Month: March 2021

Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Israel – It’s Always Something

Posted on March 15, 2021
Remember the Saturday Night Live Character, Roseanne Roseannadanna? Her favorite response to any complication or complaint was to tell the source of the problem, “There’s always something. If it isn’t one thing it’s the other.”

Which reminds me of our friends, the Israelis. It’s always something with them. They want money, so we give them money. In Israel’s case we gave them $383.00 per person in 2017, which comes out to about $3.3 Bil cost to us for that year. The next largest comparable recipient was Jordan who received $153.00 per Jordanian per year from us.

The Congo got $6.00 per person for the year. Everybody got a sandwich…one sandwich. There’s no crying in baseball or foreign aid. Where did you get the idea life is fair?

The Israelis don’t just sit back and see how big a check we send them. On the contrary, it’s a “negotiation” with members of Congress who have received contributions from pro-Israel sources pressing whoever happens to be President to give Israel more. That’s the way the game is played with the Israelis. It doesn’t make them loved. Maybe they don’t care.

Netanyahu and Obama had a sit down at the end of the Obama administration. Subject: The Aid Package. Obama suggested ten years at $3.8 Bil per year. A sizable raise from prior years. Ever so charming Netanyahu, told Obama, in so many words, “I don’t need you I’ll deal with whoever replaces you and get more.” Netanyahu eventually came back and accepted the ten-year at $3.8 Bil per year deal. That’s a pretty big number for Israel, a country that has more billionaires than the entire continent of Africa.

Which raises the obvious question, when is Israel going to support itself? Continue Reading……..

Requiem for the Super 8 Motel Legal Department

Last week I received a heads up that Slabbed’s mortal enemy Daniel “Danny” Abel had died after being struck by a car in a hit and run just before Christmas last year. One would have to imagine the range of emotions that one experiences under such circumstances. I was on someone else’s dime however and unable to indulge anything in the moment.

I knew Slabbed would certainly be publishing on this topic and the pause for reflection was a good thing. Whatever baser emotions we experienced inside Slabbed were gotten out of the way in fairly short order and that is good overall. We would never wish getting hit by a car and then lingering for two months inside a long term care facility during a pandemic on our worst enemy, which Abel would certainly make the short list. That said after news traveled another person Abel had terrorized with shithouse legal tactics described what happened as ‘karma’ to me. Such determinations are above my paygrade.

Ramon Vargas wrote the Obit for the Picayune and it was sourced by all the usual suspects in Abel’s adopted son Shane Gates and his long time friend Eric Paulsen. This much is true about him, he was gold to his friends and had excellent people skills. He was at his best as a lawyer teamed up with the late Wendell Gauthier during the class action bonanza of the 1990s, the worst abuses of which resulted in tort reform. Abel was the political component of that team as he had judges in his pocket and political connections including and especially with former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard.

Continue reading “Requiem for the Super 8 Motel Legal Department”