Louisiana Voice

“I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist. So, what is wrong with understanding … the country which we are here to defend? I want to understand White rage. And I’m White. What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out.” 

—Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, lecturing the Z (as in Zero) Brothers, Florida Republicans Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz, at yesterday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on the teaching of critical race theory at West Point.

“With Generals like this it’s no wonder we’ve fought considerably more wars than we’ve won.”

—Tweet by Matt Gaetz following Milley’s testimony (Notice he didn’t have the cajones to say it to Milley’s face.)

“And in what war has Gaetz fought?”

“Matt Gaetz – he’s the one who hanging out with underage girls right? This person has some gall to take a swipe at the military…but only on social media when no one is around.”

“Matt Gaetz is a one-man ignorance parade.”

“My faith in the intelligence of our military brass grew exponentially after Milley verbally byatch-slapped Gaetz so publicly. Shut him all the way down like it was Congressional WWE but with class and dignity.”

“Gaetz needs to keep his head down and mouth shut …and stay 500 yards away from schools and playgrounds.”

“It’s hilarious to see Gaetz shamelessly displaying himself (but then teen girls are used to Gaetz displaying himself).”

“White Rage? Look no further than trump and those that choose to embrace this charlatan; makes them mad when they are exposed for what they stand for: STUPID.”

“With supposed citizens like Gaetz, it is a wonder we’ve won any war. Fortunately, the military trains soldiers, not serial sexual predators.”

—A sampling of the 2,236 comments posted on The Washington Post story about Milley’s testimony.

Read Full Post »

University of Virginia law professor Thomas Frampton on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baton Rouge asking the court to stop what Frampton describes as the City of Baton Rouge’s retaliation against his freedom of speech. He argues that the city is trying to put him in jail for contempt of a proceeding that never existed.

The case arises out of a 2020 stop and search by Baton Rouge police officers of Louisiana resident Clarence Green and his younger brother, a juvenile. Only Clarence Green was charged with any crime. 

In a December 2020 order, federal judge Brian A. Jackson excoriated the government for its actions, writing that “the state agents in this case demonstrated a serious and wanton disregard for defendant’s constitutional rights, first by initiating a traffic stop on the thinnest of pretext, and then by haphazardly invading Defendant’s home (weapons drawn) to conduct an unjustified, warrantless search.” Body worn camera footage of the stop and search was entered into the public record, and all charges against Green were dismissed. 

Frampton, of the University of Virginia School of Law, stepped in to represent the Green family in a civil rights lawsuit against BRPD, and quickly settled the case for $35,000.

One of the officers involved in the stop and search, Ken Camallo, was demoted from sergeant to corporal and suspended two and one-half months, according to a STORY in The Baton Rouge Advocate on Wednesday.

On May 27, 2021, BRPD’s mistreatment of the Green Family first became a national news story. The CBS Evening News ran a story entitled “Baton Rouge reaches $35,000 settlement with family after police strip-searched teen and entered home without warrant.” 

The next day, the City of Baton Rouge filed a petition in Baton Rouge juvenile court, seeking to hold Professor Frampton in contempt of juvenile court for releasing the body-worn camera footage to CBS. In this context, contempt of court is punishable by up to six months in prison.

The city argued that Frampton had violated a Louisiana law that makes “records and reports concerning all matters or proceedings before the juvenile court” confidential. In its petition, the city explained that it had “received a substantial amount of negative correspondence from the public” after the CBS story, and so was taking action against Professor Frampton. 

But as Frampton argues in the lawsuit filed today, what the city describes is literally impossible – because there never was a matter or proceeding before the juvenile court. Mr. Green’s brother, the only juvenile in the video, was never charged with any crime, and no proceeding was ever started in the juvenile court.

For that reason, Frampton filed the lawsuit, asking the federal court to order the city to stop its course of action against him. He also filed a motion in state court under Louisiana’s Anti-SLAPP law – a law that allows a person to stop a case and seek attorneys’ fees when they are attacked for their free speech. Both are attached. 

Frampton is represented by a legal team that includes the Tulane Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, Jane Hogan of Hogan Attorneys, and William Most of Most & Associates.

Katie Schwartzmann, director of the Tulane Law School First Amendment Clinic, said, “Residents of Baton Rouge need to know when their police department engages in behavior that violates the law. For the city to seek to jail a lawyer for sharing information with the public is deeply troubling, not only because it violates the Constitution but also because it may prevent other Baton Rouge residents from coming forward about police misconduct.”

Attorney William Most added, “The City of Baton Rouge is trying to throw a law professor in jail for contempt of a proceeding that never existed. Baton Rouge citizens should be ashamed of their parish attorney’s office for seeking this expensive, retaliatory, nonsensical course of action.”

Read Full Post »

HOUSE BILL 470 by State Rep. Rodney Lyons (D-Harvey) was withdrawn from the 2021 legislative session before it ever got off the ground but the burning question is why the hell the bill was ever filed in the first place.

The bill would have done everything Repugnantcans would love regarding transparency and accountability.

The best example I can give in backing up that claim is to point to the difference between the administrations of Bobby Jindal and John Bel Edwards. Jindal’s appointees consistently dragged their feet in complying with my records requests – if they complied at all.

Of course, Attorney General Jeff Landry is the exception to the openness of the Edwards administration and his actions are a reflection of one of the provisions of HB470. He filed suit against a reporter for The Baton Rouge Advocate when she submitted a (legal) public records request.

She was seeking background information about a sexual harassment complaint against one of Landry’s top attorneys and Landry responded with what is known as a SLAPP lawsuit. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and it is becoming a popular tactic by public officials who prefer to resist opening their books. Landry lost that case as he should have.

I’ve had one filed against me (I won and was awarded attorney fees), a TOWN COUNCIL MEMBER in Welsh, a small town in Southwest Louisiana, had a SLAPP suit filed against him by fellow council members, the mayor and police chief (he won and was awarded court costs and attorney fees).

The judges of the 4^th Judicial District (Ouachita and Morehouse parishes) sued the OUACHITA CITIZEN  newspaper in 2016 when the publication requested public records and only weeks later, then-Louisiana Superintendent of Education JOHN WHITE followed suit (no pun intended) when he sued Louisiana citizens Mike Deshotels and Dr. James Finney over public records requests they made.

HB470 would not only encourage SLAP lawsuits which the  LOUISIANA RECORD says would force the requester “to defend themselves in court, which would involve legal fees” and would make it “more difficult for citizens requesting public records to recoup attorney fees if they were sued for making such requests.”

THE PELICAN INSTITUTE said the bill would have encompassed all public records, not just body or dash cams and would make it more difficult for the awarding of attorney’s fees and court costs, currently the only incentive against compliance with records requests, which The Pelican Institute said was “the only enforcement mechanism available to the public” and would constitute a “roadblock to transparency.”

The Pelican Institute and Louisiana Record are far too polite on this issue. Here’s my take:

B.S.

I can’t believe a Democrat, an African American, would ever consider filing such a bill.

(I’m not trying to channel President Joe Biden who once told an African American that if he wasn’t for Biden, he wasn’t black. That was presumptions and an insult to any free-thinking man. I don’t like Trump – that’s no secret – but I know people who are good and decent who support Trump. I don’t understand it, but I have to respect their opinion.)

But with all the body cam footage aired on network and local TV news of white police officers beating, tasing and shooting blacks, it is incomprehensible for any African American Democrat to even suggest a bill making it easier to conceal such video footage from the public.

HB 470 would literally be a license to turn rogue police officers loose on defenseless blacks with impunity.

Certainly, there are good cops and there are dangerous blacks just as there is good and bad in any demographic group. I have a friend who is a former cop who told me that whenever he pulled anyone – anyone – over, it was to give them a warning. “Whether or not they got a ticket solely depended on their attitude,” he told me.

But the killing of Ronald Greene in Union Parish would have gone unpunished were it not for body cam footage. Even then, Louisiana State Police did nothing for 15 months, taking action only footage finally came to light – footage that troopers first denied even existed.

Greene should never have fled police, but that did not warrant what they did to him.

HB470 would have protected those troopers.

I called Rep. Lyons’ office but got no answer.

So, I emailed him to ask why he would play into the hands of Republicans who would deny that the Jan. 6 insurrection ever happened had there not been ample video to prove otherwise. Remember Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) who said the riot amount to no more than a Capitol tour?

I asked him why he would make it permissible for public officials to sue citizens making a request of public records.

I asked him what the reasoning was behind his bill that would restrict access to public records.

I received no response.

Perhaps I should have asked what he had to hide.

Read Full Post »

“If you abuse the public trust, we’re going to find you, and we’re going to prosecute you.”

—Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), as Missouri attorney general but who subsequently voted against conviction in Trump’s impeachment trial and who voted to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral votes just hours after giving that fist bump to insurrectionists who swarmed the Capitol.

[Tell your congressman],”’If you don’t start supporting election integrity, I’m coming after you, Madison Cawthorn is coming after you. Everybody’s coming after you.’”

—US Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), addressing a conservative rally in Florida in December 2020.

“I believe that this was agitators strategically placed inside of this group—you can call them antifa, you can call them people paid by the Democratic machine.”

—Madison Cawthorn, on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, but sans any proof of his claim.

Read Full Post »

“Happy Father’s Day to all, including the Radical Left, RINOs, and other Losers of the world.”

—The former guy, in his Father’s Day message.

“Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness. Wherever involved fathers are rare, crisis is certain to follow and billions in government spending is no substitute for fatherhood.”

—Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), in his Father’s Day message, apparently oblivious that the Jan. 6 insurrection, white supremacy legislation such as voter suppression laws, crumbling infrastructure, climate change Russian computer hacking and a pandemic that was ignored by the previous guy constitute bona fide “crises” that had nothing to do with “fatherlessness.”

“The vacation house of the Führer. Seeing the Eagles Nest has been on my bucket list for awhile (sic), it did not disappoint.”

—US Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Instagram posting on his visit to Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Net compound.

Read Full Post »