Louisiana Voice

It isn’t exactly a chicken-or-egg puzzle, but a questions Americans should be asking is the Trump war is exacerbating the current inflationary trend brought on by skyrocketing gasoline prices, which have an unquestionable ripple effect on the entire economy, or are the big oil companies somehow taking full advantage of the situation in order to gouge consumers?

If the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was truly the sole cause of the squeeze being felt by consumers, it would stand to reason to assume the oil companies would also be feeling the effects of a negatively-impacted international oil market. I mean, we’re all in this together, right?

Wrong.

ExxonMobil and Chevron on Friday REPORTED COMBINED $26.5 BILLION in profits during the second quarter of this year. Chevron’s earnings for the second quarter were $12 billion, a $2.4 billion increase over the same quarter a year ago—when there was no Iran war. It was Chevron’s biggest profit since 2020.

ExxonMobil’s earnings, also announced on Friday, were $14.5 billion, more than double what was reported by the company for the same quarter of a year ago. Shell also reported earnings that doubled its quarterly profits from a year ago.

The record earnings had such a bad look that The Washington Post had a headline that read, “As drivers get sticker shock, bit oil gets a windfall.”

Is it a coincidence that in 2024, candidate Trump ASKED BIG OIL TO CONTRIGUTE $1 BILLION to his campaign and he would roll back Biden environmental regulations, including tax credits for electric vehicles and would cut spending for the development of wind power, both of which could make a dent in Big Oil’s earnings if continued at the same rate?

When asked about the windfall profits reported by the oil companies, a White House spokesperson attempted not-so-deftly to divert attention from the firms to Iran with the by-now empty pledge that “oil and gas prices will plummet back to pre-conflict levels” when the U.S. disables Iran’s blockade to the flow of crude. Well, that little conflict was supposed to be over in a couple of weeks (anyone else notice it’s always “two weeks” with every single promise Trump makes). It’s now been five months with no resolution in sight.

Meanwhile, Big Oil continues to take full advantage of the situation by gouging Americans at the gas pump.

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If there has eve, EVER, been a president more tone-deaf to the plight of working Americans than one Donald J. Trump, I’m at a loss to name him.

He makes Marie Antoinette look like Mother Teresa; Herbert Hoover appear as Abe Lincoln and George W. Bush endowed with the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson.

Okay, that last one was a bit of a stretch, but you get the picture. Donald Trump is completely, totally and unequivocally out of touch with Americans, most especially his own constituency.

After all, of all Americans, the great working class, which comprises the bulk of his maniacal support base, are the very ones suffering the greatest under the strain of increased prices across the board of consumer goods,

The crushing inflationary economy is hurting virtually everyone but the wealthiest, of course. Yet, with approximately 30-35 percent of Americans, his support has been unflagging—and that’s the real mystery.

As Americans struggle to put food on the table and fuel in their vehicles and to pay those tariffs Trump insists foreign countries are paying, he is blowing through taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Ballrooms, arches, reflecting pools, jet plane renovations, golf course upgrades, wars—it seems to make no difference to him. Spend, spend, spend. After all, it’s not coming out of his pocket.

Not only that, he continues to enrich himself off the office he holds to the tune of $2.4 billion so far this term—a clear violation of the Emoluments Clause.

And now, without so much as a second thought, he has decided, apparently on impulse, that he needs an entirely new fleet of Cadillac Escalades. Two hundred fifty of them.

Let them eat SUVs: Trump White House orders fleet of luxury cars as Americans struggle | US news | The Guardian

Want to know how he justified the purchase of 250 new Escalades for his motorcades? Here’s what he said: “We look sharp in those Escalades. Our guys are very spoiled. They’re very spoiled. They like the Escalade. So do I.”

That’s it. “We look sharp” in them.

Does that sound like someone who is concerned about the welfare of Americans?

The Guardian called it “fiddling with car specifications while Rome burns.”

J.D. Vance, of course, is no better. He ordered the Secret Service to have a helicopter take his elementary school-aged son to golf practice. Only inclement weather prevented that from happening.

Kash Patel has used $60 million military jets to travel to concerts to see his girlfriend perform.

So, MAGHATS, take comfort in knowing that Trump is spending more than $300,000 per unit to purchase and customize 250 Cadillac Escalades (that’s a total outlay of $75 million, folks) for his motorcades because he “looks good” in them.

Rest easy that Vance uses military helicopters to take his kid to golf practice while the children of typical MAGHATS are shuttled around by moms in minivans to soccer practice but Patel can commandeer a $60 million plane to hop around the country to watch his girlfriend perform while the typical MAGHAT has to be content tossing dollar bills on stage while watching his imaginary girlfriend swing around a brass pole.

And don’t worry about “affordability.” It’s just a term invented by the Dumocrats. The American economy is going gangbusters. And we’ve obliterated Iran’s capacity to fight. And Trump won the election in 2020.

Because he says so, that’s why. Anything else is fake news.

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While little Jeffey is busy carrying out his vendetta against New Orleans and requiring state employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) even as he claims transparency in government, a national survey placed Louisiana dead last in a ranking of all 50 states.

Why, we even ranked below (gasp!) Mississippi (48^th), Alaska (49^th), Arkansas (45^th), West Virginia (44^th) and Alabama (43^rd).

Of course, Gov. Squeaky Toy will attempt to put a positive spin on Louisiana’s economic, educational and criminal justice systems. For example, when he signed an executive order just yesterday ostensibly aimed at giving New Orleans citizens transparency on how their tax dollars are spent, he ballyhooed, “This new initiative will drive us further towards a responsible government and our progress is evident,” Landry said. “Louisiana now has fewer people on Medicaid rolls than before the previous governor expanded that welfare program.”

“This is a testament to two key factors,” he said. “Our thriving economy that is creating jobs at a historic pace and our determination to protect the needy from the greedy. Louisiana taxpayers deserve transparency and assurance that their money is spent wisely.”

Really? Responsible government? Evident progress? Thriving economy? Transparency? Guv, do you sincerely believe depriving hungry children of food is responsible government? Is it really progress? Or is your response to a distant Trump dog whistle? I mean, I don’t recall there ever being any thought given to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before Trump and Elon Musk.

You said it, yourself, Guv, when you said Louisiana DOGE has uncovered nearly $1 billion in savings for the state. That’s easy enough when you deprive the sick and poor of medical care and food for their tables.

It’s almost as if you were taking your cue from TACO Don. We never heard the terms fake news, witch hunt or stolen elections until President InEpstein introduced them to our everyday vocabulary ad nauseam. Suddenly, every MAGHAT out there incapable of thinking for himself (including you, Guv.) picked up on the phrases given you by Agent Orange. It’s almost as if you have no terminology of your own and had to borrow from a functional illiterate felonious Liar-in-Chief.

And here’s the best part: you apparently feel the media are not being transparent because they don’t print every single word you utter. Well, Guv, that’s called editing because if we didn’t edit, the flood of gobbledygook from politicians would trigger readers’ B.S. overload switch.

Besides, it’s you who initiated those NDAs, not the media. It’s you who obviously does not want voters to know what you’re doing. So, when you declared on X, “Good government starts with transparency,” if sounded a bit hollow.

Having said that, let’s take a closer look at those Rankings: Overall Best States | U.S. News Best States that has Louisiana ranked:

• 50^th (dead last) in Crime and Corrections;
• 46^th in Education (you somehow have the state moving up 11 spots on the Nation’s Report Card);
• 45^th in Health Care (thanks to your kicking 200,000 off Medicaid coverage)
• 49^th in Natural Environment (Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” is FAR MORE DEADLY than previously thought, thanks to the relaxing of protective standards by your administration);
• 49^th in 44^th in Economy;
• 48^th in Fiscal Stability;
• 49^th in Infrastructure;
• 32 in Opportunity

Guv, those are pretty tough rankings to overcome and I don’t think more detainee centers for illegal immigrants are going to help anyone other than the private concerns who lock people in cages for money. And with the proposed datacenters ramping up utility rates and water usage, the jury’s still very much out on any benefits to be derived from the jobs they’re promising.

Of course, we don’t know how many jobs there will be or how many would be permanent, with all those NDAs being passed around.

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You should be so proud…

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By Paul Spillman

The headlines are all about the Senate recess and Trump’s desire to see the SAVE Act passed, possibly the most inaccurately devised acronym for a piece of legislation ever to come out of Congress. But while Trump is determined to turn the “world’s greatest deliberative body” into a rubber stamp for his agenda, the SAVE Act isn’t the only bill attempting to advance.

After first saying it was unlikely the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) would come up for a vote before the August recess Senate Majority Leader John Thune then huddled with the legislation’s sponsors and sent out a revised bill to the commissioner of the Big Ten, Tony Petitti, and the commissioner of the SEC, Greg Sankey, with a deadline of 9:00 a.m. today to respond.

Both conferences let the deadline pass without issuing a statement. But both conferences also have been in constant communication with each other, and have meetings scheduled with university presidents and administrators that will likely continue until some agreement on position is reached.

The sponsors of the bill conceded to many of the conferences’ demands, but did not address all their concerns. It did agree to make the pooling of media rights strictly voluntary regardless of how the majority voted, and without penalty or punishment – a necessary concession if Senators had any hope of getting buy-in from the Big Ten and SEC.

The revised bill also permits a fund for retaining athletic rosters above the agreed upon revenue sharing cap and prevents venture capitalists and the like from buying media rights and creating a “super-league,” both sticking points for the conferences.

But they didn’t get everything they wanted and much of the revision sent to the conferences were still in draft form. Also, a third section has been added addressing historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) but was left completely blank in copies sent out.

The Big Ten is in the midst of its annual Media Days event. Pettiti addressed the media and was asked about the revised bill. He said, more than once, the Big Ten wanted to see the final legislation before committing one way or the other. Sankey issued an almost identical statement. Whether the two conferences will speak publicly on it or not they are obviously aligned and in agreement on what reform is acceptable and what options might be considered.

Senate watchers say missing today’s deadline almost eliminates the chance the bill can come up for a vote before the Senate recess on August 7. That may have been the intent of both Pettiti and Sankey. Petitti said when addressing the media, “When you ask for help, you don’t always get the help you ask for.” No truer words were ever spoken about Congress.

Remember Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Tech quarterback who earlier this summer won an injunction against the NCAA to continue playing even though he had been ruled ineligible for gambling? Immediately following that ruling grandstanding Texas Senate candidate and current Texas AG Ken Paxton threatened the Big XII will legal action if they did not allow Sorsby to play. In return the Big XII conference filed a federal lawsuit against Paxton claiming that as a conference with membership in agreement it could enforce its own rules. Well, Sorsby withdrew from college and dropped his lawsuit. But the Big XII did not drop its lawsuit against Paxton. It is still seeking a ruling it can enforce its own rules.

If the Big XII continues this suit and gets a favorable ruling the SEC and the Big Ten will almost assuredly make plans to leave the NCAA, no longer needing Congress for an antitrust exemption. But whatever legislation gets signed into law will bind those schools nonetheless. The SEC and the Big Ten would love to know how the Big XII lawsuit plays out before committing to any legislation, or even committing to the need for legislation. Currently no date has been scheduled to hear that case.

There are no quick fixes or easy answers. Congress is hellbent on forcing one for obvious reasons – college athletics is racing towards out-of-control and Congress is desperate for something it can hang its hat on. It may yet vote on this bill before it goes on recess. But consider how many Senators represent SEC and Big Ten states. Without the support of both conferences the chances of passage are slim at best. And that doesn’t even take into account the stated opposition of the Congressional Black Caucus, opposed to any legislation – especially impacting athletes at southern universities – in protest of recent Supreme Court rulings on voting rights.

LSU coach Lane Kiffin had his last scheduled public appearance today in Baton Rouge before fall practice starts. LSU players report next week. It might not happen before players report, or games begin, or even this season. But something is going to happen in college athletics and it’s going to bring change. A lot of change. On that, at least, there’s no debate.

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