Free Republic

The suspect in last Friday's parcel bombing in Lyon, France has confessed to police that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State..... A terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem Friday morning...... Wikileaks expressing: "grave concern" about the health of its founder, Julian Assange, who's been transferred to the medical ward of a British prison..... Stymied by Congress and the courts in his efforts to control migration across the nation's southern border, President Trump announcing plans for tariffs on Mexico..... The governor of Louisiana, Democrat John Bel Edwards, signing Pro-Life legislation Thursday...... Pro-government sources in Syria say a cease-fire...

John Bel Edwards announced today that he would never seek the Democratic presidential nomination. The governor of Louisiana also announced that he would face a primary fight in his next election from progressive activists.Well, okay, Bel Edwards actually told a reporter that he would sign a bill restricting abortion on the basis of a fetal heartbeat, assuming it gets to his desk. Everyone — especially Bel Edwards — knows what that really means: The governor of Louisiana – a Catholic Democrat – says he will sign a bill banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, if the...

<p>Acadiana lost $26.6 million in proposed construction projects with the stroke of Gov. John Bel Edwards veto pen Wednesday.</p> <p>Twenty-nine projects were part of the 40 items struck from the state’s annual construction budget by Edwards using his line-item veto authority.</p>

On 25 May, 2018, Governor Edwards of Louisiana signed HB 892 into law. The bill now becomes ACT 341, which reforms Louisiana knife law, removing a 1950's era ban on switchblades.  From wafb.com: BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – On Friday, May 25, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed 79 bills into new laws. The bills he signed are as follows:(snip) ACT 341 – HB 892 Provides relative to the illegal carrying of certain knives. The wording of HB892, now ACT 341, is as shown at legiscan.   From legiscan.com: (4)(a) The manufacture, ownership, possession, custody or use intentional concealment...

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Tuesday night (May 22) prohibiting Louisiana state government from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. The order directs the state commissioner of administration, Jay Dardenne, to terminate existing state contracts with companies if they are currently boycotting Israel or supporting those who do so. Moving forward, companies will be required to sign an agreement certifying that they aren't boycotting Israel before being awarded a state contract. The prohibition will not be applied to companies that have contracts with the state that total less than $100,000 or that have fewer than five...

Vanity lead in about this: In 1978-1979, then California Governor Jerry Brown 'punished' the taxpayers for passing Proposition 13 (making property taxes affordable for those who had lived in California all their lives). Governor Brown cut police and fire services to 'punish' the taxpayers of California for passing Prop 13 (or Proposition 13). Then in 1981, then California Governor Jerry Brown hired 'Hanoi Jane Fonda' to head an Arts Committee with a $1 million budget. This infuriated California voters even more. One of the articles below attributes the actions of then California Jerry Brown to getting Ronald Reagan president. Articles...

A key member of Gov. John Bel Edwards' staff has resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment, WBRZ reported. LaPolitics.com first reported that Deputy Chief of Staff Johnny Anderson resigned Wednesday after multiple sexual harassment allegations were made against him. Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Carbo said in a statement to WBRZ Wednesday evening that the governor's office was made aware of the allegations Tuesday and that the office holds a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual harassment. "We take these allegations very seriously," the statement read. "Upon commencement of the investigative process, Johnny Anderson resigned from the Governor's Office."

NEW ORLEANS -- The so called "Old City" isn't the only part of New Orleans with drainage problems. The spotlight has been on the Lakeview, Mid-City and Broadmoor neighborhoods, but there are also broken pumps in Lower Coast Algiers on the west bank and New Orleans East.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards lost his latest legal battle Wednesday over his executive order aimed at protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in state government. A three-judge panel of Louisiana's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's December decision that the Democratic governor's executive order was an unconstitutional attempt to expand state law. The unanimous appellate ruling was a victory for the Republican state attorney general, Jeff Landry, who had issued an opinion saying the order violated the state constitution. Landry had refused to approve various state agency...

Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) said President Donald Trump and the federal government response to the impact of Hurricane Harvey on his state has been “excellent.” Edwards said, “Well, first of all, let me tell you the federal government has been excellent. The president has called twice. He signed the declaration we requested within a few hours of our making the request on Sunday evening. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Duke has been wonderful and FEMA administrator Brock has been great as well.” He added,”What we need right now is really mother nature to cooperate...

The fallout from last weekend's New Orleans flash flood continued Thursday. A state of emergency has been declared for Orleans Parish as drainage complications persist with the possibility of heavy rain Thursday and Friday. Here's a rundown of the new information unveiled so far Thursday... Fire damages turbine that powers pumps Much of New Orleans is at high risk of flooding Thursday and Friday because a fire overnight damaged the power source that runs most of the city’s pumps, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said early Thursday. The fire damaged one of five ancient turbines that power the Sewerage & Water Board’s...

Mary Landrieu too... Last week, prior to Donald Trump’s Louisiana visit, the anti-Trump media had fun mischaracterizing remarks made by LA. Governor John Bel Edwards. If you watched any of the mainstreamers, you were under the impression that the Governor told Trump not to come. Like so much of what those outlets report, that wasn’t exactly true.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Sunday that Donald Trump has helped draw attention to recovery efforts after the recent devastating floods in his state. In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," the governor downplayed critical remarks he made before the Republican presidential nominee visited his state. "I didn't dismiss his trip as a photo-op. Before he came down, I said we welcome him here, we want him to be helpful," Edwards said. "And we hope that it doesn't turn into a mere photo-op." Edwards said Trump's visit to the state was positive for Louisiana. "Because it...

<p>Gov. John Bel Edwards on Sunday (July 10) warned protesters that police are on high alert for anyone breaking laws such as blocking roadways, and expressed concern that outsiders have changed the tone of the protests.</p> <p>Even so, Edwards praised protesters for keeping demonstrations largely peaceful and without major property damage. He called the police response so far "moderate," saying that he is "very proud of that."</p>

State officials in Louisiana tried to deceive citizens last week by approving what amounts to, essentially, a glorified name change for the deeply unpopular Common Core education standards pushed by the Obama administration. Basically, policymakers re-branded the scheme as “Louisiana Standards,” while pretending that there had been some “revisions” to the widely loathed education-nationalization effort. However, according to experts and activists involved in the process, the politically toxic national education standards imposed on state governments with federal funding and pressure remain almost entirely intact in Louisiana, despite the new name. Similar scams by government officials have taken place in states...

Viewers of Gov. John Bel Edwards' televised speech to the public prior to the start of the Louisiana Legislature's 2016 First Extraordinary Session should not let the transparency of his tax-and-spend agenda and the insufferableness of the way he pursues it distract them from what needs to doing to resolve the state's current and future budget difficulties. At different points in the address, which probably few people saw, Edwards said "nor would we falsely claim 'the sky is falling,'" "I don't say this to scare you," and "These are not scare tactics." Then he proceeded to try to say things...

Gov. John Bel Edwards laid out an absolute worst case scenario Thursday night (Feb. 11) for Louisiana if state lawmakers refuse to go along with the package of tax increases he has proposed. In a rare statewide televised address, Edwards told viewers that the state would be forced to take extreme action -- such as throwing people with off of kidney dialysis and shutting down hospice services -- if new taxes didn't go into place over the next few months. "The health care services that are in jeopardy literally mean the difference between life and death," Edwards said during a...

The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance alerted colleges and universities Thursday that they were stopping TOPS payments immediately because of uncertainty related to the state budget. "Due to the possibility of state budget cuts, all TOPS payments are being suspended until further notice," said an email that went out to all TOPS eligible institutions at 3 p.m. "More details will be provided as information becomes available." What that means for students and parents is that every student who is currently receiving a TOPS scholarship could end up owing the remainder of the semester's tuition that's not already paid.

Governor John Bel Edwards argues against those who say he is breaking a campaign promise by proposing to raise taxes to address Louisiana's massive budget shortfall. Edwards says the proposals he's made are different than talked about during the election, because the facts are different. He also says these proposals are not what he wanted, but necessary. "It is time to stop living in a fantasy land, it's time to stop pretending that things are better than they are. You're going to see honest budgeting, you're going to see responsible budgeting from me." Edwards says during his campaign the state's...

Hope and change is coming to Louisiana after the defeat of David Vitter last month. John Bel Edwards swept to victory by a double digit margin and let everyone know that he was going to start changing up the game. Now, well before he’s even taken the oath of office, Edwards is prepping for some of his first big reforms in the financially troubled state. One of the top items on his docket is getting rid of the work requirement for able bodied food stamp recipients. (WDSU News) Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards intends to remove work requirements that Gov....