I’ve said it quite a few times; I support capital punishment for every reason but one – the inevitability that the state will execute the wrong person.  And given that that is one of the ultimate wrongs – an innocent person dies, the guilty party goes forever free – that’s all the reason I need to oppose capital punishment.  

And it’s not just an intellectual parlor game; we’re fairly certain one innocent guy was executed; there are suspicions about many other such cases. And the fact that well over 100 people have been freed from death row because their convictions were overturned, in most cases because they could not have committed the crimes for which they were convicted and sentenced to death, usually after sitting on death row for many years, as some conservatives demand the curtailing of appeals, which would have led to several more executions of the innocent?

Color me unconvinced.  Or, rather, utterly convinced. 

So, with all that said:  a “botched” firing squad execution in South Carolina left a convicted murderer not quite dead, for a while anyway:

There wasn’t much chance Mahdi didn’t commit his crime.  Or, rather, crimes; he was convicted of three murders – the stabbing of Greg Jones in a drug deal gone bad, then shooting a convenience store clerk  Christopher Jason Boggs in the face and finally shooting police officer James Myers 9 times. 3 to his head.

Any of which, but especially that last, might explain why three expert riflemen firing at fifteen feet missed a three inch target – a grouping I get with a handgun without a whole lot of ceremony at that range – leaving Mahdi in “excruciating pain” for about a minute. 

I imagine there’s going to be an Eighth Amendment civil rights suit against the marksmen – if anyone has standing to take it to court.

Rumors of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline are greatly…

…er…

…oh, I can’t keep a straight face:

Nothing to see here, peasants.

Hey, look!  The guy who banned  family Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings, limited the Cathedral of Saint Paul to ten worshippers (and Kissin’ Cousins’ Sports Bar in Newfolden to 50) and tried to get you fired for not getting vaccinated…:

…is suddenly a liberty hawk!

Minneapolis deputy police chief Katie Blackwell’s defamation suit was thrown out, and she’s been ordered to pay back part of Liz Collin’s legal fees:

This may be the biggest backfire I’ve seen in a defamation suit – and the subject is by no means academic to me.

In a move that finally brings truth to the matter, Blackwell also signed a written declaration, stating:

“I, Katie Blackwell, acknowledge, agree, and affirm that everything in the Honorable Edward T. Wahl’s Order Regarding Special Motion for Expedited Relief Under Minn. Stat. § 554.09 and for Fees and Costs Under Minn. Stat. § 554.16 dated April 8, 2025 is accurate, true, and correct.”

So, despite her initial claims, Blackwell has now affirmed that all of Judge Wahl’s findings are “accurate, true, and correct.”

So this brings up all sorts of questions about Blackwell’s testimony in the Chauvin trial – including her assertions that the restraint technique Chauvin used on Floyd, which appeared to have been straight out of the department’s training manual as affirmed by several Minneapolis cops interviewed in Collin’s movie, was no-how, no-way, ever part of the MPD’s training canon. 

Read the whole article.  And buckle up.  This next year or two is going be a doozie in Minnesota courts. 

Minnesota schools failed during the pandemic.  Some might say they collapsed. 

Governor Klink isn’t gonna let that happen again:

Aside from trying to deal with the deficit he created, he’s trying to pay back his cronies in the Teachers Unions. 

So, the Saint Paul City Council appears to be rolling back its stupid, ruinous “rent control” ordinance…

…sort of. 

But – only the buildings built after 2004?

I’m no expert, but this sounds to me like it’s a plan to:

1. Make it impossible to pay the upkeep and taxes on older buildings, and so to
2. Squeeze the owners out into selling cheap, so as to
3. Build more multi-unit housing, which of course steers money to the non-profits that employ the St. Paul DFL’s farm club.  Because they always get a taste.  Always.  

Saint Paul is basically Chicago on the Mississippi.  

Rep. Emma Greenman – who seemed to have found her happy place being the DFL state rep who was most aggressive about shirking her job early in the legislative session, before the District 40B special election – sounded off on the ethics issues with Keith Ellison:

“Political and not very useful” is actually a great capsule summary of Rep. Greenman. 

“…I believe the children are our greatest probleeeeeeemmmmm”.

Hope Walz uncorks on the most insidious form of “privilege”:

Forget for a moment that barefoot running is kind of a fad these days:

Forget the corn-fed American runners.  Let’s talk about Abebe Bikila, the legendary Olympic marathoner who…grew up dirt poor, trained barefoot, and was one of the greatest marathon runners ever.  

Look, nobody’s ever accused Hope Walz of being an intellectual titan. Nobody expects it. Seeing her parents, one would be mad to even think about it.

But you just know she’s going to be running for office soon, don’t you?

Maybe I’m too used to kicking at the football Lucy proffers, having it taken away, and yelling “AAAAAARGH” as I sail into the bushes yet again.

But I saw this last week…

But hope springs eternal .

Maybe this is the time someone not working directly or indirectly for Ken Martin actually gets to start seeing where the bodies are buried in Minnesota politics.

This isn’t, of course, the part of the Minnesota bureaucracy that controls hundreds of millions in fraud, or the direct connection between the non-profit/industrial complex and the DFL and all the taxpayer money they’ve controlled for the past two decades. Or to Keith Ellison renting out seats in the AGO to Michael Bloomberg’s climate pimps. 

But it almost feels like it could be possible

SCENE:  Mitch BERG is parking on the street to go to a private event.  He’s trying to wrangle with the stupid newfangle parking meter when Avery LIBRELLE rolls around the corner on a recumbent bike. 

LIBRELLE:  Merg!

BERG:  Uh…

LIBRELLE:  Shut up.   The “party of faith” is embracing blasphemy!

BERG:  I’m not actually Catholic, but I’m pretty sure you can’t commit “blasphemy” against a human, being that Christ was the only human who’s ever also been deific…

LIBRELLE:  Republicans clearly hate Christians!

BERG:  Right.  So do you remember this…:

(But LIBRELLE has already left)

And SCENE.

If it’s a day ending in “Y”, there’s going to be another DFL fraud scam. 

The questions to ask at this point pretty much boil down to:

• What non-profit is behind it?
• How is that non-profit linked to the DFL?
• Which DFL executive branch staffer or legislator made the connections to make the deal happen?

Because there’ll be an answer to each of those questions.

And all of those answers will end up with Tim Walz trying to tapdance his way out of the buck stopping anywhere near him. 

The Homicide rate in Minneapolis was way below recent trends…

…well, “was” is the operant word, here, isn’t it?   Shootings in the past 36 hours killed five, and left five more injured, several critically:

The shootings occurred at the following locations.

• 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue, just before midnight on Tuesday.
• Cedar Avenue and 17th Avenue at 1 p.m.
• 3300 block of Harriet Avenue at 2:25 p.m.
• Girard Avenue North around 3:50 p.m.
• 15th Avenue South and Lake Street around 7:45 p.m.

In the first shooting near 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue, police say two men, two women and a teenage boy were found shot at the scene: Four were inside a vehicle, and another was on the sidewalk.

The 17-year-old boy, a 20-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man were pronounced dead at the scene, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The remaining man and woman were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Welcome to Spring in Minneapolis!

Tim Walz is not the savviest politician who ever kissed a baby or shook a hand.

But yesterday’s “knucklehead” admission may be the dumbest own goal he’s ever made:

Admitting that one is a marketing charade is a bold move, Cotton.  Let’s see how it works. 

Ed Morrissey notes:

In that sense, perhaps this is Walz’ attempt at sincerity — by acknowledging what seemed pretty apparent all along. What’s mystifying is why Walz would admit publicly that Harris was pursuing a race-based calculation in her running mate rather than, y’know, finding the best person for the job. And not just in the one-heartbeat-from-the-presidency sense either, but also in the ability to campaign and to compete against J. D. Vance.

Like candidate, like running-mate, I guess.