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Trump vows no socialism but plans socialist bailouts for farmers hurt by tariffs as lawmakers reap farm subsidies

May 15, 2019 by tomaswell

As Vice President Pence QUIETLY CATNAPPED through the State of the Union Address on Feb. 5, Donald Trump declared, “We will never be a socialist country.”

Fast forward to May 13 (that’s the day before yesterday and barely three months after that SOTU declaration.

Trump ramps up his trade war with China, imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports that he claims will bring money into the U.S. treasury when, in fact, the proposed tariffs only mean that U.S. consumers will be paying more for goods from China.

You see, that’s the way tariffs work. It’s the buyer (American citizens) who will be paying the tariffs, not China. Trump doesn’t seem to be able to grasp that.

China retaliated by announced its own new tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods, including $19.6 billion in agricultural exports to China in 2017, more than 14 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports.

No problem, Trump says. He’ll just push through a new RELIEF PACKAGE for farmers to the tune of about $15 billion.

That’s in addition to the $12 billion in farm aid Trump provided last year following China’s retaliatory tariffs.

And speaking of China, China was America’s biggest creditor for 2017, holding some $1.15 TRILLION in U.S, debt, down slightly from $1.3 TRILLION in 2013.

So, the U.S. will now borrow even more money from China to pay our own soybean farmers not to sell soybeans to China? Is that about it?

But wait! Let’s go back to that SOTU declaration. Wouldn’t ensuring farmers won’t go under in the wake of failure of capitalism (brought on, of course, by Trump’s trade war) be pretty much the very definition of socialism?

Of course, Republicans have repudiated socialism by voting repeatedly over the past two decades to increase their salaries while voting against raising the minimum wage 14 times. (In the interest of accuracy, it should be noted that congressional pay raises are automatic unless members vote specifically to refuse increases—not that they’re prone to do that with any regularity.)

Senate Republicans have already expressed their trepidation over the tariffs and the trade war but if they had the courage of their convictions, all they need do is pass a bill to halt Trump’s petulant trade war. And with the Democrats who would join them in a bipartisan effort, they’d certainly have enough votes to override a veto.

But they don’t and they won’t.

Where, for example is Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina? According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, long-time ally of the Republican Party, South Carolina will be the THIRD-HARDEST HIT state by the trade war with nearly 600,000 jobs and $30 billion in goods tied directly to trade.

Yet Graham is strangely silent on all matters related to the tariffs but has advised Trump staffers to ignore Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas.

And then there’s Louisiana, the fifth most adversely-impacted state, with 16.5 percent of its exports headed for China.

So, where are John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy? For that matter, where are Reps. Steve Scalise, Clay “The Cajun Mouth” Higgins, Mike Johnson, Garret Graves and (especially) gubernatorial candidate Ralph Abraham, who just happens to represent the very part of Louisiana hardest-hit by agricultural export tariffs?

Speaking of Abraham, Lamar White, publisher of BAYOU BRIEF, had a revealing story last week about how farmer-doctor-congressman Abraham and his family have raked in $2.6 million in government farm subsidies from 1995 to 2017. Farmer-doctor-Congressman Abraham personally received $68,000, and the Ralph and Diane Farm Partnership (that’s farmer-doctor-congressman Ralph Abraham and his wife) received an additional $514,000. His son-in-law, Dustin Morris, raked in a little more than $975,000 while his wife Ashley Abraham Morris, farmer-doctor-congressman Abraham’s daughter, pulled in an additional $592,000 over the same period.

And oh, farmer-doctor-congressman Abraham also just happens to be a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Here’s a RUNDOWN of members of congress who received at least $100,000 in farm subsidies:

Senate or House Agriculture Committee members:

  • Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa: $322,000;
  • Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzier of Missouri: $972,000;
  • Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California: $1.8 million (33 percent of $5.3 million paid to family);
  • Republican Rep. Frank Lucas of Ohio: $105,000;

Non-committee members:

  • Republican former Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee: $3.7 million;
  • Republican Rep. Deb Fischer of Nebraska: $381,000
  • Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri: $143,000;
  • Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California (one of Trump’s most vocal cheerleaders): $244,000 (25 percent of Sunset View Farms which received $748,000);
  • Republican former Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana: $220,000;
  • Democrat Sen. Jon Tester of Montana: $330,000;
  • Democrat former Rep. Gwen Graham of Florida: $238,000;
  • Republican Mac Thornberry of Texas: $160,000;

With 11 of 13—counting Abraham—being Republican, perhaps the Grand Old Party isn’t as militantly anti-socialist as it purports to be—unless, of course, it can blame socialism for programs to aid the poor. That’s a different matter altogether.

Posted in Congress, Corruption, Ethics, House, Senate, Politics | 5 Comments »

Southern University hit with fines, fees in decision over grievance committee’s illegal executive session March 18

May 13, 2019 by tomaswell

Southern University has been hit with more than $14,000 in fines and fees as a result of an illegal executive session of the university’s system-wide grievance committee on March 18 involving four professors who were appealing the decision by Southern Executive Vice President/Vice Chancellor James Ammons to either fired, demote or reduce the pay of the four.

Nineteenth Judicial District Court Judge Richard “Chip” Moore awarded $5,000 to the four professors and to yours truly. In addition, he ordered Southern to pay $8,400 in attorney fees to Baton Rouge attorney J. Arthur Smith, III, and to pay $638 in court costs.

RULING ON SOUTHERN CLOSED MEETING

At the same time he ruled that any and all actions by the committee affecting the four professors from March 18 through the date of the ruling (May 13) were null and void, “said evidence being the unlawful fruit collected by the committee in contravention of the Open Meeting Law…”

The decision followed the May 6 trial in which the four professors—Elaine Lawnau, Christy Moland, Terrilynn Gillis and Marilyn Seibert—and Aswell said they were forced to exit an illegally-held closed-door meeting of the grievance committee on March 18.

In his ruling, Judge Moore said that prior to the committee’s convening in the committee room on the Southern campus, committee chairperson Marla Dickerson “met privately with all committee members to discuss whether the hearing should be open or closed to the public. Dickerson testified that the committee members unanimously and clandestinely agreed that the hearing be closed to the public (emphasis mine).

“Thereafter, Dickerson and the other committee members assembled in a boardroom and called the hearing to order with all plaintiffs being present. Dickerson then asked plaintiffs whether they desired the hearing be open or closed, and all plaintiffs moved that it be open to the public. Dickerson then posed the same question to Southern University, which advised through its counsel (Winston Decuir, Jr.) that the hearing be closed. Dickerson then authoritatively ordered the committee hearing be closed to the public, said action being taken without prior motion or vote from any committee member while the committee was in open session.”

The state’s open meeting law specifically says that (a) all votes to enter into executive session must be by a two-third majority vote and that the vote must be taken in open session and recorded in the minutes of the meeting, and (b) employee(s) filing the grievance or appeal have the final say as to whether the meeting is to be conducted in open or closed session.

The committee failed to meet either criteria.

Decuir, who appeared smug and self-assured at the outset of the trial, argued that because Southern’s handbook gives the committee the final say on executive sessions, the university was not required to comply with state law when in reality, the reverse order is true: state law trumps the school’s handbook, not the other way around.

But that did not stop Decuir from arguing that the committee “had no legal responsibility to comply with laws relative to public hearings,” Judge Moore noted.

Moreover, apparently disregarding the First Amendment, Decuir challenged my right to be a plaintiff in the matter, arguing that I had no standing even though I was there to cover the proceedings for LouisianaVoice. Under cross examination, he even asked me—as if the question had any relevance whatsoever—if I had ever covered a meeting at Southern before. Again, Mr. Decuir—I direct you to the First Amendment.

Judge Moore, who first was required to rule that Southern was a public body in order for the trial on the merits to proceed, noted that the recommendation to be made by the committee to Southern’s president/chancellor “was far too important to be made in a dark room, where no one other than committee members knew what facts and evidence it had considered…”

He said Dickerson’s own testimony “clearly established that prohibitory law was contravened when Dickerson improperly ordered the hearing go into executive session, closing the meeting to plaintiffs and the public.”

Moore also noted, “Generally, a party seeking the issuance of a preliminary injunction must show that he will suffer irreparable injury, loss, or damage if the injunction does not issue and must show entitlement to the relief sought. However, a showing of irreparable injury is not necessary when the act sought to be enjoined is unlawful, or a deprivation of a constitutional right is involved.”

Posted in Boards, Corruption, Courts, Ethics, Higher Education, Judges, Lawsuits | Leave a Comment »

LABI loses battle over local control of tax exemptions! But don’t blame Baton Rouge Business Report; it did its part

May 10, 2019 by tomaswell

LABI loses!

It was a headline I never thought I’d get to write as long as we had legislators like Rep. Cameron Henry (R-Metairie) and House Speaker Taylor Barras (R-New Iberia) carrying the water for the business lobby.

And cheered on by the Baton Rouge Business Report.

And let’s not overlook Sen. BODIE WHITE (R-Central), who withdrew his bill, SB 214, which would have seized control from local communities over burgeoning industrial tax exemptions which have gutted local governments’ desperately needed revenue for schools, law enforcement, and roads and bridges.

He withdrew his bill after it became evident that he didn’t have the needed votes to run roughshod over local government.

As did Rep. Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge) with his HCR 3, which would have done essentially the same thing as SB 214, that is to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’s executive order giving local government more control over the granting of industrial tax exemptions, particularly those exemptions that don’t really result in any new jobs.

What is particularly ironic about this whole thing is the Republican Party purports to be the party that wants government out of our lives, i.e. more say-so about local affairs by the locals.

Except, that is, when those local desires impede business and industry’s desires to pile up more and more tax exemptions, placing the burden of picking up the tab for police and fire protection, road and bridge construction and repair, education, and a multitude of other responsibilities on the already overburdened working stiffs.

One need only examine the campaign contributions of LABI’s four (count ‘em) political action committees to understand the stroke the organization has enjoyed in the legislature.

The same can be said of contributions by the oil and gas industry, nursing homes, banks, payday loan companies, cable TV, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, private prisons, and insurance companies, most of whom are also members of LABI.

Compare those campaign corporations to those of your average, non-fat-cat individuals to see who has the most stroke in the halls of the Louisiana State Capitol. Take a look around the rotunda and in both chambers to see who the lobbyists represent. See anyone who represents your interests? Didn’t think so.

And, of course, let’s not overlook the abetting of Business Report.

Just yesterday (May 9), for example, the publication chronicled in a headline that “Louisiana’s corporate income tax ranks 27th in nation.”

Oh, my. That high? That’s terrible! Something has to be done about that! The sky’s falling!

But wait. What Business Report conveniently overlooked was that conversely, if we have the highest corporate tax, then with only 50 states, that would necessarily mean we also have the 23rd lowest corporate income tax rate.

The headline was reminiscent of the joke about the Russian news agency TASS, back in the old days of the Soviet Union, ran a headline about a two-way automobile race: “Russian car finishes second, American car next to last.”

Of course, you can’t blame Business Report. After all, it was only transcribing as news the Tax Foundation’s PR that lamented in its own press release that “State Corporate Income Taxes Increase Tax Burden on Corporate Profits.”

On the one hand, the Tax Foundation said that yes, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (that would be Trump’s and the Republican Congress’s tax reform that enriched everyone’s lives so much) reduced the federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent but alas, “most states also tax corporate income.”

Well, here’s a news flash for you: the federal tax reform did precious little to actually help the middle class while cutting federal income tax by 14 percent and furthermore, most states also tax individual income.

The Tax Foundation also had a by-state ranking which appears to place Louisiana with the 44th BEST (6th WORST) OVERALL BUSINESS CLIMATE. It also shows that Louisiana has the worst sales tax rate, which means that the working poor pay the highest proportionate taxes on goods and services.

And of course, we have the second-best unemployment insurance tax rate, according to the Tax Foundation. That would the unemployed in this state are getting the shaft, thanks to the untiring lobbying efforts of LABI.

It’s probably no coincidence that LABI and lobby sound so similar.

 

Posted in Politics | 14 Comments »

Controversy over firing of Southern University professors isn’t the first rodeo for Executive Vice President Ammons

May 9, 2019 by tomaswell

When four Southern University professors filed suit against the school over the manner in which the school’s system-wide grievance committee handled their grievance hearing, it didn’t take long for the name of James H. Ammons, Ph.D., to surface as the prime antagonist in the decision to fire, demote or cut the pay for the professors.

A trial was held on Monday of this week after the three, along with yours truly, filed suit for what we are claiming to be an illegal executive session called by the committee to handle the professors’ claims.

At issue is the university’s handbook which gives the committee final say over whether the hearing would be open to the public or closed versus state law which gives the professors the right to request—and be granted—an open meeting.

Also challenged in the lawsuit was the announcement by committee chair Marla Dickerson that the committee had voted prior to opening the meeting to enter into executive session.

The state’s Open Meetings Law expressly says that all such votes shall be taken in open session and the votes recorded in the minutes, neither of which occurred. A decision on the lawsuit, heard by 19th Judicial District Judge Chip Moore, is pending.

The grievances were filed against University Executive Vice President/Executive Vice Chancellor Ammons, whose decision it was to terminate or demote the professors.

Investigation by LouisianaVoice into Ammons’ professional background revealed a checkered past during his tenures at two other universities prior to his being hired by Southern in January 2018.

While serving as chancellor at North Carolina Central University in Durham, he was implicated in a satellite campus CONTROVERSY which skated the edge of violating state rules on program establishment and conflicts of interest.

Briefly, that involved the establishment of an unauthorized satellite campus in an Atlanta, Georgia, megachurch that had donated $1 million to the university.

The New L.I.F.E. College Program was established at the church of Eddie Long, a North Carolina Central University graduate who had been named to the university’s board of trustees two years earlier. Ammons, when questioned about the campus, professed to not remembering specifics, but said, “I accept full responsibility.”

He agreed to REPAY the federal government more than $1 million of the $3 million dispersed in financial aid for ineligible programs.

His next stop was at Florida A&M and more controversy.

At the same time his ouster was gaining momentum following the 2012 hazing death of the school band’s drum major, Robert Champion, he was negotiating $356,000 taxpayer-funded low-interest business LOANS to a company run by Ammons and his son, James Ammons, III.

At the time of the loan through the state’s Black Business Loan Program, he had just accepted and then walked away from the provost’s position at Delaware State University.

Corporate records listed Ammons as manager of Ammons Food & Beverage, LLC, and his son as registered agent. After rejecting the Delaware State job as the school’s number-two administrator, he signed a new contract to remain at FAME as a faculty member.

The loan represented the largest made through the program, representing more than 15 percent of the $2.225 million approved by the Florida Legislature to assist Florida’s black small business owners.

As pressure mounted for Ammons to resign, including a call from the governor that he step down, Rufus Montgomery, a member of the FAMU Board of Trustees, said, “This is not about hazing. This is about leadership or lack of leadership at FAMU. There have been more than 30 issues over the past year that have come before this board.

“This all came under the watch of the current president,” Montgomery said. “We have the FAMU students on trial this fall, we have no band this fall, we have a drop in enrollment coming and I read the other day that the Florida Senate is investigating the school.”

J.L. CARTER, writing for the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Digest on Ammons’ appointment as Southern’s new executive vice-president, said, “The last thing the (Southern) system seemingly wanted to do was to add a reason for negative speculation. But with Dr. Ammons, it did just that.”

In retrospect, his words, more than a year later, appear somewhat prophetic.

Posted in Corruption, Ethics, Finances, Fraud, Higher Education, Judges, Lawsuits, Media | Leave a Comment »

The Avengers Endgame provides inspiration for sequel to deal with annoying TV lawyer & medicine ads, robo calls

May 8, 2019 by tomaswell

I watched the movie everyone was talking about this past weekend just to see what all the fuss was about. You know the one: The Avengers Endgame.

I’m not so much a fan of action movies, but after several years of watching local television newscasts, it did give me an idea for a sequel.

I have long contended that the only purpose of local TV news is to keep the lawyer ads from bumping together but hell, they don’t even make an attempt at separating them anymore. We get an ad for Attorney A, followed immediately by an ad for Attorney B, followed by some ad for some medication for some illness I didn’t even know I had, followed by the disclaimer that’s longer than the ad for the medication.

In one recent ad, I learned that the side effects for one medication can be both constipation and diarrhea, insomnia and drowsiness, depression and exhilaration—all in a single pill.

My neighbor was telling me the other day that his baby’s first words were: “Ask your doctor about…,” Other symptoms may include…,” One call, that’s all,” and “I want to be your lawyer for life.”

It’s a good thing the kid can’t answer the phone yet or he’d be saying, “Don’t hang up til you’ve heard this exciting offer,” “We can reduce your credit card interest rate,” “Your student loan application is approved,” or “Congratulations, you’ve won a free cruise.”

The glut of lawyer and prescription medication ads reminds me of one of my favorite sitcoms, WKRP in Cincinnati, where the radio station’s sole source of income seemed to come from its “Red Wiggler Worms” fish bait ads.

If you’re like me, you don’t care to hear any of that crap and you damned sure you don’t want your afternoon nap interrupted by some robo or push poll call.

And let’s face it, I’m sure a certain attorney is proud of his daughter’s going off to college and that he wants his son to get a haircut. But seriously, are we that eager to have them foisted off on us when we’re trying to watch the news to see who got shot last night in Baton Rouge?

I mean, we have our own families to fuss over. After all, I have a grandson who needs a haircut and a granddaughter in college, but so what? Do you really need to know that Every. Single. Noon. and. Night. On. The. Local. News? Get the cotton pickin’ haircut already and quit badgering us about it.

And do we really want a “paid actor” pretending to be a satisfied client of the attorney who “got me $700,000” blaring into our living rooms uninvited when the graphic beneath his/her image is telling us (in oh, such small lettering) that he/she is fake, a fraud, a shill? I think you can check that box “no.”

So, here’s my idea for the plot to the sequel:

Recruit Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Falcon and any of the others, the names of whom escape me for the moment.

Their mission is twofold:

One team, we’ll call it Team A, is to infiltrate every local TV station in Louisiana, find, and destroy all those mind-numbing medication ads and those goofy attorney commercials—and I mean ALL of them (except for that one Baton Rouge lawyer whose ads make fun of other lawyers, especially the one about a rival lawyer falling off the top of an 18-wheeler—those I like). It seems there’re more personal injury attorneys advertising today than Trump tweets. And your doctor is sick of being asked about all those medications. Zap all their ads. It would probably take only one or two superheroes to carry out that task what with all the TV stations being in Louisiana.

The second team, Team B, has a little more difficult assignment: Find the boiler rooms whence all those robo calls are emanating. Many of them are offshore, so it may take a few days, but it needs to be done as expeditiously as possible and with as much fanfare, forcefulness, crashes, fire, and explosions as in a real action movie.

Once located, a two-man team would be all that would be necessary to carry out wanton destruction: Thor and the Hulk. On second thought, maybe Spider Man could also have a role here.

With Thor’s hammer and the Hulk’s gigantic fists, they would crash through the doors of the boiler rooms and set about wreaking havoc on computers, phones, stolen IDs, and any other electronic equipment while Spider Man could secure all the “representatives” (I prefer to call them scam artists) in a giant web to be delivered to a hungry South Louisiana alligator.

I think that would be a great sequel, but I’m open to any ideas from others to improve on my concept.

Posted in TV News | 3 Comments »

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