As the Minnesota state legislature, led by the no-way, no-how insane Nicole Mitchell, meanders toward passing a “safe storage” bill, I went out to try to take the community’s temperature on the issue.

I started out at a Menards. There was a line of people in various gang colors, lined up waiting for new safes to be rolled out of the back room. The attendant, Lars “Schmidty” Schmidt, said they were down to just a couple left, and the truck with more wasn’t due until Tuesday.

Things were getting a little edgy, so I went to a Cabela’s.

It’d be a little threadbare to say “I was shocked”…

…but I was.

I kid you not, the line of gang members trying to buy gun safes to comply with the “safe storage” law ran out the door.

This is where the story gets a little dicey – honestly, i can hardly believe I saw this.

One guy was driving away with his new safe when two youths walked up to him in the parking lot, stuck a gun in his face, and jacked the pickup

And then as they were driving away with the new gun safe, another car blocked them in, and three guys got out and carjacked them. They drove off with the safe, leaving three other gang members outraged, perplexed, and with no way to keep their firearms safely locked up.

All of this is as true as I can make it.

A friend of the blog sends this email:

Saw this article this morning & thought you might have fun with it. I
could see a headline like “White colonialists invade Native American
land and destroy culturally sensitive structures”. The article
mentions that the land belongs to the Leech Lake band and the
structures involved belonged to Native Americans

The friend was right.

Not only was it a story of cultural oppression, but…:

Foresters for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources used dynamite to blow up two enclosed wooden deer stands state officials say were permanently left on state land against state law.

Neighbors in the area say the demolition was unsafe and unnecessary. Agency officials on Wednesday said the action didn’t follow “DNR policy or reflect good judgment” and that follow-up measures are likely.

…dynamiting deer stands can not be good for the environment.

Go here to find out more about United We Transform.

And don’t forget Clarence Henderson – of the Woolworth Lunch Counter sit-in – will be keynoting the “Justice For Our Generations” event at Shiloh Baptist in North Minneapolis tomorrow.

And here’s today’s music:

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of one of the best albums you’ve never heard – I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson.

How do describe the record? Let’s take a run at it: Eccentric Celtic folk-rock via the Byrds?

Their marital breakup was inadvertently chronicled eight years later on Shoot Out the Lights – but this was their breakthrough, creatively if not commercially.

Anyway – for those who are in the know, here are the Thompsons (their daughter does the talking for Linda, who’s suffered from dysphonia for quite a while now – a serious tragedy for one of the best singers of her era) talking about the making of the record:

If you’ve never heard the album? You’re not alone. Do yourself a favor.

Today’s DFL:

1. They nominate a convicted stalker to run against his alleged (by his own video) victim.
2. They trot Nichole Mitchell’s animated political corpse into the Senate chamber to vote for their idiotic “safe storage”, which will get tossed in court, and which will literally create a presumption of guilt against a homeowner whose firearms are stolen via any means.
3. And then, when Rep Franson brings up an emendment to exempt current victims of active stalkers, tell the little ladies they shouldn’t worry their pretty little heads and leave the guns to the menfolk.

What? You thought I was kidding?

This would be called “mansplaining” anywhere else.

Which brings us to the female face of misogyny, Jamie Becker-Finn:

They are treating their moment in absolute power as a way to say “nya nya” to people they hate. No more.

…from our younger generation.

Almost 80 years ago, this was what a group of 18-22 year olds did:

Today?

Well, this may be the modern generation’s analog:

A bunch of guys (lefties call them “frat boys” which I suspect means “any college student that doesn’t have blue hair or non-intuitive pronouns).

We don’t expect much – but by golly, someone delivered!

Everything that needs to be said about you – those who deny the use of the institution for which the majority of the students, and the taxpayers, pay (and pay, and pay and pay and pay) was said almost six decades ago…

…by the best president of my lifetime (and yours, if you’re over 37 years old, whether you’re smart enough to know it or not).

Answer: Show them you exist and aren’t going away:

The comments on this tweet are the tip of the rhetorical iceberg, and bespeak a crowd who treat violations of their ‘Urban Progressive Privilege’ like getting jabbed in the yarbles with a knitting needle.

It’s high time we stopped calling Ivy Leaguers like this Columbia spokesbeing:

…as “our best and brightest”.

By the way – at “Mitch Berg University”, students who infringe other students rights – Jewish, conservative, liberal, communist, I don’t care – by depriving them of the use of the campus they pay to attend will be blockaded into their “autonomous zones”; no water or food go in, no sewage comes out.

Only way out is through a checkpoint where they either make a videotaped apology and commit to pay restitution to the students they’ve adversely affected, or sign the acknowledgement on their expulsion paperwork.

…that Ilhan Omar is a truly reprehensible person:

But hey, if you live in CD5 [1], feel free to vote for her, whether you are pro-corruption, graft and antisemitism, or against it.

[1] Or are buried within the borders of CD5

Just a quick point before we get started.

The “I’m just asking questions’ school of opinion journalism – whether Rachel Maddow or Tucker Carlson or anyone in between – is a particularly toxic practice. “Asking questions” that aren’t intended to elicit the truth is pointless at best; doing it as a substitute for seeking the truth or, worse, to deny or obfuscate it, is much worse.

We’ll come back to that.

The Premise: I try not to attach too much news significance to “features” columns. It’s entirely possible that columns like this Strib article from MPR alum Laura Yuen has no ulterior motives.

But go ahead and read it, and tell lme – if the piece were part of a DFL attempt to curry sympathy for Mitchell, to soften public attitudes as the DFL heads into an election with their House majority on the line behind a raft of legislation that may or may not have enduring popularity in the third and fourth tier suburbs, how woulld it be any different?

What Nicole Mitchell did is bizarre, tragic and unlawful, if the police narrative of her breaking into her stepmother’s home prevails. The state senator’s apparent failed heist of her father’s ashes and other belongings likely spells the end of her political career.

But the emotions behind it? I understand them.

In case that opening graf left you in doubt about Yuen’s sympathies, she follows with this list of center-left dog-whistles and signaled virtues:

Trauma after losing a loved one can make a person act out of character, if not out of their mind. An Air National Guard officer, former meteorologist, lawyer, single mom and staunch defender of children’s rights, this promising first-term DFL legislator had everything to lose.

The piece goes on to discuss the crazy things that follow from grief and, it needs to be said, family issues. It isn’t not worth a read, as far as that goes.

Stil – while nobody expects features columnists to be clinically detached – “journalistic” – about their subjects, I think it’s significant that Yuen buries the facts that Mitchell changed her story, not just under questioning but on social media, using her very large publid figure megaphone.

And then (emphasis added):

Until this point, Mitchell has always struck me as a superhuman, measured in both achievements and decency. (We both worked at MPR News, and I wrote a column about her and fellow meteorologist Rob Kupec after they were sworn into the Senate.) Mitchell might deserve a second chance in politics, but it would be easier to make that case if she apologized for the actions that led up to her arrest.

Hold onto that word, “Superhuman”.

Anyway – we’ve established grief can do crazy things to the psyche.

The Possible: And it’s not necessarily a features columnist’s job to examine all the other possibilities.

But since Yuen ends with a hypothetical…:

She could start by saying she’s in grief. That she’s embarrassed by what she’s done. That she’s going to step aside while she receives professional help to heal.

And as a culture, we need to allow for people to talk openly about debilitating grief, the kind that makes a hard-working, respected legislator risk it all when she acted on the worst decision of her life.

….so will I.

It’s possible that grief pushed Senator Mitchell past the bounds of normal behavior.

Also entirely possible: Yuen isn’t hte only one to think of Mitchell as “superhuman”.

Does Mitchell believe it herself?

I’m not “Just asking questions”, here.

Mitchell is a lawyer – who publicly contradicted her statements to the police, on Facebook:

Did she do this – violate a tenet of criminal defense that every first-year law student knows – because she was crazy with grief? Or because she figured she was superhuman and could do it?

It’s probably a little trite to say “I’ve suffered plenty of grief in my life, and I never burgled any relatives” – but that’s at least in part true because neither I nor most anyone else figures that’s the right thing to do, and nothing we’re grieving about is worth that kind of trouble.

Did grief make Senator Mitchell irrational? Or is Senator Mitchell’s version of “rational” different than yours, mine or Yuen’s?

I”m going to suggest the data supporting each conclusion are about equal.

Upshot: I’m not saying that Yuen’s piece is a part of the DFL’s PR effort, to try to pitch Mitchell’s alleged behavior as sympathetic as the DFL sneaks her into the Senate to finish jamming down their agenda.

But if it were, would it be any different?

Fearless prediction: Mitchell will appear on Esme Murphy for mimosas, toenail-painting and affirmation.

As predicted, Nicole Mitchell isn’t leaving the Senate until the DFL has squeezed every last possible vote out of her:

So Real Minnesotans should picket the Capitol, and to the extent possible the Senate chambers and hearing rooms, dressedin all black, carrying tupperware and basement storm windows.

Today is the 32nd anniversary of the mostly peaceful LA Riots.

And of perhaps the greatest testimony for the 2nd Amendment in modern times – the impromptu armed resistance of the merchants of Koreatown:

Here’s one take on the story (some language NSFW).

We are in a state where the current political majority believes that the rioters hold the moral high ground, and who would likely punish the Koreans more than those who were attacking them.

Anyway – salute.

“Occupiers” at UCLA stymied – by someone with bananas:

The next time America’s spoiled, boundlessly entitled white progressives decide to run riot, I’m going to rent a small plane and drop bananas, peanuts and Chick Fil-A on the crowd.

That should send them running back to on-campus housing.

Bazinga. Order.

You can thank me later, Mayor Mom-Pants and Governor Klink.

New Zealand’s government imposed draconian gun regulations in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre (which, let the record show, would have been worse without a good guy with a gun).

“Unexpectedly”, gang membership has skyrocketed, and gang-related shootings are up by a third:

“Over the last five years gangs have recruited more than 3000 members, a 51 percent increase. At the same time, we’ve seen a significant escalation in gang-related violence, public intimidation and shootings, with violent crime up 33 percent.” says Mr Goldsmith.

On the one hand, everything Jacinda Ardern touched turned to crap.

On the other – they were warned.

We talked about A Nation of Cowards by Jeffrey Snyder. It’s one of the things that crystalliized why I’m a Second Amendment advocate.

And of course, Senator Nicole Mitchell, the most important politican in Minnesota today, was the subject of hour 1.

Finally – today’s show was pre-recorded, because I was at the Gun Owners Rally at the Capitol. Hope you were too. Either way, if you’re not a member of the MN Gun Owners Caucus, what are you waiting for?

Oh, yeah – song list:

Decades about, the Left used the term “Politically Correct” as a positive virtue; it referred to people, ideas and brands that, in 21st century parlance, signaled the correct virtues.

It took a few years of relentless grassroots conservative satire to turn “PC” into a cultural punchline.

Ditto “Woke”; it had an organic meaning among the black community, was appropriated and perverted into something akin to PC, and has since been pilloried to the point where white progressives have, uh, progressed from demanding conservatives “define woke”, to insisting it doesn’t exist.

And now…

Some of the most prominent figures in the Democratic Party have labeled themselves as progressives, but others, for various reasons, have put distance between them and the label recently.

Several Democrats have left the Congressional Progressive Caucus, with some leaving due to a rift over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. One of the most high-profile departures came when Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) confirmed he was no longer in the caucus and shied away from calling himself a progressive when speaking with NBC News this month…Another Democrat who has shed the progressive label is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who told NBC News in December 2023 that he is “not a progressive.” He has strayed further from progressive Democrats, especially regarding immigration and Israel, than he was expected to when he was elected in 2022.

Minnesota Democrats, of course, are tripling down; “Progressive” may be too far to their center.

I’m going to do my level best to make sure it hurts them.

…the DFL is plagued with narcissistic ninnies.

The whole world is all about them.

…and Hollywood obliges.

They’re apparently using North Korean animators.

Israel has always had a paternalistic but pragmatic view of civilian firearms. As a general rule, they are opposed – but there’ve been exceptions. After a series of school massacres fifty years ago, they liberalized teacher carry in the kibbutzim – until they turned the job over to security (successfully, so far, where “success” doesn’t include civil liberty).

And now, as of last week…:

Israel Police will allow civilians to come armed to performances at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, Army Radio reported Monday morning. 

This decision comes as huge concert events are set to return to venues, with the first being Israeli star Omer Adam’s upcoming show. The return of these large events brings the need for increased security. Security forces decided to allow civilians to attend events with personal firearms, rather than increasing the amount of security personnel, Army Radio report noted.

Can’t say I didn’t try to warn them, where “them” = everyone that treats self-defense as a privilege.

Last week, the SD12 DFL Committee [1] endorsed convicted felon Judd Hoff, who has been credibly implicated in stalking his opponent, Rep. Mary Franson, by none other than Judd Hoff himself.

 “The Senate District 12 DFL Central Committee is sticking with its decision to endorse Judd Hoff of Alexandria, a convicted felon, to run against the Republican incumbent, Mary Franson of Alexandria, in the House 12B election. On Sunday, April 21, the committee met to review the Hoff endorsement. It has since issued a statement saying ‘the Senate District 12 Central Committee did not find sufficient cause to take action.’ BINA: ‘We encouraged Mr. Hoff to raise the civility of the campaign for all involved,’ Bonnie Bina, DFL chair for Douglas County, said in an email on Tuesday. ‘SD12 recognizes our responsibility to continue to monitor the candidate’s campaign.’ … The committee’s initial endorsement was opposed by DFL and Republican leaders at the Legislature. Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin issued a news release saying Hoff was unfit to run for elected office…[and] the Minnesota DFL will not spend any of its resources on behalf of Hoff.”

This comes amid the hubbub over Senator Nicole Mitchell’s arrest on felony burglary charges.

The DFL’s PR machine – in this case, the “Reformer” – sprang into action, saying “both sides do it so let’s just let it drop…”

Notice the language the “Reformer” uses to describe the various crimes involved.

Also worthy of note – neither DFL Chair Ken Martin nor Governor Klink have said anything about Mitchell yet.

It’s also worth noting that while I advocated cashiering Mitchell from public life for this bit of verbal diarrhea alone…

…she also voted for the DFL’s red flag gun confiscation and universal registration laws, and for the “safe storage” bill.

Perhaps we need a safe storage law for DFL legislators.

[1] Don’t any Democrats see a term like “Central Committee” and note the historical baggage the term has on their side of the aisle? Sort of like naming their chairperson a “Grand Wizard”, only more current?

Metro Transit and the Strib have put out a “climate conscious newcomers guide to using Metro Transit”.

It’s tempting to snark “they figure out who the real problem is”:

Familiarize yourself with Metro Transit’s code of conduct, a lengthy and often-ignored rule book that mandates such things as keeping non-service animals in carriers, one seat per rider (no manspreading!), and no eating on board.

Those darn Manspreaders! [1].

But later on, they note:

Let’s talk about crime and nuisance behavior aboard transit, particularly the Blue and Green light-rail lines. This usually involves drug use, smoking, harassing, creepy, gross or criminal behavior. Metro Transit says it’s putting more police, private security and “transit rider assistance program” agents on buses and trains. Frequent transit users say they’re noticing these people, but it’s too early to say whether it’s helping.

Oooh, they drive a hard bargain.

I think I’ll help the environment more by staying home.

And not taking a dump on a bus seat while in a drunken stupor.

[1] For whatever reason, I hold anyone who unironically puts “Man-” in front of a verb to create a derogatory term in sneering contempt.

Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails:

From Powerline:

Something strange has been happening with jobless claims numbers lately

Calling the state of the U.S. jobs market these days stable seems like an understatement considering the latest data coming out of the Labor Department.

That’s because most of the past several weeks have shown that first-time claims for unemployment benefits haven’t fluctuated at all — as in zero.

For five of the past six weeks, the level of initial jobless filings totaled exactly 212,000. Given a labor force that is 168 million strong, achieving such stasis seems at least unusual if not uncanny, yet that is what the figures released each Thursday morning since mid-March have shown.

The consistency has raised a few eyebrows on Wall Street. The only week that varied was March 30, with 222,000.

“How is this statistically possible? Five of the last six weeks, the exact same number,” market veteran Jim Bianco, head of Bianco Research, posted Thursday on X

I chalk it up to Berg’s 24th Law: Democrats know their audience just doesn’t think all that critically, so there’s no need to actually present facts.

Senator Mitchell (DFL Woodbury) was arraigned for First Degree Burglary in Becker County yesterday.

I’ll cop to the fact that I honestly hope someone who has attitudes about civil liberties and rights like she has, has a short political career.

Now, I really need to follow my. own counsel here; Berg’s 18th Law applies. We don’t know all the facts, and our media will be pretty worthless at getting those to us accurately anyway, especiallly since she’s one of their own – both as a media person and a Democrat.

So I’m jumping to no conclusions, here. Pinky swear.

Still – it’s been in the news. I’m gonna talk about it.

You Have The Right To Remain Silent: She doesn’t seem to have done herself many favors before arraignment; for someone with a JD, she seems to have missed the whole “don’t talk to the cops without an attorney present” thing:

I’m nothing if not a pollyanna: It all could be a huge misunderstanding. It’s a crazy world.

But, while I am no attorney, that seems to be a dumb thing to say to cops, when dressed in black, outside a place you have allegedly entered without authorization, dressed in black, before 5AM.

We’ll come back to that.

Anything You Say Can And Will Be Used Against You: Now, she was represented by counsel at her hearing. After which she (or someone claiming to e her) posted this on social media:

Now, I lost my mother to Alzheimers two years ago this week – after years of adventures including a ten hour drive to try to find her (long story). I’m nothing but sympathetic to relatives of Alzheimers patients.

But, uh…

• “Prompted me to check on the family member” – at 4:45 AM? Dressed in all black? And telling the cops you know you did something wrong after you were Mirandized?
• “have come and gone from countless times” – at 4:45 AM? Through, it is alleged, a basement window?
• “Startled this close relative” – at 4:45 AM, while allegedly dressed in black and entering the home through something other than a door? I don’t wonder.

Did her defense counsel know she was posting this? It seems…ill-advised, but again, I am no expert.

Speaking of the close relative:

The stepmother said in an interview that she’s afraid of her stepdaughter and applied for a restraining order against her. She also said that while most of her husband’s ashes were buried, she sent Mitchell a miniature container with some of them.

Is the stepmother genuinely afraid of Mitchell? Or suffering from delusions while suffering from dementia? Experience notwithstanding, I’m no expert – but either way, it seems that entering the woman’s house (allegedly) at 4:45AM, dressed like a ninja, through a window, might not be an optimal choice.

Senator Mitchell is of course innocent until proven guilty. But it is difficult to see how a DFL with any integrity, as opposed to lust for power in a Senate where Mitchell is the margin, keeps her in office. While she won her seat by a 18 point margin, having her in office is a problem.

They can’t overturn Roe again, but the Democrats don’t think their audience knows any better:

I’m surprised the trooper wasn’t wearing a Darth Vader helmet.

Then, there’s the vital issue of…

…uh…

…text equity. Here’s Senator Warren, who is no-how, no way a race fraud, nosirreebob:

Y’see, iPhones display messages from other iPhones in blue, but non-Apple message systems come across as green.

This is real Pettus Bridge stuff.