Category: 2020 Riots
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Open Letter To MPR
A friend of the blog who fled Saint Paul just in time writes: this msg is making the rounds of the S.MPLS progressive/arts set Per Jon Collins at MPR News- “South Minneapolis: I know this sounds crazy. But it’s 2020. And I’m working on story now about white supremacists coming to Minneapolis to foment race war under…
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Smooth Move
In which Mike Freeman drops a banana peel in front of Keith Ellison while saying “Hey, join the team,” and chuckles as Ellison eagerly rushes in.https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/05/31/keith-ellison-prosecutions-george-floyd Freeman is a jerk but he’s also an experienced prosecutor. Remember the Somali cop who shot the little White woman in the alley? He got convicted of 3rd degree…
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This Is My Town, Sparky
Thursday evening, I decided to walk down to Snelling Avenue to check out the situation. I saw broken glass at Lloyd’s Pharmacy, at the corner of Snelling and Minnehaha. I decided to check out the situation. The situation nearly came to me. I saw a vibrant group of youths carrying bags of merchandise out of…
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The New, Old And Future Normal
One’s outrage over George Floyd’s death varies depending on one’s definition of normal.If you’re just going about your business, acting in an ordinary and normal way, the cops shouldn’t hassle you and certainly shouldn’t kill you. So what is “normal?”Philandro Castillo was driving and carrying a pistol while high on marijuana. The Black community considered…
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I Have A Theory
My theory: America is protesting – angrily, but generally peacefully – over the death of George Floyd and all of the history in, about and around it. America is rioting, on the other hand, because America is bored stiff after ten weeks of being cooped up inside with each other, unemployed or underemployed, being told…
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Siege
For those who might be curious, I’m safe. The neighborhood that has been my home for most of the last 33 years? Not so much. More on that later. The cities that have been my home, and the place that I raised my family, for the last 35 years? We are in the worst possible…
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What’s In A Word
It’s juuuuuust possible some journos are seeing what some of us have been saying forever: the media’s power to euphemize can be a evil thing: Ms. Hockert; there’s a long way to go. But it’s a start.
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Dispatches From The War Zone
Yesterday, along East Lake. This is life in a one party town.
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Social Attitudes
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The Court Administrator sent a message at 3:00 warning all court employees in St. Paul to evacuate because a mob was coming. My wife and I have the grand-kids for a sleep-over. I was concerned the kids’ mother might say “Riots? Get my kids out of there!” She’s a…
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Tourists
A friend of the blog writes: What, did they just come to town, Google for chain stores that might be open and close to the freeway? Apparently they did. I don’t know a single local protester who would have thought SunRay would be the place to March/riot. I have lived in the Twin Cities for…
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Breaking News: Retreat
According to a very reliable source, a Minneapolis police officer reports that all Minneapolis police have been moved out of the Third Precinct to the Fourth, and told to “sit tight, do nothing”. And the police are – according to my source’s source – “pissed”.