Open Thread | Take Your Blood Pressure Meds Before Reading This

Absolutely foul and disgusting human beings!
Pure, unadulterated RACISM!

Louisiana GOP races to eliminate an elected office won by an exonerated man
By JACK BROOK and SARA CLINE
Updated 4:25 PM CDT, April 9, 2026

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man imprisoned for nearly 30 years before being exonerated won a landmark election in New Orleans promising to fix a judicial system that failed him. Now, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the GOP-controlled Legislature are racing to eliminate his job before he can be sworn in.

Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote last November to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court after pledging to reform the justice system based on his own experience fighting to access court records while in maximum security prison.

Duncan rebuilt his life, in part by running for and winning the clerk’s office. But Louisiana Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted to scrap Duncan’s new job as part of a broader GOP effort to streamline the judiciary in New Orleans, a Democratic hub with a predominantly Black electorate. The state Legislature is largely Republican and white, and the deeply red state has been leading efforts to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Duncan’s swearing in is scheduled for May 4.

He told The Associated Press he believes he’s being retaliated against by Louisiana officials who have long denied his innocence, even though his name is listed on the National Registry of Exonerations

Republicans say it isn’t personal and defend the effort as a step toward government efficiency.

“The citizens of New Orleans overwhelmingly said: ‘I want to give this person a chance, he can make a difference,’” Duncan, a Democrat, told lawmakers during a March committee hearing. “What this bill does, it says: ‘Thank you but you wasted your time.’ It disenfranchises everybody.

…………………………………………..

Landry told the AP that eliminating Duncan’s elected office was about improving “government efficiency” and “cleaning up a system in Orleans Parish that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years.”

Proponents of consolidating the criminal clerk of court with the civil clerk of court say the offices are combined in other parishes. Terminating the criminal clerk of court position would save the state an estimated $27,300, according to the office of the legislative auditor, which added that the costs of combining clerks’ offices were “unknown.”

The bill’s Republican author, Sen. Jay Morris, who represents a district in north Louisiana, acknowledged that once Duncan’s elected position is eliminated, the civil clerk of court might struggle to handle the influx of cases. The solution, he says, is to “hire someone.”

Other New Orleans elected judicial officials whose jobs may be eliminated in the future would be allowed to serve out their terms, but not Duncan.

Morris told lawmakers that the goal is to pass the law in time to prevent Duncan from taking office before the start of his four-year term.

This entry was posted in Criminal Justice, Elections, Institutional Racism, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Open Thread | Take Your Blood Pressure Meds Before Reading This

  1. rikyrah says:

    Democrats
    @TheDemocrats
    HUGE: Last night, voters in Whittier, CA elected a Democratic-backed mayor and flipped control of the city council in a clean sweep.

    Congrats to Mayor-elect Becerra and Council members-elect Santana and Macedo!
    https://x.com/TheDemocrats/status/2044434379166949725?s=20

  2. rikyrah says:

    Christopher Hale
    ‪@christopherjhale.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV’s teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.

    This is a serious escalation.
    https://bsky.app/profile/christopherjhale.bsky.social/post/3mjkezzu7dc2w

  3. rikyrah says:

    You gotta be kidding me.

    Charles Я. Davis

    ‪@charliearchy.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Today I learned that JD Vance skipped RCIA, the Catholic Church’s educational program for adult converts, and instead had a Dominican priest-friend baptize him after a crash course in right-wing heresy. These are lazy men who think they can fast-track/ChatGPT their way to Expertise.
    9:41 AM · Feb 11, 2025
    https://bsky.app/profile/charliearchy.bsky.social/post/3lhvynihd2k2u

  4. rikyrah says:

    Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊

Leave a Reply