YOUR DAILY BRIEFING
COMMENTARY
Too Much Is On The Ballot
13th Ward ramblings on the 2020 election, Orleans Parish style. Sidney Torres is NOT on the ballot; he just acts like he is.
How Bill Cassidy Claimed a Seat in Congress by Manipulating Black Voters
12 years ago, Bill Cassidy arrived in Washington D.C. thanks to the support of a "kingmaker" and a choreographed dance with Michael Jackson.
2020 Fatigue
13th Ward Ramblings on bad years in American history, Metry woman's nomination to SCOTUS, Jeff Landry, the Gret Stet Senate race, and the NOLA go-cup controversy.
YOUR WEEKLY BRIEFING
After Joshua Joy Dara, a local Baptist minister and LC’s Dean of Human Behavior, made offensive comments that objectified women’s bodies during a mandatory chapel service, the school’s leaders attempted to diminish criticism of a man its president called “one of the top five most powerful people in Central Louisiana.”
A new study illustrates the geography of multigenerational poverty and systemic racism in Louisiana.
I'm back with a non-Carnival related piece. It is, however, inspired by the theme of this year's Bacchus parade: Starring Louisiana. It was their best theme in years and got me pondering movies that were set in the Gret Stet of Louisiana. Hence this top 40 list.
I'm a big fan of Vulture's lists and decided it was high time to do...
"I don't know how I got to safety after the riot," a black trainee at Camp Claiborne recalled. "I only know one thing and that is, whenever anybody says, 'Remember Pearl Harbor,' I will say, 'I will remember Lee Street.'"
Le Petit Theatre's recent production of "An Anthology of Negro Poets" takes us on a narrative theatrical expedition, both supple and open-ended, which, as it progresses, becomes a dialectic getting at the relationships between metaphor, motion and movement-building as Black American history continues to be uncovered and freed from white nationalist mythologies
You may not be able to count on Father Time being in your favor, but you can always count on the movies.
The Bayou Brief's Compendium on Race, Power, and Louisiana History.
Note: This will be periodically updated.
Preface
During the past three years, we have featured dozens of stories about the enduring legacies of slavery and Jim Crow in Louisiana. Today, as the nation grapples with a long overdue reckoning on the issues of systemic and institutional racism, we offer this compendium in an effort to contribute to the discourse and to shed additional light on the pervasive and pernicious impact that America's "original...
Starve the Budget, Feed the Business Interests
"We have to do something to keep this industry here. If we do not, the state of Louisiana will shrivel up and die!” -- Rep. Stuart Bishop, Ways and Means chairman
Not All Bandits Wear Their Masks
"Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand is doing." Matthew 6:3 (KJV)
Despite, or Just Plain Old Spite?
Despite the Governor’s extension of the statewide stay-at home proclamation to May 15, despite a House member having died from COVID-19, and...
Demagoguery for Democracy: Still Striving Toward Voter Suppression
Decoding loaded language veiled in patriotism
REGIONAL
OPINIONS AND COMMENTARY
A new study illustrates the geography of multigenerational poverty and systemic racism in Louisiana.
Peter Athas on the 2020 election, Steve Kornacki, baseball history, and why Joe Biden is like nice guy Mel Ott and Donald Trump is like Leo "The Lip" Durocher.
Months before Tuesday's election, a controversial GOP operative with ties to Baton Rouge began planning a series of voter fraud protests across the nation.
WRECKED: HOW CAR INSURANCE TAKES LOUISIANA FOR A RIDE
Careless Operation: Tort Reform and the Fight Brought To You By...
It is impossible to separate the well-funded campaign for "tort reform" and the proposals in the Louisiana legislature to change state law, under the pretense of lowering auto insurance premiums, with the legacy of Big Tobacco.
Careless Operation: Part One
Following the defeat of a thinly-disguised series of so-called "tort reforms" that were marketed to the public as a way to decrease the price of car insurance in Louisiana, conservative lawmakers and their patrons at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) are once again attempting to push through legislation that would bargain away the legal rights of innocent victims.
Deployment Penalty: How Big Auto Insurers Hike Premiums on Returning Vets
In what amounts to a deployment penalty, several large Louisiana car insurers raise rates, in some cases by nearly 30%, on National Guard...
Insurance Commissioner Donelon Accepts $20K from Man Indicted for Attempting to...
Since 2015, Donelon has received more than $680,000 in campaign donations from insurance companies and agents.
Major Insurers Charge Louisiana’s Blue-Collar Workers More for Basic Coverage Than...
The research highlights a problem that impacts a significant proportion of Louisiana drivers, yet one that was apparently unknown to Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon.
The Task Farce: What a Missing Report Reveals About the Insurance...
On April 15th, when state Rep. Kirk Talbot first introduced HB 372, a now-defeated proposal that had been known as the...
EDUCATION
A Tale of Two Louisianas
A new study illustrates the geography of multigenerational poverty and systemic racism in Louisiana.
State Rep. Ted James: Bill Cassidy Has a History of Putting African Americans Last
He once suggested converting spare buildings at Southern University-New Orleans into "minimum security prisons," and as COVID began killing Blacks in Louisiana at an alarming rate, he dismissed fears of the pandemic.
After LSU Law Waitlisted a Family Friend, Senate President Page Cortez Held Up Higher...
HB 689 sailed through the state House, 96 to 0.
Books for Your Gift List
“A story is a letter that the author writes to himself, to tell himself things that he would be unable to discover otherwise.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind
Book Review | Nothing to Write Home About: Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House
In her debut memoir, Broom misapprehends the geography of the city and reveals a disorientation with the lived experiences of Black New Orleans.
Book Review | “Back in the Game” by U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise
A politician’s memoir that somehow avoids all mention of the politician’s politics.
ERECTOR SET
In Secret Recording, Eddie Rispone Claims High-Dollar Fundraisers “More Important” Than...
“... the time that it takes to get ready for those, when I need to be doing this,” Rispone said during a top-dollar fundraiser at the home of a Monroe oil and gas executive.
