Information about various cities and parishes is the
While there are plenty of different leagues for various sports, there is one that transcends all of them, The NCA (No Conservatives Allowed).
Professional sports in our country has been captured by a radical, leftist ideology that refuses to tolerate other points of view. In fact, anyone daring to express a contrarian opinion is automatically ridiculed and castigated as a racist. The offending party will be either ostracized and criticized and forced to grovel and apologize or will be terminated from any association with the league.
The hard knocks of Fascism are pounding on the front door. Which one of us will let it in?
There are those on the right who say it is the Democrats and the liberals. They claim their constitutional rights are being violated and that America is not the same country, does not grant the same freedoms as before. They demand corrective action and some of them speak of retaliatory violence as almost inevitable to keep America great.
Assuming in this strange day and age, we still have political conventions this year, no one at this stage is sure just how the process will work. The old process of picking national candidates in the proverbial smoke-filled room has gone by the wayside in favor of party primaries. In the old days, candidates would spend years wooing state party leaders, who would then select delegates and tell them whom to support.
House Democrats in congress can now vote and participate in committee hearings remotely. It was a good move that should have been adopted years ago. Is it necessary for members of Congress to spend most of their time in Washington? In 2020, why can’t lawmakers use the new technology of telecommunications to create a “virtual Congress?”
A big dividing line in our country today is whether to wear a face mask or not. For Memorial Day services, former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill wore masks. In contrast, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid their respects on Memorial Day without masks.
In many cities and states across the nation, the number of Covid-19 cases is going down, yet the masking requirements are becoming more stringent. In New Orleans, residents are always supposed to wear a mask, even when outdoors. For businesses, both employees and customers must wear masks. These are more stringent requirements than the State of Louisiana which just recommends mask-wearing.
Today, if the weather prevails, America will hit two milestones. The first is our return to space with the first launch in nearly ten years of a US man-occupied spacecraft. The second did not take a decade. Nor did it take ten months. Within less than three months, this country has witnessed the most destructive population genocide in American history, thanks to Covid-19. On leap year day, the first corona-virus death was recorded. The virus which we were told would suddenly disappear has resulted in the morbid and jaw-dropping disappearance of 100,000 loved ones.
During his 20 years in the U.S. Senate, Jeff Sessions was a solid conservative who was right on issues such as stopping illegal immigration. He was the first U.S. Senator to endorse Donald Trump for President and was rewarded with one of the most coveted appointments in the new administration. Trump appointed Sessions to be U.S. Attorney General.
Unfortunately, Sessions was a cowardly leader of the Department of Justice. He permitted Deep State operatives to remain in key positions. He recused himself from the Russia investigation, allowing his Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, to appoint Robert Mueller as a Special Counsel.
The Republican Party has total control of the Louisiana Legislature, with a supermajority in the State Senate and an overwhelming margin in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, these legislative Republicans, who were elected to enact policies in line with the party’s platform, are not standing up for their principles and opposing the liberal agenda of Governor John Bel Edwards.
The coronavirus epidemic has raised a troubling apprehension in Louisiana and in many other states across the country. There seems to be a devaluation of older citizens. I’m in that number of older folks, and there appears to be ample evidence that older citizens are often the victims of an entrenched epidemic-the too often lack of concern for our older population.
The coronavirus epidemic has raised a troubling apprehension in Louisiana and in many other states across the country. There seems to be a devaluation of older citizens. I’m in that number of older folks, and there appears to be ample evidence that older citizens are often the victims of an entrenched epidemic-the too often lack of concern for our older population.
Is the New Orleans area and Louisiana, as a state, entering a new phase of coronavirus protections and risks, too quickly? Are we emphasizing our health and safety needs more than we should? Are we abandoning the very real risks of the aged, the unhealthy and those prone to get sick or worse, die? Or, shouldn’t we recognize the irreparable harm to our institutions, our economy and our way of life?
A few days ago, I discussed these general issues with Arnie Fielkow during a Facebook Live event. I looked forward to the interview because it is not everybody who has held the positions of President of the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans City Council, the National Basketball Retired Players Association and now, the Greater New Orleans Jewish Federation. I thought he would bring an articulate, divergent and interesting perspective to the controversy. After all, looking at the issue from the vantage point of an NFL team executive would be different from the perspective of a top public servant or a head of a major not-profit organization.
When Republicans failed to deliver for the American people and lost their majority in the United States House of Representatives in 2018, a true poison was unleashed on the nation. Once again, Nancy Pelosi became U.S. Speaker of the House and in her second stint in this position, she has been incredibly damaging to this country.
As the country prepares for another presidential election, Americans are learning more about the five-year effort to destroy Donald Trump. As a GOP candidate for the 2016 presidential nomination, Trump was regularly targeted by the liberal media and the Republican Party establishment.
Who could have ever imagined that our lives would so dramatically change by a virus that just a few months ago was dismissed by our leaders as a minor problem that really would not affect our lives that much? A little social distancing and we will all be back to normal in no time. How wrong they were.
I turned 80 years old this month. It seemed like my life had peaked, but I was ready for the long and relaxing ride back down. I looked forward to enjoying my later years and be on this side of troubled waters. But now, I’m not so sure.
Most of us are aware that our democracy is not the perfect form of government. But we still believe that few other countries come close to our freedoms, benefits, and opportunities. Our country is special, and we take pride in being prepared for whatever difficulties we face. America cannot and should not have to rely on any other country for help in the time of a major crisis. Churchill said it well back in 1934.
“We cannot afford to confide the safety of our country
To the passions or the panic of any foreign nation which may
Be facing some desperate crisis. We must be independent.
We must be free. We must preserve our full latitude and
Discretion of choice.”
I don’t think the blame game helps, but the fact remains that our country needs better preparation for future epidemics. But it often comes down to tax dollars. Current financial needs often are given priority over long-range planning for future catastrophes. I made the same arguments for a major federal response to a Katrina-like catastrophe when I proposed and testified in Congress for the immediate need of a National Disaster Relief program back in 1995. A similar proposal was part of my detailed Brown Papers where I outlined such a need in my race for governor back in 1987. Such suggestions were put on the back burner and never revived.
And what about all these food pantry lines? Millions of people across the country wait for hours to get a box of canned goods. Yet while so many Americans go hungry, farmers are plowing up ripe fruits and vegetables, and milk is being dumped in waste pits. There are congressional proposals for a major distribution program through the Department of Agriculture.
Why not eliminate all the bureaucracy, help our grocery stores, and just enlarge the food stamp program that is built around a private business structure already set up to distribute food? Let those in need just go to their local grocery stores. Why not let those who qualify and need food use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to buy groceries even online if necessary. Why abandon a workable program that makes use of the private sector?
This current pandemic is not going away soon. I know that many people are fed up with what they feel are draconian stay-at-home restrictions. But we are being naive if there is a feeling that life will return to the old normal in the not too distant future. There could well be a second wave of the virus, and a vaccine is most likely many months away.
We need to balance such caution with the realization that our economy is stuck in an induced coma, and needs to rebound so people can get back to work. And our kids need an education. Finding the right balance is the single biggest challenge facing our political leaders in Washington.
There’s a new normal yet to be determined. Many folks might not like it, but guess what? The coronavirus doesn’t give a darn. We are just going to have to face this fact.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears in numerous newspapers throughout the state and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.
Is New Orleans ready to reopen?
The nation’s economy in a free-fall. The death toll continues to shock and climb day after day. All communities are debating if and when it should abandon their severe lockdowns and return to a more restricted business-as-unusual. Currently, the United States is facing an unimaginable 20 percent unemployment. Yet, the deaths now hovering over 80,000. Some experts predict that by Memorial Day, an unthinkable 100,000 people will have died as a result of the coronavirus.