Jackson Jambalaya

Sort of taking the day off today but here is a post related to the feminist post Sunday. A radfem blogger argues all sex with a male is rape. She complains in this post about not having any friends. The irony is simply too rich.

Here are a couple of videos from April.  The first one is Senator David Jordan (D-Hollywood) showing his real personality at a school board meeting in the Delta. David Jordan in "Do you know who I am video. Then there was the Hemp Lady.  She ran as a candidate for Mayor in Jackson. Her solution for everything was hemp.  See for yourself.  Hemp 1, Hemp II. 

This is probably my favorite blast from the past of 2013 JJ archives.  JJ submitted a public records request to Hinds County for a copy of the settlement agreement between Motorola and the county.    Original post. An important principle of law was at stake: can a government body seal a settlement agreement even though it represents the taxpayers.  This site took the position public records laws are a fundamental part of elected government and thus are necessary to hold elected leaders accountable to the people.  Hinds County disagreed so we went to court.  It took 2 1/2 years but the settlement was obtained. Judge orders disclosure of settlement.  It turns out the county attorney made $1 million on the case out of a $2.5 million settlement.  His response was to call me a klukker on his radio show.  Typical for him but that is besides the point.  Copy of agreement The taxpayers of Hinds County won in the end.

Looks like the new regimes have some learnin' to do about public records laws.

Here is a case study in how not to make an arrest. Exhibit A: The Madison Police Department as they arrested one Sarah Lofton of Madison County and charged her with a DUI (refusal) and leaving the scene of the accident, only to have a Madison County Court judge throw out the case.

The Eric Law story was rather disgusting as it involved the statutory rape of a 15 year old girl by a local tv weatherman.  JJ broke the story about the "law and order" room at Eric Law's home as it obtained a copy of the police report.  This post received the second highest number of hits in 2013.  Original post.  Mr. Law is now serving eight years in the state pen.  The case spawned some jackassery that was covered by the post Eric Law pick-up lines. 

A good Samaritan rescued this dog and sent this message to a friend:

This March post delved into the issue of "black flight" from Jackson.  JJ reviewed the change in black enrollment in schools that are adjacent to Jackson.  Needless to say, blacks are fleeing Jackson in greater numbers and are doing it more quickly as this post reported.  Original post.  Needless to say, this is an issue that is not covered in the local media much less the local political races. 

Just a post on a radfem blog. Warning: Not safe for work or kids. Adult subject matter.

Looks like the Marine Corps is relaxing the standards for female soldiers. NPR reported:

Welcome to the year in review post.  JJ is going to post some favorites from 2013 over the next few days.  Here is one for the books and it involves our favorite subject: the Hinds County Board of Supervisors.  The Supes attempted to hire a lobbyist in January.  They didn't know this clown was a disbarred attorney nor was it illegal to hire him on contingency.  Watch for yourself.  You can't make this up.  The board did hire him but later rescinded the vote when it all hit the fan, thanks to this website.  Enjoy.

WDAM reported last week:

Just one question about this ad I found on a local bulletin board:

Someone did some oppo-research on Butler Snow and fed it to Cottonmouth.  The Democrat website published a little article this week on Butler Snow and its Republican connections.

Peggy Noonan penned probably the best critique of the Obama administration on her Wall Street Journal blog earlier this month.  There is much in her column for Republicans and Democrats to appreciate.  People expect their leaders to make the trains run on time regardless of party.   The post is a longer read than usual but worth it. 

Merry Christmas to you.  This video says it all. 

Nothing like a little holiday cheer.  Not safe for work or people who hate Duck Dynasty & Phil Robertson. 

Here are the C's awarded to restaurants in the Jackson metro area for the month of  December by the Department of Health. Needless to say, a grade of C is the lowest grade given by the state.

Entertaining story about the attempted overthrow the government of Dominica by some druggies and klukkers back in the 1980's.  It is apparently available on Google online for free.  Check out the book here. 

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett told the U.S. Attorney to give up Department of Marine Resources public records sought by the Sun-Herald Friday.

Kim Strassel gave some great advice to the GOP concerning Obamacare in a November Wall Street Journal column:

A conservative group released a poll this week that showed incumbent Senator Thad Cochran with a rather nice lead over State Senator Chris McDaniel.  Senator Cochran led the State Senator 54-37. The sample size was 710 voters and the margin of error was +/- 3.68%.  The crosstabs are posted below. However, a Human Events/Gravis poll showed them in a dead heat.

Plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the Lost Rabbit Development and Madison County tried to seal a Madison County study of the project last week after Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler filed a public records request for the study.   

The Jackson City Council voted this week to ask the legislature to allow cities to elect school board members instead of the current method where board members are appointed. The city council passed a legislative agenda that stated:

Rachel Beech has been doing some knock-out reporting at WDAM on the latest scandal plaguing the Johnny Dupree administration in Hattiesburg: the misuse of government fuel cards. Seems these were treated as gift cards for the favored as her reporting reveals:

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Schuler Smith issued the following press release:

JJ confirmed Rankin-Madison District Attorney Michael Guest will present the findings of the Abigail Bonner investigation to a grand jury next month.  The D.A. met with Madison police yesterday for several hours.  The Clarion Ledger reported today:

Dr. Smith is officially nuts. A court ruled he was unfit to stand trial after spending some time at the state funny farm. The Greenwood Commonwealth reported:

Bigger Pie Forum Kelly Williams says Kemper is much like Obamacare in this latest column:

Thank goodness. Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson said no phone calls on the planes in this memo:

JSU fired head football coach Rick Comegy and his staff. Ouch. JSU went to five SWAC champeenship games under his tenure. JSU issued the following press release:

Jackson City Councilman Tony Yarber appeared on the show.  Had a lively discussion about Jackson, finances, and Christmas. 

JJ published a story this week about the Clinton homewatch program. Go out of town for Christmas. Notify the police. Police watch your home for you.  Some readers pointed out Madison offers a similar service.  The city provided this statement on the program.  IF there are other cities offering this service in the Jackson metro area, please let us know in the comments section. Thanks.

Representative Cecil Brown (D-Geritol) submitted this column yesterday:

Andrew Biggs published a very good essay in the Wall Street Journal Monday on the problems facing public pensions.  PERS discussions go over your head? Mr. Biggs argues public employee retirement systems such as PERS will face more problems as they are forced to make riskier bets in the stock market and gobble up more taxpayer dollars:

He was 86 years young and will be missed by many. Here is his obit:

I haven't kept up with the Common Core debate. Too much on my plate to take on another serious topic right now. However, the Governor's Executive Order yesterday got my attention to I thought I would read through it and make some remarks.

Saturday Night Live nails it again.

Governor Phil Bryant issued this press release and executive order concerning the Common Core curriculum today:

The city of Clinton issued this press release:

Terry High School coach Damien Anderson was charged with one count of exploitation of a child and two counts of sexual battery of a child on December 5 in Hinds County.  He was released on a $10,000 bond.  Mr. Anderson is 25 years-old.  He is a defensive coordinator for the football team. 

Our system of checks and balances was amended last week. Longstanding U.S. Senate rules were changed by the Democratic majority, on a straight party line vote. In a naked power grab, Senate Democrats have done away with the filibuster, though for the moment only for judicial and executive nominees. The change lowers the threshold for approving judges and senior Administration officials to a simple majority vote. Democrats exercised the so-called “nuclear option” they railed against when Republicans floated the idea.

You may have read about the Southern Pines Electric Co. lineman who was seriously injured on the job last week (electrocution).  He is in the burn unit in a Memphis hospital.  His name is Jeremy White.

You just can't make this up.  You just can't. KGW in Portland reports:

The Detroit Free Press published a good story in September, How Detroit Went Broke: The answers may surprise you.  This story might be relevant, as Chokwe is importing Detroit talent into Jackson government. Enjoy.

Tomorrows' meeting of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors should be interesting.  Agenda. Items of interest are:

The Wingfield Fight Club drew quite a bit of interest last week.  It's no coincidence a similar story appeared on one local tv station a few days later.  Some readers accused this site of picking on Wingfield. Well, we take all such charges seriously so JJ decided to scan YouTube for other local high schools to see if there were more fight videos.* See for yourself.

Here is one fight from Madison Central floating around on YouTube.  It was posted two months ago and was the only one that popped up under "Madison Central Fights" search results. It is probably NOT our Madison Central but it's still entertaining. 

The President and his followers like to use the common refrain "Where is the Republican health care plan" whenever Obamacare is criticized. I wrote a few days ago on this website I was going to start posting conservative health care plans offered up over the last few years.  Here is the first one.  We are going to start with the plan proffered by Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign. 

We dissected PERS a few weeks ago. Now it's time to look at SLRP.* You might remember SLRP- the Supplemental Legislative Retirement Program. Time and a half retirement pay for part-time employees, oops, I meant legislators.  It's true the part-time JPS bus drivers want a fat pay raise, but at least they work for their pay, unlike these pigs, oops again, I meant public servants, who feed at the public trough.  Cops, teachers, firemen, nurses, even lowly staff attorneys, all state employees, don't get this perk. 150% retirement pay.  Keep in mind legislators receive retirement benefits from SLRP and PERS.   Sweet deal if you can get it.

Tom Burnham and Ken Thompson inflated ratings, said School Board member Bill Jones

New Orleans schools were in such bad shape an auditor recommended blowing up the books and starting over from scratch prior to Hurricane Katrina as the records were almost non-existent. Apparently the Leflore County schools system is such a condition. The Greenwood Commonwealth reported:

Election Commissioner Connie Cochran briefed the Hinds County Board of Supervisors on the implementation of voter ID last week.  However, Stokes being Stokes, he launched into several diatribes on the matter that were rather interesting. See for yourself.

A Madison County grand jury indicted Cobby Williams for engaging in voter fraud. THe indictment states Mr. Williams illegally obtained the "registration of Pamela Rochelle Walker" as a voter even though she was not a registered voter due to a forgery conviction in 2011.

Check out this new Glock ad.

 A Madison County grand jury indicted Kimberly "Baboon's ass"  Readus for voter intimidation, destroying an absentee ballot, and attempting to remove an unsealed ballot box.  Ms. Readus waived arraignment and posted a $20,000 bond.  She is represented by Ed Blackmon.

From a reader who found a bloodhound on Ridgewood Road today:

Pete Perry appeared and all we discussed was the Thad-Chris Thunderdome. Phones lit up and we probably could've done a second hour.

Why worry about deductibles, premiums or subsidies when Obamacare can help you get laid? (Yes, I wrote that.) Here are some really cool ads for Obamacare that were promoted by the Colorado exchange:

The Lady or The Tiger, which door to open? Or in this case, higher premiums or higher deductibles are a similar choice Americans face under Obamacare.  Leslie Scism and Timothy W. Martin report in the Wall Street Journal:

Too bad this type of debate can't take place here. Enjoy.

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors reassigned three maintenance works to permanent duty at the Raymond detention center until further notice last week at its regular meeting. Supervisor Tony Greer moved to to transfer the workers but not without strong resistance from Supervisors Kenneth Stokes and Maintenance Director Michael Harrington.

The Department of Public Safety awarded a million-dollar media contract to Frontier Strategies in August. The contract is part of DPS's fight to stop drunk driving during the holidays. The campaign is paid for with only federal funds. No bids were solicited for the contract. Frontier agreed not to participate in the next bidding process for DPS contracts.

Jackson Municipal Court Judge June Hardwick sent an email to the Magnolia Bar stating her concerns about the bus drivers strike:

Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes decided to bring the library scrum before the Board of Supervisors last week. The Hinds County Library System hired a new Executive Director this year but the hire drew no small amount of flack as an employee complained she was not given the chance to apply for the job. She vigorously presented her case to the board last week as you will see in the video below. Haven't kept up with this dispute so I don't know much about it. However, another employee (who was white) repeatedly accused the library system of bringing back Jim Crow segregation(15:10).

The battle between the Sun-Herald and State Auditor Stacey Pickering over DMR records raged in Harrison County Chancellor Jennifer Schloegel's courtroom as the newspaper sought to hold Mr. Pickering in contempt of court. The Sun-Herald reported:

Yes, you can keep your doctor. but.......remember when we argued over what is "is"?  Get ready for more of the same:

We don't need the Megabus.  Don't need Southwest to stay.  JJ found the perfect solution to this problem:

Here are the last crime stats for Jackson, Byram, Madison, Clinton, and Rankin County. Jackson does not post them anymore on the city website.

Here are some videos of fights at Wingfield High School available online. They all say Wingfield Fights although it is not confirmed these fights all took place at or around the school.  These videos were posted in 2012 and 2013.

City of Byram just issued a press release:

A little bird just told me Senator Thad Cochran notified his staff he is indeed running for re-election.  A very reliable little bird.  Time for some Senate Thunderdome.

The Wall Street Journal reported the new "aggregation rules" under Obamacare are not exactly welcomed by small business. Simply put, the government counts all businesses owned by an individual as one business when counting towards the 50-employee threshold. Ownership means partial or full, the size of the ownership apparently does not matter.  The Journal stated:

Southwest Airlines announced yesterday it is pulling out of the Jackson market:

Former Congressman Chip Pickering will become the CEO at COMPTEL the trade association for the telecommunications industry. COMPTEL announced on its website:

Bad Boy Senator John Hohrn was apparently a very bad boy when he was arrested for a DUI several weeks ago according to a copy of the police report of his arrest on November 14.* Mr. Horhn's bad boy self was on full display that night as he pulled the "do you know who I am card", threatened the police officers, repeatedly told them he led a crime fighting summit that night, and made sure they knew he knew the chief.

Attorney General Jim Hood said the "open-carry" of firearms can be restricted on public property in an opinion issued to the city of Corinth. However, the Attorney General also enhanced permit holders could still carry firearms on public property as "a municipality has limited authority to prohibit" them from doing so.

Rankin-Madison District Attorney Michael Guest issued the following press release:

Cory Wilson decides not to run in the June special election for  Madison County Chancery Clerk.  He sent the following statement to Jackson Jambalaya:

TWO NORTHSIDERS are part of a group that won a $388,000 award in an arbitration against the local Morgan Stanley office, and five more arbitrations are coming down the pipeline.

Kemper: A political decision in 2006, an imprudent 2010 PSC decision based on guesses by Southern/MPC, extremely slow acknowledgement of actual plant costs, an extremely imprudent 2012 new PSC certification of Kemper followed by rapid, massive adjustments to plant costs once major legislative and regulatory approvals were in hand...

The city of Jackson denied a public records request for a copy of the police incident report for Senator John Horhn's recent DUI arrest submitted by this website.  City Attorney Latrice Westbrook stated in an email denying the request:

Little Johnny wants an Ipad for Christmas? Getting him one may not be the best idea as research in the UK shows some unwanted consequences when too much technology is introduced into a child's life.  The Daily Mail reported:

Just another water line break in Eastover....

Here are the C's for restaurants in the Jackson area since October 1 as issued by the Mississippi Department of Health*.  The state issues grades of A,B, or C.

JJ just received word that former Governor Bill Allain just passed away.

Updates: Here are press releases on the Governor's passing:

 The old saying "follow the money" definitely holds true when discussing the education lobby in Mississippi, as it becomes apparent there is quite a bit of money at stake for these organizations.  Wonder why they fight reform efforts so hard?  Look at how much money is at stake in the diagram I created and posted below.  The diagram will show the relationships and money flowing between these groups.   

Yes, the Gators did it again yesterday.  I'm not making this up.

The Sun-Herald asked a Gulf Coast Chancellor to hold State Auditor Stacey Pickering in contempt of court:

Ethanol policy is a perfect example of how dysfunctional Washington is.  The ethanol mandate takes 40% of the corn harvest out of food production.  Food prices thus rise.  Ethanol costs more money.  It uses more energy.  It ruins small engines.  It produces lower gas mileage.  However,  little is done to change ethanol policy as a confluence of Iowan presidential politics, Big Ag, and other forces work together to keep this insanity in place.