2023
Bayou Blue Radio is back!
Until now, our servers were located in France. Since the beginning of Bayou Blue Radio, we have been targeted by groups who are against freedom of expression, which are numerous in France and linked to the main political parties. This is a practice that is increasingly widespread. Our website has gone down several times, and more seriously, our server was completely emptied. We had to recreate everything, but this time in the USA, with much stronger security than our former French host, OVH, could provide.
This allowed us to restructure ourselves and prepare for our future on FM radio here in the USA. We refined our music selection and took a new direction that we hope will better suit our listeners’ tastes. Bayou Blue Radio is now pushing forward what makes it strong: quality programming, mainly jazz, but also incorporating Funk and Americana music with a monthly addition of new releases. We also have a new show called “The Monthly Jazz News,” in which we feature a selection of the best jazz albums that are currently being released or have just been released. The international jazz scene is so vast that we cannot dedicate a weekly show to it anymore, as we need time to listen, select, and sort the albums, which is a lengthy process. We are also working on a new sound design.
When we are on FM radio, the show “Funktropolis” will naturally return, as it shares many similarities with these musical genres. As you may have noticed, Bayou Blue Radio primarily promotes living black American music, and jazz, in particular, is increasingly addressing social issues in album themes.
How can we ignore current events? For now, you can read our editorials on the dedicated section of our website, and social issues are covered in the “Society” section. Another section is dedicated to the album releases news in collaboration with our partner in England, Paris-Move. When we are on FM radio, the news will become daily, and a French-language news magazine will be broadcast on weekends for French-speaking populations in the USA. Our style of information is exactly between The Washington Post and The New Yorker: thoughtful and often analyzed news that we will continue to provide and gradually strengthen, humanist and uncompromising.
As our core business is promoting artists, we will also have a live show that will take place depending on the availability of our artist guests and will be broadcasted multiple times.
You can now enjoy our website, which we have tried to make clearer, at our usual address https://bayoublueradio.org/. You can listen to us live 24/7 here, and for now, it’s 100% music http://107.152.41.4/public/bayoublueradio. We will inform you of every Bayou Blue Radio development on our website and social media.
Thank you for your loyalty.
Thierry De Clemensat
Chief editor
Bayou Blue Radio
April 2023
Editorial
For our regular Anglo-Saxon readers, particularly our American friends, it is sometimes difficult to understand what is happening in France today, with frequent strikes and images of violence in all major cities. The problem is deep, and it is likely that if the social system had not been broken by Sarkozy and all his successors, we would not be where we are today.
Let’s take an example: an average French person earns €1800 per month, pays rent of €800 to €1000, pays over $8 per gallon of gasoline, and with inflation, they will not have enough to eat until the end of the month. The price of electricity is totally unaffordable, and the same is true for any other form of energy. They have to find a way to pay exorbitant sums for medical care insurance, unemployment benefits, and retirement, as most retirements are below €800.
Therefore, it is understandable that working until the age of 64 does not interest anyone, and only the wealthiest workers are satisfied with the current proposals. These are generally high-level professions such as engineers and other similar professions for whom working beyond 60 years is not very impactful.
The problem currently runs deep in French society, and since President Macron came to power, things have deteriorated rapidly. Socially, of course, but also a complete denial of democracy, with President Macron preferring to use his police to intervene violently during demonstrations, to worsen situations and close any form of debate. This is the modern face of a form of dictatorship that is similar in many ways to the way Donald Trump used to conduct his policies, with media statements that are at best lies on all subjects, and at worst, speeches with language elements that no one understands, sometimes affirmed by a minister and denied two hours later. There is also a fierce desire to retain power at all costs, so much so that some journalists say that the constitution could be modified to allow Macron a third candidacy… This is unverifiable, but it would not surprise anyone.
Under Macron’s presidency, only language elements count. One of the worst examples is certainly the term chosen to speak of all the social groups that contest his policies, they are classified as extremists, for example, the term “Extreme” left is used for socialists who do not support Macron or moderate environmentalists as the most extreme.
This denial of democracy also affects independent journalists covering demonstrations. You can easily see dozens of videos on the web showing independent journalists threatened by police during demonstrations and kept at a distance from police violence and protesters defending themselves. We can also seriously question why hooded elements are left free to break everything while they could be controlled from the start of a demonstration; there is a real desire to make the protesters appear as dangerous extremists. It should also be added that criticizing any action by an overzealous prosecutor or any other person with authority is punishable by putting anyone in prison.
If you are American, imagine that tomorrow your roads and highways are covered with radars every 10 or 20 kilometers, and you are given a point-based driving license. The consequences would be as disastrous as in France because drivers would brake abruptly before the radars and accelerate like crazy just after. The roads would become particularly dangerous, and the point-based driving license would force thousands of drivers to drive without a license or insurance with the fear of being caught or having an accident. All these things put French society on the brink of explosion, adding to this a president elected by a minority of people by default to avoid the extreme right and who is leading an extreme right-wing policy. It is easy to understand that with the forced passage of this retirement law, the coming months are likely to be no better than what France is experiencing now.
To finish, the entire press in France is in the hands of the right and the far right, with perhaps the exception of the magazine Marianne, but which, by supporting European economic policy, contributes to the degradation of the country. There is practically no philosophical difference between them. The same goes for the continuous news channels. President Macron disrespects and regularly insults the population with his outrageous remarks. There have never been so many ministers caught up in the justice system and still in office in previous governments. There is inevitably a just wave of revolt against this new word invented by Macron’s advisers, “the legitimate violence of the state,” which replaces what was previously called “maintaining law and order.” This says a lot about the dictatorial excesses of the Macron system, which of course are not reported in the French media, but which the very serious American press has been echoing for a few weeks now through articles in the very serious New York Times and Washington Post. But it is true that here the phrase “freedom of the press” has meaning, unlike the majority of French journalists who are at the service of successive powers, without any critical sense, except to try to bring Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour to power (French far right).
March 2023
Editorial
It’s hard not to focus on the war in Ukraine that is fueling passions between pro-Russians who tacitly support Putin, and who are represented in France by a good portion of the political class, and defenders of democracy, mainly found in the USA and English-speaking countries…
An entire people are being massacred by the Russians, and in the meantime, Europe is wasting time hesitating over whether or not to take further action with Ukraine… The reality that is becoming apparent is at odds with these hesitations, which, if they continue, will offer Russia a great opportunity to come and carry out massacres in European countries as well, in order to impose its geopolitical vision of reuniting all the former countries of Greater Russia under the Russian flag. And obviously, Putin will go all the way, aided by complicit countries that can provide him with money and weapons at will.
If there is no quick decision to go to war against Russia, we could see a Europe, in part or in whole, having to pay homage to entirely undemocratic countries like Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and some other similar countries. The liberal Europeans are already very right-wing, if not to say straddling the extreme right, and they do not particularly appreciate being indebted, although some far-right parties are financed by Russia, which probably explains their skewed geopolitical vision.
Others, only slightly less extreme, such as Macron’s party, the Republicans in France, and other parties in Europe, are no more comfortable with the Russians than with the Americans, which is why they are dragging their feet on important decisions.
This is yet another proof that the European model is not working, aside from the dramatic economic decisions that have plunged and will continue to plunge for a long time into galloping inflation. On the geopolitical front, the same thing is looming…
Definitely, the right-wing parties, whether in Europe or the USA, are a problem, both socially, economically, and geopolitically, where the reasoning is quite similar and is rendering societies totally sclerotic.
At least here in the USA, things are being taken seriously by the current government, and the results are showing.
Presumably, Europe, which over the years has dismantled its arms and gunpowder factories, has put itself in an impossible situation, and by continuing with the same policies, will not be able to recover from the set of problems caused by Russia, nor recover from its disastrous economic management, which, if not stemmed very quickly, will result in the loss of the Euro. It is up to Europeans to decide whether they prefer the Ruble or the Dollar, which could still put a lot of people on the streets and in the streets, as has already been the case for too many years.
February 2023
Editorial
While the United States grapples with numerous social issues and the upcoming presidential elections, Europe is sinking deeper into crisis, with record-breaking inflation and populations that are struggling more and more to make ends meet financially. In France, the Macron government is finishing the unraveling of the social fabric, with a level of inequality never before seen and a society that is sinking into various forms of violence, outside of state violence of course, which is at the orders of Brussels.
In the US, just looking at the press shows what interests Americans at the forefront are police violence that led to the death of Tyre Nichols, all newspapers are questioning, unlike France where such stories would go unnoticed with a police force that risks little; here not only is the press doing useful work by opening all debates around this awful event, but justice will be served and certainly not lenient, and American society as a whole is becoming aware and evolving, without avoiding any debates.
President Joe Biden announced to Congress the end of the Covid emergency on May 11th, a reassuring news for both citizens and the economy that desperately needs it in this crisis-ridden world. Republicans who tried to make a scandal with the documents found at President Biden’s have come up short, in fact, the President and his lawyers were prompt in collaborating with competent authorities, and furthermore, in total transparency, which quickly resulted in a lack of interest from the press on this issue. As proof, articles on the subject that were on the front page when this affair was released are now on the back page with contained anecdotes in the files. For a European, this transparency is commendable, even fascinating, as European politicians are mired in dark deals that never really break out.
America is also still grappling with firearms, regularly, and mainly in California, mass shootings take place by disturbed individuals who attack with weapons of war and at the moment no government seems capable of solving this problem, probably it will take more tragedies for legislation to regulate this problem. It should be noted for the upcoming elections here, the abortion debate will be one of the most important issues, a debate that for Europeans seems mind-boggling, but it must be taken into account that here there is no separation between religion and the state, perhaps this is the main problem.
Religion here is carried by the most extreme Republicans, the era of the man with the red tie and hair implants has left not only social and philosophical traces, but within the Republican party itself, which is tearing itself apart in internal wars between the most extreme and others.
Meanwhile, the first convictions for the January 6th incident are starting to come down, a necessary step in the slow healing after Trump. The former president, who apparently will not be able to escape justice, is starting his campaign and continues to cry out conspiracy and his election, which he claims was stolen from him; fortunately, his vociferations do not seem to interest many people at the moment …
The President Joe Biden seems to be presenting himself for a new term due to a lack of representative personalities from the Democratic side, which will give time for a new generation of candidates to emerge for future elections. Unlike Europe, the American economy is doing well, January ended with an increase, yet the gasoline price is skyrocketing without any reason outside of low speculation, probably due to the war in Ukraine and the American oil industry wanting to quickly recover its Covid losses.
This being the case, the gallon, which represents 4 liters, is $3.05 on average, while gasoline in Europe is 2 euros per liter or more in some places, not yet cause for alarm, as if gasoline were as expensive here as in Europe, one gallon would cost more than $12.00. And finally, a touching sequence for all aviation lovers, the last Boeing 747 has rolled out of the factory and will be replaced by a more contemporary model. For Bayou Blue Radio and Bayou Blue News, there should be something new around this summer, if you follow us on the website, you will be informed when the time comes.
January 2023
Editorial
McCarthy elected Speaker, but at what cost?
We had to go back to the polls 15 times to see the Republican speaker that the American press has been watching torn apart during this period.
The post-Trump era has left indelible marks on the Republican party, which now seems irreconcilable between the Trumpists representing the most extreme branch of the party and all the others, such as Senator McCarty, who had to make many concessions to be elected.
To have an idea of the atmosphere of the final vote, just read this article from the Associated Press.
McCarthy went to the back of the room to confront Republican Matt Gaetz, who was seated with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers were pointed, words were exchanged and violence seemingly narrowly avoided.”
A clan that now seems totally irreconcilable, so much the denial of democracy of the camp of the “trumpists” prefers to argue by violence than by debate, or to assert their good right by lies bigger than themselves by manipulating the masses, as we have seen with this case of January 6.
Even if the Trump camp does not have the strength it used to have, it still retains its power of nuisance, ranting and screaming to anyone who will listen, and we will certainly have to wait a long time for the wounds left by Trump and his cronies to disappear, unless they decide to leave the Republican camp and start another party, which is unlikely given the electoral system here, which is used to a two-party system that is obviously showing its limits.
Thierry De Clemensat
Chief editor
Bayou Blue Radio
December 2022
Editorial
Elon Musk, another losing machine?
So, Elon Musk just lost 100 million dollars… We understand that this thought alone may bringing a tear to the eye of less cool-headed media groups than our own, but given that we endeavor to see the world through a humanistic and historic lens, it’s time to scratch underneath the colonialist varnish of Tesla, plug in a vacuum cleaner and look truth in the face.
This man is a declared supporter of Trump (whose Twitter account he has just reinstated), nothing very surprising given that they share the same dark ideas. But Twitter aside, if you’ve read the CNN article about what Elon Musk is doing to Twitter Africa employees, how can this possibly make you want to buy a Tesla? (Read about it here: “Twitter Africa employees accuse Elon Musk of discrimination over severance terms”)
We will not pass over in silence the fact that thousands of employees are resigning from Twitter, and that advertisers are fleeing en masse the blue bird on the verge of bankruptcy.
It must be said that the successive tantrums of Elon Musk, who wishes to authoritatively force Twitter employees to blindly obey their new master, have been the trigger for a flurry of resignations. Whether at executive or employee level, this phenomenon has resulted in revealing the methods of ultra-authoritarian management at Space X and Tesla, as well, where employees refer to him as “Mr. Apartheid…”
More broadly, it is probably time for everyone, that is to say you and me, to become aware that by our choices, we can influence history; as many companies have done by boycotting Twitter, we can also boycott Tesla. This is one way we can contribute to a healthier society in which this sort of character cannot have its place at the helm.
Of course, even by boycotting Tesla, the man will never be poor, and let’s be clear that bankrupting Mr. Musk is not the purpose of our discussion here. We would simply like to see this type of sinister character off the front pages and in his rightly place – oblivion – leaving more subtle and gifted people to handle these roles.
Each one of us has the power to say no, to not be forced to put up with a world as it is imposed on us and not to let our minds be polluted by this/these kind of individual(s).
Thierry De Clemensat
Chief editor
Bayou Blue Radio
