La La Land

Thursday’s Blogs from the Bog

by Nick Pittman

John Bel Edwards turns the future of education over to ... educators! GASP! The horror!

Ruling on White

The death of Victor White - shot in his side handcuffed in the custody of the Iberia Parish sheriff's department - will not be prosecuted. The evidence suggests that he was reaching for the gun - a .25 caliber pistol, one not carried by deputies, that somehow they missed while frisking him - with both hands when he accidentally shot himself. Or so it seems, as the reports don't seem to get into that, only offering the details and that no charges will be filed. Of course, this news exploded KATC's Facebook page with a lot of sleuthing and racial profiling and under-the-bus throwing and expert forensics and even some Uncle Tom labeling (the U.S. Attorney who handed down the report was an African American woman). Can't we all just get along ... without Facebook?

Stepping Stone Ad

Could the "Prostitutes over Patriots" ad be a launching pad for Jared Arsement, the 31-year-old who created it? This blog looks at the piece and its rule breaking efforts to keep Vitter out of the mansion.

Educators for Education

John Bel Edwards released his list of people he is calling on to examine the future of public education and, wowzers, it includes people - some from right here in Acadiana - who actually have a background in teaching. In Louisiana. Not some other state. In actual classrooms. With years of experience. Gee, that kinda makes them more qualified than our state superintendent.

Smoking Allowed

Why are there so many smokers in Louisiana? Turns out the state doesn't spend the recommended amount of money to deter smoking. In fact, we rank 28th in the country on efforts to combat tobacco use with tobacco companies outspending the state $32 to $1 in promoting their products over our efforts to deter smoking. Smoking's bad, mkay, but if this is the reason we don't see those annoying truth commercials anymore, I'm kinda willing to look the other way on this issue.

Crescent City Madness

Oh, New Orleans. On one hand, 30,000 people sign a petition to save the city's Confederate monuments. On the other, the ONLY person arrested in connection with the Bunny Park shooting is released because he was actually in Texas at the time (and there's video to prove it). Damn fine job, Crescent City. Damn fine.