Louisiana’s official state motto is “Union, Justice, Confidence.”
It should be “Thank God We’re Not Florida.”
We in Louisiana have our problems – lots of them. We’re one of the poorest states, we have poorly-educated citizens, there’s a simultaneous problem of obesity and a hunger (depending, I suppose, on individual economic conditions), we’re generally an unhealthy state, and we rank pretty high in teenage pregnancy and infant mortality. And to address all these problems, we have suddenly decided that book banning is a great idea.
But still, we’re not Florida. Not only does the Sunshine State have its own ban on books, but it has:
- A “Don’t Say Gay” bill in the legislature;
- Instituted restrictive voting requirements;
- Banned masks during a deadly pandemic;
- Its Anti-CRT Act;
- Restrictions on teacher tenure;
- A ban on transgenders;
- A parental rights bill;
- An unfair alimony law;
- Restricted discussions of systemic racism in workplace trainings;
- Its own handpicked secret police – a private, 1200-member military unit;
- A likely unconstitutional anti-protest bill;
- An equally unconstitutional bill pending that would require bloggers to register with the state if anything was written about any state official.
Fascist? You bet.
Just ask the Florida League of Women Voters, a century-old organization that has a rich history of registering voters, holding debates between candidates and public forums to discuss critical issues facing citizens.
The league has been denied permission by the Florida Department of Management Services to hold an outdoor rally on the steps of the Old Capitol in Tallahassee.
It was denied permission on the basis of yet another “Rhonda Santis” rule that requires groups to first get sponsorship from a sympathetic state agency.
So, let me understand this rule. Say, I would like to lead a protest against Florida State Police for some egregious conduct like say, the unwarranted beating death of an innocent person. So, I would have to obtain sponsorship from Florida State Police to conduct my protest? Good luck with that.
In fact, good luck getting “sponsorship” from any “sympathetic” state agency whose leaders depend on the governor’s good graces to keep their jobs.
What happened to a little thing like the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? You know, the one that guarantees freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press?
It’s beginning to appear as if the only amendment the Republicans hold dear is the Second Amendment that allows certified nuts to purchase and keep assault weapons with which to slaughter innocent school children and their teachers – unless, of course, the First Amendment is invoked to protect “tourists” who want to riot, kill, and defecate in and otherwise destroy the U.S. Capitol in order to disrupt the certification of a presidential election.
As much as I detested Trump for his four-year s**t show, I am absolutely scared to death of a DeSantis presidency. Where Trump was largely an orange-tinged clown-like buffoon, DeSantis is a true danger to this country. Simply put, he is the personification of evil – evil to the rights of women, minorities, gays, educators, the news media, to freedom itself.
I fear we are doomed for an administration headed by a DeSantis devotee – Jeff Landry, who exhibits many of the same traits as the der Fuhrer of Florida.
So, Thank God we’re not Florida – yet.
Louisiana Voice 
To the point and well said Sir.
Here are some truths about the modern “Republican” (not all people who vote “Republican,” just the eight or nine out of ten it applies to). The modern “Republican” has no consistent ideology other than to oppose Democrats, and doesn’t need a governing philosophy beyond that. The modern “Republican” doesn’t believe in the Constitution or the Bible as a whole but is capable of quoting, ignoring, or redefining either as it suits their purpose. The modern “Republican” believes in only one thing, that by virtue of being who they are they are entitled to their prejudices. Anyone who won’t take that seriously is denying them their God-given rights. The media they consume affirms both their prejudices and their “persecution.” The politicians they elect, as are most politicians everywhere, are selfish opportunist, most of whom have proved to be utter cowards in the face of a legitimate threat to constitutional democracy. Trump exploits all this in a purely vain way. But a DeSantis, a Landry, or any number of others are more than willing to exploit it for the power to crush their opponents. And it will happen, too, if the rest of us let it.
“The modern “Republican” doesn’t believe in the Constitution or the Bible as a whole but is capable of quoting, ignoring, or redefining either as it suits their purpose. ”
Aren’t you jewish?
When I heard WBRZ had disabled comments at their site I knew the racist, fascist trolls hiding like cowards behind their anonymous profiles would be looking for another place to hang out and it looks like several of them ended up here.
I don’t usually directly address the comments of trolls but I’ve been thinking about your comment since I saw it and I can’t for the life of me figure out what you think being Jewish has to do with the sentence you quoted. Never mind whether I am or not, doesn’t matter. But what could it possibly have to do with my comment?
I so look forward to reading your definition of a Democrat. Our state, lead by our god like and righteous Gov. Edwards, don’t let the Ronald Green family in on your definition.
I’ll just stockpile angel wings and halo’s for your witty reply.
Uh, that should be “led”. And you obviously cherry pick what you read for I have taken our governor to task on several occasions. I guess you can “led” a horse to water but you can’t make him read.
So true, to be led. It is your site, please edit as you see fit.
Oh, and the plural for halos doesn’t take an apostrophe. That would make it a possessive halo.
It is so scary to contemplate what Landry will do if elected to out-do DeSantis. And we are playing right into his hands.
You are a buffoon it’s people like you who are ruining this country just look at this country with y’all’s values it’s it the worst shape ever it has only been two years since trump has been out of office and look people can’t even afford basic things to sustain not to count the influx of immigrants your democratic values are horrible I hope and pray we get someone like him in office before y’all completely ruin this country
Punctuation, Sidney, punctuation. Throw a period, a comma, or a semicolon in there somewhere. My Gawd, you’re a virtual illiterate.
Are you kidding me? Florida flourishes while Louisiana sits at the bottom in so many categories. The oil and gas industry supports this state, which liberals as yourself hate. So we would do good to follow Florida’s example.
What an idiotic column. While the Democrats are destroying the United States with their reckless ‘soft on crime policies’, endangering our citizens with open borders, creating division with their woke agenda and empowering communist Russia and China, the state of Florida is flourishing with more people moving to it than ever before. Liberal policies are failing with every attempt of Dems warped agenda. It’s sad they are ruining the lives of millions in the process.
Florida is a great state. Clean, smooth roads, no income tax, 7% sales tax, great clean schools.
It is no where near what you are portraying it to be. Like any other state, it has its share of problems but nowhere near that of Louisiana.
Hate to say it, but To me you sound like a racist and bigot, You need to study history and learn about our country and it’s origin.
For the record, I lived in Florida and now a resident of Louisiana. So I know,
I don’t like Republicans BUT I hate Democrats for their distorted lying, underhanded politics who burn down cities, let illegals into the country, sell out to foreign interests, raising taxes, most noticeably causing turmoil in the energy sector. Our fossil fuels are the cleanest in the world.
Climate change, now that’s another story. It is all not man made. Have you heard of solar flares, how about emissions from volcanoes. Don’t forget the earth’s changing tilt on its axis. Go ahead study the impact.. I am for a clean earth but you will only find that in advanced countries.
That being said, I think everyone should brush up on Geology- an interesting course on what makes our beautiful earth work.
God speed
“Ban on mask mandates
Ban on vaccine mandates
50/50 parenting law”
Wow,you guys are really twisted. Do you actually think that forcing other human beings to wear masks or forcibly injecting them with mysterious gene therapy treatments against their will are ‘freedoms’ that have been taken away from you and that giving both parents equal custody is wrong?
That’s pretty sick,to be honest.
Reading through a few comments, Tom, I’m thinking that all Louisiana needs to do is ban gay people and suppress a few human rights and we’ll be rich like Florida. Who knew?
So I wonder who sent this out to the Landry people to get them to share their scholarly comments
It’s the trolls who used to post at WBRZ. They disabled their comment section. I’m sure you can see why.
Bigot much SchmuelyMoneywitz? What does being Jewish have to do with anything that’s being discussed in this thread except the espousal of Hitler’s ideology? Oh, rightttt! There it is 🎯 How ironic given the name you’re posting under.