Preferably "unhinged" but hinged will do fine if that's how you prefer to roll

Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy I've come home, I'm so cold Let me in your window

Ooh, let me have it Let me grab your soul away Ooh, let me have it Let me grab your soul away You know it's me, Cathy

Kiddo has had a rough week, and been sick for a few days. I saw a Bluey magazine while I was shopping, and bought it to cheer her up. She really liked it, and said she wanted me to make her this Bingo pizza. We didn't really have the right ingredients, but I tried to improvise with what we had.

She was feeling so crummy she actually fell asleep on the couch (usually never does) while I was making it. She woke up very grumpy and still feeling bad, so I told her I had a surprise for her.

She walked over to the table and just went "No!" then ran away crying.

"We have Bingo at home."

Bingo at home...

The Louisiana House Judiciary Committee April 16 passed a bill essentially eliminating New Orleans’ clerk of criminal court just weeks before Calvin Duncan, a Black man who was wrongfully imprisoned for decades before being elected to the position last year, is set to take office.

The committee quickly passed Senate Bill 256 by Sen. Jay Morris, a Monroe Republican, on an 8-5 vote in a push to get it before Gov. Jeff Landry so that it can take effect before Duncan starts his term as criminal clerk of court on May 4.

The bill would combine the city’s criminal and civil courts under one clerk of court position.

Lawmakers aren't supposed to shorten a politician’s term once they start office, so backers of the bill are trying to avoid having Duncan take office before the bill goes into effect, thus letting him serve out a 4-year term.

But Rep. Kyle Green, a Marrero Democrat, said he wondered if the governor signing the bill before May 4 would count as lawmakers cutting current Clerk of Criminal Court Darren Lombard’s term short.

“We’ll just have to see what happens in the courts, I guess,” Morris said.

In her testimony during the hearing, ACLU of Louisiana Advocacy Director Sarah Whittington also questioned whether the bill would require a new election altogether.

Morris has said Clerk of Civil Court Chelsey Richard Napoleon would simply become clerk of both courts. But Whittington pointed out that the legislature is essentially creating an entirely new office and eliminating both the criminal and civil clerks, and as such, it could require a new election to fill the position.

Rep. Mandie Landry, a New Orleans Democrat, said she believed that behind-the-scenes political infighting may have given the governor and other Republicans an opportunity that they would not otherwise have had if Lombard had won.

Landry noted that Congressman Troy Carter, former Congressman Cedric Richmond and Mayor Helena Moreno all backed Lombard, who Duncan bested with 68% of the vote in November. That combined with the Landry administration's hostility toward Duncan may have created an opening the governor could use to keep Duncan out of office.

“He is being targeted, and I know you found yourself in the middle of dirty New Orleans politics,” Landry said to Morris. “I don't think you knew that before you got in because you probably wouldn't have gotten in.”

Duncan said he believed the governor and Attorney General Liz Murrill were ultimately behind the push to get rid of his job. He was exonerated in 2021 after serving 28 years in prison, but he said the attorney general’s office, then under Jeff Landry and Murrill, pressured him to drop his petition for compensation for his conviction, threatening his law license.

During his election last year, Murrill wrote a letter to Duncan telling him to stop calling himself exonerated “to avoid further action” from the AG’s office.

A new analysis finds that tech giant Palantir Technologies paid $0 in federal income taxes last year, despite raking in hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to build out a mass network to surveil Americans in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Palantir, which has landed multiple massive contracts under the Trump administration, made $1.6 billion in net income last year.

It grew so much last year that it joined the list of the 20 most valuable U.S. companies, with its stock more than doubling in value in the first half of 2025 alone. In a report to shareholders, the company said it was “crushing” expectations in terms of growth, with revenue growing 93 percent year over year at the end of 2025.

As he was running for another term in the White House in 2024, President Donald Trump made it clear that he was not a fan of the government's electronic spying powers contained within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"KILL FISA," he wrote in an all-caps message on Truth Social. "IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS."

It's been two years and five days since Trump wrote that, but it might as well have been another lifetime. On Wednesday, Trump again took to Truth Social as Congress was debating a possible extension to Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications between Americans and individuals overseas.

Now, Trump says he's willing to "risk" the rights of Americans in order to keep those spying powers intact.

"I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country!" he wrote. "We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!"

The context here is the April 20 deadline for reauthorizing Section 702. As Reason's Joe Lancaster detailed a few weeks ago, that deadline provides opportunities for members of Congress to demand changes to how FISA works.

The Democratic votes on the pair of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., were not enough to overcome universal opposition from Republicans.

Still, the votes represented a watershed moment in the party’s relationship with Israel and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had continued to enjoy strong support from Democratic leaders, despite outrage from the base over the war on Gaza. Sanders said the votes signaled that party leaders are finally taking note.

“This is where the American people are. The polls are very clear: The overwhelming majority of American people do not want to continue to give weapons to Netanyahu and his horrific wars in the Mideast,” he said. “I think the Democrats have caught on to that. It took a little while, but they caught on to that. But Republicans, I think, are standing in opposition to millions of their own supporters.”

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/58562989

The House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on renewing a spy power that grants the Trump administration warrantless access to thousands of Americans’ communications.

While uniting against President Donald Trump on many fronts, Democrats are split on what to do over the domestic spying power — and the party’s leadership isn’t giving much guidance, according to a congressional notice obtained by The Intercept.

In the notice laying out leadership’s advice on bills up for a vote this week, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark simply explained that the relevant top committee leaders were split. House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes supports a clean reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, while Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin wants further reforms.

Clark gave straight up-or-down recommendations on many other pieces of legislation, but not the spying law.

With leadership silent, progressive activists are trying to step into the void to pressure members. They say Trump’s disregard for the rule of law in his second term means that representatives should only vote for the law with reforms. Government officials have engaged a pattern of abuses at the Justice Department.

Centrists on two key committees, on the other hand, say that modest changes enacted in 2024 went far enough and Congress should give Trump the so-called “clean” reauthorization he has requested.

With Republicans themselves divided, the margin within the Democratic caucus could prove crucial.

Rather than advising members how to vote, however, Democratic leaders is stepping aside. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has said that he personally supports reforms but has not signaled that he will pressure his caucus. (Jeffries’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on renewing a spy power that grants the Trump administration warrantless access to thousands of Americans’ communications.

While uniting against President Donald Trump on many fronts, Democrats are split on what to do over the domestic spying power — and the party’s leadership isn’t giving much guidance, according to a congressional notice obtained by The Intercept.

In the notice laying out leadership’s advice on bills up for a vote this week, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark simply explained that the relevant top committee leaders were split. House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes supports a clean reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, while Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin wants further reforms.

Clark gave straight up-or-down recommendations on many other pieces of legislation, but not the spying law.

With leadership silent, progressive activists are trying to step into the void to pressure members. They say Trump’s disregard for the rule of law in his second term means that representatives should only vote for the law with reforms. Government officials have engaged a pattern of abuses at the Justice Department.

Centrists on two key committees, on the other hand, say that modest changes enacted in 2024 went far enough and Congress should give Trump the so-called “clean” reauthorization he has requested.

With Republicans themselves divided, the margin within the Democratic caucus could prove crucial.

Rather than advising members how to vote, however, Democratic leaders is stepping aside. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has said that he personally supports reforms but has not signaled that he will pressure his caucus. (Jeffries’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

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The shelter Zeus spent most of his life in was closing right before the COVID lockdown in March of 2020. We took him in and tried our hardest to make up for all the love and family he had missed out on. He had such a hard life, but he was the most sweet and gentle soul.

His pet bio described him as an inside boy who would go outside to do his business but wanted to come right back in, and as being so laid back he would get picked on by the other dogs. The day he came to our home he carried a donkey light up chew tow in his mouth. He was so fucking adorable.

He took to the comforts of his new home very quickly and we were bonded almost right away. When lockdown went in place we snuggled on the sofa watched Tiger King on Netflix. He loved to go to the park and ride around the city. When I got pregnant, and we installed a car seat, he couldn't really seem to get comfortable in the back seat anymore, so he started riding shot gun instead.

While I was pregnant he would snuggle up to my belly like he knew the baby was coming soon. I was honestly a little worried about how an older shelter dog would react to having a baby around, but once she was born he was always such a patient and gentle big brother. Even when she would take his toys to claim as her own, he didn't seem to mind sharing, not even his donkey.

Last year, tumors started popping up all over Zeus. Even when we would get one removed, it seemed like 3 would pop up in its place. About month ago, Zeus would hardly touch most food we gave him. Last week, he seemed to stop eating completely, and I had to start feeding him baby food and yogurt with a syringe.

We knew the end was coming soon, so I spoke to my vet and decided I would do my best to keep him comfortable and arrange for euthanasia at home. On the vet's advice, I read rainbow bridge to his sissy to try and help explain what was happening.

I tried to make his last days full of happy memories, and when he couldn't walk to the grass at the park, I carried him. He still wouldn't eat much on his own, but did take a few table scraps and seemed to enjoy just being out doors and with his family.

Last night we read our bedtime stories together and his sissy gave him a big hug goodnight. He seemed to be savoring it. I had been planning to schedule everything for as early this week as we could, but didn't realize that would be the last time they saw each other.

When I woke up this morning, I thought he was just sleeping at the foot of my bed like always, but he was gone. It must have been within an hour or so of when I actually woke up, and I've never been more angry with myself for hitting snooze on my alarm. I wish so badly I had been holding him when it happened.

Rest in peace my Zeusy. We already miss you so much it hurts. You were the best boy and the best big brother we could have ever asked for. 💔