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.

Hello. This is Avery Librelle.

Conservatives are seizing and pouncing on this story:

Some of you retrograde wingnuts have claimed that this vindicates Republican Christofascist Scott Jensen’s claims during the 2022 gubernatorial compaign.

Let me be perfectly clear: If there isn’t a litter pan, meaning a literal pan full of litter – physicallyl in a classroom, that means every jot and tittle of the story is completely false.

I repeat: completely false.

Now I’m off to confiscate parodies of “In This House” lawn signs.

In Gaia’s name,
Avery

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.

MInnesotans: “Judd Hoff. Matt Roznowski. Julie Blaha. John Thompson. Dan Wolgamott. Brion Curran. Andy Smith. Can the DFL get any more depraved?”

Minnesota DFL: “Hold our Kombucha”.

Why, yes – that’s the relentlessly smug Nicole Mitchell – DFL senator from Woodbury, and apparently the DFL’s designated civil liberties expert.

Jeff Kolb ran through the facts we know (Twitter thread):

The incident took place at the home of her late father’s wife. Fill in further details at your own peril, but that might suggest a few answers.

It goes without saying Berg’s 18th Law is in force, and of course Michell is innocent until proven guilty.

Harvard and MIT disgraced the nation’s “elite academia” last year.

Columbia says “hold my kombucha”:

Yep – progs standing in the door of the schoolhouse, trying to keep the race they hate out.

Is a single Democrat office-holder or leader anywhere going to condemn this?

“Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students safety”.

Oh, I suspect the NYPD could do it, if there were any political will to do so.

The fact that there isn’t should make every American sick to their stomach.

Bonus question: as someone else put it (I wish I could claim credit) – if Trump was responsible for what happened in Charlottesville, why aren’t Biden and his boss responsible for this?

In the wake of three episodes of pro-Palestine protesters burning themselves to death, the sixties – the radical-chic version – called to tell the left of the 2020s to dial back the crazy:

I mean, if “interests of power” = weeding out the most insane elements of the crowd that also wants to self-immolate Western Civilization, she may have a point.

On the other hand, it’s a teeeeeny little step from this to “not immolating other ‘serves the interests of power'”.

John Mellencamp, who turned his real-life persona – “an American kid who grew up in the Heartland” – into his show-biz persona, is shocked that other American kids from the heartland aren’t having his Los Angeles politics:

“Love the art, ignore the artist” is an aphorism that’s served me well over the years. Uh Huh, Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee were three of the best albums of the 1980s, especially for another “American kid growing up in the heartland”.

As to Mellencamp’s politics getting rejected? To cite the sage, there is indeed “no free ride. Nobody said it’d be easy”. Some guys put you in your place. Some day hopefully we can look back and remember when.

Marisa Simonetti is a conservative running for Hennepin County Commission. She’s got a solid shot. Find out more on the web or Twitter.

Taylor Rahm is running for the GOP nomination to run against Angie Craig in CD4 Find out more here.

And of course, here’s the music list.

The word “iconic” is overused these days. I try to avoid it.

It’ll be hard in this next bit.

If you are not a guitar player, and someone says “electric guitar”, it’s more than a little likely the first guitar you picture in your mind is a Fender Stratocaster.

There are other electric guitars – but if the world had to explain “electric guitar” to an alien, this would likely be the example of choice.

The Fender Stratocaster turns 70 this year.

Radio repair man turned inventor Leo Fender could not possibly have known what he was starting when he began designing the Strat in the early 1950s. Perhaps because he wasn’t a guitarist, he approached the design differently, with an eye on not just manufacture but also repairability. Hence the bolt-on, rather than glued-in, neck. He had hit the mark a few years earlier with the Broadcaster, later renamed the Telecaster due to a legal wrangle with rival manufacturer Gretsch. He also designed the Fender Precision bass. Both were instant successes, popular with western swing bands, but the Telecaster was and remains a slab-like, utilitarian workhorse – two pickups, no nonsense. And as much as musicians loved its sound, they often complained that its square edges dug into their ribs and banged their hip bones.

The Strat, with its neatly nipped navel and two-horned cutaways, is probably what first comes to mind when anyone hears the words “electric guitar”. Millions of players have learned on a Strat – whether made by Fender, its budget Squier imprint, or one of the numerous companies producing copies. Many others dream of owning a top-of-the-range model from the Fender custom shop, costing a five-figure sum. Then there are the secondhand Strats with one previous famous owner. The black 1969 model that Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour played on The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall went under the hammer for almost $4m, in aid of a climate change charity.

They are famously versatile – their electronics provide thinner tone than the beefy Les Paul, but the three pickups are out of phase with each other, which helps give the Strat a dizzing sonic variety.

There’s reedy and out of phase:

To piercing, with tones you didn’t know existed until you played them:

To pretty much anything you want:

I finally got one, three years ago. It’s a Squier – but it gets the point across.

In one sense, this blog hasn’t changed much in the 22 years I’ve been running it. I get up early, I write stuff. For the past 20 years, it’s doubled as show prep for the Saturday NARN.

But one thing that has changed is the pace. I used to shoot for four posts a day, and frequently posted much, much more. These days, I stay consistent at 2/day – 6AM and 11AM. That’s actually a habit I picked up during blogging’s heyday – about 2/3 of the visits for the day came before 9AM, with another surge around lunch. I wanted to give people a reason to come back at lunch, so there was (and is) always a post at 11AM Central.

It’s probably a sign of how under-challenged I was back then. I sort of put career in the back seat between 2000 and probably 2012-ish; I had kids to raise. Which meant I had jobs where I really wasn’t that challenged. I had dribs and drabs of time during a not-overly-challenging workday to throw together rough drafts and story links to get to during my usual writing time, 5-6:30 AM – my “Me” time during my decade-plus with a couple of kids.

The career is back on my front burner, and going very well, thanks (knock wood); it’s been a blessing. I’ll go into more details some other time.

At any rate, two posts a day, sometimes more, is not a bad goal.

But one habit that’s not changed is the sheer volume of stories that I’d like to write about. I open them up in tabs, intending to blog about them, leaving them open until I do, and making a point of closing the tabs out when the story is done.

Which means every few weeks I have a browser with 40 open tabs, with stories I’ll never get to, largely out of date.

So what the heck – insteads of just nuking the browser full of tabs from orbit, let’s just bang out a bunch of them in one post, Instapundit style:

• Minneapolis wants to know how it’s music scene is doing. My response in one line: it was head, shoulders and ankles better in the ’80s.
• Minnesota DFL Legislative Majority rides to the Minneapolis City Council’s rescue on their Über/Lyft fiasco. Or at least they try to. Some people just don’t know enough to get rescued.
• Some people dream about living in their favorite TV show. The lucky (and fabulously wealthy) among us actually do it.
• Minnesota’s educational achievement is…mixed.
• Minimum Wage: We warned them, and warned them, and warned them some more. But did they listen?
• “Moriarty’s critics are circling“. I’m sorry, NYTimes, but it’s clear they are getting ready to pounce.

I say this fully aware it might be deeply insensitive.

By the way, “Deeply Insensitive” was the caption in the high school annual my senior year, so that tracks.

Anyway – people appear to be choosing sterilization over wrangling with new abortion laws (or at least the hype about them).

The good news, sorta? Fewer abortions.

The better news? It’s not unreasonable to presume these people are overwhelmingly “progressives”. Hopefully their self-inflicted demographic sunset will happen before they destroy the rest of the country.

The bad news: They got a big headstart on the whole “destroy the country” thing.

Forget the Mariah Carey you’ve known for the past 20 years – the diva shenanigans, the Tommy Mottola and Nick Cannon drama, the most expensive penthouse in New York.

Remember, rather, the Mariah Cary who broke out into the music world in 1989 – 19 years old, a voice like a laser, the work ethic of a sled dog…

…and so very versatile and talented across genres.

And a curse upon her label at the time.