Are cops intentionally targeting and seeking out minorities for abuse in large numbers simply because of the color of their skin? Or could it be the problem is not nearly as common as we are told it is?
We’re saturated with information these days but a bombardment of facts, figures, and speculation coming from all directions, often skewed by political agendas, can lead to a loss of perspective.
Since COVID-19 first appeared in the state in the winter of 2020, more than 99.9% of Louisianans have not died from the virus. How much the rigid lockdown of our state’s economy helped lower the coronavirus death rate is a debate for another day.
Louisiana’s last-place rankings in most categories are often blamed on the governor or Legislature. State leaders need to get their act together, we’re told. But the question must be asked: How much of the state’s problems are a result of Louisian…
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is diving into the heart of a national debate over a hotly disputed medical treatment that’s turned political. On Monday, the conservative Republican sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Faceb…
It’s early Tuesday morning as I write this. My computer is open to a NOLA.com webpage dated July 29, 2020. It was posted at 12:46 a.m. The headline on the page reads: “Man fatally shot overnight in CBD New Orleans following rash of gun violence: NOPD”
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If a guy walks into a convenience store and robs it of $500, and cops arrest him, typically he’s going to jail. And yet a former state senator rips off taxpayers two times for close to a quarter of a million dollars total but never spends a minute…
It’s a big deal when the president of a police union accuses a mayor of snubbing cops, giving them the cold shoulder and silent treatment. Police are used to poor treatment and being disrespected on the streets, but you would expect more from an e…
Who knew a beer could be racist? Or what about butter, pancakes, ice cream and rice? The woke crowd canceled Dixie Beer, Land O’Lakes Butter, Aunt Jemima Pancakes, Eskimo Pie, and Uncle Ben’s Rice.
It’s the kind of raw emotion that should jolt us. But most New Orleanians have become desensitized to the carnage often found in the city’s most dangerous, violent, and deadly neighborhoods. We see it in the newspaper or on the evening news but th…
It was a deadly holiday weekend this Fourth of July in two of Louisiana’s most populated cities. Multiple shootings in Baton Rouge injured six and killed two. In New Orleans, nine separate times gunmen opened fire, ending the lives of four. Then o…
COVID-19 deaths in Jefferson Parish peaked in April, when 289 people lost their lives. Since then, coronavirus fatalities in the parish are down close to 90%. As of Monday, 33 Jefferson Parish residents have died in June from COVID-19.
Conventional wisdom says Gov. John Bel Edwards reached the pinnacle and twilight of his political career with his impressive second term win as a tax and spend Democrat in a deeply red state. Where could he go from here?
So, we are told to stay home, wear a mask, social distance. Do it for grandma. Then poof, a split second later our streets are filled with people, shoulder to shoulder, bunched together, as if the coronavirus never happened. What crazy times we ar…
We’re living in a prison of two ideas when it comes to race in America. There’s no room for nuance or compromise. Your two choices are either acknowledge racist cops are targeting black people in large numbers and systemic racism is prevalent, or …
Drew Brees is a kind, gentle statesman. But he’s also not a guy who’s bought into the anti-American sentiment so prevalent in our country today. In a recent interview, Brees argued standing with hand over heart for our flag during the national ant…
“I can’t breathe,” George Floyd wheezed out minutes before gasping his final breath as a brutal cop had his knee firmly and mercilessly placed on the unarmed 46-year old’s neck. The video of the look on the cop’s face as he slowly drains the life …
Viva Cantrell! LaToya Cantrell now fancies herself a revolutionary. During a video town hall hosted by columnist Stephanie Grace on Wednesday, the Democratic mayor called for big changes in New Orleans made possible by the coronavirus pandemic.
The character George Costanza of the '90s sitcom "Seinfeld," goes berserk after an 85-year old man he just met and is having lunch with tells him he’s not afraid of dying.
On March 21, this newspaper published a story headlined, “Louisiana hospitals could be overwhelmed by surge of coronavirus patients: It’s frightening.”
Politics is often a dirty business. Sometimes it’s deadly. State officials for weeks refused to release the names of nursing homes with COVID-19 clusters. On Monday, they capitulated. The news is not good.
The so-called “Legacy Lawsuits” are killing Louisiana’s oil industry. The lawsuits concocted by trial lawyers and sponsored by local governments and enthusiastically supported by our governor are designed to land a big score from “Big Oil,” all un…
It’s not about masks. It’s about freedom. You remember freedom. We all had it before the government snatched it from us in broad daylight. No more work, church, haircuts or peaceful walks in the park. It’s gotten worse. Now, it’s no longer what we…
There are few cities in America more dependent on tourism than New Orleans. It’s not as though the city is bustling with Fortune 500 job opportunities. So, it’s curious as to why Mayor Latoya Cantrell is signaling to the world the Big Easy is clos…
Gov. John Bel Edwards, a man who is no stranger to putting a hurting on business owners, extended his stay-at-home order to contain the spread of COVID-19 through May 15. The order was set to expire Thursday.
Former President Barack Obama built a huge dam designed to squash and limit the growth inherent with capitalism. The dam was fortified with higher taxes, pages and pages of oppressive, anti-growth regulation, and policies incentivizing corporation…
“Lives are at stake!”
Louisiana Republican Rep. Danny McCormick, of Oil City, is one of several legislators beginning to question whether it’s time for Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, to reopen the state’s economy. McCormick sent a letter to his fellow House members…
Good news! The projections on which federal and state governments have relied to predict COVID-19 deaths have been wrong and drastically so. That is good news, right? It seems some take great offense anytime anyone offers analysis or data showing …
I’ve had this sick feeling in my stomach lately. It reminds me of third grade. The nun I had for a teacher was loud, short-tempered and mean. She started going desk to desk to check homework. I hadn’t done mine. I knew something bad was about to happen.
We’re at war, all of us, collectively, with a highly contagious, invisible, and deadly enemy. Most are sacrificing, some more than others, doing what’s right, focused on lowering coronavirus-related deaths. Tony Spell’s fighting another battle. Th…
If you’re looking for a potential silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic, here’s something. On Monday, Amneal Pharmaceuticals announced it will donate 400,000 tablets of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, to treat some patients with the coronavirus.…
Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest Gump once said. The idea is one’s actions make them stupid, not their accent, or the way they talk or look. Jamie Coots is a perfect example. Coots pastored a snake-handling church in the Appalachia region. A ratt…
Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy says he’s never seen anything like it. Senate Democrats, for two days in a row, blocked a bill designed to jump-start the American economy which has mostly come to a complete stop as a result of measures to l…
Most leaders have an agenda. Now is not the time. New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell is doing a great job protecting the city she runs from the spreading of the coronavirus. But she went too far when signing an emergency order last week giving her …
Early last week, in a column published in this paper, I compared the current scare over the coronavirus to other sicknesses like the SARS, Avian, Swine and MERS flu, and the Ebola and Zika viruses.
If most Louisianans were honest, they’d admit through the years they were beginning to lose respect for the potential fury a hurricane could bring. The idea of evacuating seemed a bit much. Then came Katrina. The storm renewed our respect for the …
It was somewhat of a jolt for some of us when news broke Monday of the first presumptive case of a patient testing positive in Louisiana for the coronavirus. I live in Metairie, so when I read the case involved a Jefferson Parish resident, I had q…
So many of the nonsense policies coming out of politicians these days are a result of nothing more than virtue signaling. “Look at me, I care about the little guy”
State Sen. Beth Mizell, a Franklinton Republican, has filed a bill for the upcoming 2020 legislative session prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in high school or college sports at publicly funded schools. The bill would require an ath…
States compete. We’re getting our butts kicked. Louisiana’s southern neighbors are playing smarter, growing faster and providing more opportunity for their people. But it’s more than just a game. It’s real life. Ask a recent Louisiana college grad…
Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain is calling out Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg for the billionaire’s snooty and demeaning take on farmers.
The pro-abortion group, the Guttmacher Institute, is slamming Louisiana for its consistent history of fighting to protect the lives of the unborn since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the barbaric procedure of abortion in 1973.
Chester James Carville’s Louisiana roots run deep. Carville, nicknamed the Ragin' Cajun, became a superstar in the world of politics when as campaign manager, he orchestrated Bill Clinton’s presidential victory in 1992. Carville is a native of Car…
“Step back from that.” Those are the words a clearly agitated Latoya Cantrell used to rebuke WVUE television reporter Lee Zurik after he asked the New Orleans mayor about not paying her income taxes. Zurik reported this past week the IRS filed thr…
Peering out your front window several times a night hoping your car hasn’t been broken into has become a way of life for many in New Orleans. The city had more than 6,000 vehicles burglarized last year. That’s an increase of more than 50% from the…
The bottom is falling out from under Louisiana’s construction industry. In the past year and a half, we’ve lost a staggering 14,000 construction jobs, according to a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only one state lost more const…
There are forces influencing the powerful in government that like things the way they are. This is why obvious, common-sense answers to our problems are often ignored by politicians. Many are more loyal to their deep-pocketed donors than their con…
A state judge has thrown out a case from a New Orleans attorney suing the Louisiana Bar Association for forcing him to pay dues. Randy Boudreaux argued in a lawsuit filed last year that mandatory bar membership violates his constitutional rights o…
Every politician faces an internal struggle between the desire for power and remaining faithful to the agenda voters elected them to carry out. Gonzales Republican Clay Schexnayder seems to have fallen prey to the tempting delicacy of power. He is…
Retired New Orleans educator Merle T. Harris wrote a letter to this paper requesting I answer some questions regarding my recent column about Louisiana’s population. I wrote about the U.S. Census Bureau report showing that between July 2018 and Ju…