The Lean to the Left Podcast

Dave and Linda Fleischer are ready to hit the road for a Journey of Hope in memory of their daughter, Sarah, who passed away in 2018 from a horrible cancer, cholangiocarcinoma. Today, they embark on what, for Dave, will be a 15,000 mile road trip across the nation and back to help raise money to support research into this disease and during which they hope to spread awareness and bring hope to pat...

There’s an insurrection taking place in America. It was not just limited to a single day when, on January 6th supporters of the losing candidate, Donald Trump, egged on by social media and roused into a frenzy by a series of speeches, launched an assault against the Capitol, and against Democracy. It began years before and continues to this very day as Republicans continue to attempt to re-write h...

It’s amazing to me how unoriginal Republicans typically are. I guess there’s a reason why most creative people are Democrats – or at least it seems that way. Anyway, what brought that insightful thought to mind is the recent blitz by Trumpsters claiming that President Biden’s administration is simply filled with chaos – that they don’t know what they’re doing and that’s why the gas stations were c...

In this episode of NFN Radio News, former New Jersey Governor Jim Florio and host Bob Gatty speak with Kiki Jamieson, president of The Fund for New Jersey, which supports good public policy decision-making on the issues most important to the people of the state and the region. Increasingly, non-profit organizations across the nation play ever more important roles with respect to the development of...

Looks to me like the Republican right-wing nutcases that targeted Rep. Liz Cheney, a true Conservative, because she refused to shut up about Trump’s Big Lie are going to have some competition going forward. Cheney has Trump in her proverbial gunsights and has no intention of letting up, and now there’s a fledgling movement by some Republicans with some sense that actually could end up in a third p...

The Republicans, led by Donald Trump, keep complaining about cancel culture this and cancel culture that. When pressure is on to remove statues honoring racists from the confederacy, Republican white supremicists cry cancel culture. When QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was stripped of her House committee assignments, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said it was all about “cancel culture.” I’m not s...

It seems to me that the Republican Party is determined to send itself into oblivion as it is allowing the defeated and discredited former president, Donald Trump, to call the shots. The latest example is the determination of right wing House Republicans to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as chair of the House Republican Conference, the party’s third most powerful leadership position, and replace her...

As we’ve been stuck at home during this long pandemic, a lot of us have experienced changes in our mental outlook, in our moods – if for no other reason than simply being frustrated and bored.’There’s a research company called the NPD group that actually has looked at all of this and found that a whole bunch of us have turned to snacking as a way to fill the voids created by sadness, boredom, stre...

Why is it that some Republicans insist on denying the reality of racism? Why is it that there are still those who apparently believe slavery wasn’t all that bad? How can that be? Now, there are at least two GOP state legislators who are saying that the “Three-Fifths Compromise,” which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person back in 1787, really was a good thing for Blacks. Really? Sounds like a...

Am I crazy, or do you agree with me? It’s my opinion, that the Republican Party’s continued buy-in to Donald Trump’s claims that he was cheated out of the presidency can only end in their undoing. Yes, his hold on most members of the GOP is unquestioned, despite his defeat, and he is continuing his quest to remain the titular head of the party. But we all know what happens when something is built...

Mark M. Bello is a trial lawyer and prolific author of headline inspired legal thrillers, the most recent of which is Supreme Betrayal, a gripping novel about a Supreme Court nominee who is a sexual predator. He's the latest guest on today's podcast. In our conversation, Bello discusses his books, of course, but also the conflicts of police violence and he need for reform, some of the consequences...

Some of us thought, at least I did, that when America elected its first Black president with Barack Obama that racism in our country was at least beginning to wane. But then came the election of 2016 and Donald J. Trump, who made it seem OK for the millions of Americans who harbored racist attitudes that had actually hardened during the Obama years to come out of the closet, so to speak. Trump, a...

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Republicans have little or nothing to offer, other than obstructionism and self preservation. Their determination to block the House-passed voting rights bill that seeks to ensure that every American is able to cast a ballot, even as Republican-controlled states pass restrictive laws, is an example of that focus on self preservation. They appear to becoming...

Remember the song from the ‘60s, “Secret Agent Man” with Johnny Rivers? The opening chorus went like this…I can’t sing, so I’ll just read the lyrics…you’re welcome…There's a man who leads a life of dangerTo everyone he meets he stays a strangerOh, with every move he makes another chance he takesThe odds are he won't live to see tomorrowSecret Agent ManSecret Agent ManWell, looks like Russia has it...

Today we’re speaking with Lisa Skinner, a behavior expert in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia. Lisa has been a community counselor, a regional director of senior care facilities, a trainer, speaker and private adviser helping thousands of families and caregivers understand the daunting challenges of brain disease. She holds a degree in Human Behavior. In our conversation...

I have two commentaries for you today from Not Fake News focused on the aftermath of the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. First, writer Stacy Fitzgerald points out that Chauvin’s conviction amounted to “accountability”, but not really “justice.” Had justice been served, she writes, Floyd would still be alive. However, she points out that...

It was just reported that the feds have stopped a shipment of over 170,000 counterfeit N95 masks from China, masks that actually are putting the health of many American healthcare workers and other frontline personnel at risk. According to the report, Customs and Border Protection officers on April 7 intercepted the shipment of 171,460 masks at Houston Seaport. They carried the logo of the Nationa...

Thanks to the Trump administration, the intelligence community is in disarray. The cooperation that we once shared with other agencies throughout the world has been shattered. This lack of a reliable intelligence network has left America open to another 9/11 style attack, cautions Not Fake News contributing writer C.J. Waldron. Take a listen to “Are We Headed for Another 9/11” from Not Fake News.b...

Ever want to get a law passed or even just changed, but you have no idea how to go about it? Best selling author John Thibault has developed an "app" for that, well sort of. Thibault, who is our guest on this episode, explains how his I Lobby platform makes it possible for the everyday person to generate support for an idea for a new law or a law change and to actually have a chance for success. T...

I want to tell you about our latest episode of Tempo and the Times, our sister podcast, in which we take a look at the news media today and some of the issues surrounding it. Our guest on the podcast is Guy Reel, a veteran journalist and now college journalism professor, who talks about the good old days when grizzled, hard-drinking reporters sat around the newsroom comparing notes about their sto...

Hey guys, thanks for checking in on the NFN Radio News podcast, brought to you by Not Fake News.biz. I’m Bob Gatty, editor and publisher of Not Fake News. What is an "angry mob?" It depends upon whose version of the truth you accept: Donald Trump's and his enablers', or those who understand the facts. In just the past year, let alone the totality of the Trump administration, we’ve had all too many...

Hey guys, thanks for dropping by the NFN Radio News podcast, where we talk a little politics with a little lean to the left, and where we interview interesting guests who can add to our dialogue. Today we have with us Kim Curry, author of The Death of Fairness, a book that explores the aftermath of the 1986 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to rescind the Fairness Doctrine. With th...

Earth Day 2021 is two weeks from today, April 22, so I thought it would be a great idea to look at some of the major developments that are taking place that will help to conserve our environment and protect our planet. One such development is the utilization of wind energy, something that Donald Trump belittled, saying windmills kill birds and can cause cancer. But President Biden, unlike Trump, r...

Can’t tell you when I’ve laughed harder than this morning when I read that Mitch McConnell is threatening big business because some companies have had the nerve to stand up against election fraud and fakery. Who’s he kidding? Republicans are actually going to cross corporations who they’ve been serving for centuries and upon whom they depend for financial largesse for their campaigns? It really wa...

The decision by Major League Baseball to take the July All-Star Game away from the city of Atlanta is causing reverberations, both on Capitol Hill and in Trumpland where the defeated former president was true to form, making veiled threats against those who cross him. But MLB’s decision was the right one. They did it because the state’s governor, Brian Kemp, signed a new law designed specifically...