N. O. Catholic Church Leaders are Joyful

I am sure the Archdiocese of New Orleans is extremely happy with the settlement terms of the child abuse case.  While monetary awards will never compensate these individuals for the suffering they endured from these church predators, the monetary amount these victims will receive, after attorney fees are deducted, pales in comparison to the horrific acts they endured.

But the real tragedy of the settlement is that no higher ups in the Catholic Church were prosecuted or sent to jail, including New Orleans Archbishop Aymond.  These higher ups knew about these church pedophiles and simply ignored the complaints, or just repeatedly transferred these individuals to different locations.  They all served as an accessory to the crimes by covering them by whatever means deemed necessary.

All these priests reported to a supervisor and these folks were ultimately responsible for their actions and needed to deal with them.

While I am sure it is important for these abused individuals to finally find some closure to this long, drawn-out case, in reality, it is the Catholic Church who got a sweet deal.

The Bugs Know It All

Well hurricane season is over and we escaped without even one entering the gulf from the Atlantic Ocean.  To many this came as an unexpected surprise given the number of hurricanes predicted to form by national forecast organizations.  However, I was not worried as the season progressed because I relied on an old New Orleans’ wives tail to predict the chances of a serious hurricane forming in the gulf, namely, lovebugs.

Years ago, when I first moved to New Orleans, I was told by an elderly New Orleans native that the amount of lovebugs, those small nasty black bugs that collect all over the front of your car from mid-August through September, indicted the number of storms that would enter the gulf and turn into hurricanes.

And guess what, these creatures seem to be more accurate than our local weather forecasters.  For example, last year many lovebugs, and 8 storms in the gulf, and this year very, very few lovebugs and no hurricanes actually entered the gulf.  This was noteworthy because it was the first time since 2015 that no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., and the first time since 2019 that no major hurricanes impacted Florida.

So, there you have it.  Apparently those messy lovebugs know all about hurricanes and could teach a thing or two to our local weather gurus

Ignorance celebrated, expertise mocked

One of my favorite parts of the newspaper has always been the comics.  However, I have recently discovered another source of laughter; some of the actions of high ranking officials in our federal government.  My latest one is the actions of Kristi Noem, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  One of her duties as secretary involves the oversite of the round up of all those illegal immigrants in our country.  In order to facilitate even faster deportation of these folks, she and Corey Lewandowski, the guy who managed Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, prepared a proposal to buy, using taxpayers’ money, ten Boeing 737 airplanes from Spirit Airlines.  Additionally, one of these planes was going to be outfitted for personal use.

But wait for it, here comes the laugh!  Turns out Spirit Airlines had filed for bankruptcy for a second time and no longer even owned the planes, and the planes had no engines; yep, no engines.  Consequently, Secretary Noem would have had to spend even more of our tax dollars to buy engines and have them installed.  Somebody with some sense blew the whistle on the proposed deal and it was quietly squelched in hopes that it would never come to light.

Maybe, if the present administration would put competency and experience above simply blind allegiance to the current president as a requirement for a job, real problems could be addressed and solved.  But sadly we are stuck with people like Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, a notable snake oil salesman, masquerading as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services,  Linda E Mahon, former president and CEO of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), now leading the U. S. Education Department,  and Pete Hegseth, former Fox News TV personality on the show 'Fox and Friends Weekend', now serving as the Secretary of Defense, and the list goes on and on.

With other unqualified folks like these running the show it is doubtful that Americans will see any time soon affordable healthcare, a reduction in the national debt, and a lowering of the cost of living; all of which have ballooned since January.  But, then again, we might miss out on all the laugh ability. So, if you really enjoy those newspaper comics just follow the actions of some of the leaders in the present Trump administration for even more giggles.

Sadly, we are now living during a time where 'ignorance' is celebrated, and 'expertise' mocked.

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.