Monday, January 23rd, 2023 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION, OSWALD AND NEW ORLEANS! The Kennedy assassination is back in the news as a series of documents have been released involving the investigation that goes back 60 years. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 13, 1963, while riding in his motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The...Read More

Monday, January 16th, 2023 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IT’S SO HARD TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT! I have enjoyed writing this column for the past 17 years. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s really a challenge writing one each week in this day and age. You see, I’ve got to be “politically correct” so as to...Read More

PROPERTY OWNERS BEG FOR RELIEF IN LOUISIANA! Not such a happy new year if you were a property owner in the Bayou State.  Property insurance rates throughout Louisiana are skyrocketing. In New Orleans, the state run insurance company now charges as much as an 83% increase. Headlines in national publications blurted out: LOUISIANA INSURANCE MARKET...Read More

January 2nd, 2023 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE! Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I always do.  A New Year always brings with it promise and uncertainty, but this coming year brings with it a greater foreboding than we have experienced in the past.  The Chinese have a saying: “May...Read More

Monday, December 26th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE JOYS OF COUNTRY LIVIN’ After several recent columns about my relationship with Jerry Lee Lewis, several readers have written to ask what I found so appealing about living in Ferriday.  I think it’s more the slower pace of living in a rural area. I enjoyed my time...Read More

Monday, December 19th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE HOLIDAYS OFFER US A SECOND CHANCE! Most of us have been swept up in the momentum of the holiday season. We have passed Thanksgiving, reached the Christmas milestone and are approaching New Year’s Day, the third in the trilogy of holidays. Sure, there is a lot of our...Read More

Monday, December 12th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE MAY BECOME UNAFFORDABLE ALONG THE GULF COAST! Just when you thought the insurance crisis along the gulf coast, particularly in Louisiana, could not get any worse, along comes congress to try and really muck up the problems faced by property owners who are trying to protect...Read More

Monday, December 5th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  ILLEGAL GAMBLING HAS INVADED LSU! Gambling is everywhere in Louisiana. Presently, the state has 15 so called “floating” casinos, a huge land-based casino in downtown New Orleans, four racetrack casinos, 200 truck stop casinos and over 1000 restaurants and bars that have video poker machines. Wow!  So is...Read More

Monday, November 28th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHY DO WE HAVE HATE CRIMES? There has been a wave of mass shootings in recent weeks.  At a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, a shooter killed five people and injured 17 others that has been called a hate crime. In Chesapeake, Virginia, a Walmart supervisor shot and...Read More

Monday, November 20th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA VOTERS NEED ELECTION ALTERNATIVES! In last week’s column, I wrote about the aversion of a large number of Louisiana voters who were not in favor of any candidate on the ballot.  Many voters just wanted to throw the bums out.  But most of the incumbents running for...Read More

Monday, November 14th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana A BREAK FROM POLITICS SO WE DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN! Don’t you and I deserve a campaign break? For months, we’ve been suffering through accusatory political rhetoric from both parties. I don’t know about you, but I think we all should tune out for a while. After all,...Read More

Rev. Jimmy Swaggart joined me in honoring Jerry Lee. November 7th, 2022 Ferriday, Louisiana I wrote last week about the passing of Jerry Lee Lewis, who, in my opinion, was the greatest rock and roller of all time. Since I was in attendance at his funeral, I thought readers would like to know how the...Read More

Monday, October 31st, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE END OF ONE OF ROCK AND ROLL’S AL TIME GREATS!  Sad news for us rock and rollers all over America, and for that matter, all over the world. The Killer passed away last week after living a full 87 years of life.  Although he lived in a...Read More

Monday, October 23rd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TWO CHEERS FOR THE FRENCH- ESPECIALLY IN LOUISIANA! As the Ukrainian War drags on, some of America’s strongest allies are becoming less than supportive, in spite of strong urging by the Biden Administration.  India has failed to offer any help, and the British support is becoming shaky due...Read More

Monday, October 17th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY IN LOUISIANA?  A jury last week in Parkland, Florida recommended Nikolas Cruz get life in prison for killing 17 people, sparing Cruz from a death sentence after his lawyers argued he had a troubled upbringing.  I read a great deal about this case and I...Read More

Monday, October 10th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LIVING AND DYING IN LOUISIANA! Eighteen years ago this week, Derrick Todd Lee received the death penalty in Louisiana. He was the state’s most notorious and prolific serial killer. I was there in the courtroom when the verdict was handed down. It was a cool Tuesday evening, and...Read More

Monday, October 3rd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHAT TO DO ABOUT HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE?  Well, what do you know.  We finally have a governor in Louisiana who is showing an interest in the property insurance crisis that is sweeping the state.  One of the problems here in the Bayou State is that the governor has no...Read More

Monday, September 26th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HELLO AND GOODBYE TO LOUISIANA SENATOR ELLENDER! This week marks the birthday of former Louisiana U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender.  He was born in 1890, and in his heyday, Ellender was the most prominent Senator in Washington and a powerful voice for the Bayou State. I first met...Read More

Monday, September 19th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana CENSORSHIP ALIVE AND WELL IN LOUISIANA! Efforts to ban books are accelerating in Louisiana as well as all across the nation. According to a new report from the American Library Association, there have been “an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books,” more than any time in recent memory....Read More

Monday, September 12th, 2022 New Orleans, Louisiana  THE SEARING OF A GREAT CITY’S SOUL! (New Orleans a war zone) The real estate website Home Bay just released its national rankings of the best places in the U.S. to retire.  So where is the number one location?  Are you ready for this? Numero Uno is the...Read More

Monday, September 5th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA DEMOCRATS BETRAY JEFFERSON AND JACKSON! I don’t know about you, but I have always loved to read and study Louisiana History. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching the history of the Bayou State at both Tulane University and LSU. And when it comes to examining the giant...Read More

Monday, August 29th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  BAD IDEA FOR STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS! I’m sorry to say that President Biden does not pay much attention to me.  I wrote in my weekly column back in early July that forgiving federally guaranteed student loans was bad fiscal policy, and unfair to all of the rest of...Read More

Monday, August 22nd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HOW DO WE COME TOGETHER AGAIN?  Abraham Lincoln was elected President 162 years ago.  Civil War buffs are looking back to these war years for lessons learned in the current debate over the stagnation of the American political process today.  Historians say that there were two Americas-a house...Read More

Monday, August 15th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana OVERREACH BY FBI AGAINST TRUMP! Was the FBI raid on President Trump’s Florida home justified? And even if the former president had in his possession classified documents, was it necessary for his private residence to be invaded by swat team FBI agents holding AK 15 assault rifles like...Read More

Monday, August 8th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHAT IF I WON THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY?  Here’s my question to you in this week’s column. Do you feel lucky? Not the luck you would want if you were confronted by Dirty Harry. Remember Clint Eastwood’s words: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: “˜Do I feel lucky?...Read More

August 8th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHAT IF I WON THE LOTTERY?  Here’s my question to you in this week’s column. Do you feel lucky? Not the luck you would want if you were confronted by Dirty Harry. Remember Clint Eastwood’s words: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: “˜Do I feel lucky? Well do...Read More

Monday, July 1st, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana ARE BASEBALL AND POLITICS INTERTWINED? We are halfway through the current baseball season, and congressional elections are just a few months away.  So just what is America’s favorite pastime? Is it politics or baseball? Politics has always been a major spectator sport, particularly here in my home state of...Read More

July 24th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY IN LOUISIANA! Bayou State residents are well aware that Louisiana is a pleasant place to live. Some would sarcastically say that we are fat, dumb, and happy down here in the deepest of the deep southern states. The state motto is, after all, Laissez les bons...Read More

Monday, July 18th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HIGHER POLICE STANDARDS TO PROTECT OUR KIDS! There is a poignant family portrait, painted in 1943 by Norman Rockwell, called “Freedom of Fear,” that shows a mother and father standing over their sleeping children. The father holds a newspaper with a headline that refers to the Blitz of...Read More

Monday, July 11th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS?  NO WAY! Forgive all outstanding student loans? Sure, why not. What this means is that all other taxpayers, that’s you and me, will pick up the cost and pay more taxes.  And the price is really not all that much, is it?  There are over...Read More

  Hey all you food lovers. Here is another episode of our new podcast, #DatelineLouisiana, just dropped. This week, my co-host  and I are talking about Louisiana food! Listen anywhere — or right here! https://www.buzzsprout.com/…/10860468-episode-2-food-of…Read More

Tuesday, July 5th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana KEYSTONE PIPELINE-LOUISIANA’S ECONOMIC SAVIOR? The approval of the Keystone pipeline is back in the news as petroleum interests and members of the Louisiana congressional delegation are calling on the President to get this project moving forward. So is building the pipeline the huge job creator and the economic...Read More

Monday, June 27th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WATERGATE, LOUISIANA, AND RICHARD NIXON! This month marks the 50-year anniversary of the Watergate break-in.  Those of us who remember we’re often mesmerized by the full press coverage the event produced. I was commuting to Baton Rouge each day in 1972 as a delegate to the constitutional convention....Read More

June 20th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana INSURANCE REFORM FALLS FLAT!  Remember your ancient history of how Nero fiddled as Rome burned?  Boy does that apply to the Louisiana legislature.  Now we are talking about the state that has far and away the highest insurance rates in the nation. Yet in the recent legislative session, insurance...Read More

June 13th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana ELECTION FRAUD A CAMPAIGN ISSUE! Undertaking the job of Secretary of State used to be fairly routine.  I should know as I held this elected post in Louisiana for eight years during the 1980s.  I even served as president of the National Secretary of State Association, where then was...Read More

Monday, June 6th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana EWE AND JOHN MCKEITHEN- A STRAINED RELATIONSHIP! A bit of political history in this week’s column. Edwin Edwards had succeeded John McKeithen as governor, but the two them did not maintain much of a relationship during Edwards’ first term in the governor’s office.  McKeithen had actively supported Edwards...Read More

May 30th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THOUGHTS AFTER TEXAS KILLINGS!  If you have small children or grandchildren, it’s difficult to process how a deranged assassin could slaughter such innocent youngsters. Yet it has become a regular happening all over America. After each shooting, we hear cries of “not this, not ever again.”  But what’s happening...Read More

Monday, May 23rd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  HONORS POUR IN FOR JERRY LEE LEWIS! Louisiana rockabilly Jerry Lee Lewis has just been elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He has already been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, so the honors keep pouring in for this Louisiana musical icon.  Let...Read More

Monday, May 16th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHAT’S GOING ON IN LOUISIANA AND ALL OF AMERICA?  Remember the song a few years back? “How low can you go? Cause I wanna know. How low can you go?”  Well apparently, as a state and a nation, we still have lower to go. The Wall Street Journal...Read More

Monday, 9th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana GETTING OLDER AIN’T ALL THAT BAD! I woke up from this strange dream last night. I got out of bed, looked in the new mirror and saw the face of a rather interesting old guy who just turned 82. Eighty-Two?  And then it dawned on me.  It wasn’t a...Read More

Monday, May 2nd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana GARTH BROOKS WOWS THEM IN TIGER STADIUM! Oh if you could have been last Saturday night in Tiger Stadium packed with a crowd of over 102,000 fans, all to hear super country music star Garth Brooks.  It couldn’t get any bigger than this.   And the crowd’s greatest response,...Read More

Monday, April 25th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TIME TO ACT ON VIOLENT CRIME IN LOUISIANA! A mother’s wailing, tormented cry over the senseless killing of her three-year-old son cut through anyone’s sense of decency. “You killed my baby” sobbed the Baton Rouge mother just last week.  Her child was killed in his bed by a...Read More

As a book publisher, I look with the leery eyes when someone talks about banning books. Of course, there are books that are both inappropriate and disgusting. But often, these decisions about the importance of the book often are in the eye of the beholder. Let me give me just one example. One of the...Read More

Tuesday, April 19th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SARAH PALIN WOULD FIT IN WELL IN LOUISIANA! Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is back in the news, announcing that she will be a candidate for Alaska’s single congressional seat. Fifty candidates have signed up to run, but with Palin’s national statue, one would think that she would...Read More

Monday, April 11th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LEADERSHIP NEEDED ON LOUISIANA PROPERTY INSURANCE Britain’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was full of insight with his poignant anecdotes. He once summed up the political courage of one of his opponents by observing: “Our citizens are moving in the streets. And I must find out which way...Read More

Monday, April 4th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HOW IMPORTANT IS UKRAINE TO AMERICA?  My home state of Louisiana is some 6000 miles away from Kyiv, Donbas, Crimea, and the Azov Sea.  Yet an overwhelming majority of Louisianians, along with most Americans, have no idea where these places are located.  For that matter, most of us...Read More

Monday, March 28th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana KEEP YOUR COVID GUARD UP!  With a new strain of the Covid lurking, there are reports of a major uptick of infections this coming summer. If you are not that concerned, let me tell you how my Covid experience transpired. What happened to me was horrendous. I would...Read More

Monday, March 21st, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LEGISLATIVE INSURANCE REFORM A DUD!  The headlines blared across newspapers and television stations last week.  “State insurance leaders join forces on Catastrophe Reform Legislative Package,” featured the Lake Charles American Press.  “An insurance reform package is working its way through the Louisiana Legislature, “publicized TV station WDSU in...Read More

Monday, March 14th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HOW TO STAND WITH UKRAINE! Following my column this past week on how Louisianans are affected by the current war in Ukraine, I was surprised at the number of responses I received asking just what the average citizen can or should do to help this besieged country.  This...Read More

Monday, March 7th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  DOES THE UKRAINIAN TRADEGY AFFECT US IN LOUISIANA?  When I bring up the subject of Ukraine with friends here in Louisiana, the response is more often than not some interest and a bit of concern, but that’s about all.  They don’t feel they are really affected.  So should...Read More

Monday, February 28th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE CHANGES IN LOUISIANA’S QUALITY OF LIFE!  All we know Left untold Beaten by a broken dream Nothing like what it used to be We’ve been chasing our demons down an empty road Singer Alan Walker  These words hit home to me as I read a number of...Read More

Monday, February 21st, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE TWO BEST THERE EVER WAS AT LSU! Two Heisman Trophy winners have come out of LSU.  Right now, Joe Burrow is the toast of Tiger Land along with the whole state of Louisiana. He will be a Bayou Bengal legend for decades to come.  But don’t forget...Read More

Monday, February 14th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  MAJOR PROPERTY INSURANCE RATES ON THE RISE IN LOUISIANA! Louisiana homeowners know a good bit about suffering, particularly when it comes to being stuck with the highest property insurance rates in the nation. The Clark Research Group determined that Louisiana has some of the highest insurance costs, coming...Read More

February 2nd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  GET THE POLITICIANS OUT OF REAPPORTIONMENT! There’s a lot of wrangling, wheeling and dealing going on down at the state capital in Baton Rouge.   State legislators are presently meeting in a special session to redraw the districts they represent.  Such action is required to take place every ten years...Read More

February 1st, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  ALL YOU REALLY NEED IS A SHOTGUN, TWO SHELLS, AND INSURANCE, HUH? You think insurance policyholders in Louisiana face huge insurance requirements?  How about living in San Jose, California, where the city council just voted to adopt a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring most gun owners to pay a fee and...Read More

January 24th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana AUTO INSURANCE RATES SKYROCKETING! Now let’s see.  It’s been almost two years since the Louisiana legislature passed legislation taking away certain legal rights of Louisiana insurance policyholders.  But it will be worth it said many legislators and the insurance commissioner.  We were assured that there was to be a...Read More

January 17th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Louisiana Has Worst Drivers in the U.S.! Say it isn’t so. The Bayou State, made up of docile souls who are law abiding, courteous and well-trained motorists, has just been tagged by several rating services as having the worst drivers in the nation. Look, the folks down here in...Read More

Monday, January 10th, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  BOTTOM OF THE BARREL IN LOUISIANA,  BUT IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOOTBALL COACH! Perception and reality often intertwine.  At Louisiana’s flagship university as well as other major universities across the country, any talk of the so called “revered tradition of amateurism” has gone by the wayside.  College athletes...Read More

Monday, January 3rd, 2022 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SHOULD THE FEDS MAKE LOUISIANA A PROTECTORATE? HECK YES! Hey, I have a good suggestion for a New Year’s resolution. Have you heard the cries that Louisiana is unable to take care of its problems, and should be treated differently than other states? Some even say, OK, then...Read More

December 27th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE! Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I always do.  A New Year always brings with it promise and uncertainty, but this coming year brings with it a greater foreboding than we have experienced in the past.  The Chinese have a saying: “May...Read More

Thursday, December 20th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE HOLIDAYS OFFER US A SECOND CHANCE! Most of us have been swept up in the momentum of the holiday season. We have passed Thanksgiving, reached the Christmas milestone and are approaching New Year’s Day, the third in the trilogy of holidays. Sure, there is a lot of our...Read More

December 13th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana IS LOUISIANA A JUDICIAL HELLHOLE? According to several watchdog organizations, Louisiana has one of the worst judicial climates in the country.  Just last week, the state was given the dubious title of the nation’s judicial hellhole by the Tort Reform Association of America. Campaign funds given to a judicial...Read More

Monday, December 6th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE DEMISE OF ENTERTAINING POLITICS IN LOUISIANA! I have a sad announcement to make. Politics is just no fun anymore in Louisiana.  Let’s hope with new LSU Coach Brian Kelly we have something to enjoy.  But not politics. Reams of books have been written about the colorful characters...Read More

November 29th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana IS GAMBLING LOUISIANA’S ECONOMIC SAVIOR? Football icon Drew Brees certainly deserves all the accolades he has received on the playing field. But now he’s become a huckster for a new gambling casino in Slidell on the Mississippi Louisiana state line. Here’s an interesting thought. Why is it that Louisiana...Read More

November 21st, 2021 New Orleans, Louisiana STOP THE MISCONDUCT OF THE FBI! It seems to be spreading like a communicable disease. And apparently there is no cure. Week after week, there are new reports of agents with the FBI engaging in premeditated acts of prosecutorial misconduct. Coaching witnesses to lie. Hiding evidence from the defense...Read More

November 11th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WE NEED TO DO MORE TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY! I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend this past May. Many Louisianans were vacationing over the long holiday or enjoying a cookout with family and friends. Many stores held sales advertising for us to have a “Happy Memorial Day.”...Read More

Thursday, November 4th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW! This month March 20th anniversary of the so-called Patriot Act passed by Congress in 2011.  The law created an invasive federal surveillance system that began with lies that undermined the liberty of millions of Americans Did this unconstitutional act begin the movement...Read More

NUCLEAR WAR THAT ALMOST TOOK PLACE! This week marks the 59th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. I was attending Cambridge university in England in 1962, and had immersed myself in English literature. Politics was the furthest thing from my mind””that is, until the Cuban missile crisis. I had rented a room in the house...Read More

Thursday, October 21st, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana GET THE POLITICIANS OUT OF REAPPORTIONMENT! The Louisiana legislature, like similar bodies across the country, are starting their preparation to reapportion the state’s various legislative bodies. In the bayou state, legislators will be touring parishes and holding hearings to get input as to what the public thinks. o....Read More

Thursday, September 30th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana TIME FOR SUPREME COURT TO GET TO WORK! If you look at poll numbers, it’s becoming obvious that the American public is losing confidence in the US Supreme Court.  In a new Gallop poll released this past week, only 40% of you as citizens approve of the job that...Read More

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  CAN FAITH BE RESTORED IN THE FBI? If you were a parent or a grandparent watching the testimony last week of American gymnasts describing in tears the FBI’s handling of its investigation into sexual assault, you would have been absolutely appalled. Young female gymnasts took turns repeatedly testifying...Read More

September 17th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 5th Circuit Court of Appeals an Embarrassment for Louisiana! Our nation is divided into 13 individual federal courts of appeals.  Louisiana has the unfortunate distinction of being lumped in to the most divisive and incompetent such courts in America. The Fifth Circuit regularly leads all appeals courts throughout the...Read More

September 17th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 5th Circuit Court of Appeals an Embarrassment for Louisiana! In an expose’ of the Fifth Circuit’s recent rulings, the Times Picayune quoted both Justices on the Supreme Court as well as prominent law professors who regularly lambasted verdicts handed down in New Orleans. University of Houston law professor David...Read More

Thursday, September 11th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana OUR LIVES WERE CHANGED BY 9/11  I have watched through a window a world that has fallen. W. H. Auden The date, 9/11, turned into the frantic dialing of 911 twenty years ago. A surreal feeling of shock and helplessness enveloped all Americans as we watched that day’s...Read More

September 3rd, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sixteen Years Ago, Another Terrible Storm! As Louisiana begins the massive cleanup following Hurricane Ida, those of us living on the Gulf Coast remember the fear and concern that enveloped our region sixteen years ago this week. A lady named Katrina changed many of our lives. In looking back,...Read More

August 25th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana GET HEALTHY-DRINK MORE COKE? The Baton Rouge Advocate reported this week that childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years, and that a study is underway by Pennington Biomedical Research Center to determine just where the fault lies. The folks at Pennington just might want to get out...Read More

Thursday, August 19th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE BERLIN WALL! There has been a lot of publicity about the tearing down of the Berlin wall. But few people know that the wall itself was constructed 60 years ago this week.  The Russian puppet regime in east Germany was trying to stop the stem of so...Read More

Thursday, August 8th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  DELUSION OR COMMON SENSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? One of the joys of my early life was to study English Literature at Cambridge in England back in the early 1960s. Nobel prize author and poet Rudyard Kipling was an early favorite. He did not bog the reader down...Read More

Thursday, August 5th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WHAT HAPPENED TO LONG VACATIONS? Does anyone take serious vacations anymore? In the “good old days,” schools did not start again until the Monday after Labor Day. The last two weeks in August used to be a popular time for families to get away to the beach for...Read More

July 29, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Edwards for President! Edwin Edwards was one of several Louisiana Governors who flirted with national office.  Huey  Long was considered to be a serious candidate running against President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936.  His plans were derailed when he was assassinated at the Louisiana State Capitol. Gov. John McKeithen made a...Read More

Thursday, July 22nd,  2021  Baton Rouge, Louisiana Edwin Edwards and John McKeithen A Rocky Relationship?  Edwards had succeeded John McKeithen as governor, but the two them did not maintain much of a relationship during Edwards’ first term in the governor’s office.  McKeithen had actively supported Edwards for an open congressional seat in 1966. But there...Read More

Remembering Governor Edwin Edwards People say a lot of things about me.  But if you’re not being criticized or having them jeer at you, you’re not doing something right. Edwin Edwards Edwin Edwards, Louisiana’s longest serving governor, passed away this week at the ripe old age of 93.  He lived a full and controversial life....Read More

Thursday, July 8th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SCANDALOUS LOUISIANA INSURANCE RATES!  Can you put lipstick on a pig? Well, business leaders are certainly giving it their best shot in an effort to counteract the fact that Louisiana’s outrageously expensive insurance rates make the Bayou State an environment hostile to the attraction of new businesses.  But,...Read More

Thursday, July 1st, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana HAS THE FOURTH AMENDMENT BEEN ROUTED? Everyone knows a man’s home is his castle ““ Agreed? The basic right of privacy in one’s place of residence has been a fundamental founding principle in any Democratic system, going back to England in the 1600s. William Pitt expressed this concept...Read More

Thursday, June 24th, 2021 New Orleans, Louisiana BOB DYLAN AND THE MURDERS IN NEW ORLEANS! New Orleans is off to a fast start in this New Year to maintain its perennial title of being the murder capital of America.  A day doesn’t seem to pass by when there are reports of more murders in the...Read More

Thursday, June 17th, 2021, Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA TAXPAYERS ON HOOK FOR MILLIONS OVER STANFORD MESS! A new ruling by the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has dampened the chances of numerous Louisiana investors from ever receiving millions of dollars swindled from them by Alan Stanford and his various investment companies.  As reported in...Read More

June 10th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana RACCOONS AND LOUISIANA POLITICS! U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy has stirred up a hornet’s nest back in the Bayou State over his Facebook comments of eating a Louisiana delicacy.  The Senator had this to say: “Found this raccoon in my backyard.  We ate him for breakfast.” He even included a...Read More

June 3rd, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WE NEED TO DO MORE TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY! I hope everyone enjoyed their recent Memorial Day weekend. Many Louisianans were vacationing over the long holiday or enjoying a cookout with family and friends. Many stores held sales advertising for us to have a “Happy Memorial Day.” All well...Read More

Thursday, May 27th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana ARE PROSECUTORS ABOVE THE LAW IN LOUISIANA! Has prosecutorial misconduct become an epidemic in Louisiana? A number of national publications seem to think so. Nary a week goes by when there is not a story of some Louisiana prosecutor supposedly pursuing justice by breaking the law. Just recently,...Read More

Being the Governor, is this a great job or what? Buddy Roemer Louisiana’s 52nd governor died this week at the young age of 77.  Our political ambitions crossed on several occasions over the years, but we always remained good friends. This was particularly true as we each grew older. Buddy Roemer had, in my opinion,...Read More

Thursday, May 13th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana A NEW PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE: DEALING WITH THE RISE AND FALL OF LSU Louisiana State University, located in my hometown of Baton Rouge, takes on a new president in the coming weeks. And to say that he has a big job ahead of him is an understatement. Educationally, the...Read More

Thursday, May 6th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE CHALLENGES AND CHARMS OF GETTING OLDER! I woke up earlier this week, followed my normal routine of walking the dogs, picking up the morning papers, pouring my large glass of orange juice half filled with water to dilute the sugar, checked my emails, walked out on the...Read More

Thursday, April 30th, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana GOVERNOR JIMMIE DAVIS BROUGHT US SUNSHINE! I am honored to travel to Alexandria Louisiana next Saturday to visit Louisiana College for the dedication of a special memorial honoring former Louisiana Governor Jimmy Davis. I’ll be the guest speaker, and will have lots of interesting stories about the governor...Read More

Thursday, April 22ed, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana IS THERE ELECTION FRAUD IN LOUISIANA? A number of members of the Louisiana legislature are on a quest to tighten Louisiana election laws. There are allegations all over the country about voter fraud being rampant, particularly following the recent presidential election.  Is there any truth to such charges? ...Read More

A new report from a Washington, D.C. think tank gives Louisiana an “F” grade for its insurance regulatory environment. Florida, that has a much greater Hurricane damage exposure, gets a “B” ranking. What’s going on? Why is Louisiana at the bottom of the barrel when it comes insurance regulation? I have a good bit of...Read More

Thursday, April 22ed, 2021 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA INSURANCE ENVIRONMENT GETS AN “F” Louisiana has one of the worst insurance regulatory environments in the nation. That is according to Washington-based conservative think tank R Street Institute in its Insurance Regulation Report Card. And no, it’s not because of the trial lawyers or the big insurance...Read More

Thursday, April 15th, 2021  New Orleans, Louisiana HURRICANE SEASON “” DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?  WELL DO YA?  It’s the kickoff for hurricane season and forecasters are predicting as many as 17 named storms with anywhere from 3 to 6 of these storms growing into major hurricanes. Here on the Gulf Coast, we certainly perk up...Read More

There is renewed interest in hate crimes legislation in state legislatures as well as on the federal level in recent months. Much of this interest stems from attacks over gender, race, and other categories were primarily minority groups are involved. So, what’s a hate crime you ask?  If someone is premeditatedly shot and killed, that’s...Read More