Louisiana Voice

Today is day two of our September fundraiser.

It also happens to be the 10th anniversary of LouisianaVoice. (Thanks, Bobby Jindal, for helping to kick of off a decade ago.)

I only conduct fundraisers twice a year and this year, only once, because I did not hold an April drive because of the economic hardships on so many people because of the coronavirus pandemic, which Trump continues to downplay.

But with our expenses mounting, I am asking those who have the resources to do so to help us. Please, if it would be a sacrifice for you to give—don’t. I do not wish to create a hardship for anyone. I’m asking only those who can afford it to contribute by clicking on the yellow DONATE button in the column to the right to contribute by credit card. It looks like this: but don’t click here, it doesn’t work; go to the column to the right.

If it doesn’t work (and for some, it won’t), you may donate by sending a check to:

LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, LA. 70727

As you know, I write about a multitude of issues, like the one on the 4th Judicial Court and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal that was posted yesterday. I am working on several other major stories even as I write this. But it takes time and money to do so and I am setting a goal of $5,000 to last until next April’s fund raiser.

Please consider helping.

With sincere appreciation for your continued loyalty,

Tom Aswell

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“People that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows. There are people that are on the streets, there are people that are controlling the streets. We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that.”

—Donald Trump’s wacko conspiracy theory, given in an interview with Laura Ingraham of conspiracy theory Fox News. [Mark my words here, there are idiots out there who will swallow this entire line of B.S. and regurgitate it all over the Internet.]

“I’ll tell you some time. It’s under investigation right now. [A] lot of people were on the plane to do big damage.”

—Additional unsubstantiated claims by Trump in the Ingraham interview. [Yeah, right. They’re going to fly on a commercial airline completely decked out in “uniform” with signs around their necks identifying themselves as “Looters” for all to see as they set about on their mission to do “big damage.” Does anyone in his right mind actually buy this crock? Someone please call out this damned fool and hold him accountable before he instigates a race war from which this country may never recover.]

“I will see whether or not I can get that person to speak to you, but this was a firsthand account of a plane going from Washington to wherever, and I’ll see if I can get that information for you, maybe they’ll speak to you, maybe they won’t.”

—Donald Trump, on those “looters” and “thugs” supposedly on that plane. [Any bets on whether or not he can get “that person” to come forward? If they do, it will be the very first time Trump will have come through on a promise – any promise.]]

“[A]t least a dozen males got off the plane in Boise from Seattle, dressed head to toe in black. Be ready for attacks downtown and residential areas. [O]ne passenger had “a tattoo that said Antifa America on his arm.”

—Facebook post last Tuesday (Aug. 25) by an Emmett, Idaho, resident, warning residents there apparently of these same thugs and looters who seem to really get around. [So, now we know where idiot child learned of those “looters” and “thugs” on the plane – but in Washington, D.C., not Washington State. Another conspiracy theory harvested from the good ol’ reliable Internet. Trump obviously resides in a blissful, delusional world, free from all the burdens of reality.]

“All I ask is that he keep his disrespect, his foul language far away from our family. We need a president that’s going to unite and take us in a different direction. We want the same right he’s got, and we want to be able to get our children home safely. They should be able to go anywhere they want in this nation and get home safely, and not get shot seven times.”

—Justin Blake, uncle of Jacob Blake who was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police, on Donald Trump, who he called “the orange man,” during his trip to Kenosha on Monday.

“It seemed like it was almost inevitable and it was almost planned. They knew if they came down, they would meet the protesters that have been here for three months, and you saw what happened — people got hurt, one person got killed and a lot of just unbelievable situations.”

—Portland, Ore., resident Nick Sonies, following the shooting death of Patriot Prayer member Aaron Danielson last Saturday.

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It’s that time again. LouisianaVoice has been investigating a number of stories and to do so costs time and money.

I hate to come begging when so many people are hurting. People have lost their jobs and folks in southwest Louisiana have been devastated by Hurricane Laura. The effects of the coronavirus was the very reason that I suspended our April fundraiser. I just didn’t have the heart to ask for money.

I still don’t.

But the expenses are – and have been – mounting up and we’re going to need money to keep going. I estimate that we will need at least $5,000 to keep operating between now and next April.

That’s why I’m asking those who can afford it – and only those – to help us out. Our September fundraiser will run through the end of the month, but I ask those who have the resources to do so, to help us keep this blog churning out stories.

I have one major story I’m planning to break within the next week and there will be more to follow.

Meanwhile, I humbly ask that you contribute by credit card by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post. It looks like this: But don’t click in this one because it won’t work. You have to go to the column to the right and click on that one. If that doesn’t work for you (and it doesn’t for everyone, for some reason) or if you prefer to pay by check, you may do so by sending your contribution payable to:

LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, LA. 70727

As always, thank you for your continued support of a free and unfettered press and for responsible investigative reporting.

P.S. One more very important thing: We are now a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit which means that any contribution you make is tax deductible. If you wish to claim your deduction, email me at

louisianavoice@yahoo.com

and I will provide you my tax id number.

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I grew up in a Baptist Church in Ruston although I later joined the Methodist Church. In both denominations, I was repeatedly told that Christianity was love of one another and that our faith was based on the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Christ.

Nowhere in all those Sunday School sessions and sermons have I ever heard a Christian advocate violence by man as a solution to violence. Romans 12:19 says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” Never have I heard someone who calls himself a Christian suggest that we “purge the land,” or call for “wholesale internment and mass incarceration,” or “re-education” of anyone in the name of “decency.”

Until now.

And of all people, it was a member of the Denham Springs City Council, a man responsible for representation of all the people – not just those with whom he agrees.

Council member Robert Poole, a staunch Methodist, posted just such a message on his Facebook page on Aug. 11 in response to a Black Lives Matter rally in support of more than 100 persons who were arrested following rioting in Chicago that caused $60 million in property damage.

Yes, rioters and looters should be arrested and prosecuted. No one questions that. Joe Biden said as much yesterday when he said “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. . . . It’s lawlessness, plain and simple, and those who do it should be prosecuted. Violence will not bring change; it’ll only bring destruction. It’s wrong in every way. I look at this violence and I see lives and communities and the dreams of small businesses being destroyed.”

That is the responsible approach by a public official to addressing anarchy and chaos.

Instead, this is what council member Robert Poole had to say about it:

Re-education?

Really, Mr. Poole?

You might wish to refer back to your history courses to determine the origin of that term.

The Soviet GULAGS,  the creation of Joseph Stalin whom you might remember as a ruthless dictator. The gulag was a system of imprisonment and forced labor of anyone who even so much as uttered a critical word about the communist regime. Of course, the gulags were publicly referred to as “re-education” centers.

The XINJIANG RE-EDUCATION CAMPS were no different in communist China. Officially called vocational education and training centers by the Chinese Communist Party and the government of the People’s Republic of China, they were nothing else but internment camps operated by the Chinese Communist Party where up to three million prisoners – Muslims and Christians alike – were held for the stated purpose of countering “extremism and terrorism.” Sound familiar, Mr. Poole?

Mr. Poole wants to “purge the land for the sake of decency.” But whose definition of “decency” is he going to employ in carrying out this self-appointed mission? Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s statement on obscenity, perhaps Mr. Poole can’t define decency but he knows it when he sees it.

“Wholesale internment and mass incarceration”? Like dictators in Third World countries are wont to do? Like Castro’s Cuba in 1960? “Assimilate into peaceful society or you are GONE.” Wow. So, just shut up and agree with whatever I do, or leave. No freedom of speech, no protests of wrongdoing, and the ultimate endgame: no freedom of the press.

And finally, “God HATES those who spread strife among the brethren.” Well, it’s nice to know that Mr. Poole, who incidentally, attends the same church as I, knows so much about Proverbs 10:12, which says, “Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins.”

But to tell the truth, after reading Mr. Poole’s Facebook post, I have to wonder who is spreading the message of hate here?

There’s another Proverbs verse that I think is relevant: Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

I do know this: What he’s preaching isn’t the same Christianity I was taught.

Medice, cura te ipsum (Lat. “Physician, heal thyself”).

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(63 Days)

“We’ve arrived at a moment in this campaign that we all knew . . . we’d get to — the moment when Donald Trump would be so desperate, he’d do anything to hold on to power.”

—Joe Biden, speaking in Pittsburgh on Monday.

“[T]he more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is [for the president].”

—None other than departing Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. [For once, not presenting an “alternative fact.”}

“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. . . . It’s lawlessness, plain and simple, and those who do it should be prosecuted. Violence will not bring change; it’ll only bring destruction. It’s wrong in every way. I look at this violence and I see lives and communities and the dreams of small businesses being destroyed. Donald Trump looks at this violence and he sees a political lifeline.”

—Joe Biden, again speaking in Pittsburgh on Monday. [The voice of reason would condemn violence on either side. That’s what Biden has done.]

“And Trump? Invited at a news conference Monday evening to condemn violence by his supporters, he declined. [C]alm won’t come unless and until the American president acts like a human being — not a cornered animal.”

—Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, Aug. 31, 2020.

“[Y]ou have right-wing extremists coming in trying to take advantage of the cover of the protests to carry out these violent acts and they are trying to start a race war.”

—Elizabeth Neumann, who recently resigned from her high-level post in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.

 “the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20, 2017, safety will be restored.”

—Candidate Donald Trump at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, in 2016. [Four years since he said that, and 3 years and 7 months since Jan. 20, 2017. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, are we better off today than we were four years ago in terms of violence and anarchy? I think you can check that box NO.]

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