Louisiana Voice

Despite an FBI report that WARNED of “war” at the US Capitol, security personnel were caught with their pants down last Wednesday as thousands of pro-Trump thugs attempted what the India Times called a “Coup Klux Klan”-type takeover of the federal government.

Now comes another alert from the FBI that there are plans for armed protests at all 50 state capitals and Washington, D.C. in the days leading up to and including the Jan. 20 inauguration day.

Louisiana State Police say they are prepared. More on that later.

We watched in a mixture of horror and disbelief as a Confederate flag, a symbol of treason and hatred was paraded through the National Hall of Statues, as Capitol police were beaten by fellow Americans (not to be confused with real patriots), as an Arkansas hillbilly plopped down at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, as property was destroyed and as six people ultimately died.

We found ourselves wanting to hurl a brick through the television when Trump only reluctantly sent out a pre-recorded, half-hearted, but certainly self-serving appeal for calm to “special people.”

How a country called the “shining beacon on the hill” could go from the symbol of freedom and world leadership to third-world status in a short four years is beyond me but make no mistake: the rhetoric of the mentally-deranged man at the helm had a helluva lot to do with it, well, actually, all of it.

Those mouth-breathing trolls who were hanging off the Capitol building like so many spider monkeys in the San Diego Zoo were nothing less than subversive insurgents. The fact that some of them carried American flags doesn’t change the fact that they were anarchists. And if you use the flag pole to beat a police officer senseless, you’re a common criminal due no more respect than some back-alley mugger.

Make no mistake: Trump brought this on with his lies, lies, lies and more lies about the Nov. 3 election having been “rigged.”

And before any of you try to repeat that lie, first explain how it is that no fewer than 50 court cases – attempts to overturn the election results – have been thrown out by judges, many of whom are Trump appointees. Even his three U.S. Supreme Court justices opted not to hear arguments on the Tweeter-in-Chief’s behalf.

Even Republic statewide elected officials in Georgia and Arizona refused to crater to his absurd claims and now some of them have been threatened by Trump’s demented loyalists who, like Trump himself, have not a shred of evidence of election fraud but are not short on hair-brained conspiracy theories that include lizard people and botched press briefings at the Four Seasons Lawn Service.

Before you try to advance that election fraud argument, please give us some evidence. Saying there was fraud doesn’t make it so any more than saying Bigfoot exists is going to coax the mythical man-beast out of the woods near you. But I will grant you this: claiming his existence makes about as much sense as any assertion of election fraud without accompanying documentation.

But one thing, unfortunately, is pretty much a good bet: there is likely to be more violence between now and Jan. 20. And that’s not a good thing. Trump has already turned this country into a Central American revolution-type laughingstock. More violence will only make a bad situation worse.

Sadly, not a word of this missive is going to change the minds of these fanatics.

But, as I said earlier, State Police say they are ready.

“Louisiana State Police is aware of the planned protests at the State Capitol and is working closely with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to coordinate security protocols,” says a statement from Lt. Nick Manale of the LSP Public Affairs Section.

The statement said that LSP “will not be able to provide specific information regarding protest security measures and cannot comment on the security protocols concerning the Governor’s Mansion and Louisiana State Capitol.”

That’s understandable. It would foolish to show their hand to a band of outlaws like the Three Percenters or the Proud Boys.

“As with previous protest events across the state, the Louisiana State Analytical & Fusion Exchange continually monitors potential security concerns and will be providing pertinent information to our public safety personnel to ensure safety for protesters, Capitol grounds and staff, and the surrounding community,” Manale said.

“In coordination with Capitol staff and the Department of Public Safety Police, LSP will have personnel in place to ensure a safe environment and to protect the rights of our citizens to hold a peaceful gathering.”

Let’s hope he’s right.

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This was bound to happen – a foregone conclusion that anyone could have seen coming with the imbecile now in his last days as POTUS.

With the deaths of six people and the attempted overthrow of the American government still fresh in everyone’s mind who hasn’t been living under a rock, comes the likelihood of a new spate of pardons from President Tweet Thang.

Seriously, who didn’t see this coming?

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LouisianaVoice has learned that Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida), chairman of the House Ethics Committee, is said to be looking into the possible expulsion from Congress any members who might have conspired with or encouraged the attempted takeover of the federal government last Wednesday by Donald Trump supporters.

Rep. Clay Higgins has been mentioned as one of those being targeted by the investigation as has Rep. Steve Scalise.

Meanwhile, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) has released a half-hearted rebuke of Trump and the insurgents even as the PGA CANCELS its contract with to hold its 2022 championship tournament at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey and several major corporations have SUSPENDED political contributions in the wake of the Trump-fueled riot that killed at least six people and left congressional members’ offices trashed and looted.

LABI has been almost as enthusiastic in scolding the rioters as Trump and was and only slightly ahead of Trump’s belated order that flags be lowered to half-mast in honor of Capitol police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood whose death was announced Monday morning, five days after the riots.

It would certainly be nice if the business community’s main lobbying arm could show the decency to commit to a peaceful transfer of power by publicly rebuking those who participated in this assault on democracy last week in a little stronger language.

But then, that would be far too much to expect of LABI and its leadership.

Even STRIPE, the San Francisco company that has been processing payments to the Trump campaign, is also cutting ties with Trump.

So, it would seem reasonable to lump LABI in with the likes of Higgins.

Higgins has been a notorious loose cannon since his election to represent Louisiana’s 3^rd District in 2016, often embellishing his law enforcement credentials in congressional hearings, prompting his former boss, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz to public dispute some of his claims.

Higgins also was the lone Louisiana representative to vote no on HOUSE RESOLUTION 1155 back on September 29, 2020. That resolution in part:

• Reaffirmed the commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of power called for in the Constitution of the United States, and
• Intended that there should be no disruptions by the President or any person in power to overturn the will of the people of the United States.

There were only four other nay votes on the resolution calling for a peaceful transfer – Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Louie Gohmert (R- Tx.), Steve King (R-Ia.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). To say those five violated their oath of office would be belaboring the obvious.

Reps. Scalise, Mike Johnson, Ralph Abraham and Garret Graves voted yes but reversed themselves on Jan. 6 when they voted in favor of the objection to accepting the election results, thus demonstrating that they cannot be trusted to keep their word and casting doubts on their loyalty to country over party. At least Higgins was consistent with his earlier vote by joining the others in objecting to certification.

Higgins’ name was not the only one that surfaced, however:

• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Minority Whip SCALISE (R-La.) are under the gun for what critics say was a failure to show leadership at a time of crisis.
• The siblings of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) have called for him to be expelled from Congress.
• The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability has called for an ethics investigation into whether Rep. MO BROOKS (R-Ala.) may have incited the deadly riot with a speech he made prior to the breaching of the Capitol building.
• Rep. CORI BUSH (D-Mo.) says Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have blood on their hands for inciting “this domestic terror attack though their attempts to overturn the election.” She said they have “broken their sacred oath of office” and must be expelled. Meanwhile, thousands of lawyers and law school alumni have signed an OPEN LETTER calling for Hawley and Cruz to be disbarred for their roles in challenging the election results which led, at lease indirectly, to the rioting.

It is expected that some specific cases will be brought before a grand jury for charges, according to a confidential source. The committee is looking at communications between some members and their staffs with leaders of the riot.

Meanwhile the ethics investigation that could lead to expulsion is moving ahead.

Censure has been the more common form of disciplinary action in Congress, requiring as it does a lower threshold of votes to impose. In U.S. history, there have been 20 members of Congress EXPELLED. Of that number 17 were expelled for their support of the Confederacy in the aftermath of secession. Fifteen were from the Senate and five from the House. Seven others resigned in lieu of expulsion. The most recent such resignation was that of Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) in 2006, who resigned following his conviction in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandals. The expulsion of Rep. William Sebastian of Arkansas was posthumously reversed.

No one answered a call to Deutch’s office and his voice mail was full and was unable to accept messages.

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A reader sent a terse, eight-word note along with the link to a disturbing story about the anarchist attack on the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.

“Let’s guess whose fingerprints were all over this,” he wrote.

Indeed.

It seems that John Kennedy, Steve Scalise, Mike Johnson and Clay Higgins aren’t the only Louisiana officials who must share responsibility for stoking last Wednesday’s unprecedented invasion by white supremacists and outright terrorists of the world’s monument to democratic governance and free elections on behalf of a mentally deranged Donald Trump.

Trump, we now learn, had other co-conspirators in high places who must now answer for the deaths of five people, including a member of the Capitol Police who died of injuries suffered while trying to defend that same democratic government.

NBC News has obtained a copying of a RECORDING that went out as a robocall from the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), the fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) that said, in part, “At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”

Additionally, there initially was a website created to promote the rally that listed the RLDF as one of the participating organizations. Following Wednesday’s extracurricular activities that including ransacking congressional offices, stealing congressional furniture and documents, smearing defecation on the walls and planting pipe bombs, the RLDF website was taken down.

Go figure.

Already, sympathizers are claiming the insurgents were infiltrated by Antifa and Black Lives Matter protagonists. They have no way of proving or disproving that. Many in the mob were wearing backpacks. How could police possibly check the contents? And consider this an alternative conspiracy theory: How do we know there weren’t Russian sympathizers who “infiltrated” the anarchists in order to plant listening devices in the offices of congressional leaders? That theory is every bit as sound as the Antifa/Black Lives Matter B.S.

But I digress.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who runs RLDF, claims the calls were sent out without his knowledge or approval. That sounds like a gaping absence of accountability at the top levels of the organization.

“I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this week’s rally,” Marshall was quoted by NBC as saying. He only assumed his current role on Nov. 10. “Despite currently transitioning into my role as the newly elected chairman of RLDF, it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions,” he added. “I have directed an internal review of this matter.”

Neither RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper nor RLDF Executive Director Peter Bisbee responded to requests from NBC for comment about the robocalls.

Two prominent members of the RAGA who have been at the forefront of efforts to hand Trump an illegitimate claim to the presidency despite his losing by more than 7 million votes, are Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and our very own Jeff Landry.

Paxton filed an ill-fated LAWSUIT in an effort to challenge election results in four key states lost by Trump but the court ruled correctly that he had no standing to bring the suit and it was tossed, as were 49 other suits brought by Trump’s attorneys.

Landry has kept a somewhat lower profile in the days following the rioting but nevertheless has been front and center in his support of Trump and his “fake news” claims to have won the election in a “landslide.”

But wait. Landry, it seems, was the RAGA CHAIRMAN for 2020, and on Nov. 10, he announced that the organization was filing an amicus brief ENDORSING the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s CHALLENGE of a state supreme court RULING that allowed the counting of absentee ballots up to three days after election day – on the condition that they were postmarked by the Nov. 3 election day.

The Louisiana Attorney General was also listed as a CO-DIRECTOR of RLDF, according to 2018 tax documents filed by the organization.

And while his name has not surfaced in connection with the robocall that went out, you can bet, as our reader said, his fingerprints are “all over this.”

And for a man so fond of the political spotlight, his silence since Wednesday is deafening.

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In a day and age when there is heightened sensitivity to racial discrimination, age discrimination and sexual harassment, it’s difficult to fathom blatant violations of federal laws enacted to protect individuals from such behavior.

But then, we have the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and yes, Donald Trump, each of whom have been accused of such sexual harassment so egregious that it cost all but one of them their careers – and the jury, literally, is still out on the other one.

And now we have a lawsuit filed in Louisiana’s Western District federal court that contains charges of sexual harassment, falsification and destruction of records, and payroll fraud against an Alexandria restaurant franchisee and its human resources director that, if true, would repulse the most inured among us.

If the claims are founded, there will not only likely be a substantial monetary judgment and possible criminal charges against the defendants but in all likelihood, their franchises for Huddle House restaurants would likely be revoked by Huddle House’s parent corporation in Atlanta.

Huddle House restaurants, while constructed and operated in strikingly similar manner, are in no way related to Waffle House restaurants.

William Most, the New Orleans attorney who is representing a former employee in her fight, said the litigation was not filed against Huddle House Corp., but against its franchisee, D’Argent Companies, D’Argent Construction and D’Argent Franchising of Alexandria, and its human resources director Justin Giallonardo, son of D’Argent founder Thomas Giallonardo.

The lawsuit says that Justin Giallonardo attempted on several occasions to get plaintiff Samantha Williams, who was an employee of one of the Huddle House restaurants where she was in the company’s management-trainee programs, to have sex with him.

When all his efforts proved unsuccessful, he told her manager, Wes Pigoff, that if he couldn’t have sex with her, he was going to fire her. Pigoff said in a sworn affidavit that accompanied the lawsuit that he told the younger Giallonardo the he was Williams’s boss and could not be trying to date her or have sex with her, to which Giallonardo replied, “I can do whatever I want to.”

Williams quit before she could be fired and Pigoff completed forms for the Louisiana Workforce Commission which confirmed that she resigned but, he said in his affidavit, Giallonardo ordered him to re-do the form to indicate she was fired and to back-date the revised form.

Pigoff also said that he was instructed to alter timesheets for employees to remove all overtime worked so as to keep costs down and when he refused one month to do so, Giallonardo deducted $8,000 from Pigoff’s pay “which was the amount of the overtime that I did not delete over a period of time,” he said. “I estimate that over the course of her work at Huddle House, I deleted in excess of $10,000 of overtime for Samantha Williams along,” he said.

Pigoff also accused the Giallonardos of assigning the social security numbers of deceased persons to undocumented persons in order to employ them. “I heard Justin explain how ‘dead people are still working,’” he said. “Based on context and other things I had heard, I understood that to mean that D’Argent was using he social security numbers of dead people to knowingly allow undocumented persons to work.”

The Giallonardos also own D’Argent Construction, LLC.

The lawsuit includes copies of text messages between Justin Giallonardo and Williams as well as the original form indicating Williams had resigned and the one Justin ordered showing that she was fired.

Attached below are copies of Pigott’s affidavit and the lawsuit. Warning: the language and descriptions of events are of such a graphic nature that discretion should be used.

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