Louisiana Voice

Few other outlets will bother to remind you of the lack of real issues actually being discussed by candidates the way we have done in the post below. The majority of media are content to attend speeches and ribbon cuttings, glean a few quotes from the candidate and call it coverage.

I learned campaign coverage the hard way, back in 1974, when I followed a congressional candidate into a small town in southeast Louisiana where one of his appearances was between matches of Friday night wrestling.

Now wrestling crowds are the type not generally prone to wanting to hear some long-winded politician make a bunch of empty promises, especially when he’s holding up the next match. Accordingly, the candidate I was covering was pelted with beer bottles from the audience and was forced to cut his speech short. I had the best political campaign story of my career.

On another occasion, while working for The Shreveport Times, I had occasion to cover a speech to the Claiborne Parish Chamber of Commerce by then-Sen. Allen Ellender. This was July 1972 and he was running reelection. The quote I included in my coverage of his speech went this way: “If I am reelected and if I serve out my term–and I see no reason to believe the Good Lord will not continue to bless me with good health–I will have served in the U.S. Congress longer than anyone else in history.”

Good quote.

Except that the very next day, July 27, he fell dead and his opponent, J. Bennett Johnston, who wasn’t given a ghost of a chance, waltzed in virtually uncontested. Oh, John McKeithen tried to challenge him, but his entry was too little and too late.

Anyway, all this is just my way of pointing out that LouisianaVoice offers a little different twist on Louisiana and national politics.

If you like what we do, we invite you to support us with a contribution during our Spring fundraiser which runs through April.

All you have to do to make a ONE-TIME contribution is go HERE, then scroll down to the yellow DONATE button and follow directions to contribute by credit card.

Anything you can do, large or small, is greatly appreciated and anyone who contributes $50 or more will receive a copy of my upcoming historical novel, The Dinosaur Club. It’s about a bunch of retired geratric newspaper reporters who briefly come out of retirement for the biggest assignment of their careers: identifying and taking down child sex traffickers.

Read Full Post »

Political campaigns these days just seem to come up woefully short of substance and painfully long on eyewash. Not even substance’s antonym, style. Just eyewash.

For example, have you heard a single candidate (among the Repugnantcans: Democrats are essentially mute at this point, perhaps waiting until the general election) offer anything on his or her position on any issue?

• Has even one of them told you of any proposed legislation or solution to soaring prices of groceries, utilities and gasoline?
• Have you heard any of them offer any way to cool down the war rhetoric that threatens to erupt into WWIII? The brash braggadocio of a POTUS, his out-of-control secretary of defense and his sycophant secretary of state?
• How do the candidates feel about the incursion of ICE into our daily lives—through warrantless invasions of homes, arrests and even beatings and shootings of non-violent American citizens, the planned development of huge detention centers to detain tens of thousands of people who happen to have the “wrong” skin pigment?
• And of course, even as Repugnantcans and Democrats alike clamor for release of complete and unredacted Epstein files, has either candidate dared to address that festering issue?
• Most important of all, has any candidate made a public statement, pro or con, about Trump’s assault on voting rights? The federal seizure of state voting registration records?

Are there any limitations to the dangerously autocratic and increasingly bizarre actions of an obviously mental unstable POTUS?

The answer to each of those questions is a resounding NO! Not one. Zilch. Nada.

One can usually tell which candidate has the early upper hand by the amount of piling on by his or her principal opponent. In this case, it’s a no-brainer that incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, after incurring the wrath of President Inepstein by voting for conviction in his second impeachment trial, is fighting for his political life.

Accordingly, he has taken dead aim at his main threat: U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who has the endorsement of TACO Con. Early on in the campaign, CASSIDY DENIED any association with the attack ads against Letlow, but deny though he will, his fingerprints are all over those ads.

And Sen. Cassidy’s newest ad trumpets his work on “reducing taxes for the elderly,” “no taxes on tips,” yada, yada, yada. C’mon, Senator, do you seriously think a few dollars more on a tax return (money that was already ours, by the way), a few spotty tax reductions here and there will offset the quantum leaps in the prices of groceries, consumer goods, gasoline, college tuition, housing, commercial travel, utilities and natural gas? I mean, really?? Kinda makes that $400 million ballroom and Trump’s expenditure of $1 million taxpayer dollars to play golf seem a bit extravagant, doncha think? Why the hell haven’t you addressed those little matters?

Letlow, for her part, has been strangely, almost EERILY QUIET during the campaign, apparently content just to have Cadet Bone Spurs’ endorsement. That, however, may not be enough as the attack ads are beginning to have a withering effect on her early favorite’s role. The charges of her insider trading, valid or not, are taking a toll as is her record of never having passed a bill while serving in the House, a fact Cassidy gleefully touts.

Equally puzzling is the quiet candidacy of State Treasurer JOHN FLEMING who, like Cassidy, is a medical doctor and like Letlow, once served in the U.S. House.

Let’s face it, Louisiana voters just are not accustomed to the lull before the storm during a political campaign.

The only thing the three senatorial candidates have in common is Trump. One (Letlow) has his endorsement and the other two are desperate to run on his coattails even as he ignores their efforts to endear themselves to him.

The same thing can be said of the 5^th District House candidates, each of whom is seeking to succeed Letlow as she walks away from her presumably safe seat in pursuit of a promotion to the Senate.

State Sen. BLAKE MIGUEZ of New Iberia, which is not even in the 5^th District, has garnered Mar-a-Lardo’s endorsement over equally devoted State Rep. MICHAEL ECHOLS of Monroe who, absent an endorsement, reached into his bag of fealty and pulled out a legislative bill to name the proposed new Mississippi River bridge near Baton Rouge after His Orangeness. Top that Miguez!

State Sen.  RICK EDMONDS is another aspiring MAGHAT who apparently wants nothing more out of life than to represent the 5^th District voters in pursuit of the IMPOTUS agenda.

Likewise, State Board of Regents member MISTI CORDELL of Monroe wants to defend Genghis Don from the “constant attack from the extreme left” and from “partisan impeach attacks.”

Again, though, no real solutions to the problems staring down American families—just those that threaten der Führer. Not a damn word about making college affordable, making housing more affordable, making life more affordable. Just protecting the interests of a tyrant.

That is the sum total of every Repugnantcan candidate for the U.S. Senate and for Louisiana’s 5^th District U.S. House seat.

That is indeed a sad commentary on the field of candidates for these two critically important offices.

Seven candidates and not a single original thought among the seven. No not one.

Read Full Post »

For those who are financially able, please remember April is our Spring fundraiser at LouisianaVoice. We hold only two per year, in April and October.

We are keenly aware that the Trump administration, with its unconstitutional war, has fueled inflation “Like no one has ever seen before,” to use his words.

Again, paraphrasing Cadet Bonespurs, “People come up to me with tears in their eyes, saying, ‘Sir, you’re providing a valuable service; please never stop.'” (See? I can lie, too.)

I guess quoting President Inepstein might be a poor choice to intice readers to contribute. Nevertheless, if you can afford to, please CLICK HERE, then scroll down to the YELLOW DONATE BUTTON and follow the instructions to make a ONE-TIME contributin via credit card.

Everyone who contributes $50 or more will receive a signed copy of my upcoming historical novel, The Dinosaur Club. It’s about a group of retired geezer reporters in their 80s who come out of retirement for one last assignment: to take down a child sex trafficking ring.

As always, your help in aiding us to continue bringing you the stories no one else covers is greatly appreciated.

Read Full Post »

While watching the liftoff of Artemis II on Wednesday it occurred to me that it was a darn good thing the launch didn’t violate the sacred skies of Louisiana lest 58 House members and 35 senators as well as the good folks at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) completely lose their already conspiracy-laden minds.

I mean, it’s enough that there are those who, with all sincerity, believe that the U.S. guvmint is trying to poison the nation, friend and foe alike, Repugnantcan and Democreep, by spraying the entire continent with toxic chemicals from aircraft traving 30,000 feet above the earth.

Never mind releasing chemicals from that altitude would disperse any “poison” indiscriminately over whites, blacks, browns and everything in between, including the very family members of the perpetrators.

These poor, misguided folks are confusing chemtrails with contrails, the latter being particles of vapor that freeze at high altitudes and form those long, white clouds that trail behind the airplanes. But hey! We’re at a place and time when half-baked conspiracy theories trump (no pun intended) science.

But check out a couple of thos poisonous chemtrails deposited by Aretmis II. Maybe it was not a coincidence that the launch took place on April Fool’s.

koff, koff. Somebody notify “Bib Mike” Fesi, Kellee Hennessee Dickerson, Valerie Hodges, Heather Cloud, Beryl Amedee, Michael Bayham, Jr., Marcus Bryant, Kimberly Coates, Raymond Crews, Kathy Edmonston, Peter Egan, Dodie Horton and Danny McCormick!

Read Full Post »

Remember way back on Monday, WE WARNED YOU Gov. Squeaky Toy Landry and the Repugnantcan legislature was conducting an all-out assault on public records?

That’s why we know so little information, for example, about DHS’s intention to purchase a couple of huge warehouses in Port Allen and Hammond to house thousands of undocumented detainees—and maybe even a few bona fide American citizens, if past performance is any indication.

That determination to keep us in the dark also extends to these mega-data centers being planned in the Shreveport area, St. Francisville and in Richland Parish. It’s a pretty simple philosophy: the less we know, the fewer hard questions we know to ask.

And now the HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE, by a unanimous vote (at least two Democrats who are members of the committee, along with HOUSE BILL 608 author Rep. Tehmi Chassion (D-Lafayette were complicit) by the committee that says you have no right to see how your tax dollars are being spent.

HB 608 exempts universities under the dubious guise of privacy protection from having to account for the of money being paid to college athletes through the university via a $2.8 billion legal settlement that allows schools to share up to $20.5 million for athletes yearly.

Augmenting that is the so-called Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) payment program underwritten by corporate sponsors that has seen some high school jocks come to college programs already overnight millionaires.

Universities nationwide, with the lone exception of James Madison University, have refused to divulge any income data for students, claiming it (a) violates students’ privacy or (b) it’s a trade secret necessary for the success of a given athletic program. But is student privacy really so sacred in this case? For the most part, these are men and women at least 18 years of age and it would seem if they are old enough to vote, they’re old enough to account for the receipt of public money–just like any other adult.

The salary of every professor, administrator, instructor, custodian and groundskeeper at every public college in Louisiana is readily available. What’s the difference?

The real inequity here is that a hardworking couple who pays into a college savings fund for their children may eventually see some of that money going to pay some athlete while their kid struggles to pay for books. Maybe that’s part of the reason New Orleans attorney Scott Sternburg sued LSU on behalf of three reporters seeking records.

The bill will now go to the House and Governmental Affairs Committee for further consideration.

But remember, if this bill becomes law, it will be the first public records exemption for public spending in the gloried history of the gret stet of Loozianer.

But not the last.

Rest assured, if this bill passes, it’ll be so much easier to move to similarly exempt other records and you’d better believe once the genie is out of the bottle, it ain’t going back in.

There will be other elected officials and bureaucrats down the road who will decide their records rare sacrosanct, that they should not be bothered answering questions from the public—you know, like Jeff Landry complaining that as attorney general, his office had to spend a lot of time responding to public records request.

“During my time as Attorney General, we had to hire two lawyers that worked full-time answering sometimes senseless requests from people with no connection to our state,” Landry complained, forgetting, apparently, that goes with the job of working for the public. 

And, by golly, you will have no right to know how your tax dollars are being spent.

Read Full Post »