fgazette.com Community news site for Union Parish Louisiana
I normally don’t like to call out an individual for criticism or accolades. Instead I prefer to let the facts speak for themselves and allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. It is realized this is in stark contrast to the information world we live in today. Everyone has a brain and we are able to use it. Not everything has to be explained or described in a way that the news delivery is skewed to fit a certain narrative and thus change a readers ideas on life. Then every once in a while an incident happens that is in conflict with the ideals of our great nation and provides subject matter for biased members of the press. Some of these vile incidents leaves one to stand back and question what country we live in or at least to question what type of country we are living in.
Several weeks ago Bonnie and I were visiting New York City. We experienced two surprises. The first was the misconception that is portrayed about the safety of the city and its inhabitants. What a pleasant surprise to experience the city that saw the early founding of our nation and has become the financial capital of the world. Yes, it has problems but what community doesn’t have them. We didn’t take the subway nor enter the underground and it was the friendly advice of the residents of the city that discouraged us from doing so. The second surprise dealt with our previous president.
While in New York we heard the verdict against former president Trump for falsifying financial reports to easily acquire cash for investment and operating funds. There was shown to be no one injured in the findings, however, Trump was found guilty of a serious crime and the judgement was not large, it was huge and included individuals other than the former president.
A New York Supreme Court justice ordered Trump to pay $354,868,768 to include fines for his two sons and an executive that had been provided with a severance award when he left the Trump company. To add a second smash to the apparent Republican nominee for the future presidential campaign, the judgement is adding accrued interest. Today this is about an additional one hundred million dollars and accrues at $112,000 per day until the judgement is paid. The state didn’t let the body get cold before it began looking at seizing Trump properties in New York. The New York press jumped on it with front pages declaring everything from defeat for Trump to New York no longer loves Trump. A sad epitaph.
This settlement is based on law but the administration of the law leaves one to wonder where we live. We lived in a country where the administration of law was just and fair and where the law was not intended to be excessive to a point that it is used as a weapon. While an illegal alien is released from a New York jail to travel to Georgia to murder a beautiful nursing student, Trump gets fined.
While researching a book I came across a letter that addressed a group of men that were trying to take over ownership of the Springhill Colored Baptist Church. The church congregation was community farming the land and the unscrupulous land grabbers claimed it was no longer church property and since taxes were not being paid it should be sold at the courthouse for past taxes and interest. The lawyer immediately took the case, at no cost, and stopped the action. A brave stance for a white lawyer in the deep south of the late 1940s.
In the 1980s I recall seeing the cover of Time Magazine sitting on the rack at the Commissary in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The cover was a drawing of the jungle with a monkey peering out of the cover while hanging from a tree. The cover read, “Louisiana, America’s Banana Republic”. I cringed as I read this but things are now different. The actions taken against Trump without the opportunity to raise funds for a fine and without time to appeal the case to the highest judicial body in the land without severe retribution is as close to Banana Republic as we have witnessed. It is reminiscent of the laws and application of the laws we witnessed in the deep south in a long ago era of our country.
Perhaps a good look at the present day Louisiana could breathe a breath of fresh air into some of our more politically oriented states across the country.
God Bless America, God Save the Ukraine and Pray for Israel.
