The Founders Show Podcast Por News Talk 99.5 WRNO (WRNO-FM) arte de portada

The Founders Show

The Founders Show

De: News Talk 99.5 WRNO (WRNO-FM)
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A look at Louisiana politics from Chaplain Hy McEnery and Christopher TidmoreCopyright News Talk 99.5 WRNO (WRNO-FM) Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • What's Next In The Iran War?

    What's Next In The Iran War?
    Mar 9 2026
    Hy and Christopher and the show with an interview with Bill Hyland, his historian of St Bernard Parish on the https://www.losislenos.org/events We also talk about https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/one-of-the-last-great-newspapermen/article_3b0b4113-286f-4305-8172-ec076eba845b.html of the program, Curtis Robinson.But our main conversation, as Christopher writes below, is What’s Next in the Iran War?Many have criticized Donald Trump’s military bombing campaign in Iran, yet one strains to show sympathy for a regime which murdered thousands of its own people for simply asking for the right to free elections. It’s difficult to have empathy for a dictatorship so brutal that when a young adolescent is shot at a peaceful demonstration, and a firefighter picks him up to carry him to get medical aid, the firefighter is shot and killed by the Revolutionary Guard for the audacity of helping a wounded protester. No Westerner will shed tears for the demise Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or lament the destruction of the Iranian drone factories—which have outfitted the Russian military with endless amount of aerial death visited on innocent Ukrainian citizens—and which currently bomb civilian targets in Arab countries.Even the most ardent critic of the exercise of US military force in Iran had trouble suppressing a sardonic laugh when news reports showed the bombed-out ruins of the building where the mullahs of Iran gathered to vote for a new supreme leader. It was easy to chuckle when in headlines above the photo of destroyed shell of the building of the “assembly of experts” (that which remained after the explosion), the news caption read “white smoke, no leader.” How does one not cheer at the death of a group of psychopaths who have driven thousands to their death through endless conflict and terrorism? Iran is run by a “12th Imam” death cult whose theological relationship to mainstream Islam is roughly analogous to that of a Bible-believing Baptist versus a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Both claim to be Christians, but they share the sole similarity of staring at a cross on a regular basis— with much different purpose in mind. Few will shed a tear for an Ayatollah and government who actively tried to kill the President of the United States; moreover, degrading the remaining nuclear and military assets of Iran not only relieves an existential danger, but increases our ability to emasculate terrorist cells around the world. A limited aerial strike on Iran, which came after informing the Gang of Eight in Congress, is essentially the same action Barack Obama took during his presidency. The question remains, though, what happens next? How limited is this?In point of fact, Operation Epic Fury started when it did, according to Axios, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Trump on Feb 23 with a stunning tip: Iran's supreme leader and his top advisers were all set to meet at one location in Tehran on February 28. “They could all be killed in a single devastating airstrike,” Netanyahu told Trump and his team, according to three sources briefed on the discussion. As the bombing campaign stretches into its third week, Donald Trump faces a constitutional requirement, as he has called this bombardment “a war “. The President should go to Congress and seek authorization for further action. More importantly, Trump should tell both the US House, the US Senate, and the American people just what the essential objective of the continued bombing campaign really is— because even his friends are wondering.Erik Prince, one of the Trump’s closest supporters—and as President of Blackwater an expert on ground wars and their aftermath—said on the Steve Bannon podcast, “If there were a viable ground force that could seize and hold terrain and control terrain, then I guess air power and a decapitation strike makes more sense to me. But clacking off against the leadership and leaving a void right now — I’m concerned it’s going to result in a lot of chaos. Who knows what weapons the Iranians have stockpiled away that they’ll unleash on the region, or what they’ll do inside the United States now? It’s undoubtedly a bold move. I hope it was the president’s decision alone, and not because he was arm-twisted by supporters or billionaire donors. Why are we so worried about nuclear weapons not if we had these strikes last year that supposedly eliminated their nuclear program? Regimes get changed by removing the top management, but [also] having a viable replacements. I have yet to see there is a viable replacement anywhere that can sieze control of a significant empire. Ninety million people — intelligent, hardworking, technologically capable — is not easy to govern or flip overnight. Air power alone concerns me. And I’m concerned this is not our fight, that this is Israel’s fight that we got dragged into…And already three Americans dead, five seriously ...
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    54 m
  • Rep. Julia Letlow Joins The Show

    Rep. Julia Letlow Joins The Show
    Mar 4 2026
    The Founders Show kicks off with an interview with Congresswoman Julia Letlow, candidate for the United States Senate in the May 16 Republican primary. We talk about why flood insurance for Louisiana is more important than a perfect American Conservative Union rating, her endorsement from President Trump, and why she decided to challenge Bill Cassidy.At the end of the show, we talked to another candidate, former Jefferson Parish President John Young, who is running in the May 16 Republican primary for the LA Public Service Commission to succeed the term limited Eric Skrmetta. President Trump cited the need for data centers to install their own power plants, an idea that began at the behest of the LA PSC with Meta. Young talks about how Louisiana is setting the trends on data centers nationally, and why who holds this office is extremely important. He repeats the often given quit in the tech industry that the Interstate 20 corridor is starting to be called “AI-20”.In between, Hy and Christopher argue about the meaning of the State of the Union address— and whether we should go back to the tradition of our Founders and abolish the verbal speech.As Christopher writes: End the SOTU AddressesAt February 24th State of the Union address, the New Orleans-born, Houston-area Congressman Al Green defied the ‘polite silence’ instructions of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a protest sign, “Black people aren’t apes.” Before he was escorted out of the chamber, he answered—before the national cameras—a tweet that Donald Trump forwarded on his TruthSocial account depicting Michelle and Barack Obama as apes in a jungle. Green set the tone of the evening with Trump respondingly calling Democrats “crazy”, “evil”, and “ what’s wrong with you?” Prominent Democrats responded with heckles of their own. Very little of the 2026 State of the Union address talked about policy, or even provided any facts about the State of the Union of any particular relevance to the national conversation other than the price of gasoline at the pump. The utter farce staged last Tuesday may signal that time has come to finally get rid the body politic of this horrible Stentorian tradition begun by another racist president, Woodrow Wilson, and return to the practice which stretched from Thomas Jefferson to Theodore Roosevelt of simply the White House sending to Congress a written report on the State of the Union. Few read those presidential missives today, but they actually provide quite informative historical snapshots on a year-by-year basis on the conditions within the United States. They also show a remarkable insight into the thinking of government leaders at the time. The written SOTUs are serious documents for serious men; in other words, the opposite of what the verbal SOTUs have been for decades. Not all the evening was nonsensical. Trump provided a few heartfelt moments in his address, but these moments had little to do with the current State of the Union. No matter what one’s political persuasion, only the heartless refused to cheer as the US Men’s Hockey Team marched in donning their newly-won gold medals. A tear came in the eyes of most Americans as the Purple Heart was pinned on the lapel of the hero National Guardsman or when the Congressional Medal of Honor was hung on the neck on the 100-year-old veteran Korean War-era Navy pilot. Without those moments, the insults, and the theatrical procession of the Olympic team into the US House gallery with the promise of a Presidential Medal of Freedom to be awarded to Connor Hellebuyck (the goalie for the Winnipeg Jets), Trump’s actual SOTU Address comprised an actually rather short speech bared of much policy content, only approximately a half hour of the actual 1 hour and 48 minutes address. The President did speak of items of legislation already passed from taxes cuts to regulatory relief, as well as referencing the pending SAVE Act to require photo ID to vote (although his dig at his friend “the communist” Mayor Mandami requiring a photo ID and a Social Security card to get a job to shovel snow but not go to the ballot box did draw a laugh). The President also referenced his Trump RX program claiming that he had lowered prices by 100% (though one doubts drugs are now free), and Trump emphasized his support of the medical transparency bill (with a flash at his bette noir Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has championed and authored this legislation for more than a decade). In fact, the President’s only statutory request of Congress was to provide more government funds to a retirement subsidy program for those without a 401(k) or pension, originally passed by DEMOCRATS!Other than to condemn the Supreme Court and defend his love tariffs, Trump really did not introduce any NEW big ideas in his speech, which continues an unfortunately common bipartisan trend for State of the Union addresses, especially when one considers that a...
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    54 m
  • U.S. Senate Race, OPSO Communication Crisis, SNAP Changes

    U.S. Senate Race, OPSO Communication Crisis, SNAP Changes
    Feb 23 2026
    Hy and Christopher take on several subjects on today’s broadcast, including a major communications crisis at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, The secret to a better Mardi Gras “Fat Friday”, SNAP, NO soda for you, and a New POLL in the Louisiana US Senate race SHOWS A DEAD HEAT… and that the negative ads on Julia Letlow are working.
    Referring to the first topic, we had asked Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson a series if questions, and she provided a reply that was less than informative.
    We queried, “Last year, the jail switched vendors for providing inmate communications -- like phone calls -- to a controversial Florida company (Smart Communications) that has recently filed bankruptcy, how will that impact jail operations? Has the Sheriff begun investigation for a replacement? The owner of smart communications was a very proud ex convict. He had a license plate that said “ convict”. Did the sheriff express reservations given that information? In some jurisdictions, inmate advocates have been critical of banning mail, arguing that it diminishes contact with family and loved ones; I believe the jail currently scans mail for viewing on kiosk screens -- what are your thoughts on that?

    Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office Rep. replied, “OPSO has received solid assurances that all obligations, and commitments will remain unchanged. Any questions you may have about the changes occurring within Smart Communications, should be addressed with the company directly.”

    We also talk about an answer to diminishing crowds on the Wednesday before Mardi Gras with “The Vendredi Gras Solution”.

    In recent years, it has become a common practice in New Orleans to give school children the Friday before Mardi Gras off along with the week containing Shrove Tuesday. In fact, teachers tend to dismiss their classes at midday on the Thursday prior, as megaparades commence to dominate the calendar that night. Educators wish their kids get home in time. As a result of a holiday weekend has evolved, and the midweek Krewes have paid the price. Comparatively meager crowds currently attend the parades on Carnival’s Wednesday night. It is easier just to wait for Thursday—and beyond. After all, children have school in the morning on Thursday, and the first float of the second parade on Wednesday evening often will not reach most families till 930 at night—or later.
    Parade routes which boast of teeming crowds for the long five-day weekend stand nearly empty along St. Charles Avenue on the Wednesday prior to Shrove Tuesday, yet the city must nonetheless spend huge sums of money for police and sanitation despite the mediocre attendance. The former night for Nyx was inherited by Alla and Druids on the Orleans route in 2026, yet neither parade inspired enough loyalty to draw dense crowds this year. Often, there were more people on the floats than receiving the beads in the crowd.
    When one accepts that virtually no one in New Orleans truly works on the Friday before Mardi Gras (however official that workday may be listed), it might be time for the City Council to acknowledge transferring the Wednesday night parades on the main route to Friday afternoons and declaring that day a city holiday, with Thursday’s Chaos parade kicking off what would be essentially become a five-day holiday. Savings in police and sanitation costs would be profound, and the businesses which have to shut down early on Wednesday would enjoy a complete full work day…
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    54 m
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