Whew that was a mouthful. Let’s start with BIll Mack, who cut a deal to testify against the former Goatherder in Chief. Judge Brown gave Mack 20 months, higher than what was requested by the Federal prosecutors for bribing Aaron Broussard. If my preliminary calculations are in the ballpark, Mack will spend somewhere close to 10 months in a low security prison before hitting the VOA house in New Orleans.
Moving right along Michelle Hunter has been having fun with a guy that is obviously “nuttier than a Chinese fruit cake” who fancied himself as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Not to minimize the deleterious impacts on the poor woman and child whose house Nike Ablia chose to spread the good word but if I may be so bold as to suggest that Ablia needs a rubber room and medication far more than incarceration. I speak here as someone who watched a friend afflicted with bipolar disorder crack up (severe sleep deprivation will do it every time) along with those of a close friend that has a brother similarly afflicted that indeed also thought he was second coming of Jesus Christ right on down to wearing a white sheet and a white sheet only. There but the grace of God…….
Next up is the source of my angst regarding FEMA giving credit for levees in their NFIP calculations and it comes from a somewhat unlikely source in the lawsuit against the Oil Industry filed by the East Bank Levee Authority, mainly the chatter surrounding it. Before we get to that we must highlight politicians exhibiting their ignorance mindlessly bashing trial lawyers:
But state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie called into question the “hundreds of millions of dollars” the lawyers stand to make on the case if successful.
“I don’t understand why a levee district would hire trial lawyers when we have an attorney general to handle class,” Appel said.
If there is one group the GOP likes to scapegoat more than the poor and Mexican ditchdiggers it is the trial lawyers. In this case it is complete bullshit because in my world a lawyer is a lawyer and there is no different type of sheepskin for those that file suits against those that defend them (some do both). What Appel is really saying is the East Bank Levee Authority is steppin’ out because they are not hiring lawyers of the type that would be large campaign contributors to politicians like himself. Bottom line is if anyone thinks for a second GOP crony capitalists disfavor paying lawyers big bucks I beg to differ.
Gov. Jindal’s ex-counsel draws in state contracts ~ Melissa Deslatte, AP via the San Francisco Chronicle
A law firm run by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s former executive counsel has received more than $1.1 million in no-bid contract work from Jindal appointees and state agencies since leaving the governor’s office and is becoming a fixture in high-profile legal battles for the Republican administration.
The Faircloth Law Group, headed by Jimmy Faircloth, has handled headline-grabbing cases that included the defense of the governor’s signature education laws creating a statewide voucher program and rewriting teacher tenure and pay policies.
A spokesman for the governor’s office told The Associated Press that work wasn’t being deliberately steered to Faircloth. But at least some departments hired Faircloth’s firm upon the recommendation of the Jindal administration.
Finally to the NFIP angle on this East Bank Levee Authority Lawsuit. New Orleans State Senator J.P. Morrell sums up reasons for my discomfort on giving credit for levees in NFIP premium calculations:
State Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, acknowledged the suit could have a “chilling effect” on the industry, but added that the state’s symbiotic relationship with oil and gas shouldn’t cause lawmakers to turn their back on the environmental and economic effects of decades of drilling and dredging.
He also reiterated a commonplace fear of the levee authority — that the cost of maintaining completed Corps of Engineer projects in Southeast Louisiana will “dwarf” millage fees collected to pay for their upkeep.
“At the end of the day, we’ve all spoken about how we want our flood control to mirror, let’s say, what they have in the Netherlands. But we’ve never secured the revenue sources for that.”
Something tells me, based upon past experience, local officialdom will scapegoat the Feds 30 or 40 years from now for the issues stemming from their own deferred maintenance of the levee system, but the lack of local resources devoted to keeping the new Hurricane protection system in tip top shape is duly noted here for posterity.
I roll in laughter when I se the kleptocratic nomenklatura feasting on their members, but then I have to add hypocricy of hypocricy with the lot. You have to laugh about these characters who for lots of green & silver reasons ran the 100 meter dash to get away from investigating & recovering monies stripped from the state AND levee boards by politically connected families; and of course Doug, you are spot on as to the tweedledee repukes bellowing about attorneys being enablers for the tweedledum democraps – except of course when the attorneys are repuke enablers, thus being merely “our” bastards.
And to read the comments by Leopold in the article, that’s one pathetic character given his track record.
And Morrell? Don’t forget, he’s continuing in the tradition of his poppa, who moans about levee protection while shafting the serfs good & hard with immunity statutes galore.
Is Jindal still thought of as being part of the Republican future. Granted I don’t see a lot of competing hopefuls. I think there are few North Carolinians who would like to get themselves to Washington, but their base keeps dragging them to the way far right.
If he is it illustrates how hard up the GOP is for candidates,
Given the repubs are merely one wing of the bird of prey, their departure will not be missed.
Favorite Quotes by the GENIUS PIGGIE Aaron Broussard.
A FELON & A Scholar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq6_vKMBYQY