Louisiana Courts Will Now Have The Chance To Hold The Oil and Gas Industry Responsible For Its destruction of Louisiana's Environment.

 The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Oil Companies appeal of a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that tried to move the suit against them from state court to the federal court.  The damage suit against Chevron USA, Exxon-Mobil Corp., Conoco-Phillips Co, BP America and Shell for coastal damages was filed by Plaquemines Parish.

It was noted in a New Orleans Advocate column of March 1 that the 5th Circuit's ruling adds to the expectation that the rulings will clear the way for 42 other lawsuits filed in Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. John the Baptist, Vermillion and Cameron Parishes against a total of about 200 Oil and Gas Companies to begin being heard in state courts.  

If and when these lawsuits take place in state courts they will have the ability to hear the evidence and hold those companies responsible for the damage done to the state's environment that our elected officials have failed to act on for the past 50 plus years.  The evidence of the damage has been documented for years and is still ongoing.  The Oil and Gas Industry and our elected officials time of denial is up and can no longer be accepted, especially when they try the excuse of how the industry supports Louisiana by paying taxes.

The con game must end in Louisiana's state courts so the reconstruction of the environment can start for it will be a long lasting process.  A process that should have begun long, long ago if Louisiana's elected officials had the character and courage to do the right thing and if the Industry were good stewards of the environment.  

The Supreme Court made the right decision.  Now the State has to act and do its part in a responsible way.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Another First For PolitiDose Commentary.

For the past two years the negative voices of the GOP and their enablers adopted the doom and gloom opine concerning any policy and plans coming from the Biden administration.  For them, everything has been negative about the economy, job creation, foreign policy, deficit spending, the national debt, inflation, unemployment recession and the negative beat goes on and on.

PolitiDose commentary over two years ago dated 11/28/20 and 1/23/21 expressed the negative comments would take place because the GOP and their enablers have nothing left.  Their divisive talk is to cover their own failed past which is confirmed by history.  They are also aware that history tells the story that the democratic party are best at governing.  So the negative attacks, misinformation and lies are a part of their agenda to confuse and divide.  They have no positive or progressive record of their own to talk about.  

The big question that needs to be answered still remains.  How can a large part of the media in general continue to enable the GOP's corrupted agenda and fail to report the sad truth how the GOP has failed the country and its people with such consistent misinformation, lies and allow the GOP's past history to be ignored. 

Is it any wonder why so many Americans are uninformed of facts and what is taking place.  A positive nation is one that knows the facts.  The media has taken the country down the negative road because they have chosen to sell the negative slant for higher ratings.  And the Fox News network leads the pack.  The media is still in love with Trump, a former President who has committed traitorous acts and continues to enable his anti-American rhetoric. 

And PolitiDose was there from the beginning to tell the true story how the positives that always drives America have been forgotten in favor of the negative rhetoric of the GOP and fueled by the media's embrace of the negative voices.  The country has just completed two years of an economy that has created a record number of jobs, the lowest unemployment in over 50 years, a consumer that is spending despite inflation and so much more but all the media wants to talk about is recession and the negative that have proved them wrong all along so far.

So my fellow Americans, stay tuned to PolitiDose for your daily dose of political commentary.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio  

Raising The Nations Debt Ceiling: The Democratic Party Has The Best Negotiation Position Now, In The Past and For The Future. The GOP Only Has Its Failed Rhetoric.

The Republican controlled U.S. House is playing a "game" with raising the nation's debt ceiling in lieu of having a policy.  It's their "game" of federal spending when democrats control the White House, but have a big problem because they cannot walk their own talk regarding federal spending and creating debt.  They want a commitment from President Biden to reduce federal spending for their vote to raise the debt ceiling.

But the President said no deal, the debt limit needs to be raised so the federal government can pay the bills due and those already passed by congress.  He wants a clean bill just like it should be and has been done in the past.  Biden knows past GOP administrations have raised the debt ceiling with no such promises of reducing spending even though they had a chance to do so recently under President Trump for 4 years.

Democratic administrations are far ahead of GOP administrations on the issue of reduced federal spending and reducing deficit spending so "they" can control the debate on the subject and not the GOP.  President Biden's first fiscal year budget that ended 9/30/22, federal spending was down 8% from Trump and the GOP's last fiscal year budget that ended 9/30/21 and was even lower than Trump's third fiscal year budget.  Deficit spending was also down over 50% from Trump's last deficit in in fiscal 9/30/21.  During Trump's 4 fiscal years federal spending increased 41% over President Obama's last 4 fiscal years.  Federal spending under President Obama's 8 fiscal years was up only 25%.

During the 8 fiscal years of Reagan federal spending exploded and was up 75%.  Federal spending under the 4 fiscal years of President Geroge H.W. Bush increased 51%.  Federal spending under the 8 fiscal years of Bill Clinton increased 28%.  It increased an even 14% in each of his terms.  So, it is the democratic party that hold the upper hand when it comes to reducing federal spending.  The GOP is not even close because they have failed big time to control their own party's big spending problems.  Their spending, deficits and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate America is responsible for 65% of the national debt that took place between President Carter's last fiscal year and President Trump's final fiscal year that ended 9/30/21.

So, my fellow Americans, it is the democratic administrations that has the best negotiation position for reducing federal spending.  They have been there, done that and walked the talk.  They proved it is not a "game" and governing is about policy and plans, not ideology and children's "games."  Unfortunately,  the media has enabled the GOP to play their children's "games" and not challenge their rhetoric of misinformation.

PolitiDose has exposed those "games" for the past 9 years in political commentary.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

 

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and the Unemployment Rate for January 2023.

 The U.S. Labor Department reported the economy added a whooping 517,000 jobs in January and that the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%.  It was 3.5% in December.  It was the 24th straight month of positive job growth and the department made it clear the gains were spread throughout the economy.  The 3.4% unemployment rate was the lowest since 1969.

The department also reported the good news that U.S. job openings rose to 11 million in December, up from 10.4 million in November that indicates employers are still seeking to hire people and continue adding jobs.  Other good news on the economy was the fact that 5.7 million people in the U.S. were unemployed, the lowest since 2000.  The numbers tell the story of an economy that continues to add jobs and lower unemployment in a sustained way over a period of time and has been steady in doing so.

And all the while the negative voices of doom and gloom have been wrong about their predictions of a deep recession and a prolong period of a collapsed economic system.  The noise will continue because that is all the negative voices have left.  They are choking on their predictions that the economy would add 188,000 jobs in January.  The big shame is how the media enables the negative voices by publishing and running their doom and gloom fairy tales, especially their speculation of a recession in the 3rd. quarter of 2022.

The economy has added over 11 million jobs in President Biden's first 24 months in office.  That exceeds all the jobs created by the GOP's Herbert Hoover administration that lost 6.4 million jobs in 4 years;  Eisenhower's administrtion that gained 3.5 million jobs in 8 years:  George H.W. Bush administration that gained 2.5 million jobs in 4 years:  George W. Bush administration that gained 1.3 million jobs in 8 years and the Trump administration that lost 2.7 million jobs in 4 years.  And those 5 GOP Presidents served a total of 24 years.  In other words, President Biden in his first 2 years continues the precedent during the past 90 years of democratic administrations creating more jobs than the GOP and by a large margin.  Governing with policy and plans will always have a greater return and benefit for the country and its people than governing by ideology.  

Precedent does not lie, it tells a story and can be used to make a judgement about the future.  Too bad the media is so ill informed and influenced by the GOP's talking points that contain lies and misinformation.  The negative voices will continue their assault on the facts and their doom and gloom talking points but Politidose commentary will continue to report the good news about the economy as it takes place.  It was precedent that allowed Politidose commentary to predict the economic progress the country would make under the administration of President Biden and did so in commentary in December 2020 and January 2021.  And you read it here first in Politidose.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Columnists Catherine Rampell And Mark Ballard Have No Knowledge of The Federal Budget and or Federal Spending According To Their Recent Commentary.

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell and New Orleans Advocate opinion writer Mark Ballard wrote related columns in the Advocate dated 1/26 and 1/29 concerning the GOP controlled U.S. House demanding the Biden administration to cut spending before they agree to raise the debt ceiling.  The House even passed legislation that would roll back spending already approved by congress since Biden's election.  The article rightly points outs that the GOP cannot stipulate what should be cut.

Both writers seem to be ignorant of the federal budget and federal spending because they enable the GOP talking points that the democratic party are the big spenders and that is an absolute lie and opinion writers should know that and inform their readers.  The Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publish the official federal budget numbers which are available to the public and journalists and it tells the story how the GOP are the party of big spenders and not the democratic party.

Those in the media regularly publish the talking point of the GOP that spending under the Biden administration is out of control  and massive.  But the media lacks the character to report that total federal spending at the end of President Biden's first fiscal year that ended 9/30/22 was down 8% from Trump's last fiscal year of federal spending.  Total federal spending in Trump's last fiscal year was $6.8 trillion.  It was $6.2 trillion in Biden's first fiscal year.  The federal deficit at the end of Trump's last fiscal year was $2.7 trillion.  It was $1.3 trillion at the end of Biden's first fiscal year, a reduction of 50%.

In the past 42 years the largest increase in total federal spending for Presidential terms are as follows:  Reagan, 8 fiscal years up 75%;  Bush 43 8 fiscal years up 61%;   Trump 4 fiscal years up 46%;  Bush 41 4 fiscal years up 41%;  Clinton 8 fiscal years up 28%;  Obama 8 fiscal years 25%.  And going back past those 42 years the numbers change little.  In the past 60 years, year to year federal spending decreased only 4 times.  It took place 3 times on Obama's watch and one time on Biden's watch.  

During the past 70 years, the national debt increased during the following President's fiscal years in office at the below percentage rate.  Reagan 186%.   George W. Bush 105%.  Nixon/Ford 98%.  Obama 70%.  George H.W. Bush 54%.  Carter 43%.  Trump  41%.  Clinton 31%.  Kennedy/Johnson 18% and Eisenhower 8%.  Years of precedent and facts tell the story of a GOP that has a huge spending problem and the creation of debt, while the democratic party has been the most fiscal responsible party.  

The title of Catherine's column was, "Can Republicans Balance The Budget."  Well, facts and precedent tells us the last republican administration to balance the federal budget was Dwight Eisenhower in 1960, over 60 years ago so Catherine could have answered her own question.  During that same period of time two democratic Presidents balanced 5 budgets, LBJ balanced one and Clinton balanced four.  

Opinion writers and jounalists had many years to correct the GOP's talking points of democratic administrations being the big spenders but choose instead to enable them and publish the falsehoods.  In other words, their motto of informing the people is a fairy tale.  So, stay tuned to Politidose, your daily dose of political commentary to understand the facts.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Note:  All numbers above taken from the records of the CBO, Office of Management and Budget or the Treasury department.  The numbers that spell out the percentages have been published in previous Politidose commentary over the past 9 years.  The official government word for spending is OUTLAYS.  

The NFL: Another Non-Competitive Regular Season in 2022.

 Only 15 of the 32 teams in the NFL completed the regular season with a winning record.  The low number of teams with winning records is not new and is well within the average per season.  This year no team in the south division of the national conference finished with a winning record and one team, Tampa Bay will make the playoffs with a losing record of 8-9.  In the American conference only one team, Jacksonville finished with a winning record of 9-8 in their division.  

And once again, the NFL has many  very poor coached teams with very poor records, year in and year out.  That is nothing new either and there are too few good quarterbacks in the NFL.  In fact, many do not like to admit it, but Tom Brady is still as good as the top rated quarterbacks despite his age.  The big problem is too many teams in the NFL for the available talent and a playoff system that allows teams who win nothing during the regular season to make the playoffs, including those with losing records.  Under the present system only the teams who win their division should be allowed to make the playoffs.

A more realistic competitive system would be an NFL with 24 or less teams with two divisions where the division champions would face each other in the Super Bowl.  That probably will not take place because money drives the system for the owners and the league.  So, the non-competitive NFL will continue to exist with lousy coaching and lousy teams.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Froma Harrop's Latest Commentary Concerning Steve Scalise and The Energy Industry.

 In a commentary dated 1/13 published in the New Orleans Advocate, journalist Harrop talks about the misinformation given out by Louisiana's representative Steve Scalise concerning President Biden's alleged shut down of the energy industry.  The article comes from a national journalist who understands the facts.  The sad part is that Louisiana does not have any opinion writers for the Advocate who dare tell the truth about Scalise and the GOP's misinformation concerning the industry.

Louisiana's opinion writers enabled the GOP during the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico with their doom and gloom predictions when President Obama declared a moratorium on offshore drilling until some answers could be found.  There was no exodus of drilling rigs from the Gulf like the GOP and Scalise predicted.  In fact the U.S. became the world's number one producer of oil on President Obama's watch.  

There are many "Politidose" commentary on the subject that spelled out how the energy industry has always done better on the democratic watch.  There are just too many Louisiana opinion writers who run with Scalise and the GOP's misinformation and never call out their lies.  Not once have they written a story how Louisiana's employment in the oil industry hit its lowest point on Trump's watch in the past 30 years up to that point.  And of course, the GOP said nothing.

And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio  

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for December 2022.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 223,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate came in at 3.5%, down from the 3.7% in November.  It was the 23rd straight month of positive job growth and the negative voices are still waiting for the negative numbers they have been predicting most of last year.  The pundits and so called economic experts are mystified why the economy continues to do so well.  The doom and gloom did not hit as predicted in 2020 so now, they are telling us it will occur this year.

The department also reported that December wages increased 4.6% compared to the same period last year and consumer spending continues to drive the economy.  After the Labor Department report the doom and gloom voices flooded the internet with negative comments about the coming recession, major lay offs, higher unemployment and a prolong economic slump in 2023.  And if that sounds familiar it's because they said the same thing about 2022.

In President Biden's first 23 full months in office (Feb. 2021-Dec. 2022) a total of 10.5 million jobs was added to the economy.  The numbers are the greatest by far in a 23 month period of any past administration.  And in fact, it exceeds   the total number of jobs created under Presidents Bush 41, Bush 43 and Trump in the 16 years they served.

It lends itself to the conclusion that the only sane party in Washington concerning the economy is the democratic party and President Joe Biden.  The same can be said about defending democracy.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Note:  The last time unemployment was lower than 3.5% was in May 1969 when it came in at 3.4%.

The New Orleans Saints Will Stay Home Another Playoff Season.

 Any time a team has to depend on another team losing to win a division or make the playoffs, you know they are in deep trouble and failed to take care of their own business.  That describes the Saint's season with one game left to play.  The larger problem for the NFL is no team in the Saint's division deserves a chance to play in the playoffs with their horrible records.  

The best Tampa Bay can finish is 9-8, a poor won-lost record and not suited to be given a second chance.  But money, not competition rule in the NFL.  As for the Saint's season, it was a wait and see season from the very beginning for reasons expressed in earlier Politidose commentary before the season even started.  New Orleans sports writers never saw it coming in their preseason predictions.  And after all the talk about the Saint's good defensive play they still lack consistent good defensive play.  

And when the regular season ends next week, the NFL will continue it's low ratio of teams with a winning record and the Saints will not be one of them.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

LSU Defeats Purdue In The Citrus Bowl 63-7.

It took place near the Magic Kingdom as LSU started the new year off on the right foot with a big win against an overwhelmed Purdue football team who did not belong on the same football field.  A win is a win but don't be carried away LSU fans, contrary to what some sports writers in Baton Rouge think.  It is not a road map to determine the outcome of the 2023 regular season and how the Tigers will perform.

LSU's national championship team in 2019 should have taught that lesson after the tragic two seasons of 2020 and 2021 which ended in the firing of the national championship coach.  Moving the goal post has also become a favorite of sports writers who credit teams with a 10 win season when they win their 10th game in a bowl game.  Records are actually based on the regular season of 12 games.  That is how playoff teams are selected and conference championships are matched up.  The hype gives sports writers something to write about but does not change the regular season's record.  

And for the record book, LSU ended it's regular season with a 9-3 record.  That is progress and something to build on in 2023.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio