James Duckett is scheduled for execution in Florida on March 31, 2026 for his alleged 1987 murder of Teresa McAbee.
NOTE: As of 6pm ET on March 27, 2027, a *temporary* stay remains in place as the State seeks to reverse the stay rather than follow the advice of its own expert, who suggests that further DNA evaluation is warranted. Read the press release from FADP here. This stay may be revoked at any time. Please act as if the March 31 execution date will proceed.
Mr. Duckett has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. His attorneys argue that the case against him, built entirely on circumstantial evidence, has been undermined by recanted testimony, discredited forensic science, and the possibility of DNA testing that was never presented to the jury who sentenced him to death.
Duckett’s attorneys argue that modern forensic technology — capable of producing answers that were unattainable in the 1980s — now exists, yet the state is pressing forward with an irreversible punishment while key evidence remains inconclusively tested and thus, unresolved. (snip; more on the page, which is the petition page.)
In February 2026, a rumor spread that Bo French, a Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, wanted to deport Native Americans — people indigenous to the U.S. Several social media posts made the claim, including on Facebook, where one user said French had called for the deportation of “third world savages” including Native Americans.
Some posts linked to a Feb. 10, 2026, article in Texas Monthly, which included a line that read, “One of French’s favorite phrases is ‘third world savages’—which he has applied to Afghan asylum seekers, Muslims, and even Native Americans, who he also wants deported.” It is true that French called for the deportation of Native Americans. He did so in an Oct. 10, 2025, post on X.
Read the full article. French, who is allied with two far-right Christian nationalist fracking billionaire pastors, last appeared here in November 2024 when he declared that Democrats are “retarded unmanly homos.” He appeared here in September 2024 when he lost a court battle to ban early voting on college campuses.
A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation.
Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of “vital classes” from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants.
“Law enforcement is a deadly serious biz. It is not a place for shortcuts,” Schwank said. “Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs.”
Ryan Schwank, a former ICE academy instructor, testified in front of Congress today about constitutional violations.“At the academy, we took out the class that tells the officers that they have an oath to the Constitution.”
Former ICE agent: My first day training new cadets, I received secretive orders to teach them to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a warrant. I watched ICE cut classes that teach our legal system, firearms training, use of force, lawful arrests, and the limits of officers' authority
Former ICE trainer Ryan Schwank is telling Congress that agents are being trained to ignore the Constitution. "I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when I joined ICE. I followed it when I resigned. The legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective, and broken."
Director Lyons looked me in the eyes and said ICE was receiving proper training.Now a whistleblower says officials are lying about how much training new recruits actually get.They’re cutting corners and covering up. We need real answers and accountability. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-whi…
A newly introduced bill at the Colorado State Capitol would allow LGBTQ individuals to sue for damages caused by so-called conversion therapy, or therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person.
The practice was banned in Colorado in 2019, and the American Medical Association – among other medical and mental health organizations – has said it is ineffective and can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological injuries.
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 14: Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie in front of the House Gallery starts the 2026 legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado on January 14, 2026.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Sponsors of HB26-1322 say many of those harmed by the therapy don’t come forward for years. Their bill would eliminate the statute of limitations in cases involving conversion therapy.
Individuals could sue their therapists, facilities that hired the therapists, and anyone who knew or should have known about the therapy and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it.
Plaintiffs could recover economic and punitive damages if they could prove that the therapy was a substantial factor in their psychological injuries.
The bill is sponsored by State Representatives Alex Valdez and Karen McCormick in the House and State Senators Lisa Cutter and Kyle Mullica in the Senate.
The House Judiciary Committee will hear the bill this Wednesday.
Donald Trump has complained that a “stupid” lawsuit forced him to reveal plans to build a top-secret military base underneath his White House ballroom.
The 79-year-old president was defending his $400 million vanity project while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, after a New York Times article over the weekend exposed the shoddy nature of its construction and design.
While holding comically large placards detailing how the completed ballroom might look, Trump also gave updates on what is being built beneath the area where the White House East Wing once stood.
“The military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed,” he said.
“The ballroom essentially becomes a shed [shield] for what’s being built under the military, including from drones, and including from any other thing,” Trump added. “The glass, or the windows, you see the big windows, the glass is extremely thick. It’s high-grade bulletproof glass, so all of the windows are bulletproof.”
The ballroom is being funded thanks to donations from Donald Trump’s billionaire friends.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The lawsuit Trump referenced was filed in December 2025 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is asking a federal judge to halt construction of the ballroom until it undergoes multiple independent reviews, passes environmental assessments, and receives approval from Congress.
A federal judge said he will rule by the end of March on whether to issue an injunction stopping construction of the project pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Trump also lashed out at the lawsuit for forcing the administration to reveal its plans to build an underground military bunker beneath the ballroom in a typically unhinged Truth Social post in January.
“It is being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore top secret fact,” Trump wrote.
An underground bomb shelter beneath the old East Wing, built during World War II, was demolished in October to make way for Trump’s ballroom.
A rendition of how the ballroom might look when it is eventually completed.White House
The vanity project is being built as tens of millions of Americans suffer through a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by Trump’s war on Iran.
On Sunday, the Times reported that multiple experts also condemned the proposed design of the mammoth building, noting that it includes a staircase that doesn’t lead anywhere, columns that will block the view of its windows, and the 90,000-square-foot ballroom that is “unnecessarily” large.
Donald Trump updated reporters about his vanity project before discussing the war on Iran.Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at the report and accused it of being written by “three random people who have ‘studied fine arts’ and ‘long written about urban planning.’”
“President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the People’s House finally has a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades—at no expense to the taxpayer,” Leavitt posted on X.
Now and then, I post here from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. I read there every day; it’s a good way to begin the day online, for me. Anyway, today, there is a link, Jigsaw Galaxy: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day So, being curious, I clicked it, and it’s pretty neat. If you like to do jigsaws, take a look!
This review appeared on Facebook yesterday. I do not know Mr. Highson, but I read his columns.
My blushes, Watson.
Mr. Highson posts the cover of the first edition of Animated Performance on the Facebook post. The second edition, an essentially ‘new’ book, is available from Bloomsbury Press.
It’s nice of him to speak of me during Women’s History Month. Now let’s hear about the other female animators. One of my students, Ami Thompson, appears on the first page of this site. There are many others.
Animation really does let you ‘play’ any character; your sex, age, ethnic group do not matter. It allows you to act without anyone staring at you; there are many introverts in this profession!
Jeff Tiedrich uses blue language. It’s easily ignored if you don’t care for blue language; this is some great coverage of yesterday.Also, Bluesky posts don’t embed easily on WP, so really, this is better on the page. Just click on the link directly below. It’s also mostly here, but you’ll have to click on the Bluesky posts to see the excellent photos; they didn’t embed.
over eight million of us gathered peacefully coast to coast, to rise up as one and convey a singular message: fuck you, you fucking fuck — you’re not our king.
wait, did I say coast to coast? no, it was the entire world telling Donny Convict to fuck straight off.
(just click the link to see the post on Bluesky. How it works, I guess. -A)
HAPPENING NOW: A HUGE crowd has gathered in London, England for a protest against the far right in coordination with the No Kings day protests in the US
In 1789, furious protesters stormed the Bastille in Paris. This marks the start of the French Revolution that put an end to the highly corrupt, rotten regime of aristocrats and the ultra rich. Yesterday, thousands joined a #NoKings protest at the Bastille.
“I’m so proud of you. you chased out of this state pure evil. you chased them out. you chased out the fun-size fascist Greg Bovino. you chased out that evil Kristi Noem. Kristi Noem is so evil, I’m starting to think that that dog took his own life. just couldn’t take it. ‘is this my future? I need to get out. I’m taking the goat with me.’”
while millions of people were protesting the fucked-up reign of Mad King Donny, CPAC couldn’t even fill one small room. look at this clownfuckingly pathetic display.
it’s as if Sad Trombone became a real political party.
great optics, you guys. bravo. ten out of ten — no notes.
fuck those fucking fucks. let’s go out with a bang. here are some of the best protest signs from around the country.
(Just go see it all. You’ll be sorry if you don’t!)Snip
and finally, once again, our unknown poet laureate from Ellsworth, Maine.
as for Sundowning Grandpa Bugfuck, he was unusually silent — and nowhere to be seen. there were none of his usual protest-day batshit meltdowns on the feed of his crappy app. he couldn’t even be bothered to post AI slop of himself shitting on protesters, as he did last October.
he just spent the day holed up in Motel-a-Lago. according to his official schedule, the lazy fuck didn’t even bother to cheat at golf.
I’ve got a news flash for you, Donny: America is sick of you. aside from your brain-dead cultists who are too fucking stupid to understand what’s going on, nobody voted for this shit.
nobody voted for the historic and stately East Wing to be demolished so that you can replace it with some vulgar Epstein Dance Hall™ — and speaking of your dead pedo bestie, nobody voted for the continuing cover-up of a massive pedophile ring.
nobody voted for off-the-charts corruption and greed.
nobody voted for masked ICE thugs teargassing children, and murdering anyone who looks at them funny. nobody voted for innocent immigrants to be disappeared off the streets and shipped off to far-away slave-labor gulags.
nobody voted for the price of everything continuing to skyrocket — especially when you promised bring all that shit down on Day One.
nobody voted for our allies to be insulted and ignored, or for Ukraine to be thrown to the wolves, or for Greenland to be perpetually harassed, or for Venezuela to become a vassal state.
and nobody voted for an unwinnable clusterfuck of a don’t-you-dare-call-it-a-war in Iran — certainly not one that shut down the Strait of Hormuz, destabilized the entire Middle East, and sent the price crude through the roof.
guess what, Donny: you’re such a loathsome piece of shit that over eight million people took to the streets yesterday to deliver this singular message: fuck you, you fucking fuck — you’re not our king, and you never will be.
Scottie's Playtime 