Louisiana Voice

Even as he directs the Justice Department under Pam Bodi to go after perceived political enemies, Donald Trump, aka Agent Orange, continues to pardon and commute the sentences of those convicted of equal or more serious offenses.

In his skewed sense of justice, Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of:

• Those who invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an insurrection carried out at his instructions and which directly resulted in the death of a Capitol police officer;
• Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace for the sale of illegal drugs and other illicit goods using cryptocurrency;
• Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Dale Sutton, Jr. Washington, D.C. police officers who were sentenced for their involvement in the death of a D.C. motorist;
• Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, convicted in 2011 on multiple corruption charges;
• Former Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey, who pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally funnel money into his 2016 campaign for Congress;
• Devon Archer, convicted in 2022 of defrauding a Native American tribe in a $60 million bond scheme;
• Former U.S. Rep. George Santos, convicted and sentenced for fraud and identity theft, among other charges;
• Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange but failed to stop criminals from using the platform to move money that was connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

In a typical fit of petulance, he announced yesterday that TRADE TALKS WITH CANADA were “terminated,” all because of that country’s anti-tariff TV ad that Trump said was “FAKE” which employed quotes from Ronald Reagan, a member of Trump’s own party – or what used to be the Republican Party but now is unrecognizable. God only knows what his position will be tomorrow.

Bear in mind that all this was done in the first 10 months of his second term but has drawn little media attention because of other distractions like troop deployment to Democrat-run cities, his terror campaign of arrest and deportation of people of color, both citizens and non-citizens, his ego-driven July 4 flop of a parade, his grandstanding before 800 generals and admirals, his threats of tariffs, his back-and-forth talks with Putin, the Epstein files, his demolition of the White House’s East Wing so he can build his 90,000-square-foot ballroom monument to himself and the government shutdown and the firing of thousands of federal workers or the requirement that “essential” workers continue at their posts without pay..

But before we unload on Trump, remember that none of the aforementioned atrocities could have been carried out successfully without a host of enablers, bot appointed and elected.

Let’s review. First are members of his cabinet and other appointees:

• KASH PATEL
• J.D. VANCE
• KRISTY NOEM
• PAM BODI
• RUSSELL VOUGHT
• PETE HEGSETH
• ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.
• TULSI GABBARD
• JOHN RATCLIFFE
• MARCO RUBIO
• STEPHEN MILLER
• KAROLINE LEAVITT
• PETER THIEL

Has there ever existed a group of more unqualified public servants in the history of this nation? I don’t think so. I listed their names in all-caps and boldface type because of the sheer stupidity. Combined, there are not enough IQ points to dot a domino. But there is an abundance of pure evil; oh, is there evil.

On to the U.S. Senate, where Louisiana’s own senators certainly qualify as members of the Trump Ass-Kissing Benevolent Society:

• JOHN THUNE
• TOM COTTON
• TIM SCOTT
• MARSHA BLACKBURN
• BILL CASSIDY
• SUSAN COLLINS
• JOHN CORNYN
• TED CRUZ
• CHUCK GRASSLEY
• LINDSEY GRAHAM
• JOSH HAWLEY
• RON JOHNSON
• CINDY HYDE-SMITH
• JOHN KENNEDY
• MITCH McCONNELL
• LISA MURKOWSKI
• RICK SCOTT
• TOMMY TUBERVILLE

Then, there are the House members, each one of which will be up for reelection in just over a year (as will one-third of the Senate).

• MIKE JOHNSON
• STEVE SCA;OSE
• CLAY JOGGOMS
• JULIA LETLOW
• CLAY HIGGINS
• LAUREN BOEBERT
• JAMES COMER
• JEFF HURD
• RONNY JACKSON
• JIM JORDAN
• MIKE KELLY
• MICHAEL LAWLER
• NANCY MACE
• THOMAS MASSIE
• RICHARD McCORMICK
• TIM MOORE
• MIKE ROGERS
• CHIP ROY
• PETE SESSIONS

Finally, we have nine Supreme Court justices, six of whom are in Trump’s pocket:

• JOHN ROBERTS (CHIEF JUSTICE)
• CLARENCE THOMAS
• SAMUEL ALITO, JR.
• NEIL GORSUCH
• BRETT KAVANAUGH
• AMY CONEY BARRETT

These, then, are the enablers. These are the ones who have facilitated the actions of a madman, a man who thrives on division and distortions. These are the people who, by their silence, have allowed the U.S. to slide precipitously toward third-world status. By their inaction, they are complicit. Should anything he does ever be determined to be felonious, they will be accessories, abettors, partners in crime.

Without them, he would be powerless. These people have stood by as Trump deliberately chips away at the foundations of this country – the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill or Rights. They have allowed him to chip away at our freedoms, our very way of life.

Cadet Bone Spurs’ efforts to stack the deck by having states like Texas and Louisiana enact redistricting notwithstanding, it is critical that voters turn out in large numbers next November to send a loud and clear, unmistakable message to the Beltway that we desire to have our country, our freedoms, back.

I have listed 56 of his enablers here, though I’m sure there are others whom I’ve overlooked. But if there is not a radical change in the makeup of the House and Senate next November, then we have only ourselves to blame.

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That didn’t take long.

The price of Trump’s palatial ballroom, no doubt to feature plenty of gold, was originally priced at $200 million but in the few weeks since it was first announced, the cost as already risen by 50 percent, to $300 MILLION.

Could Trump’s tariffs be behind the increase?

No matter. It’s all being paid for by private donors.

Kinda like Mexico’s paying for the wall, right?

Well, maybe so, maybe not. The White House has released the donor list for the structure. Of course, the Epstein files still haven’t been released.

Following is the complete list of donors, though the White House conveniently omitted the amounts pledged by each of the sycophants:

• Altria Group, Inc.
• Amazon
• Apple
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• Caterpillar, Inc.
• Coinbase
• Comcast Corporation
• J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
• Hard Rock International
• Google
• HP Inc.
• Lockheed Martin
• Meta Platforms
• Micron Technology
• Microsoft
• NextEra Energy, Inc.
• Palantir Technologies Inc.
• Ripple
• Reynolds American
• T-Mobile
• Tether America
• Union Pacific Railroad
• Adelson Family Foundation
• Stefan E. Brodie
• Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
• Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
• Edward and Shari Glazer
• Harold Hamm
• Benjamin Leon Jr.
• The Lutnick Family
• The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
• Stephen A. Schwarzman
• Konstantin Sokolov
• Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
• Paolo Tiramani
• Cameron Winklevoss
• Tyler Winklevoss

Most of the donors appear to be individuals as opposed to corporations, though there are a few of those, as well.

You can bet the farm that those people/corporations are not writing checks out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s either because Agent Orange us using political leverage or because the donors want something in return.

Take Lockheed Martin, for example. Do you reckon they are going to get their contribution back in spades by fudging just a bit on their federal contracts?

Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon, T-Mobile, et al? They aren’t in the habit of being benevolent without expecting something in return.

And let’s not forget the CHEETO BANDITO’s demand that the federal government pay him $230 million to cover his costs in defending the investigations of his hoarding classified documents and a few other violations. Remember, Cadet Bone Spurs said the bulk of the cost of the ballroom would be paid by him, with no cost to taxpayers – like perhaps, $230 million?

Now we just have to brace ourselves for the next cost estimate increase.

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Do you like shell games?

You know, that’s the con game where something is placed under one of three shells and the con artist shuffles the shells (or cups; sometimes it’s cups) and you place a buck down to guess which shell the object is under. If you’re correct, you win money. If not, you lose your dollar and invariably, the sucker always loses his dollar.

Well, in reading two separate news stories today, I see that Don “the Con” Trump is up to his old tricks and the American public, as a group, is the sucker.

The first story, from the BBC poses the question of who will pay for Trump’s gaudy $250 MILLION BALLROOM

The second story, from The Guardian, carried headline that said, “TRUMP SAYS HE HAS FINAL SAY ON PAYING HIMSELF $230 MILLION FOR PAST INVESTIGATIONS.”

Now, let’s run the numbers.

In that BBC story, Trump said anonymous donors would be willing to spend some $20 million on the ballroom’s construction and that he (Cadet Bon Spurs) would “personally” pay for a significant portion of the construction cost.

Let’s see, the estimated total cost is $250 million. “Anonymous donors” will chip in about $20 million. That leaves $230 million for Trump to pay.

Now, how much does he say the federal guvmint owe him for those investigations, Oh, yes, it was $230 million, wasn’t it? My, what a coincidence.

A PBS STORY quoted the Trumpster as saying “no public money will be spent on the ballroom.”

So, where does the $230 he says he is owed come from if not the public?

But perhaps we should ask such questions because TACO Don also said “nothing would be demolished during construction,” yet, we’re already seeing the razing of the East Wing.

AFTER

Welcome to mathematics 101 in Trumpworld. Not as bad as lowering drug prices by “1500 PERCENT”  or the “300 MILLION DEATHS” from drug overdoses last year – but bad, nonetheless.

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LouisianaVoice is in the last 10 days of its October fundraiser. It is one of only two fundraisers per year. The other is in April. There is a reason there is no paywall for LouisianaVoice: I want any information I have to be available to all, free of charge other than what some feel they can comfortably contribute twice a year. For a completely different reason, I accept no advertising other than a single ad from Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs. That’s because I (a) support indepentent booksellers and (b) do not wish to be obligated to a corporate “sponsor” the way some news outlets are.

I found the following meme online and thought I’d share it with you. I pretty well sums up my philosophy about my decision to ignore advice to establish a paywall:

So, if you feel you can do so, any contribution would be greatly appreciated. You may make a one-time contribution by credit card. by going HERE and scrolling down to the YELLOW DONATE button in the right-hand column.

Thank you for your consideration.

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Journalist Stanley Nelson, known for his fearless investigations into unsolved Ku Klux Klan murders in Louisiana and Mississippi, will be honored Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, 5–7 p.m. The event, hosted by the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, is free and open to the public.

Nelson, the longtime editor of the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for his investigations into unsolved Ku Klux Klan murders. In addition to covering regular news and putting out the paper each week, Nelson wrote 150 stories from 2007 through 2010 on Klan violence, including some identifying the likely suspects in murders in Ferriday and nearby Natchez, Mississippi.

Over the years, Nelson, who died June 5 at age 69, also worked with prominent national journalists, and several of them will speak about him at the Oct. 22 event. They include Hank Klibanoff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and podcast creator; Brad Lichtenstein, executive producer of “American Reckoning,” a documentary that aired on PBS in 2022; Joe Shapiro, an investigative reporter for NPR; and Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter whose work led to the prosecutions of Klan leaders in Mississippi.

Members of the families of two men presumably killed by the Klan—Wharlest Jackson, a civil rights leader in Natchez and Oneal Moore, one of the first Black sheriff’s deputies in the Bogalusa area—will attend the event, as will Nelson’s family. Former Manship School Prof. Jay Shelledy, who started the LSU Cold Case Project to pursue FBI files that could help Nelson, will speak, along with former students who worked closely with Nelson.

Nelson also wrote two books about the Klan and served as an adjunct professor at the Manship School, where he helped mentor dozens of students who have won regional and national awards for their own stories on civil rights cold cases.

“Once Stanley learned about the horrible things that had happened in his area, he could not stop digging into them,” said Christopher Drew, the current director of the LSU Cold Case Project. “He cared so much about the victims, and he did everything he could, including confronting some of the old Klansmen, to provide a greater sense of closure and justice.”

He was a graduate of Louisiana Tech University’s School of Journalism in Ruston.

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