Louisiana Voice

Louisiana has once again caught the eye of The Guardian, an international news organization—but as usual, not in a good way.

Christopher Paul, a Republican, is the only remaining candidate for police chief of the village of Elizabeth in Allen Parish after his opponent was forced to drop out of the race by his employer.

Paul is apparently destined to become the village’s next police chief despite on major blemish on his record.

He is presently out on bond following his arrest on charges of raping two 13-year-old girls in 2005 and 2006.

Man accused of child rape set to become police chief in small Louisiana town | Louisiana | The Guardian

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed Paul is eligible to hold office unless he is subsequently convicted of a felony. If he is convicted, it would prevent him from taking office when the new chief’s term begins on Jan. 1.

Paul, 46, officially qualified to run on Aug. 6 and was arrested a month later, on Sept. 8, by the Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office. He is presently out on $60,000 bail.

His former opponent, Zachary LaCaze, is a civilian employee at Fort Polk. He said he called a federal hotline for Hatch Act questions prior to qualifying and was told he could run for the job provided he did not declare a party affiliation but subsequently learned other candidates must also be no party. Paul is running as a Republican.

“As much as I love being a police officer and as much as I wanted to be your chief of police, I have a responsibility to my family. My full-time job is what provides for my wife and son, and I cannot take that away from them, So, as much as it hurts me, I have to step away from this election.” LaCaze said. He added about Paul’s winning by default, “I have a lot of concerns if it happens, but it’s out of my hands.”

Another British publication, the DAILY MAIL, noted that Paul’s uncontested candidacy has sparked outrage on social media. “Nobody in Elizabeth wants to become chief?” asked one writer. “Whoever runs against this guy would probably win.”

Another wrote, “You cannot tell me that there is absolutely no one else to take this job! These people don’t make any sense. Why put this individual in that position and when he goes to prison for RAPE they will have to fill the position with someone else.”

“He should withdraw from the race,” said a third user. “He knows he’s not wanted in Elizabeth.”

One other writer was even more blunt. “Idiot should drop out,” he wrote.

Elizabeth Mayor Mandy Leo Green pointed out correctly, “Charges are allegations, not a conviction. The candidate in question has been arrested and charged, but has not been convicted of any crime. Under the law, anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This is an important part of our justice system.”

Meanwhile, the village council has approved a Dec. 12 special election on a proposition to make the police chief position one by appointment rather than by election though it remains unclear when that would take effect if approved by voters.

Paul has declined to comment on his arrest but indicated he has no intentions to withdraw despite a call for him to step down by the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, a national nonprofit organization established to prevent violence against children.

So, Pete Hegseth wants to sink to the level of arguably the worst barbarians on the face of the earth.

While he didn’t have far to go to achieve that dubious recognition, his announcement that he intends to livestream the execution of convicted killer Nidal Hasan is a new low—even for him.

Hasan is the US Army psychiatrist who shot and killed 13 Americans at Ft. Hood, Texas, in 2009, and is slated for execution by firing squad. The announcement has been met with WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION.

But what Hegseth obviously does not understand is that executions are not a spectator sport.

To suggest otherwise is to put the secretary of defense in the same box with Isis terrorists who behead American citizens. Both are heinous acts, albeit firing squads would seem to more humane than beheadings—the word “humane” being a wholly relative term.

We already knew that Hegseth was an unqualified, headline-seeking narcissistic fool. There was no further need for him to prove his point.

We’re supposed to be a civilized nation. Livestreaming an execution, no matter how horrific the original crime, is the very antithesis of what we stand for in America. Instead, it is sadistic to the extreme. Suggesting, much less declaring, that it be livestreamed is morbidly ghoulish and has no place in our society. To reiterate our point, it is not entertainment in any context. It simply puts us on the same level with uncivilized bloodthirsty terrorists.

Just remember one key fact that should not be ignored. The announcement that it will be available for all to watch via the Internet was made by a man with an oversized tattoo of a Nazi Iron Cross emblazoned on his chest.

We started October with our twice-yearly fundraiser that was originally scheduled to run for the entire month but a story I spotted online Thursday has prompted an about-face for our own fundraising efforts in favor of a far more noble cause.

There’s a 26-year-old poet in Phoenix, Arizona who has been working pretty much on his own to help house and FEED THE HOMELESS in the Phoenix area and if you have not yet but intended to make a contribution to LouisianaVoice, I humbly implore you to consider instead making a contribution to his nonprofit, AZ HUGS.

I don’t know if Austin Davis is a Democrat, a Republican or whatever, whether he’s a Christin, Jew, atheist or agnostic or even Muslim. It does not matter. What does matter is what he is doing on his own time, through his own unselfish efforts transcends anything any Bible-thumping evangelical is doing for the benefit of his fellow man.

What he is doing in humanitarian charity so far exceeds our work with this blog as to not even merit a comparison.

At a time when ICE is detaining innocent people (including many Americans citizens), shooting people and generally pulling off flawless impersonations of Nazi gestapo, Davis is quietly going about the business of assisting homeless children, families who have had a wage earner laid off from a job and single moms who have been evicted. These are Americans no different from the Okies John Steinbeck wrote about—desperate, hungry people who only want to get a job and feed their families. Others are mentally ill with nowhere to go because Republicans have cut spending for programs for them.

Sure, there are the drug addicts. That’s to be expected. But is it better to deny all so that some drug abuser does not benefit or is it better to help as many as possible innocents in the knowledge that some undeserving individual may also benefit?

Or is just better to look the other way while our political leaders continue to lavish corporate welfare in the form of generous tax breaks on the uber-rich who in turn refuse to make eye contact with the beggar on the street?

To paraphrase Joshua 24:15 (the evangelicals hate it when you throw Bible verses in their faces), “…as for me and my house…” we choose to help the less fortunate.

So, if you can find it in your heart to do so, go HERE and help this idealistic young man in his efforts to spread a little true Christian spirit where it is best applied.

Another verse: Mathhew 25:40: “…when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”

Our Pedo-in-Chief has demonstrated to us that old institutions like the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and even the state of New Mexico can stand a new identity.

With that in mind, I am offering up my suggestion for a name change as well.

As we head into the home stretch of the midterm elections, now less than a month away, it’s appropriate to take a quick review course of how Donald Trump and HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON, as well as Texas Attorney General KEN PAXTON consistently protect child sex abusers.

And when they can’t protect them from prosecution, Trump (or Paxton) simply pardon them.

But for sheer hypocrisy, it’s damn-near impossible to top professed family values Christian Johnson, who ADJOURNED THE HOUSE in July 2025 in order to prevent a vote on the release of the Epstein files. That was seen as a move to protect only one person: Trump.

Of course, not all sex scandals in Congress belong to the Republicans as evidenced by a 2017 NEWSWEEK STORY. But in most cases involving a Democrat, his fellow party members called for his resignation—or he did so voluntarily.

No so those Bible-thumping, holier-than-thou Republicans. The cling to their jobs like toothpaste to the side of a bathroom sink.

There is STORY after STORY after STORY after STORY about Republicans who pursue children. Most seek relationships with underage girls while some seem to prefer boys. Others aren’t too particular. But they all have two things in common: they’re sleaze and they can count on their fellow Repugnantcans and right-wing media for COMFORT AND SUPPORT.

Just as it is with other Republican offenders, there is CASE after CASE  in which TRUMP PARDONED child sex offenders, murderers, drug dealers or fraudsters.

But while Diaper Don was busy passing out over 1600 pardons since taking office a second time, it is the Republican elected officials who just can’t seem to keep their britches zipped.

For that reason, I am hereby following Trump’s own example and rebranding in institution.

No, I’m not proposing slapping my name on any building or monument, renaming a gulf or a great lake or a state.

I am suggesting that the initials GOP no longer stand for Grand Old Party. That’s so 19^th Century. As of this moment forward, GOP stands for Guardians of Pedophiles.

Catchy, no?