I shoulda known @minnesotabrown.bsky.social would have a magnificent take on A Precarious State. He does. I'm providing a gift link so that you have no excuse to not read it. www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

There's a badly flawed analysis of Minnesota's 2024 election data that has recently started circulating, originating with the "Election Truth Alliance" and amplified by "Truth Will Hold" and others. Redditor kmccoy made a good start at explaining what's wrong with it, and I chimed in.

This post and the replies on it are a fascinating Rorschach test. (I'm just showing a small sample.)

My outsider understanding of military jargon is that the easel display should say "Operation Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone".

I prefer Wikipedia's version to Justice Kennedy's in the New York Times. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_j...

I hesitate to post this because of how easily one can over-interpret early-voting data. Minneapolis in-person voting has been comparable to other recent municipal elections, whereas the number of mailed ballots returned and accepted for counting is off to a stronger start.

Despite my reputation as a Minneapolis chauvinist, I dined in Hopkins this evening. And wouldn't you know it, I was seated back to back with John Wall. Must have been Minneapolis Ward 2 night. Sorry, didn't overhear any actionable intelligence.

Yes, we've seen it a lot. The question in my mind is why? There are approximately the same number of us living in Ward 2 as in any other ward, 1/13 of the city population. Are none of us up to the job? Or are we all satisfied enough with the incumbent to see no point in running against her?

How common is it to vote where one no longer resides? We learn about it when someone does it who is sufficiently prominent to warrant investigation, e.g. Posobiec, or sufficiently stupid to vote both places. This is US-specific, due to weak civic infrastructure and non-proportional representation.

Wouldn't it be fitting if the retribution for this reporting were an invasion of the Heritage printing plant, just after its already scheduled shutdown?

Andy Mannix at the STrib is out with a heck of a scoop: Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show www.startribune.com/trump-offici...

Some of you know me as an OG media reporter, but Brian Lambert, who I don’t think is on here, taught me. He had some great thoughts about Kupchella’s landlord ad & “journalism.” Sorry for no alt-text; these excerpts are too long. If you need alt please message me & I’ll shoot you an email or text.

Yes, we really do live in an age when someone writes a post beginning "Breaking 🚨 I went toe to toe with Grok and this is why I’m running for U.S. Senate."

Who could have guessed that non-resident citizens were a bigger problem than non-citizen residents? Other than anyone who has been paying attention, that is.

A long paper trail reveals that Jack Posobiec, MAGA’s leading voice on “voter fraud,” lives in Maryland but votes in Pennsylvania. slate.trib.al/VZCW5jG

Another success story for ERIC, catching an interstate double voter. www.wglt.org/local-news/2...

Action 4 Liberty has me chuckling with their understatements about Lindell. "His election symposium provided little credibility to the Stop The Steal movement. He also seems to have a bit of a temper and can snap on people, which is not always a bad thing in politics but may turn some voters off."

Roper: Jazz Hampton wants to be a City Hall bridge builder (gift link) www.startribune.com/jazz-hampton...

So what do we get this printed on? T-shirts? Lawn signs? Giant banners to parade behind?

Not exactly news, but... Q: What are your plans for 2026? Are you running for re-election? A: I’ll have an announcement about that in the coming weeks.

Across the border in the red state of South Dakota, red-on-red conflict continues unabated. Given that one of the instigators is an expat from Minnesota, all I can say is that they are welcome to him. www.kotaradio.com/2025/09/29/s...

When you get beyond the dizzying array of complaints about voter rolls, IDs, electronic poll books, tabulators, etc , etc., it *always* comes back to "no way there were 81 million votes" Here's a typical example from last week, an audio clip of Cleta Mitchell I set to a photo by Gage Skidmore.

Fascinating history of the 35th and 36th one-way streets in South Minneapolis, tying everything together. streets.mn/2025/09/29/c...

Those of us who subscribe to @juddlegum.bsky.social's @popular.info just had some significant news land in our inboxes.

MN voters can use "election-day registration" (EDR) to register or update registration whether voting early or on election day. It's more common on election day. E.g., in 2024, 15% of Minneapolis election-day voters used it vs. 7% of early voters. [1/2]

I recently re-read something I wrote in 2021 and it sadly is more true than ever. Disbelief in the 2020 presidential election results has nothing to do with any aspect of election administration. It's simply disbelief of the results. Trump's re-election in 2024 intensifies that.

"Grok inaccurately named the Grand Blanc church shooting suspect as ...." Sigh.

“We studied more than 70 different elections that took place in 12 western European countries over several decades, and found that when mainstream parties take more anti-immigration positions, it leads to more support for the radical right, not less.”

Oh, great, we're in for another flare up in discourse about whether LDS adherents are Christians.

This post from the Fateh campaign is somewhat misleading with regard to what @naomikritzer.bsky.social wrote. He is her second choice, not her first. The campaign's emphasis on "best chance of defeating Frey" takes advantage of people's habits from non-RCV primary voting.

So about that medbed video. It seems like a perfect way to support the idea that "Truth" as the name of a social network is a distinctive trademark rather than a common English word. It's an arbitrary signifier of the brand, not a description.

I watched a right-wing conspiracy-theorist program on Rumble yesterday and it was interrupted repeatedly for recruiting ads from ICE. So if you're wondering where they are advertising, now you know.

I got asked this question about checking permanent absentee status again today, so I might as well repost for everyone.

Out: place baiting In: place dating

It's not exactly news that Cleta Mitchell's thought processes are disordered. But here's an audio clip from a recent podcast (paired with a photo by Gage Skidmore) that vividly illustrates this with her explanation of how she concluded voting by illegal aliens was such a big problem to address.

Minnesota absentee signature envelope says to fill in a drivers license (or state ID card) number or last four digits of SSN. The enclosed instructions specify to use a number that you provided on your application, but which was that? My advice: If you have both, provide both.

"Overwhelmingly" meaning 53.21% when 51% were necessary for passage. (Yes, 51%, not 50%+1.)

Kudos to the Strib’s Eric Roper for trying to make up for his own news org’s political desk by actually covering Dewayne Davis as a mayoral candidate in his own right. Davis’s positions aren’t all mine, but he has a real shot at bringing the city closer together. www.startribune.com/dewayne-davi...

There's a parallel case in the 8th circuit seeking to invalidate Minnesota's NVRA exemption, so this is of interest. www.courthousenews.com/seventh-circ...

I mean, who's to say he didn't really recently (after the caucus and after having registered and voted in Minneapolis W2) move his primary residence to the very pricey place he's owned since 2019 and had on homestead status? I mean, it could have been virtually vacant for the first 6 years.

DOJ sues six more states over the voter file electionlawblog.org?p=152233

There's been some discussion on here of ranking three non-incumbent candidates for mayor of Minneapolis versus fewer, leaving one or more rankings blank. I agree with the encouragement to fully utilize your right to vote all three rankings. But regarding 2021 history, some have gotten that wrong.

Unless there’s an indictment under seal, I think it’d be preferable for reporters to say “prosecutors are expected to seek an indictment in the coming days.” Based on the public evidence, I’m not convinced we should expect the grand jury to return a true bill. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

The new Wednesday prix fixe at Black Duck Spirits & Hearth is fantastic. And a great value at $45/person. This was the first course, chilled corn soup, but the other two were equally stunning. Great wine pairings too and gracious service on the balmy patio. (Can't promise balmy.)

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining ProPublica to cover voting issues nationally. I am so excited to work alongside some of the most skilled investigative journalists in the country at such a respected organization. I start Monday. www.propublica.org/atpropublica...

Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly: The accusations grew more insane by the minute. At least he didn't announce the US's withdrawal: Donald Trump spoke at the United Nations. And he made it clear how far his country has strayed from its values. www.zeit.de/politik/2025...

A bunch of Minneapolis residents are getting envelopes like this. (Over 12,000 were mailed out.)

Yes, but that's in the reality-based reality.

I further trimmed down an @acyn.bsky.social clip because of just how striking this bit is. Molly Ivins famously quipped that a Patrick Buchanan speech "probably sounded better in the original German," but in this case, it really sounds the same either way.

Some astroturfing goes more smoothly than others.