Louisiana Voice

There can be no question that we now live in extremely perilous times.

We have allowed a mentally deranged tyrant to go about destroying freedoms and lives with impunity.

Even worse, we have remained as mere onlookers as the checks and balances installed in our Constitution are ignored.

Worse still, we have just in Louisiana, elected officials who have the ability – but not the willingness or courage – to step up and say, “Whoa. What you’re doing is wrong and it must stop.”

I shouldn’t have to, but just for clarity, I’ll name those officials: Steve Scalise, Clay Higgins, Julia Letlow, Mike Johnson John Neely Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. These six have no souls, no backbones, no sense of responsibility to their constituents, the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. Throw in Jeff Landry and you have the Not-So-Magnificent-Seven.

That is precisely why blogs such as LouisianaVoice are so very important. No one from the mainstream media is stepping up to the plate to challenge the lies, distortions and disinformation spewed from the vulgar mouth of TACO Don or to question the tactics of the man who calls himself a governor but in reality is only a squeaky toy for Trump.

Instead, the media are, one by one, capitulating to Trump’s threats, imtimidation and coercion. Likewise, law firms and institutions of higher learning, fearing the loss of federal grants or contracts, cave to this man, settling lawsuits and agreeing to unthinkable conditions.

That’s why LouisianaVoice conducts two fundraisers per year: to keep the flow of information coming so you may judge for yourself the harm being done to America and Louisiana. We’re not going to change the world on our own; I’m not that delusional. But by working with others like us to get the word out, perhaps, just perhaps, we can. I wanted to retire this blog at one time. But concern for my grandchilden’s very future won’t let me do so in good conscience.

Please, if you share our concern for the direction of our republic, do whatever you can to keep the word coming. Click on the YELLOW DONATE BUTTON at the upper right of this post to make a one-time contribution by credit card. Your help is sincerely appreciated.

CLAIM: Democrats shut down the government because they want to give free health care to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally.

THE FACTS: This is false. Democrats say they are pushing for the inclusion of key health care provisions in the next congressional spending package. In particular, they are seeking an extension of tax credits that millions of Americans use to buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchange and a reversal of Medicaid cuts made in the bill Trump signed into law in July. However, immigrants in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for any federal health care programs, including insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Hospitals do receive Medicaid reimbursements — which would be reduced under Trump’s bill — for emergency care that they are obligated to provide to people who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements but do not have an eligible immigration status, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization. This spending accounted for less than 1% of total Medicaid spending between fiscal years 2017 and 2023.

It’s October and that means the kickoff of our semi-annual fundraiser.

I don’t have a medbed to offer you to cure every illness known to man, including amputations, like Donald Trump.

And I can’t reduce prescription drug prices by 1500 percent.

I don’t rail against socialism while accepting government incentive checks or social security payments.

I didn’t bring about a government shutdown in a defiant effort to deny health care to millions of Americans.

I haven’t dressed down 800 military generals and admirals on the meaning of war ethos.

And I haven’t made billions of dollars by using the Oval Office to hawk merchandise to my MAGAT followers.

In fact, the only thing I can offer is a light to shine into the darkened corners of federal, state and local government to keep you informed about just what our elected and appointed officials are up to.

For example, how many of you were aware that members of Congress continue to get their paychecks during the shutdown while federal employs, including military, must work without being paid?

Who knew that Livingston Parish Librarian Amanda Jones had been honored by Time magazine as one of 100 influential Americans?

To continue to illuminate the dark corners of government takes time – and money. Accordingly, I humbly come to you to ask for your continued support of this news service.

Please click on the yellow DONATE button (above right) to make a one-time contribution via credit card. (Unlike Trump’s fundraisers, there is no hidden stunt to make your contribution a recurring withdrawal. That’s dishonest. This fundraising effort is conducted only twice a year, in October and April.

I sincerely appreciate your help in the past and respectfully ask for your continued support.

Senator Bill Cassidy claims the shutdown will harm Americans needing the National Flood Insurance Program. True enough, but the lame-duck senator overlooks other effects that he conveniently neglects to mention – because it doesn’t fit into Donald Trump’s game plan.

“If Democrats would stop trying to please the fringe of their party and start focusing on the real, immediate needs of the American people—like keeping the government open, maintaining flood insurance, and protecting access to rural health care—we could solve this today,” Cassidy said.

Well, senator when you put 22 million Americans at risk of losing healthcare or of seeing their premiums skyrocket, you’re hardly talking about a “fringe” element.

As a physician, you, of all people, should understand that – if you weren’t so determined to curry the favor of a psychopath and if you were not such a coward yourself.

Or maybe you’re buying into Trump’s absurd AI post of Lara Trump hawking a non-existent “MEDBED CARD” that will supposedly give Americans access to regrowing missing limbs, reversing aging and healing any illness, thanks to technology developed by the U.S. military – with possible help from alien technology.

If that’s not sufficient evidence of a president who has entered the hazy, addled world of a dangerously-clouded and disoriented mind, I’m at a loss at what it would take.