Jackson Jambalaya

I actually just moved from Jackson to Austin and I cant agree more with this video, there aren’t enough people fed up with downtown Jackson... it’s unfortunate that our politicians in Mississippi are considered upper class versus some of the actual business owners. Lol, good luck Jackson .... but until you stop depending on the feds and state dollars (which is actually the feds lol), you’ll continue to exist in the chaos that you are today. Stop electing your cousins or friends of the fam and start taking care of your city. I’m sorry but it takes work to live like this, put the blunt and needle down and get to it. Call me when y’all are ready for some real capitalism, as I finish my mojito in downtown Austin.

Look at the bright side, a person can skate board on Capital street any time of day. If you try this, carry a weapon. Hide everything you have, and expect your auto to be broken into. There are numerous tire repair shops( don’t expect very good results). Get out of downtown as quickly as you can!

Just 2 blocks away where he stayed does look bombed out. My goodness got to get an alignment just because i had to meet a buddy in belhaven to pick up some roofing materials. My truck literally sounded like it was falling apart. So this dude is spot on.

When you have a Marxist mayor why should anyone be surprised? Yet Columbia University just established a school recognized student Communist Club.

Taking Jackson to the nation.

When are they gonna put in the domed stadium?

It would probably be easier to move the state capitol than it would be to save Jackson!

I believe the legislature just gave JSU $1 million to study the new stadium.

Well, the newly elected mayor of St. Louis, BTW is leading the nation in murders, said she is going to defund the police...so we got that going for us I guess.

Preach!

I wonder what type of business he owns and what he /his company was selling?
This guy hasnt been worn down by the Jackson malaise.

How many Marxist countries don't look like Jackson, Ms. or vice versa? Looking at the history of Marxism, how could you expect anything less? To go a little further, when you put the ingredients together to make a pie and follow the directions to bake those ingredients, are you shocked when it turns out a pie? Well, are you?

This video is by someone under 70, who sings James Taylor songs, and who flashes the Peace sign. (but who is a "Conservative") His regrettable personal packaging choices, his level of physical fitness, his loud, creaky vehicle, and his abrasive and crude accent, tell me other things about him.

Traditionally, whenever some huckster with an agenda, has gone to Mississippi, he's talked about the "wonderful people". That's because he's been trying to sell Mississippians something and/or take something from them. Why else would someone go there? And WHAT ELSE COULD HE SAY, to butter people up for their fleecing?

A rising tide lifts ALL boats. Desha lives in a city founded largely by Swedes (who, while small in number, have been huge catalysts for prosperity), in a region largely populated by all sorts of wealth-creating types, either of Old Texas Stock, or newly-arrived from elsewhere in the Heartland. Whether he's personally capable of getting a clue, is debatable. But he's never HAD TO get a clue, because he lives in the middle of a huge pool of high-grade Human Capital. Others created the wealth and the comfort and the "coolness" of Austin. And all he has to do, is be there in Austin, and soak it all up, like a little parasite.

He seems to be a nebbishy little boat that got lifted despite itself. He has no idea how hard it is, in some places, and how easy it is, in other places - largely because of differences in Human Capital.

And apparently he has no idea that Mississippians DO move to Austin (and Dallas and Houston), and HAVE BEEN doing so, for generations - or that Texas was, to a considerable degree, FOUNDED BY Mississippians. His observations on other subjects are equally uninformed and inane.

It would be wonderful, however, to have video of these "amazing people" he encountered, while loitering in public places, in Downtown Jackson. I'm dying to know what his criteria are, for "Amazing".

@11:30 PM
China is doing better than the USA by every conceivable metric.

What idiot would make a video while driving?

I am not a Mississippian by birth, but I am a long-time resident, and it's safe to say that the people here are their own worse enemies.

There's this constant war of attrition by the residents of this state with the city of Jackson, without considering how they are contributing to the problem.

Here it is, where a tourist comes to OUR biggest city in the state, from Austin, Texas and you have residents of Mississippi go in on the city with him, without really listening to a word he's saying. Cognitive dissonance at its finest.

They simply hear him say he's a "conservative", so therefore they automatically assume he must be exclusively talking about the elected officials in Jackson - but in reality, he was actually talking about all the stakeholders in this damn state, LOL!!!!

I'll keep on saying it - so goes Jackson, so goes Mississippi. Once people figure that shit out, this state may have a chance of turning things around. SMH

I don't believe this gentleman realizes that the political leadership that he is so frustrated with has a plan to FREE THE LAND!

@6:17. Agreed! He is definitely an idiot. He stayed in downtown Jackson is proof positive.

He’s not wrong.

Anyone that has traveled to ANY other city outside of MS knows Jackson is likes something from Black Hawk Down. It’s dangerous and has zero redeeming qualities.

Texas on the other hand continues to do it right.

I wasn’t going to comment on this post. I’ve almost lost all hope for this state, the politics, and the overwhelming corruption at all levels of government. I changed my mind about losing hope. I’m still willing to fight, comment, and look for solutions and I’m happy that KF is willing to expose the truth. Thank you!

It's all gonna be okay just as soon as David Watkins completes that Farish Street project. Surely that's close to finishing up by now, right?

I agree with 6:29 that the whole state should care about Jackson.

Just don't know how the rest of us in Mississippi are supposed to teach Jackson voters to place more emphasis on family, morals and general decency.

Work hard and earn assets and you will generally cherish them.
Spoiled brats who are gifted everything will trash it and demand a replacement.


Simple concept that could benefit many kids, be they in Madison or South Jackson.

The problem with Jackson is that hiring is based upon things other than qualifications. It's based upon race, or who you know, or who you pay.

For Jackson to fix the problems, they need to hire folks who can fix the problems. Then you get out of the way and allow them to fix the problems. It really is that simple.

It will never happen.

He is not wrong. Half of Capitol Street buildings sit empty.

Now trying to compare Jackson and Austin is pointless. But I'm sure when he walked out of his hotel at 6pm looking for some kind of entertainment, he was shocked to see that downtown is a ghost town.

Suburbanites are not going to care about Jackson until Jackson starts to care about Jackson. And with the current leadership that is NEVER going to happen. Most people are looking to leave and don't care one thing about setting foot in Jackson when they don't have to.

So tired of this brand of bashing.

So sad to be 54 and driving to Jackson to try to peddle something.

If you don’t like Jackson for whatever reason get back in your Kia and drive forever back to Austin.

If your business was worth anything you’d fly.

So good riddance to you and have fun in your town where you are probably not real successful or important.

Just don't know how the rest of us in Mississippi are supposed to teach Jackson voters to place more emphasis on family, morals and general decency.

Um, yeah - when you have people like Ted DeBiase, Jr. and Brett Favre helping to rip off the poor people in this state, and live in cushy "nice" neighborhoods" - why don't those immoral colored folks in Jackson follow the family values, morals, and general decency of those people!?

If he’s such a successful salesman or businessman why is he staying at the Garden Inn when there’s a Westin a few blocks away? Why drive to Jackson? take an airplane.

newsflash-i’m wondering if he’s trying to sell us a monorail like north haverbrook?? it put them on the map!

The culture of the "leaders" in Jackson will not allow Jackson to get better, because they see nothing wrong with how it is right now. When your culture doesn't place value on a working infrastructure, an orderly society or hope for the future, then you would have no reason to see the myriad problems as they currently exist.

When you believe that Jackson, and Mississippi, and the United States were all founded and built upon a flawed, evil foundation, by evil, horrible people, then it's easy to see why what currently exists is, itself, flawed and not worth maintaining or improved. Also, when you have little/no personal "skin in the game," then you're MUCH less likely to care about what you have, how things look, etc.

No, we're reaping the the decline of a city that's being run by people whose main goal is to "be in charge," one in which the belief that "it's OURS now," supersedes the actual act of governing and maintaining and growing a capital city. The mayor has as much as admitted that in several of his "speeches."

If you disagree with my opinions on this, can you provide another reason Jackson continues to decline day after day, with no real outrage from the "leaders" or the majority of its residents? You think any of the suburbs would sit idly by as their cities devolved into the utter $&^*hole Jackson has become?

That's right, 8:56, 8:56, and 8:57, it's the MESSENGER that's the problem. It's him and the people like him who are the problem.

If he just spent his money they way YOU think he should spend it, and especially if he had a REAL company, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. Jackson would, otherwise, be in FINE shape!

Based on your comments, I'd bet $1000 none of you (if you're not actually the same person) have ever owned a business.....if you're even working at all.

I bet he would feel better about the future of Jackson had he visited the zoo.

8:20, why should the whole state care about Jackson, when there is more than enough proof they don't care about them self and have absolutely no interest in changing anything.

160,000 people (if truly that many people actually left) in the city and yet only about 20,000 people voted to elect the clowns running Jackson.

This guy is spot on and what ticks off the SJW woke crowd here is that he is smart enough to see it in only a day or two, but they have to keep eating those sh*t sandwiches Chef Chokwe keeps feeding, so they can be "woke"....

So keep cry'n about how the "ole meanies" are bashing(actually telling the truth) Jackson, while you all run home to your gated lock down bastions before dark and the rest of us will keep laughing at you for the price you pay to be "progresive"!!!!

there is absolutely nothing that dude said that is not truth. As far as the bombed out city, I interpreted that as a description to ev3erything being closed. the elected officials in the city SUX, and they are doing nothing, When private enterprise has to fight the city to be able to make anything happen, then fault lies solely at the feet of the city, and the apathy of the voters to continue to be uneducated on the candidates, and allow these ass clowns to be elected.

He's not entirely wrong. Farish Street could be confused as to being part of Downtown. And if he went west of Gallatin I could see people not familiar with Jackson confusing that for downtown as well. But there are buildings well within Downtown that are bombed out. The abandoned church on High St and State St cattycorner from the Capitol stands out. Why is that building a "historic building"?

If only he had swilled Jackson's renowned water, driven its fine motorways, participated in a drive-by or two, raced on Old Canton Road, and spun donuts on I-55, he would be more likely to embrace the magnetism that Jackson holds.

Texas power grid went out for a month and how many people died? Jackson was without water but how can the MIGHTY Texas not have power. Talk about a failure of leadership, epic failure and one for the ages.

Also, having lived in Austin, just go south of the Colorado, just like in Jackson going west of the train tracks. Go to Memphis 20 years ago, downtown cities go through these cycles.

On his drive back to Austin he could stop in Shreveport and see worse than Jackson.

At least in Jackson we don't have to stop development for salamanders and cave mold beetles

Thank you @9:36 for stating the truth.

pull the charter for the city and issue new charters for 2 new cities: One being Kenneth Stokes district and the other being everything else. Watch the New Jackson flourish again and watch Kenneth Stokes fade into oblivion with his constituents. Self government for everyone.

Mississippi's 'Human Capital' fled to Texas, long ago. What's left in Jackson, mostly, is whatever you'd call the OPPOSITE OF HUMAN CAPITAL (Is there such a term? Do we need to coin a new term, to describe the dysfunctionals who drag things down - who gum-up the machinery of society - who represent a net negative - who're the human equivalent of Communist Russia's notorious 'Antiproducts'?).

Maybe Desha should do a whole series of videos - lecturing the people of Pine Bluff, Alexandria, Helena, Memphis, El Dorado, Montgomery, Shreveport, Vicksburg, Bastrop, and, last-but-best, PORT GIBSON, on how they can "Be like Austin!". He can drive around the Deep South's deepest, dankest, most hopeless and ABANDONED places, in his stylish Kia, moobs-a-jigglin', as he wildly gesticulates while telling these places and states that throwing more money at hopeless municipalities will solve their problems. I bet nobody's ever had that idea!!! Throw money at places! That'll fix things!!!

Take a look at his YouTube channel - particularly his "Awesome" playlist. EVERY song is at least a quarter-century old. Most are older. Everything's radio-friendly, and lame, lame, LAME. I'm older than him, and, right this minute, have Polo Amduscia's playlist streaming on Soundcloud. But then, I never did drugs, drank, smoked, or spent much time "hanging-out and partying" (prioritizing gym-time, instead). My Neural Plasticity has not diminished. I don't have to listen to corroded oldies, to find something I like. And Desha, honey, 'Purple Rain' always WAS lame - even when it was new.

@9:37 It would probably be easier to move the state capitol than it would be to save Jackson!

That's silly. Every mule in the country couldn't move the state capitol.

9:36. it's 8:57. I never said he was wrong about Jackson, just that if he was so successful in his own business endeavors he'd be able to afford a better hotel and fly first class.

Speaking of which, I'm booking my first-class tickets to Greece right now that I plan to take with my family during my vacation from my very real and well-paying job.

Jackson’s residents and leadership must first care about Jackson.

I hope 11:18 didn't hurt their arm patting themselves on the back.

12:04. Just 'cause' you got $$ doesn't mean you have to blow it. More-so, in your case, simply to impress others.

Goin' back to Austhin...

Don't cha know everybody rich on the internet. I have been around several, several, people with money. I mean they didn't have to work, and it continued to roll in kind of money. Not only that, but I learned many years ago that people with real money they didn't want anyone to know. Ain't that right, 12:04. Now, me, I ain't got no money.

The left and right will continue blaming each other for Jackson's decline. Which is how civilizational collapses typically happen.

In truth, both sides bear blame. Conservative whites moved out en masse in the 80's and 90's for no reason but racism and herd mentality. This left an electorate that was both bluer and more susceptible to blaming white people, which turned out to be a terrible recipe for economic development.

Add to that the fact that the City of Jackson's incorporated area is basically an urban dot in the middle of endless suburbs. This made it that much harder to sell folks who had crossed the city lines to come into town for food, entertainment, or work.

It also left massive stretches of slowly dying strip malls and subdivisions -- which unlike downtowns, are basically impossible to repopulate or revitalize. It meant endless road and pipe infrastructure that cost too much to maintain, and too much territory for police to cover.

Poor planning, racism, terrible leadership, stupid boondoggles ... you name a negative factor for urban success, and Jackson has had it for the last 40 years.

Do the people who blame white flight for the majority of Jackson's ills also actively want gentrification?

Or do they want an increased tax base with no representation or consideration to the voices and wants of the new residents?

Do the people who blame white flight for the majority of Jackson's ills also actively want gentrification?

Or do they want an increased tax base with no representation or consideration to the voices and wants of the new residents?


First things first, it'll be a miracle if KingFish allows the comment to make it.

But that's actually a good question. Because I think at this point it's all about representative government for blacks and whites in the metro area.

I think whites in the surrounding burbs don't give a damn because there isn't someone white at the helm driving the narrative. While on the flip side, since blacks make up a majority of the population now, they want to run it while still hopefully receiving the same investments they expect the city to receive, regardless of who's in charge.

I'll say this much about the black residents in Jackson, they really could care less about the color of a persons skin when it came to the mayor. If a white person can come in and run a solid campaign, with some great ideas to get this city turned around, proof in the pudding is there the people will give someone new a chance.

Harvey Johnson was voted out
Frank Melton was voted out
Harvey Johnson was voted out
Tony Yarber was voted out
Chokwe can be replaced too

So there's an opportunity there for a white person with some serious credentials, if they wanted, to get in the race and run for mayor

5:39 Seriously? Nope.

This Texas ranter made the 5 o'clock news (CH16).

Kapt APPROVES of the criticism, the City of Jackson stewards, aka Mayor Chockwet administration, are sacks of shit.

:)

Let’s torch down the abandoned decrepit buildings while the water pressure is low- make sure it is burned to ashes. Then, we can just start afresh.

All I can say 5:39 is, that was the most delusional statement I've ever read on this blog......

Jackson Black voters vote for a white candidate, yea soon as a pig flies down Capitol street.

You need another two couch sessions this week

A few more years and the automobile industry will be gone. Those tax cows will no longer be available to Jackson and the administration will have less money. A few more businesses will move out. Some "whiteshoe" lawyers will pass away and they'll be left with hospitals and the Capitol. Then it's nut-cutting time. Bulldoze it or dump the illegals from the border to rebuild. There will be a Tex-Mex Lollapalooza until three of the best are left standing. It will be called Jacksonista. The Capitol will be moved to Madison and what was once Jackson will be "Little San Antonio" with the Pearl River Downtown Shops and Restaurants all managed by people who formerly rode the top of boxcars South of the Border.

Stop being a little bitch and lying to these old white boys that think they are business savvy enough to know anything about municipal politics. Tell them the truth, Jamie.

All I can say 5:39 is, that was the most delusional statement I've ever read on this blog......

Jackson Black voters vote for a white candidate, yea soon as a pig flies down Capitol street.

You need another two couch sessions this week

Hell, they overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden, LMAO!!!!

But yeah, keep believing black Jacksonians will not vote for a white candidate.

If someone like Jeff Good were to run, I think he's a white candidate black residents would take seriously. People know his face, he does business in the city, and he's not a crackpot conservative.

If a guy like Mitch Landrieu can win in New Orleans, the right white candidate could win in Jackson.