Sunday, February 8, 2026

Louisiana Republicans had hoped to break the party's losing streak in special elections

 
But they couldn't come close to flipping District 60 of the State House.

Headlines:  The Downballot (top, bottom)

David Nir and Jeff Singer reports for The Downballot on February 6:
A win for Daigle would make him the first Republican to flip a Democratic-held legislative seat anywhere in the nation since Trump returned to the White House. Democrats, by contrast, have picked up eight Republican-controlled districts through special elections, as well as 18 seats in New Jersey and Virginia during those states’ regularly scheduled contests last November. 
A victory for Martinez, likewise, would give Democrats a high-profile win in a GOP-dominated state. It would also represent a strong showing on conservative rural turf.

David Nir reports on February 7 reports on a resounding Democratic victory in a district that Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024:
Democrats successfully defended a conservative seat in rural Louisiana on Saturday night, as Chasity Martinez defeated Republican Brad Daigle by a dominant 62-38 margin—a massive 37-point overperformance compared to the 2024 presidential result.
Republicans had hoped to score their first legislative pickup of any kind during Donald Trump’s second term, and they had good reason to think they might succeed in the 60th House District. 
Voters in the district, which includes part of Assumption and Iberville parishes (Louisiana’s equivalent of counties), had long backed state and local Democrats but had moved decidedly toward Republicans on the federal level in recent years.

Other panic-inducing GOP special elections:
2026


January-April 2025

GOP hypocrisy: Keep in mind that Wisconsin Republicans had to be shamed into restoring funding for Wisconsin Eye

 
They are very selective when it comes to transparency.

Top headline:  The Recombobulation Area
Bottom headline:  Capital Times

Dan Shafer reports for The Recombobulation Area
So, as the calendar turned from 2025 to 2026, state government entered this post-Wisconsin Eye world. Losing transparency and real-time video access to what’s happening in state government was invariably going to be a real problem. 
That problem was soon made worse. Republican leadership in the state legislature began enforcing a set of rules — Assembly Rule 11, Assembly Rule 26, and Senate Rule 11, according to the Wisconsin Examiner — which essentially bar members of the public from recording, photographing or filming legislative proceedings, only allowing credentialed members of the media to do so.

Fortunately, Wisconsin Eye resumed operation on Feburary 3rd.


Related post:

GET ME REWRITE: Just 18% of Republicans are honest with themselves; the rest are drinking Koolaid

 
Graphic:  Pew Research, 2/4/2026

Ted Van Green , Andy Cerda and Steven Shepard report:
A new Pew Research Center survey of 8,512 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 20-26 finds that nearly all of the change in views of the economy since last spring has come among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents: 
  • 49% of Republicans rate the economy positively today, the highest mark of President Donald Trump’s second term. 
  • Views among Republicans are up 5 percentage points since September and 13 points since April. 
  • Just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners rate the economy positively, virtually unchanged since April.

Related posts:
January 2026

December 2025

November 2025
Tariffs imposed by the blundering Donald Trump put American businesses in survival mode.  (8/24)

Keeping tabs on authors in LINKcat: James Sallis

 

LINKcat

New York Times, 2/1/2026

 Alex Traub reports:
Mr. Sallis’s work relied on the genre conventions of potboilers, yet the old-fashioned term “man of letters” was often used to capture his eclecticism and sophistication. In addition to his 18 novels, he also translated a novel from the French; wrote a biography; helped run a British sci-fi magazine; edited an anthology on jazz guitar; churned out criticism, poetry and short stories; and played banjo in a three-piece band. 
His fictional settings were as varied as New Orleans, Los Angeles and the rural South, and his protagonists included a Black private eye who teaches French literature on the side and a young white woman who escapes a yearslong kidnapping.




Related posts:
2026

2025
Melody Beattie.  (3/24)
Sue Bender.  (12/23)
Lou Cannon.  (12/23)
John Casey.  (3/5)
Marilyn Diamond.  (9/15)
Nathalie Dupree.  (1/19)
Edna Ferber.  (1/15)
Lynn Freed.  (6/11)
Jane Gardam.  (5/2)
Susan Griffin.  (10/17)
Paulette Jiles.  (7/21)
Sam Keen.  (4/8)
David Lodge.  (1/6)
Dennis McDougal.  (3/20)
Tom Robbins.  (2/11)

2024
Dorothy Allison.  (11/13)
Paul Auster.  (5/9)
John Barth.  (4/3)
David Boaz.   (6/13)
Caleb Carr.  (5/26)
Shirley Conran.  (5/25)
Robert Coover.  (10/12)
Frederick Crews.  (6/28)
Nelson DeMille.  (10/3)
Anne Edwards.  (2/4)
Richard Ellis.  (6/1)
Ellen Gilchrist.  (2/15)
Gary Indiana.  (10/30)
Sue Johnson.  (6/7)
Barry Kemp.  (6/1)
Elias Khoury.  (10/4)  
Ella Leffland.  (10/9)
Hal Lindsey.  (12/6)
Alice Munro.  (5/19)
Terry Robards.  (6/8)
Thomas Rockwell.  (10/14)
Tom Shales.  (1/21)
Ross Terrill.  (8/14)
Vernor Wing . (4/1)
Dan Wakefield , (3/17)

2023
Martin Amis . (5/31)
Richard Anobile.  (3/18)
Russell Banks.  (1/11)
A. S. Byatt.  (11/18)
Ted Bell.  (2/8)
Tim Dorsey.  (12/10)
Herbert Gold.  (11/24)
David Harris.  (2/8)
Paul Johnson.  (1/15)
Milan Kundera . (7/17)
Cormac McCarthy.  (6/19)
Kevin Phillips.  (10/19)
Betty Rollin.  (11/26)
Norman Rush.  (4/7)
Mimi Sheraton.  (4/9)
Charles Simic.  (1/16)
Donald Spoto . (2/18)
D. M. Thomas.  (3/31)
Fay Weldon.  (2/2)
Bill Zehme.  (4/1)

2022
Roger Angell.  (5/24)
Melissa Bank . (8/7)
Raymond Briggs.  (8/20)
Thomas Cahill. (11/16)
Philip K. Dick.  (11/20)
Bruce Duffy,  (3/13)
Todd Gitlin . (2/8)
Rebecca Godfrey.  (11/11)
Ron Goulart.  (2/7)
Doris Grumbach . (11/10)
Robert Hicks.  (3/8)
Thomas Hoving.  (12/19)
Maureen Howard.  (3/19)
Hilary Mantel.  (9/26)
Nancy Mitford.  (4/4)
P. J. O'Rourke.  (2/24)
Julie Powell.  (11/5)
Thomas Pynchon.  (12/17)
Dennis Smith.  (1/27)
Susie Steiner . (7/27)
Larry Woiwode . (5/19)

2021
F. Lee Bailey.  (6/11)
Kim Chernin . (1/10)
Angelo Codevilla.  (10/10)
Stephen Dunn.  (6/29)
James R. Flynn.  (1/30)
Larry Flynt.  (2/12)
Lucinda Franks.  (5/11)
Joseph Galloway.  (8/25)
Norman Golb.  (2/22)
Charles Grodin.  (5/20)
Maria Guarnascheilli , book editor. (2/18)
James Gunn.  (2/21)
Tony Hendra . (3/7)
Norman Juster.   (3/16)
Donald Kagan.  (8/20)
His King . (4/9)
Lyn Macdonald.  (5/15)
Janet Malcolm.  (6/18)
Peter Manso , (4/10)
Ved Mehta.   (1/12)
Marie Mongan.  (3/22)
Deborah Rhode.  (1/28)
James Ridgeway.  (2/16)
David Swensen . (5/13)
Bryan Sykes.  (1/14)
Athan Theoharis.  (6/14/)
Ed Ward.  (5/16)
Michael Thomas.  (8/19)
Adam Zagajewski.  (3/27)

2020
Ben Bova.  (12/17)
Clive Cussler.  (2/29)
Betty Dodson  (11/11)
Pete Hamill.  (8/6)
Shere Hite. (9/13)
A, E, Hotchner.  (2/18)
Roger Kahn.  (2/15)
Randall Kenan.  (9/29)
John Le Carre . (12/23/2020)
Johanna Lindsey.  (1/15)
Barry Lopez.  (12/29)

Alison Lurie.  (12/7)
Charlers Portis.  (2/19)
Julia Reed.  (9/8)
John Rothchild.  (1/22)
Gail Sheehy.  (9/3)
Jill Paton Walsh.  (11/29)
Charles Webb.  (6/30)

2019
Warren Adler . (4/23)
Kate Braverman.  (10/28)
Stephen Dixon.  (11/12)
And Jenkins . (3/10)
Judith Krantz.  (6/27)
Paule Marshall.  (8/27)
Martin Mayer.  (8/3)
Wright Morris.  (7/25)
Toni Morrison.  (8/12)
Anthony Price.  (6/17)
John Simon.  (12/1)
Sol Stein.  (9/30)
Brad Watson.  (8/2)
Lonnie Wheeler.  (7/15)
Herman Wouk . (5/20)

2018
Neal Thompson.  (6/17)
Barbara Kafka.   (6/8)

2017
Kit Reed.  (10/1)

2016
E. M. Nathanson.  (4/10)

2015

2014

2013




Death by bird flu of crows in New York State


Screengrab and headline:  News 12 Hudson Valley, 2/6/2026

Blaise Gomez reports:
There was an unusual sight behind a shopping plaza in the Town of Wallkill — dozens of dead crows — and it's now prompting state officials to suspect avian flu. 
Viewers began calling News 12 this week after spotting large numbers of dead birds on the ground and in trees behind the Price Chopper, Crunch Fitness, and other nearby businesses along Schutt Road.

Related posts:
February 2026

January 21-31, 2026

January 11-20, 2026
New York tells resident don't touch those dead birds.  (1/17)

January 1-10, 2026
Bird flu strain of avian influenza:  "The picture has grown darker and stranger than most would have imagined".  (1/8)
Bird flu reported on Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts. (1/8)Dozens of vultures die of bird flu in North Carolina.  (1/8)

December 16-31, 2025

December 1-15, 2025

November 15-30, 2025

November 1-15, 2025

October 2025

September 2025

April-August 2025