What is it with Louisiana Democrats and their
vacations on the taxpayer’s dime?
Earlier this month, Gov. John Bel Edwards
with first lady Donna in tow continued their global gallivanting with a trip
to Puerto Rico, ostensibly for the commonwealth to learn from a state well
experienced in disaster recovery. At least he stayed within the U.S. this time,
even if he left the continental shores; other overseas trips he has taken in
his fewer than two years in office include stops in Rome
and Cuba.
In the case of the junket to Rome, the stated
purpose of this travel being to share information on approaches to combat human
trafficking, sending lower-level officials or just making phone calls and exchanging
e-mail could have gotten the job done. And even as the state didn’t pay much to
fund his and other officials’ travel to Cuba, that mostly funded by its communist
government, because of current U.S. policy the trip had zero possibility of
payoff any time before the distant future.
Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely. This publishes five days weekly with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below).
29.11.17
Cantrell ignorance shows N.O. in for rough ride
On the basis of a post-election
interview, it appears that New Orleans just elected an ignoramus as its mayor.
Shortly after she triumphed, Democrat Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell sat down with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which asked her about her background. And off the bat, she made some breathtakingly stupid comments about the political atmosphere in her Los Angeles youth:
Ronald Reagan was elected president and I saw that everything changed. Social programs went away. Crack cocaine engulfed the neighborhoods. The streets blocks [sic] changed ….
The whole focus on "welfare queens," the social programs …. And I just remember stark change when those programs were cut …. Being in an urban environment and just kind of seeing that change and when those drugs really inundated the community.
Shortly after she triumphed, Democrat Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell sat down with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which asked her about her background. And off the bat, she made some breathtakingly stupid comments about the political atmosphere in her Los Angeles youth:
Ronald Reagan was elected president and I saw that everything changed. Social programs went away. Crack cocaine engulfed the neighborhoods. The streets blocks [sic] changed ….
The whole focus on "welfare queens," the social programs …. And I just remember stark change when those programs were cut …. Being in an urban environment and just kind of seeing that change and when those drugs really inundated the community.
28.11.17
Moore allegations illustrate LA senators' divide
The volatile Alabama Senate contest has illuminated
a fundamental divergence in ideological comfort between Republican Louisiana
Sens. Bill Cassidy
and John Kennedy.
The Republican nominee in the special election to take the place of Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, should have had a cakewalk into office, except for two things. First, Moore has a checkered populist history that twice got him tossed for defying national judicial orders he saw, with some justification, as poor jurisprudential decisions. Perhaps no politician, not even Republican Pres. Donald Trump who backed another GOP candidate in the primary, can claim the mantle as insurgent more honestly than Moore, making him a target to the more accommodationist establishment branch of the party.
Yet their unhappiness could not have derailed his election against the solidly but unspectacularly liberal Democrat nominee, former prosecutor Doug Jones who runs the same playbook as Louisiana’s Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards – accentuate the relatively few socially conservative views he alleges to have and downplay the rest except when in front of leftist audiences. Only something salacious and shocking had a chance of stopping Moore’s triumph.
The Republican nominee in the special election to take the place of Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, should have had a cakewalk into office, except for two things. First, Moore has a checkered populist history that twice got him tossed for defying national judicial orders he saw, with some justification, as poor jurisprudential decisions. Perhaps no politician, not even Republican Pres. Donald Trump who backed another GOP candidate in the primary, can claim the mantle as insurgent more honestly than Moore, making him a target to the more accommodationist establishment branch of the party.
Yet their unhappiness could not have derailed his election against the solidly but unspectacularly liberal Democrat nominee, former prosecutor Doug Jones who runs the same playbook as Louisiana’s Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards – accentuate the relatively few socially conservative views he alleges to have and downplay the rest except when in front of leftist audiences. Only something salacious and shocking had a chance of stopping Moore’s triumph.
27.11.17
Liberalism's invalidity consternates leftists
It always brings both a chuckle and a head shake when
the political left expresses surprise at something embodying its values turning
out hideously, with the latest example
coming from the opinion pages of the New
Orleans Times-Picayune.
Its headline sums up neatly the consternation and perplexity felt by liberals such as the column’s author Jarvis DeBerry when events like this (all too often for them) occur: “We used to sing Zimbabwe's praises, but had to change our tune.” To which an person all of informed, open-minded, and astute at critical thinking would have to respond, for two reasons, “Really?”
Because when the Marxist revolutionary Robert Mugabe successfully helped prosecute, then maneuvered himself into leadership after, a guerilla war that overthrew the white minority government of Rhodesia in 1980, anybody who knew the facts and applied them intellectually could see the disaster that would unfold under his and his political party’s rule. Nobody in that position who thought clearly could possibly conclude otherwise; Mugabe’s long history of articulating Marxism and bloodthirsty actions then made for immediate understanding that Zimbabwe would become a debacle under his rule.
Its headline sums up neatly the consternation and perplexity felt by liberals such as the column’s author Jarvis DeBerry when events like this (all too often for them) occur: “We used to sing Zimbabwe's praises, but had to change our tune.” To which an person all of informed, open-minded, and astute at critical thinking would have to respond, for two reasons, “Really?”
Because when the Marxist revolutionary Robert Mugabe successfully helped prosecute, then maneuvered himself into leadership after, a guerilla war that overthrew the white minority government of Rhodesia in 1980, anybody who knew the facts and applied them intellectually could see the disaster that would unfold under his and his political party’s rule. Nobody in that position who thought clearly could possibly conclude otherwise; Mugabe’s long history of articulating Marxism and bloodthirsty actions then made for immediate understanding that Zimbabwe would become a debacle under his rule.
26.11.17
The Advocate column, Nov. 26, 2017
John Bel Edwards' crisis mongering a clear sign he's kicked off re-election bid
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_2d1aef74-d12b-11e7-9117-b3b0427575bd.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_b6729692-cbda-11e7-9fb6-7ba7d33fde17.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_86a9f704-cb1a-11e7-a1c8-db1efc1a413d.html
http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=206538
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/11/louisiana_medicaid_contracts_1.html
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/11/edwards_anti-tax_lawmakers_sho.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_38691ce2-ced9-11e7-b62a-4f6136396e8d.html
http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=103789
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_2d1aef74-d12b-11e7-9117-b3b0427575bd.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_b6729692-cbda-11e7-9fb6-7ba7d33fde17.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_86a9f704-cb1a-11e7-a1c8-db1efc1a413d.html
http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=206538
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/11/louisiana_medicaid_contracts_1.html
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/11/edwards_anti-tax_lawmakers_sho.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_38691ce2-ced9-11e7-b62a-4f6136396e8d.html
http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=103789