I say pseudo-originalist because the decision relies on cherry-picked examples of what they want history to say while mostly ignoring the leading Founders on this issue.

It's very interesting that the 5th Circuit relied so heavily on the two major gun rights cases of the last 20 years, DC v Heller and City of McDonald v Chicago, to bolster its pseudo-originalist claims.

But this principle has no application to government use of religious language or symbolism. See Lynch, 465 U.S. at 687 n.13 (declining to apply denominational preference cases to city crèche). Nor could it. Consider the cities of Corpus Christi, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Fe, San Jose, St. Augustine, and Sacramento, to name just a few. Do those names represent “denominational discrimination”? Or take our national motto. See 36 U.S.C. § 302 (“In God We Trust”). Does it show “favoritism” for monotheism over polytheism?

The Fifth Circuit says religious freedom doesn't apply to religious symbols posted by the government because place names exist.

I am not joking.

That is what they said.

So many thoughts, but mostly I'm thinking about the student I have taught all year that I just found out is Muslim. She has to have this document elevated in every class she takes while hearing her elected officials rant about 'Sharia' and the 'Islamification'of Texas.

Outside Merriam Webster's HQ. 🤣 @merriam-webster.com

DB Cooper was a trans woman in drag

Taylor Swift has had at least two (2) girlfriends.

Super curious what the law that requires a liquor store to sell a number of brands looks like. Seems like a wild waste of resources.

Imagine not even mentioning the name of the woman that the article is about.

"She’s been a court interpreter for over 20 years, the only one licensed in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. Her language skills are requested nationwide..."

"One of her children recently enlisted in the military...

www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

Republican attempt to erase trans women could derail long-awaited Smithsonian museum Lawmakers say exclusionary provisions risk collapsing a once-bipartisan effort to build the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.

@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Apr Advocate
Democratic Women’s Caucus warns Reps that they will derail long-held bipartisan plans for a Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum if Trump continues insisting on excluding trans women from it.

The call to action: “If you love Texas, boycott the entity that uses some of its profits to fund a standing emergency infrastructure that fills the FEMA and state gap in TX natural disaster response”

We all known A*azon tends to sell books bellow list prices, but I've recently found them selling books at below WHOLESALE prices. I know this because I own a store. That's fucked up.
Anyways, support your local book stores. Shit's tough.

Congrats on “opening” a strait that was open six weeks ago, and all it cost was at least 13 dead service members, thousands of dead Iranian civilians, tens of billions in taxpayer dollars, our loss in global standing, and the Iranian regime’s increase in power. Phenomenal work.

What I Saw at a Maternity Ward in Kenya After the U.S. Cut Off Food and Foreign Aid Photographs tell a story of two mothers determined to help their babies gain enough weight to leave the hospital — only to face little to no food again.

A maternity ward doctor donated his own blood during surgery to keep a pregnant patient alive.

One woman gained fewer than 10 pounds over her entire pregnancy.

Another collapsed and had seizures during labor.

(Published Dec. 2025)

Trump says he's willing to 'risk' your rights for his surveillance powers Trump says he's willing to "risk" the rights of Americans in order to keep the federal government's warrantless spying powers intact.

The president once said he wanted to kill warrantless electronic spying.

So much for that.

I have owned this book since it came out and have been embarrassed that I never quite got around to reading it. I finally did and it was just incredible The mix of murder and architecture cannot be beat!!! #thedevilinthewhitecity by #eriklarson

Good for him but I am tired of learning about all the ways a 41-year-old candidate for U.S. Senate supposedly has a lot more growing and learning to do. Maybe do that before the Senate? And maybe try out a lower office before then?

Or maybe we just watch him blossom into another Sinema/Fetterman.

Wyden urges Democrats to back FISA privacy amendments The senator called for guardrails on the use of AI in surveillance.

Wyden urges Democrats to back FISA privacy amendments

Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination. Discrimination based on sex is expressly prohibited under Montana’s unique Nondiscrimination Clause––“[n]either the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate on account of . . . sex . . . .” Thus, Article II, Section 4 is unequivocal in its intolerance for discrimination based on sex. Because sex discrimination involves a fundamental right under Article II, the appropriate level of judicial review is strict scrutiny. Snetsinger, ¶ 17. ¶28 Being transgender is also a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause of Article II, Section 4,––“[n]o person shall be denied equal protection of the law.”

MONTANA SUPREME COURT: “Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” and is subject to strict scrutiny under the Montana Constitution.

We already have an actual Daniel Boone connection. There was a major pipeline of settlers and slaves from 1820s Missouri to Texas. Boone had a child with one of his slaves. Three "owners" later, William B Travis brought her enslaved son Joe with him to the Alamo.

Yup, this comment makes me think of Maria Hammack's amazing research into Silvia Webber and her husband who ran a ferry east of Austin on the Colorado and helped runaway slaves escape to Mexico. When bigotry against them became too fierce, they moved to the Rio Grande and did the same thing.

Houston to reconsider ICE ordinance amid state funding threat Gov. Greg Abbott’s office told Houston Mayor John Whitmire Monday that the state will withdraw $110 million in funding if the city doesn’t axe the ordinance.

more people should be paying attention to the fact that the city of houston passed a policy trying to limit cooperation with ICE and now Greg Abbott is threatening to cut the city's state funding if city council doesn't undo it. www.texastribune.org/2026/04/14/h...

French woman, 86, held by ICE after moving to US to reunite with long-lost love The son of pensioner Marie-Thérèse told French media he is worried for his mother's frail health as she is detained in a Louisiana ICE centre.

French woman, 86, held by ICE after moving to US to reunite with long-lost love

My god. Essential, horrifying reporting here.

DHS is paying local police to do immigration enforcement for them; local officials are paid to investigate/arrest people for suspected immigration violations. There are "huge financial incentives" to do this
9 Minnesota sheriff's offices & PDs are participating
themarshallproject.org/2026/04/11/t...

What the Colfax "Riot" Marker Got Wrong How a state historical marker turned a massacre into a monument to forgetting

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Colfax Massacre. Here is a reflection on how it has been misremembered. #CivilWarMemory open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

If it makes you feel better, basically every 7th grade Texas History classroom causes thousands of 12 year olds every year to hate Mirabeau Lamar. Now if we could just get Richmond to stop celebrating him....

If you want to know more, @transnews.network is pretty much the only news org taking the Catholic Church's total trans healthcare ban and its devastating impacts seriously.

In-depth coverage here: transnews.network/p/it-s-a-nig...

And here: transnews.network/p/u-s-cathol...

The nice thing about Amazon threatening to brick my 2012 Kindle is that I’m free now. They’re taking away my Kindle. I don’t have to get a new one. I can get another e-book reader for all my library loans.

It’s very liberating.