Legislature must thwart recalcitrant local govts

Perhaps it’s because the eventuality actually hasn’t manifested, but when it likely does Louisiana in the near future then must act to put into place laws to prevent local government defiance of its prohibitions against abortion except when the mother’s life is endangered.

With the state poised to join others in making this its law if, as expected, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that regulation of the practice properly belongs in the hands of the states, dissident local governments in those states have begun to plot strategies to circumvent that and encourage abortion wherever possible, even if illegal. For example, a small Philadelphia suburb voted to prevent its police force from arresting anyone breaking a law against performing an abortion, if the state were to have one; it doesn’t, like Louisiana, have any law set to come into force doing this. In a related fashion and in a state with such laws already on the books, Austin would force police to put investigation of a suspected abortion last in priority and prevent the city funds from use to investigate, catalog, or report suspected abortions.

Having a relatively large Catholic population, Louisiana is perhaps the most pro-life state in the country. Still, conceivably some large cities with leftists in the control of the mechanisms of government could try to defy state laws on the matter preparing to come into force, so state policy must cut this off. After all, evil doesn’t stop being evil merely because it occurs in a different physical location.

Panel must fish or cut bait on Edwards' role

Does the “request” by the special Louisiana House of Representatives Committee to have Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards appear to testify about his actions relating to the aftermath of the May, 2019 death of black motorist Ronald Greene signal real business or face-saving?

Wednesday, Republican Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, the chairman of the Special Committee to Inquire Into the Circumstances and Investigation of the Death of Ronald Greene, announced that the panel would hear from Edwards on Jun. 16. Ostensibly, the reason given was to probe more into when Edwards viewed Louisiana State Police body camera recordings that showed the complete incident and what he did with that information; Greene died subsequent to forceful mistreatment by troopers after a high-speed chase followed by a low-speed crash.

The Associated Press reported that Edwards viewed the most complete recording, which included Greene’s expiry in Oct., 2020 after audio leaks of the incident to the media. However, he and his staff didn’t immediately forward that information to federal prosecutors who had taken over the investigation a year earlier, who didn’t find out about this information until months later. The LSP apparently released this kind of evidence in bits and pieces as a struggle internal to the agency occurred with some elements attempting to suppress knowledge of damaging evidence. Edwards never intervened to assure a comprehensive internal investigation and, despite close staff monitoring of the federal government investigation, seemed to make no effort to ensure as evidence was uncovered that it would come into the hands of the federal reviewers.

Predictable Richmond exit prompts second-guesses

Maybe Cedric Richmond is having second thoughts about giving up his safe Congressional seat and potentially becoming some years down the road as powerful as his ally Democrat Rep. James Clyburn.

A year-and-a-half ago, fresh off of reelection Richmond foreswore his Louisiana Second Congressional District post in favor of heading up the Office of Public Engagement for the incoming Democrat Pres. Joe Biden Administration. That new gig made him one of the highest-ranking black officials in the White House, a reward for his efforts to elect Biden not just in the general election where he served as a campaign chairman but also in Biden’s triumphing over more than a dozen other competitors for the party’s nomination, including other non-white candidates and those favored by many other black democrats in Congress.

Yet as of the end of May, Richmond had left the building into a nebulous role with the Democratic National Committee aiding party candidates. When his departure was announced last month, all involved went to some lengths to describe the parting as unprovoked and a promotion.

Memorial Day, 2022

This column publishes every Sunday through Thursday around noon U.S. Central Time (maybe even after sundown on busy days, or maybe before noon if things work out, or even sometimes on the weekend if there's big news) except whenever a significant national holiday falls on the Monday through Friday associated with the otherwise-usual publication on the previous day (unless it is Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Christmas, or New Year's Day when it is the day on which the holiday is observed by the U.S. government). In my opinion, in addition to these are also Easter Sunday, Memorial Day and Veterans' Day.

With Monday, May 30 being Memorial Day, I invite you to explore this link.

Noose tightens around Edwards over Greene death

The noose continues to tighten around Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ governorship, over his conduct concerning the death of black motorist Ronald Greene.

Greene died in the early morning hours of May 10, 2019, after a low-speed crash following a high-speed chase by the Louisiana State Police. After several minutes of brutalized treatment at the hands of a few LSP troopers, Greene, who didn’t resist, died on the way to medical treatment.

Only that a motorist died in custody was communicated to Edwards just hours later, although hours after that LSP released a now-deleted statement naming Greene and a vague description of the incident, as reported by Monroe media. That media days later also began reporting on earwitness statements that contradicted that Greene died in the crash and indicated he begged for his life during his beating.