Louisiana Voice

“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

–Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. (This basic canon has never changed, Mein Führer)

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A reader sent LouisianaVoice an email listing the 12 common signs of narcissiam (Goose, you’ll just have to google the term if you want to know what it means. Hint: it has nothing to do with “dumacrat commies” but does seem to describe someone who has made a habit of snuggling up to certain communists named Kim and Vladimir). I decided to repost the list in its entirety.

It may remind you of someone who’s been in the news a lot:

• Grandiose Sense of Self-Importance: Exaggerating achievements, talents, or status while expecting to be recognized as superior without matching accomplishments.
• Fantasies of Power and Success: Preoccupation with daydreams about unlimited brilliance, power, beauty, or ideal love.
• Belief in Being “Special”: Conviction that they are unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other high-status people or institutions.
• Constant Need for Admiration: Requiring excessive validation, praise, and attention to prop up a fragile internal self-esteem.
• Strong Sense of Entitlement: Unreasonable expectations of special, favorable treatment or automatic compliance from others.
• Exploitative Behavior: Interpersonally taking advantage of friends, partners, or colleagues to achieve their own ends.
• Lack of Empathy: An inability or unwillingness to recognize, identify with, or care about the feelings and needs of others.
• Frequent Envy: Being intensely jealous of others or believing that other people are constantly envious of them.
• Arrogant or Haughty Attitudes: Displaying snobby, disdainful, or condescending behavior toward people they deem ordinary.
• Boundary Issues and Control: Disrespecting personal limits and attempting to control the choices, privacy, or emotions of those around them.
• Blame-Shifting and Low Accountability: Refusing to take responsibility for mistakes and deflecting blame onto others.
• Fragile Self-Esteem and Sensitivity to Criticism: Reacting to perceived slights, disagreements, or minor critiques with intense defensiveness, rage, or shame.

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So Louisiana’s Sen. John N. Kennedy SPOKE SATURDAY to a gaggle of Iowa conservatives saying that yes, inflation is being caused by the U.S.-Iran war but that he sees an end to the hostilities within six months. Sounds like he’s been drinking the Trump Kool-Aid rather than weed killer.

Nice to know. Interesting, though, that he acknowledged it is a “war” as opposed to what J.D. “hands off, that’s my sofa” Vance says it is not a war.

But back to Kennedy.

He was the keynote speaker for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual fall fundraiser in Des Moines and he was speaking in support of U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s senatorial campaign.

But here’s the thing I find puzzling. He appeared to speak in Iowa while he is now in day 3,171 of never having held a town hall meeting with Louisiana constituents, the ones who finally put him in the Senate after twice before having sought–and failed–to get elected to the office.

For that matter, Kennedy has had some difficulty through the years deciding just what he wanted to do when he grew up. He’s also run for the office of attorney general and eventually ran—and was elected state treasurer—after proclaiming in campaign ads that as secretary of the Office of State Revenue (yet another of the posts listed on his resume), he reduced the paperwork for small business by 150 percent. That was perhaps a precursor to Trump Math whereby prescription drug prices were reduced “1600 percent.”

After finally being elected senator (the third time was the charm) by proclaiming he’d “rather drink weed killer” than offend Trump, he has managed to avoid meeting those who took him to the dance for 8.7 years. But he manages to find time to dispense his homilies on the good conservatives in Iowa.

Do you think he could possibly be positioning himself…? Nah, couldn’t be. Yet his Zachary High School yearbook listed his ambition as to one day become POTUS (that’s President of the U.S. as opposed to the current occupant whose POTUS means Pedophile of the U.S.).

Stranger things have happened. Case in point, the Sultan of Mar-a-Lardo.

Speaking of absentee representation, there’s Rep. Julia Letlow. On average, members of Congress miss about 1 to 3 percent of votes during their tenure. Letlow, in her nearly seven years in the House, has already missed 10 percent of votes. But, hey, insider trading takes time.

And remember how Trump ridiculed Joe Biden in 2020 for not campaigning, for “holing up” because of the Covid-19 pandemic? Well, there’s no pandemic, but Julia Letlow is nowhere to be found.

She did debate opponent John Fleming—one time—in the Republican primary earlier this year, a debate that observers agree was won by Fleming. But just over a month out from the Nov. 3 election, she has managed to adroitly duck out on debating Democrat Jamie Davis.

Davis, for his part, believes that’s because Letlow is a party to one of those nondisclosure agreements that are getting so much negative publicity of late.

Hers was in connection to the Meta data center being built in her district in Richland Parish.

Readers like Goose will accuse Davis and any of his supporters of being “dumacrat commies,” as is anyone else with whom he disagrees. But Goose, of course, doesn’t know the Constitution from constipation so there’s that.

But anyone who has met or listened to Davis will understand that he knows the issues, he feels the same pain we do at the gas pump or the grocery store. He’s a farmer and an experienced public servant. Unlike Trump, who doesn’t feel—or care about—the effects of inflation, Davis understands because he’s been there.

But you’d never know it from Letlow, who simply refuses to debate Davis.

And folks, if you’re afraid to debate, afraid to address the issues, afraid to explain your position (or your insider trading), afraid to face the voters, then you don’t deserve my vote.

That goes for John N. Kennedy or Julia Letlow.

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Northern Louisiana Medical Center (NLMC) may have “ended” its diversion of patients to neighboring facilities last Friday, but an insider says the Ruston hospital and its parent company, Allegiance Healthcare, are far from out of the proverbial woods.

Patients had been diverted to nearby hospitals recently because of a shortage of equipment at NLMC but that situation, while eased somewhat, is by no means alleviated. A source inside the hospital said there is scant equipment to care for more than a handful of patients at a time and should the number of patients exceed the availability of equipment, patients will again have to be diverted to other facilities.

Meanwhile, LouisianaVoice has obtained some numbers relating to the Ruston 130-bed hospital which are unofficial. A source familiar with negotiations said Allegiance Healthcare CEO Rock Bordelon recently rejected a $16 million offer from the Lincoln Parish Police Jury to purchase the hospital.

That same source said Allegiance and Bordelon paid “around $7 million for the hospital but that seems to be extremely low considering Allegiance purchased the hospital from Community Health Systems which has been selling off properties across the Southeast for considerably higher amounts:

• Plateau Medical Center in Oak Hill, West Virginia: $92 million;
• Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville, N.C., and Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville, N.C.: a combined $320 million;
• Three Florida hospitals in Bravera, Crystal River and Spring Hill, to Tampa General Hospital for about $290 million
• Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado was also sold by CHS to a nonprofit organization for an undisclosed amount.

The same source said NLMC currently has outstanding vendor debt that “could be as much as $10 million to $20 million.” That figure was unconfirmed but Bordelon does, in fact, have IRS tax liens against him for about $14 million for having failed to submit tax withholdings from employees.

“I got a first-hand look at the inside of a broken-down facility,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “It brought tears to my eyes. I remember when the hallways would have visitors, physical therapists and nurses ambulating patients. Instead, what I found was a ghost town.”

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