THE MURDER IN BATON ROUGE OF BARRY SEAL!

Monday, January 30^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

THE MURDER IN BATON ROUGE OF BARRY SEAL!

 

If you’ve lived in Louisiana for any length of time, you probably are familiar with the name of international drug runner Barry Seal.  Tom Cruise played the part of Seal in the 2017 movie “American made.”  And Dennis Hopper played the same role in the 1991 film, “Doublecrossed.”  Seal was a larger-than-life character who flew plane loads of cocaine for the infamous medallion drug cartel out of Columbia headed up by notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.  His drug running days ended abruptly when he was killed in a hail of bullets right here in Baton Rouge back in 1986.

 

Seal was back in the news last week as Governor John Bel Edwards turned down the clemency request of a thug who plotted the murder of Seal.  The whole sordid mess will go down in history as a tainted case of drugs, federal informants, killings, and a questionable judicial decision that probably led to the death of Seal.

 

The hitman who plotted Seal’s assassination, Bernardo Antonio Vazquez, had been sentenced to life in prison with no parole.  The killer has served 36 years in the penitentiary but was hoping the governor would grant his clemency request.  For good reason, the governor said no. Vazquez had orchestrated the killing of a valuable witness against the drug cartel, who was helping to bring down a number of international drug dealers.  

 

It used to mean that the death sentence meant death, and the life imprisonment actually meant life with no chance of parole. If you took a life, you either gave your life or accepted the fact that you would never get out of jail.  But the old rules no longer reply, at least in many jurisdictions. Not so in the Bayou State. Despite numerous accolades that Vazquez had found religion and had seen the light, his clemency request was denied.

 

Before appearing in a Louisiana Federal Court, Seal was initially facing 10 years in a federal penitentiary.   Many observers felt this was a sweetheart deal, considering the fact that Seal was paid $500,000 a trip from Columbia to Louisiana, and made over 50 such journeys. But then a long list of federal agencies lined up to tell the judge how helpful ole Barry had been, and urged that he should be only put on probation.  That’s exactly what the Florida judge did. And under then in place Federal Rule of criminal procedure 35, other courts in the federal system were bound by the probation sentence. Or so Seal and his lawyers thought.

 

Lawyers for Seal in Louisiana expected federal judge Frank Polozola to honor the Florida agreement and turn Seal loose on probation.  The judge had other ideas. “No one is going to tell me how to run my court,” Polozola told Seal and his attorneys.  The judge imposed the requirement that Seal spend a part of his probation at the Salvation Army Community Treatment Center on US Highway 61 in Baton Rouge.

 

Seal’s Louisiana attorney, prominent criminal defense lawyer Louis Unglesby, strongly protested that such a sentence by the judge could be a death knell.  Unglesby persuasively argued that Seal was high on the hit list of the drug cartel, and that it would be easy to assassinate him in such a public venue.  But the judge held firm, and Seal had no choice but to spend his nights in the open and easily accessible Salvation Army asylum.

Unglesby was right on the money with his prediction.  Three weeks later, as Seal got out of his car at the shelter, a 45-caliber machine gun open fire riddling his body with bullet after bullet. Seal never had a chance, either in the courtroom or in the line of an assassin’s fire power.

 

The orchestrator of Seal’s killing now says he has reformed, and should be turned loose back on the public. Governor Edwards reaffirmed the adage that life imprisonment without parole means just that.  If Vazquez is such a model prisoner, then perhaps he should receive some special privileges or benefits while he serves his sentence.  But that should be about it.

 

Meanwhile, I think I’ll go watch Tom Cruise again. Barry Seal would be pleased at how he was portrayed in the movie.

 

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. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION, OSWALD AND NEW ORLEANS!

Monday, January 23^rd, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION, OSWALD AND NEW ORLEANS!

 

The Kennedy assassination is back in the news as a series of documents have been released involving the investigation that goes back 60 years. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 13, 1963, while riding in his motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The various investigators, including the FBI and the Warren Commission, concluded that there was one shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald. But many naysayers do not agree, and have alleged for years that a conspiracy took place.

 

Theories concerning who might be behind the assassination are far and wide. Some say the CIA was involved. Others say Castro was trying to get even with Kennedy for invading Cuba as part of the Bay of Pigs. Some even allege that Vice President Lyndon Johnson has something to do with this tragedy. I don’t buy any of this. Are you ready for the Jim Brown theory?

 

First of all, if you saw the movie JFK with Kevin Costner, Director Oliver Stone is convinced that the plot to kill President Kennedy came right out of New Orleans. In the film, district attorney Jim Garrison is portrayed as being consumed with getting to the bottom of any plot to kill the President. Some allege that Garrison was addicted by the investigation, let his alter ego get the best of him, and did not have the right state of mind to be neutral in any review of the facts.

 

I knew Big Jim (Garrison was six feet six inches tall), and he always struck me as being fair- minded and a straight shooter. We were both members of the New Orleans Athletic Club, and our gym lockers were side-by-side.  We often talked local politics, and he even mentioned an interest in running for Louisiana governor one day. 

 

Oswald was born and raised in New Orleans, and had been living off and on in the Crescent City for a number of years. Shortly before the Kennedy assassination, he was in New Orleans handing out pamphlets supporting Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.  So following the assassination, my thoughts immediately centered back on New Orleans. I particularly wondered about any mafia tie.

 

The New Orleans mafia had been the center of a major investigation into organized crime led by the president’s brother, Robert Kennedy.  If anyone had an interest in seeing the president being removed from office, it certainly could have been the local casa nostra.  But nothing came of the New Orleans angle of the assassination, and the Washington investigators settled on the theory that Oswald acted alone.

 

Could Oswald have been the sole triggerman, but have been influenced, possibly brainwashed, and paid to do the job by New Orleans criminal interests?  I always wondered about this. Then, two years ago, I decided to investigate my theory a little further. But by this time, anyone that was part of Garrison’s investigation, or those tied to any local criminal element had passed away. 

 

I had a relative who was close to a local restaurant owner, and who supposedly had close ties to the group that Robert Kennedy was investigating. I asked my relative to check with the restaurateur to see if he might talk to me off the record about his previous knowledge. Could he enlighten me on any facts about how certain shady individuals in New Orleans might have any knowledge or even have been involved in encouraging Oswald to carry out the assassination? I promised not to write or say anything at all until after the person’s death.

 

Surprisingly, the individual agreed to meet with me and supposedly tell me everything he knew. What a scoop I might have. I was to go by his home and see him for coffee on a Tuesday morning. I prepared a list of questions, and with great anticipation, look forward to my visit.

 

Two nights before the meeting, the phone rang. It was my relative.  She told me I would not believe what happened. The fellow I was to meet with had died of a heart attack.

 

What it bad luck, fate, or something more sinister?  I really had believed that I was on to something big. Could I have possibly been given a key that would unlock a partial explanation of what happened to the president on that morning in Dallas some 60 years ago?

I guess you dear reader, and I will never know.

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

IT’S SO HARD TO BE POLITICALLLY CORRECT!

Monday, January 16^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

IT’S SO HARD TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT!

 

I have enjoyed writing this column for the past 17 years. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s really a challenge writing one each week in this day and age. You see, I’ve got to be “politically correct” so as to not offend any of my readers.  I guess I’m guilty of using words, over these many years, that apparently to some either marginalize, segregate, divide, discriminate, ostracize, or penalize, all because of some obscure connotation that I have neither considered nor meant to impart.

Stanford university has recently published a list of words that, in their opinion, do not pass the politically correct smell test.  Their website states: “the goal of the multi-phase, multi-year project to address harmful language at Stanford is to strive to eliminate the “many forms of harmful language, including racist, violent, and biased (e.g., disability bias, ethnic bias, ethnic slurs, gender bias, implicit bias, sexual bias.”)

For example, the list says the label “American” is too imprecise, calling it a put down of other nations in the Americas. The label “U.S. Citizen,” according to Stanford, is more correct. Hogwash I say.  I like the quote from former Senator and Secretary of State Daniel Webster.  "I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American."

 

How about the term “you guys?”  I personally use it all the time. But the Stanford list says it’s way too gender based, and that I should use “folks,” “people” or “everyone” instead.  I guess our southern phrase “how’s your mama and them” wouldn’t pass the muster. I grew up watching the Howdy Doody television show, that always had a row of kids sitting in what was called the peanut gallery.  No more, says Stanford, for the peanut gallery brings back memories of the cheapest and worst section in theaters where many poor people sat during the Vaudeville era.  When I was elected official, to stir up one part of the crowd, I often called out: “let’s hear it from the peanut gallery!”  I did it then, and I will still a do it again, regardless of what Stanford thinks.

 

Never say “killing two birds with one stone,” and “more than one way to skin a cat.”  We are no longer allowed to imply any violence against animals.  And of course, no more calling out “hold down the fort,” because it apparently stems from settlers and soldiers resisting savages when on the warpath.  “Long time no see” and “no can do?” Stanford says these are offensive terms because they “originated from stereotypes that mocked non-native English speakers.”

And can you believe that on the current Department of Justice website, you are discouraged from using the terms “illegal alien” or “immigrant?” Better, to say a “person who has immigrated” or an “undocumented non-citizen.” To me, that’s like calling a drug dealer an unlicensed pharmacist.

Let me give you another example.  I’m a proud grandfather with seven grandchildren.  I also have often used the word “grandfathered in.”  The word is used in business, in government actions, and in many decisions that are made. It simply means that if some organization decides to change the rules, then those who were covered under previous rules should be “grandfathered in,” or allowed to be covered under the previous rules.

But the PC crowd says we have to consider history.  And if you look back some 125 years, Louisiana led a number of states in passing laws restricting minority voting. Unless one’s grandfather was eligible to vote, then the grandson or granddaughter was not. The law was struck down in 1915 by the supreme court in Guinn vs United States.  But today, there are groups who say the phrase “grandfathered,” is racist.  What?  I certainly don’t put any historical attachment to the word, but in this day and age, some groups will chide me for having the audacity to say that someone is “grandfathered in.”

Communicating has become so complicated these days.  It’s becoming difficult to determine what is acceptable and what is not.  I yearn for a simpler time when we all seemed to be on the same page.

If only it was all black and white.  Ooops!  Can’t say that anymore.

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

PROPERTY OWNERS BEG FOR RELIEF IN LOUISIANA!

January 11^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

PROPERTY OWNERS BEG FOR RELIEF IN LOUISIANA!

 

Not such a happy new year if you were a property owner in the Bayou State.  Property insurance rates throughout Louisiana are skyrocketing. In New Orleans, the state run insurance company now charges as much as an 83% increase. Headlines in national publications blurred out.

 

LOUISIANA INSURANCE MARKET IS COLLAPSING!

 

The Louisiana insurance commissioner’s efforts to pour state funds into the coffers of insurance companies was shut down by the legislature just this past week. And for good reason.  There was no specific plan offered to lawmakers besides “Just give us more money to spend.”  Over in Florida, a state that has similar problems in finding affordable homeowner’s insurance for its citizens, legislators grabbed the bull by the horns and came up with a number of solid changes. One change was to demand that the insurance commissioner in Florida resign, which he promptly did.

 

A number of smaller insurance companies were allowed by the Louisiana Insurance Department to begin operating in the state without proper back up funding. When dealing with risky insurance coverage, it’s imperative that insurance companies buy protection called reinsurance. So if a company gets into financial trouble, there is a backup plan to turn to. But many of the smaller companies selling property insurance in Louisiana did not have this proper back up. They should never have been allowed to come into the state to begin with.

NBC news did an expose’ on the Louisiana crisis quoting critics as saying many companies failed to buy enough reinsurance and that the state Department of Insurance should have prevented those mistakes from happening.

“This is not a fluke of statistical bad luck. This was very clearly a political decision that the Department of Insurance made to undercapitalized insurance companies to allow them to make more profit on the front end and with the state taking the risk on the back end,” said Jesse Keenan, a real estate professor at Tulane University who studies climate change and the economy. “This is about politics. This is about trying to keep the rates lower. This is about the political pressure to lower the rates.”

While Louisiana stands by and twiddles its thumbs on any insurance reform efforts, Florida has taken the opposite approach.  Here was a typical headline in newspapers all across the sunshine state last week.  “FLORIDA ENACTS SWEEPING PROPERTY INSURANCE REFORM”.   Florida directly addressed the reinsurance problem by creating the Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance Program (FORA). FORA will be administered by the State Board of Administration. It permits eligible insurers to purchase reinsurance coverage under this new plan.

 

Let me tell you why reinsurance is so important. When an insurance company has sold too many policies that might jeopardize their financial standing, they buy insurance just like you and I do. The insurance company goes to a “wholesaler” or a reinsurer to cover a portion of their losses. Kind of like the bookie laying off part of his bet.  The insurance company gives up a portion of the premium to buy their own insurance coverage in case the losses potentially get too high.  Because of recent so many storms, reinsurance has become quite expensive. That’s why the Florida governor and legislature stepped in.

 

The new Florida law, strongly supported by Governor DeSantis, doesn’t come cheap. The state created and funded a one-billion-dollar reinsurance fund.  So can Louisiana afford to do the same thing?  It simply comes down to a matter of priorities. The Louisiana legislature, in this coming year, will have a surplus over last year of $1.5 billion.  Just how important is affordable property insurance to legislators who are hearing massive pleas from their constituents?

 

In the past year and a half, Louisiana has lost 67,508 residents who left the State. Many of those who moved on cite the high cost of insurance as their reason for leaving.  If  the legislature does not find a solution to the lack of reinsurance, this out migration will continue. The outrageous cost of property insurance should be a top concern for the lawmakers in the coming legislative session.

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE!

January 2^nd, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE!

 

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I always do.  A New Year always brings with it promise and uncertainty, but this coming year brings with it a greater foreboding than we have experienced in the past.  The Chinese have a saying: “May you live in interesting times.” But their definition means dangerous or turbulent. We in Louisiana and throughout America certainly live in “interesting” times today.

One resolution I make each year is to maintain my curiosity.  It doesn’t matter how limited your perspective or how narrow the scope of your surroundings, there is (or should be) something to whet your interest and strike your fancy.  I discovered early on that there are two kinds of people — those who are curious about the world around them, and those whose shallow attentions are generally limited to those things that pertain to their own personal well-being.  I just hope all those I care about fall into the former category.

Another resolution is to continue to hope.  I hope for successful and fulfilling endeavors for my children, happiness and contentment for family and friends, and for the fortitude to handle both the highs and lows of daily living with dignity.

  I also ask friends and family to re-read Night, the unforgettable holocaust novel by Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace laureate who survived the Nazi death camps. I met him shortly before his death.  I have a Wiesel quote framed on my office desk:

 “To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope.”

 

Like many of you, our family welcomes in the New Year with “Auld Lang Syne.”  It’s an old Scotch tune, with words passed down orally, and recorded by my favorite historical poet, Robert Burns, back in the 1700s.  (I’m Scottish, so there’s a bond here.) “Auld Lang Syne,” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.”  Did you know this song is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year?

I can look back over many years of memorable New Year’s Eve celebrations.  In recent years, my wife and I have joined a gathering of family and friends in New Orleans at a French Quarter restaurant.  After dinner, we make a stop at St. Louis Cathedral for a blessing of the New Year. Then it’s off to join the masses for the New Year’s countdown to midnight in Jackson Square.

When my daughters were quite young, we spent a number of New Year holidays at a family camp on Davis Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River some 30 miles below Vicksburg.  On several occasions, the only people there were my family and Bishop Charles P. Greco, who was the Catholic Bishop for central and north Louisiana.  Bishop Greco had baptized all three of my daughters, and had been a family friend for years.

On many a cold and rainy morning, the handful of us at the camp would rise before dawn for the Bishop to conduct a New Year’s Mass.  After the service, most of the family went back to bed.  I would crank up my old jeep and take the Bishop out in the worst weather with hopes of putting him on a stand where a large buck would pass.  No matter what the weather, he would stay all morning with his shotgun and thermos of coffee.  He rarely got a deer, but oh how he loved to be there in the woods.  Now, I’m not a Catholic, but he treated me as one of his own.

New Year’s Day means lots of football, but I also put on my chef’s apron.  I’m well regarded in the kitchen around my household, if I say so myself, for cooking up black-eyed peas as well as cabbage and corn bread. And don’t bet I won’t find the dime in the peas.  After all, I’m going to put it there.

I’ll be back next week with my customary views that are cantankerous, opinionated, inflammatory, slanted, and always full of vim and vigor.  Sometimes, to a few, even a bit fun to read.  In the meantime, Happy New Year to you, your friends and all of your family.   See you next year.

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.