Louisiana Voice

It’s as if there is some kind of mad competition to see who can sacrifice principles the fastest, to be the most subservient to Col. Bonespurs

From Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy to House Speaker Mike Johnson to Clay Higgins and Steve Scalise to Jeff Landry to President William Tate and the SLU Bored of Stupidvisors, the competition to curry favor with a man who has no conscience, no moral compass, no compassion for anyone or anything, is white-hot (with a growing emphasis on the word “white,” if you catch my drift).

ABC News capitulated on Trump’s lawsuit against the network, settling out of court when a news organization with any self-respect left would have fought the frivolous lawsuit to the bitter end. Same with Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta also settled another lawsuit with trump for $25 million and CNN meekly shoved Jim Acosta out the door.

So, thanks to Cassidy, who is more afraid of losing his job than his dignity, we’re probably going to get a certified worm-brained, whale-chopping conspiracist for Secretary of Health – a man who knows absolutely zilch about health care.

And though he’s been relatively quiet as of late – a trait he rarely exemplifies – John Kennedy long ago tossed any hint of self-respect to the curb in favor of guaranteeing himself a job in America’s most exclusive club by consistently kissing the emperor’s ring, the best interests of his constituents back in Louisiana be damned.

And now State Treasurer John Fleming, the good doctor/UPS store/Subway sandwich shop/payday loan entrepreneur and erstwhile U.S. Representative from Minden has voiced his intentions to run against Cassidy next year. I guess Cassidy’s vote of approval of Robert F. Kennedy for Secretary of Health just wasn’t quite enough to overcome his vote in favor of conviction in the ol’ Trumper’s second impeachment trial.

It’s bad enough that Fleming pulled down more than $5 million in 2008, the year he was first elected, but he did so while refusing to contribute to the health care of most of his 500 employees. The precious few who did qualify were forced to pay a $3,300 deductible.

Fleming was critical of LouisianaVoice about a decade ago for what he perceived as our position of favoring “redistribution of wealth.” We responded that the only “redistribution of wealth” we were able to document was the upward flow of wealth to Wall Street, pharmaceutical companies and big oil and gas. It was at that point that Fleming did what he does best: he blocked us from further correspondence on Facebook. So much for public discourse and accountability to the electorate.

We also wrote about his payday loan company. Payday loan companies, which, by the way, our wonderful legislature has refused to rein in, feed on low-income, unsophisticated citizens by charging impossibly high interest rates that only perpetuate the problem of recurring, increasingly high debt for those struggling to survive. (That same legislature has exacerbated the problem by repeatedly refusing to increase the minimum wage in Louisiana.)

When I wrote about his payday loan operations and his refusal to provide decent health insurance for his employees, his public relations flak at the time demanded a retraction to the part about his payday loan company which the mouthpiece said was a corporation set up solely for Fleming’s employees (read: their pay was so abysmal that they were forced to borrow money from the boss at obscenely high interest rates). We responded at the time that we would be happy to print a retraction if (a) he could prove the story was untrue and (b) he would reveal to us how many medical malpractice lawsuits had been filed against Fleming’s medical practice.

I never heard from him again.

So now, LSU, most likely at the behest of Landry, has sent two professors at the Ole War Skule’s law school packing because they supposedly said nasty things about Trump and Landry. (Criticism and insults seem to be a one-way street in that respect.)

And LSU President William Tate, at $750,000 per year (with incentives that could double that number) ain’t about to step in to defend the First Amendment on behalf of his professors. No Siree, they’re on their own. I got mine, too bad about yours.

A state district judge did, however, intervene and ordered law professor Ken Levy reinstated but the First Circuit Court of Appeal reversed that on technical grounds which of course means the lawyers on each side will continue to rake in fees as the dispute winds its way up the food chain to the Louisiana State Supreme Court.

All things considered, the political scene in Louisiana today so far outstrips the shenanigans of previous administrations as to make Huey, Earl and Edwin look like reformers.

With the clown car we have running around this state, why do we even need a Super Bowl for entertainment?