Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology Chairman Edwin Neill, III

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns expands on an initial joint investigation in which he and KLFY Channel 10 in Lafayette exposed unauthorized “observers” at the W. D. and Mary Smith Career Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana.  The school, a public school within the Lafayette Parish School System, buses in students from area high schools for career instruction.  One such area of instruction is cosmetology classes, for which the lead instructor is Kevin Martin.  According to numerous sources, Martin has routinely permitted unauthorized “observers” to attend and obtain credit toward either a cosmetology teaching certificate (for which sources have indicated W. D. Smith is not authorized to offer) or cosmetology licenses for “holdover students,” which are students having already graduated high school but whom Martin is said to have invited back the next year to earn the final 500 hours needed to take the state licensing test to obtain their cosmetology licenses.  The feature follows:

Investigative report on Kevin Martin, lead instructor at the W. D. and Mary Smith Career Academy’s cosmetology department, permitting unauthorized “observers” (one of whom is nearly 60 years old) to sit in on his classroom instruction and earn credit toward cosmetology teaching licenses or cosmetology licenses.

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U. S. Congressman Ralph Abraham

At the meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) of Monday, February 19, 2018, U. S. Congressman Ralph Abraham, who left little to the imagination entailing him likely challenging Gov. Edwards in 2019, stated point blank, “Louisiana deserves better than Gov. John Bel Edwards,” and expressed frustration at what he cited as Gov. Edwards’ propensity to “say one thing and then do another.”  When pressed for examples by Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns, Abraham didn’t mince his words in citing Edwards’ tax increases.  Video coverage of Abraham’s statements follows:

Abraham on his frustration of Gov. Edwards “saying one thing and doing another.”

Meanwhile, Abraham also expressed his sentiments entailing Gov. Edwards having taken his fight to permit transgendered people to utilize the public restroom of their choice all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court as evidenced in the following video clip:

Abraham comments on Edwards’ Louisiana Supreme Court battle to protect transgender people’s right to use a public bathroom of their choosing.

Abraham’s commentary largely mirrored that of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who is also a potential challenger to Gov. Edwards in 2019, and who also addressed Gov. Edwards’ battle entailing the same legal fight when he appeared before the BRPC on May 23, 2016, for which video coverage follows:

Louisiana Attorney General Landry address Gov. Edwards’ transgender fight on 5/23/16 before the BRPC.

In response to a question by AP reporter Melinda Delatte about “where you would cut if you won’t raise taxes,” Abraham provided highly detailed examples of what he cited as Louisiana Medicaid inefficiency he’s encountered in his own medical practice, and video of that exchange follows:

Abraham on Louisiana Medicaid inefficiency in his own medical practice.

CLICK HERE to see Congressman Abraham’s presentation in its entirety.

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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, mere seconds before he invokes his perceived intellectual superiority over Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell.

In today’s feature, Sound Off Louisiana‘s founder, Robert Burns, compiles an eight-minute segment of video footage wherein Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) touted his perceived moral superiority over his opponent, former U. S. Sen. David Vitter (R-Metairie) to become Louisiana’s Governor.  That footage is followed by recent instances of Gov. Edwards invoking his perceived intellectual superiority over Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature together with a segment of video to demonstrate a couple of members of the Baton Rouge Press Club aiding and abetting him in those efforts.  That video footage follows:

Gov. Edwards invoking his perceived moral superiority followed by acts of invoking his perceived intellectual superiority over various Republicans.

There was a previous Edwards in the Governor’s mansion who took jabs at the intellect of a Republican.  That being Edwin Washington Edwards when he made the famous quip, “Dave Treen is so slow it takes him two hours to watch an episode of 60 minutes.”  The difference between the two?  Edwin Edwards was poking good-natured fun at his Republican opponent in an election, specifically Dave Treen.  He did so in a way everyone could both enjoy and laugh at.  In sharp contrast, current Governor John Bel Edwards, while being flippant in his commentary, is firmly alienating members of the legislature (NOT an opponent in an election) from whom he needs support.  Time will tell if Gov. John Bel Edwards experiences fallout from his recent remarks in the way of a Special Session that ends up as a total exercise in futility.

According to numerous articles, Gov. Edwards and many legislators are already conceding that a renewal of the “temporary” one-cent sales tax (or a significant portion of it) is “unavoidable.”  We at Sound Off Louisiana disagree, and we take issue with Gov. Edwards NOT doing what he SAID he would do!  Once the vote transpires, we will have the No Penny Renewal website updated to facilitate voters removing those legislators who vote to renew the “temporary” sales tax out of office.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.