Shot in the Dark

Author: Mitch Berg

  • Dumbest Kirk Takes

    I can’t pretend this is a comprehensive list.  I don’t think humanity can measure this level of stupidity.  But I gotta try.  I’ll save the worst for last.  Well, gosh, “Kalvan”, I think the difference might be that literally the entire state of Minnesota including the entire GOP closed ranks around the families’ survivors, and…

  • Charlie Kirk

    Apparently having an open, honest debate with people who disagree with you rates a death sentence.   

  • Downmarket

    In which I admit Nick Coleman may have had a point.

  • Design Notes, Week 2

    Nah, I don’t like it either.

  • Special Session To Nowhere

    Even the DFL knows there’s no policy upside to a special session. So why do it?

  • One Day On The Radio

    Our conversation with MNDFL Chair Richard Carlbom.

  • All That’s New

    “Hey, Merg – why haven’t you gone over to Substack?” I’ll tell you why!

  • Note To MNGOP Strategerists

    I mean, the material is right there in front of you.

  • Details, Details

    Details, Details

    I’ve been running this blog under its old design template for (checks watch) 16 years, now.  Not just the visual design (more in a bit) but the code that runs the whole thing in the background.  I’ve been patching it and updating it for literally a decade and a half – longer than most blogs…

  • Special Session

    Joe Doakes, no longer of Como Park, emails: Governor Walz plans a special session of the legislature to help Democrat fundraising efforts.     He doesn’t say it that way, of course.  He says it’s to pass gun control legislation in the wake of the most recent shooting. Knowing Republicans are unlikely to agree, Democrats plan…

  • I Heard It On The NARN

    Focus on the Family’s counseling site:  www.focusonthefamily.org/tragedy Or call 855-771-HELP for a call back from a counselor.   And here’s today’s music list:

  • The Problem

    SCENE:   Mitch BERG is having an Old Fashioned at a bar in northern Wisconsin.  Engrossed in a conversation with the waitress, he doesn’t notice Avery LIBRELLE has walked in, wearing a “MEAT IS MURDER” t-shirt.   LIBRELLE:  Merg! BERG:  Of, for…the second time this week, how ya doing… LIBRELLE:  Shut up.   It’s the guns, stupid.  BERG.…

  • Deterrence

    SCENE:  MItch BERG is ordering an omelette at a local diner.  Too late, he notices Avery LIBRELLE entering the building.  There is no graceful exit.  LIBRELLE:  Merg! BERG:  Er, hello, Av… LIBRELLE:  Shut up.  The shooting in Minneapolis yesterday proved that “thoughts and prayers” aren’t enough.  They were literally praying… BERG:  So it’s time to…

  • He Who Is Force-Fed False History Is Condemned Never To Know He’s Repeating It

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Everyone is an expert about what they know.  But what if everything you know is wrong?   The Wikipedia article on Sad Puppies is wrong, viciously wrong, libelously wrong.  I know, I lived through it, I was there at the beginning.  But I’m just one person and I have no…

  • Technical Difficulties

    Some of the basic functionality behind the scenes of this blog is starting to break down.  Part of it, I think, is that I haven’t updated the WordPress template since…uh, 2011.   Hey, it’s not like I don’t have enough to do, is it?  Anyway – expect some disruption, probably this weekend.  

  • Sic Transit

    Well, that post-assassination round of Kumbaya didn’t last long, did it?

  • Return To Sender

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Why fly deportees to Africa?  Is Trump trying to provoke a constitutional crisis? https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/stephen-miller-goes-biden-judge-who-ordered-plane/ My understanding is that the animals being deported are so vicious that their own countries won’t take them.  They’re being sent to the only place that will accept them.  Yes, it’s a Third-World shithole.…

  • The Empire Strikes Back

    Berg’s 21st Law is about to get its sternest test.   More in a moment.  Who knew there was something too extreme for Richard Carlbom? The longtime DFL strategist, the guy behind getting gay marriage ensconced in the Minnesota Constitution, replaced Ken Martin as chair of the MNDFL after Ken Martin moved on to a star-studded…

  • Your Minnesota Tax Dollars As Work

    U of M professor, clad in a terror scarf, calls for “dismantling” the US: I seek to dismantle the United States.  I hope you seek to dismantle the United States. And if that isn’t your politics…OK? (Hahahahahah). I speak as if everyone has this commitment.  And the thing is, you should have this commitment.  This…

  • Sicily On The Mississippi

    Can a civil society survive when society spends more time and effort protecting criminals than the law-abiding citizen? The Mayor of Boston just made her, and presumably her city’s, priorities pretty visible: Now, you might say it costs nobody anything – the victims are alive, the attacker dead. Expressing (misplaced) sympathy isn’t going to kill…

  • Hennepin By Gaslight

    The smartest woman in the world, decided to sound off about crime in the District of Columbia: we’re starting to see this, along with “a little bit of crime is one of the things you put up with to live in a major city” – the kind of gaslighting rationalization used by the class that…

  • Commitments

    Back during blogging’s glory days between about 2004 and 2011, people new to the medium used to ask me what it took to write a successful blog.   I told them “stick to a schedule”.  Didn’t matter if it was two pieces a day, or once a week, or twice a month – but pick a…

  • Cheap Seats

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: You know you’re sitting in the cheap seats when . . . .     My question – what’s he looking at?  And where’s his buddy for the other one?  Bathroom break?  Went for a Coke and a hot dog?     Joe Doakes Perhaps placing bets on the Millers game…

  • Will Of The Voter

    George Will has deserved plenty of flak over the past 40 years or so.   And he’s caught some for this interview here.   And I think the flakkers got it wrong: I think what he’s saying here is “let New York voters FA, so the whole nation can FO”.   I mean, it’s going to happen anyway. 

  • Priorities

    Lets you wondered what Omar Fateh’s actual priorities might be:  Not fixing potholes.   Not making a city in economic freefall into a destination again.  Protecting illegals from the boogeyman.   Minneapolis is in the best of hands.