I’ve said it quite a few times; I support capital punishment for every reason but one – the inevitability that the state will execute the wrong person.  And given that that is one of the ultimate wrongs – an innocent person dies, the guilty party goes forever free – that’s all the reason I need to oppose capital punishment.  

And it’s not just an intellectual parlor game; we’re fairly certain one innocent guy was executed; there are suspicions about many other such cases. And the fact that well over 100 people have been freed from death row because their convictions were overturned, in most cases because they could not have committed the crimes for which they were convicted and sentenced to death, usually after sitting on death row for many years, as some conservatives demand the curtailing of appeals, which would have led to several more executions of the innocent?

Color me unconvinced.  Or, rather, utterly convinced. 

So, with all that said:  a “botched” firing squad execution in South Carolina left a convicted murderer not quite dead, for a while anyway:

There wasn’t much chance Mahdi didn’t commit his crime.  Or, rather, crimes; he was convicted of three murders – the stabbing of Greg Jones in a drug deal gone bad, then shooting a convenience store clerk  Christopher Jason Boggs in the face and finally shooting police officer James Myers 9 times. 3 to his head.

Any of which, but especially that last, might explain why three expert riflemen firing at fifteen feet missed a three inch target – a grouping I get with a handgun without a whole lot of ceremony at that range – leaving Mahdi in “excruciating pain” for about a minute. 

I imagine there’s going to be an Eighth Amendment civil rights suit against the marksmen – if anyone has standing to take it to court.

Rumors of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline are greatly…

…er…

…oh, I can’t keep a straight face:

Nothing to see here, peasants.

Hey, look!  The guy who banned  family Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings, limited the Cathedral of Saint Paul to ten worshippers (and Kissin’ Cousins’ Sports Bar in Newfolden to 50) and tried to get you fired for not getting vaccinated…:

…is suddenly a liberty hawk!

Minneapolis deputy police chief Katie Blackwell’s defamation suit was thrown out, and she’s been ordered to pay back part of Liz Collin’s legal fees:

This may be the biggest backfire I’ve seen in a defamation suit – and the subject is by no means academic to me.

In a move that finally brings truth to the matter, Blackwell also signed a written declaration, stating:

“I, Katie Blackwell, acknowledge, agree, and affirm that everything in the Honorable Edward T. Wahl’s Order Regarding Special Motion for Expedited Relief Under Minn. Stat. § 554.09 and for Fees and Costs Under Minn. Stat. § 554.16 dated April 8, 2025 is accurate, true, and correct.”

So, despite her initial claims, Blackwell has now affirmed that all of Judge Wahl’s findings are “accurate, true, and correct.”

So this brings up all sorts of questions about Blackwell’s testimony in the Chauvin trial – including her assertions that the restraint technique Chauvin used on Floyd, which appeared to have been straight out of the department’s training manual as affirmed by several Minneapolis cops interviewed in Collin’s movie, was no-how, no-way, ever part of the MPD’s training canon. 

Read the whole article.  And buckle up.  This next year or two is going be a doozie in Minnesota courts. 

Minnesota schools failed during the pandemic.  Some might say they collapsed. 

Governor Klink isn’t gonna let that happen again:

Aside from trying to deal with the deficit he created, he’s trying to pay back his cronies in the Teachers Unions. 

So, the Saint Paul City Council appears to be rolling back its stupid, ruinous “rent control” ordinance…

…sort of. 

But – only the buildings built after 2004?

I’m no expert, but this sounds to me like it’s a plan to:

1. Make it impossible to pay the upkeep and taxes on older buildings, and so to
2. Squeeze the owners out into selling cheap, so as to
3. Build more multi-unit housing, which of course steers money to the non-profits that employ the St. Paul DFL’s farm club.  Because they always get a taste.  Always.  

Saint Paul is basically Chicago on the Mississippi.  

Rep. Emma Greenman – who seemed to have found her happy place being the DFL state rep who was most aggressive about shirking her job early in the legislative session, before the District 40B special election – sounded off on the ethics issues with Keith Ellison:

“Political and not very useful” is actually a great capsule summary of Rep. Greenman. 

“…I believe the children are our greatest probleeeeeeemmmmm”.

Hope Walz uncorks on the most insidious form of “privilege”:

Forget for a moment that barefoot running is kind of a fad these days:

Forget the corn-fed American runners.  Let’s talk about Abebe Bikila, the legendary Olympic marathoner who…grew up dirt poor, trained barefoot, and was one of the greatest marathon runners ever.  

Look, nobody’s ever accused Hope Walz of being an intellectual titan. Nobody expects it. Seeing her parents, one would be mad to even think about it.

But you just know she’s going to be running for office soon, don’t you?

Maybe I’m too used to kicking at the football Lucy proffers, having it taken away, and yelling “AAAAAARGH” as I sail into the bushes yet again.

But I saw this last week…

But hope springs eternal .

Maybe this is the time someone not working directly or indirectly for Ken Martin actually gets to start seeing where the bodies are buried in Minnesota politics.

This isn’t, of course, the part of the Minnesota bureaucracy that controls hundreds of millions in fraud, or the direct connection between the non-profit/industrial complex and the DFL and all the taxpayer money they’ve controlled for the past two decades. Or to Keith Ellison renting out seats in the AGO to Michael Bloomberg’s climate pimps. 

But it almost feels like it could be possible

SCENE:  Mitch BERG is parking on the street to go to a private event.  He’s trying to wrangle with the stupid newfangle parking meter when Avery LIBRELLE rolls around the corner on a recumbent bike. 

LIBRELLE:  Merg!

BERG:  Uh…

LIBRELLE:  Shut up.   The “party of faith” is embracing blasphemy!

BERG:  I’m not actually Catholic, but I’m pretty sure you can’t commit “blasphemy” against a human, being that Christ was the only human who’s ever also been deific…

LIBRELLE:  Republicans clearly hate Christians!

BERG:  Right.  So do you remember this…:

(But LIBRELLE has already left)

And SCENE.

If it’s a day ending in “Y”, there’s going to be another DFL fraud scam. 

The questions to ask at this point pretty much boil down to:

• What non-profit is behind it?
• How is that non-profit linked to the DFL?
• Which DFL executive branch staffer or legislator made the connections to make the deal happen?

Because there’ll be an answer to each of those questions.

And all of those answers will end up with Tim Walz trying to tapdance his way out of the buck stopping anywhere near him. 

The Homicide rate in Minneapolis was way below recent trends…

…well, “was” is the operant word, here, isn’t it?   Shootings in the past 36 hours killed five, and left five more injured, several critically:

The shootings occurred at the following locations.

• 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue, just before midnight on Tuesday.
• Cedar Avenue and 17th Avenue at 1 p.m.
• 3300 block of Harriet Avenue at 2:25 p.m.
• Girard Avenue North around 3:50 p.m.
• 15th Avenue South and Lake Street around 7:45 p.m.

In the first shooting near 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue, police say two men, two women and a teenage boy were found shot at the scene: Four were inside a vehicle, and another was on the sidewalk.

The 17-year-old boy, a 20-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man were pronounced dead at the scene, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The remaining man and woman were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Welcome to Spring in Minneapolis!

Tim Walz is not the savviest politician who ever kissed a baby or shook a hand.

But yesterday’s “knucklehead” admission may be the dumbest own goal he’s ever made:

Admitting that one is a marketing charade is a bold move, Cotton.  Let’s see how it works. 

Ed Morrissey notes:

In that sense, perhaps this is Walz’ attempt at sincerity — by acknowledging what seemed pretty apparent all along. What’s mystifying is why Walz would admit publicly that Harris was pursuing a race-based calculation in her running mate rather than, y’know, finding the best person for the job. And not just in the one-heartbeat-from-the-presidency sense either, but also in the ability to campaign and to compete against J. D. Vance.

Like candidate, like running-mate, I guess.

For all the aggressive rhetoric that accompany his flouncing and jazz hands, Tim Walz is not exactly a self-assured man.

He almost comletely avoided debating Scott Jensen in the 2022 Governor tilt – limiting it to one debate at a small TV station in Rochester.  For good reason

How good, we learned last summer

It would explain his debate performance in Minnesota; he avoids them like they’re a…

…well, there’s nothing Walz avoids more than a debate.  Even deployment. 

I could fling more pithiness.  Indeed, this weekend on the air I most likely will.

But I’ll leave it to John Kriesel – former state representative, and veteran who lost two legs in Iraq – to do that:

It’s gonna make a presidential run kind of interesting.  Presuming he gets anywhere near endorsement. 

The House Fraud committee got a chance to ask Attorney General Ellison two hours worth of questions yesterday.  

It didn’t go well for the Attorney General:

To recap – the top lawyers in the state was working against his client, on behalf of peole who were giving him and his son a ton of money.  This was in the lead-up to the “Defund the Police” vote in 2021, when Jeremiaih Ellison  barely held his seat, and four other anti-cop council members lost.  

I don’t think we’re done with revelations about Ellison’s activities on this issue.  Just a hunch. 

Bill Glahn at the Center of the American Experiment has a thread on the testimony. 

LIttle birts tell me there’s more to come.  Stay tuned. 

Is Nicole Mitchell the most self-unaware person between Chicago and the Sierra Madre?

Or is the Senate DFL’s social media intern in the dark about Minnesota news because she’s working in as boiler room in Manila?

Democrats, Two Weeks Ago:   “No government official is a king!”

Democrats today:  “What?  You can’t arrest a judge!   Judges can’t break the law!”

Alicya Gruenhagen is running for US Senate.

Mike Hilborn is running for Mayor of Saint Paul.

And here’s today’s music:

First, the good news: in the last week or so, the Minneosta Gun Owners Caucus won its long legal battle to extend carry permits to citizens over 18 years old.   The Caucus has long held that it’s absurd that Minnesota restricts carry permits to people over 21 years old, when they can sign contracts, join the military, and are held fully responsible for their actions as adults at 18. 

Several levels of courts agreed, and the US Supreme Court refused to hear Keith Ellison’s final round of appeals.   While I’m sure Minnesota’s regulatory state will squawk, qualified 18 year olds can now exercise the same rights, as citizens, that the rest of us do. 

Which didn’t land quite the same way with everyone.

“Lucky” Rosenbloom, who runs a…er, unique shop on Dale at Saint Anthony, just off I94 in Frogtown, a long-time permit trainer, isn’t going to take students below 21:

“It’s more important to have safety,” Lucky Rosenbloom, a state-certified firearms instructor, said. “These kids are impulsive. They’re not going to think. Some of these kids still think that they’re invincible,” he added about his decision to not have 18–20-year-olds in his classes.

“I’m ruling it out. I will not teach [them],” Rosenbloom added. “I’m not worried about the backlash.”

Well, that backlash is already starting to roll in.

And roll, it did:

Now, Lucky has always been a colorful character. He’s got a knack for publicity.

And it’s his business.  He can serve anyone he wants, unless they’re gay, trans or have any other special political privileges; it’s not like he’s a baker or anything. 

And it’s not like I was going to Rosenbloom for my refresher training, so it’s not like I can boycott the guy. 

But it’s a bad look. 

…could Tim Walz have just skipped the whole thing?

After squandering an $18B surplus and, by the way, governing like a dictator (and not even a competent one), Walz’s state of the state mostly tried to gaslight the viewer into thinking Donald Trump caused the state’s problems:

…not to mention trying to haul another bid for national office slowly, painfully off the ground.

Smart people were not fooled:

…but DFL messaging isn’t aimed at the smart people. 

It hardly bears saying that if it weren’t for double standards, the DFL would have no standards at all. 

But does anyone seriously think that if someone used AI to make and circulate a caricature of Melissa Hortman, Brion Curran or Erin Maye Quade capturing all the “crazy woman” cliches that this one does…

…of Republican rep Krista Knudson, it’d launch an army of femiminsts and “feminists” into paroxysms of rage?

Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails:

Liberals keep saying “due process” as if it’s a magic phrase like “abracadabra.”  Tim Walz’ idiot daughter uses it, claiming Trump would have denied Jesus Christ due process in order to deport Him.  The implication is that if Jesus had received due process, He would not have died on the Cros

 

According to the Bible, Jesus Christ DID receive due process.  He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane on Thursday evening, was convicted after a trial before the local magistrate (Herod) on Friday, lost His appeal to higher authority (Pilate), and had His sentence of capital punishment promptly executed by crucifixion on Calvary.  He elected to represent Himself at trial and did not contest the charges.  “Due process” didn’t save Him. It wasn’t supposed to.  That wasn’t the point of His death.

 

And due process won’t save illegal aliens from deportation.  Any illegal alien who admits to being a member of the MS-13 gang will be deported.  Any illegal aliens who denies being a member of the MS-13 gang is still in the country illegally and therefore will be deported.  Reciting the magic phrase “due process” won’t alter the outcome for them any more than it did for Jesus.

 

Joe Doakes

 To paraphrase my late crim-def attorney, “‘Due Process’ isn’t a synonym for a jury trial, or even justice.  It means ‘the process in the statute and case law'”. 

A “red flag” process, with its ex parte hearings and lopsided standards of evidence are a travesty – but they are “due process”. 

Visa holders sign an agreement acknowledging that they can be deported without ceremony for violating the terms and conditions of their visa.  That is the “due process”.  

I’ve never been to a Holiday Inn Express, but even I know this.

I was out at the Mall of America a week or two ago, perhaps for the second time since 2020. 

And as with the other time, I wondered – whatever happened to Landen Hoffman?

Yep, I remembered the name – the little kid hurled off the third floor balcony at the MOA six years ago by a deranged man. 

Turns out he’s doing pretty well. And as with most Twin Cities crime and political news, you have to go to London to get the news. But the kid’s doing well.

‘So many miracles happened [since then],’ Kari said in a phone interview Friday with DailyMail.com. ‘It was a big, long journey.

‘It took time for him to be back to him… He had to learn who he was again.’

That journey of getting Landen ‘back’ took around three years and was rough on the whole family. Kari watched her son’s personality change from sweet and kind to angry and mean to back again.

Read the whole thing. The kid’s mother wrote a book about it. Can’t honestly say I blame her.

That kind of episode had been exactly my worry when I used to take my then-little kids to the Mall. I saw those third-level balconies and thought “this is a headline waiting to happen”. I made sure the kids and I walked across the concourse from those not-nearly-tall-enough railings, or that I was watching everyone around me very carefully. And this was 15-20 years before the Landen Hoffman episode.

The lunatic who threw him over the edge is up for parole in seven years, by the way.  Five’ll get you tel Mary Moriarty helps the perp sue the family for a share of the book revenues.

TAKE 2:  A couple of key paragraphs disappeared from this one on Friday, the first time I tried it…

SCENE:   A press conference at the Minnesota State University system.   Spokesperson Moonbeam BIRKENSTOCK stands nervously in front of a podium, facing a gaggle of barely-engaged press, and Mitch BERG of Shot in the Dark/AM1280/HotAir. 

BIRKENSTOCK:   So, with the changes in federal funding, it appears the Minnesota State University system is going to have to make unprecedented hikes to tuition:

BIRKENSTOCK: Any questions?

BERG:  Yes – wouldn’t that $18 billion in surplruses that the DFL wasted in 2023 and 2024 have come in handy for this?

BIRKENSTOCK:  No hablo ingles…

BERG:   Si no hubiéramos desperdiciado el excedente, ¿seguiría siendo un problema?

BIRKENSTOCK: No further questions.

BERG:  That was English.

(But Birkenstock has left the podium)

(And SCENE).

Q:  Why is Joe Biden having, according to his agent, trouble scoring bookings for his big comeback tour

Former President Joe Biden referred to black children as “colored kids” Tuesday as he explained what motivated him to get involved in politics during his first public remarks since leaving office.

Biden, 82, used the outdated and offensive term while telling an anecdote about his childhood move from Scranton, Pa., to Wilmington, Del., in which he noted that before his family relocated to the First State, he’d “never seen hardly any black people.”

“I was only going in fourth grade,” he said as he recalled his mother driving him to Catholic school in Wilmington. “And I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called ‘colored kids,’ on a bus go by — they never turned right to go to Claymont High School.”

With an asking price of $300K per speech, one might expect he’d bring some, y’know, speaking chops to the proverbial table. 

Alas – not so much:

During a television debate with Trump in June last year, Biden performed poorly, repeatedly losing his train of thought, which led to calls for him to step back as Democratic presidential candidate.

One unnamed student told the paper that the protesters’ chants accusing Biden of genocide were “faint and indistinguishable inside the classroom, but still audible”.

Other students who attended the event said Biden celebrated the way Harvard refused to give in to Trump’s demands, saying: “Harvard stepped up in a way no one else has. You should be really thankful.

Hm. Think about it. Harvard is superannuated, corrupt, a hotbed of nepotism, wealthy yet dependent on its ties to government…

Harvard basically is Joe Biden.