Speaking Of Shots In The Dark: Welcome To the New Design!
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One Day At MNDFL HQ
SCENE: It’s a typical weekday at the MNDFL headquarters. Richard CARLBOM, the chair, is meeting with activist Avery LIBRELLE and Moonbeam BIRKENSTOCK, party executive Inge “Lucky” CARROLL, as well as Betty Rae TORSTENGAARDSEN, from the (possibly fictional) progressive blog “MinnesotaLiberalAlliance.Blogspot.com“. She was Lac Qui Parle County Dairy Princess in 1987, and voted “most likely to…
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A Semi-Serious Question
When Ilhan Omar says things like this: …is she: Telling a truth so broad that it is in effect a lie (white men are the second largest racial/gender group in the country; nearly all violence is intra-racial, and there are more of them to perpetrate and be victims, and hypothetically to become terrorisrts) Lying (white men…
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Close
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: True. And when you don’t have DFL trifectas, you get fewer of these dumb ideas. Not “none”. But lots, lots fewer.
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Chicago On The Mississippi
The news broke last week – the Department of Human Services tanked its “Housing Stabilization Services” program before the Feds could start digging into it. Not that there’s not gonna be some digging anyway. Joe Thompson, the acting US Attorney for Minnesota, is finding a prosecutorial “targret rich environment”: We welcome today’s news. Fraud has…
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I Heard It On The NARN
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XTB4LuiLnnU9dBNVHPdqx?si=cPMzoBXzQAyeOoz9PDzDFQ
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What Joe Voted For
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Trump is trumpeting a trade deal with the EU. I put no stock in trade deals, they don’t last and everybody cheats. I put more stock in the mindset that “you’ve been riding our coattails long enough, we’re cutting you loose.” End of the free ride, end of…
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Hacked
Somebody hacked the City of Saint Paul: What is it about information technology that makes every level of Minnesota government so very very bad at it? It would seem Mayor Carter could have diverted some time from setting up college funds and yakking about Universal Basic Income to make sure the city’s patching was up…
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Pick Yer Poison. Or Peggy Will Pick It For You
Lieutenant Governor Flanagan [1], one of the MNDFL’s leading public intellectuals, on the economics of healthcare: So much better to have some dude with a public employee union card, behind a desk at a for-corruption state agency, deciding it for you. Amirite? Former Senator Sean Nienow pointed out the inconvenient facts: [1] Although have you…
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Journalism Today
When Jim Smorada was teaching me how to write the news, he taught the same cliche every other journo student and cub reporter gets: do the who, what, when, where, why and how of the story. So I caught this yesterday: And I thought – maybe it’s just the social media intern doing a terrible…
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The Ultimate Berg’s Seventh Law
It’s entirely possible that DNI Gabbard is making a mountain out of a molehill. But if she’s not…: A president using national intelligence infrastructure fo try to jink the political order is not only an order of magnitude bigger than Watergate – it is the kind of thing that the system bent over backwards to…
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No Kings. But Lords…?
Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: Liberals are protesting Donald Trump for exercising his authority as President. They don’t want our country to be ruled by a king. But maybe by Lords? There are so many examples of liberal Democrats thinking they are above the law, better than ordinary people, entitled to…
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The Invisible Hangover
Fads in bars: 1990: every bar that could find three TVs was re-branding itself as a “sports bar”. 2000s: those same bars found a couple old church pews and a Guinness tap, and became “Irish Bars”. 2010s: Those same bars found themselves some brew vats and became “Microbreweries”. I don’t drink a lot of beer…
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More Vibrancy!
Not sure if I’m getting tired of Trump winning – but I’ve had enough of Saint Paul losing. The Cub on University Avenue is closing after several decades: The store at 1440 University Ave. W. will close its doors to the public on Aug. 2, and 96 store employees will be laid off starting on…
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Where’s The Beef?
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: D0GE identified $100 billion in fraud, waste and inefficiency The recession bill cut $9 billion. What happened to the rest? Joe Doakes, ready for more winning “Less losing” was good for starters. But yes. More, faster.
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Ask Not Why Steven Colbert Is Gone
Merely rejoice that he is gone. Colbert – the unctuous and desperately un-funny little man who replaced David Letterman and became the standard-bearer for the collapse of late-night TV – is leaving the air after this season. Oh no. Pass the beer nuts. Never watched the guy for more than a couple minutes live, and maybe a…
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Forecast: Partly Convicted
I’m not sure whose bright idea it was to put Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL – Woodbury) on the stand yesterday. It did not go well: Maybe the defence was hoping the sheer overkill would spawn a sympathy vote in the jury? The ones who truly don’t deserve a sympathy vote – her DFL enablers::
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Whew
Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: It’s good to know that all the other problems in the state have been solved, leaving legislators free to take up this important question. Joe Doakes After two years of “trifecta”, this sort of frippery is almost a relief.
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Thought Experiment
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: What SHOULD a person do in that situation? I’m curious to know what SITD readers think the result would be in Minneapolis versus Greater Minnesota? Charges or no? Joe Doakes Ahh, yeah – the inevitable “mostly” peaceful protest: Joe asked for thoughts. Mine: This is…
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Weed Whacked
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: California has legal marijuana so of course there are farms to grow it. And it’s hot, dirty, stoop-labor, field work so the cheapest workers are illegal aliens, whom ICE is arresting to deport. That all makes sense. What’s the deal with the children? Were they truly slaves,…
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Three Questions For Lt. Gov. Flanagan
To: Lieutenant Governor FlanaganFrom: Mitch Berg, Irascible PeasantRe: I Have Questions. Let’s Be Honest, You Just Don’t Do Answers. Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, I caught this tweet over the weekend: I’ve got two questions: 1. Does This Mean You’re Cutting Taxes? One of the main reasons families (who can’t afford to leave Minnesota) are “just scraping by” is Minnesota’s…
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That “State Government Absurdist Bingo Card” Is Getting Very Full
So, with the revelation last week that hiring managers and the MN Department of Human Services need to explicitly justify hiring white (presumably especially male) candidates for jobs, it’s not unreasonable to wonder – there must be some kind of deeply racist person driving these policies. Your reasonable question has been rewarded with an answer: Ooof. Someone…
Got any book recommendations?