Continuing with the quality work up there

There's so little to say about the Legislature at this point. We know who they are and what they're about.

The Republican majority in the House Labor committee voted Thursday – four times – against establishing a minimum wage and setting the rate above $7.25 per hour.

They keep complaining about a "labor shortage."  I don't actually think that is real and I plan to talk about that in a different post soon. But if it were real, if the bellyaching bosses who own and operate this state really were in desperate need of help but unable to find anyone willing to work, I wonder what could be the reason.

In any case, no one is asking the bosses to give up their subsidies. 

Facing stiff opposition from Louisiana’s business and oil and gas industry lobbies, a state senator on Wednesday shelved a bid to enshrine in the state constitution local government’s newly won authority over the state’s most generous corporate tax incentive.  

This week we also learned that Folgers is suing to keep hold of tax money it has owed the city of New Orleans after having had its ITEP denied.

In its suit, Folgers, which is owned by The J.M. Smucker Co., does not contest that it will owe taxes going forward. However, the company argues there is a conflict in the procedures outlined in the state law allowing assessors to adjust prior years’ assessments and requirements laid out by the state Constitution and says because of that, the bills for years’ past should be thrown out.

Of course, if this Legislature refuses to make local discretion permanent and future Governor Jeff Landry changes the rules, then companies like Folgers will again be off the hook. 

So, once again, brilliant work up there.  Can't wait to find out what else they've been up to... oh. Oh no. 

The time Buddy Caldwell valiantly defended Louisiana from a non-existent ebola poop train threat

Y'all remember how stupid this was, right?

BATON ROUGE, La. - A judge on Monday afternoon granted state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's request for a temporary restraining order to block the disposal of incinerated waste from the Dallas Ebola victim's personal items and belongings at a Louisiana landfill.

It has been reported that six truckloads of potential Ebola contaminated material collected from the apartment where the Dallas Ebola victim became ill were brought to Port Arthur, Texas on Friday to be processed at the Veolia Environmental Services incinerator. From there the incinerated material is slated to be transported to a hazardous waste landfill in Louisiana for final disposal.

Caldwell said the unknowns involved surrounding the Ebola virus have the state wanting to proceed with caution.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, "Incineration or autoclaving as a waste treatment process is effective in eliminating viral infectivity." This was well understood at the time. Or, at least, it should have been by the State Attorney General charged with making informed decisions on such matters.   But people were scared and Caldwell saw no reason to relieve them of their irrational fears and instead chose to play up to them on TV.

This episode is worth remembering today for two reasons. First, Buddy Caldwell is on the ballot this Saturday. But that's only important in order for you to understand, when we tell you his opponent is in fact far worse, just how low he sets that bar in the first place.

The other reason we bring this up is, as stupid and reckless Caldwell's ebola fearmongering was, it's nowhere near as stupid and reckless as what Bobby Jindal is doing today.

Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order Monday (Nov. 16) to prevent Syrian refugees from being resettled in Louisiana.

In issuing the order, Jindal referenced last week's terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. The Islamic State group has claimed to be behind the attacks. Jindal said the introduction of Syrian refugees into the U.S. without "proper prior screening and follow-up monitoring could result in a threat to the citizens and property of this state."

As was noted yesterday by multiple news organizations, only 14 Syrian refugees have entered the US via Louisiana this year.  More to the point, though, what is even the purpose of Jindal's knee-jerk exclusionary order? (Assuming, of course, that it is even practical which it is not.) 

Here is Juan Cole writing about the political fallout in France.

French politics has become deeply cynical, and the electorate has lost faith in its leaders. Many politicians will attempt to profit from this climate. Nicolas Sarkozy has already called for more drastic measures to be put in place. Some will also promise salvation by closing borders. They will call for a return to a mythical, good old peaceful France, overwriting the country’s history and its constant and violent flux between reaction and revolution.

To prevent such appropriations and long-term consequences, it is crucial not to jump to simplistic conclusions – as happened after 9/11, an event that has already been invoked many times.

This would be playing right into the hands of the terrorists themselves. A war of civilisations is the very fantasy IS and its ilk are trying to construct. They seek to enshrine divisions between an imagined “us” in the West, standing together for a loosely defined version of democracy, and “them”, attempting to appear a united force in an area torn apart by years of war.

Falling for this narrative would offer IS exactly the false image of unity it wants to propagate. It would also be a dangerous simplification of who ‘we’ are – at the expense of anyone who acts or thinks differently.

 Of course, we are already falling for the xenophobic false narrative in the US. It's what we do.

Anyway, Cole continues.

We can expect these irrational suspicions to appear again after these attacks. Every move made by Muslims in France, will be scrutinised. Some will also point to refugees – even as many are themselves fleeing IS.

In the coming days, weeks and months, it will be crucial that we avoid lapsing into that fear. If we do, we will only summon more fear and paranoia, incur ever more stringent laws limiting liberties for all, and inflict more pain through discrimination and segregation on those already suffering from exclusion. All these things will in turn provide further recruitment propaganda for extremist groups.

Again, the obvious point, we're talking about refugees fleeing from ISIS themselves.  If we have already identified ISIS as the enemy, what is the purpose of turning our back on its victims?  Would Senator Rubio have sent his own parents back to Castro's Cuba? He seems to say yes.

Had Bobby Jindal been Governor of Louisiana under the Spanish dominion would he have turned away the first boatloads of Acadian immigrants seeking asylum from British terror?  It so happens they're digging them up this week so if he wants to send them back, now is his chance.

Either case is every bit as absurd a notion as Buddy Caldwell's grand stand against the incinerated bedclothes of a corpse. But it's what our politics demands in 2015. 

Not that this is anything novel. It's also what our politics would have demanded in 2003. Because nobody ever remembers anything that happens and nothing ever changes. 

If you can't join em

They'll beat you.

Republican party leaders on Tuesday endorsed former U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry as the party's choice for Attorney General, but offered no specifics about why they would choose Landry over incumbent Republican Buddy Caldwell.

The choice of Landry over a sitting Republican officeholder is a rare move for the party, GOP Chairman Roger Villere Jr. acknowledged, saying it hadn't been done since the 1991 gubernatorial endorsement of U.S. Rep. Clyde Holloway over Buddy Roemer, who had switched from Democrat to Republican weeks before.

But despite Villere referring to Landry as "the Republican in the race," and as "a registered Republican his entire life," he said the endorsement of Landry had nothing to do with Caldwell's 2011 decision to switch from Democrat to Republican. But when pressed on specifics about why the party was abandoning Caldwell, Villere would only say that Landry was the "the best candidate."

Should probably have the Governor exorcise it too just to be safe

Buddy Caldwell is protecting Louisiana from charred poop.

BATON ROUGE, La. - State Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the disposal of incinerated waste from the Dallas Ebola victim's personal items and belongings at a Louisiana landfill.

It has been reported that six truckloads of potential Ebola contaminated material collected from the apartment where the Dallas Ebola victim became ill were brought to Port Arthur, Texas on Friday to be processed at the Veolia Environmental Services incinerator. From there the incinerated material is slated to be transported to a hazardous waste landfill in Louisiana for final disposal.

Caldwell said the unknowns involved surrounding the Ebola virus have the state wanting to proceed with caution.

We are living in the dark ages

Those seem like two separate questions

Buddy Caldwell won't submit an opinion on the constitutionality of the "kill the lawsuit" act because a court already says it doesn't kill the lawsuit.

The court had asked the parties to file briefs about the constitutionality of the law being applied retroactively to the lawsuit filed by the authority last year, but Caldwell's office, through contract attorney E. Wade Shows, says the constitutional issues are a moot point now that the judge determined the law does not apply to the levee authority.

Still the retro-activity question seems relevant.  Because the Legislature passed a bill while stating it was intended as an ex post facto measure, it might be a good idea to have a court establish that they can't actually do that.. in case they happen to write a bill that actually works next time.

Also, if this law, which is now on the books, doesn't apply to the levee authority then, who does it apply to?  And is it a good idea to continue to have such a law?