Required state worker vaccination impractical

If Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards feels like he can buck political tides additionally on the issue of vaccination requirements for state employees, he’ll have a lot more difficulty imposing his will.

Edwards last week became the first governor on the country, in a largely useless gesture if not harmful to children, to reestablish a face covering mandate in indoor public areas. Days later, as word began to spread that one Wuhan coronavirus vaccine may receive full approval for use in about a month, he floated the idea that he might emulate Democrat Pres. Joe Biden and Democrat New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell who issued orders that their workforces, including contractors, prove vaccination or show proof regularly of negative virus testing.

But as both of these examples reveal, administration of such a mandate poses problems in its failure of specificity that greatly limit a faithful implementation such an the order, as well as raises broader questions of fairness. By way of example, the federal regulations leave undefined a number of important areas, such as obtaining verification of vaccinations or testing, noncompliance penalties, and implementation dates. New Orleans has issued no details at all about administrative issues such as these.

Petty, immature councilors disserving Bossier

Unless some of the clowns part the circus that never leaves Bossier City, better known as its City Council, accept the electorate’s choice of mayor, citizens have a long four years ahead.

This Tuesday’s Council meeting seemed an opportunity to have recede into the background the acrimony evident between three councilors – no party Jeff Darby, Republican David Montgomery, and Democrat Bubba Williams – and Republican Mayor Tommy Chandler. This spring Chandler upset incumbent Lo Walker, the strong ally of Montgomery and Williams often backed by Darby, to win executive control of the city.

Since then, whenever an opportunity has presented itself, those three have taken the lead in obstructing Chandler’s agenda, principally in rejecting his choice of Shane Cheatham as the city’s chief administrative officer, a post that remains unfilled. Joining them has been newcomer and Walker ally Republican Vince Maggio and Republican interim member Scott Irwin, another Walker ally who lost this spring to Cheatham but when Cheatham abjured taking the seat in anticipation of becoming CAO Irwin’s council buddies placed him back in it until mid-October.

Bank on 5 GOP LA congressmen in 2022, beyond

In a couple of weeks the federal government will release 2020 census data, setting states on course for reapportionment. But if as a result you’re a Democrat that begins fantasizing of a Louisiana sending two Democrats rather than one to the U.S. House of Representatives, you might want to stop reading right here.

Because that’s as likely to happen as a child dying of the Wuhan coronavirus. Despite such infinitely small chances, some false cheer along these lines has started circulate. By way of example, one source from the academic left played around with 2019 data used to make population estimates to come up with a map that makes three substantial district-wide changes: it ejects the western-most and eastern-most parishes of Congressional District 5 and extends it south into Baton Rouge while wrapping westward into north and central Shreveport and central Bossier City with its pivot in south Monroe; CD 4 picks up most of those western parishes, what’s left of Shreveport and Bossier City, and northern Monroe and West Monroe; and most of CD 6 shifts into the former eastern-most parishes of CD 4.

This would produce a new CD 5 with a 54 percent black majority as well as have a knock-on effect of lowering the existing CD 2 to 53 percent. The theory then goes both would elect a black Democrat to Congress.

Edwards stuck on stupid with virtue signaling

Yes, Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards is stuck on stupid. And add prone to hypocritical partisan virtue-signaling as well.

Monday, Edwards reimposed a statewide indoor face covering mandate. He gave the reason as Wuhan coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations climbing to levels rivalling the highest of the pandemic, back at the beginning of the year.

This he did despite the science saying that mask mandates don’t do much to cut down on the infection rate. This occurs through a combination of inherent masking problems, people ignoring these, not enforcing these, and individuals not using masks properly.

Edwards musn't follow stuck on stupid Cantrell

Democrat New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell remains stuck on stupid. Let’s hope Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards doesn’t join her.

Late last week, Cantrell, facing a reelection attempt this fall, issued an indoor face covering mandate as well as a requirement that city employees and contractor have been vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus. This she did, she said, because of increasing case numbers and hospitalizations due in part to the newer, more transmissible delta strain of the virus.

Edwards has said he might follow suit. As of the end of the week, both the number of new cases and hospitalizations were not far from their peaks in January. This differs from what has occurred in most of the rest of the country, and appears to vary with vaccination rates; cases and hospitalizations are considerably lower in places with significantly higher such rates. Another factor hitting Louisiana harder could be its ranking as the least healthy state in the country; under age 70 almost nobody dies from the virus unless they have some kind of co-morbidity.