Minneapolis - St. Paul Metro

This confirms all of my stereotypes about Hugo:

“I don’t want to not allow solar farms, but you don’t want to ruin a neighborhood’s character,” City Council Member David Strub said in an interview. “We’re all trying to be good neighbors.”

They also don't like public transit because of reasons that boil down to not liking minorities. That's probably why Bob Kroll lives there, who was the president of the Minneapolis police union during the George Floyd protests.

https://archive.is/XOAdo

Saw this today in a parking lot. Not sure exactly what it's trying to say, but thought it was funny

https://archive.is/4Y4EC

This August, thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched outside the Democratic National Convention carrying signs reading, among other slogans, “Abandon Harris.” The campaign, started by University of Minnesota Professor Hassan Abdel Salam, encourages voters to either abstain from voting in the presidential election or vote third-party, with many rallying around Jill Stein. The campaign has spread like wildfire across social media and the Twin Cities community.

I have spent the last year attending pro-Palestine actions, participating in boycotts and raising funds for the people of Gaza. I even voted “uncommitted” in the primary. I don’t consider these actions particularly remarkable or expect to be praised for them, but I do hope that they provide me some credibility when I state that I believe voting for Harris is absolutely necessary.

The Abandon Harris movement’s stated purpose is, according to Salam, “to punish her and the [Democratic] Party” for funding the genocide in Gaza. My question is: And then what? Abandoning Harris can result in only one thing — a second Trump presidency. While those advocating refusal to vote state very clearly that they don’t want Donald Trump to win, either, this is an issue of intent vs. impact. The simple facts of the two-party system dictate that suppressing votes for one candidate guarantees a larger percentage of votes for the opposing candidate. This is exactly why conservatives have spent decades trying to limit access to voting; it’s extremely alarming to see leftists doing voter supressionists’ work for them.

(As an aside to anyone who believes I’m unfairly dismissing the possibility of a Jill Stein presidency, I would like to point out that the most successful third-party candidate in U.S. history, Ross Perot, won only 18.9% of the popular vote. While I am eager for an end to the two-party system, this election has too much at stake to justify taking such an enormous risk.)

Letting Trump win will not stop the slaughter of Palestinians. In fact, Trump promises to deport pro-Palestine activists, which would decimate if not destroy the movement. A Trump presidency will not materially benefit Palestinians in any way. Activist campaigns that exist to assuage feelings of guilt, but do nothing to actually help people, are purely performance art. And while the Democratic establishment will certainly sting from losing the election, they will not truly suffer for it. Those who will suffer are the BIPOC, the LGBTQ+, the poor and all other marginalized communities that Trump persecutes — the very people who have been fighting for Palestine.

Trump’s platform calls for mass deportations; elimination of worker’s rights by deregulating industry; elimination of anti-discrimination protections, DEI initiatives and restricting discussion of systemic racism; limiting access to abortion; and attacking transgender people’s rights in every sector of life. This last point is especially urgent to me as a nonbinary transmasculine person, and as the partner of a transgender woman.

My partner has suffered from PTSD for years, and contrary to the conservative narrative, her transition did not cause that pain but has helped alleviate it. Since transitioning, the only time my partner ever attempted suicide was when she encountered a barrier in getting her estrogen. If a ban on gender-affirming care took away her estrogen permanently, she would not survive. I have considered suicide at the prospect of not being able to get top surgery. Our stories are not unique. For thousands of transgender people, access to gender-affirming care is a matter of life and death. Trump doesn’t just mean to infringe on our rights, he means to murder us. He means to commit genocide against trans people in addition to continuing the genocide against Palestinians.

Many on the left consider Trump’s promises, and the conservative playbook Project 2025, to be empty threats. But if this assumption is wrong, innumerable marginalized people, who the left is supposed to be fighting for, will die. It’s an incredibly dangerous gamble.

I have many questions for the Abandon Harris movement. Where is the practical infrastructure for the revolution you seek? How do you plan to rebuild decades of activist gains from scratch? Who will be there to fight for Palestine when so many of us are dead, jailed or deported? And are our lives worth punishing the Democrats?

Leo Rose Rodriguez lives in Minneapolis.

On Saturday, the Minneapolis Institute of Art will open the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. According to Mia, the shrine is only the third of its kind in the U.S. and the only one outside of the East Coast.

At a preview event, Gelek Namgyal, the vice president of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, spoke about what this means for the local Tibetan community. According to the foundation, Minnesota has the second largest Tibetan population in the country after Queens, N.Y., with an estimated 5,000 Tibetans living in the state.

“This is a great opportunity for everyone, regardless of cultural and religious background, to be able to explore Tibet culture, religion and Tibetan arts, which basically emphasizes love and compassion,” Namgyal said.

It’s a well-worn cycle by this point.

A politician suggests Minneapolis is a charred husk of the city it once was, and Minnesotans take to social media to share picturesque images of its parks and skyline with sarcastic captions. Tuesday was no different.

Former President Donald Trump asserted that the state’s largest city “burned down” during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and, within moments, social media was rife with posts depicting grassy hills and scenic sunsets.

"The Mighty Ducks" did a good job featuring Minnesota. "D2" did a shit job. Even called Minneapolis a "po dunk town". I think the writers had nit watched the first movies.

🫠

If you haven't met Colin Anderson (pictured) before, he's a great guy. Used to run Eureka Compass and now does the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Collective. This quote is very much him:

“Retail is dead. Capitalism is violence,” Anderson says of why he decided to close the restaurant. “Anybody who's still operating in that is operating, probably, in inherently violent and disparity-riddled exploitative ways.”

https://archive.is/cXIAv

Hope everyone that went had a great Fair this year. What did you like most about it?

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters’ strikes. These strikes changed the course of history and the lives of tens of thousands of working people. They transformed Minneapolis from one of the country’s most notorious anti-union citadels into a “union town” and inspired labor organization from Fargo to Omaha and Duluth to St. Louis. The story of this transformation still resonates with the challenges faced by working women and men in 2024.

Got coffee this morning, and they had these booklets. No affiliation, but I like the idea. Here's a map of all the shops:

This one was sticking way out into the parking lot. Apart from being associated with Musk, this just seems like such an ungainly vehicle

The relevant bits of each:

“The use of a trained narcotics-detection dog to sniff the exterior of a motor vehicle is not a ‘search’ requiring probable cause under either the Fourth Amendment or the Minnesota Constitution,” Justice Anne McKeig wrote in the court’s opinion.

The court rejected these concepts and said that strictly on evidence the jury correctly found Moore guilty because he was seated in the driver’s seat and had access to the key to the glove compartment.

An appeals court ruled that the language of Minnesota’s legal statutes for engrained offenders clearly shows that “previously committed” means a predatory crime was committed before the sentencing for the current crime, not before the current crime took place.

https://archive.is/Gojtb

Police chief Brian O’Hara says it will be the first time since 2020 that the department will see an increase in sworn officers.

Oh good, that means we've got the police violence problem fixed, right?