Louisiana Voice

So, Jeff Landry and sock puppet Liz Murrill believe that posting the Ten Commandments in every single classroom in every single Louisiana school is critical to producing cookie-cutter model citizens?

Landry even went on record as expressing his belief that if they had been posted in the classrooms of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who attempted to shoot Donald Trump, he might not have felt the compulsion to do what he did.

Really?

Well, maybe if a few other Bible verses were posted in classrooms, the carnage might be even greater in terms of mass shootings, adultery, and various other sins of the flesh and spirit. They’re most likely verses you won’t hear your minister say much about in his Sunday sermons. Let’s take a look (you may wish to read the boldface passages more than once to get the full implications):

Leviticus 25:44-46: If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.

2 Kings 5:28-29: But the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me, ‘Come, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she had hidden her son.”

1 Samuel 15:3: Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Isaiah 13:15-18: “Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.”

Psalm 137:9: Blessed [is] the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock; the children represent the future generations, and so must be destroyed if the enemy is truly to be eradicated.

Joshua 6:21: “They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.”

Numbers 31:17-18: Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Judges 19:22-29: While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and [my] concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So, the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.

Ezekiel 15:17: But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. (WHAT?!!)

1 Samuel 18:25: Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’

Genesis 19:31-36: One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So, they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again, he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

2 Kings 2:23-24: From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

Exodus 21:20-21: Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

Ephesians 6:5: Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12: If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35: Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

1 Timothy 2:11-12: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

Ezekiel 23:19-21: Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

And the Republicans have their panties in a wad over the content found in our libraries. (Sigh).

What’s that, you say? Each of the aforementioned examples are found in the Old Testament and Old Testament laws taught us that we were sinners who needed a sacrifice, but Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice that freed us from the laws that no one followed perfectly? Really?

But…but…the Ten Commandments were handed down to Moses in the Book of Exodus, the second book of… the Old Testament. Are you saying that Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice freed us from the Ten Commandments? Just asking.

I await an answer from Jeff Landry and sock puppet Liz Murrill.

If you know how to game the system, it can pay handsomely to be a former Louisiana legislator with friends in high and not-so-high places. Just ask former State Sen./Rep. Mike Walsworth, a West Monroe Republican.

Former senator and representative because, like several others who got used to a life of influence in Baton Rouge, he served in both chambers, moving from one when hitting the three-term limit to the other for another 12 years, thus rendering Louisiana’s term limits statute meaningless as a deterrent to legislators hanging around too long.

Walsworth was last elected to his third Senate term in 2015 and left office in January 2020. But he didn’t exactly go away. He signed a six-month, $30,000 contract to perform “consulting” services for Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser’s office.

No sooner did that contract expire than he signed a renewal – for a full year this time, from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 – for $60,000, never missing his $5,000 per month payments for keeping a pulse on legislative issues in north Louisiana for Nungesser and making “oral” reports To the lieutenant governor. No information was available on whether or not he has had his contract renewed again.

Those oral reports apparently were channeled through a Sarasota, Florida, public relations firm called Miles Partnership, which also was used to route an additional $25,000 for each of three separate six-month contracts – from July 1, 2021 to De. 31, 2021, from Jan. 1, 2022, to June 30, 2022 and from July 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022, to Walsworth.

All that is certainly interesting enough, but the real story here is found in a parcel of land designated as the site for Louisiana Delta Community College (DcC) in Farmerville, Walsworth’s connection to Mayor John T. Crow and a glaring failure to inform the Farmerville Town Council of that connection which would appear to create an obvious conflict of interests and a major ethics breach.

Farmerville attorney and real estate developer Johnny Dollar owns a company called Deloutre (for the non-initiated, that’s pronounced “d’Looter”, after an area bayou) Property Rentals. He previously donated land for the Union Parish Law Enforcement District (sheriff’s office), for a local church and developed land on which a Walmart store, a strip shopping center, two banks, two convenience stories and a Natural Resources Conservation Service office are located.

Dollar offered to donate a “shovel ready” site for DCC, utilities and access already in place. His offer was rejected in favor of a 100-acre tract of raw wooded land that has no public infrastructure at a cost of $1.2 million – on the advice of a consulting firm and….Mike Walsworth.

Walsworth was retained by the town as a “consultant” at a rate of $1,000 per month and to date has been paid more than $40,000. The extent of his “consulting,” however, is somewhat vague.

The problem with all that, besides the spurning of an offer of free land in favor of coughing up $1.2 million of state taxpayer money, is that his honor the mayor (John Crow) and Walsworth are business partners in a little outfit called C and W Louisiana Properties, LLC, according to records on file with the LOUISIANA SECRETARY OF STATE, which might be construed by the discriminating observer as something of a conflict of interest – and probably a violation of even Louisiana’s otherwise toothless ethics code for public and elected officials. Dollar said that a woman named Angie Robert was a former assistant to Walsworth and is a “current associate of both Walsworth and Crow, receiving mail for C and W Louisiana Properties at her place of work in the Monroe office of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.

The history of the tract selected has an interesting history in itself:

Feb. 13, 2015 – it was sold to William Caskey Terral for $306,978.

Nov. 11, 2022 – Terral sold one-half interest in the land to Mayor Towns and a man named Jared Ramsey for $1,356,450, quadrupling his initial investment while retaining half-interest in the tract.

Nov. 16, 2022 – Terral, Towns and Ramsey transferred what was now called the TTR tract to TTR, LLC, a limited liability corporation formed on Nov. 11, 2022. The division was designated as 50 percent to Terral and 25 percent each to Towns and Ramsey.

On Nov. 14, 2022 (two days before the aforementioned transfer took place) – Deloutre Property Rentals (DPR) protested a requirement that the DDC campus be locate within half-a-mile of LA. 15 (a state highway leading into and out of Farmerville). Dollar in filing his protest for DPR, said the requirement was a “transparent” attempt to control the site selection for the benefit of the TTR tract, partially owned by Mayor Crow. Dollar claimed the requirement raised the question of “improper collusive conduct in connection with public funding.” Walsworth, who you might remember was/is being paid $1,000 per month at the insistence of his business partner, the mayor, in a text exchange with Dollar, denied the existence of any such collusion.

January – March 2023 – DPR became aware that DCC had selected a consultant of its own, a company called CSRS, to advise it on site selection. CSRS is a Baton Rouge consulting firm and in September 2019, contributed $1,000 to Walworth’s political campaign even he was term-limited and slated to leave office in four months.

Jan. 27, 2023 – Mayor Crow sold his 25 percent interest in the 120-acre site (30 acres) to an outfit called TFR (Towns Family Rental) for $1.2 million, nearly doubling his investment.

Ignored by the Louisiana’s daily newspapers, it has played prominently on the front pages of the tiny Farmerville Gazette, which, on the surface would raise eyebrows; it’s rare that a local weekly would take on the local political power structure.

But The Gazette was purchased some time ago by the Ruston Daily Leader which in turn sold it to former NBA basketball star Karl Malone…and Johnny Dollar. Dollar subsequently purchased full control from Malone. And it’s Dollar who’s kicking up sand, probably from Folly Beach at nearby D’Arbonne Lake, over the shenanigans of Mayor Crow and Walsworth. If you own the paper, you can speak truth to power as much as you please. There was a time when that pretty much defined authentic journalism and bold publishers, but sadly, those days are pretty much gone. Maybe real reporting by The Gazette will arouse a sleeping daily in nearby Monroe – but it’s doubtful that a Gannett paper investigates anything other than its own bottom line and shareholder profits.

There will be more to this saga in the coming days, a story of a boat ramp and the town’s paying for the demolition of a deserted motel but for now, this is plenty to chew on. But if you insist on a more detailed narrative, read this installment from The Gazette:

and here:

Ruston political power broker James Davison, a wealthy supporter of politically conservative causes, has apparently brokered a deal with Donald Trump that would benefit one of his many companies, according to an investigative piece published by online news services ProPublica.

Davison, known for hosting political heavyweights like Anita Bryant and Colin Powell at his annual company Christmas parties, has apparently brokered a deal for Trump Media to purchase technology to stream television news shows and religious channels at risk of “cancellation” on Davison’s obscure JedTec according to an announcement by Trump Media.

“Obscure” would appear to be the accurate term as JedTec “has virtually no public footprint and no website, and it is unknown to streaming technology experts,” the ProPublica story says.

ProPublica noted that the acquisition would place Trump’s company in a “business relationship with someone with numerous interests before the federal government.”

Those interests, according to the article, would include a large oil pipeline and mining firm, Louisiana’s largest (but little-known) bank and a small defense contractor. ProPublica said the streaming deal “crystalizes the sort of conflicts that Trump’s business interests pose as he vies for a second term” in that the deal poses a “potential for undue influence,” according to a former government ethics attorney, by giving Davison “access to a future president and an advantage in extracting favors from Trump.”

To be fair, in addition to his political clout, – “He’s a powerhouse,” according to former Ruston Daily Leader publisher Rick Hohlt – Davison is well-known as a philanthropist for local institutions like Louisiana Tech University and a local church.

Davison has contributed about $3 million to federal Republican candidates and causes and more than $250,000 to state candidates since 2011. He has also benefitted from large tax breaks granted to his pipeline business by the Trump administration. The breaks are scheduled to expire next year but Trump has promised to extend the controversial tax law should he win in November.

The deal announced by Trump Media involves several entities, including another Davison company, WorldConnect and a British firm, Perception Croup, the latter which has offices and engineers in Slovenia. WorldConnect’s listed phone numbers are disconnected and the outfit’s latest press release was said to be eight years old. One such press release, from 2012, was in celebration of the launching on a streaming platform in the United Kingdom of China Central Television, the propaganda channel of the Chinese

WorldConnect listed only seven staff members on its website, which was taken down in its entirety only hours after ProPublica sent questions about the company to its executives.

A person familiar with the history of WorldConnect said that the company entered into a joint venture with Davison in 2017 to buy the rights to sell Perception Group’s TV technology in the United States. Davison put up most of the money for the deal, according to ProPublica.

Another Davison connection to Trump, one which existed before the streaming deal was announced, was in the person of Ruston attorney W. Kyle Green who sits on Trump Media’s board. Green also just happens to be Davison’s lawyer and is listed as the agent of record on business filings for JedTec with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office.

Green’s Trump Media biography might raise a few eyebrows to the local folks up in Ruston. As the city’s one-time city prosecutor for eight years, he “successfully prosecuted more than 20,000 criminal defendants,” it said.

That would mean that virtually every person living in Ruston has a criminal record. The city’s entire population is about that number. ProPublica cited a “longtime district attorney in the area” as saying that number of prosecutions in a city that size would necessarily mean that the total cited included traffic tickets, low-hanging fruit for prosecutors and which certainly do not rise to the level of “criminal defendants.” Moreover, as city attorney, he would be pretty much restricted to misdemeanors and small claim civil matters.

The announced deal between Trump Media and JedTec calls for the payment of $17.5 million in cash and up to 5.1 million shares of stock in JedTec – about $150 million at current market value.

Not surprising and typical of Trump’s bluster, a Trump Media spokesperson puffed up his chest and threatened legal action against ProPublica in response to its article, sniffing in the usual legalese that “The assertions and insinuations in this story, including of any ethical improprieties whatsoever or any material omissions from [Trump Media] disclosures, are false, defamatory and a textbook example of a fake news story that will land the left-wing shills at ProPublica in court.”

(Oh, yawn).

(Clarification: The Department of Children and Family Services has issued a denial that any Louisiana children are housed in the two states cited below in yesterday’s post. “These are not residential contracts and do not involved the placement of housing of Louisiana children or youth,” the DCFS statement reads.

“Our contract with BCFS [a Texas non-profit] is for Human Trafficking Advocacy services. We contract with Youth Villages [a Tennessee non-profit entity] for implementation of the Lifeset model with our Extended Foster Care youth and staff, along with the implementation of the Intercept prevention model through the Family First Prevention Services Act.”

It should be noted that my original public records request said the following: “Pursuant to LA. R.S. 44.1 (et seq.), I hereby submit my formal request for: The opportunity to review copies of any and all current contracts between DCFS and any and all out-of-state providers of (a) treatment, (b) training, (c) housing, (d) rehabilitation, (e) counseling, or (f) residential facilities for Louisiana children.” DCFS responded by providing copies of contracts with vendors based on that request and on which I based the story below.

This, of course does not change the fact that the State of Louisiana is spending more than $6 million on contracts with two vendors that have a troubled history in their treatment of residents charged to their care.)

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has multi-million-dollar contracts with two out-of-state providers of emergency shelter, foster care, adoption services and housing for problem and migrant children that have experienced scrutiny over the treatment of children in their care.

Youth Villages, Inc., of Memphis, Tennessee, was awarded a one-year, $2 million contract by DCFS on July 1, 2023, to provide housing for youths from the southeastern Louisiana parishes of East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, St. Hela, Washington, Orleans, East and West Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Iberville, East and West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee.

BCFS (formerly Baptist Children and Family Services) was awarded a 18-month, $4.3 million contract on January 1, 2023.

Both the Youth Villages and BCFS contracts expired on June 30 and it was not immediately known if the contracts were renewed.

BCFS, which houses more than 900 kids in San Antonio, Harlingen, Baytown and Raymondville, by 2018 had been cited for 52 VIOLATIONS, including:

• “Inappropriate relationships” between employees and children in their care;
• Raw and undercooked food given to children;
• Staff member kept money sent by parents for a child;
• “Inappropriate magazine pages” depicting nude women given to children.

In Fiscal Years 2015-2018, there were 23 separate ALLEGATIONS of BCFS staff members sexually abusing migrant minors.

BCFS is an affiliated ministry partner with the Baptist Convention of Texas, the largest association of Baptist churches in America. Originally founded as an orphanage, it morphed into a “children’s home,” and eventually managed to tap into massive federal contracts, mainly for the housing of children of undocumented immigrants, which translated to generous pay packages of $500,000 for the BCFS president and salaries north of $200,000 for a half-dozen other staff members.

Those salaries were made possible by the awarding of $77 million in CONTRACTS to the non-profit by the Biden administration. Subsequent to the awarding of that contract, BCFS was cited for mishandling children at the border.

The political problems of BCFS are bipartisan, though; prior to Biden’s becoming president, Donald Trump was said to have PRESSURED administrators of the BCFS infamous tent city in Tornillo, Texas, to take in more migrant children than it could care for.

Like BCFS, the Youth Villages web page is peppered with wholesome photographs of happy children and their families. But the facility apparently has a darker side.

The mother of a 17-year-old girl who died at the facility last year says her daughter was “BODY SLAMMED” for failing to comply with an order to undress in front of male residential staff.

Youth Villages has denied that it did anything inappropriate to Alegend Jones.

The story about her death, however, prompted several negative comments about the home, including allegations by one person who claimed that there was sexual abuse, illegal restraints of kids and staff smoking with underage girls at the facility.

Two other comments resonated with similarity of allegations against other residential facilities for kids. Both writers indicated that Youth Villages, like other homes, works to keep kids for monetary reasons rather than treating and releasing them to their parents.

”…[T]hey ave done this over and over,” wrote one person. “They want kids in their care because the state pays big bucks. They want to provide the doctor as well to make sure you cannot remove a child. It’s scary as s*** and hard to get your child out of their grips.”

Homes and programs for troubled youth have come under increasing federal scrutiny, an effort spearheaded by socialite Paris Hilton who, as a teen, was sent to a home in Utah where she says she was beaten, raped and watched every minute – even when she showered or went to the bathroom.

There was no indication of how many Louisiana children are housed in the Tennessee and Texas facilities, though the total of more than $6 million in contracts would indicate that there are/were perhaps dozens.

I plan to promote one of my readers for the office of vice president. I came to this decision after he sent me an interesting message that revealed that he is far more astute, far more intelligent and possessive of far more plain old horse sense that that guy from Ohio/West Virginia.

The reader, a retired Navy veteran, noted that he watched on network news as J.D. Vance said, somewhere among his hillbilly rambling about childless cat women, that the federal income tax system needed to be change to tax childless couples at a higher rate than those with children.

“Really?” my friend wrote. “Seems that this is exactly the system that’s been in place for a long time! More kids equals more deductions [and more deductions] equal less tax. Singles bear a much higher tax on identical incomes.

“[The news clip] would have been more powerful if the newscaster had mentioned this stupid JDV oversight,” he wrote.

What a maroon!

Hmm. Don’t think there’s much to add to his observation except to wonder if it really was an oversight or an insight into his general ignorance.