Louisiana Voice

So, Pete Hegseth wants to sink to the level of arguably the worst barbarians on the face of the earth.

While he didn’t have far to go to achieve that dubious recognition, his announcement that he intends to livestream the execution of convicted killer Nidal Hasan is a new low—even for him.

Hasan is the US Army psychiatrist who shot and killed 13 Americans at Ft. Hood, Texas, in 2009, and is slated for execution by firing squad. The announcement has been met with WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION.

But what Hegseth obviously does not understand is that executions are not a spectator sport.

To suggest otherwise is to put the secretary of defense in the same box with Isis terrorists who behead American citizens. Both are heinous acts, albeit firing squads would seem to more humane than beheadings—the word “humane” being a wholly relative term.

We already knew that Hegseth was an unqualified, headline-seeking narcissistic fool. There was no further need for him to prove his point.

We’re supposed to be a civilized nation. Livestreaming an execution, no matter how horrific the original crime, is the very antithesis of what we stand for in America. Instead, it is sadistic to the extreme. Suggesting, much less declaring, that it be livestreamed is morbidly ghoulish and has no place in our society. To reiterate our point, it is not entertainment in any context. It simply puts us on the same level with uncivilized bloodthirsty terrorists.

Just remember one key fact that should not be ignored. The announcement that it will be available for all to watch via the Internet was made by a man with an oversized tattoo of a Nazi Iron Cross emblazoned on his chest.

We started October with our twice-yearly fundraiser that was originally scheduled to run for the entire month but a story I spotted online Thursday has prompted an about-face for our own fundraising efforts in favor of a far more noble cause.

There’s a 26-year-old poet in Phoenix, Arizona who has been working pretty much on his own to help house and FEED THE HOMELESS in the Phoenix area and if you have not yet but intended to make a contribution to LouisianaVoice, I humbly implore you to consider instead making a contribution to his nonprofit, AZ HUGS.

I don’t know if Austin Davis is a Democrat, a Republican or whatever, whether he’s a Christin, Jew, atheist or agnostic or even Muslim. It does not matter. What does matter is what he is doing on his own time, through his own unselfish efforts transcends anything any Bible-thumping evangelical is doing for the benefit of his fellow man.

What he is doing in humanitarian charity so far exceeds our work with this blog as to not even merit a comparison.

At a time when ICE is detaining innocent people (including many Americans citizens), shooting people and generally pulling off flawless impersonations of Nazi gestapo, Davis is quietly going about the business of assisting homeless children, families who have had a wage earner laid off from a job and single moms who have been evicted. These are Americans no different from the Okies John Steinbeck wrote about—desperate, hungry people who only want to get a job and feed their families. Others are mentally ill with nowhere to go because Republicans have cut spending for programs for them.

Sure, there are the drug addicts. That’s to be expected. But is it better to deny all so that some drug abuser does not benefit or is it better to help as many as possible innocents in the knowledge that some undeserving individual may also benefit?

Or is just better to look the other way while our political leaders continue to lavish corporate welfare in the form of generous tax breaks on the uber-rich who in turn refuse to make eye contact with the beggar on the street?

To paraphrase Joshua 24:15 (the evangelicals hate it when you throw Bible verses in their faces), “…as for me and my house…” we choose to help the less fortunate.

So, if you can find it in your heart to do so, go HERE and help this idealistic young man in his efforts to spread a little true Christian spirit where it is best applied.

Another verse: Mathhew 25:40: “…when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”

Our Pedo-in-Chief has demonstrated to us that old institutions like the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and even the state of New Mexico can stand a new identity.

With that in mind, I am offering up my suggestion for a name change as well.

As we head into the home stretch of the midterm elections, now less than a month away, it’s appropriate to take a quick review course of how Donald Trump and HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON, as well as Texas Attorney General KEN PAXTON consistently protect child sex abusers.

And when they can’t protect them from prosecution, Trump (or Paxton) simply pardon them.

But for sheer hypocrisy, it’s damn-near impossible to top professed family values Christian Johnson, who ADJOURNED THE HOUSE in July 2025 in order to prevent a vote on the release of the Epstein files. That was seen as a move to protect only one person: Trump.

Of course, not all sex scandals in Congress belong to the Republicans as evidenced by a 2017 NEWSWEEK STORY. But in most cases involving a Democrat, his fellow party members called for his resignation—or he did so voluntarily.

No so those Bible-thumping, holier-than-thou Republicans. The cling to their jobs like toothpaste to the side of a bathroom sink.

There is STORY after STORY after STORY after STORY about Republicans who pursue children. Most seek relationships with underage girls while some seem to prefer boys. Others aren’t too particular. But they all have two things in common: they’re sleaze and they can count on their fellow Repugnantcans and right-wing media for COMFORT AND SUPPORT.

Just as it is with other Republican offenders, there is CASE after CASE  in which TRUMP PARDONED child sex offenders, murderers, drug dealers or fraudsters.

But while Diaper Don was busy passing out over 1600 pardons since taking office a second time, it is the Republican elected officials who just can’t seem to keep their britches zipped.

For that reason, I am hereby following Trump’s own example and rebranding in institution.

No, I’m not proposing slapping my name on any building or monument, renaming a gulf or a great lake or a state.

I am suggesting that the initials GOP no longer stand for Grand Old Party. That’s so 19^th Century. As of this moment forward, GOP stands for Guardians of Pedophiles.

Catchy, no?

The mainstream media tend to shy away from stories like the one below because too many supporters of athletic programs at our universities wield undue influence over what is written.

Not so LouisianaVoice. We don’t accept advertising, so we’re not beholden to any corporate entity or wealthy donor.

For years, Louisiana Tech University has managed to keep a tight lid on its censorship of the student newspaper, The Tech Talk. The publication was closed down by administrators after dogged coverage of on-campus sexual assaults in 2019 and 2020 embarrassed administrators.

Attempts to manage the news are the reasons for sexual assault coverup scandals at places like Cornell and LSU and for the decisions of district attorneys in places like Bossier and Lincoln parishes to not pursue charges against perpetrators of felonies–stories that LouisianaVoice is not afraid to publish.

If you like what we do, I humbly ask that you consider supporting our efforts with a contribution to our October fundraiser. We only come to you twice a year, in April and October, and don’t ask for a lot–just enough to meet our modest expenses for the year.

With full understanding and appreciation for the tough financial times we’re in, thanks to unwise choices by corrupt politicians in Washington, I ask that you contribute only if you feel you’re in a position to do so. I’m not like the televangelist who insists you should give even if you cannot afford it. That’s pure greed.

If you feel you can, go here: https://louisianavoice.com/

Scroll down until you see a rectangular “Keep Us Independent” YELLOW BUTTON in the column to the right of this post. Click on it and follow instructions to donate by credit card. Or you may simply mail a check to Tom Aswell, 107 North College Street West, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70726.

As always, thanks so much for your continued support for more than 15 years now.

Cornell University has been in the forefront lately regarding the alleged 2024 gang rape of a co-ed by seven male students but sexual assault on college campuses is certainly nothing new.

Neither are attempts by university officials to cover up or at least minimize he damage such news stories can do to a university.

At least two Louisiana universities have their own dirty linen they’d like to keep hidden away from prying eyes.

Most recently, it has been learned that an LSU football player accused of a 2025 rape was at first suspended (not prosecuted, mind you, but suspended) for one year but that was reduced on appeal to two years of probation without restrictions and he was allowed back on the team.

Such is the gilded life of a football player at the Ole War Skule.

Only now, after the victim went public with her allegations last month after a formal Title IX complaint last January failed to produce criminal charges, is the matter being investigated by the East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney’s office.

“Campus sexual assault procedures have drawn renewed attention as universities face questions over how reports are investigated, what discipline follows and how campus findings intersect with the criminal justice system,” said a Sept. 30 post by Alexandra Agraz of LAW COMMENTARY, an online legal news service.

“Louisiana state Rep. Vanessa Caston LaFleur has called for a review of what happens after universities find students responsible for sexual misconduct, including whether students are adequately informed about the limits of campus proceedings,” Agraz wrote.

The response by administrators at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston to on-campus sexual assaults was interesting, to say the least.

In the early 2020s, the student newspaper, The Tech Talk, which had published a weekly edition since 1931, was simply SHUT DOWN as a result of its controversial coverage of the assaults, something any responsible journalist would be expected to do anywhere else.

After all, we can’t have those irresponsible reporters embarrassing the school by printing the truth, now can we? Well, yes we can. We cannot pick and choose what is a legitimate news story and what is not. That would be censorship.

Communication students have indicated to LouisianaVoice a hope that the newspaper will eventually be reinstated.

But the trend on college campuses, be they Ivy League schools like Cornell, state flagship universities like LSU or smaller universities like Louisiana Tech, appears to be to keep pumping out the good news about research grants, etc., but to slap a lid on anything controversial.

Universities seem to consider of their campuses as communities unto themselves and that anything that happens within those boundaries stays there. What administrators do not seem to realize or appreciate is that students, particularly female students, deserve protection from predators. They may be residents of a particular campus, but they are part of a much bigger family that pays tuition so that their loved ones may have successful careers and a better life.

To attempt to cover up criminal activity is doing no one any favors.