Priorities Out of Control

Two stories last week seem to show where our priorities are focused not only as Louisianans, but the nation as a whole.  On the one hand we have learned that the city of New Orleans doesn’t have enough cash to meet its operating costs for the reminder of the year.  On the other hand, we have learned that LSU alumni will pony up about $53.3 million to fire, after just 8 weeks, its head football coach, Brian Kelly, who had been granted a ten year contract, a longer contract than that even offered to the president of LSU.

We were told that the New Orleans’ fiscal woes relate to the fact that they have incurred over $40 million in overtime costs and only budgeted $45,000 to cover such costs. Unexpected expenditures such as the New Year’s Day tragedy coupled with additional planned events including Mardi Gras, the Super Bowl, and the Taylor Swift concert pushed the overtime costs to new heights.  And the blatant incompetent budgeting error just further fueled the problem.

However, to put the LSU buyout in perspective, the money that LSU is paying, $53.3 million, without the blink of an eye, to further their quest for a football championship, would more than cover the fiscal problems of New Orleans for the remainder of the year.  And this payout by LSU was of such paramount importance that they even involved the governor of our state in their decision.  Additionally, I am sure we will never fully know the total cost of this buyout because some assistant coaches will also be owed money for early termination.

Sadly, this misplaced fiscal mentality is not just unique to LSU. They are joined this season by an elite group of college football teams, which in total, are on the hook for over $169 million.   These include the following:

•          LSU, $53.3 million
•          Penn State, $49.7 million
•          Florida, $21.2 million
•          OSU, $15 million
•          Arkansas, $9.8 million
•          UCLA, $6.43 million
•          VT, $6 million
•          Oregon State, $4 million
•          UAB, $2.4 million
•          Colorado State, $1.5 million

Again, to put all these buyouts into perspective, more than enough money to cover the projected New Orleans’ budget deficit of $160 million for the entire next year.   And just think how many people that money could feed who can’t afford 3 meals a day for their family.

So, there we have it, America’s love for a winning college football team, no matter what the cost.

It’s Time to ‘Pay the Piper’

 

The residents of New Orleans continually brag about the ‘unique culture’ of their city with its wonderful cafes and restaurants, it second line parades, Mardi Gras celebration, and its myriad of music and food festivals.  However, what many fail to acknowledge is that New Orleans has always been a ward of the federal government.  Most of the development and improvement projects that occur in the city are totally dependent upon such funds, and unfortunately, when these funds expire, these projects fall into disrepair because the city can’t afford to maintain them.  So they wait until they get more federal funds to redo these projects again, and this cycle has been repeated over and over throughout the years.  Just look at how many times Louis Armstrong Park has been restored.

Sadly, New Orleans residents have never paid their fair share to live there, and now it is time to “pay the piper.”  For various reasons the Federal Funds are no longer flowing as they use to. Some involve limiting new funding based upon the lack of accountability about how these funds were utilized in the past, and others involve a drastic change by the present administration’s desire to not fund projects in cities that are considered running counter to their MAGA agenda.

Whatever the reasons, one thing is clear, New Orleans has run out of money to pay city operational costs for the remainder of this year and is facing a $160 million deficit for next year.  And the reality is clear, either New Orleans residents assume the actual operational costs of their city, or, if they can’t afford that, they will have to leave. 

The ‘city that care forgot’ is at a reality crossroads and it is up to its residents to decide if they are willing to finally pay for the future of that ‘unique culture.’

Such Hypocrisy about Making America Great Again

 

While President Trump basks in the praises he is receiving worldwide for brokering a cease fire in the Israeli /Hamas war occurring in Palestine, with the possibility of a lasting peace, one has to wonder why he doesn’t care about brokering such peace in his own country.    We may not have bombs killing people and destroying our homes and infrastructure, but we do have the destruction of peoples’ livelihoods and the disruption of crucial services impacting all with the prolonged shutdown of the Federal government.  But Trump doesn’t seem interested or care about using any of his purported negotiation skills in solving this present political war in his quest to Make America Great Again.

In fact, he has given his full support to Speaker of the House, Johnson’s   refusal to call the House of Representatives back into session.  Consequentially, your representatives remain home collecting their pay while almost all Federal workers receive none.  If they don’t even show up, how can any negotiations occur?   And President Trump seems perfectly satisfied with Speaker Johnson’ response that, “there is nothing to negotiate,” when questioned about why the House is not in session.

So, my question is this, why so little concern about negotiating a peaceful solution in your own country as opposed to a foreign conflict?  Is it all about the glamour and fame of the whole world stage?

Why allow the present philosophy of ‘its’s my way or the highway’ to be the rallying call of both political parties?   President Trump needs to show that he really cares about the unity of our country, for he has the power to do so by bringing both political sides together and negotiating a peace deal.  But instead, he has refused to initiate such a meeting and continues to add gasoline to the fire by announcing permanent layoffs in Federal agencies that, to use his own words, “are favored by the Democrats.”

These acts of retribution are further proof that forming a peace agreement in the United States is simply not on President Trump’s radar.   So again, I ask, why, for he only has to negotiate with two opposing entities as opposed to three in the Israeli /Hamas war.  So, it should be a lot easier.

But then again, our political peace negotiation comes with no worldwide accolades, or fame and it wouldn’t help towards getting the Nobel Peace Prize, one of his highest priorities.

President Trump is Outright Lying to Americans

You may not have noticed, but recently you have to do more and more of your own research to determine the actual facts that exist about issues impacting our country today.  As a commentary writer, who is retired, I have the time to do this, and am somewhat sensitive to quoted statistics that don’t make sense.

One recently quoted statistic by President Trump just got my full my attention. In a recent news conference celebrating the destroying of Venezuelan ships allegedly carrying drugs, the president stated that drugs “killed 300,000 in our country last year.”  Obviously, this was another swipe at the supposedly out of control societal ales which occurred under the Biden administration.

It wasn’t hard to check last year’s drug deaths since it is readily available from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. They reported the following:  “In the United States, in 2024, there were an estimated 80,391 deaths due to drug overdoses, which includes deaths from illicit drug use. This figure represents a significant decrease of about 27% from the approximately 110,037 overdose deaths estimated in 2023. The decline in overdose deaths is notable as it is projected to be the lowest annual total since 2019. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl remain the primary driver behind most of these deaths, although deaths from these substances also decreased substantially during 2024.”

Almost a quarter of million error in reporting this information to the American people.  Why do that?  Just for personal embellishment?  And how many more statistical falsehoods are being fed to Americans by the present administration for the same reason?  I have found many.

Rightfully so, most Americans simply accept these doled out statistics as factual because they are coming from the highest office in the United States government. So why would anyone in their wildest imagination assume they might be false?  And to make matters worse, the news media has been so successfully brow beaten by the ‘fake news’ label that they no longer even bother to question or correct these outlandish espoused statistics.

As someone degreed in statistical research, with a love for stats, I am abhorred at what is now taking place. But, obviously there is no end in sight to this foolishness, and it is now possibly to the point that no one should believe any statistics espoused by our government leaders.

Frightfully, I am talking about a very dangerous situation, the alteration of facts by government officials to comply with their agenda.  And we are not talking about some minor overemphasis just to prove at point, but major statistical atrocities.

So do your own fact checking if you really want to know the truth about important issues facing our country, because your research is the only one you can now trust.

It's Time to Stop the Perpetual Divisiveness

When a tragedy occurs in the magnitude of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk one should take pause and remind themselves of the reality of what occurred; a sole heinous act of violence committed by a mentally disturbed individual.

However, apparently our society has moved beyond such logic, for instead of using such an event as a time for healing and bringing folks together, it leaders have chosen to politicize it and create yet more animosity and divisiveness among us as a nation.

Here is what President Trump said after the shooting:  “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the worst mass murders and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” He then promised to find “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone who brings order to our country.”  Trump cited the attacks on Rep. Steve Scalise, in 2017, and the attack on himself as examples of what he termed the Left radicalization against Republicans.

However, what he conveniently failed to mention were any attacks against Democrats, the most recent being the murders of Melissa Hortman, her husband, and dog.

Additionally, many conservatives have also inferred that there has been a nationwide war declared on the Republican Party and blame Democrats for Kirk's death.  Fox News host Jesse Watters called the death a "turning point," and MAGA architect Steve Bannon saying on his War Room podcast, "Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country."

Several other political commentators have echoed similar rhetoric.  For example Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said on X: "The Left (Democrats) owns what happened yesterday." Elon Musk wrote on X: "The Left is the party of murder." Actor and conservative activist James Woods wrote on X: "It's not gun violence, it's Democrat violence."

 

For the record, the shooter had no declared political party affiliation, but did come from a family of Republicans, and the Trump shooter was a registered Republican. All of which further illustrates the foolishness and intentional divisiveness fueled by these radical comments trying to link this shooting to a political ideology.

 

Former President Barack Obama said on X:  "We don't yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children."

 

Now, of all the responses I have cited, which one is the only one that promotes a healing and bringing together of our country rather than polarizing and dividing it further?  And which one doesn’t serve as a violent call to arms?

 

Obviously some folks just need to get a grip and stop the political grandstanding foolishness, before it’s too late to bring our country back from more violence, more divisiveness and more hatred of one another.

 

Charlie Kirk was a son, a husband, and a father who was senselessly killed by a mentally disturbed individual who apparently felt distain and animosity for his political agenda.  And sadly, we now have leaders who want to further sow more distain and animosity.

Let's hold everyone responsible

The horrific death of 12 year old Bryan Vasquez by an alligator attack was a tragedy that quite possibly could have been prevented.  And interestingly the media has chosen to focus its headline news on the past abuses the boy received from his caretaker.  The harsh reality is this young man was failed by the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.  And none seem to be the center of media’s investigative reporting surrounding this child’s death.   Why the protective cover for these departments?   I believe if this child had not been disabled, of Mexican dissent, and from an economically challenged family, the coverage of this incident might have been entirely different.

The NOPD’s delayed response to the reporting of the missing child was inexcusable, and employee repercussions need to be issued.  Additionally, a review of the child’s suffering abuses over the years provides no plausible reason for why the child was ever returned to the custody of his caretaker by the Department of Child and Family Services. And, after several previous complaints regarding alligator sightings in the lake where the boy was attacked, apparently the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries took little to no action.

This poor young child simply didn’t have a chance with all this stacked against him.

So when will the media take off the kid’s gloves and hold everyone accountable for their respective roles in this young child’s death, and stop using the child’s caretaker as the scapegoat?

Conspiracy theorists dash hopes for cancer vaccines

When I was just in my early to mid-twenties, I remember President Nixon promising to find a cure for cancer during his term as President.  Sadly, some 56 years later that promise has yet to come to fruition, and my departed wife was a testimony to that. There have been many conspiracy theories circulated about why this hasn’t occurred. The most prominent one being that drug companies do not wish to find a cure or prevention because that would kill their ‘golden goose’ of the tremendous profits they reap from the cost of their cancer treatment drugs.  And added to that theory is the fact that some of the recent ground breaking research regarding the treatment of cancer comes mainly from foreign countries.

However, recently there had been a new ray of hope in the prevention of cancer, but it too has most likely been doomed to failure by conspiracy theorists. The COVID epidemic lead to a new way of developing vaccines.  It is known as the mRNA technology.  Basically in the past, immune responses to diseases were created in our bodies through the use of vaccines putting a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. The first step of this procedure involved the actual growing of the disease in the lab, which was time consuming.  However, under ideal conditions this type of vaccine triggered our body’s immune system to develop a resistance to this disease, resulting in a total prevention or a less severe case.

In contrast, mRNA vaccines use a genetic code to tell the body’s cells to produce proteins that train the immune system to produce protection.  mRNA technology allows researchers to develop vaccines quickly since labs don't have to initially grow copies of the virus. It is important to note that both procedures involve the process of injecting a foreign substance into the body.

However, since the mRNA substance was not naturally grown, but instead manufactured in a lab, the conspiracy folks have had a field day.  Without going into a lengthy debate about the safety and total lack of understanding these folks had about the mRNA technology used in the development of the COVID vaccines, one simply needs to look at the data from Israel. They vaccinated early on more people with all versions of these vaccines than any country, and carefully monitored these folks.  Additionally, these new vaccines were used world-wide. According to the World Health Organization,13.64 billion people or 67% world-wide were initially vaccinated. This is far more extensive than any use in the U.S. and  provides significantly more data regarding their safety. They were safe, but of course some did experience side effects as do some with conventionally developed vaccines, but these side effects never received the same sensationalized media coverage that the mRNA side effects did.

However, one of the greatest benefits of this emerging mRNA technology was that it could finally lead to the development of cancer preventing vaccines.  But, sadly we can forget about that dream, because the present administration has just cut all funding for mRNA vaccines research.  Half a billion dollars had already been spent on this research development at various laboratories and universities, and now that background work has been thrown out and shut down.  However, ironically, China has increased support for this technology.

So hooray for the anti-vax, conspiracy theorists that President Trump has now infiltrated into the Department of Health and Human Services, along with Louisiana congressman Bill Cassidy and other Trump political loyalists, for they have successfully insured the continual survival of cancer in the U.S.  And you would think, of all loyalists, Rep. Steve Scalise would know better. Thanks ‘For Making America Great Again.’