoral college will be able to ignore the results of their state's popular vote and vote for whoever they want. Should that occur, those who say "Why bother to vote, it won't even count anyway," could end up being right. The Washington Post reports today that the high court will consider...

President Trump is now on a tweet-a-thon claiming that he has saved healthcare coverage for pre-existing conditions, when one of his obsessive priorities since his election has been to wipe out the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which guarantees that protection. The truth is that Trump has been obsessed with undoing every achievement of President Obama and he will stop at nothing until he has ac...

Imperialism has its definite appeal to Donald Trump. Since his inauguration, he has sought to use his powerful position to disrupt the governments of Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Ukraine, among others. The assassination of a top Iranian government official is the latest example of Trump’s desire to return America to an imperial power. America is no stranger to imperial rule. Indeed, 4 mill...