Any time I can use a picture of a Bengal tiger, as I did above, I will. That is Mike the Tiger, mascot of Louisiana State University. This story, though, is not a good one.

Louisiana State Police are investigating a Louisiana State University grad student’s phone call to a state senator. Graduate student Marcus Venable also taught courses at LSU as recently as last spring. His unhinged voicemail to State Senator “Big Mike” Fesi came after Fesi voted in support of prohibiting minors from receiving puberty blockers and surgeries that mutilate their bodies.

WARNING: Language:

UNHINGED: This is a voicemail that was sent to Louisiana State Senator @Sen_BigMikeFesi after he voted to override Gov. John Bel Edwards' veto on the bill to ban child sex changes in which @LSU Professor Marcus Venable calls him a "fat fucking piece of shit" and says "I can't… pic.twitter.com/IEKisCF6mg

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 20, 2023

Yikes. Not only does he name-call the elected official, but he also threatens the life of the state senator. At least that is the implication. Venable references an anticipated obituary and mentions conservatives who will be “butthurt” about his death. Whether the grad student meant that as a threat of physical harm to the elected official coming from him or a means of inciting some other unhinged person to take action against Fesi is unclear. Either way, it’s not a message that should be ignored. In today’s political atmosphere, the transgender agenda brings out some violent rhetoric against people who reject the propaganda.

Fesi is a Republican from Houma, Louisiana. Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, vetoed a ban on youth access to some life-altering health care, which would have moved Louisiana closer to joining a list of states that have curtailed some medical treatments for transgender people. The Louisiana House voted to override the governor’s veto.

State Rep. Gabe Firment’s House Bill 648 would ban doctors from prescribing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to minors, and from administering gender-transition surgical procedures. It would cease care for the small number of Louisiana teens already receiving some of those treatments, which all major American medical groups agree are safe and effective when provided in developmentally appropriate ways.

Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the bill following the Legislature’s regular session that ended in June.

The Senate must still support overriding Edwards’ veto for the House’s vote to become official. Two-thirds of both chambers need to support an override for it to be successful — that totals 70 members in the House and 26 in the Senate — meaning any member who is absent is effectively a vote against an override.

The Senate took that vote to override Edwards’ veto and Fesi voted in favor of the override.

Now the Louisiana State Police are looking into the matter. LSU has fired Venable from his teaching gig but he remains a graduate student at the university. He won’t be allowed to teach there again. Freedom of speech is one thing but that doesn’t include threats of violence.

“As a university, we foster open and respectful dialogue. Like everyone, graduate students with teaching assignments have the right to express their opinions, but this profanity-filled, threatening call crossed the line,” the statement said. “This does not exhibit the character we expect of someone given the privilege of teaching as part of their graduate assistantship. The student will be allowed to continue their studies but will not be extended the opportunity to teach in the future.”

The Rate My Professor website has restricted reviews to only registered users. Some of Venable’s recent reviews appear to have been added after the audio of his call came out. Those should be taken with a grain of salt. It would appear that the restriction notice that pops up when you access the website was recently added.

This man is in the field of Sociology. Let that sink in for a minute. It’s the scientific study of societies. It’s a social science that focuses on human social behavior and social interactions. It’s a study of culture. I remember taking a Sociology course during my college days and I thought it was one of the easiest classes I took in college. It seemed like a whole lot of common sensical observations to me. Anyway, this guy needs to develop some self-awareness. And, he should change his course of study. Clearly, he isn’t cut out for this one.