Louisiana Voice

‘So? Call someone who cares’

‘Town hall meeting? Nope.‘

How do you like my John Wayne look?

The Louisiana Legislature will wait two weeks, until noon on April 14, to spring its April Fool’s joke on the citizens of Louisiana when it convenes for its odd-year 85-day session – 25 more days than in even years to inflict carnage with a gaggle of self-serving, sneaky or just plain silly bills and occasionally a few constitutional amendments for voters to defeat when put to a ballot.

Oh, there will be a state budget that won’t be adopted until the clock starts ticking toward adjournment and there will be the Capital Outlay budget to finance pet construction and maintenance in the districts of the more politically powerful members of the august body.

And, of course, both chambers, the rotunda and the various committee hearing rooms will be swarming with lobbyists, paid by big oil, big Pharma, nursing homes (can’t forget the nursing home industry) and other special interests to see that an adverse bill (i.e., an ethics or environmental protection bill with real punch) is killed either in committee or, should it somehow get reported out favorably, on the House or Senate floor.

There will be the usual trove of resolutions of congratulations to anyone who accomplished anything of note the previous year. So, if you, say, won a zipline competition (if there is such thing), won a pickle ball tournament or if you happened to live to 100 years, get in touch with your representative or senator.

And did I mention the bills? Oh, the bills.

A quick check of bills already pre-filed turned up a few interesting ones. HB 21, for instance, by Rep. Steven Jackson (D-Shreveport), was a bill providing for the broadcast and recordation of Board of Ethics meetings. It was pre-filed on Feb. 26 and withdrawn exactly a month later before it could be introduced. That could’ve sparked some interesting debate, seeing as how the Ethics Board operates in virtual secrecy and fully intends to keep it that way.

Here’s one that has not been pulled. Yet. Originating in the upper chamber, SB19 is a sweeping bill allowing that complies with requirements of the Department of Health that provides for the purchase of the controversial drug IVERMECTIN.

Ivermectin, if you don’t already know, came into vogue in the wake of the 2020 Covid pandemic.

Ivermectin is a treatment for parasites and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory warning physicians and the public of the risk of severe illness caused by the drug.

Yet Sen. Michael “Big Mike” Fesi (R-Houma) not only wants to allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin to persons 18 and older, he wants to grant immunity to pharmacists doing so. That means if the drug causes significant harm to an individual, he will have no legal recourse.

And remember, it’s all in compliance with a regulation passed down by Jeff Landry’s Department of Health and veterinarian/Surgeon General Ralph Abraham.

And right along with his Ivermectin bill, Big Mike wants to repeal the state’s water fluoridation program and to prohibit the fluoridation of any public water system.

SB 2, also by Fesi, would repeal the present law that requires the Department of Health from establishing water fluoridation program, which it presently does under existing law.

Hawaii is the only state that currently prohibits water fluoridation. Each of the remaining 49 states, Louisiana included, have some amount of fluoridation value, ranging from 10 percent in Texas 99.7 percent in Kentucky. Louisiana’s fluoridation value level is 38 percent.

FLUORIDATION has been shown to prevent tooth decay by strengthening tooth enamel and improve oral health. Moreover, it is cost-effective and safe. Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city to implement community water fluoridation in 1945, a project that has since been named by the CDC as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20^th century.

Fluoridation has been a BONE OF CONTENTION since as far back as the 1960s when libertarians, the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan latched onto the contention that fluoridation was some sort of communist conspiracy. The latest to oppose fluoridation is none other than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services.

So, there you have two of the pre-filed bills. We will be featuring more as we continue to monitor the filings for even more exotic, imaginative and creative work of your legislators, so hang on tight for the non-stop joy ride to June 12.

Trying his best to appease a disgusted Donald Trump, Gov. Jeff Landry has issued two executive orders that will completely revamp the electoral process in Louisiana while virtually assuring his own reelection in two years and change the direction of higher education.

The day after Landry’s humiliation at the election results, clad in his pale blue suit, set off by a solid yellow tie, he tried in vain to explain to an angry Trump what went wrong and why there was the “full-throated rejection” of his four amendments.

In an effort to save face with a show of force to impress Trump, he issued two executive orders, one saying that all Louisiana voters by the year 2027 must be registered members of the Republican Party and another that mandates opening every classroom session at Louisiana’s colleges and universities with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, while at the same time, abolishing the teachings of history, science, and environmental studies.

“I’ll make ‘em love me, one way or another,” he said angrily.

Following his meeting with Trump, he huddled with SHANE GUIDRY, aka the ELON MUSK of Louisiana state government, after which he held a press conference where he officially signed the executive orders and attempted to explain their objectives.

“I’m taking this action because a single party will ensure continuity in the electoral process and bring order to our elections that has been missing for more than a century,” Landry said as he handed out souvenir Bic pens that he used in printing his name on the order. And I think it’s far past time that we put Christianity and patriotism back in the college classrooms – even if we have to force it down their throats – and draw students’ attention away from alcohol and sex.”

The governor, who considers himself the antithesis of Edwin Edwards – better looking and suaver, more debonair and possessive of far more savoir faire – had seventeen of the celebratory Bic pens left over after several in attendance declined his offer of the writing implements with polite “I’m good,” “No, thanks,” “I’m covered” and “I don’t write anymore; I type everything on my computer.”

Normally, actions such as either of these would come under immediate legal challenge but Landry, through the office of Attorney General Liz Murrill, had earlier proclaimed via the state’s internet server Oops, that multiple contracts with legal firms statewide would be canceled should any firm openly oppose any of the governor’s policies.

Legal work for the state is equivalent to the legendary golden fleece for Jason and the Argonauts in that several firms depend on the steady income from the state treasury via the time-tested strategy of lower court decision, appellant court reversal, State Supreme Court reinstatement of original decision. To lose that extended payout from a gubernatorial boycott would deal a devastating blow to those firms.

Landry did not intend to make his position on attorney contract cancellations public but he had inadvertently included LouisianaVoice on his Oops chat thread and all the information regarding retribution against certain law firms was made available to the blog service for a blockbuster story – just as he had earlier in ANOTHER STORY of abuse of office.

The New Orleans white shoe firm Gona Scrumm and Howe, which had resisted Landry’s decision to round up all Crescent City homeless for show and tell during Super Bowl week, immediately reversed course and agreed to provide Landry free legal services – up to $2.5 million to sponsor the governor’s annual alligator hunt with Donald Trump, Jr. and whoever his latest girlfriend might be, if he would not target the firm for state embargo.

One lawyer, however, has indicated that being blacklisted notwithstanding, he is positioned to take on the powerful forces of state government under Landry. Beyton Slurphy, who bills himself as “the Louisiana Brain-Drain Attorney,” indicates that Landry may well can be proven to be gobsmacked and feels he is just the one to take on that task. “I am Louisiana’s bad government attorney,” he said, “and my legislative response team is on-call 24/7.”

Landry became irate at one point in the press conference when a reporter asked about the Empty Chair town hall meetings currently being held across the state to draw attention to the failure of the state’s congressional delegation to meet with constituents.

Storming at the reporter, he said, his voice rising a couple of octaves to an almost inaudible pitch that roused every dog within blocks, “Let there be no mistake about the fact that I feel that these two groups (Indivisible North Louisiana and 10,000 Women Louisiana) have been omissive in not extending an invitation to me to be absent from their little shindigs. As governor of the gret stet of Louisiana, I would have loved the opportunity to not attend their town hall meetings. But I was never afforded that opportunity.

“I’m putting them on my enemies of the state list, along with George Soros” he said “There’s something rotten in Denmark when Donald Trump can receive 60 percent of the vote in this state and I can generate only 35 to 38 percent on my four amendments. Zero for four: it’s enough to make me conditioned to failure.”

For more details, go HERE.

Smug as a selfie hug

Still not holding a town hall

Betcha I can hold out as long as them two

If you were so naïve as to think it couldn’t happen here, think again, damnit, and this time open your eyes and ears to what’s going on around you.

If you thought only Ivy Leage colleges were being targeted for Don the Con’s interpretation of subversive, terrorist and dangerous threats, well, wake up and see that it’s come a little closer – this time to the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA.

Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian national pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, was taken into custody by ICE’s jack-booted Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and incarcerated in an ICE detention facility in Jena, one of several private prison companies now poised to rake in a fortune in taxpayer money to imprison students and women who have done nothing but exercise the free speech guaranteed to us but now decidedly endangered.

And, of course, the raid and arrest of Doroudi wouldn’t be acceptable unless it occurred as it did at 3 a.m. That’s the best time because the ones detained are likely roused from sleep, confused and disoriented and naturally, out of touch with and unable to reach any legal counsel.

University of Alabama. Hey, folks, that’s just two states over. You know, Louisiana Tech, my old school, is a pretty reputable engineering school and there are a lot of Mideastern students there. I reckon they’d be wise to keep an extremely low profile. Never thought ICE would come to Ruston but you never know…

Come to think of it, LSU has a pretty fair engineering department that is home to quite a few foreign nationals.

We’re in a dark place, folks. Believe it. Private prisons are making a fortune imposing inhumane treatment of powerless detainees, many, like Doroudi, here legally; IMPOTUS is having a heyday rolling over the Bill or Rights like it was last week’s expired Arby’s coupons. Elon Musk, not even an elected official of any sort, is wreaking havoc across the board.

News media are shaking in their shoes, scared s**tless of being sued or having their licenses revoked. Billionaires are looting the federal treasury via generous tax cuts and incentives to which the rest of us have no avenue.

This maniac has already or is seriously talking about:

• Invading Greenland to take it over. Think about that for a moment. Greenland is a sovereign nation and we’re talking about making it our very own Ukraine.
• Ditto Canada and the Panama Canal
• Having his mug carved onto Mount Rushmore along with Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. That might spur the furtive purchases of dynamite.
• Running for a third term in stark violation of the Constitution of the United States of America.
• Abandoning NATO, the one thing stopping Russia from running over Europe.
• Taking over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed himself as the center’s board chair. Everything he knows about art is confined to a WWE ring.
• Targeted the Smithsonian Institute to rewrite history and to “Restore Truth and Sanity to American History,” prompting one historian to say, “It reminds you of a fascist state.”

A man recently lamented to my daughter that he is a veteran and that he voted for Trump who is now stripping away veterans’ benefits, causing him anguish, stress and hardship.

My daughter just looked at him and said, “He told you he was going to do that. Weren’t you listening?”

Indeed, weren’t you listening, America?

Want more?

Where do sexual predators go when they get out of jail?

Well, if you’re pedophiles Andrew Tate and little brother Tristan or if you just love to beat up women or

If you’ve fathered a baker’s dozen children by several different women…you seek out Donald Trump for companionship and solace and maybe even a cabinet position or even head up an outfit called DOGE.

I saw an interesting meme today. It said “…You can put our troops’ lives in danger, compromise our national security and violate the Espionage Act. And the government will do nothing.

But if you write an editorial for your school newspaper that Trump doesn’t like, you will be abducted on the street and disappeared.”

Weren’t you listening, America?

Apparently not. Especially not our Republican members of Congress and by extension, our Republican governors and legislators.

The Republicans who have dared challenge or even question Trump’s actions could hold a convention in a phone booth (yesh, remember those things?). Jack Kennedy’s Profiles of Courage has no place in the libraries or our Republican congressmen.

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, along with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, lead the spineless pack. These two, along with Steve Scalise and Gov. Jeff Landry, are an embarrassment to the entire state. Not one shred of courage will you find in the entire lot – combined. They are the very personification of putting party over principles, political survival over country. Remember, it was Johnson who said it mattered not that Hunter Biden was a private citizen but the moment Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress just as a report on his sexual exploits was about to be released, he said that we oughta leave Matt along because he’s a private citizen now.

Weren’t you listening, America?