Jackson Jambalaya

 Check out Item #43 on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting of the Jackson City Council. 

"Killing is your ultimate power, dying is my ultimate power. My sermons are all over the land. If you kill me, my sermons will be sprinkled with my blood," said Pastor Josef Tson to his Romanian torturers before he was exiled in 1981.  The late Dr. Frank Pollard recounted how this particular sheep survived among Ceaușescu's wolves solely through faith as he wove Tson's story into the 1996 sermon about the Ten Commandments posted below.  Enjoy. 

Hostile nations make war on the U.S. every day, attacking critical military and civilian infrastructure. If they were using traditional weapons, we know that our military preparedness would yield a quick and deadly response. Sustained attacks in this new digital world, however, don’t get that intensity of response. Our preparedness continues to be lacking.

 The Justice Department issued the following statement Thursday. 

 Jon Stewart had a few things to say about the Presidential debate on the Daily Show. 

The usual suspects have been moaning and bemoaning Louisiana legislation that requires a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments with “large, easily readable font” to be displayed in every classroom at any school receiving state funding from kindergarten through university-level. Before Governor Landry signed the bill he reportedly said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original law giver, which was Moses. He got his commandments from God.”

 The Clown returns for an encore performance.   

Mississippi is almost surrounded by states that have school choice. Why don’t we?

 Pearl Mayor Jake Windham issued the following statement. 

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba whipped out the race card and accused the state of trying to make Jackson "less black" in a conversation secretly recorded by former Deputy Public Works Director Mary Carter.  The recording was revealed in Ms. Carter's federal civil trial this week. 

 We could eat fancy smanchy, but this is better.

 Madison-Rankin District Attorney Bubba Bramlett issued the following statement.

 The Mississippi Public Service Commission issued the following statement. 

 An obviously mentally-disturbed naked woman busted out the windows of Liberal Trinity Church of God recently.  A Facebook videographer captured the act of destruction on video.  

 The Mississippi Department of Public Safety issued the following statement yesterday. 

Update: City wins. 

Former Jackson Deputy Public Work Director Mary Carter will learn her fate in federal court today.  Ms. Carter sued the city of Jackson for wrongful termination after she was fired in 2022.  She claimed she was fired for talking to the media about the Public Works Department.  WLBT reported last night:  

 The Justice Department issued the following statement. 

A Pearl man accused Pearl Police of police brutality after a Pearl police officer tased him in his home during a neighborhood disturbance on Father's Day. However, Pearl police said body cam videos tell the real story of what took place.  Leon Seals (not the Constable) posted these two videos on Facebook: 

The third season of the Hulu original program, “The Bear” will air this week. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it’s an intense, frenetic, high-paced show about disfunction, passion, commitment, growth, failure, and success. Or more succinctly, it’s about the restaurant business.

After suffering a blistering attack on her credibility Monday, former Jackson Deputy Public Works Director Mary Carter fired back at her former superiors yesterday in federal court.  WLBT's Anthony Warren reported: 

Perhaps better than anyone before him, the late U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis understood what Mississippi’s military infrastructure meant to the state in terms of jobs, influence and improving the daily lives of the people of the state.

 A car caught fire at the Meadowbrook exit during afternoon rush hour.    

Pike County Circuit Judge David Strong ordered forestry consultant Jeff Taylor to pay Ridgway Management $306,747 by July 9 yesterday.  Ridgway accused Taylor of pocketing the money it was owed under a timber harvesting contract.  

 Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement. 

 Things didn't go so well for former Jackson Deputy Public Works Director Mary Carter in federal court yesterday when her former boss said she was lazy and refused to do her job.  WLBT's Anthony Warren reported: 

Jordan Cummins will spend the rest of his life in prison after Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson pronounced sentence upon him today.   A jury convicted Cummins of two counts of first-degree murder last week.  The sentencing video is posted below.

 It appears we might have a dark Christmas this year.  Check out what is coming to the theatre Christmas Day. 

 Some rather bold thieves hit the Tyson chicken plant recently.  

 Two gentlemen engaged in a friendly debate on Flag Chapel Road last week.   Got to love Jackson.  

 Fed up with out of control brats in public, Bill Maher said it's time to bring back "trad dads" who don't "kowtow to brats."  Enjoy the monologue. 

"I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear, Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear," said the late Dr. Frank Pollard as he recited a poem* in the 1996 sermon posted below.  Leading by example instead of by word is so easy yet so hard.  Enjoy the preaching.  

Have you been calumniated lately? For those of us who dare venture into the public domain as commentators, such has become par for the course. But perhaps nothing dissuades good men and women from becoming candidates for public office more than the risk, no likelihood, of calumny.

 Check out the Cock of the Walk parking lot at 7 last night.

The State Medical Examiner's Office determined Dau Mabil did not die of foul play.  However, Mabil's brother attacked the autopsy, alleging Dau's in-laws killed him.  The autopsy report is posted below.

Many Americans have been anxious about millions of immigrants coming into America from nearly every nation on earth during Biden’s administration. Last week eight people from Tajikistan were arrested in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles on immigration violations. Authorities are still investigating whether any of them have links with the Islamic State (IS). How many terrorists have crossed the border in the past four years? Where are they? Have they formed terrorist cells?

Red Mountain Entertainment issued the following press release. 

Was Jackson short-changed more than $500,000 on the Smith-Wills Stadium lease?  Tim Bennett's Kusche Sports Group is supposed to pay the city at least $125,000 per year but since this is Jackson, he has only paid $32,500, a mere drop in the rent bucket.  

 State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement. 

Do you remember having spinach on your elementary school cafeteria lunch plate? Well, this ain't some kin'da school lunch spinach!

Some people  just can't handle losing.

 Many of us enjoyed dining at Cock of the Walk at the Ross Barnett Reservoir over the years but unfortunately the establishment fell on hard times recently.  Now, we can all avoid the restaurant when it reopens or gripe online but we should instead do something constructive.  Yup, we need to get together to help out Cock of the Walk and we are going to do it in a fun way.  Here is what we are going to do.

Mississippi’s Department of Education was quick to trumpet signs of an improvement in education standards. According to a gushing press release they put out, Mississippi has risen up the national education rankings from 48th to 30th over the past decade

Perhaps the Mississippi High School Activities Association should pay attention to how they do things in Texas.   Exhibit 1: Texas high school sophomore Beth Leachman.   KSAT reported: 

 Cock of the Walk at the Reservoir is temporarily closed after it flunked a Health Department inspection.  

Jackson's biggest eyesore may soon come down.  Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey Reynolds ordered the city to demolish the Hotel O on I-55N Frontage Road on June 13. 

By the time this column is published Father’s Day will be several days in the rearview mirror. That may be the case when it comes to the calendar, but I’m still basking in the afterglow of that fine day.

In the rural South, we are conditioned to a self-image of small communities like fictional Mayberry where crime and violence are almost non-existent and the real dangers from gun violence lurk on the streets and back alleys of Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

 Mississippi Department of Agriculture & Commerce Commissioner Andrew Gipson issued the following statement. 

The only constant in life is change, even at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.  Troopers groused last year when DPS Commissioner Sean Tindall opened up MBI Investigator positions to non-troopers a year ago as the troopers thought those were "their" positions as the entitlement mentality permeates their ranks. Fortunately, the Commissioner hired quite a seasoned crew as he deemed experience was more important than trooper school.  The horror. 

 This little incident supposedly took place around the Battlefield Park area a year ago.  Packin' does not mean protected as this guy found out.