Louisiana's Governor Jeff Landry and His LA DOGE.

 Landry is a copycat of the Trump/Musk DOGE which turned out to be a real DOG'e with Musk's resignation and falling out with Trump.  Landry also followed in Trump's footsteps by appointing business person Steve Orlando to run LA DOG'e.  

The Trump/Musk, Landry/Orlando affair to run a so called new approach to cut government spending is a sign of weakness and shame because in both cases an extreme radical approach is used rather than an economic one that has policy.  A business approach to run government has failed because the two are established for different reasons.  Government to serve the people, business for profit.  

The republican party has a history of putting business ahead of the public good.  There is no better example than the Trump/GOP control of the federal government at the present time.  Landry and the GOP controlled state legislature is a prime example in the state of Louisiana.  

The government/business relationship that will run LA DOGE, is sure to turn out to be just another DOG'e.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Louisiana Will Be More Toxic Than Ever With Pollution Because of Donald Trump's Exemption Proclamation.

 Twelve petro-chemical companies in the Mississippi River Region and Lake Charles area will be exempt from complying with a 2024 rule that was aimed at cutting pollution and cancer risk for communities near industrial plants by Trump's two year exemption.  The exemption will apply to Shell, BASF, Dow, Union Carbide, Denka, Sasol and Westlake and a handful of others according to reports.

So, Louisiana will continue to have more environmental problems from those polluting company operations at the expense of people's health.  And once again it is no secret who Trump, his party and the republicans in Louisiana really care about.  It is not the citizens of Louisiana or those who voted for Trump.  Make no mistake, those who voted for Trump knew what was coming.

Some things never change in Louisiana, therefor the future will continue to look like the failed past.   And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

The Democratic Party Stands Up Again For Louisiana, The United States and Education.

President Trump announced he will release the billions of dollars passed by congress for funding K-12 education that he previously had frozen.  He did so after 12 state democratic attorney generals filed suit to have the funds released.   The attorney generals pointed out in their suits that congress passed the funding and the legislation was signed into law and that the President was responsible to see that the funds were implemented.

Sometime later after the suits were filed, 10 GOP senators wrote the administration urging that the funds be released.  None of those senators were from Louisiana and those representing Louisiana in the congress were a no show being too busy kissing Trump's ring.  In a Times Picayune article dated 7/26 it was noted that Louisiana stood to lose $109 million had the funding not been restored.  

Trump tried to use the excuse of freezing the funds on the GOP's extreme ideology of what the funds may be used for even though congress when passing the legislation knew what they would be used for.  It was part of the legislation discussion.  Trump realized after the suit was filed, he would have no sway with the judge hearing the case based on the evidence.  

Louisiana's GOP are afraid to stand up to Trump even after passing legislation and the voters in Louisiana who elected Trump knew what Trump would do as President and still continue to support his policies.  The democratic party will continue to stand up for democracy and go to court when necessary to challenge Trump's thirst to be King and his efforts to undo legislation passed by congress and signed into law.

In the meantime, Trump's ditto head republicans in the congress and the Louisiana legislature will continue to kiss his ring.

This commentary written by Joe  Lorio  

President Biden's Administration "Build Back Better" Gave The United States A More Stable Government.

 President Joe Biden's administration was sane, noiseless and progressive, produced a stable economy and foreign policy despite the steady negative voices of doom and gloom and a media that was not happy because the President failed their wishes for more visual ability.  DEI, which the President supported had a positive effect on the job market and the lowest sustained unemployment rate since the 1960's.  A record of 15 plus million jobs created and no economic recession that the negative voices were predicting in the President's last two years in office.  

All was accomplished despite the COVID pandemic, the loss of 2.7 million jobs in the previous administration, record deficits and debts and record federal spending.  Inflation rose and the economy continued to do well, consumer spending (which represents 70% of the economy) continued to be positive and when the President left office, the inflation rate was within 0.3% of the Federal Reserve's target of 2% inflation.  

On President Biden's watch the federal government supported and protected the institutions of public and private government and supported the constitutional process.  He did not threaten to take them over or destroy them for his own satisfaction.  Violent crime was down the last three years of his administration.  The President never once thought of having federal agents wear mask or hoods to conceal their identities when performing their jobs.  Nor would he have approved of masked or hooded agents arresting immigrants and sending them to another country without due process.  When appointing his cabinet and others to high positions he did not appoint millionaires and billionaires to be ditto heads, he appointed them to do the jobs they were qualified for.  

All of that changed and not for the better when the country elected a convicted criminal Donald Trump to be President.  The change that has taken place over the past six and half months do not have to be rehashed here because everyone is up to date.  America's politics are in a different place now where lies and lying has become foreign and domestic policy along with anti-Democratic and un-American rhetoric and actions.  The media has accepted Trump's political corruption as a new norm and would like the people to believe there are no alternatives.  This writer rejects that pitiful thought.  

The President is not only a convicted criminal on 34 felony counts, he has already been held liable for sexual assault and fined in a court of law.  He is a fraudster and a traitorous President who attempted to overthrow the 2020 Presidential election with his riot mob at the nation's capitol.  That action betrayed his oath of office and the U.S. constitution.  The American people and the country deserve better, even those who fell for the con man and most unqualified person for office.

America the Beautiful will survive but the damage done by Donald Trump will linger longer than most people think.  The best thing to happen is for Congress to have enough votes and impeach.  Impeachment is justified and the cleanest and most legal way to take care of this problem.  It is that serious.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Trump and the GOP's Recently Passed Spending Budget Is A Fraud on America and It's People.

 Donald Trump knew from the very beginning that the spending budget he would send to congress was a big fraud.  That is why he had to describe it as "one big beautiful bill."  That is also why the republicans had to describe it that way because they too knew it was a fraud.  And to top it off, the media, who has the responsibility to inform, instead, used the "one big beautiful bill" description and continued their enabling of Trump every time they wrote about or broadcasted information on the spending bill.  That was not enough though, the New Orleans Times Picayune in two articles about the passage of the bill used the same description, "one big beautiful bill" in a front page story of July 4 and 5.

It did not matter to Trump and his party that many of their members in congress who would vote on the legislation did not like the bill, did not read it, would increase deficit spending and the national debt and cut needed services while giving tax breaks mainly to the wealthy and corporations, all paid for by deficit spending.  The GOP even bribed their own U.S. Senator, Lisa Murkowski who represents Alaska, by exempting Alaska from parts of the bill.  Her bribed vote was critical for the GOP to pass the legislation.  Then you have the Times Picayune articles that compliments Louisiana's representations in congress who were able to have the cuts that the bill makes be due over a certain period of time for Louisiana.  Never mind that a cut is still a cut and who knows what the bottom line will be over a period of time.

The UGLY spending bill was a fraud from the very beginning from a President and a party that knows a lot about fraud.  The Congressional Budget Office told congress and the world just how bad the bill would be for America and its people and the fact that 17 million Americans would lose their health care coverage and more.  The tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are unnecessary.  President Regan did it, Clinton did not and the economy did much better on Clinton's watch and Clinton raised taxes on those same folks.  President Bush43 did it again.  President Obama did not and the economy did better on Obama's watch.  President Trump did it in his first term.  President Biden did not and the economy did better on Biden's watch than it did on Trump's watch. 

All three of those GOP Presidents gave the country an economic recession, Clinton, Obama and Biden did not.  Clinton balanced the budget, Reagan, Bush and Trump did not.  Obama and Biden left office with a smaller deficit than when they took office Reagan, Bush and Trump did not.  The Savings and Loan failure took place on Reagan's watch, The great recession of 2008 took place on Bush's watch and the COVID pandemic was handled poorly on Trump's watch.

The news media has failed to inform the America people how reckless GOP administrations have been on the economy, taxes and fiscal policy.  And they failed to inform the America people how morally reckless they were and are on their UGLY bill passed and signed by the king of Fraud, President Donald Trump.   Never before has the media accepted a new norm for corruption. 

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and the Unemployment Rate for June 2025.

 The U.S. Labor Department announced that the economy added 146,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate came in at 4.1%, it was 4.2% in May.  It was the 53rd straight month of positive job growth.  A few days earlier, the Commerce Department announced the June inflation rate came in at 2.3%. up from 2.1% in May and that incomes were down 0.4%.  We can now compare the first 6 months of Trump's administration to the first 6 months of the Biden administration on job creation and unemployment. 

In Trump's first 6 months in office, 889,000 jobs have been created and in his 54 months as President (48 months in first term, 6 months in second term) a total of 1,811,000 jobs have been lost. (2,700,000) jobs lost his first term, 899,000 jobs gained in second term. The unemployment rate when Biden left office was 4% and the unemployment rate in June was 4.1%, so, unemployment was up 0.1% in Trump's first 6 months in office.

In Biden's first 6 months in office 2,974,000 jobs were created and no jobs were lost on Biden's watch.  The unemployment rate was 6.3% when Trump left office and at the end of Biden's first 6 months it was 5.9% so unemployment was down 0.4%.  The GDP numbers for the second quarter of 2025 will not be released for several weeks before we know what the numbers show.  

We do know that consumer spending in May was down 0.1% from April and there are projections that it will stay flat because of Trump's tariff wars that are still in progress.  The weak job creation numbers that the republican party are well known for are being played out early in Trump's second term.  This type of information the media never talks about because they are the bearers of Trump and the GOP's misinformation campaign.  

So stay tuned to PolitiDose for your daily dose of political commentary.

This commentary written by Joe  Lorio 

Countdown To President Trump and the GOP's Economic Recession That Will Surely Take Place.

 The record of an economic recession that has taken place on every Republican watch in the last 100 years (that began with Teddy Roosevelt admin.) will play out once again during the current administration of Donald Trump.  And the record is no co-incident over that long period of time.  There is a reasoning laid out in past PolitiDose commentary over the years.  PolitiDose called the shot before Trump began his first term in office and his present term in office in commentary December 2016 and December 2024.  

The media in general has overlooked the facts after all those years in favor of the GOP lies about everything concerning the economy.  For the media, politics has turned into show business reporting.  Ever since Reagan, the media promoted the lies of the GOP about the economy, federal spending, job creation, the national debt and deficit spending.  The democratic party has a better record on the economy and everything that has to do with the economy.  But one would never know that from the media's reporting.

In a online commentary in 2018 by Sam Stoval chief investment strategist for the research firm CFRA, called the GOP recession problem, "a 100 year old curse on GOP Presidents."  But surely it is not a curse, it is a lack of governing with plans and policy.  The GOP govern with an extreme right wing ideology that is anti-democratic in nature, anti-American values and pro wealthy and business orientated.  The result is the real issues are never addressed.  

If the GOP controlled congress passes Trump's big terrible bill now before them, make no mistake, the coming recession will last much longer and be worse.  And when it ends, as it surely will, the future of Trump's second term will be like the failed past of the GOP.  And you will have read it here first in PolitiDose, your daily dose of political commentary.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Israel's Netanyahu Lit The Match For A Future Nuclear War With The Attack On Iran As President Trump Follows.

 The policy of the existing nuclear powers that we can have our nuclear weapons but no one else can have theirs is leading to a future nuclear war that will reach U.S. soil.  Smaller nuclear powers will be increasing their production of nuclear weapons so the big boys cannot threaten them while future leaders of non nuclear states will start nuclear weapons program so the big boys cannot bully them and the race will be on for the spread of nuclear weapons.  And when the nuclear holocaust is unleashed no one will be safe.

Mankind is at a point of no return because of nuclear weapons and their destructive power.  It started long ago when Israel became a nuclear power in the middle east and no one wanted to talk about the imbalance in the middle east.  Then we lived the war in Iraq over WMD that did not exist.  Now we have the Iran attack over nuclear weapons that never existed.  Netanyahu for the past 20 years has said Iran was only a few months away from an atomic weapon and was a nuclear threat.  The media and the negative voices played along like both Iraq and Iran's military was a military threat to the U.S.  Both attacks proved them wrong as Iran and Iraq had no air defense or ground game to give the U.S. military any trouble.  And now just last week some in the media say they wonder why Iran's defense was so weak.  Anyone who follows the news knew Iran and Iraq's strengths lie in their terror attacks and not in any real military confrontation.  

Two major issues that can stabilize the middle east are a nuclear free middle east including Israel and a diplomatic settlement that requires courage from middle east leaders to stand up and forge a fair settlement.  The U.S. Europe, Russia and China could be a great help in lending a hand to co-operation on the issues at hand.  We know an agreement can be reached by serious people because the agreement between Israel and Egypt that President Carter negotiated is still in affect after 40 plus years and is still working.  The so called tough guys on both sides have failed in their approach to bring positive changes to the middle east so it is past time to rewrite the script.  

Make no mistake, a future nuclear war will take place, including on U.S. soil if the path we are now on concerning nuclear weapons do not change.  This is not science fiction, nuclear weapons go beyond the usual weapons of war because of their ability to destroy the human race on earth.  And that really says it all.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio