Louisiana

Louisiana (ⁱ/luːˌiːziˈænə/ or ⁱ/ˌluːziˈænə/; French: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan]; Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are the local government's equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Plaquemines. Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.

Much of the state's lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species, including many species of orchids and carnivorous plants.

Louisiana State Senate

The Louisiana State Senate (French: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned multiple committees to work on. The Republicans gained control of the chamber in 2011 after a special election in District 26 brought victory to their nominee, Jonathan W. Perry. Previously the Democratic Party held a majority in the Senate. The Senate President is a Democrat-turned-Republican, John Alario from Westwego.

Composition

The Louisiana State Senate is composed of 39 senators elected from single-member districts from across the state of Louisiana by the electors thereof. Senators must be a qualified elector (registered voter), be at least eighteen years of age, be domiciled in their district for at least one year, and must have been a resident of the state for at least two years. The senate is the judge of its members' qualifications and elections. All candidates for a senate seat in a district run in nonpartisan blanket primary and in a runoff if necessary. Elections to the Senate occur every four years and senators are limited three four-year terms (12 years). If a seat is vacated early during a term then it will be filled in a special election. Senate sessions occur every year, along with the Louisiana House of Representatives. The Senate convenes for sixty legislative days in general session in even-numbered years, and for forty-five years in appropriations session in odd-numbered years. The Senate is the upper legislative chamber of the Louisiana State Legislature and, along with the Louisiana House of Representatives, is the legislative power of the State of Louisiana. In addition it tries officials impeached by the House of Representatives and confirms or rejects officials nominated by the Governor of Louisiana.

David Duke

David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white nationalist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. A former one-term Republican Louisiana State Representative, he was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in 1988 and the Republican presidential primaries in 1992. Duke unsuccessfully ran for the Louisiana State Senate, United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, and Governor of Louisiana. Duke is a felon, having pleaded guilty to defrauding supporters by falsely claiming to have no money and being in danger of losing his home in order to solicit emergency donations; at the time, Duke was financially secure, and used the donations for recreational gambling.

Duke describes himself as a "racial realist," asserting that "all people have a basic human right to preserve their own heritage." Duke also speaks against what he describes as Jewish control of the Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. federal government and the media. Duke supports the preservation of what he considers to be Western culture and traditionalist Christian family values, Constitutionalism, abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, voluntary racial segregation, anti-Communism and white separatism. He has been accused of supporting Holocaust denial and opposes what he considers to be "promotion of homosexuality" by Jews.

Bill Cassidy

William Morgan "Bill" Cassidy (born September 28, 1957) is an American physician and politician currently serving as the junior U.S. Senator from the state of Louisiana. He is a member of the Republican Party and served as the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 6th Congressional District from 2009 to 2015. Cassidy will become Louisiana's senior senator when David Vitter retires in 2017.

Early life, education and career

William Morgan Cassidy was born in Highland Park, Illinois, one of four sons born to Elizabeth and James F. Cassidy, and is of Irish and Welsh descent. He received a B.S. Degree in 1979 from Louisiana State University and an M.D. from LSU School of Medicine in 1983. Cassidy specialized in the treatment of diseases of the liver at the Earl K. Long Medical Center (LSUMC). His wife, Laura (née Layden), is also a physician. The couple has three children.

In 1998, Cassidy helped found the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic to provide uninsured residents of the greater Baton Rouge area with access to free health care. The Clinic provides low-income families with free dental, medical, mental health and vision care through a "virtual" approach that partners needy patients with doctors who provide care free of charge.

United States Senate

The United States Senate is a legislative chamber in the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the House of Representatives makes up the U.S. Congress.

First convened in 1789, the composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each state is represented by two senators, regardless of population, who serve staggered six-year terms. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.

The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including consenting to treaties as a precondition to their ratification and consenting to or confirming appointments of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, other federal executive officials, military officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, and other federal uniformed officers, as well as trial of federal officials impeached by the House. The Senate is widely considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives, due to its longer terms, smaller size, and statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere. The Senate is sometimes called the "world's greatest deliberative body", sometimes pejoratively.