Showing posts tagged Louisiana

New Orleans judge rules statute forbidding felons from having firearms unconstitutional after 'fundamental right' amendment

slephoto:

With all the talk about gun control lately, Republican-goverened states, urged by the NRA, have been pushing all sorts of crazy laws about refusing to enforce federal changes, making gun ownership easier, etc.

Apparently none of them have ever heard of “the law of unintended consequences.”  Sure, passing laws to “protect FREEDOM!” SOUNDS like a great idea, but you have to consider how it might be applied.  So today in Louisiana (the state that passed a law basically turning its education responsibilities over to religious schools for “freedom” and then freaked when a couple of Islamic schools applied for the program and said “We didn’t mean THEM!”) we see that their broadly worded constitutional amendment declaring gun ownership a “fundamental right” (a pet NRA project they’re pushing in other states) was used by attorneys to challenge the convictions of several felons found in possession of guns and a judge has decided that, under his interpretation of the law, the state CANNOT ban murderers, rapists, etc from owning a gun.

The NRA and the Republican legislators who pushed the bill have “no comment,” and Governor Jindal (who exhorted voters to pass the amendment, which he described as “an ironclad guarantee of freedom here in Louisiana”)  says “that’s not what we meant!” but prosecutors all over the state (who opposed this) are saying “We told you so.”

Right now it looks like the best case scenario is that there’ll be a flurry of legal fights & challenges, costing the already struggling state ridiculous amounts of money, and the result will be a confusing mess of rulings that says “this person who committed a crime can have a gun, but this person can’t,” leaving police & prosecutors unsure of how to proceed, making trials more complicated, and possibly (if attorneys can get this applied retroactively) letting a number of people out of jail… all of which will make the citizens of Louisiana less safe in the name of protecting the “freedom” to own guns even if they’re violent felons.

…this is absolutely insane. Why not just rename the GOP the NRA or the Gun Lobby Party?

(Reblogged from reagan-was-a-horrible-president)

Gov. Bobby Jindal backs down on Medicaid hospice elimination | NOLA.com

like why do people even vote for Republicans? 

(Source: likethedew)

(Reblogged from truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
secretcinema1: Parade, New Orleans, 1960, William Claxton

secretcinema1:

Parade, New Orleans, 1960, William Claxton

(Reblogged from kogumarecord)
thesoapboxschtick: This is a receipt for the payment of a Louisiana poll tax in 1917. The fee was $1 (which is equivalent to $18.14 in today’s money). This tax was meant to keep recently-enrachised people of color, as well as poorer working-class folks, from voting. Poll taxes, or any voting fees for that matter, were outlawed by the 24th amendment. But the new Voter ID laws being passed by republicans are designed to do the same thing as a poll tax. They require all voters to have photo ID on them when they go to the polls. But how much does photo ID cost? Well, It depends on the state… Alabama – $23 Florida – $3 Georgia -$20 for 5 years, $35 for $10 years Indiana – $13 under 65, $10 for over 65, last for 6 years Kansas – $18 under 65, $14 over 65 Louisiana – Average $21, free for over 60 Michigan – $10, free for seniors. Mississippi – $13 Pennsylvania – $10 South Carolina – $5 South Dakota – $8 Tennessee – $12.50. For those 65 and up, they never expire Texas – $15. 60 and up, $5 and never has to be renewed *NOTE: The states in boldare where photo IDs are more expensive than the original (unconstitutional) poll taxes. And yes, I know part of the Voter ID laws are that the states are required to give out free photo ID but… Republicans are trying to keep that part of the law hush-hush. Some people (including a 95 year old woman) went to get their free ID (which they were guaranteed by law) and were still turned down. And forcing eligible-voters to go wait in the DMV for several hours is just going to further discourage people from voting, free ID or otherwise. Which is bad for America, considering we have awful voter turnout as it is. View high resolution

thesoapboxschtick:

This is a receipt for the payment of a Louisiana poll tax in 1917. The fee was $1 (which is equivalent to $18.14 in today’s money). This tax was meant to keep recently-enrachised people of color, as well as poorer working-class folks, from voting.

Poll taxes, or any voting fees for that matter, were outlawed by the 24th amendment. But the new Voter ID laws being passed by republicans are designed to do the same thing as a poll tax. They require all voters to have photo ID on them when they go to the polls. But how much does photo ID cost? Well, It depends on the state…

  • Alabama – $23
  • Florida – $3
  • Georgia -$20 for 5 years, $35 for $10 years
  • Indiana – $13 under 65, $10 for over 65, last for 6 years
  • Kansas – $18 under 65, $14 over 65
  • Louisiana – Average $21, free for over 60
  • Michigan – $10, free for seniors.
  • Mississippi – $13
  • Pennsylvania – $10
  • South Carolina – $5
  • South Dakota – $8
  • Tennessee – $12.50. For those 65 and up, they never expire
  • Texas – $15. 60 and up, $5 and never has to be renewed

*NOTE: The states in boldare where photo IDs are more expensive than the original (unconstitutional) poll taxes.

And yes, I know part of the Voter ID laws are that the states are required to give out free photo ID but…

(Reblogged from truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
“
As Naomi Klein detailed in The Shock Doctrine, post-Katrina New Orleans has been Ground Zero for efforts to privatize schools and weaken teacher unions—hallmarks of education reform. After the hurricane, the vast majority of New Orleans public schools were taken over by the states’ Recovery School District—the district that was subsequently headed by John White. Nearly all of the city’s 7,500 public school employees were fired, although a few were later rehired. The post-Katrina shock also saw the advent of a limited voucher program and a massive expansion of charter schools, many of them for-profit. Education Secretary Arne Duncan actually said that Hurricane Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans,” and Michael Bloomberg repeated this position almost verbatim in a profile in Fast Company in 2011. And yet, the Recovery School District received a “D” on the state’s evaluation system in 2011, making it the second-lowest-performing district in the state.

Why Do Some of America’s Wealthiest Individuals Have Fingers in Louisiana’s Education System? | The Nation

Never has the example of billionaire vultures circling to profit off of poor people’s misery ever been so obvious as in New Orleans.

(via robot-heart-politics)

(Reblogged from reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
[x] View high resolution

[x]

(Source: nutopiancitizen)

(Reblogged from oldenough2burmom)
Mitt Romney to displaced/homeless hurricane victim: “Go home, call 211.”

Mitt Romney to displaced/homeless hurricane victim: “Go home, call 211.”

thepoliticalfreakshow: Yesterday, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited Louisiana, where much of the state was flooded due to Hurricane Issac. While visiting the Pelican State, however, Romney had some odd advice for one victim of the hurricane who had lost her home due to the flooding. According to Jodie Chiarello, a suddenly homeless resident of the state, Romney advised her to “go home and call 211.” 211 is a telephone number in Louisiana that provides information to residents about health and human services programs. …

thepoliticalfreakshow:

Yesterday, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited Louisiana, where much of the state was flooded due to Hurricane Issac. While visiting the Pelican State, however, Romney had some odd advice for one victim of the hurricane who had lost her home due to the flooding. According to Jodie Chiarello, a suddenly homeless resident of the state, Romney advised her to “go home and call 211.” 211 is a telephone number in Louisiana that provides information to residents about health and human services programs.

…

(Reblogged from thepoliticalfreakshow)

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R. - LA) accuses the federal government of not spending ENOUGH money on his state, in spite of being an outspoken critic of government spending.

this bitch

image

(Source: thepoliticalfreakshow)

(Reblogged from reagan-was-a-horrible-president)

NEW ORLEANS LIVE WEBCAMS

Good way to keep an eye on Nola and other cities —> [x]

  • Good luck and God bless, Gulf Coast residents.
“

In South Carolina, a yearly income of $16,900 is too much for Medicaid for a family of three. In Florida, $11,000 a year is too much. In Mississippi, $8,200 a year is too much. In Louisiana and Texas, earning more than just $5,000 a year makes you ineligible for Medicaid.


Governors in those five states have said they’ll reject the Medicaid expansion underpinning Obama’s health law after the Supreme Court’s decision gave states that option. Many of those hurt by the decision are working parents who are poor — but not poor enough — to qualify for Medicaid.

Anti-Medicaid states: Earning $11,000 is too much (via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

(Source: thenewhotness)

(Reblogged from truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
thepeoplesrecord: America: The Land of the “Free” View high resolution

thepeoplesrecord:

America: The Land of the “Free”

(Reblogged from 6dogs9cats)

14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools | Mother Jones

sarahlee310:

Under Gov. Bobby Jindal’s voucher program, considered the most sweeping in the country, Louisiana is poised to spend tens of millions of dollars to help poor and middle-class students from the state’s notoriously terrible public schools receive a private education. While the governor’s plan sounds great in the glittery parlance of the state’s PR machine, the program is rife with accountability problems that actually haven’t been solved by the new standards the Louisiana Department of Education adopted two weeks ago.

For one, of the 119 (mostly Christian) participating schools, Zack Kopplin, a gutsy college sophomore who’s taken to Change.org to stonewall the program, has identified at least 19 that teach or champion creationist non-science, and will rake in nearly $4 million in public funding from the initial round of voucher designations.

Many of these schools, Kopplin notes, rely on Pensecola-based A Beka Book curriculum or Bob Jones University Press textbooks to teach their pupils Bible-based “facts,” such as the existence of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster and all sorts of pseudoscience that researcher Rachel Tabachnick and writer Thomas Vinciguerra have thankfully pored over so the rest of world doesn’t have to.

Some of the ‘facts’ pointed out in the article:

  1. Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out
  2. Dragons were totally real
  3. “God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ.”
  4. Africa needs religion
  5. Slave masters were nice guys
  6. The KKK was A-OK
  7. The Great Depression wasn’t as bad as the liberals made it sound
  8. SCOTUS enslaved fetuses
  9. The Red Scare isn’t over yet
  10. Mark Twain and Emily Dicksinson were a couple of hacks
  11. Abstract algebra is too dang complicated
  12. Gay people “have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists.”
  13. “Global environmentalists have said and written enough to leave no doubt that their goal is to destroy the prosperous economies of the world’s richest nations.”
  14. Globalization is a precursor to rapture

Louisiana survived Katrina and had the nation and the world rooting for it.  Not sure it can survive a decade of this kind of education. 

(Reblogged from whatdididrink)
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theyoungturks:

The Prison Capital of the World Is…

(Reblogged from reagan-was-a-horrible-president)