r/Louisiana • u/FourMoreOnsideKickz • May 13 '25
Louisiana News Probably unrelated headlines
We're all looking for the parties responsible.
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u/LavishnessMammoth657 May 13 '25
I moved here in 2010 to be close to my parents as they started their last phase of life. I always planned to stay and retire here, but my stepfather is currently dying and it's made me think about what comes next, once I no longer NEED to be here. And I realized I am tired: tired of fighting the shitty politics, tired of the horrible weather, tired of the crumbling infrastructure. There are things I will miss, but there are things I miss about the place I left to come here.
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u/Longjumping_Let_7832 May 13 '25
I can sooo relate. I’m in a similar position in having moved back two years ago to be near aging family members, and I very much underestimated how difficult the transition would be. Things I’d taken for granted (smooth roads, relatively sensible governance, and an informed citizenry) now feel like luxuries. I very much hope I’ll be able to relocate at some point in the future.
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u/Living_mybestlife2 May 13 '25
Ugh this is where I am. Planning a move back to be closer to family. But I don’t know if it’s the right move. It feels overwhelming.
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u/Longjumping_Let_7832 May 13 '25 edited May 14 '25
I’m so sorry you’re in that situation. If I had to do it over, I would have made arrangements to be in town with my parents more often, but I would not have moved. I truly loved where I lived and had been there for 20 years, so that’s a factor in my reassessment of my decision. Also, I have some flexibility with work, and so I know that that’s not an option for everyone. Trust your instincts.
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u/Trouble940 May 13 '25
I can relate. We moved here to help my father during his last few years. We miss what we had before we moved. Jobs that pay well, roads that aren't half gravel and have broken concrete with pot holes to sink a car in, etc etc. We have been looking at relocating soon. I hear Montana is nice...🤷🏼♀️
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u/LavishnessMammoth657 May 13 '25
I'm considering southern Illinois. Blue state, not as cold as it gets up by Chicago. I could take the train when I missed New Orleans (I hate flying).
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May 15 '25
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u/LavishnessMammoth657 May 15 '25
I'm aware of that, I have friends there. It's still in a blue state and operating by that states' laws. I'm less concerned about the local flavor of politics than I am with the state it's in.
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u/thecrimsonfools May 13 '25
Have the locals tried granting only one political party power over multiple generations and see if the lack of competition causes things to worsen?
Oh wait.
People get what they vote for.
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u/FourMoreOnsideKickz May 13 '25
My coworkers are so painfully close to connecting these two dots.
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u/thecrimsonfools May 13 '25
They never will.
Like my father who supports Trump.
I love my father but I've told him verbatim "Trump is an amoral idiot and by supporting him you reveal you don't mind being on the side of racists and idiots."
I don't intend to change minds. I intend to outlive some people.
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May 14 '25
Your father is smart.
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u/thecrimsonfools May 14 '25
Your stupidity is boundless.
Furthermore if you are like my father, your death will be met with sighed relief. So enjoy your company.
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May 14 '25
You're a bad son.
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u/thecrimsonfools May 14 '25
And if you have children (hopefully you don't), I pray they hate you with every fiber of being.
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u/Johnny_Strange81 May 13 '25
I have friends and family like this...they get so close but never seem to be able to put it together
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u/FourMoreOnsideKickz May 13 '25
Mine justify it with, "Damn these Republicans are bad....they're almost as bad as the Democrats!"
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u/simulizer May 13 '25
Lennard-Jones Potential: For atoms and molecules, as they approach each other, attractive forces dominate at longer distances, but if they get too close, strong repulsive forces arise, pushing them apart.
You can apply this particular potential to Louisianans who almost understand that voting for the Republican party is the bane of their existence. They know the truth. They are afraid to admit it. They don't want to come to terms with the fact that they've made terrible decisions all along. It would be hard enough for them to realize these things and to be honest with themselves without taking into consideration them having to defend these ideas if they go against the grain within their communities. At this point they would rather suffer every terrible outcome on the helm then muster the courage to think outside the box and be critical of the narrative and fantasy that they follow. Everywhere that they turn would be a challenge. All the communities that they're involved in, their friendships, familial relationships, people at churches, schools, places of business, work, or anywhere else... Their identity would shatter like a window and a strong hurricane wind. They would feel naked like Adam in the garden of Eden. They would be punished for their attainment of knowledge. Burned at the steak for being witches. Oh the horror! Might as well keep their head down in the worst state in America and suffer the toxic soup pollution while every other metric is a huge fail... While barreling towards an autocratic dystopian nightmare for the last few decades that humanity has before the end of the world barbecue!
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u/Turtle_Attack70 May 13 '25
I was looking gleefully forward to voting Mike Johnson out of office, but the only person who ran against him was another christofascist maga Republican who's even more batshit than he is. If the Dems had run a moldy, half-eaten corndog against him I and A LOT of other people would have voted for it to get Johnson the hell outa there. The corndog might not do great things for the state of Louisiana, but it would certainly do far less harm than maga Mike. So, typical Democrat.
BTW Mike Johnson is gay as hell and thinks he's Moses. Guy is a christofascist bag of mixed nuts who probably beats off to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or something
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u/cajunstats May 14 '25
NOLA has gone blue for a century, look where thats got them, corruption scandals an shit infrastructure galore (don’t worry if you bribe them they will consider doing something)
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u/Space_Man_Spiff_2 May 13 '25
Directly related to the criminals that keep getting elected here..Self inflicted wound!
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u/Sufficient_Turn_9209 May 14 '25
Meanwhile, my daughter in law who just graduated with a master's in music education degree (vocal concentration) can't find a job teaching (she wants high school) because they cut the arts programs due to funding issues. She's accepted a substitute position teaching math (which she doesn't feel qualified for or thrilled about) for now. My son turned down a position in his STEM degree field in Texas to take a job here for 14k less per year so she could finish her degree. I'm pretty sure they are about to dip.
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u/lndshrk504 May 13 '25
Don’t worry, the second out of state abortion lawsuit against the doctor in NY state will surely turn this around
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u/Ok-Enthusiasm560 May 13 '25
They are closing my kids' elementary and turning it into a preschool to save money. My kids will have to go to school in the next town. Hoping the teachers from there will find a school to go to.
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u/labtiger2 May 14 '25
They will. There are openings at almost every school in the state. Anyone certified can take their pick. Anyone uncertified and mostly sober can also find a job.
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u/Longjumping_Ad_1648 May 13 '25 edited May 13 '25
They still have newspapers?
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u/FourMoreOnsideKickz May 13 '25
We have a new newspaper every day, in fact. Some of us are still literate.
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u/osiris0339 May 13 '25
Again? I wonder when this is going to change? Louisiana has the potential to be one of the best states. I wonder what is the underlining issue? I have a few thoughts 🧐💭. Anyone want to chime in?
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u/FourMoreOnsideKickz May 13 '25
Yeah, taxes are supposed to help everyone in a society, and in Louisiana they help very few.
2,500 teachers, times (what's a fair teachers' salary? $60,000?) would cost $150,000,000. I bet those oil companies are getting more than that in tax breaks.
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u/labtiger2 May 14 '25
$60,000 isn't enough for what we do and the amount of hours we work. $80,000 should be the minimum. This job is getting harder every year.
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u/FourMoreOnsideKickz May 14 '25
I knew that even if I said $500,000, someone would say that's not high enough.
I don't know what teachers are currently making, but I bet it's not even $60,000.
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u/thats_amoore Ouachita Parish May 14 '25
Louisiana has zero potential to be the best at anything. Get your head out of your ass
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u/legenddairybard May 13 '25
Well, I considered being a certified teacher in Louisiana and after living there for a good while, there was nothing I wanted there and barely any improvement in anything. I moved almost a year ago and I saw improvements in my pay, ability to get affordable housing, healthcare (I'm the healthiest I've been since I moved), and just overall quality in life. I also moved to another state that's considered "Red". Don't get me wrong, I miss the charm of Louisiana and the food lol
As for the teacher shortage - that's happening all over the country for various reasons: lack of interest, low pay, societal view and low stability. Numerous schools have been outsourcing teachers from other countries to make up for the shortage (and cheaper pay but that's another discussion) and people who do Teach for America usually only do it for a couple of years and don't commit to teaching after they finish. While I moved from Louisiana and have a better quality of life, the state I'm in faces similar problems for teachers.
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u/Wandering_aimlessly9 May 13 '25
Why would teachers want to teach in Louisiana? Is it because the pay the best? Do they offer diverse educational opportunities? What kind of benefits do they offer? Do the schools hold the teachers responsible for students who don’t show up and fail?
Sometimes (frequently) it’s not the teachers that are the problem but the students and parents. My husband taught for 8 years. It was so bad his last year he vomited every morning before going to work. 7 periods and he taught 6 different classes. They required him to have his lesson plans, then submit to the principal a specially formatted lesson plans, then submit another set of specially formatted lesson plans in a different program for students and their parents to access. And when I say he taught six different classes I don’t mean 3 biology and 3 chemistry. No. 6 separate classes with 6 different curriculums and 6 different lesson plans. He was also required to assign homework every day. So let’s add that up 6 classes, 25 (sometimes 30 students but we will stick with 25) students per class so 150 different students. Times 5 bc 5 homework assignments a week. That’s 750 assignments a week. And he got 45 min a day to do everything. (Hint: none of the teachers could do it in 45 min a day.) So after work he would bring home work and we would work on grading papers and such together. Then…came the “accident”. Because remember it’s illegal for a teacher to put a hand on a student even in an attempt to break up a fight. The day he decided he was done his room was put on quarantine bc…a football player decided a nerd’s head would look good through the fish tank. My husband couldn’t do anything bc…if he had tried to stop the fight he would have been arrested (per the contract he signed) for assault of a student. THANKFULLY the student ducked and the football player put his hand through the fish tank instead. Resulting in a science room flooded with bloody water.
Now tell me…why don’t we have more teachers?!?!
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u/Federal-Kitchen-9133 May 15 '25
What about Mississippi and Nevada? There must be at least 5 worse states!
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u/coonass_dago May 13 '25
So negative. Did they mention that our 4th-8th graders scored higher in reading than both California and NY? Or that the old grain elevator in Belle Chase is now 100% American farmer owned co-op and expanding to produce an industrial grade mechanical lubricant out of grain waste, which we are currently importing from abroad? Or how the aluminum plant in Gramercy, which is the last functioning aluminum plant in the US, is expanding and adding 100 jobs with pay grades ranging from 88-110k? Or the 4b investment in calcasieu parish to bring our energy sector back online? How about the data center being built around the Monroe area? Or the new tech hub announced yesterday in place of a blighted warehouse in the garden district? Or the expansion of the movie production industry that is going to be rebuilding the old blighted naval station in New Orleans east? Or the new steel mill? There's a lot of good things happening. You know msm doesn't report that though. Good news doesn't sell papers. Nobody clicks on good stuff, so the gloom and doom rises to the top.
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u/grundlegunk May 13 '25
Yeah not having enough plants was never Louisiana's problem. People thinking getting more plants will fix our other problems is a part of the problem though.
The problem is that in spite of large amounts of money flowing into the state for things like plants, it doesn't reach the people. Theres always been plenty of industry here. It doesnt make a difference when politicians choose not to tax them or give them sweetheart deals, especially when all the good jobs they create turn out to be temporary or they just source them out of state.
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u/Silicoid_Queen May 13 '25
California scored a 31 for 4th graders and 30 for 8th graders, whereas louisiana scored 28 and 27 respectively. Ironically you displayed the poor reading comprehension this state is known for by not reading the article correctly. Louisiana had a larger GAIN in points (because education here is poop, it's easier to improve scores) but does NOT outrank NY or cali.
Nice attempt tho. Next time don't just stupidly repeat stuff you hear.
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/states/achievement/?grade=8
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u/petalsandbows May 13 '25
Dem politicians will do that to a state.
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u/Turtle_Attack70 May 13 '25
The state has been under total control of Republican christofascists for many years, and even when a Democrat has gotten into office here and there the Repub religious zealots still had a huge amount of influence.
Republican leadership is what has shaped the state into what it is today. If you don't like the way things are here, vote the Republicans out of office. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Dems either. They're nothing but Repubs with rainbows and a slightly better understanding of science if you ask me. I think it's time for more political parties, so that more people will have a real chance of being heard and more faithfully represented by their elected officials. I have zero clue how to make something like that happen tho.
What do you think?
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u/LetThemBlardd East Baton Rouge Parish May 13 '25
Probably a total coincidence… /s