Shot in the Dark

Category: Minnesota Politics

  • The Honor System For The Dishonorable

    It’s almost as if putting a bunch of Sandy Feists and Andy Smiths into a room with unlimited authority was a terrible idea.  

  • Questions

    The Star Tribune has questions. I have a bigger one.

  • Protests Too Much

    An open letter to Tim Walz.

  • Social Opportunity

    The Governor wants to take gun control on the road. But not, I suspect, too far…

  • The Very Special Session

    Tim Walz wants a taxpayer funded campaign ad.

  • Warning Signs

    Experience Walz-watchers know the signs.

  • A Time For Choosing, Redux

    And it’s a different choice than in 1964. And yet still the same.

  • And That Curse Is…

    OK, MNGOP. Third time’s the charm.

  • Stay The Curse

    Who’s up for four more years of Piglet?

  • Administrivia

    What’s with all the flags and stuff?

  • Special Session To Nowhere

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

  • Kind Of A Good News/Bad News/Worse News Situation

    The good news:  Bloody Mary Moriarty is not running for re-election as Henco Attorney.   The bad news? It’s so she can focus on “transforming the office” even further: “I ran for this office to do the hard work; the work that desperately needed doing and the work the voters chose when I was elected in…

  • Chicago On The Mississippi

    The news broke last week – the Department of Human Services tanked its “Housing Stabilization Services” program before the Feds could start digging into it. Not that there’s not gonna be some digging anyway.  Joe Thompson, the acting US Attorney for Minnesota, is finding a prosecutorial “targret rich environment”: We welcome today’s news. Fraud has…

  • Forecast: Partly Convicted

    I’m not sure whose bright idea it was to put Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL – Woodbury) on the stand yesterday.  It did not go well: Maybe the defence was hoping the sheer overkill would spawn a sympathy vote in the jury? The ones who truly don’t deserve a sympathy vote – her DFL enablers::

  • Whew

    Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: It’s good to know that all the other problems in the state have been solved, leaving legislators free to take up this important question.   Joe Doakes After two years of “trifecta”, this sort of frippery is almost a relief. 

  • Three Questions For Lt. Gov. Flanagan

    To:  Lieutenant Governor FlanaganFrom:  Mitch Berg, Irascible PeasantRe:  I Have Questions.  Let’s Be Honest, You Just Don’t Do Answers. Lieutenant Governor Flanagan,  I caught this tweet over the weekend: I’ve got two questions: 1.  Does This Mean You’re Cutting Taxes?  One of the main reasons families (who can’t afford to leave Minnesota) are “just scraping by” is Minnesota’s…

  • That “State Government Absurdist Bingo Card” Is Getting Very Full

    So, with the revelation last week that hiring managers and the MN Department of Human Services need to explicitly justify hiring white (presumably especially male) candidates for jobs, it’s not unreasonable to wonder – there must be some kind of deeply racist person driving these policies.   Your reasonable question has been rewarded with an answer: Ooof. Someone…

  • How To Make It

    How to make it in America:  Come to America via the immigration system.  Adopt the values that made America great.  Work hard, raise good kids, give a good value for the money.  How to make it in Minnesota:  Come to America and, in apparently no particular order:  Commit a crime, ingratiate yourself with the bureaucracy,…

  • Whither Klink?

    The Piglet can’t be happy about this latest Star-Tribune poll: Gov. Tim Walz’s approval rating has dipped below 50% since his failed run for vice president last year, and about half of Minnesotans say he shouldn’t run for a third consecutive term in 2026, according to a new poll. The results suggest the DFL governor…

  • Boelter

    Berg’s 18th Law got its biggest workout ever over this past weekend.   Nothing the media writes/says about any emotionally charged event – a mass shooting, a police shooting, anything – should be taken seriously for 48 hours after the original incident.  It will largely be rubbish, as media outlets vie to “scoop” each other even…

  • The Numbers

    The top-line number seems depressing, if you’re a Republican. And the DFL wants to double that down while it can: I know, I know – it’s Survey USA. They oversample metro voters and Democrats. It’s the second-tier result that’s interesting; on the question of whether he should run for Governor again: He’s underwater among independents. …

  • Red Zone

    85 years ago this month, Winston Churchill unpacked the result of the Dunkirk evactuation and reminded the UK that evacuations don’t win wars.    And fighting the DFL to stalemates doesn’t save Minnesota – not all by itself.   But let’s make sure we’re clear on what happened: The GOP – facing a DFL executive branch…

  • One Day At DFL HQ

    SCENE:   At the state DFL headquarters in Saint Paul.   Richard CARLBOM, new chair of the DFL, is sitting at a conference table with Edmund DUCHEY, Moonbeam BIRKENSTOCK and Inge “Lucky” CARROLL, all members of Amy KLOBUCHAR’s staff.  CARLBOM:  So, we’ve got a real problem with white males in rural Minnesota.  That could be a big…

  • Walz 3.0: Thrash That Poor Crippled Horse

    He’s gonna run for Governor again: Of course, the little gnome will spend the next 18 months dodging debates.  But his Veep bid last year, and his newfound rise to national prominence, have given people a whole lot more material.  As has the governor himself: The little gnome never gets tired of “Nazi” references, does…

  • Equitable

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: The voting public in Minnesota is almost equally divided between conservatives and liberals.  To ensure our state government is ideologically reflective of its constituents, I propose all state employees in the Executive and Judicial Branches be required to respond to a short survey: 1. This nation was founded…