Sound Off Louisiana

Evangelist Donnie Swaggart prepares to express joy that incumbent U. S. Senator Bill Cassidy got “thumped big time,” and, without even naming her by name, states that, “since Trump knows her, I’ll vote for her.”  Swaggart made his declaration during morning church services of Sunday, May 17, 2026, the day after Cassidy’s defeat (or “thumping”).  [Note:  Photo published in conformity with Fair Use.]

Our site visitors will recall our March 22, 2026 feature in which we stated that, “arguably” the most Trump-obsessed pastor in America, Evangelist Donnie Swaggart, in a way only he could manage to do, “endorsed” fellow Preacher and State Senator Rick Edmonds for what was then a rapidly-approaching election for the Fifth Congressional District from Louisiana.

As everyone knows, once the U. S. Supreme Court made its ruling declaring that the U. S. Sixth Congressional District, specifically drawn and advanced AND DEFENDED at the Court by Gov. Landry AND AG Liz Murrill to get Cleo Fields back in Congress, was a racially gerrymandered map, Gov. Landry issued an Executive Order cancelling the U. S. Congressional elections in Louisiana.

That action on Landry’s part has absolutely infuriated black voters across Louisiana, to wit:

5/14/26 NOLA article:  New Orleans area residents line up to support recall effort against Gov. Jeff Landry.  From that article:

A line of residents snaked across three rooms Wednesday inside the tight corners of Gwangi & Hollywood Community Center in Algiers.

But the final straw, residents say, was the governor’s decision last week to cancel to postpone the ongoing U.S. House primary election to make way for a new congressional map that might eradicate two majority-Black districts.

Per state law, organizers have 180 days from their filing date to collect signatures from 20% of registered Louisiana voters – some 500,000 people — on a petition asking the state to call a referendum on Landry as governor. If enough people sign, the state would be forced to put the issue on a ballot.

The chances of a recall are slim…….“They’re going to have to raise a lot of money, and they’ll have to run it like a traditional political campaign to even have a shot,” said Robert Collins, a political analyst and Dillard University professor.

Even if they fail, their efforts could drive more turnout in the upcoming U.S. Senate election and other elections. Turnout numbers statewide have persistently been low, he added.

To Collins’ last point, we can’t even begin to count the number of Tik Tok videos we’ve seen stating that voters (black voters in particular) need to view all five of the Constitutional Amendments which were on yesterday’s ballot no differently than if each said, “Keep Jeff Landry as Governor,” and vote on each amendment as if answering that question.

The results are unmistakable:  Amendment One (remove some civil service protections) failed by a margin of 78-22; Amendment Two (permit City of St. George to form its own school system) failed by a margin of 64-36 (with it failing in East Baton Rouge Parish [passage was necessary in addition to statewide passage] by an even larger margin of 69-31); Amendment Three (“permanent” teacher pay raise via debt paydown and interest savings) failed by a margin of 58-42; Amendment Four (repeal of business inventory tax) failed by a margin of 66-34; and Amendment Five (raise mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75) failed by a martin of 77-23.

Hence, there can be no debate whatsoever that dramatic voter turnout by black voters vis-à-vis the 2023 election for Governor (which we assert on this link referenced above was suppressed via a joint agreement between Fields and Landry) was dramatically higher, and we have little doubt whatsoever that the trend will continue through Landry’s re-election efforts should he decide he wishes to pursue such a re-election in the face of such massive distrust and disdain which exists regarding him throughout the State of Louisiana.  It’s a decision only he can make, but as our good friend Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips is fond of saying, “It don’t look good for the home team.”

As far as the “big feature” race on yesterday’s ballot, the Republican Primary of the U. S. Senate race, Congresswoman Julia Letlow led the pack by 45-28-25 over former Congressman, former Trump Assistant Chief of Staff, and current Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, and incumbent U. S. Senator Bill Cassidy, respectively.

At today’s (Sunday, March 17, 2026) service at Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Evangelist Donnie Swaggart provided his take on yesterday’s Senate election in Louisiana:

5/17/26:  Swaggart states he’s “glad” that Cassidy was “thumped big time” and states he’s “not big fans” of either of the runoff opponents (Letlow and Fleming) but that, since “Trump knows her,” he’ll be voting for Letlow.  [Note:  Video published in conformity with Fair Use.]

We’ll find out on June 27, 2026 whether the Republican nominee for U. S. Senate is Letlow or Fleming but, if many other voters share Swaggart’s sentiments, it would appear that, with the main goal accomplished (i.e. ousting Cassidy), there may he a high level of indifference for whomever that nominee may turn out to be.

Former LSP Sgt. Huey Galmiche provides highly detailed account of his arrest on Wal Mart skip scanning allegations and his subsequent treatment at the hands of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and LSP officials.

On October 2, 2024, then-LSP Sergeant Huey Galmiche was arrested amid allegations he had engaged in “skip scanning,” which is essentially failing to scan items in a self-checkout isle and placing them on into bags and exiting the store, which in this case was a Walmart in Covington.

According to WAFB, as the station posted today, LSP Col. Robert Hodges is, according to his “inner circle,” planning to step down in August because he is interested in running for St. Tammany Parish Sheriff or seeking appointment as the next U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which includes the New Orleans area.

Our site visitors may recall us first publishing on December 16, 2025 that Hodges was “in the running” for that U. S. Marshal position; however, based on some of the most absolutely reliable sources which we have within LSP, we also stated in this February 7, 2026 feature that Hodges himself had conveyed on or around December 17, 2025 (the day after us publishing that he was in the running) to his underlings that he was “not” in the running for that Marshal position.  From the just-linked feature as it referenced video discussion between Burns and former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain C. J. Matthews:

As Burns states in the video above, Hodges himself made it known on or around the next day, December 17, 2025, that he was no longer a candidate for that U. S. Marshal position.

Of course, with President Trump (who will ultimately make the appointment), anyone can be “out” of the running at 9:00 a.m. in the morning and then be the “lead contender” for the position by 3 p.m. that same day, so who knows regarding whether Hodges is a viable contender for that Marshal position or not.

Irrespective of whether Hodges ends up stepping down in August as WAFB is reporting, the voters in St. Tammany Parish may wish to take into account what one former LSP Sergeant, Huey Galmiche, had to say regarding the circumstances of his retirement in the aftermath of his arrest for the charges of skip scanning referenced above.  Let’s take a look:

5/13/26:  Galmiche provides extensive details surrounding his October 2, 2024 arrest on charges of skip scanning at a Covington Wal Mart and the subsequent handling of the matter by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s officials and LSP officials.

In connection with the video above, Galmiche provided this official statement regarding the entire episode as well as a copy of this medical diagnosis of the condition he asserts led to the inadvertent failure to scan the items.

Galmiche’s statement is extremely detailed and fairly lengthy, so we took the time to prepare an executive summary of its contents, and here is that executive summary:

Executive Summary: Huey Galmiche’s Public Statement of Facts

Overview Huey Galmiche, a 26-year-5-month veteran Louisiana State Police Sergeant with an exemplary patrol record, issued a detailed public statement documenting his involuntary retirement on October 2, 2024. He asserts the retirement was coerced while in police custody, amid shoplifting accusations he attributes entirely to severe side effects from a statin medication change.

Key Events

• Medication Change (June 27, 2024): His cardiologist switched him from atorvastatin 40 mg to high-intensity rosuvastatin 20 mg to further lower already optimal LDL cholesterol (85 mg/dL).
• Cognitive/Behavioral Decline (July–September 2024): Family observed progressive forgetfulness, confusion, agitation, insomnia (2–3 hours/night), zoning out, misplacing items, hand tremors, and poor judgment. A safety audit score dropped sharply from 91–99% to 72%.
• Arrest & Custody (Sept 30–Oct 2, 2024): Accused of “skip-scanning” ~13 low-value items ($171.30 total) at Walmart over six dates while on duty. During interrogation at the Sheriff’s Office, he was Mirandized, shown evidence, and explained his cognitive issues.
• Coerced Retirement: Moved to an unrecorded interview room, handcuffed to a desk, and pressured by Louisiana State Police personnel. They used his son (then a cadet graduating days later) as leverage, warning of felony charges (initially six counts each of malfeasance and shoplifting) and departmental ruin. He signed immediate retirement documents in under one minute without reading glasses, explanation, or counsel. A second letter was signed in a jail cell.

Medical Diagnosis Neurological evaluation (October 9, 2024, and January 6, 2025) diagnosed statin-induced encephalopathy / toxic metabolic encephalopathy. Symptoms resolved after discontinuing rosuvastatin. A subsequent cardiologist confirmed no medical need for the dosage change or switch. Galmiche also noted pre-existing high-frequency hearing loss, impairing self-checkout beeps.

Procedural & Financial Issues

• Retirement documents were pre-prepared and improperly obtained; policies require member-initiated requests and formal meetings with Retirement System executives.
• Loss of DROP option and ~$9,000/year in annual retirement benefits.
• Administrative leave notice delivered 16 days late.
• No copies of signed documents initially provided; tax forms contained errors (e.g., filed as single with no dependents).

Resolution Galmiche accepted a pre-trial diversion agreement with no bill of information filed, maintaining full innocence: the incidents were unintentional due to medication-induced impairment. He emphasizes he is “not a thief,” spent nearly $12,000 legitimately at the same store in the prior year, and seeks to prevent similar experiences for others.

The statement, compiled contemporaneously, highlights alleged due-process violations, exploitation of his medical condition, and pressure tactics by law enforcement and retirement system representatives.

So, this episode just may give St. Tammany Parish voters pause if in fact Hodges does opt to pursue becoming the next Sheriff of St. Tammany Parish.  As for his suitability for being the next U. S. Marshal, that would be up to President Donald Trump, but it’s very fortunate for Hodges that such an appointment does not hinge upon a favorable recommendation from us at Sound Off Louisiana!

Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) Member Jean Pitre expresses concern that up to 92 percent of for-profit cosmetology schools may have to close their doors as a result of proposed new “gainful employment” provisions.  Pitre expressed his concerns at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting.

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature will be the first in a series dedicated to items discussed at the meeting of the LSBC of Monday, May 4, 2026.

First, on a housekeeping note, both braiding bills are dead for this Legislative Session with neither bill having obtained even a hearing before the House Commerce Committee.  On a positive note, however, a bill to permit estheticians to blow dry hair (we’re not kidding) appears to be sailing toward approval having originated in the Senate with essentially no opposition and having cleared the Louisiana House Commerce Committee meeting this morning (Monday, May 11, 2026) also with no opposition.

While the bill had no opposition from lawmakers, there were the usual doomsdayers who testified against the bill, to include Lynn Johnson repeating her claim that “strokes” could result from the bill’s passage.  Interestingly, even for a measure so simple as this, lobbyist Ryan Haynie’s name was read into the record as being in opposition to the bill.  Fortunately, it appears Louisiana State Legislators are finally starting to see that the LSBC is dead set on blocking even the most basic of services in Louisiana.  We take that as a very good sign which is long overdue!

Our main focus today, however, is the near panic among for-profit cosmetology schools over the U.S. Department of Education’s “gainful employment” (GE) provision.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, enacted 2025) introduced broader earnings accountability measures effective around July 2026.  The Department’s April 2026 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks to harmonize and extend an earnings-focused test to these programs via amendments to the GE framework. Public comments on this proposal will close on May 20, 2026.

LSBC Member Jean Pitre, who has traveled to Washington, DC to become educated on the full impact of the provisions, gave a 13-1/2 minute presentation at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting, at which he stressed that up to 92 percent of for-profit cosmetology schools may have to close their doors due to failure to meet “gainful employment” provisions:

Pitre voices his concerns at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting.

These are our thoughts on the matter:

Amazingly, Pitre actually says, “This is all Federal funds.  It’s their money.  They have a right to do what they want with it.”  That’s the whole problem with entities who syphon taxpayer resources.  They act like the Federal Government is some mythical agency out there.  Federal funds are our funds!  Furthermore, with the nation running a $2 trillion a year deficit and being at war, it’s our firm opinion that programs like these need to be abolished in favor of more efficient means of delivery of instruction!

In fact, let us provide an outstanding feature focusing on high school vocational programs, emphasizing benefits such as hands-on training, faster career entry, lower costs, and practical skill development compared to these massively-expensive for-profit cosmetology schools for which tuition often approximates $15,000 to $20,000.

Here is a perfect example of courter arguments to Pitre’s self-serving boohoo cries in the video above:

• • Cosmetology Students Deserve Better Than Debt and Broken Promises (New America): Advocates for alternative low- or no-cost pathways, including high school career and technical education (CTE) programs and registered apprenticeships, to improve outcomes and reduce reliance on high-cost programs. It explicitly promotes these models as preferable for training: https://www.newamerica.org/insights/cosmetology-students-deserve-better-than-debt-and-broken-promises/

From the above feature:

As soon as the rule was released, the cosmetology education industry pushed back, urging beauty and barbering schools to call for a weaker rule and to gut the accountability provisions entirely so that outcomes data is used for informational purposes only. This isn’t new for this sector. As our research has shown, the cosmetology education industry is backed by a powerful lobby that tries to preserve its access to federal aid despite a poor track record of being good stewards of that investment. The industry has sued the Education Department repeatedly over any accountability rules, it has blamed the demographics of their students as a driving reason for their poor outcomes, and has lobbied to keep licensure hours high, while fighting to keep low-cost providers and pathways at community colleges or through registered apprenticeships out of cosmetology education altogether.

It should not be a surprise that industry advocates are advancing claims about this new accountability rule that don’t hold up. Just over 9 in 10 cosmetology and barbering programs would fail the new earnings premium metric, according to the American Association of Cosmetology Schools’s analysis of Education Department data. This will likely cause programmatic and institutional closures for those reliant on federal student loans to operate. But these rules are designed to ensure that students enrolling in programs that result in low earnings are not taking on taxpayer-funded loans they may be unlikely to repay.

Since Pitre encourages those with an obvious vested interest who syphon off the Federal taxes we pay for these “broken promises” as outlined in the article above before the May 20, 2026 deadline, we want to encourage regular, everyday taxpayers to do the same!  Anyone is welcome to make such public comment as follows:

Simply by clicking on this link.

We have already supplied our public comment, and we certainly want to strongly encourage everyday citizens fed up with the waste of taxpayer dollars (which Pitre calls “their money”) when far more efficient and cost effective avenues are available at existing Louisiana high school programs which, in our opinion, need to be significantly expanded to replace these high-cost leaches of taxpayer dollars!

It’s time to stop the madness of flushing ungodly amounts of our tax dollars down the toilet on for-profit cosmetology schools which, in reality, help facilitate predatory lending and don’t even care that they’re doing so because they actually could care less if the student ultimately repays the debt or not, but we certainly should!