The Lean to the Left Podcast

If you’ve been to the doctor recently, you probably know that America’s health care system, as good as it is, could really stand some improvements. That’s our topic on the Lean to the Left podcast with a top expert in healthcare, Firouz Daneshgari, M.D.Dr. Daneshgari is a surgeon-scientist, educator and entrepreneur who has worked at the University of Colorado, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Re...

Artificial intelligence (AI), is increasing across our economy and in our world. Exactly what is it? What are some of the implications? Why would Elon Musk say “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the devil?”That’s our topic on the Lean to the Left podcast with our guest is Guy Morris, a proven thought leader in adapting advanced technologies, implementing complex IT applications, and a...

When Doreen Padilla was 14 years old, she met Saul Falcon at a new school just west of Denver, and this young woman, half white and half Hispanic, eventually fell in love with this handsome boy with shiny black hair, and one day, years later, they were married. Like many young couples, they struggled to make ends meet. But they had an extra burden – how to gain permanent residency status for Saul,...

"In America you're free to do anything, you want to do, but you can't choose the consequences of your behavior."So says John Yearwood, author of Jar of Pennies, a novel about a murderer who was failed by America's educational system that focuses on teaching to the test, not on critical thinking. Yearwood is our guest on the Lean to the Left podcast."Consequences are going to be determined by what...

At a basic level, are humans chasing wants but neglecting essential needs like health, a sense of belonging, a feeling that we are respected, trust, purpose, meaning? As our current era comes to a close, will we return instinctively to what really matters? Those are some core issues tackled on the Lean to the Left podcast by David Wann, an author, filmmaker, and speaker who is passionate about sus...

The International Energy Agency has reported that the world will add as much renewable energy over the next five years as it did in the past two decades, with renewables such as wind and solar overtaking coal as the largest source of energy generation worldwide by early 2025.That’s a significant development, so to bring it into context we have with us on the Lean to the Left podcast Jack Kerfoot,...

In dozens of states across the nation efforts are underway to influence, even intimidate, school board members to restrict what can be taught, and what library books can be available, to public school students. In South Carolina, for example, school boards are considering proposals to ban a long list of books from school libraries because of parental objections to their content, whether it involve...

It’s hard to believe that in this day and age unions representing freight rail workers are having to threaten a strike because they cannot get paid sick days. It took an act of Congress to avert the strike, and still, they were unable to get the sick leave that is only a human right. That’s the kind of fight that is in the blood of our Lean to the Left podcast guest today, Jon Melrod, author of “F...

Today on the December edition of the Dixie Dems on the Lean to the Left podcast we’re taking a look at the mid-term election, Sen. Ralphael Warnock’s win in Georgia over Herschel Walker, and what’s still ahead. With me are Arthur Hill, from North Carolina, and Robert Thompson, from Georgia. Arthur is communications chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina, Democratic party. Robert Thompson is...

The battle against climate change and the need to move sustainability from theory to practice becomes increasingly important and apparent every day. John Pabon has spent two decades in the business of saving our Earth and is our guest on the Lean to the Left podcast. He joins us from his home in Melbourne, Australia. After leaving a post at the United Nations, John traveled the world studying the...

We seem to be bombarded these days with claims that CBD and related products can cure everything from backaches to depression, sleeplessness and more. Neighbors are selling them as a stay-at-home business. You can buy the stuff online, at little specialty shops, even tanning salons, and it seems no matter who you talk to, you'll be told about the miraculous results that can be obtained by a few dr...

Today we have something a little different for you. I’m with Ciahnan (Keenan) Darrell, author of the new book, Blood at the Root, and we’re going to talk about the role literature and the arts can play in promoting social justice. According to Justin Gifford, associate professor of English at the University of Nevada, Blood at the Root “is a sharp-witted social satire that takes unflinching aim at...

In this episode of the Lean to the Left and Justice Counts podcasts, Mark Bello and I are speaking with David Tabatsky, the author of a riveting book about the Holocaust, “The Boy Behind the Door, How Salomon Kool Escaped the Nazis.” David has authored, co-authored and edited many novels, including Friends Like These, The Marijuana Project, The Battle of Zig Zag Pass and Drunk Log. He was our gues...

Today on the Lean to the Left podcast we’re talking politics with a focus on the past election and what’s still ahead, and with me are my pals, Arthur Hill, from North Carolina, and Robert Thompson, from Georgia. Arthur is communications chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina, Democratic party. He and I both worked in PR and as freelance writers in Washington, DC. And, on Capitol Hill befor...

An estimated 6.5 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's today. Seventy-three percent are age 75 or older, and altogether, about 1 in 9 age 65 and older, or 10.7% of that group, has Alzheimer's. As the population of Americans with this disease continues to increase, so does the burden of caring for them. This year alone, the cost for healthcare, long-term care and hospice se...

As we honor those who have served our nation, our Lean to the Left podcast guest is Allen B. Clark, a heroic Army officer who shed his blood for our country during the Vietnam War, and who continues to this day to work to help our veterans. In 1967, as a young captain in Special Forces, Clark was part of clandestine intelligence operations in Vietnam when an enemy mortar attacked his camp, critica...

Rich Jacobs works inside one of the largest maximum-security prisons in the United States. He began his career 20 years ago as a corrections officer and has been a teacher to the inmates for the past 15 years. For thousands of hours, Jacobs has listened to the stories of hundreds of incarcerated men. Despite the darkness behind the walls of concrete, steel, and paint, Jacobs has witnessed many sto...

The World Series is now over and for baseball fans, we’re in that never-never land where all we can hope for is a bit of news from our favorite team while we’re sitting out the long offseason until spring training begins in February. But I’ve got an idea about something that can help you pass the time. Pick up a new book by today’s guest, Bob Wilber. It’s called “How Far,” and it explores the incr...

Christian conservatives, led by a cabal of wealthy, influential Republicans, have executed a long, drawn out coup that now gives them virtually ironclad control of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is supposed to be the final legal arbiter in our country that protects freedom for us all. Instead, according to Andrew L. Seidel, an author and attorney who's defended the First Amendment for more than a d...

One day Roger Smith was on his hands and knees looking for hours for a sliver of crack cocaine in the carpet. Then, in desperation, he walked into the Pacific Ocean fully intending to take his own life. But something stopped him, and the next day he searched out a rehabilitation clinic. And then, through sheer guts and determination, he straightened himself out, applied himself at work, and eventu...

Today the Lean to the Left Podcast takes a look at a 2016 murder in Florida, one that ripped away the life of a young man who’s mistake was to celebrate a possible new job and then mistake somebody else’s apartment for his own. Since then, this young man’s father has been seeking justice, but in Ron DeSantis’ Florida, that is not to be found. With us today is Sandy Modell, and he’s here to tell th...

The penchant for many Americans to virtually worship a would-be strong-man leader, Donald J. Trump, and for much of the Republican Party to defer to him, has taken our nation to the precipice of a constitutional crisis that could mean an end to liberal democracy. And the upcoming mid-term elections could send us over the cliff."We are big two centimeters from the precipice," warns political scient...

Today we’re talking politics, and with me are my political pals, Arthur Hill, from North Carolina, and Robert Thompson, from Georgia, plus a special guest, Michael McDonald, from Florida. Arthur is communications chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina, Democratic party. He and I both worked in PR and as freelance writers in Washington, DC. And, we both worked on Capitol Hill, back in the da...

Ebony Parson, 28, died September 14, 2013 in a Conway, S.C Bingo parlor, shot to death by an estranged lover who then killed himself with his own shotgun. Ebony was one of nearly 20 people per minute who are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Unfortunately, her abuser, a jealous former boyfriend, took her life. In Ebony’s case, there were warning signs that she was in t...

On October 13, the January 6th House Committee made it crystal clear that Donald Trump knew he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, but still deliberately pushed the lie that he had really won because the election was rigged. And so, he spawned the riotous insurrection that resulted in the U.S. Capitol being ransacked, several deaths, and delays in the eventual certification of the election re...