IS GAMBLING LOUISIANA’S ECONOMIC SAVIOR?

November 29^th, 2021

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

IS GAMBLING LOUISIANA’S ECONOMIC SAVIOR?

 

Football icon Drew Brees certainly deserves all the accolades he has received on the playing field. But now he’s become a huckster for a new gambling casino in Slidell on the Mississippi Louisiana state line.

 

Here’s an interesting thought. Why is it that Louisiana and neighboring state Mississippi are always on the bottom of every national ranking involving virtually every aspect of a state’s quality of life?  Yet casino gambling is widespread throughout both states at a level not found any place else in America outside of Las Vegas.

 

In Louisiana, the legislature is considering proposals to extend casinos into new parishes, including Tangipahoa, and allowing much larger facilities where present casinos are located.  Presently, the state has 15 so called “floating” casinos, a huge land-based casino in downtown New Orleans, four racetrack casinos, 200 truck stop casinos and over 1000 restaurants and bars that have video poker machines. Wow! You can sure make a case for more casinos can’t you.

Casino supporters point out that the state is broke and about to fall off this so called “fiscal cliff.”  But isn’t it interesting that the more progressive states throughout the south, from Virginia and the Carolinas all the way across to Texas, have developed new economic development prospects that offer their citizens better job opportunities?

Let me share a personal observation of how successful casinos are here in my home state of Louisiana.  I was on my way to the state capitol in Baton Rouge on a Friday evening around six o’clock and was running about an hour early for a meeting.  There is a riverboat casino within shouting distance of the capitol, so with some time to spare, I drove into the parking lot. Now I’m not a gambler, but I am a close observer of the local economic scene.

Traffic was heavy and the parking lot was full, primarily with older model trucks and cars. I parked and stood at the entrance as hundreds of gamblers came and went. Many of the gamblers had driven to the casino straight from work. Friday was a payday for many of the risk takers, so there was money to spend. A large number of visitors had their working uniforms on with nametags.

I don’t want to disparage these folks, but I would assume that many of them live from paycheck to paycheck. There were bills to pay and kids at home that needed attention. Yet here they were with money burning a hole in their pockets. And what better way to invest for your family’s future than by hitting button after button on a slot machine, or spending hour after hour at the roulette or blackjack table?

Louisiana political leaders have always been after the quick fix.  It was oil and gas beginning back in the 1950s with no concern for the environmental damage or setting aside tax dollars for a rainy-day fund.  Governor Buddy Roemer raised the issue that “the oil and gas for Louisiana’s future was in the minds of our 5th and 6th graders.” What he meant was that the mineral revenue is fleeting.  We have to teach and develop entrepreneurs and people who want to build small businesses.

The state should have been focusing on educational reform, with specific emphasis on developing a large tech talent pool.  Even the most basic clerical and mechanical jobs require computer skills. Instead, Louisiana opted to keep its citizens amused with domed stadiums, moviemaker tax credits, and more and more gambling.  Lawmakers recently authorized legalizing sports betting. Hey, let’s bring back cock fighting.  “Keep em’ fat, dumb and happy, and we will all get re-elected.”

Some will argue that if someone wants to throw away their money, so be it.  But study after study has concluded that there are dramatic increases in the social and economic costs, along with the upsurge in crime that can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars in Louisiana.  

There are many ways in the Bayou State to “Laissez les bons temps rouler.”  Expanding the present high level of betting is not one of them.  Brees would better serve Louisiana, where he has made hundreds of. millions of dollars, in more progressive methods.  There are just too many other ways to have a good time, without gambling away our already fragile quality of life.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

 

STOP THE MISCONDUCT OF THE FBI!

Sunday, November 21st, 2021

New Orleans, Louisiana

STOP THE MISCONDUCT OF THE FBI!

It seems to be spreading like a communicable disease. And apparently there is no cure. Week after week, there are new reports of agents with the FBI engaging in premeditated acts of prosecutorial misconduct. Coaching witnesses to lie. Hiding evidence from the defense counsel that would favor the accused. And even calculated cover-ups that put a falsely convicted person on death row. Has justice run amuck? Has Lady Justice lost her way?

Just this week, we’ve learned that defendants who spent most of their life in jail were really innocent, and the FBI knew about it all along. Two of the men found guilty of the assassination of Malcolm X are expected to have their convictions thrown out on the Manhattan district attorney and lawyers for the two men said, rewriting the official history of one of the most notorious murders of the civil rights era.  The reason? The FBI had clearly knew that their case was weak and that there were a number of other persons that should have been investigated. But this evidence was hidden from the accused.

The New York Times also had a major story this week that was titled: “The Federal Bureau of Dirty Tricks.”  Presiding judge  Rosemary Collyer issued a  stinging rebuke of the bureau: “The frequency with which representations made by F.B.I. personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other F.B.I. applications is reliable,” she wrote. Withholding key information that might have a bearing on the outcome of the case? FBI agents who do this should be prosecuted fully under the law

Take a look at some of the stories about wayward FBI agents in major newspapers throughout the county. The Pittsburg Post-Gazette researched a 10-part story on this national problem. They summed up their findings by concluding: “Hundreds of times during the past 10 years, federal agents have pursued justice by breaking the law. They lied, hid evidence, distorted facts, engaged in cover-ups, paid for perjury and set up innocent people in a relentless effort to win indictments, guilty pleas and convictions, a two year Post-Gazette investigation found.”

A court ordered study concerning the botched trial of former Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was finally released. Prosecutors had withheld key evidence and statements from witnesses that contradicted the government’s case and that would have found Stevens innocent.  A few weeks after his wrongful conviction, he was defeated for reelection. Stevens died in a plane crash shortly thereafter. A report ordered by the trial judge concluded there was definitely “intentional misconduct,” and the present U.S. Senator from Alaska is calling for the prosecutors to be fired and strongly sanctioned.  In my opinion they should be criminally prosecuted and lose their licenses to practice law.

A key part of the Stephens investigative report says: “Handwritten notes taken by an FBI agent “contained significant information that was never disclosed to Senator Stephens’ attorneys. “His own attorneys elaborated by saying that “Corrupt prosecutors obtained an illegal verdict… and the report “provides evidence of government corruption that is shocking in its boldness and its breadth.”

There are interesting analogies here. The Stephens investigative report, the trial judge and the lawyers all have concluded that withholding an FBI agent’s “handwritten notes is “shocking,” and is a blatant example of prosecutorial misconduct. This reminds me of a Louisiana case some years ago where the FBI agent’s notes were withheld, and that led to the conviction of an innocent man. But prosecutors in the Bayou State have a habit of withholding evidence that would have cleared a defendant.  In the past year alone, three New Orleans cases have made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices’ concluded that convicting the innocent by withholding key evidence seems to be a way of life in many Louisiana federal and state courts.

In the notorious case of Dan Bright, convicted and put on death row for a murder he did not commit, evidence came out years after his conviction that the FBI, thanks to a credible informant, had been in possession of the name of the actual killer all along. Luckily for Dan Bright, because of the unconstitutional withholding of key evidence by the prosecution and the FBI, his conviction was thrown out, and he now is a free man – after 8 years behind bars, much of that time on death row.

Another death row victim out of New Orleans was John Thompson, who spent 14 years on death row, even though the prosecutor who sent him to prison knew all along that he was innocent.  On his death bed, dying of cancer, this rogue prosecutor confessed to a colleague that he had, in fact, withheld key evidence that would have cleared Thompson. The fellow prosecutor who had received this confession waited three years to let the prosecutor’s office know the real truth.

Here’s how this week’s lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal summarized the problem.  “Something is very rotten at the U.S. Department of Justice. Americans hand prosecutors an awesome power.  We are seeing a pattern of abuse of this power, in order to win big cases.  Prosecutors should remember that their job is to do justice and not simply to beat the defense team.”

As the poet said many years ago: “It is just as well that justice is blind; she might not like some of the things done in her name if she could see them.”  There is much for Lady Justice to be concerned about today.

Peace and Justice.

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers and websites throughout the country.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

WE NEED TO DO MORE TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY!

November 11th, 2021

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WE NEED TO DO MORE TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend this past May. Many Louisianans were vacationing over the long holiday or enjoying a cookout with family and friends. Many stores held sales advertising for us to have a “Happy Memorial Day.” All well and good, but what about the real purpose of this special day?

This week marks another important day to remember for all of Americans. Many of us don’t even know the difference between Memorial Day (honoring those who died defending our country) and Veterans Day (honoring all service men and women). Only 5% of Americans attended local military events or parades. I joined a sparsely attended gathering Memorial Day at the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge. Is it enough to holler USA USA at sporting events, or to say “Thank you for your service” when you see a service man or women in uniform? Should Americans be required to do more?

In 1967, I was 27 years old and newly married with my first child on the way. So I was draft exempt, with no legal requirement to join the service. Maybe I did not have a legal obligation, but what about a moral responsibility to serve my country in the time of war?

I come from a long line of distinguished military officers who never hesitated to serve their country. They did not try to find ways to sidestep such service like so many others, including most of our politicians today as well as several recent presidents.

Relatives on both sides of my family served their country with honor and distinction. My first father-in-law Dick Campbell who was an ace fighter pilot, rose to the rank of full colonel in the Army, and twice escaped from German prison camps. My Dad stayed stateside coordinating military transportation coast to coast for the Army. Second father-in-law Teddy Solomon was sent by the Army to the South Pacific. My younger brother Jack volunteered and joined the National Guard for a six-year hitch.

My mother’s brother had quite a navel military career. In the final months of World War II, Commander Jack Gentry was flying a reconnaissance mission over the Pacific when his flight cameras captured photos of the Japanese flotilla. He made the cover of Life Magazine as his pictures allowed a direct attack on the enemy fleet that sped up the ending of the war with Japan. He went on to command the battleship USS Enterpriseuntil his retirement from the Navy in the 1960s.

With this strong family military background, I felt an obligation to continue the service to my country. I make no bones about the fact that I feel every American should either serve in the military or perform voluntary service in the city or state where they live. The American flag flies outside my home 365 days a year. I wear my military dog tags while I broadcast my syndicated radio program each week (NG25520050).

This is not an effort to pat myself on my back. Like so many other young men and women who love their country, it was something I felt a strong obligation to do. So despite the fact that I was draft exempt, I signed up for service in the Army, then stayed for ten additional years in the Louisiana National Guard.

Our nation has been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan going on two decades. Yet many Americans look on war as a spectator sport. So few have any real skin in the game.

I recently read a book by military scholar George Wilson called “The Mud Soldiers,” where he laments over the problems with an all-volunteer army. He quotes Vietnam veteran Col. Steve Siegfried who states: “Armies don’t fight wars. Countries fight wars..... Yes a country fights a war. If it doesn’t, then we shouldn’t send an army.

War should be every citizen’s business. We should all perform some volunteer service, military or otherwise. This should be an easy decision if we love our country and care about our freedom.  Think about this as dedicated veterans all over America remember their colleagues this week on Veterans Day.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com

LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW!

Thursday, November 4^th, 2021

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW!

This month March 20th anniversary of the so-called Patriot Act passed by Congress in 2011.  The law created an invasive federal surveillance system that began with lies that undermined the liberty of millions of Americans

Did this unconstitutional act begin the movement of the country  towards a “Brave New World?”  Hardly.  This type of undermining of one’s constitutional rights has been going on for years.  The press turned its back on gross attacks on our individual freedoms as the Patriot Act “legalized” a litany of personal and private invasions that our constitution was intended to prevent.

The difference is that now, the abuse is hitting close to home.  “The audacity of invading the freedoms of the press and political groups like the Tea Party!” many cry out. But where were the voices of such concern during a whole rash of such individual privacy invasions that began during the Bush Administration. And continue today? Both Democrats and Republicans, who now express outrage, stood by and allowed the Patriot Act to sweep individual protections under the rug.

 In an interview with CNN, former FBI counter terrorism agent Tim Clemente said that the FBI could listen to phone conversations between anybody they wanted.  “Welcome to America,” he said. “All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”

The Guardian’s columnist Glenn Greenwald took it a step further by concluding that all digital communications are recorded and stored by the government, saying: “This revelation on CNN, that every single telephone call made by and among Americans is recorded and stored is something which most people undoubtedly do not know, even if a small group of people who focus on surveillance issues believe it to be true.”  Now I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but this is a damning indictment of Big Brother at its worst, illegally invading the privacy of every American.

But is the daily illegal monitoring of the phone calls made by millions of Americans a startling revelation that has just been revealed?  Members of congress apparently think so as many are calling for special prosecutors to investigate.  But have these same outraged voices been stuck in a cave over the past few years?  In 2010, The Washington Post made the startling revelation that:  “Every day, collection systems of the national security agency intercepts and stores one 1.7 billion emails, phone calls and other types of communications.”

All these unconstitutional invasions of private individuals add up.  Former National Security Agency official William Binney, who resigned in protest recently over the widespread spying by his former agency on the communications of US citizens, said that the federal government “has assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about US citizens with other US citizens, and that the data that is being assembled is about everybody. And from that data, then they can target anyone they want.”

Did recent Administrations use of the IRS for political purposes unique?  Hardly. In his book, A Law Unto Itself: the IRS and Abuse of Power, author David Burnham describes how presidents going all the way back to Herbert Hoover have misused the Internal Revenue Service for personal vendettas.  Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS to go after a former Senator in my state, Huey Long.  John Kennedy authorized IRS investigations into the John Birch Society. And who can forget Richard Nixon’s “enemies list?” 

Here’s the bottom line. Political organizations like the Tea Party, and media outlets like the Associated Press, have become outraged as they have become targeted by an out-of-control Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service. But when the average individual receives similar mistreatment, as we have witnessed time and time again over the past 12 years, virtually nothing is said about it. The Patriot Act floated through Congress with only a few protests. Then the abuse began.

So when your congressman or senator starts calling for special prosecutors to investigate the abuses by the Justice Department and the IRS, ask them why they did not stand up in defense of each American citizen and demand protection from invasion of those enumerated individual rights found in the Constitution?  We are all glad these members of congress are jumping to the defense of the Tea Party and the Associated Press. But what about all of us little guys?

For good reason, there are calls of a tyrannical federal government that intimidates its citizens and puts a chill over freedom of speech.  But all this undermining of basic freedoms did not just begin recently.  Unfortunately, it is part of the darker side of American history.  When the Patriot Act was passed into law back in 2001, the intimidation and spying increased tenfold.  And these very members of congress, who are protesting so loudly now, stood by silently and did nothing.

If this Washington crowd wants to see the real threat to American democracy, they should just take a long, hard look into the mirror.  It was Pogo who said it best.  “We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us.”

********

 Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

Bob Marley

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.