The Good, The Bad, The Ugly with Marcelle Beaulieu

Michelle and Ellie talk to Marcelle Beaulieu, the creator of the Instagram Account @LouisianahBrah and the Nah Brah Newsletter, about the need to inject some humor in politics, even when things are deadly serious. 

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If you’re in Louisiana, join us at the Capitol on May 7th for Reproductive Freedom Day. Register at this link  [e-mail] - tell us what your Seriously?! moment is.

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Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Welcome to Seriously,
the podcast that dives into the baffling. The ridiculous. And downright unbelievable political climate in red states like Louisiana. Seriously.
Welcome to Seriously.

(00:31):
We are recording on the last Saturday of Jazz Fest.
It's a rainy-ish day in New Orleans.
So we're working.
For the usual.
Yeah, of course.
Because, you know, the f-y doesn't stop us.
That's what I was going to say, because the f-y never ends.
It doesn't stop for Jazz Fest.
Later in the episode, we talked to Marcel.

(00:56):
Beaulieu.
Beaulieu.
The creator of the Instagram account,
LouisianahBrah and the Nahbrah newsletter.
And that conversation was great.
So you'll get to hear that in a little bit.
We did record that conversation on April 19th.
So this episode's going to have like a little bit of...

(01:17):
Yeah, we got to fill people in.
Yeah, exactly.
We got to fill people in on this past week at the
legislature.
That's right.
So we're going to get into it right now.
There were a couple bills that were heard.
There were a couple bills that were scheduled.
There was one that was scheduled that wasn't heard.
So let's talk about that one first.
So that's HB 575.
Rep.

(01:38):
Ventrella's bill, which folks will remember,
is the one that will create limitless liability for
absolutely no reason or no fault.
For anyone who is assisting or helping to cause an
abortion.
So that was scheduled on Monday in committee.
And spoiler alert, it was not heard.

(02:00):
because apparently the bill author had a death in the
family which that happens however no one told anyone that
and we and many other people sat there waiting to testify
for nothing for hours hours before they finally said oh
actually we're not going to hear this bill which we've
known the whole time um and so the joke did i have to imply

(02:21):
to people which is not a joke it's dead serious is that
yeah no i mean but they were just like being rude and
discourteous they weren't being like strategic in trying to
disenfranchise people's voices yeah so you know that's the
that's the low bar i'm holding these people too you're just
rude you're not strategic all right so then i went back the

(02:45):
next day because house bill 478 which we talked about on a
previous episode this is the bill that requires public high
schools and colleges universities to distribute and display
information about pregnancy.
But as we said, we, you know,

(03:06):
assumed that this information was going to come from crisis
pregnancy centers.
Right.
Correcting people to crisis pregnancy centers.
That's right.
And lo and behold,
the bill is in the House Education Committee and sitting
right next to Representative Dodie Horton is a
representative from a crisis pregnancy center.

(03:27):
So that was no surprise.
And then what did you say about the pamphlet?
Yeah, I said,
you know what this reminds me of is that old Women's Right
to Know Act pamphlet that they used to force patients at
abortion clinics to be provided.
And what did Dodi have as a prop with her at the hearing?

(03:48):
Michelle, Women's Right to Know pamphlet.
Yes.
So we know these people.
We know it.
We can,
we can tell you ahead of time exactly where they're going
with stuff.
They're so predictable.
The graphic that Dodie, you know,
displays during the hearing.
Oh, this is what the sign will look like.
The Right to Life just whipped this up for us.

(04:09):
I mean, come on.
I mean, it's a piece of crap.
It was like, yeah,
it was like a fourth grade science project.
Like, you know, like, what's it called?
You know, like poster board, basically.
Yeah.
Yeah.
With like sh*tty font.
And then also what I noticed was the website that they put
on it doesn't even exist.
So that, you know, I guess they're going to build that.

(04:30):
Well, in the enormous fiscal note on the bill, then maybe,
yeah, yeah, the cost of that is included.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Do we play that clip?
The one of report and displaying this awesome poster and
the previously mentioned Awesome Women's Act to Know
Women's Right to Know Act.
Yeah, let's play that.
Here's an example of what of what the sign will read.

(04:53):
It's this is bill is informational only to be able to find
information and This is the right to life,
just came up with this example.
When we still had abortion clinics,
LDH by law had to put out this pamphlet.
Well, praise God, we don't have those anymore.

(05:14):
Praise God, praise God, praise God.
I testified on the bill and then there was an LSE student
that testified on the bill.
But really the star of the hearing was Representative
Barbara Freiberg who asked Dodie Horton,
are these just gonna be available or are the doctors gonna

(05:38):
actually have to put them in hands?
The bill requires that these pamphlets be given to every
patient.
Then both Dodie the bill author and Ben Clapper,
the mastermind behind this amazing plan,
They lie repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly lie,
and say that the bill does not require these pamphlets to

(06:01):
be handed out to people.
I was watching this at home,
and since Michelle has been the one who's focused on this
bill more than I have, then I was like, huh, okay.
Even though I know these people are liars, she's like, huh,
okay,
maybe the bill doesn't actually require that they hand it
out to everyone.
I need to go back and read the bill more carefully
afterwards.

(06:21):
Yeah, spoiler alert, it absolutely requires that.
Yeah, that's right.
Play the clip, Michelle.
And I want to clarify,
there is nothing in this bill that says they must hand out
that pamphlet.
That pamphlet would simply be there if they wanted to
access it.
Okay, absolutely.
So that is, again, a representative on the committee,

(06:44):
Representative Freiberg, who is confirming,
as a good lawyer would, locking the person in on the lot,
locking you in.
You've said repeatedly throughout your testimony that this
pamphlet will not be required to be given to people.
Dodie confirms, absolutely.
Right.
So then Ben Clapper comes to the table.
There are so many great resources that Louisiana has for

(07:05):
women and families who find themselves in pregnancy
situations.
Hold on, I just have to interject.
Pregnancy situations?
What the F? That's like if you're either pregnant or not
pregnant.
You're not in a pregnancy situation.
Yeah, it's not Schrodinger's pregnancy.

(07:28):
Okay.
The way the fiscal note reads right now is that it's
printing a copy of this brochure for every female high
school student in the state of Louisiana and every female
college student in the state of Louisiana.
Obviously, that's not how this bill,
as Representative Freiberg mentioned,
it's not to be given or forced to be given,
so it's just to have these available in the health clinics.

(07:49):
So the reason that Clapper is lying about this and
confirming the lie based on what Representative Freiburg
just got them to admit is because there's a huge fiscal
note on this bill,
because creating these pamphlets for every single person
who falls into like,
you know,
reproductive age in high school or college is a lot of

(08:12):
money.
So he's like, don't worry about that, that fiscal note,
we're going to get it revised.
It's not really correct because we're not going to actually
give these pamphlets to everyone, which of course,
as we'll see in a second,
is absolutely what the bill requires.
That's right.
Representative Horton,
I thought I had read something and I'm looking at your bill

(08:33):
now,
and your bill does say staff shall offer a booklet to each
pregnant patient.
I thought they were available,
but not the responsibility of staff to give these or offer
these to patients.
Can we take that line out?

(08:55):
I too just thought they would be available in case they
need it.
But that's not what your legislation says.
So let's talk about it.
Because when I go to a doctor and I have been diagnosed
with eye disease, they give me pamphlets on all resources.

(09:18):
What it's about,
where I can go to get specialists or whatever.
And it's not like it's, you know,
that's just something they do.
I don't know about y'all, but when I go to- Well,
you've already got a pretty large sign and you've got
pamphlets.
And I think if someone goes in and is pregnant,
they're going to notice those things.
I'm glad you pointed that out because I'm aware.

(09:41):
I'm glad you pointed that out because I wasn't aware of the
bill saying what it obviously says,
that they shall be given.
That's right.
So Barbara Freiberg decides that she wants to amend the
bill.
So let's listen to that.
Fryberg,
do you want to work with the author from here to- I would
like to because in its current state,
I can't vote for this.

(10:02):
An amendment has been drafted that would take out that one
line on page five that says staff shall offer a booklet.
It makes them available,
but they don't have to have staff offer the booklet.
It's occasionally true that what the person is representing
their bill to say,
they don't actually realize that that is not true.

(10:26):
But this is what happens in many of the situations where
they knew that all along.
And so then when someone says, hey,
why don't we amend your bill to say what you say that it
already says, then the bill author is like,
I don't know about that.
I don't think we should amend the bill to say what I just
said that it said 10 times.

(10:46):
Yeah.
Well, also Dodie,
she did this with the 10 commandments bill last session.
I mean, she's just like stubborn as sh*t.
Like she- just will not budge just no you know whatever you
think would make this more reasonable like I'm not
interested well that's also I mean that's one thing that
happens around those halls is people just refusing to sort

(11:09):
of work with other legislators but this is way more
egregious to me where people are lying absolutely lying
about what their legislation says and then when the
proposal is well let's just amend it to say what you are
claiming that it says then all of a sudden they're like ah
I don't know about that this bill made it out of the

(11:31):
committee with the amendment and right because she because
eventually then after like taking like a little bit of time
to leave the to leave the table to go talk to Ben Clapper
about whether they would agree to have the bill say what
they claimed that it already said then she hems back and
agrees to it correct she didn't really agree to it but she

(11:52):
didn't throw a fit about it.
She agreed to do it.
I guess.
She agreed.
What Michelle is getting at is that my immediate reaction
when I was texting Michelle was, first my reaction was,
lie or liar, they're lying.
All these people are lying.
And second, then when Jodie acquiesces, maybe that's right,

(12:12):
acquiesces to this amendment, that I think there is a very,
very good chance that their plan all along is to just try
to strip the amendment out when the bill gets to the floor.
Yeah.
So it's really important for people to call their
representatives, folks in Louisiana, call them,
make sure that they do not agree to remove that amendment

(12:36):
because the bill is still a piece of sh*t,
but at least that amendment makes it so that the staff,
medical providers at these school-based health centers
aren't required to put this Fing propaganda into the hands
of every student that comes in there.
That's right.
This whole concept of agreeing to amend your bill and

(12:58):
committee.
And then while all the while knowing that you're just going
to take that amendment off on the floor is like a
relatively new development that we didn't used to see.
And it is outrageous.
Yeah.
It is like, it's basically,
it's part of what undermines trust in that body.
These committees are supposed to vet these bills.

(13:19):
And this process is supposed to be like negotiations and
changes that are made where you can get an instrument at a
place where the majority of your colleagues will agree to
move it forward.
So the committee processes the people that are focused on
that bill, on the content of it.
If you agree with them that you will amend the bill because

(13:42):
they're telling you,
we're not going to vote for this if you don't agree to it,
you agree to that and then just like go back on that,
just a hundred percent go back on it because later you
think like you have the votes to do.
that?
Like that is just,
it undermines all trust and professionalism in this
process.
It's completely ridiculous.

(14:03):
So let's talk about House Bill 400,
which was also heard on the same day in a different
committee.
That one was in the House Health and Welfare Committee.
Right.
So this is Shenandoah's bill that would require parental
consent for basically all medical care.

(14:24):
The bill was in committee, then the bill was amended.
Shenandoah had agreed to some amendments that carve out
some situations in which parental consent would not be
required.
One is someone in the armed forces,
one is someone who is pregnant,
and then a few other sort of narrow issues that a minor

(14:44):
would not be required to have parental consent.
And then also the bill,
the amendment set up some scenarios when...
another adult who's not actually the legal guardian could
consent.
So that's helpful.
Right.
Both things are helpful and are legitimate and good
amendments to a horrible, horrible bill.

(15:08):
But obviously there still are major problems though.
Those caveats cover a few possible problems that could
exist, but there are many others.
The Chair of the Health and Welfare Committee,
Dustin Miller,
is well aware of and was pointing out to the bill author.
Yeah, and Dustin Miller is a nurse himself.
Okay, let's listen to what Dustin Miller had to say.

(15:32):
But Representative Sinner, I guess one of my questions,
you know, as we go through,
I know we adopted the amendment,
but I'm concerned this is really going to cause a lot of
confusion the way it's written with providers, right?
I'll share one thing,
because as if the minor is a member of the armed forces,
okay?
So what if the minor,
what if the 17-year-old is in college,

(15:52):
and they're in New Orleans but they're from Opelousas,
so does the mom have to go there?
It says if the minor is pregnant.
I don't know if the minor is pregnant until I treat them
and test them myself, right?
I just wish if I had my way that I would take this to put
when you cannot treat anyone under 18 instead of saying

(16:12):
when you can,
because now providers have to go through each one of those.
Think about a provider that's off,
they don't have time to go through each one of these
scenarios to see, oh, I'm exempted here, I can treat them,
or I'm exempted.
You know,
but it seemed like if we would say when you cannot treat
anyone under this age, it would be a little more simpler,
and it would be easier for everyone.
Like whatever instances that you definitely do not want a

(16:34):
minor to be able to consent for treatment may be an easier
route,
but that's just my two cents as we move forward to consider.
I know in a lot of poverty communities, I mean,
kids stand with uncle, auntie, grandpa,
and they're not legally,
nothing went through the court system,
they're just staying there.
Are we covering that within the...
bill.
That was part of the amendment from what if helping

(16:55):
providers felt better about some of the language in there
again if we need to go back to the drawing board on that
I'm happy to do so I think we can get there.
I think other states have really kind of worked on that too
to get there but I feel like we can get there to make sure
we are covering that.
I know this kind of started behind well my think it's uh
vaccines um the transgender care stuff I know I know that

(17:16):
those are big topics that we wanted parental consent.
I just think that we probably should narrow this to where
we definitely want parental consent instead of having this
broad overhaul because we're going to have unintended
consequences.
These were all very good points.
Yes right like why are we not doing this in reverse?

(17:37):
Right.
Why is the concept of the bill not let's identify the
things that you are concerned about where parental consent
you believe parental consent should be required and you
know,
reasonable people can disagree about whether those are,
that it should be required in those scenarios,
like vaccines and gender-affirming care,
but they're narrow, they're narrow.

(17:59):
And to be clear, I do 100% disagree on that,
because my daughter is not in a situation in which her
parents are going to prevent her from getting a vaccine,
but I mean, the vaccine stuff is just out of Fing control.
And Louisiana said there are probably a lot of kids in a
situation where they would like to get vaccinated for

(18:21):
COVID, HPV, things like that,
where their parents wouldn't agree to it.
Right, and with HPV,
because either your parents like think that if you get
vaccinated for that,
then it will mean that she will become sexually active,
or because it's an uncomfortable conversation for a kid to

(18:43):
have with the parent that like,
maybe they are sexually active and they are planning to be,
and so they know they need that protection.
So yes, I mean,
there would be problems even with a narrower version of
parental consent,
but at least then it would be specific to specific

(19:03):
situations, as opposed to now,
as Representative Miller is pointing out, where it's like,
hey, parental consent is required for everything,
absolutely everything,
but there are these two situations where we won't require
it.
Right, oh my gosh, it's just so stupid.
It's so stupid.
You know, to Jennifer's credit, she does seem to be open.

(19:24):
She hasn't been there long enough to be just a complete and
total stubborn line b**** like Dodie.
I agree with that because I am fair.
The way that the committee hearing ended is that Rep.
Jennifer agreed to continue working with Rep.
Representative Miller and the committee and advocates on

(19:46):
trying to amend the bill now and then having it come back.
back up in committee.
So a lot of times these Fing people,
instead they'll just make a bullsh*t vague promise to like,
let's work on it on its way to the floor.
I'll agree to work on it on its way to the floor.
And that never happens or it doesn't happen sufficiently.

(20:07):
So I do wanna be fair and give credit where credit is due
that she is actually agreeing to, we'll see what happens,
that she's actually at least agreeing to like do this in
the fair way that the process is supposed to work.
Yeah, for sure.
But there wasn't just representative Miller who had issues
with the bill.
Representative Rhonda Butler, who is pretty conservative,

(20:31):
also had some of her own concerns.
So let's listen to that.
We've got parents who,
I've had parents who wanted access to their child's records
because they wanted to use it to say the child was mentally
ill and therefore you couldn't believe her allegations of
sexual assault against him.

(20:52):
Well we knew that the sexual assault had happened,
we knew all of that but he was trying to block it that way.
There are some children who will absolutely go to their
parents, there's no question.
But there are other children who will not go to their
parents and will not receive treatment.
Well some of the parents are abusers.
Absolutely.
And so that concerns me that they are not going to feel

(21:15):
open where they would have to have the parental consent and
the abuser's consent to be able to see a accountant that
saw him concerned about the impact of that.
The clip starts out I think with an advocate talking before
Rep Butler's reaction.
And where the bill as drafted you know first of all would
require the consent of the parent who is abusing the child.

(21:38):
Also there's other provisions that require a kid's medical
records to be handed over to parents which obviously could
be a parent that is abusing the child.
So you know like I was saying to you before I mean the bill
is a gift to an abusive parent.
Like 100 percent.

(21:58):
Like a parent who is abusing their child and or is like
actively isolating their child from care.
You know who is not acting in their child's best interest
because they're afraid that the child will say something to
a counselor or a medical provider that will like out the
abuse.
Well this bill would give a parent like that about a

(22:21):
million ways to do that and then also prevent a kid from
just like finding a Fing doctor or counselor to you know to
finally talk to.
Yeah it's it's got a lot of problems.
So then what ended up happening was that they agreed.
Yeah like you said.
to defer the bill and you don't know when it's going to be

(22:43):
rescheduled it could be next week we're not exactly sure
yet so we'll see what they're able to negotiate I guess in
the in the interim so that was this week we've got some
stuff coming up next week as well first thing that I want
to talk about is HB 76 so that's going to be heard on
Wednesday which is also reproductive freedom and all in for

(23:07):
access day so two different coalitions are kind of coming
together we're gonna be bringing people to the Capitol and
if you're interested in coming we'll have a link for
registration in the show notes we are providing
transportation from New Orleans from Lafayette and from
Shreveport so poor Shreveport people they're gonna have to

(23:29):
get up at the butt Fing crack of dawn to get to the Capitol
but we're gonna take care of you once you get there and
anyway so I'm happy that we're going to have a bunch of
people there that day because HB 76,
which is by Representative Pat Moore,
basically criminalizes exposure,
intentional exposure to an STI.

(23:53):
So already in Louisiana, we criminalize exposure to HIV,
which means if you are being arrested and you spit on a cop
and then they find out that you are HIV positive,
you can have more criminal charges brought against you for
exposing the police officer.

(24:14):
And it's not even transmission, it's just exposure, right?
Right.
It's just exposure.
And so in terms of consensual sexual activity,
then it would require people in order to not be able to be
held criminally liable to disclose that they have whatever
infection, not just an STD,

(24:34):
regardless of whether you're being treated for that or what
the status,
including the infectiousness level of the infection or
disease is at that point.
So it's very,
very broad in terms of what it would require people to
disclose without really, in my opinion,

(24:55):
a lot of understanding about the science and medicine
behind a lot of these infections and diseases.
And if a person doesn't do that,
then you can get thrown in jail.
Yeah.
I mean, it's extremely punitive.
And really just the impact of this is going to,
people are not going to go get tested because if you know

(25:17):
and you're having sex,
then you're at risk for being criminally prosecuted for
exposing somebody to the STI, you know,
hoping to have more than 100 people at the Capitol on that
day to go to the committee and listen to the,
you know,
the presentation of the bill and listen to all of the

(25:38):
opposition.
it.
So we'll talk more about that on a future episode.
This is one of those bills where, I mean,
Pat Moore is a Democrat.
She's a conservative Democrat.
I don't doubt her intentions with bringing this bill.
I mean,
there's plenty of them that I 100% doubt their intentions.
I don't think that it comes from a good place at all on the

(26:00):
intense side.
I don't think that that is true here, but it's sort of,
it's just ill-informed and not really just understanding
what the consequences could be.
So, you know, we'll see if she hears that.
The next day, Thursday,
Thursday in the Criminal Injustice Committee,

(26:22):
as we've equipped it to be,
is House Bill 425 by Representative Carlson,
and we talked about this one already a little bit as well.
But let's just...
Yeah, Ellie, we're fresh.
Yeah,
this is the one that has the expansive overhaul of the

(26:42):
crime of coerced abortion that would, if the bill passes,
would include all sorts of other sort of like activities
and behavior that in and of themselves are not criminal
that really risk bringing families into the criminal
justice system and the child protection system,

(27:03):
just based on having sort of,
you know,
like difficult and or forced right conversations with a
pregnant person in the family about like whether they
should carry the pregnancy to term.
So it's very broad and vague and potentially extremely
problematic in terms of over criminalization,
which is exacerbated by the mandatory reporting

(27:27):
requirements that the bill would also impose, where then,
you know, teachers, doctors,
therapists are required to report people to law enforcement
or child protection who may be in one of these situations
when again,
what that situation is,
is extremely vague and hard to determine to begin with.

(27:50):
Yeah, it's a really dangerous bill.
And I think a lot of the medical providers that we've
talked to are pretty worried about this because it puts
them in a really untenable situation.
Yeah.
You have to sort of investigate.
That's right.
And it's the same,
it has similar implications to what you were just talking

(28:10):
about with the criminalizing the status of having a
sexually transmitted disease or infection.
This would also, so it would, you know,
impose mandatory reporting requirements for someone who's a
quote,
a victim of coerced abortion and also for human trafficking,
for people who are being trafficked.

(28:32):
And what providers say is that people in those situations
will not seek care if they are concerned that it's going to
get reported to law enforcement.
It really is invasive to the provider-patient relationship
in a way that has like an absolutely counterintuitive

(28:52):
result that people just aren't going to get care.
Yeah.
And I mean,
this is sort of like a running theme through legislation
that's really targeted at like restricting access,
trying to stop people from having abortions.
This effort, whether intentional or not intentional,
to basically just completely disrupt the trust between

(29:17):
providers and patients.
I mean, we've seen this over and over and over again.
You're forcing people who have, you know,
otherwise have a duty to that, the duty and the government.
to essentially become like investigators themselves.

(29:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
The surveillance state.
Okay.
So that's next week.
There may be more stuff that's scheduled at the last minute
because you know,
they don't Fing care and they don't really want people to
come.
All true facts.
Yep.
Um,
HB 575 the ventrilo bill we have heard will be the following
week.
So we'll keep folks posted on that.

(29:59):
But again, you know,
why would you give people a lot of notice?
Yeah.
Why?
Yeah.
Or people that show up, you know,
why would you tell them on the front end?
It can happen today.
No, you have to sit there for three Fing hours.
All right.
So we have a listener submission.
Um, so this was sent to us by Micah.

(30:21):
So let's listen to it.
Okay.
The second thing that concerns me about a Trump third term
is the distraction that it represents.
Um, by, I mean, I'm guilty of it right now.
I just talked about it,
but it's distracting us from how his administration is
firing senior government employees who would be very

(30:42):
difficult to replace in the next administration.
Uh, distractions from, uh, they're dismantling departments,
uh, repealing consumer protections,
appointing unqualified individuals, the high office,
ending birthright citizenship and squandering trust in
American leadership and credibility abroad.
You know,

(31:03):
all of these things are critical issues that I think, um,
lack a certain amount of oxygen when things like a third
Trump administration ended up, uh,
consuming all of that oxygen.
Micah's not wrong.
Um, yeah, no, for sure.

(31:24):
Um, sound smart.
Sounds like a smart guy.
I know.
I wonder who that mic is.
Um, I, I,
it also reminds me of sh*t that happens at the legislature
where Like, something,
some issue becomes a huge distraction that is wasting a ton
of time and like oxygen in the room when it's like,

(31:44):
meanwhile, folks,
don't look over here at all the sh*t we're doing.
A lot of times,
like similarly with the Trump administration too,
then the sh*t we're doing is on money.
Don't forget, this is a taxing and spending session, folks.
There's gonna be lots of talk about people who are
purportedly intentionally exposing people to sexually
transmitted infections,

(32:05):
or parents who are coercing their children to have
abortions to the point that it should qualify as child
abuse in an actual like,
and criminal conduct.
We'll be talking a lot about that stuff, where meanwhile,
we're not talking about, you know,
whatever the F they're doing to, you know,
try to keep the state as poor as possible and- They wanna

(32:27):
get rid of the earned income tax.
That's right.
There's a proposal to get rid of it.
To just- eliminate it, which, you know,
that's going to be heard this week as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's the other work requirements for Medicaid?
They're really big on work requirements for for Medicaid.
Don't look over here while we pick your pockets,

(32:48):
because we're going to talk about sh*t.
That's not really happening.
So what Micah, I think is bringing up is, you know, I mean,
there has been some talk about this third term thing.
Obviously, it's terrifying.
Moses, Mike Johnson was asked about it.
Sorry,
we stole that from another podcast that we like shoot iPad
at podcasts.

(33:09):
They call him Moses, Mike Johnson.
Totally agree.
Yep.
Because you know, he walks with Jesus.
So yeah, so you know,
he's all wishy washy about it when he's asked about it,
like, won't just completely come out and say like,
that's just not gonna happen.
Yeah.
And considering he was one of the folks that led the effort

(33:32):
to get a bunch of representatives to sign on to the coup in
2020.
I mean, don't get me started on my job.
Oh my gosh.
Anyway, these people just so yes, Trump,
their term is scary, but keep your eye.
Johnson is disappointing me.
He is disappointing me.
I know that he is extremely ideological.

(33:52):
But he is not an idiot.
And he needs to wake up and realize that he is like,
being used as upon an authoritarian plan,
and just start doing his Fing job.
Mike, you know, I love you.
Do your job.
That's all I'm saying.
I do love Mike Johnson.
But I mean, I would this sh*t.

(34:13):
It's kind of a love hate relationship.
We'll get into that.

(35:18):
And today we are going to talk to Marcel Beaulieu.
It's bolio, like polio with a B.
Okay, but there's a lot of use in there,
it's very Louisiana.
Lots of vowels, yeah.
Lots of unnecessary vowels that we don't use.

(35:39):
So, Marcel is the creator of Louisiana Braun,
the Nalbora newsletter, which we're going to talk about,
and you come from a background,
you worked for the Speaker Pro Tem,
and so you like really know kind of like how things work at
the Capitol.
I think I know as much as is knowable, not even that,

(36:03):
you know what I mean?
Well, they are ignoring the rules now.
So, you live in New Orleans?
I do.
You're a gardener?
I am.
This is my favorite tidbit that I read on your bio,
is that you're a drinker of banana daiquiris.
God, I love a banana daiquiris.
Have you never had a banana daiquiris?
I hate bananas.

(36:23):
Okay,
I'm highly suspicious of people who don't love bananas,
first of all.
We shouldn't have gotten into this first,
because this would have been a short interview, folks.
In fact,
I'm going to tell you a little private detail about former
Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger.
He lies and says he's allergic to bananas,
and I don't think he really is.

(36:44):
I mean, he says he's not lying,
but whenever I try to like give him like, you know,
a banana daiquiri or something like that,
because if you ever come to my house,
or if I ever show up at a party,
I have a gallon of banana daiquiris.
And he always says, oh, and I'm allergic,
and I think you're lying.
He's totally lying.
He just doesn't like bananas.

(37:05):
Walt is the Speaker Pro Tem that you worked with.
Yes, yes.
So, Walt is a friend of mine from law school, actually.
I thought of him if he walked.
He probably doesn't want to admit that we're friends.
So, yeah, or admit that he's not allergic to bananas.
That's right, liar.
Yeah, it's a good guy.
He always.
takes my calls.

(37:25):
He took my calls back when he was in the house and he still
takes my calls.
That's something.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
We like to start out podcast by talking about what made us
go seriously this week.
So, or recently,
I'm going to start out because Michelle has a long list.

(37:53):
She's been in the last, I don't know, week, 10 days.
This may have all just been in the last seven days.
Okay.
So the Supreme Court said that Trump had to facilitate the
return of Mr.
Abrego Garcia.
And then the president meets with the El Salvadorian
president in an Oval Office meeting,
which I thought that the meeting with Zelensky was like the

(38:18):
most disgusting thing I'd ever seen in my life.
But this actually got.
worse.
On a hot mic,
he's talking about now wanting to deport homegrown,
so people that he just deems as being bad people,
US citizens to El Salvador or wherever.
Then Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland flew to El

(38:40):
Salvador, was able to meet with Mr.
Abrego Garcia, which is great.
And then I just- Yeah, so people know he's alive.
He's alive.
Yeah, the proof of life was important.
It really was.
Can I say something at that point?
Yeah.
The whole like, Piquele, the president of El Salvador,
like, well, what are we going to do?

(39:01):
We can only facilitate this guy coming back if the
president of this country agrees with it.
This just reminds me of like,
if you and I could put on a play like this,
or I'm like- Yeah, it's like an early do it.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
You can only do it if Michelle says, I can do it.
Michelle, can I do it?
And you would say, no, she can't do it.

(39:23):
You just opened the door.
He knows what Trump wants him to say.
It's just such a complete Fing farce.
It's ridiculous.
It's ridiculous.
Okay, so also five more law firms capitulated.
So now Trump is up to about $600 million in pro bono legal
work that's been promised.
Harvard, however,

(39:45):
rejecting Trump's demands to eliminate DEI programs,
to create a police state on their university campus,
essentially.
So now they're threatening to revoke their tax expense
status.
Politico has reported that the State Department is telling
employees to report on each other for anti-Christian bias.

(40:07):
The White House replaces a portrait of former President
Obama with the pop art of Trump.
Shut up.
With his fist in the air after the assassination of town.
You know, when they're all like us.
By the way, the day that that happened,
I- immediately like photoshopped,
I don't actually use photoshopped,

(40:27):
but used a program to put clown shoes in his hand in that
picture, so we'll have to put that up on social media.
Oh my god.
Okay, and then my last thing is that Trump, again,
blames Ukraine for Russians.
For everything.
Inpatient and starting war.
Okay, just, it's like, it's just, it's just a lot.

(40:50):
So that's, that's all you have.
That's it?
That's it.
That's it.
That's it.
That's weak.
No, I'm kidding.
Yeah, that's right.
Kelly, what do you have?
I'll start with a personal anecdote.
I had quite a week just like personally and professionally
in the camp of seriously.
When I was out of town for trial,

(41:11):
then my sister ended up hosting an unannounced birthday
party at my house for my three year old nephew because she
got kicked out of the park and couldn't have a real life
fire truck.
shooting three-year-olds with a fire hose at my house,
or at the park,
so she had to have it at my house when I was in Shreveport.
So I get home and like,

(41:33):
mostly the house has been cleaned up.
Then I open my freezer, and this is three days later,
there is a 24 pack of high noons in my freezer that are
just starting to fizz.
So I yanked out my freezer, throw it on my back porch,
and seriously,
Blair was probably the first thought that came to my mind.

(41:56):
So that's just not a personal note.
Yeah.
Similarly,
sort of in the rule of law and it's not going so great
category, is that Trump is,
as you alluded to with the Supreme Court,
telling him to facilitate the return of this man in El
Salvador, that he's just ignoring what courts are saying,

(42:16):
like completely.
Which, shout out to Judge Boseberg in the DC Circuit Court,
who is like, hanging tough,
and getting a whole contempt hearings for these motherFers
in the government if they don't start complying.
So that is great.
But then of course last night,
so this is like the good and the bad.
So the Supreme Court also tells Trump that you can't deport

(42:40):
people under this Alien Enemies Act,
like new people without due process.
That was a 9-0 ruling.
So of course they start planning to do that sh*t anyway.
Like they start like loading people on buses.
Nobody really knows what's going on.
So last night in the middle of the night,
then the Supreme Court said,
you can't deport people again without your process.

(43:04):
Well, lo and behold, to dissents in that case,
Thomas and Alito dissent.
I knew it would be them.
I Fing hate them.
I know.
I mean, it's their own ruling.
That's an issue.
And I think the deal is,
is because the Trump administration taking the position
that 24 hours notice is enough for quote due process that

(43:28):
they have to give people before they can deport them.
And I guess like Thomas and Alito think that that's good
enough,
which just to put a finer point on this for people then.
So back in the day when I was a very young lawyer in New
York at a big law firm that did a lot of pro bono work,
I did some political asylum work.
And the immigration courts court system,

(43:50):
even when going well, is a complete quagmire.
It's a complete clusterF.
Like you you don't have the right to a lawyer.
It's not a criminal proceeding.
So it's people who don't speak English often who don't have
the right to a lawyer.
The only way you end up getting a lawyer is if like a group
like the ones that we worked with human rights first,

(44:11):
shout out to them there during God's work,
like they will interview people who have been detained,
try to ascertain if they have like.
a pretty good claim,
and then find lawyers to do pro bono work on those cases.
So we got a bunch of people asylum,
but that was under the George W.
Bush administration.

(44:31):
Right after 9-11,
people were already worried it was going to be very highly
politicized, and it was.
So I mean, this system has been bad already,
but now you're talking about you can maybe deport someone
under an ancient law within 24 hours when possibly no one
knows that they've even been scooped up.
And they certainly don't know how to Fing get in touch with

(44:53):
anybody who might be able to file paperwork to get them
out.
So seriously, to all of that.
And yeah, soon,
maybe US citizens will be in that situation as well.
Yeah, wow.
All right, Marcel.
Wow, OK.
Well,
I have a handful of serious leads to add to your El Salvador

(45:17):
story that I've seen the last like 24 hours.
First was Margarita Gate.
Have you heard about this?
So Senator is Van Halen, right?
That's the same one.
I knew I was going to get the Van Halen.
Van Halen is Van Halen.
Well, does that how I said it?
Anyway, I mix up vowels all the time.
Maybe it's because I have too many vowels in mind.

(45:40):
Anyway, apparently when him and Abrego Garcia were talking,
they were at the table.
We've seen those pictures.
Apparently,
the Bukele administration planted two margaritas on the
table and had a little bit less than Abrego Garcia's
margarita and then claimed that they were drinking.

(46:03):
And so there's that whole margarita gate.
If I got out of jail,
possibly I definitely would have partaken in that.
But the senator was like issued a statement.
It was like the...
The salt was undisturbed on the rim.
Obviously, we were not drinking, so that's where we are.

(46:25):
Also, Trump- We have evidence.
We have evidence.
Also- You were not having fun, in case people thought.
This is a real fun visit.
Oh my God.
And so then another one is that Trump and the White House
have both posted in the last few hours a photo of,
apparently, allegedly,

(46:46):
of Rego Garcia's hands with his tattoos.
And he has tattoos on his hands,
and then on his floor knuckles, there's an MS-13.
And so Trump said, are these the hands of an innocent man?
You know, whatever.
It's like almost very clearly photoshopped, so.
Also, it could mean something different.

(47:07):
Like, this is not definitive evidence.
I mean, possibly, but if you look at this photo, photo,
and then somebody compared it to the video,
which I did not verify.
Okay,
I did not go back and look at the margarita gate video to
confirm what it was was or was not on his knuckles.
But like, it looks highly fit.
I mean, it's just like, also,
maybe he's been given this goddamn tattoo since he's been

(47:29):
detained in El Salvador.
Also possible.
Many explanations that are not definitive proof of also
possible.
And then a seriously follow up on the Harvard case.
I don't know if you saw this,
but now the Trump administration is saying that those
letters were sent to Harvard by mistake.
And it's Harvard's mistake that they took it seriously.

(47:50):
Mm hmm.
That's the latest that he's not going to check away their
text.
I mean, you know how he loves to escalate fake fights.
So I'm sure he will now.
And then like at the last minute,
we'll pull out and then say I saved the situation.
Yeah, which is what he does.
Clearly,
they're very bad university if they can't read clear,
clearly.
No, I mean, the letter was sent.

(48:11):
Yeah,
but it's their mistake to think that something so outlandish
outlandish was actually real.
Well, is that they've sent that ha ha,
they've sent that letter to like,
everyone universities and yeah,
and it was sent on the day that they said they were going
to send it out.
Like, Hello, seriously.
Okay.
Also, Marco Rubio and his little thought crimes.

(48:32):
Like, what the F is that?
I can say that, right?
Yes, I can.
Though so Khalil, who is now being detained in Gina,
Louisiana, which I've been to that detention center before,
because after the storm,
I used to go out there as a translator with pro bono
immigration lawyers.
We land very heavily on translators.

(48:52):
Yeah.
And so he got noticed that he could be deported based on
his thoughts, right,
basically from the Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
who yeah,
is supposed to be the adult in the room and is proving not
to be.
There are no adults in the room zero.
Very clear.
The room is adult list.

(49:13):
So all of those, the disappearing of people,
the lack of due process,
like all of that is severely disturbing to me and like has
me saying like seriously every day.
And then like the most petty seriously is this beef with
Janky Jeff and Morris Bart and then including Gordon and
like a hunting trip.

(49:34):
Have y'all followed all of that?
Oh, my God.
So y'all know that Jeff Landry is now trying to blame high
auto insurance rates on lawyers billboards.
Yeah.
OK.
Right.
This is a thing.
So apparently he made not apparently he made a statement in
one of his like press conferences,
like I'm sick of seeing Morris Bart, you know,

(49:57):
on like everywhere I look, you know,
like trying to throw out.
I mean, we all are.
But also have y'all not seen the get Gordon's billboards
that have popped up all around New Orleans.
Yeah.
So this is another, this is the Morris Bart of Baton Rouge,
is it?
OK, apparently Alexander Shuna Hara.
Oh, yeah, he's an Alabama part of Alabama.

(50:18):
Basically the like Redneck Riviera, like Alabama.
OK, there's the dueling.
You'll see the dueling.
Yeah.
So I mean, the interesting thing, though,
is that he made the Morris Bart con comments just after a
weekend of hunting with Gordon.
Yes.
And so more sports response was maybe I should take up

(50:38):
hunting, you know.
And so I'm just like so sick of these dudes who are in
power and out there like either Fing golfing or hunting and
like just like starting sh*t and playing games with very
serious things like insurance rates in Louisiana.
Yeah.
So I want to know your take on so because I'm kind of
amused by what's going on so far with like the Jeff Landry

(51:02):
versus the insurance commissioner, Tommy Teetha.
Yeah.
Like they're like, because they're both Republicans,
but they have the different insurance packages that they're
putting out.
And Teetha's is much more heavily on tort reform,
which for the record, as a lawyer,
I am not in favor of tort reform is a mistake.
It just means that people are less able to get compensated

(51:24):
for their injuries.
But anyway,
so they've already been like some spot like public sparring
where like people say,
I have not spoken to the governor in like over a year.
Like he has said nothing to me at all since the last
legislative session about like what he wants,
what he will support, what the deal is.

(51:44):
So there's already talk about that.
You know, this year at the legislature,
all Republicans in theory are going to be torn between
those the two of them and their two packages.
What's what's your take?
Are you guys the inside scoop?
No, I have no inside scoop.
And it's honestly something I need to do more digging on
because I want to understand it better.

(52:05):
I'm not a fan of either of them.
And like I don't think.
either of their packages are a good deal,
you know what I mean?
And so I, um, no, I wish I had scoop on that.
And it's not something that I feel like I know enough
about.
Like I haven't sat and looked at their, their agendas.
I, I, in fairness, I have not either.

(52:26):
I'm just purely amused at this point by the potential for
inviting.
I mean, but there's always.
Is it not always inviting?
And I'm just really curious to see how Cameron Henry's
going to handle it.
Like, where is he going to fall?
Because I accidentally listened to an interview with him
this morning and like,
he sounded reasonable and is that he has become a

(52:51):
reasonable person.
I know is insane because I don't think that he's changed so
much.
I just think that everybody else around him is so Fing
crazy.
Last, yeah.
Last session.
He pulled through last session.
He did.
Including on.
the governor not being allowed to just reject millions of
dollars in federal funding for school lunches for kids over

(53:12):
the summer.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, that goes through.
I mean, just 10 years ago,
I wouldn't have thought in 10 years I am going to be
relying on Cameron Henry to be the reasonable adult in the
room.
Well, because he also, I mean, here we are.
That's right.
Yeah, because I mean,
the truth is his district is like Metairie.

(53:34):
It's right outside of New York.
It's the suburbs of New Orleans.
So he's not anywhere close to as liberal as his
constituents on many, many issues.
Like so the fact that like, yes,
he's the reasonable voice in the room,
but who still isn't really like representing the voice of
his constituents like we're that's that's that's where we

(53:56):
are.
Yeah.
Well, all right.
Well, I also accidentally listened to that interview.
It didn't sound so reasonable, right?
Yeah, I was like, here I am nodding my head, agreeing.
What is happening?
Yeah, I'm agreeing with Cameron Henry.
I'm here for it.
I mean, I love reasonable adults in the room.
But at least there's a couple left.

(54:17):
So I know.
I know.
I'm glad he's there.
Honestly.
Let's get into what you do.
OK, so Louisiana Broad is there's there's a website site.
There's a sub stack.
There's amazing social media.
We'll obviously link to all of that in the show notes so
that people can find it.
But what made you want to create Louisiana Broad?

(54:40):
I got I went down a 48 hour manic rabbit hole.
Like it was the day after the gubernatorial primary between
Eddie Rasponi and John Bill Edwards,
where what Rasponi was leading by like 100000 votes, right?
And it was going to run off.
And I was like, this this can't happen.
This just can't happen.

(55:01):
And I like disappeared for 48 hours.
came back with an entire website made,
including John Bell's face on Will Ferrell's body in the,
given more cowbell SNL skit,
like that's where my brain went.
Because my whole thought was like,
the people need to know the people because at this point,
I was working in the legislature,

(55:21):
I was working with with Walt Leger,
or for him as his policy analyst.
And so I had been in the Capitol for a few years at that
point.
And I had seen and heard how the sausage was made.
And it was disgusting.
And I was like, people don't know what's happening.
Like people don't know how these people talk about their

(55:43):
rights.
They don't know how like, casually, they say, well,
we'll worry about that.
We'll put the legality to the side, like no, motherFer,
like the legality should be front and center wall.
Yeah, yeah, it should be like part of the sausage,
you know.
And so when Eddie Risponi who you know,

(56:03):
his like biggest platform issue was like,
the border with Mexico and like we don't have Louisiana
doesn't have share a border with Mexico and I was like,
share a border with the Gulf of Mexico.
And so it's just like people in like he had all of his like
really bullsh*t commercials like on cable, I'm like,

(56:23):
my people aren't seeing we don't have cable,
I haven't had a TV and I don't even know how long,
like we're not watching cable,
like people don't know what's happening.
It's like, I'm gonna put it on the internet, you know,
put it I'm an elder millennial.
Instagram's my jam, I like cannot figure out tiktok,
the boomers have taken over Facebook and like,
so I'm Instagram.
So I was like, I'm putting this sh*t on Instagram.

(56:44):
And that's what happened.
And that was it.
And I like had this thing that's like sat on it for a
while.
This is insane, like absolutely Fing insane.
Because this is back in 2019.
Like, now that's not so out of like, you know,
it's not so crazy to have like a political satire,
you know, Instagram campaign.

(57:05):
But back then, like that didn't really exist.
And so pictures of food and babies.
Yeah,
like the politics hadn't become like a pop cultural phenomena
and the way it is now.
And so there was no frame of reference.
Like I wasn't looking at a page being like,
I'm gonna do what this person does, but make it Louisiana.
It was just like, that's just how my brain works, you know.

(57:26):
So I didn't know what to do, I sat on it, sat on it.
And like, I mean, and I showed it to Walt, I was like,
is this, I was like, what are you doing?
He's like, that is insane.
It's so funny.
It was like, also like truly insane.
And so then the governor's campaign was just like,
you know, held a convening here in New Orleans.

(57:49):
And I somehow got invited.
And they were basically just like,
the Calvary is not coming.
Like do what you got to do, mobilize your networks.
And I was just like, uh, do we need to okay any messaging?
They're like, no, I was like, okay, guys.
it and like launched it and that was it.
We are desperately waiting.
What do you not understand?
I was like, all right, well, you asked for it.

(58:10):
And so then I just launched it and that was it.
And now it's going to like over 23, something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Around there.
Yeah.
That's a lot of people.
It is.
I did not expect, I was like,
nobody gives a sh*t about progressive politics in
Louisiana.
You know what I mean?
But people do.
Well, I think what's so great about it is that I mean,
one of the reasons that we wanted to do this podcast is

(58:32):
because like the people don't know what is happening in
Baton Rouge and the crazy sh*t that people are saying.
So I love that you clip things from the hearings and the
floor debates and share that.
I also love that you don't really add your own commentary.
Like you find comments from other people, you know,

(58:55):
Twitter accounts and things like that.
So it's like,
it's really showing that like This is not just me saying
this is crazy.
This is like there's a consensus around this somewhere.
In the law,
then there's a saying that the document speaks for itself.
Right.
These are like the videos speak for themselves.
Yeah, I said, yeah.

(59:15):
Yeah, 100 percent.
I'll say, too,
that just I'm sure from all your time at the legislature,
you feel the same way that, you know,
part of it really feels by design that it's hard for people
to to follow what's going on and engage.
I mean, our legislature does have a pretty good website.
They do actually let the public come to committee hearings,

(59:36):
which in some states is not true about.
I know.
In Mississippi, it's not.
You cannot do that testimony at all.
Yeah.
So it could be worse.
Yeah, it's terrible.
But like all of those hearings are in the middle of the
business day with very little notice.
And that's when they're doing it right.
When they're even giving like 24 hours of notice.

(59:56):
But there's been lots of f-y in recent years about giving
as little notice as possible and scheduling things.
And then doing it intentionally.
Yes.
And like dropping a 50 page bill.
Yeah.
20 minutes before the hearing.
Yes, exactly.
There's a lot of lip service that's given in that building
to it being, you know, in the house, you know,

(01:00:17):
the people's house and wanting the public to to be engaged.
But you don't really it doesn't seem like that that's
actually the goal.
They really want to be like, just shut the F up.
We're going to do what we're going to do.
And then we'll tell you about it later.
Exactly.
I mean, you know,
even I was so intimidated when I started and I was like
with, you know,

(01:00:38):
like with someone who worked there and I was meant to be
there and I was super intimidated.
I was like,
I can't even imagine walking in here just as like a regular
non affiliated citizen and being like,
I want to say something like that's terrifying.
Yeah, it still terrifies me to put in cards.
It's it's true.
I will say, though, for people who haven't been.

(01:01:00):
or testify,
then the one sort of flip side to that is that when you sit
there and listen to the sh*t that people are saying,
and that's both people who are the legislators and people
coming up to the table to speak, so much of it is insane.
It's literally about sh*t crazy, and it really,
it dials down the intimidation facts.

(01:01:22):
You're very right about that.
I mean, it's disturbing.
I mean, when I first started going to the legislature like,
I don't know, a long time ago, not more than a decade ago,
then yeah,
I was just so struck by sitting through so many bill
hearings that like, I wasn't there for it,
but we're just already on the schedule.
And just the insane stuff that people are saying that

(01:01:43):
you're like, this is the sausage being made,
as you were saying.
It makes my eye twitch.
People should see it because it's proof that, number one,
these people do need to hear from, you know.
informed, engaged, and diverse opinions.
And also, PS, that we need better people in office.

(01:02:06):
A lot of these people,
you would not trust them to like walk your Fing dog.
They're the people who are basically, you know,
creating all of the horrible laws in our state.
Yeah.
That impact you every day.
Yes.
So one of the things that I think you've tried to do is
show the absurdity of what's happening and make sure that

(01:02:27):
people know what people are saying, what's being proposed,
but also like how the process works.
So talk a little bit about that.
Because I feel like that is part of the intimidation is
that people don't really know how a bill becomes a law.
I was a teacher in a former life.
So like, also, that's like a part of my like ethos, right?

(01:02:47):
Like, I want to teach people, you know,
the whole teach a woman to fish and, you know, whatever,
all of that.
But like, you know, for a while,
I was doing all these calls to action,
and it's really hard to stay on top of all these bills.
And like, you know,
I just copy and paste and send it and just like spoon
feeding all that stuff.
And I realized like, in the long run,
that's super unsustainable,
because then if I can't put the call to action,

(01:03:08):
nobody is going to know what to do.
So it's like, I need to start teaching people how to like,
engage themselves and like, grow confidence.
And, you know, in being the person that's like, Okay,
I heard about this bill, I'm gonna go look it up,
I'm gonna figure out where it's scheduled.
And like, how can I impact, you know?
And so I've really been trying to push that and it's hard,

(01:03:29):
you know, because people are busy,
people have things going on.
And like you said, it's, it's,
there's a lack of transparency for a Fing reason,
because they want to do this under the dark of night,
you know, they want to just like take our rights away.
And, you know, enrich themselves.
And I mean, you know,
not to like negatively stereotype all legislators,

(01:03:49):
but I mean, let's, you know, whatever.
Yeah, no, there are still some good folks.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
But like the ones who are trying to do the shady sh*t.
want to do it as quickly and quietly as possible.
You know what I mean?
I try to teach as much as possible.
I just dusted off a couple of years ago,
I'd put together a session starter kit with like,

(01:04:09):
this is a fiscal year and that kind of sh*t is on there.
It's just two pages.
It's like literally how a bill becomes law.
When it's in committee hearing,
that's when you can have the most impact.
That's when you should email.
That's when you should call or when it's on the floor.
So that's really important to me because if not personally,
I feel way too much pressure.

(01:04:31):
I'm like, if I don't get this call to action out,
of course there's so many people on the ground doing this
work and I'm certainly not the only one putting calls to
action out.
I think we all carry a lot of weight on our shoulders.
But you also know too from working for a legislator,
whether it seems like that they're taking it seriously when

(01:04:53):
you call or you email or whatnot.
They are paying attention to that.
They have to, they have to count it.
Yes.
And I say this to people all the time,
you know how many committee hearings we've sat through it
where someone will be up there who's like,
I heard from 25 people in my district that they are opposed
to this law or they are for this law.

(01:05:14):
And I'm looking around like Fing 25 people.
Like really?
Like that's like the number of people.
That's it?
Yes.
The numbers are often very low in terms of who they're
actually hearing from.
But they do, they do, at least when they're their own,
when it's their constituents, then their, you know,

(01:05:34):
their staff is tallying that up and they're tallying up the
fours and the against.
Legislators do pay attention to that.
And the numbers are low.
They really are, even on a bill that's like, you know,
getting a lot of public attention.
I bet it's very rare that any given legislator gets more
than like one to 200, you know, emails or calls about it.

(01:05:57):
You know, in something that...
So adding your voice to that does matter.
It does.
And like what I try to emphasize too, is that first of all,
you don't have to like give an expert opinion on why you
oppose or support it.
You just have to say you oppose or support it.
Secondly, it's not about changing their mind.
It's about applying pressure.
It doesn't have to be this whole like, first of all,

(01:06:18):
like emotional appeals don't work well in the legislature.
Like let's be real.
And so it's really just like applying pressure,
not just for the people you want to do what you want them
to do, but like,
or like the person carrying the bill or the person who has
the vote,
but it's to give other people the cover to be able to
oppose someone in their own party, you know?

(01:06:39):
So I try to emphasize that.
I try to like, I think context is so crucial,
especially in a place like Louisiana where, you know,
we're all...
outnumbered and like the numbers we don't even know what
the numbers are because it's all so Fed up.
Like we have what we do have more registered Democrats
technically in the state of Louisiana but we all know
that's not the actual case and so anyway I think that

(01:07:03):
context is really really important and nuance is super
important and especially I think I have a feeling that I
have a lot of transplants that follow me and so just to
give them like a very Louisiana context like if somebody
says you can't be pro-gun and pro-life like yeah you can I
mean there's a lot of people in Louisiana like that you

(01:07:24):
know because guns are used in many different ways here in
Louisiana and not to say that I'm pro-gun but that's just
an example it's something I hear all the time it's like you
need to apply nuance to this like argument or else you're
going to alienate somebody who could have been an ally yeah
you know yeah yeah so one of the things that you often do

(01:07:46):
is add a picture of your child to images that you're
posting on the Instagram account.
So what is up with that?
It's so weird.
And Fing weird.
My mom hates it.
That's the picture.
There are so many pictures of you like as a happy child.
And I'm like, but this is the one it is.

(01:08:07):
It is a good resting b**** face picture.
So that is a picture.
It's actually with my dad.
It's like a family photo probably like JCPenney or
something back in the day.
And I have this like doily around my neck.
Like my stepmother has put this terrible makeup on me.
She was like, I love my stepmom.

(01:08:27):
And she like a hat,
especially back then had like a very like 80s sense of
makeup with children.
Do you have some bangs?
Oh, I have some bangs that start in the back of my head.
They're very like remembering pictures of myself from this
era.
Yeah,
they start like in the middle of my head and then go all
the way down.
And it's like everyone in the picture looks like I look

(01:08:50):
like kind of miserable and just like the lighting's off
with like the makeup's all off like my like nobody my
family likes this picture and I have it framed in my house
like just cracks me up so much.
And the first time I ever used that photo is when I was
trying to get this is like long before Louisiana Bra is
trying to get the internet to give me a free Beyonce ticket

(01:09:12):
to the concert that night.
And I was like,
put that picture is like this is the face of a girl who
deserves to go to Beyonce and I got the ticket.
Then I did it again the next time she came and I got the
ticket then too.
And I was like, there's something about this picture.
And so that's just like, I just feel like you know,

(01:09:35):
we all do like inner child work, right?
You know, all that stuff.
And I want to channel her as an inner child.
She's just like not Fing around.
She's like kind of a hard ass, like a total hard ass.
Let's be real.
And she's wearing a Fing doily.
So I'm so glad to know what the actual context of this

(01:09:56):
picture is, because my assumption,
I'll just be honest with you, when I saw it was like, oh,
this is like a picture of her.
She was in a school play, like a costume, like a makeup.
Oh, yeah, no.
That was just me in real life.
Oh, my gosh, yeah.
That was just my day-to-day look.
I love it.
There are a lot of pictures of me from the 80s.

(01:10:19):
So I'm the oldest in my family.
So it's me, my younger brother, and my younger sister.
And I'm just doing this like,
just a complete deadpan resting b**** face.
And it also big bangs that are,
and I always see it's just like,
the look on my face is everyone around me is a Fing idiot.
That's the look.
That's the look, right?
Like, that's the look.

(01:10:40):
And I too maintain that look.
much of the time.
That's really funny.
Including the legislature.
Yeah, that's why like, I don't often go much anymore.
Because I'm just like, my face just gives it all away.
Yeah, I know.
I was saying we were talking to Representative Boyd,
and we were saying the same thing,
because she's like very good at controlling how her face

(01:11:00):
and how I'm very strategic.
Like I will not sit where I will be on the camera.
Like I know exactly where to sit in the room.
Honestly, it's been a while since I've been to the Capitol.
I was there for some like,
so much over a few years that I was like,
I'm just gonna watch from afar.
Yeah.
So what are what are you?

(01:11:21):
I was gonna say what are you looking forward to if with
this next session, but that is clearly wrong framing.
What are you watching out for?
I I am looking forward to the fact that Jeff Landry is not
as powerful as he was last year.
Like we really handed it to him in that election.
And I'm really interested to see how that plays out.

(01:11:42):
And I'm looking forward to how that plays out.
I'm hopeful that there will be some impact.
That's, you know, I mean,
that will that the idiots in his party in the legislature
have recognized this like getting people to internalize
things that are obvious to others is not always like star
suit of these folks.
I mean,
last session and in all the bullsh*t special sessions that

(01:12:05):
they've had, then it's just like,
Landry is just like running, like running the table, man.
Like if like he wants it passed, people are passing it.
And even in a state where the governor's office and the
legislature are of the same party.
That's not that typical.
I mean,
this was really very much like just instant sh*t. That's

(01:12:25):
just like a paragraph.
Like, yeah,
you want to be able to appoint everybody to everything all
done.
All right.
You want to completely shield yourself from public records
laws.
Yeah.
No, I think when he got elected,
he for sure thought he was coming in as he we long and he
was.
to run the state exactly the way that Huey Long did.

(01:12:45):
And at first it seemed like he was gonna be able to do that
until- He is also less popular though.
Yeah, a lot less popular.
Huey Long was a dictator,
but he was doing something people liked.
Jeff Landry is a wannabe dictator who's not doing sh*t that
people like as we have seen.
Yeah.
And the funny thing is,
it's like the effort to try to like push through this

(01:13:06):
constitutional convention nonsense in the last session.
The thing is,
is like he probably would have support for a constitutional
convention if he had just worked with legislators to figure
out a better way to do that than we're just gonna do it in
two weeks and nobody's gonna have any input and we're just
gonna decide what, you know.

(01:13:27):
The same with amendment two.
You know, I mean, it literally was just like a Lincoln,
and like, just trust me, I'm gonna get, like, it's fine.
Like literally gonna put the writing in the wording in the
amendment that says and basically whatever else the
governor wants to do And you just have to trust.
Yeah,
then I'm gonna do a good job I mean and then of course what
they did right when Landry took office with the criminal

(01:13:48):
justice special session That was just a Fing travesty Yeah
And you're just like that hurts very very short Window of
time where they were fast-tracking those way more than than
they normally do like very little input and they basically
Upended the criminal justice system in our state including
to do things like get rid of probation Like get rid of

(01:14:10):
probation and parole Yeah and to like put the the the
public defender's office like all Louisiana public
defenders like under the control of The governor like like
the prosecutor's office is like also now in charge of the
public defender That's like a little bit of an
oversimplification,
but not really really.
Yes What's happening?

(01:14:31):
Yeah,
particularly if you ask people who work in that space and
they got all that done Yeah, like that.
Yeah real quick real quick Yeah,
but a lot has changed since then I know and I don't think
he would be able to do that again Yeah,
because there wasn't a ton of popular support for that.
No, no, they just did it fast They just did it real fast.
It's the same with what with what Trump exactly.

(01:14:53):
It's just if you do it fast You do a lot and you do it fast
and maybe people can't use catch up Yeah,
I like have them looking over here and doing something over
there.
It's working out super great for Trump either in terms of
his popularity Big surprise.
Mm-hmm.
I'm interested to see if I mean my fingers crossed whether
yes You see at least like some legitimate debate on things

(01:15:16):
among Republicans some if not pushback at least
thoughtfulness about things because it was just clear like
similarly with Trump that like They were just kind of
afraid of him just like afraid of the governor.
They wanted to be on his good side They know he's kind of
indicative.
So just like just do it and that's it.
We don't care Right.
We know that you have other things to do on the Saturday,

(01:15:39):
so we don't want to keep you for too much longer,
but if you could direct us to, like,
kind of clip that you think would have been a good
representation of, like,
politicians in the state of Louisiana recently,
or maybe just not recently.
I'm thinking of an exchange between,

(01:16:03):
and maybe it's because I was listening to your last podcast
this morning, y'all are talking so lovingly about Dodie.
Oh, Dodie.
I remember a few years ago,
there was that exchange between Dodie and Ted James.
This is, like,
back when Ted James was still in the legislature,
so it's been a few years.
Yeah, and the sisters.
I've never been seen a more racist document than the one

(01:16:25):
you brought, because we don't feel that way here.
When I look at you, I see Hollywood, do I not?
This document, unless it's rewritten.
At the beginning, I've never been more insulted.
For those of you who are offended by the words,
just look at me and Royce and think about how offended we
are by the actions.
How about the good, the bad, the ugly?

(01:16:45):
Oh, yeah.
Of slavery.
That was, I call him racist.
What's his last name from St.
Bernard?
Oh my God, do y'all know who I'm talking about?
Garifallo.
Ray Garifallo.
Do y'all remember this?
He was the chair of the Education Committee back then.
And they were trying to, I think it was a CRT bill, right?
And he was saying...

(01:17:05):
Critical Race Theory.
Excuse me, Critical Race Theory bill,
where they're trying to ban any mentions of Critical Race
Theory in any curriculum.
He was talking about slavery and he said...
He said, look, all we're trying to do here, essentially,
this is what he said,
all we're trying to do here is make sure that we're
teaching our history, the history of slavery, the good,

(01:17:28):
the bad, and the ugly.
Stephanie Hilferty, yeah,
said there was no good of slavery.
Critical Race Theory demands a new kind of segregation that
divides people based on their race and the color of their
skin.
It furthers racism and fuels hate.
If you're having a discussion on whatever the case may be

(01:17:49):
on slavery,
then you can talk about everything dealing with slavery,
the good, the bad, the ugly.
There's no good to slavery though.
There was talk about that there was some good because
people were given like skills training.
Oh my God.
It was a job training.
Yeah, it was job training.
Yeah, Fing sh*t.
That's like where your jaw just like drops.

(01:18:11):
That's insane.
Yeah, so probably that one, the good, the bad,
the ugly of slavery.
That's a really, that's a good one.
All right, on that note.
On that note.
Marcel, thanks so much.
Thank you for having me.
This was lovely.
I love talking sh*t in the middle of the day about the
Louisiana legislature.
We'll absolutely have you back.
Yes.
I'm here.

(01:18:31):
Wonderful swing.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you.
Well, that's gonna do it for us for this week. Obviously, what should people be doing, Ellie? Well, in addition to emailing people on the committees about these atrocious bills, then they should be going on Instagram and rating us, review, oh no, watching the podcast, listening to the podcast, what they do, listen to the podcast, rating, reviewing, and subscribing, and then then going on Instagram and sending us a voice memo with their seriously moments. Yes, because we will play them on the podcast. If it's good. It has to be good. I'll talk to you next week. Yep.
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