Month: March 2016

Marching to the Ides of March

I knew sometime back that maintaining the website during the first quarter of 2016 would be a challenge as certain separate, discreet events converged all at once each of which required my immediate attention. I mention this now because I see a crack of daylight despite the fact my do list for the day job recently topped 35 items, composed of jobs both big and small which is nice. What’s neat is the way the community here has stepped up continuing certain posts with copious amounts of commentary. Thank you.

Posting will remain light for the next couple of weeks while I work the to do list down during the quiet before the storm of news fixing to hit here as the spring indictment season is again upon us. Over in the Bay, the end of the Trolley service is a soon coming topic over at the Community Center in the Depot District and overrides of the recent Mayoral vetoes related to the misappropriated DoJ funds are on tap.

On another note who would’ve thought Mississippi would be a micro-hotbed of radical Islam?

A link from last year by TRex over at the Clarion Ledger gives vital background circa August 2015. Meantime Jaelyn Young’s trial is still on tap.

I forgot to mention Continue reading “Marching to the Ides of March”

Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Wasting time at a marathon Bay St Louis Council meeting

Let’s start at the end rather than the beginning on this one.

At roughly 11:00pm last evening, March 8, the Bay St. Louis City Council elected to go into Executive Session for personnel and litigation matters, so those of us who had endured the 51/2 hour meeting exited to the lobby until we were called back in only to find, as usual, that no action was taken.

Just prior to adjournment, Ward I Councilman Doug Seal levied his objection to Council President, Joey Boudin, that “people” were being allowed to “talk to long” at Public Forum. Boudin countered that he did indulge one citizen from Ward III, but had no problem with it since the Council only meets twice a month and he felt like the citizens deserved to be heard.

Ward II Councilwoman, Wendy McDonald, then stated “this is a business meeting.” Yep, that’s what she said. And, that begs the question Madam Council, “whose business?”. Do you think you are sitting on the board of a private enterprise? The “business” you are conducting is the public’s.

Certainly if we can sit through 6 hours of hearing your voice, ours can be heard for 30 minutes or so. Not to mention that, for the most part, the most logical and worthy comments come from the citizens at the podium. They just continue to fall on deaf ears.

Yes, we sat through another fiasco of the Building Dept. and its unqualified Chief Inspector Charles Oliver. One of Oliver’s underlings actually admitted to Council and all present Tuesday night that he does inspections on dumpsters, but doesn’t actually know the regulations that pertain to dumpsters.

Then there is the drama of the Port and Harbor commission and the Mayor’s request to the Council on January 19, 2016 ratifying his “appointment” to the Port and Harbor Commission, when none of them have the legal authority under state law to make an “appointment” as the City only “nominates”. This went on for a long time too for the second meeting in a row. The proper procedure, by state law, is for the local officials to nominate, and the Governor to choose a commissioner from their list of names to represent their city. The City Attorney sat silently through this on January 19, 2016 not once correcting or guiding these misinformed public officials. The City Attorney only discovered the law when someone other than the Mayor’s choice showed up with a letter from the Governor appointing him to the Port and Harbor Commission! Bay St. Louis has some 11,000 residents, but the Mayor can only think of one person to nominate? Yes, truth is stranger than fiction. But truth has become a rare commodity nowadays. Continue reading “Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Wasting time at a marathon Bay St Louis Council meeting”

Deano looks like he’ll remain in the pokey for a very long time

About all you can do with this saga is shake your head:

Ex-model charged in plot to kill Leon Cannizzaro, other officials ~ Kim Chatelain

Inmate accused of plot to kill Orleans Parish officials ~ Mary Staes

Former model Dean Kelly accused of seeking hits on Orleans DA, judge, attorney ~ John Simerman and Jim Mustian

Vital background on this multiyear saga can be found here.

Other Voices | Wednesdays Wars: Pity the Poor Billionaires

Published on Mar 2, 2016

The most interesting, likable, and authentic candidates in each party (Bernie and Trump) don’t want your money … although Bernie will probably take a check for $27 bucks, his average contribution.

The media is agog, especially at the Trump phenomenon. Their commentary is virtually useless … mostly because they are stuck in political correctness mode and are unwilling to speak plain English.

Case in point, The Establishment. How many times a day do you hear some bozo opine about the Republican Establishment and how they want anybody but Trump. The problem is, they never define what they are talking about. Who, in their opinion, is The Establishment?

Let me give it a shot. There are three Establishments in the Republican Party.

There is the Traditional Values Establishment. They’re pro-life, pro traditional marriage, and pro Second Amendment. If you’re not with them on that package of issues, you are not going to be the Republican nominee. It’s not that hard to make yourself acceptable to them. As John McCain once said, “Say you’re pro-life and stop talking about it.”

Second, there’s the Business Establishment. They want low taxes and less regulation. Everything they’re against like the minimum wage or Affordable Care Act they claim is a job killer. They’re not that hard to please. Just use the Reagan line, “Government is not a solution to the problem, government is the problem.”

Third, there’s the Foreign Policy Establishment.

Here is where the media gets spastic. They can’t quite get their heads around the fact that if you want to get the Republican Nomination for President, you cannot have foreign policy positions that are offensive to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Sheldon Adelson, and Mr. Rupert Murdoch. These three gentlemen are of the Jewish persuasion and have strong views about what’s good for Israel and what American foreign policy in the Mideast should be.

Donald Trump is anathema to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Continue Reading……