Amity LeBubbles Foster, you were his downfall.

Josh Martin at SD38

Using my day off from running conventions to cover conventions. I’m here for Wedge Live Abroad for SD38, Part Two.🧵

Weinhagen embezzled all our profits already.

And it would've worked, if only right wing law and order types controlled the city council.

Alexander said he has been observing what has been happening to Barnette from his current position as interim managing director of public safety in South Fulton, Ga. “I am not surprised,” Alexander said. He said he believes some City Council members simply do not like Frey. Progressive leaders in Minneapolis, he said, had a “learned helplessness” that kept them from embracing successes in reducing crime or increasing public safety. “It ain’t the conservatives,” Alexander said. “Hell, if it came to the right, I could have done my job because they were very clear about what law and order is. I’m very clear on what law and order is.”

You can blame the council for giving Cedric Alexander the opportunity to sit in judgment of Minneapolis. Apparently he felt handcuffed and unable to do his job in some unspecified way during his brief time as the first ever community safety commissioner.
www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

Please show Jacob Frey some grace right now. He wouldn't delegitimize the elections of people elected via the same process as him, and he wouldn't pretend he was the victim of big money when his campaigns always have more money than God, unless he was hurting very badly.

Hey man, these are mostly all the qualities about Minneapolis that launched you on your national victory tour during the ICE surge. Did you not enjoy appearing on the Bulwark podcast and the Daily Show? Ok, then keep your mouth shut.

Leaving the monied comment alone because thats’s bullshit (his side always has more money), sounds to me like the Mayor has a fundamental problem with people getting involved in their democracy. He’s frustrated with his own constituents for being too darn civically engaged.

Therefore be it resolved, today April 12, 2026 is I Can't believe They Did This to Todd Barnette, How Will We Ever Replace Him Day in the city of Minneapolis.

Whereas a department overseen by Barnette never attempted to give a million dollar contract to the sister of a staffer. That absolutely couldn't have happened.

Whereas Barnette never tried to give a city contract for violence interruption to a man who had already threatened the city council with violence on a Facebook livestream.

Whereas Barnette was always fully present and aware of what was going on; and never unprepared in the performance of his duties and in public appearances.

Whereas Commissioner Todd Barnette's departments were never tens of millions over budget. Never.

Story makes it seem like the angle Frey is playing with the veto is to try and justify a do-over appointment. Was there any rule against that to begin with? Keep sending Barnette out there over and over again to bang his head against the wall.

It could also be that council members weren't happy with the job Barnette was doing. It could be that!

“Powerful, vocal, activated, engaged, organized, moneyed,” Frey said. “These are highly involved people. ... They get their people elected based on that.”

Frey said in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday that last week’s vote didn’t occur in a bubble. He said the decision bore similar underpinnings to the roiling anger that followed the events of May 25, 2020, the day Floyd was killed. The mayor said he believed council members were trading votes with a simple political goal: Reject one or two of his appointees, no matter the merits. “The beginnings of this go back to there was a group that came outside my house and asked me to defund the police,” Frey said. “I said no. The next day a veto-proof majority of the City Council said yes. That was the original sin. The fault line.”

Mayor Frey continues to say there's no substantive reason for the city council to have rejected Todd Barnette. And that voting him down is on the level of the atmosphere created by George Floyd's murder. I need him to dial it down.
www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

If you wanted to be conspiratorial. Having the council deny an appointment is extremely rare, so it's hard to judge what the normal process should be.

If I'd known it would be important, I would've collected more clips of him being caught unaware.

I still don't believe they're seriously trying to overturn the vote. They're just buying time.

It's hilarious how seriously they're taking this veto. As if every mayoral appointment now only requires 5 out of 13 votes. That's the argument. Yes, have the city attorney research this.

To put $20 million in perspective, if you stacked that much money in $1 bills, it would reach high enough to pay for half of the proposed police training facility.

FACT CHECK: The concern that city council members have about Todd Barnette's departments being over budget date back to budget year 2025, when MPD was $20 million over. It's not an issue that began with the ICE occupation.

stories about proposals to legalize mushrooms

All hell is going to break loose when the cranky conservatives on the Minneapolis City Council find out that far left extremist state legislators are trying to legalize drugs.

The most car culture story of the week is this KSTP report about a gas station subscription with footage of drivers waiting in line for gas in the bike lane.

Todd Barnette is "the Calm-missioner"

Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer rejecting the idea of checks and balances. "They are the mayor's picks and the voters chose the mayor." Volume up for the standing ovation at the end of her speech.

Chughtai speaks to Office of Community Safety being absent as the council does its work. "The consequences of this approach is council members are consistently put in the position of considering items without having the necessary details..."

Council members who voted against Barnette described his office not showing up to be part of the council's work, a lack of preparation, large budget overruns.

Chowdhury mentioned the McAfee incident. Trying to give contracts to a person who had already threatened the city council.

MAK's reappointment was confirmed by a 7-6 vote on Thursday. Payne described being on the wrong end of her political savvy, and said the role of COO needs to be much less political, especially under the new strong mayor system.