Just announced on New Orleans news station WDSU. After losing LA Governor's race to Democrat John Bel Edwards, Vitter has announced he will not seek reelection to the Senate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/phuc-dat-bich-wants-facebook-to-know-thats-his-actual-name_564f1b9ae4b0879a5b0a7d6d

"Phuc Dat Bich" is not a 12-year-old's poorly spelled insult.

He's a 23-year-old Vietnamese-Australian who asserts he had his Facebook profile shut down multiple times over accusations he was using a fake name.

To prove his namesake to the world, he shared an image of his passport online.

Originally posted in January, the photo surged in popularity online this week, with more than 128,000 likes and 68,000 shares on Facebook as of Friday.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/syrian_refugee_controversy_how.html#incart_river_home

While last week's terrorist attacks in Paris have abruptly focused a spotlight on resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, hundreds of refugees come to Louisiana every year. They often leave behind violence and persecution in their native countries to form new lives here.

In Louisiana, refugees are resettled by Catholic Charities in three cities: New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. The agency's New Orleans area office, located in Metairie, would not comment Monday on Gov. Bobby Jindal's executive order to prevent Syrian refugees from coming to Louisiana. But in interviews in September and October, officials with Catholic Charities in New Orleans and Baton Rouge described how the program works:

About 150 people moved to the New Orleans area as refugees or through other resettlement programs during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. About 200 others moved to Baton Rouge. Some are formally classified as refugees, while others fall under different programs. For example, one program provides special immigrant visas for Iraq or Afghanistan residents who helped the U.S. military.

This year, both New Orleans and Baton Rouge expected their programs to grow somewhat in light of the civil war in Syria and the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. The State Department said Sunday that 14 Syrian refugees have settled in Louisiana this year. As of October, the New Orleans office of Catholic Charities expected the number of people served by its program to grow by about 25 people this fiscal year, many of them likely Syrians.

More at link . . .

The kitten was born with a condition called Microphthalmia, which apparently is Latin for ‘small eyes’. She has abnormally small eye sockets and is completely blind. A friend of mine feeds the feral cats in her neighborhood. The little blind kitten, along with her sister and Mother, showed up a few months ago. Blind kitty was starting to run around on her own and getting dangerously close to the road. So my friend trapped the blind one, followed by the mother and sister about a week later. My friend was looking for a permanent home for at least the blind kitten, but I thought it would be best if she had her sister with her. All three (mother, who is about a year old, and the two female kittens, now about 3 months old) are living in my house, along with my cranky old man cat. I’ve had the 3 girls for about a month and the kittens have adjusted well to domesticated life; the mother, not so much.

Anyone have a good idea for names for the kittens? My family has suggested ‘Keller’ for the blind one (Helen is too conservative for such a cute kitten). My daughter wants to name the blind one ‘Stevie’, as in Wonder. I need names for both kittens actually. The mother will probably be returned to my friend’s neighborhood after the winter has passed. Several of her siblings are still there and my friend feeds them daily. I don’t think the mother will ever adjust to living inside.

http://imgur.com/a/xuqRp

http://imgur.com/6y041OP