Betsy Hodges’ campaign?

All is not going well:

Among those who have stepped away from the reelection effort are spokesperson Alida Tieberg and adviser Jim Niland, a former city council member who’s held in deep respect within DFL circles.

The news comes just five months after the resignations of Jorge Contreras, Hodges’ first campaign manager, and organizing director Kyrstin Schuette.

The reasons behind the resignations are described as a perfect storm of sorts, according to sources who spoke to City Pages on the condition of anonymity because the don’t want to ruffle feathers within the DFL.

The City Pages answers to the same DFL chain of command that that “whistleblowers” do.

The mayor’s campaign coffers are said to be running on fumes at around $6,000, according to a source who’d spoken with former staff. Hodges’ most recent disclosure from August showed it had a cash balance of about $58,000. However, it also showed the campaign still owed five vendors roughly $25,000.

The only question I have is “will Minneapolis go even further to the left and vote for Ray Dehn.

State GOP deputy chair David Pascoe reported from the Fair last week:

Don’t you dare say Minnesota “prorgressives” are getting deranged.

When we last talked about Ryan WInkler, he was on his way to Belgium, in as much disgrace as the media ever allows a DFL golden child to face, after having called SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom”.   Winkler – who got a degree at Harvard – claimed he wasn’t aware of the history of the term.  But no matter; he took a break.

But he’s baaaaack, and running for Attorney General.

And this oughtta be a great campaign; he’s got the same Twitter smarts as the President seems to have:

Our old friend Chad the Elder of the late, great Fraters stepped up, with results that, if you know Winkler, are utterly predictable:

He wants to be attorney general.

This oughtta be a fun campaign.

(Via Gary Gross)

To:  Betsy Hodges, Mayor, Minneapolis
From:  Mitch Berg, Irascible Peasant
Re:  Problem-Solving

Your Highness,

This is a problem that calls for decisive action.  Like banning plastic bags, building “green roofs” and banning idling cars.

I know we can count on you.

That is all.

With Betsy Hodges’ administration rolling downhill faster than Creed’s career bell curve, Minneapolis looks likely to swerve hard left.

As hard left as Ray Dehn?  Maybe not – maybe Jacob Frey appears like a sensible moderate in comparison with the other frontrunner in the mayoral race.  Maybe.  This is Minneapolis.

But Dehn’s remarks in the wake of the Noor shooting, the resignation of chief Harteau, and the pandemonium at Hodges’ press conference gives Dehn a yuge platform, at least for now.  And he’s using it – for better or worse:

Crime is not a product of individual morality but the consequence of scarcity in our society. We must divest resources, disarm officers, and dismantle the inherent violence of our criminal justice system which continues to uphold white supremacy. Our approach to public safety must reflect a belief that our communities are safer when they have housing, clean air and water, access to education and employment, and quality healthcare.

“Like if you took away Thurgood Marshall’s bank account, you  think you’d see him selling crack at the Union Station bus terminal?”

– P. J. O’Rourke

Is Minneapolis anywhere close to hitting “Peak Left?”  A moment like the 1977 New York Blackout, prompting New Yorkers to stop the insanity?

I don’t think so.  Minneapolis’s DFL establishment is controlled by people who aren’t affected by the city’s collapse; people in Kenwood, Nicollet Island, Minnehaha Parkway and the like, who can and do remain above it all – or, like Alondra Cano, dabble in “it all” for effect.

Remember all the Democrats who rode Detroit, Camden, Oakland, Newark and New Orleans straight into the ground, bleating about peoples’ “best interests” all the way.

It’s gonna get worse before it gets better, Minneapolis. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.

Tragic shooting in South Minneapolis;  woman from Australia killed by cop originally from Somalia.

Steve Cwodzinski – the teachers union foot soldier who “replaced” Dave Hann in the MN Senate seat representing Eden Prairie, follows Rahm Emanuel’s dictum to a fault:

“Two immigrants came to the United States searching for the American dream. One came to heal; the other, to protect. Now due to the fear and violence surrounding firearms, both have realized the American nightmare.”

The mission of today’s DFL:  Deflect the glare from:

• the problem with police powers, especially qualified immunity
• an apparent problem with officer training (Minneapolis cops, I’m told, are trained to keep their fingers on the trigger at all times, in and among any number of other issues in the incident)
• suspicion about affirmative action hiring in police departments
• the extent to which the mayor and council’s embrace of Black Lives Matter has caused the police to “stand down” – taking action only when they see a felony in progress
• the social collapse of much of Minneapolis

…by jabbering about “fear and violence surrounding firearms” that were present only in the hands of the cop, whom the DFL would have us believe are the ones who can be “trusted” with that constitutional right.

People of Eden Prairie;  you sent him to Saint Paul.  Take him back.

State Representative Alice Hausman, on Facebook:

Kommissar Hausman:  perhaps you’ve heard of the Fifth Amendment?  Nobody can be compelled to testify themselves?

Also – the “qualified immunity” laws that you, in the legislature, continually pass and expand to keep the DFL’s benefactors in the (are you ready for this) Police Union happy pretty much spell out how officers are treated after an officer-involved shooting.

Rep. Hausman:  it’s starting to occur to me that HD66A didn’t lose out on all that much expertise when you fobbed your job off on Heather Martens.

After a 14 hour convention that descended at one point into fisticuffs, the Minneapolis City DFL Convention reached no endorsement – but  Ray “The Kommissar” Dehn had a lead in the delegate count for mayor.

Further proof that the Minneapolis DFL is pushing too far left even for Betsy Hodges?  Sure.

But it’s the ephemera that tell us how far to the left.  This was one of Dehn’s congrats on Twitter:

“Comrade”.

This is Minneapolis today.

The Mesabi News has been one of few newspapers in the state with an editorial board that bucks the DFL line.

And their editorial from last Tuesday – “” – might be exhibit A in the “Why Trump Won” museum, someday.

They’ve had enough of the Iron Range’s future being determined by Twin Cities environmentalists:

The Iron Range is done being paraded around in the three-ring circus of hearings, resolutions and comment periods, which are really nothing more than putting the everyday Iron Ranger on trial by a jury of its uniformed peers.

At 4 p.m. today at Virginia Carpenters Union Hall, the Iron Range unifies. Labor groups, businesses, politicians and unions — and supporters in the Twin Cities — are standing up and saying we’re done. They’re calling for a boycott of a Forest Service hearing on July 18 in St. Paul over a federal land withdrawal, and instead will protect the Range’s way of life — on the Iron Range — July 25 in Virginia.

The editors see how the game is being played.

These hearings, on the taxpayers’ dime, are a mockery of working government. Go to Duluth, go to St. Paul, Ely or Virginia and it’s the same group of people talking on both sides.

What more is there to hear? And what is there to learn about mining in St. Paul? The Forest Service says it seeks a wide opinion on the subject, so by that logic environmental hearings on the St. Croix Bridge or the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion project should have hearings on the Iron Range.

But it won’t happen because this is the playground for the Twin Cities, and they’ll get there “one funeral at a time,” as Becky Rom, the leader of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, has been quoted by The Progressive, a grassroots publication that champions progressive politics.

Remember this the next time some plushbottom fop from Kenwood or Crocus Hill calls themselves “the Resistance”.

Former ineffective DFL legislator Katie Knuth has been hired as the City of Minneapolis’ “Chief Resilience Officer“.

When I think “resilience”, I think “bouncing back from crises”, “being able to sustain a major human or natural disaster and keep functioning”, or “take a licking and keep on ticking”.

Well, no.  It’s described as:

…a new position that coordinates the city’s work on urban challenges from housing affordability to climate change.

Kate Knuth will join a network that includes dozens of chief resilience officers around the world, in cities that have joined the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities project.

Knuth, 36, previously served three terms in the state House as a DFLer representing New Brighton before leading the Institute on the Environment’s Boreas Leadership Program at the University of Minnesota. The City Council approved her hiring on Friday.

Put another way, it’s “providing a paycheck to people who are part of the political class”.

They take care of their own.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

Governor Dayton signed the budget bills, but vetoed funding for the legislature because he didn’t get the bills he wanted.

Some might think Dayton’s move was petty and vindictive.  I disagree.  It was genius.  In chess terms, he’s put the Republicans in a fork – agree to a special session to give the governor what he wants in exchange for funding the legislature, or take your complaint to a court packed with judges appointed by Democrats.  Both are losing moves.

Joe is absolutely right.

When all the moves are losing moves, refuse to play the game.  The Republican Speaker of the House should say “We convinced Governor Dayton to cut spending for a third of state government, which is a good start.  Since he’s defunded the Legislature, we won’t be coming back into session and that means the rest of the government will shut down when this current budget runs out in two years.  Meanwhile, I plan to enjoy a well-deserved vacation.”

And Joe is even more absolutely right.

Of course he wouldn’t mean it.  But it ups the ante.  Every time somebody says “but what about” you point them to the Governor and say “Sorry, the Governor shut us down.  Take it up with him.”

Joe Doakes

I dream of a world where Minnesota Republicans have that kind of political killer instinct.

Be advised that there is only one acceptable DFL candidate for Governor in the upcoming race:  Minority Leader Thissen:

Speaker of the House Paul Thissen, in this AP file photo, receives a packet of orders – legislative and food delivery – from AFSCME, back when he was Speaker. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

To settle for anyone less would be a betrayal of progressive principle.

Unless Sandy Pappas runs. Then vote for her.

Progressive Lino Lakes City Councilwoman Melissa Stockman-Maher contributed to this nation’s civic discourse in commenting about a Tom Emmer “town hall” meeting on a 6th District farm:

If you live in Lino Lakes, you might want to ask if Councilwoman Stockman Maher is threatening only Congressman Emmer, or if there are parts of Lino Lakes that conservatives in general should try to avoid, lest the Councilwoman likewise sic an armed mob on them.

Or maybe just make sure someone runs against her, with this tweet as part of their campaign literature.

First, the good news:  Rep. Mary Franson has introduced a bill that would expose parents who subject their children to ritual genital mutilation to felony charges and potential loss of custody.  It’s currently illegal for a doctor to perform the procedure; if passed into law, Franson’s bill would spread the onus to the parents.

This is a good thing – especially if you are remotely familiar with the procedure:

Farhio Khalif of Minneapolis…described in horrific detail how she was forced as a little girl in Somalia to undergo a ritual mutilation.

Farhio Khalif, with Rep. Franson. Photo courtesy Tim Pugmire at Minnesota Public Radio.

“My legs were tied each side. My hands were tied each side. I was blindfolded, and the ritual took place and it was painful. It was so painful I think I died or maybe I passed away,” Khalif recalled. “I don’t know what happened. But I remember waking back up, and I see blood all over the place.”

And awful as that sounds, that’s really only the half of it.  The law seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

[“No-brainer” joke referencing Rep. John Lesch of HD 66A deleted – if only that were the problem].   Rep.  Lesch – representative from perhaps the least politically engaged district in the state, and a candidate for Attorney General – played for the cameras by…accusing Franson of playing for the cameras:

Despite bipartisan support for the bill, some Democrats suggested that parents could already be prosecuted without a new law…Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, raised concerns that only Republicans had signed on as co-authors of the bill. Lesch said criminal law bills have traditionally been bipartisan.

The current law, to which Lesch and Somali DFL representative Ilhan Omar referred, makes abetting female circumcision a gross misdemeanor – like throwing a rock at a train.  Like, not really that much of a crime.

Several Republicans on the committee criticized both Omar and Lesch for questioning the motives of their colleague.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with the cameras in the room, with the headlines in the paper,” Franson said. “This is about saving children’s lives.”

With Lesch, and his bid for Mayor State Senate to go to Iraq Attorney General, it’s always about the cameras.

This needs to follow him through the AG race, assuming it actually gets to the starting gate.

Yesterday, Ken Martin – the Chairman of the MNDFL – posted one of his giggly little “gotcha” posts about a fairly loathsome Facebook post made on the 7th CD GOP page.  In the post, he took a swipe at new MNGOP chair Jennifer Carnahan.

Because that ‘s what politics is to Ken Martin.

Little did Ken Martin know…

…well, much of anything.  Martin has never been anything but Alida Messinger’s gimp.

But in this case, he also didn’t know that Chairwoman Carnahan had already pretty much eviscerated the Facebook post and the posters, nearly half an hour earlier.

Ken Martin; he’s not very sharp, but pass the beer nuts.

Remember when questioning the provenance of immigrant voters was a baaaad thing?

Either does Alondra “The Brain” Cano, the “third world feminist” and Minneapolis City Council ward heeler:

Minneapolis City Council candidate Mohamed Farah is accusing Council Member Alondra Cano of “Jim Crow tactics” after she questioned the credentials of many of the Somali-American delegates chosen in the Ninth Ward caucus earlier this month.

Cano’s campaign filed challenges with the Minneapolis DFL saying 101 delegates elected in the near south Minneapolis caucus did not sign in to participate in the April 4 event at South High School. At least 27 delegates and alternates did not write down their addresses when they registered, Cano’s campaign said, and “we have identified at least three delegates who do not live in the precinct they were elected in.”

I love watching tyrants eating each other.

The DFL – the party of plutocrats waving the bloody shirt of poverty – is in the middle of a fundraising drive. I got an email from Ken Martin, the DFL’s chair.

And in exchange for a $5 donation, the donor will get the one thing that seems to make every single liberal’s heart go pitty pat; like a shiny object that doesn’t need polishing; like a squirrel you don’t have to chase.

A bumper sticker.

In this case, a choice of three bumpers stickers – each of which requires a massive suspension of disbelief.

As a public service to my audience, I think it’s time for us to vote on these bumper stickers.

Option #1 – The DFL:  It’s pretty plain-jane and vanilla – not that you can refer to Jane or Vanilla in DFL circles anymore.

It’s the tamer of the three options,, obviously – although it requires enough suspension of disbelief to accept that the Democrats represent labor, much less farmers, in this state anymore.

I’m willing to accept the idea of Mariah Carey undersinging, or Tom Cruise doing a restrained, subdued interview.  But The “FL” in “DFL” is pushing even my tolerance for fancy.

Option #2 – Organize!   This next one is more of a call to action.

It’d have you believe that the Democrat Party is a mass of underdogs that, working together, can take on the big fish, Trump.  :

Of course, to be accurate, you’d need a school of fish bigger than the Trump fish, swimming behind the school of “littlle fish” giving them orders.

Second level of suspended disbelief; the “little fish” form a “Stars and Stripes” pattern.  To be accurate, the fish flag would need to be in flames, set alight by an amorphous group of college age fish.

Option #3 – Resist!:   Finally – not just a call to action, but a call to fiction!

The DFL seems to think that the left is “the resistance”.

No.  They are the establishment.  The millions of Americans who came out to toss the anointed Hillary Clinton out of public life are the resistance.  The Democrat Party is the one being resisted.

Minnesota DFL?  You are the status quo!   This is a blue state!   And as you (plural) proudly say every second odd-numbered year, you “own” Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

You’re not the resistance  You’re the occupier!

Time For Action:   Let’s vote.  The question is, which bumper sticker requires a bigger suspension of disbelief?

Operators are standing by.

Ted Mondale and Michelle Kelm-Helgen resigned from the Metro Sports Utilities Commission yesterday, after the corruption in the MSFC’s use of luxury skyboxes as a spiff for the Twin Cities’ DFL became to great for even the Metro old-boy-and-girl network to hush up.

Mondale and Kelm-Helgen faced cascading criticism and scrutiny since the Star Tribune reported in November that they and other MSFA commissioners hosted friends, family and well-connected DFLers at two 18-person luxury suites at the stadium during Vikings games and at several concerts. The two said the state-owned suites were needed to market the building, but an investigation by Legislative Auditor James Nobles revealed the suites were used mostly for entertainment by the MSFA commissioners and staff.

The Legislative Auditors report sounds like it’s good reading:

[Legislative Auditor James Nobles’] 100-page report faulted Kelm-Helgen and Mondale’s leadership of the MSFA, saying they had violated a core ethical principle by using public office for personal gain, by handing out free tickets, VIP parking, food and drink to friends and allies.

Combined, the two made nearly $300,000 in taxpayer-funded salaries. They oversaw construction of the $1.1 billion stadium, which was funded in part with a $498 million public subsidy.

And the saga of Michelle Kelm-Helgen, DFL grandée extraordinaire,  sounds like a “how-to” for any political glad-hander in a one-party city;

Even before the suite usage blew up, an unclear division of duties between Mondale and Kelm-Helgen became an issue. Former authority members Duane Benson and John Griffith had questioned the need for two taxpayer-funded executives in similar roles. They also raised concerns about Kelm-Helgen’s lack of collaboration.

“We were on a board that had an inability to get information,” Benson said, adding that Kelm-Helgen also refused to let the board participate in her job reviews.

Remember way back when Zygi Wilf was yanking the DFL-led Legislature and Governor Flint-Smith Dayton around, threatening to move the team if the state didn’t pony up to improve his investment for him at public expense?  And we asked – what could possibly go wrong when you entrust half a billion dollars to an bunch of unaccountable bureaucrats whose sole qualification was their DFL political connection?

Because you should remember it.

The DFL controlled Department of Employment and Economic Development is granting “Dislocated Worker” benefits – designed for large groups of private-sector workers who’ve been laid off – to DFL legislative staffers whose jobs disappeared with their majority and, in many cases, their representatives:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/12/14/dflers-job-loss-benefits/

As Kelly Fenton notes, this is a first; political work (and work for a legislator or a caucus is political work, and much of it disappears when a party loses a majority) is unstable.  Lose an election?  Lose your staff.  Lose the majority?  Lose more staff.

And word has it some of the workers getting benefits were, in fact, campaign workers.

I say the DFL should defend this action loudly, proudly and stridently.  Preferably by calling their critics “deplorable”.

Racism is the only reason to follow Betty McCollum’s advice in this matter.

The Twin Cities Social Justice militia has been carping about Henco sheriff Rich Stanek “sending” Henco deputies to help North Dakota law enforcement deal with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

This, partially at the behest of Governor Lieutenant Governor Tina Flint-Smith, who has been using her position to flog the issue on Facebook:

I do not support Sheriff Stanek’s decision to send his deputies to North Dakota, nor did we approve his decision to begin with. I do not have any control over the Sheriff’s actions, which I think were wrong, and I believe he should being his deputies home, if he hasn’t already. I strongly support the rights of all people to peacefully protest, including, tonight, the Standing Rock protest.

Of course, the Governor Lieutenant Governor and former state chair of Infanticide R Us is lying:

In a blistering letter of his own, Sheriff Stanek schooled the legislators on how the mobilization materialized when state homeland security officials responded to an urgent request from North Dakota.

The Governor’s Office and the State of Minnesota authorized the mission, signed the contract, secured the reimbursement agreement and approved the plan two days before deputies departed for North Dakota.

The request came in under the Emergency Management Assistant Compact (EMAC) system adopted in all 50 states to make sure essential personnel and resources are made available for any catastrophe that occurs anywhere in the country.

The Governor’s office – Tina Flint-Smith and her audioanimatronic puppet Mark Dayton – are playing both sides of this issue for political gain.

SCENE:    At the garden center.  Mitch BERG is taking advantage of late-season blowouts when Avery LIBRELLE, carrying a lawn flamingo, steps around the corner, catching BERG by surprise. 

LIBRELLE:  Merg!  You keep claiming there’s vote fraud.  And yet there is not.  There never has been and there never will be.

BERG:  Well, the evidence in  California and Chicago and Philadelphia and Maryland and Florida and a key and very swingy district in Virginia and Mississippi and of course right here in Minnesota says you’re wrong.

LIBRELLE:  But the Brennan Center said there is no voter fraud!

BERG:  Leaving aside the fact that the Brennan Center is pretty much devoted to undermining self-government and making society safe for our “elite” better to govern as they see fit, their “sources” were pretty much all election authorities confirming that nothing is wrong, nosirreebob.  In most states where the fraud happens, it’s almost impossible to convict anyone for even the most bald-faced vote fraud.

LIBRELLE:  But there’s more evidence!

BERG:  Aaaand what’s that?

LIBRELLE:  You’re racist.  Hah!

(LIBRELLE turns and runs for the door)

BERG:  Clearly.

(And SCENE)

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Oooh, look there; an article about vote fraud.  Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section.

Unless, of course, you are one of the commenters who’s made a habit of leaving extremely long, usually off-topic, usually condescending comments, purporting to “fact-check” my content, but usually proving only that you’re a terrible researcher with no command of logic:

You’ll need to respond in depth to this question in a previous thread.  And respond to the responses.  And then I will start letting your comments out of moderation.  And only then.  Your call.  No skin off my teeth).

Preya Samsundar continues to beat the stuffing out of the Twin Cities institutional media in reporting on Minneapolis DFL legislative candidate Ilhan Omar’s fuzzy marital history.

Only this time, she may have done it with the unwitting help of the City Pages’ DFLer-with-byline Cory Zurowski:

Whether or not Mr. Zurowski realizes it, he has shed new light into the Omar case. The story, which was originally published on Wednesday, October 26, Mr. Zurowski wrote that Ilhan Omar’s father is named “Nur Said Elmi Mohamed”. A day later, Zurowski’s article was changed and now Omar’s father’s name appears in the article as “Nur Omar Mohamed”.

Read the whole thing.

And then ask yourselves why nobody in the Twin Cities media is covering this story.

To use a Glenn Reynolds line, it helps if you think of reporters as Democrat operatives with bylines.  Who, in this case, don’t want to be barred from the Saint Paul Grill.

Assange’s Infodump On Hillary will be utterly devastating – to a regular citizen.  The media will bury it, developing a sudden and utterly transient interest in storm damage in Haiti.

Black Lives Matter will be a huge force in the 2020 election, as George Soros and other plutocrats with deep pockets continue to fund it with gusto.  Unless Hillary wins.  Then, it’ll disappear from the public eye, unfunded and unmentioned in the media, by February 2017.

The continued collapse of the state health exchanges will garner more and more media publicity leading up to Hillary Clinton’s inaugural address, which will prominently feature single-payer healthcare as a national priority on the order of the New Deal or defeating Naziism.

It was once said that the only thing that could hurt the career of a Chicago Democrat was being caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl.

But in this blog’s comment section earlier this week, Mark “Mr. Dilettante” Heuring may have tripped onto something potentially more damning in re Angie Craig, the DFL-endorsed candidate taking on Jason Lewis in the Second Congressional District.

And she barely bothers to hide it. See if you can find it between the lines:

For the last 10 years of my career, I was a member of the leadership team at Minnesota start-up St. Jude Medical. At St. Jude, I was focused on supporting those employees who supported our business – so patients ultimately could benefit from their work.

Beneath all the executive verbal camouflage, it’s pretty clear.

Angie Craig works in HR.

Citizens of CD2 – think about life in your office.  Think; do you want to be represented, have your taxes set, have policies governing your life and livelihood…

…set by an HR person?

In a sane world, that would shut out the lights right there.

CD2, you can have better.