Shot: AOC, three and a half years ago:

Chaser: AOC, over the weekend:

So – the left is starting to eat its own.

My main question: will AOC call this a hate crime, a sexual assault or a GOP psyop?

On the one hand, I think optimism is extremely premature for Republicans. While some polling is showing deep divides in the Democrat party, we’ve heard this tune more that “Freebird” on KQRS. Democrats may kvetch and moan – they whined about Bill Clinton – but they, being essentially herd animals, always “come home” at election time.

But it looks like a lot of them will have to come home a looooong way this fall:

“Uncommitted” takes almost 20% of the DFL primary vote.

And that was only the half of it:

Looks bad for Biden?

For now, sure.

But don’t get fooled – they’ll get goaded, logrolled, gaslit, threatened, or just talk themselves back into line this fall. Trump (who easily skated through the GOP contest) will have a hard go it it, nationwide and here in Minnesota.

SCENE: A conference room in Zürich, Switzerland. An international team of historians is gathered in a conference hall. Behind the panel tabel, a large “Powerpoint 2170” holographic slide displays the title for the session: “Origins of the Second American Civil War”.

PROFESSOR A: Welcome, one and all, to this discussion on the origins of the Second American Civil War. We’d like to start with this presentation from PROFESSOR B.

PROFESSOR B: Thank you. As you know, the origins of the Second American Civil War, 150 years ago, are shrouded in mystery. But we found this exchange on “X”, a “social medium” popular around 2024, that sheds some light on the subject.

(B swooshes his hand in the air, and the holograph advances to show a “Twitter thread”i)

ProgressiveDuke1332: ReTHUGlicons have no policies to fix Minneapolis’s problems.

Mitchpberg: Of course we do. Arrest, prosecute and incarcerate actual dangerous criminals. Make life better for law-abiding citizens. Get rid of impediments to affordable life, like rent control, the Met Council’s idiot zoning policies and city policies about “driving density”. Have a a sales tax holiday. Cut spending, and cut taxes, especially some of the more niggling, punitive taxes like parking meter rates and hospitality taxes, to simulate traffic and business.

ProgressiveDuke1332: Hahaha, mitchpberg think you can eliminate crime by lowering parking fees!

PROFESSOR B: This, I hold, was the beginning of a pattern where nobody in society could communicate about anything.

PROFESSOR C: So, part of America lashed out at the other part as a matter of…

PROFESSOR D: Intellectual self-defense?

PROFESSOR B: Precisely.

(Brow-furrowing and beard-scratching follows)

PROFESSOR E: I mean, it doesn’t not make sense…

(General assent breaks out).

And SCENE

Did you hear that crash last week?

That was the sound of the DFL trying to demolish the First Amendment.

We touched on it briefly last Friday. But here’s a handy 20 minute digest of what exactly happened:

And yes, it’s systematic.

From the “it could be comedy, if it weren’t for what they actually mean” files: Minneapolis representative Brion Curran took some time off from driving hammered through Central Minnesota while thinking she was in the Twin Cities to tell us what’s what:

It’s tempting to respond “we know you exist, Rep. Curran. It’s just irrelevant to our actual lives, and don’t bother forcing us to see this your way”.

But about that last bit:

Under the DFL proposal that reps FInke and Curran are talking about..

…and talking, and talking…

…churches can be sued into obedience.

This is like those lawsuits against the bakers and florists and photographers, but in statute, and everywhere.

If this isn’t enough to get you to hold your nose and support even an imperfect Republican for the legislature, I’m really not sure what to tell you anymore.

Christians are the same as slaveholders.

No, that’s what Rep. Luke Frederick of Mankato says:

He’s responding to an amendment that would protect churches and their members freedom of conscience about transgender issues.

The MNDFL is at war with the Constitution.

UPDATE: Harry Niska sums up the, er, debate:

I’ll be talking with Rep. Niska on the NARN tomorrow.

And for our DFL friends, I present this note from Chairman Ken Martin:

Just a quick reminder:

• Martin and DFL leadership primaried the candidates endorsed by the caucus and convention process in 2018, jamming down Tim Walz (who came out of the endorsement process in third place).
• In addition, Keith Ellison was another jamdown; the party pushed him over Matt Pelikan, the candidate that oozed up through the caucus and convention process.
• Before that? The party made sure Mark Dayton prevailed over endorsed candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher in 2010.
• The last endorsed DFL goober candidate to make it through the primary was Mike Hatch. Given that he was the party’s choice over the hapless but (for the time) “progressive” Becky Lourey, that was not a big stretch. I suspect Lourey would be to the center of any choices today.
• It’s been 18 years since the caucus-endorsed DFL governor candidate got through the primary.

If you’re a DFL caucus goer, your “voice” matters only if it agrees with whoever’s got Ken Martin’s ear.

This – letting major but utterly corrupted institutions burn to the ground – is becoming kind of a theme, isn’t it?

OK – so read this entire AP piece on the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

And when you do, tell us what’s missing:

Ready?

No mention that the alleged murderer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, was an illegal alien with a rap sheet as long as a Walgreens receipt.

It’s almost like someone wants this sort of thing – unrestricted illegal immigration by people whom no country wants – to be the norm.

Somone, like…:

So many institutions.

So little fire.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the Peoples Republic of China had, very nominally, the world’s largest “army”, listed at the time in the Guinness Book of World Records as being 200 million strong.

Of course, those were CCP numbers, ginned up by adding up the nominal numbers of the “Peoples Militia” – basically most of the nation’s able-bodied people impressed (dare we say, “Shanghaied”) into a putative “fighting force” armed with antiques, spears and dogma.

The reason, of course, was to project a mien of power, resolve and invincibility, at a time when China was three decades removed from subjugation, warlordism and indolence.

Today, China is none of those things (other than perhaps run by the modern warlords, the CCP’s regional apparatuses).

And yet…:

Chinese companies are doing something rarely seen since the 1970s: setting up their own volunteer armies. At least 16 major Chinese firms, including a privately-owned dairy giant, have established fighting forces over the past year, according to a CNN analysis of state media reports.

These units, known as the People’s Armed Forces Departments, are composed of civilians who retain their regular jobs. They act as a reserve and auxiliary force for China’s military, the world’s largest, and are available for missions ranging from responding to natural disasters and helping maintain “social order” to providing support during wartime.

The reason?

Arguably, because all is not well in China. The pandemic exposed some of the internal fault lines that are perking up the ears of some China watchers; social unrest that’d been repressed or satiated for decades came boiling up to the surface (although you’d have to talk with those China watchers to know it, since the US media will never cover it until it’s too late).

“The return of corporate militias reflects Xi’s rising focus on the need to better integrate economic development with national security as the country faces a more difficult future of slower growth and rising geopolitical competition,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

“Corporate militias under military leadership could help the Communist Party more effectively quell incidents of social unrest such as consumer protests and employee strikes,” he said.

This being CNN, the audience needed to be reassured that this wasn’t anything associated with the big, bad American right:

The forces, which do not currently operate outside China, have more in common with America’s National Guard than its militia movement, which refers to private paramilitary organizations that usually have a right-wing political focus.

Red China may or may not end up being a viable enterprise for purposes of governing itself, much less conquering the world. But given CNN’s performance, that ship may have left the docks.

Someone asked me if this was a deep fake.

More specifically, “AI”

Pretty sure they got the “I” wrong.

The House Hip Hop Caucus has 99 problems, but being in command of the nation’s priorities ain’t one.

Cellist and medical student attacked in the New York subway:

Look for Mayor Adams to call foe a ban on metal water bottles.

Tonight in Fridley:

I’m not a betting man, but it looks like he’s getting ready for some more power-grabbing “consumer protection” litigation.

Joe Doakes, formerly from Como Park, emails:

The most common rejoinder to my concern the 2020 election was stolen is: “It’s not possible.  The conspiracy would have to be too large.  Someone would talk.”  What if it’s not a conspiracy? What if it’s a shift in attitude?  What a significant portion of the public believes crime is no longer wrong?

Have you noticed the way people drive?  Stores closing because of rampant shoplifting?  Carjacking rates through the roof?  Why now?  Why are all the rules being ignored?  What changed? I posit a general attitude shift.  The rules don’t apply to me.  I can speed, shoplift, rob people at gunpoint, and you know why? Because F-U, that’s why.

It’s even more pronounced in the “legal” system.  The New York judge with his bullshit $350 million fine.  The defamation jury with its $83 million verdict.  The Hawaiian judge who decided the Aloha spirit is superior to the Second Amendment.  These are examples of the same attitude that makes ordinary people think it’s okay to commit crimes.  I suggest that same attitude made election workers think it was okay to help steal the election. They didn’t need a centralized bureaucracy giving orders to minions.  Everybody just did a little extra by themselves, ran a few ballots through twice, disqualified a few Trump ballots or shifted them to Biden.  Why not?  Who’s going to stop them?  Keep counting until we have enough – it’s the Al Franken model (and the basis for the recent joke that the 49er’s found 3 mail-in touchdowns so they actually won).

The lawless attitude is getting worse and more focused.  Donald Trump is the new Emmanuel Goldstein from the book “1984.”  He’s the designated enemy.  He’s the one person it’s okay to hate. There is no punishment, no insult, no disgrace too vile for him and it’s okay for anybody and everybody to play the game, even using taxpayer money to hire your lover to bring baseless charges against him.

RINOs say “you better not change the rules, you won’t like living under the new rules” but that’s a bluff and Liberals know it. Trump didn’t prosecute Hillary because our side is ‘better than that,’ we don’t ‘stoop to their level.’  Yeah, but that also means there’s no penalty for cheating, lying, stealing, rigging, perjuring . . . so why not do whatever it takes to win?

That judge who imposed the $350 million fine and banned Trump from owning any business for three years, feels safe.  He knows he won’t get overturned and even if he does, he’s still the hero of the courthouse back corridor and the bar association luncheon. He’s not afraid of being impeached, his house won’t get burned down, he won’t lose his pension, he’s safe, same as the cheating election officials and crooked businesses paying off Hunter. Hillary and Biden won’t even be charged, must less railroaded, the way Trump has been.  And they know it.  And we know it too, which may be part of the reason people feel like the rules don’t apply anymore.  Certainly they don’t apply to the big-shots.  Why should they apply to me?

There is no remedy for a pervasive lawless attitude within the Constitutional system.  The Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, they’re all in on it.  The Administrative Deep State, they are, too.  The Fourth Estate – the legacy media – up to their eyeballs.  Running for school board, voting harder, boycotting Budweiser – none of that can overcome the pervasive bias in the system.

The only way to shift the attitude back is to go outside the Constitutional framework of government to restore respect for law and order.  That’s the destination too many Conservatives are afraid to reach.  Because once we conclude the system is broken and cannot be fixed from within, the only conclusion is we must throw out the system and replace it.  That’s insurrection.  That’s a revolution.  That’s a civil war.  It’s the end of the nation as we know it and it would throw the entire world into an economic depression if not a literal Dark Age.

I’m terrified there’s no other way to stop the slow-motion train wreck, because I can safely predict I’ll be one of the first people rounded up and shot for my opinions.   The only questions are which of my “conservative” friends will rat me out, and which of my liberal friends will be helping load me into the cattle car?

Joe Doakes, no longer in Como Park

The US – especially the rural US, but even the bigger cities – used to be a relatively high trust society. It’s not anymore. I’d say “the consequences will be dire”, but they pretty much already are.

Minnesota, 2024: The DFL says 46 days of early voting and “no excuses needed” mail in voting doesn’t make voting (for the DFL) easy enough; demands more:

Given that young adults are least likely to own a car, and many 18- and 19-year-olds do not even have a driver’s license, it can be very difficult for them to reach early voting and Election Day voting sites,” Pursell said as she explained the parameters of the legislation, which is being backed by Secretary of State Steve Simon.

The House Elections Committee voted to place the bill on the general register on a party-line voice vote. The bill has no companion in the Senate. No Republicans in the hearing expressed support for the bill, which one member said amounts to a fiscally irresponsible “unfunded mandate” for counties.

Minnesota, 2030: The Minnesota DFL, claiming early voting and polls that come to you if you’re a prog kid at Gustavus is still not easy enough, proposes to simply enter votes for all newborns for the rest of their lives, on birth (or when they would have been born, if the mother “reproductive freedomed” the baby).

So – given the facts that:

• Big Left has been supporting Trump for the nomination, indirectly and directly
• Among the top-tier GOP candidates – DeSantis, Haley and Trump – Trump performs most weakly against Biden.
• Notwithstanding that, Trump is all but cleared for landing as the nominee, months before the convention
• Democrats – at least, the ones that aren’t gaslighting us that the President is in fine fettle as evidence by his immense accomplishments – seem to be “suddenly” confronting the notion that the President isn’t all there. But not many of them.
• But some Republicans are calling for someone to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office.

Am I the only one who thinks the Democrats would love the GOP to lead the defenestration of Biden?

The Legislature is back in session. And the DFL lost no time trying to extend last session’s jamdown.

Gun control? Yep, they got it:

Details here.

Of course, the bill will get dissected in court, if it gets passed. Best to make sure it doesn’t – which means if you’re not a member of the MN Gun Owners Caucus, you should be.

Senator Isa Perez-Vega may be a contender to pass Erin Maye-Quade as the most cloyingly annoying DFLer in the Senate.

Possible saving grace for this session? It’s an even-numbered year – and DFLs from Greater Minnesota are getting nervous about how the Faerie Raenbow Agenda from last session is going to go over in Eveleth. In this case, Sen. Hauschild – who currently occupies Tom Bakk’s old seat – and a clear case of nerves over making Minnesota a “sanctuary state”:

And with a one-vote majority in the Senate, it’s making a bit of a difference.

The DFLers in Greater Minnesota have to be looking at…:

• Joe Biden’s escalating unpopularity. Trump doesn’t have to win the national election for them to still lose their seats in counties that are, or are drifting, red.
• The disproportionate impact of DFL policy on rural Minnesota

…and thinking it just might be time to reel in some of the worst excesses.

Hope Hauschild takes the hint on Isa Perez-Vega’s idiot bill.

A few phone calls and emails might certainly help him make up his mind.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, for people who love to control other people:

And right back atcha – happy first day of session to all you DFLers who treat it like an orgy!

SCENE: Mitch BERG is having a coney at the Gopher. Lost in the flavor, he doesn’t notice Avery LIBRELLE walk in.

LIBRELLE: Merg!

BERG: Oh, shhhhiiiiiure is a wonderful day for a Coney…

LIBRELLE: Shut up. You’ve been slandering President BIden.

BERG: Nope. I’ve been pointing out that his behavior reminds me of my mother during the first year or two of her battle with Alzheimers. I take no partisan joy in saying that whatsoever…

LIBRELLE: Joe BIden is the most on-top-of-it intellectual giant we’ve ever had in the Oval Office…

The Television over the bar is broadcasting the news.\

BERG: You were saying?

LIBRELLE: Joe Biden has always been senile, and was actually a GOP black op against the Democrats.

BERG: Of course it was. (Yells) Hey, guys – carry opponent here!

(A crowd of regulars chases LIBRELLE from the bullding as BERG finishes his coney.

And SCENE.

So, yesterday the DFL told us that “People like getting “free” stuff”.

Er, wait. Sorry.

It wasn’t technically the DFL. It was the “Minnesota Reformer”, aka “MInnesota Independent v 2.0“.

Anyway, there was a poll:

What an odd little thing to report on. People like “free” stuff? Stop the proverbial presses.

And on a Tuesday, just before the session, in an election year.

Wonder why?

Aaaaaah.

Makes perfect sense now.

So, Erin Murphy is the new MN Senate Majority Leader, replacing Senator Dziedzik (whom I wish the best in her ongoing battle with cancer).

What this means is that the old “Labor” coalition that ran the DFL and often Minnesota has been demoted to the back seat. Dziedzik’s father was a long-time Northeast MInneapolis politician who was a perfect metaphor for the coalition; blue-collar, from Northeast or the Iron Range, pretty much your typical Perpich voter.

Murphy represents the, uh, great leap forward for the DFL: Metro, public employee union, and not one degree behind The Squad in terms of perfect “progressive” credentials.

Anyway, here we are:

By the way – has anyone noticed that, if you left all anthropological terms out of the rhetoric, the “improvements” the DFL is making are the same kind of thing a farmer does to take care of a herd of livestock?

As opposed to free people?

SCENE: It’s a darkened back room at Minnesota DFL headquarters. Ken Martin and an attendant perp-walk a figured in handcuffs with a bag over his head into a room at the faaar back of the building. They sit him down and pull the bag off, revealing Rep. Andy SMITH (chucklehead jagoff, Rochester). DIsoriented, SMITH blinks and adjusts to the dim light as he notices the people around him.

SMITH: Er…who are you?

MAN 1: I’m former state Representative John Thompson.

MAN 2: I’m Representative Dan Wolgamott

WOMAN 1: I’m Representative Brion Curran.

MAN 3: I’m former sheriff Dave Hutchinson.

MAN 4: I’m William Davis, former communications genius.

WOMAN 2: I’m Julie Blaha, state auditor.

MAN 5: I’m Matt Roznowski, , DFL comms guy and tough tough enforcer.

SMITH: Wow. So – what are you all in for?

CURRAN: Same thing as you.

SMITH: Uh…what’s that?

HUTCHINSON: Keep you out of sight.

SMITH: Why?

BLAHA: So the media doesn’t accidentally get curious and cover any of us.

THOMPSON: RIght about now, you’ll be…

(DAVIS pulls up SMITH’s twitter account)

DAVIS: Just like they did for me.

Everyone nods, goes back to quietly passing the time.

And SCENE

President Biden to visit East Palestine Ohio.

The accident happened a year ago. Apparently he didn’t want to get in the way of the firemen.

I’ll wager a shiny new quarter he blames the IDF for the disaster, before wandering off to get some ice cream and watch Wheel of Fortune..

A fire at a west end building housing three conservative groups is being investigated as arson:

My firend, former co-host and CAE chair John Hinderaker commented:

John Hinderaker, president of the Center of the American Experiment (CAE), said based on the location of the fires in the building, it appears that someone targeted conservative groups.

“The fires were obviously set by someone. They targeted conservative organizations. They didn’t firebomb the chiropractors or psychologists or Manufacturers Alliance. We are working with authorities to try to identify the perpetrators,” Hinderaker said.

The Golden Valley Fire Department responded to a fire at 8421 Wayzata Blvd. shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday morning, according to the fire department.

Among those cheering on domestic terror was “Represenative” Andy Smith (Chucklhead Jagoff, Rochester):

Apparently having one of his (dumber) representatives giggling like a schoolgirl about domestic terrorism was enough to get even Ken Martin and the DFL Mystery Meat Machine to spring into PR action:

Nothing could shut that little twerp up until, apparently, giggling like a middle-school mean girl about domestic terror.

PS: I hope “Protect” Minnesota can provide good information to the FBI/BATFE to find and arrest those responsible for this apparent attack.

As we’ve noted, Ilhan Omar gave a speech to a Somali audience last week that’s gotten some flak. It’s been in all the papers…

…Well, OK. It’s been in none of the Twin Cities papers. As usual.

Until now.

While “coverage” is out of the question, the Strib posted a “fact check” of the conservative response. There’s less in the fact check than meets the eye – but it hews closely to Rep. Omar’s claim that the translation is ambiguous, or just plain wrong.

The Strib’s claim (emphasis added, to return to later):

Omar’s office pointed to a more accurate translation of her speech posted online. A Star Tribune reporter who speaks Somali listened to the speech and reviewed the transcript, and found it matched Omar’s actual comments. It said:

“My answer was the U.S. government will do what we tell the U.S. government to do. We as Somalis should have that confidence in ourselves. We live in this country. We pay taxes in this country. It’s a country where one of your own sits in Congress. As long as I’m in Congress no one will take Somalia’s sea. And the United States will not support other people to rob us. Rest assured Minnesotans. The woman you sent to Congress is aware of you and has the same interest as you.”

The translation now under dispute characterized Omar’s comments this way: “The U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia … together we will protect the interests of Somalia.”

As someone who knocks around in German and Norwegian, I know that translation begets ambiguity. It’s not unheard of for nuance to drift, or be yanked, in directions that weren’t intended.

So – is Somaliland’s Deputy Finance Minister, presumably a native speaker of Somali, as able to translate the Representative as the Strib’s translator?

She seemed pretty convinced:

Still waiting for the Strib/MPR/the Big Four to tell us whether and why the Somali Deputy Finance Minister’s take was wrong.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Since roughly the 2020 election, I’ve simultaneously:

• Thought something was amiss about the elections; if not Chicago-style ballot stuffing, at least a world of irregularites with the “legal” changes due to Covid – mail in balloting, and the collusion between the DOJ, the Biden campaign, big media and big tech to “shape” the Hunter Biden story, among others
• Told some of the more extreme election skeptics, especially on the air, “That’s an interesting theory, but until Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani bring an actual case with evidence to court, rather than beclowning themselves, what do you expect we’re going to do about it?”

Three points.

Imperfection

The first point? I made that a few weeks back, when I talked about why I don’t necessairly think “a judge and jury say so” is completely invariably the dispositive last word on any issue. Long story short – judges and juries make mistakes. And that’s ignoring the fact that some prosecutors play fast and loose with the rules, some defense attorneys have no idea what they’re doing, and some judges just want to make their @$%$#& tee times.

Sometimes it gets caught.

The legal system isn’t perfect, but it beats most of the alternatives.

Which may or may not be good enough.

Second: In a separate, seemingly unrelated topic: in Minnesota, most judges are elected. But the candidate pool is intensely circumscribed because, as a lawyer once told me, running a campaign against a sitting judge in front of whom one will one day have to appear in court is pretty much a one-way trip toward spending the rest of your career chasing people who bounce checks.

Judges, by inference – who are charged with being our society’s stentorian impartial guardians of justice and fairness and due process – apparently have the egos of a bunch of middle school “mean girls”.

Reading between the lines: the reputation and social standing of practitioners among other practitioners is as much a part of the judicial system as due process and gavels and the literal letter of the law.

Socially Rigged

So – did the social pressure among lawyers, judges and everyone else in the legal profession that we discussed above affect the election, or the way the courts approached questions about it?

I don’t know. But this article, among others, certainly seems to brag about the power of the Legal Mean Girl caste to bring Big Law into line. Certainly Big Media isn’t going to report on it.

Let’s just say I can be convinced.