Louisiana Voice

Sometimes you just have to wonder about Jeff Landry.

On the one hand, he’s conducting alligator hunt fundraisers with the likes of Donald Trump, Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel.

On the other, he’s scheduled to participate in a program ostensibly being held to “strengthen families” and to help children “experience safety, stability and lifelong belonging,” an event being hosted by a Baton Rouge church accused five years ago of abusing children with “fight nights,” and “boot camps” where kids were pushed to their physical limits until they vomited or soiled themselves.

Louisiana megachurch accused of abuse at former leadership program

Moreover, participants who were Black or suspected of being gay were taunted with racist and homophobic slurs and female interns were body-shamed.

Students at Baton Rouge Bethany Church’s Christian leadership training program were even blamed for the cancer death of the wife of the youth pastor in charge of the program because they didn’t pray “hard enough” for her recovery.

Let’s pause at this point and acknowledge that this post is going to infuriate some people, mostly of the evangelical stripe, but I’m willing to endure that. I’m also willing to question the wisdom of the governor of the state lending his name and office and the office of the Department of Children and Family Services to an event held by any organization found to be committing such atrocities against children in the name of all that’s holy.

It isn’t as if DCFS hasn’t enough problems of its own without the stigma of sponsoring an event at a church already tainted with past abuse problems. Louisiana DCFS agency vows overhaul after WDSU investigation – WDSU

The Louisiana legislature earlier this year averted the outright closure of the agency when State Sen. Regina Barrow (D-Baton Rouge) authored a bill to do just that. Barrow has long been a major critic of DCFS because injuries and deaths involving children entrusted to the agency. Louisiana lawmakers call for more oversight, but not closure of Children and Family Services • Louisiana Illuminator

A state audit released last May cited DCFS for a number of shortcomings, including issues with foster care payments and federal reporting requirements. Audit uncovers issues in Louisiana DCFS operations

Still, as the cliché goes, the show must go on, even in the aftermath of negative publicity surrounding a “boot camp”—since discontinued—built specifically to condition teenagers for the ministry by employing physically and psychologically challenging exercises.

Bethany recently posted on its website the banner headline, “Save the date: DCFS bringing Louisiana’s faith leaders together for ‘Hope Starts Here’ event.”

SAVE THE DATE: DCFS bringing Louisiana’s faith leaders together for ‘Hope Starts Here’ event – Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services

Participants listed for the event included DCFS Secretary Rebecca Harris, Landry, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly, Louisiana Family Forum’s Gene Mills, pastors, legislators and other “faith-community partners.”

The program will be held at Bethany Church’s South Baton Rouge Campus on Honore Lane on Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.

Bethany made national news in 2021 when several news agencies reported on the so-called “220i” leadership program that ran from 2005 to 2013 at a cost of $5,000 per participant, not including food, travel or living expenses, and which had as many as 7,000 participants over the life of the program.

“The name ‘220’ came from Galatians 2:20, which we all had to memorize during the boot camps,” said one former intern who attended the program in 2007 to 2008 “The emphasis of the verse was placed on ‘It is no longer I who lives.’ The verse was misinterpreted to control us and our will. In 220i, there is a lowercase ‘i’ to denote that we are not worthy of being called uppercase ‘I’, that we did not exist anymore. It was like self-flagellation. This ideology set us up for mind control.”

This church program is accused of abusing teens with extreme ‘boot camps,’ ‘fight nights’ and shame

“You only could graduate [from the internship] at 10 months if they deemed that you were submitted and loyal enough to them,” she said. “You also were required to go through an exit interview with them, during which time [220i Director and youth pastor] Joel, [wife] Amie or his youth staff pastors would tell you what God’s plans were for you upon leaving.”

The former intern, who referred to herself simply as “Claire,” said upon completing the program, the church attempted to dissuade her from enrolling in college, telling her college was “not God’s plan for you. They spoke to us as if they were God,” she said.

The interns were also made to participate in marathon prayer sessions at night, particularly in 2007 and 2008, when Amy Stockstill (Joel’s first wife) was battling cancer. Former intern Bridget Linville said they were made to take part in “24-hour prayer nights” for her recovery and when she died, they were blamed.

“’You guys didn’t have enough faith for her to be healed,’” Linville recalled having been told. “Looking back now, they were all hurting and they were taking it out on us.”

Joel Stockstill eventually remarried. His second wife, also named Amie but spelled differently, would “police our clothing, our hair, or makeup, even our weight,” a former intern identified only as Emerson, said.

“Every week, she checked our BMI, and if you were above a certain BMI, you got called out publicly and put on restricted diets. There are girls still suffering from eating disorders because of this,” she said.

Amie Stockstill would tell female interns being fat “meant that you had sin in your life,” Claire said. She also forced Black interns to “succumb to whiteness” by relaxing their hair and “conforming to white beauty standards.”

Both Joel and Amie Stockstill took a special interest in interns’ personal lives, the former interns said. “There was a scheduled ‘date night,’ and you had to go on a date or you were shamed and called in for discipline,” Claire said. “After the dates, the girls were interrogated by Amie and the boys were interrogated by Joel to assess whether or not we had ‘sinned’ or been tempted while on the dates.”

Bethany lead pastor Jonathan Stockstill, after national media published interns’ allegations, posted an apology on his Facebook page in April 2021 for what he termed “painful experiences” many of the teenagers endured. “It’s obvious to me now and to the current leadership at Bethany Church that we significantly missed the mark in that program in many ways,” he wrote.

“I see it as damage control,” said Gume Laurel, 34, a Texan who took part in the 10-month program in 2007 and 2008. “It looks like he’s trying to shift the blame and say, ‘The leadership at the time.’ He was ‘the leadership’ at the time.”

Joel Stockstill has never issued an apology and currently runs Surge Ministries which at one time was affiliated with Bethany but since has been separated into its own program. Surge Ministries describes itself as “focusing on global church planting and community development initiatives and was established to train and support indigenous pastors in establishing new churches worldwide.

Bethany Church, founded in Baker, Louisiana, in 1963, has approximately 8,000 members on four Louisiana campuses and also operates Bethany College, a non-accredited college in Baker which is affiliated with Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Southeastern is a Christian university which is accredited and is the largest Assemblies of God educational institution in the U.S.

Bethany moved its main campus from Baker to Baton Rouge following the flood of 2016, which heavily damaged the original building. Its three giant crosses alongside I-10 in Baton Rouge, symbolic of the cruxifiction of Christ and two thieves, are a familiar landmark to residents of southeastearn Louisiana.

Critics maintain participation by Landry and DCFS in the Oct. 7 “Hope Starts Here” program blurs the lines between the Constitutionally-mandated separation of state and church.

If you really wanted to draw a contrast between the “family value” Repugnantcans and the “Democommie” TDSers, as a certain goosed-up individual with his own unique version of TSD (Trump Snorkeling Dysfunction), is overly fond of saying, you need only check out the headlines.

Like today, for instance.

New Jersey’s Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigned on Friday, according to Associated Press, forced out by accusations of ethics lapses and inappropriate behavior with women.

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigns over alleged ethics violations | AP News

And oh, did I happen to mention he’s a Democrat? Kind of like Minnesota Sen. Al Franken who resigned after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced. No fuss, no resistance, no digging in of the heels. Just submitted his resignation—as he should have. As Sherrill should have.

As Ken Paxton and Donald Trump should have long ago. In fact, Trump, who has fought the full release of the Epstein files after promising in the 2024 campaign he would release them, should never have run, his name is so tainted and stained as not only a sexual predator, but as a child sexual predator. But you don’t need reminding of that inconvenient fact, if you suffer from TSD as does Goose and about 30 to 40 percent of the American electorate—many of whom, by the way are evangelicals, for whatever significance that snippet of info may imply.

You see the difference here? When the uglies hit, those god-awful Democommie Democrats tend to clean their own houses–at least more consistently than their counterparts. The Repugnantcans like Trump, Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Ken Paxton, et al, tend to hide behind Mike Johnson who, of course, is unaware of the latest charges and in his ignorance, calls for a recess and sends House members home before votes can be taken on the issues.

Ken Paxton? Well, not only is he the chief (gag, choke) legal officer for the entire state of Texas, but now he’s running for the U.S. Senate, seeking to join other Repugnantcans who can offer their own little scandals—like Florida’s Rick Scott, the former governor and current senator who holds the distinction of presiding over what was at the time the LARGEST MEDICARE FRAUD in U.S. history (resulting in fines of $1.7 billion) while CEO of Columbia/HCA. Of course, he chalked it all up to “persecution,” as any good Repugnantcan would.

But in 2014, the whistleblower who helped the federal government investigate Columbia/HCA described a company with two sets of books and said he had “no doubt in my mind that Rick Scott was the leader of a criminal enterprise.”

“The fraud at Rick Scott’s company hurt seniors, it hurt taxpayers, it hurt everyone,” John Schilling, a former HCA accountant who worked with the FBI in 1996 through 2003, said at a 2014 press conference. “Fraud was in the DNA of Rick Scott’s company from the very beginning and he was the father.”

Did I also mention that Caldwell resigned under pressure from Gov. Mikie Sherrill? And did I mention that Sherrill also is a Democrat?

Has anyone pointed these facts out to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott? No? Then goodness, he must not be aware of Paxton’s behavior or surely, he would exert pressure in the same manner as New Jersey’s Sherrill.

For those of you who may yet be unfamiliar with Paxton’s travails, here is a TMELINE of his activities while serving in the Texas legislature and as attorney general.

Not a very pretty picture for an aspiring U.S. Senator.

But then, there’s always Rick Scott…

LSU basketball coach Will Wade met with the media earlier in the week and the very first question concerned his roster, which officially has only four players. Wade said he had a full roster of 15 players, all signed, all enrolled in school, who have been practicing together since just after Labor Day. But he declined to release his full roster. Let’s break that down.

Wade said he had “three or four” players with eligibility issues and he was “protecting his players” whether you agreed with him or not as justification for not releasing a full roster, though he said he “could today” if he wanted to. According to the LSU website lsusports.net the roster includes four players, all signed in the spring from the transfer portal. Those players are:

Divine Ugochukwu, a junior guard from Michigan State with three years college eligibility remaining.

Abdi Bashir, Jr., a senior guard from Kansas State, two years of eligibility remaining.

Austin Nunez, a senior guard from University of Texas-San Antonio, two years eligibility remaining.

Mouhamed Dioubate, a senior forward from Kentucky, two years remaining.

Though he was not named during the media event we can assume Jordan Bender, a freshman high school recruit is also on the roster. Bender announced last spring he had signed a letter of intent with LSU. Bender is a 6’8” lefty forward from Florida. While Bender has no star rating he is originally from Kentucky and the son of former Louisville forward Brandon Bender. If his height is legitimate he’ll still need to put on some weight and muscle to play in the SEC but a player that size can always help. Bender will have five years of college eligibility, to be used over the next five years beginning with the 26-27 season..

Wade also confirmed, when asked specifically by name, the following players were on his roster:

Skyy Clark, a senior guard who finished his fourth year of eligibility at UCLA last year. He was not drafted, did not sign a free agent contract, and has been granted an injunction for a fifth year of eligibility denied his signing class.

Donovan Dent, a senior guard teammate of Clark’s at UCLA with the same eligibility situation.

Though Wade declined to name them on his roster neither should have any eligibility issues as neither signed any kind of professional contract. The football team has one player in the same situation who has played in every game without objection from the league or anyone else. Wade also confirmed the following international players were on the roster when asked by name:

Brice Dessert, a 6’ 11” 23 year-old from France who has played four years of professional international basketball, his most recent with Andalou Efes in Turkey.

Michael Ruzic, a 6’9” 19 year old power forward from Croatia who has played three years of professional international basketball, all with the Spanish team Joventut.

Saliou Niang, a 6’6” 22 year old forward from Senegal who has played three years of professional international basketball and was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA in 2025 and played in three summer league games before being released. Niang is seemingly in violation of the recently passed SEC rule denying eligibility to anyone who has signed a professional contract with the NBA.

And that’s where things start to get tricky. All three of the previously mentioned players were paid to play basketball before becoming college freshman. That’s not a new development in college basketball or something underhanded Will Wade is trying to pull. International players have been playing college basketball in America for decades with the same “wink-wink” amateur status of American high school stars. But in the last couple of years with no ruling body for college athletics schools have begun to openly recruit professionals as NIL has made American college basketball attractive to international stars. Have we not written previously college basketball is a much deeper sewer than college football?

Case in point: R. J. Luis, Jr. Wade went out of his way to not name Luis though he confirmed to everyone in the room who knew that’s who Wade was referring to that Luis is practicing with the team. Luis played a year at UMass, transferred to St. Johns and played two years for Rick Pitino where he was Big East player of the year. He declared for the NBA draft after three years of college but went undrafted. He then signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz. In NBA parlance a two-way contract means the player is paid according to which league he plays the most in, the NBA or the farm system G League. Utah traded Luis to Boston where he played in three preseason games before being waived. Luis then signed with Boston’s G league team but was waived due to injury before the season began. Luis won an injunction to return to college.

When the uproar began a few weeks before football as Lane Kiffin was attempting to bring back two players who had won a fifth year but in the meantime had a cup of coffee and a tryout in the NFL the SEC overreacted with a hard and fast rule denying eligibility to any athlete that had given up eligibility to declare for a professional draft or had signed a contract with a professional team. The conference went through the silly threat to expel LSU over it. R. J. Luis, Jr. is the definition of that rule. Why he is even practicing with the team is a mystery.

Except it isn’t, really. Just more evidence LSU has a puppet AD and president. Both have seemingly been instructed by their “boss” to leave the coaches at LSU alone and both are seemingly busy doing just that. It is conceivable if LSU attempts to put Luis on the roster the SEC will really follow through with its threat and actually expel the university from the conference. Any AD or president worth his salt would have put a stop to that possibility long ago as Luis’ presence on the court is in direct defiance of the league. Wade has said he fully intends to “let the process play out” and “abide by the rules” but that process has already played out and the rules laid down. What Wade hopes to accomplish is a closely guarded secret, apparently, and neither Verge Ausberry or Wade Rousse intend to interfere.

Nor does that settle the issue for Niang, Ruzic, or Dessert. Certainly their eligibility is being examined under a microscope. Nor is that 15 names. Wade said to reporters they could probably figure out who is on the team by reports of players associated with LSU but a thorough search turned up only two: Marcio Santos, who Wade specifically said is not part of the team, and Israeli center Gilad Levy. There was a report in August from local sports broadcaster/reporter Hunt Palmer that Levy had signed with LSU but not a peep since from anyone. Still it may be safe to assume Levy is on the roster. Levy is reportedly 7’3” and has played three years professionally in Israel but has limited game experience, suggesting either he is plagued by injuries, or his skill level is still very raw and underdeveloped.

Assuming all those players are on the LSU team and eligible – except Luis who will not play in the SEC this season – there are still three mystery basketball players Wade plans to have. International players? More fifth year returnees? Walk-ons? Who knows? LSU plays three exhibition games in October and Wade vowed to put five guys on the floor. But who will actually suit up for LSU on opening night November 3^rd may not be known until just before the results of the elections are known.

In his debate with Kamala Harris in 2024, the Great Pumpkin famously declared, “They’re eating the cats and dogs” in Springfield, Ohio.

Turns out, of course, they weren’t. Just another of the pudgy pedophile’s inexplicable ramblings, apparently plucked out of thin air and repeated as fact.

But wait. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has gone Agent Orange one better. The former football coach at several schools, including Auburn, is currently running to become ‘Bama’s next governor. All I can say about that is if they elect him, they pretty much deserve him.

His one overriding political issue he’s counting on to catapult from Washington to Montgomery is not the war with Iran. It’s not the price of diesel. Nor is it the cost of steak and hamburger at the Walmart grocery. After all, he says, prices have been high in the past and “people will deal with it.”

He doesn’t seem very concerned either about the giant data centers popping up everywhere and the impact they may or may not have on the cost of electricity and water to citizens. In fact, he’s silent on that issue.

No, it’s none of those minor issues that, to him at least, serve as only a hiccup on the political landscape.

The real culprit is those doggone airline pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers pretending to be cats and dogs while engaging in kinky sex.

MAGA Senator Goes on Crazed Posting Spree About Furries | The New Republic

Wow. Who’d-a thunk it?

Maybe anyone who has paid attention to this guy. He’s the same one who once identified the three branches of government as “the House, the Senate and the executive,” apparently overlooking the judiciary.

Well, Tommy Tuberville, for one. Offhand, I’d speculate that like LBJ said of Gerald Ford, he must’ve played football too often with no helmet.

Stop and ponder on this one, folks. That’s a U.S. senator. There’s only 100 of them and if what he has is contagious he could infect the entire upper chamber with his advanced stage of whatever it is that afflicts his prefrontal cortex (of course, it may be too late for John N. Kennedy).

Taking to social media, Tuberville insists that the airline industry is shot through with employees who mark and meow at each other.

“I know the deranged Democrats don’t like the fact that I called out the insane FURRY CULTURE this week,” he posted. “But the truth is, there is an ALARMING number of these DERANGED people working in our airline industry,” he wrote. “Don’t believe me? Just a few months ago, PILOTS were MEOWING and BARKING at each other over the radio at DCA.”

So, there you go. What further proof do you need? Still, it seems a little ironic he would use the term “deranged” in any context, considering his own state of mind. (Notice like the world’s most famous pedophile who also happens to be a head of state, Tuberville likes to use all caps in his posts.)

But just to make sure there is no room for doubt as to his mental state, Tuberville went on to aver that there was an “Aviation Furs Meet-up” at the Furry Migration convention in Minneapolis earlier this month. “Ask yourself … would you be comfortable with a MENTALLY ILL FURRY being your pilot?” he wrote on X.

Again, invoking the term “mentally ill” (in all caps, yet) is interesting, to say the least.

He even took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to say, “Lord help us. It’s terrifying when you think about this,” Tuberville said. “When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal.”

At least the “Lord help us” was an appropriate entreaty.

Should he succeed in his quest for the Alabama governorship, let’s hope he will occupy a padded office equipped with only harmless crayons and soft toys.

Oh, did I happen to mention that Tuberville is a dyed-in-the-wool MAGA Repugnantcan?