POLITICIANS WHO ARE A BIT WEIRD!

Monday, August 26^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

POLITICIANS WHO ARE A BIT WEIRD!

 

Do you think that our candidates for national office are weird? That word — “weird” — has become the new attack buzz word for both Democrats and Republicans. So how did all these “weird” attacks” begin?

 

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz began the give-and-take a few weeks ago when he called the Trump – Vance Republican ticket “just weird.” Vice President Harris followed up by attacking Trump “for his out-of-touch, weird ideas.” Trump shot back that “Nobody’s ever called me weird. I’m a lot of things, but weird I’m not.  They are the ones who are weird.” 

 

The Democrats are posting billboards in competitive states, picturing VP candidate JD Vance and Robert Kennedy, Jr. Surrounding Trump as he points to his head and makes a “cuckoo” hand gesture with the caption “Weird as Hell.”

 

Actually, when your profile many of the characters who live here in the Bayou state, being “weird” can be perceived as somewhat normal. The dictionary describes  “weird” as unearthly, spectral, preternatural, unnatural, strange,

 peculiar, eccentric, and even magical, having seemingly supernatural qualities or powers.  Sounds like a lot of characters right out of the French Quarter in New Orleans to me.

 

Now, if you want to know the national candidate that really strikes me as weird, it’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He starts out as a Democratic candidate for president, then switches parties to become independent, and just last week he endorses Donald Trump, the Republican, for president.  Before endorsing Trump, Kennedy had earlier called the former president “a terrible human being, and probably a sociopath.” Trump responded by calling Kennedy “a radical left lunatic.”  Sounds like a great political marriage to me.

 

I first got an inkling of Kennedy when I was having lunch with friends at a popular Baton Rouge seafood spot, Phil’s Oyster Bar. I recognized Kennedy sitting at the next table, and as he was leaving the restaurant, he stopped to visit. He’s a nice looking fellow, and hey, he’s a Kennedy. So I was certainly interested in what he had to say.

 

He went on and on about the dangers of most vaccinations that he said caused measles outbreak, autism, and Covid-19.  His arguments struck me as being disjointed and way too intense for a casual conversation at an oyster house. The guy was, well, a little bit weird.

 

Then more bizarre twists to Kennedy’s story really got weird. He went on Rosie O’Donnell’s national TV show to announce that part of his brain was eaten by a worm, and he experienced severe memory loss and mental fog.  I’ve never heard of anyone claiming that their brain had been eaten by a worm.  

 

But his story really gets weirder.  Earlier this year, Kennedy said he found a dead bear cub in the middle of the road in upstate New York. He loads it in the back of his car and drives to New York City for steak dinner, then fakes a bicycle accident and leaves the decomposing bear in Central Park.  Hummm!

 

Now in Louisiana, we yield to no one in our desire for electing weird politicians. Gov. Earl Long was committed to a mental asylum, Gov. Jimmie Davis rode his horse up the front stairs of the Louisiana State capitol, and KKK head David Duke almost becoming governor of the Bayou State. I could tell you about many more such local redneck and Cajun characters.

 

The bottom line Is this. To make a long term career out of being a politician, there’s no doubt about it. You just have to be a bit weird.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

ARE WE ALL FEDERAL CRIMINALS

Monday, August 19^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

ARE WE ALL FEDERAL CRIMINALS IN LOUISIANA?

 

US Justice Neil Gorsuch has written a new book called “Over Ruled.”  The premise is simple. There are just way too many federal and state laws on the books.  He concludes that there are numerous average citizens that are slapped down by overbearing prosecutors.  I can tell you from personal experience that I could not agree more.

Anyone who actually takes the time to read the U.S. Constitution will see that there are only three crimes specifically enumerated as federal offenses: treason, piracy and counterfeiting. So why has Congress undertaken an overzealous expansion of criminal laws?

Today, there are more than 5,000 federal crimes listed in the U.S. Code. It used to be that Congress would create one particular crime by passing a new law. But in recent years, multiple crimes are listed within the same statute. One new law enacted right after 9/11 contained 60 new crimes. Was that really necessary?

Our representatives in Washington now want to delve into any number of local crimes, flaunting the intention of our country’s founders. Drugs, robbery, car theft, the list goes on and on. What happened to the 14th amendment and states’ rights?

Many of the federal crimes on this expanded list are bewildering and seem to be punitive and arbitrary. Harvard law professor William Stuntz puts it this way: “We are coming even closer to living in a country where laws on the books makes everybody a felon, and prosecutors get to decide what the law is and who has violated it.”

Did you know that it is a federal crime to deal in the interstate transport of unlicensed dentures? For this you get one year in jail.

Another law says you can go to jail for six months if you pretend to be a member of the 4-H club?

And you can get six months for degrading the character of Woodsy Owl, or his associated slogan: “Give a hoot — Don’t pollute.” I’m not making this up.

You will love this one. It’s a federal crime to disrupt a rodeo. Now in Louisiana, we yield to no one in our desire for orderly rodeos. But getting taken into federal custody for excessive heckling? Give me a break!

State law in Louisiana is certainly not immune from ridiculous intrusions into the rights of the average citizen. In New Orleans, you violate the law when you tie your alligator up to a fire hydrant.  It is illegal to practice voodoo in the city limits.  (Darn!  I’ll miss Marie Laveax.) There is a “three sandwich rule” at any funeral in the Bayou State.  No more or face the consequences. And New Orleans Saints fans may also be surprised to find out that in Louisiana, it’s a crime at a sporting event to insult or disparage the players.  I guess no more paper bag heads.

Our members of Congress go to Washington today and seem to get intoxicated with the power that comes with the job. It’s similar to the effect of Tolkien’s ring. Decent and intelligent people get the ring of power and it changes them. They can’t put it down. They can’t let it go. The more laws you pass, the better you look back home. And when there’s crime involved, you come across as a tough guy, right?

Congress today doesn’t seem to understand the difference between the violation of a regulation and a crime. There are a number of actions that are illegal, but not criminal. Further, a crime does not necessarily have to be a federal crime. Have we reached the point where people in Louisiana and throughout the country have come to accept that any federal agency with power is somehow a police power? Both conservatives and liberals ought to be worried about the expansion of federal criminal law if we value our liberty, which our Founders specifically understood to mean leaving general police powers at the local level.

In 400 B.C., the Greek orator Isocrates stated: “Where there is a multitude of specific laws, it is a sign that the state is badly governed.” Tacitus wrote in the 1st century A.D. of Rome: “Formerly we suffered from crimes. Now we suffer from laws.”

A little more common sense in Washington and Baton Rouge would go a long way in allowing legislators to deal better with problems they actually make a difference in a citizen’s life.  And for goodness sake, let us get a little rowdy at our rodeos.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERVE YOUR COUNTY-THEN GET SWIFTBOATED?

August 11th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

SERVE YOUR COUNTY-THEN GET SWIFTBOATED?

 

 Well here they go again.  Political extremists who work behind the scenes in both national political parties have dusted off their old playbook by attacking the military record of both vice presidential candidates. Such attacks even have a name. It’s called swift boating.

 

The name comes from the vicious assaults against former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry back in 2004.  Kerry had been a highly decorated Naval officer during the Vietnam war where he received numerous combat medals along with three purple hearts for being wounded.  He was certainly an American hero and was in charge of a patrol vessel called a swift boat. The leadership of both political parties should have condemned the vicious campaign attacking his brave service to America. I visited at length with Kerry a few years back when he told me that the outrageous false charges against him were preposterous and devastating at the time.

Fast-forward to the current presidential campaign, and the swift boaters are raising their ugly heads again. The charges come from those who never served a day in the military, and rather than support and praise the military record of the two vice presidential candidates, have chosen to get down in the slime of un-American cowardness.  

JD Vance, the current Republican vice presidential nominee, volunteered to join the Marine Corps and served for four years in Iraq. He’s been accused of not actually being involved in combat, but actually holding down a desk job. But look, the Senator from Ohio voluntarily went to Iraq, and served in a war zone for four years. The vast majority of his contemporaries enjoyed the freedom to do as they wished while soldiers like Vance protected their right to do so.

The same goes for Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz.  His military record is extensive and quite laudable.  Walz served in the military national guard for 24 years, retiring as a Master Sergeant in 2005.  As part of his extensive service during his time on active duty, Walsh and his battalion served throughout Europe and Turkey.  Yet today, he is being “swift boated” for leaving the National Guard to run for Congress. So let me get this straight. The guy serves for 24 years in a uniform, but he’s been criticized because he didn’t stay long enough to go to Iraq when his guard unit was deployed several months after he retired?  What a lame criticism.

I know something about being swift boated.  After finishing law school, my draft board told me I was exempt from military service. I was 26 years old, and had passed the draft age. I volunteered anyway to go into the Army and the Army National Guard, then spent 12 years in the National Guard, and retired as a captain. Yet when I ran for the Louisiana State Senate back in 1971, one of my opponents accused me of dodging the draft. I found out he never served a day in the military, yet he had the nerve to attack my record.

I certainly understand that while running for public office, charges are thrown around that are often slanted or inaccurate. I was an elected official in Louisiana for 28 years, so I can share many stories of political charges that were distorted, deceptive, or even completely untrue. Such political attacks against those who choose to serve and defend their country should be completely off the table.

Less than one percent of Americans actually volunteer and serve their country in the military. That means that over 99% of the population enjoys the freedoms and protections that those handful of men and women actually provide. False political attacks that we are witnessing presently taking place in both parties should be off-limits.  We have way too many chicken hawks attacking the record of those who actually serve, and want to continue such service in public office.  It’s way past time to stamp out the cheap shots of swift boating.

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.

 

 

 

 

DOE ANYONE REALLY CARE ABOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL AMYMORE?

Monday, August 5^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

DOE ANYONE REALLY CARE ABOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL AMYMORE?

 

Football for the college ranks is a matter of a few weeks away.  Are you fired up?   Can you hardly wait?  (Yawn….).   So what will we soon have?  A bunch of kids who are hired guns who come from other states, do not know anything about the Bayou state, and are coming to LSU and other SEC schools for one thing and one thing alone.  The money.

 

Liza Minnelli summed it up well in the Broadway show Cabaret. “Money makes the world go around. It makes the world go around.” And that’s what college football has come down to.  Who pays out the most money to a kid who is barely out of high school.  At least in pro football, a player has to live by his contract that locks him in to just one team for several years, and builds in incentives that the player has to meet.  Not in college anymore.  It’s Katy bar the door and any kid can change schools at will.

 

That’s not how it used to be. The older system was not perfect, but college players, for the most part, would pick a school, generally stand behind older starters for a year or two, and work their way up to the first team.  The recruitment of a player would often take several years. Assistant coaches would profile young players, keep an eye on them, start courting them in their senior year, and if they qualified, offer them a scholarship.

 

Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban summed it up well in a recent interview where he explained how he invited a potential recruit along with the player’s family to the university where they would often spend a weekend. He would invite them out to his house for lunch, and talk to their parents about the kind of education they would be getting.  He told them that the team was a family, and he would build a good a moral fiber into his players. 

 

But not anymore.  Sabin said that when all major colleges meet a player, the first, no just about the only thing theses kids want to know is how much they will be paid. And if the player is not satisfied at the school where they initially agree to play, they can just jump to another school.  What kind of team comradery is that? What sort of school spirit and pride in the university is built on such a foundation?

 

Whatever happened to so many LSU all Americans who played with pride at LSU, then went on to pro football, but then came back to Louisiana to live and work right here in the Bayou state. They took and received a good education, then they stayed in Louisiana and gave back.

 

LSU’s first all American was Abe Mickal, an outstanding running back, who became a doctor and went on to practice medicine for the rest of his life in New Orleans. He was one of us. He gave back. The same for Billy Cannon, who had his problems after graduation, but still had the support as everybody’s all American, and went on to practice dentistry in the state for the rest of his life. Again, he was one of us and he gave back.

 

Who could forget three time LSU all American Tommy Casanova, who went on to play for the Cincinnati Bengals and still practices as an orthodontist in Crowley. All American quarterback Burt Jones still works in Ruston Louisiana in the family logging business after playing pro football for nine seasons at Baltimore.  The list to go on and on. And they were all one of us. They all gave back to the state of Louisiana.

 

Oh, I’ll probably sit in front of the couch with friends and watch some of the games. Kind of like I watched fencing or badminton at the Olympics. You see, there once was great pride in the state for our college football teams. And we all used to love cheering for the Tigers.  But college football has become a pro sport now. It’s all about the money. And that’s a crying shame.

 

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.