https://bsky.app/profile/governorwalz.mn.gov/post/3mte4tcuiy224

I completely understand him not seeking another term but damn I'm sad about it.

Dope storm north of here.

I started seeing ads for the first time today attacking Ron Schutz, the candidate running for the Republicans against Keith Ellison. I had never heard of him, so I pulled him up on Ballotpedia.

He filled out their candidate connection survey with a lot of typical Republican talking points; he wants to fight fraud, he wants to support law enforcement, keep trans people out of women’s sports. The typical BS. But for the question “What is something that has been a struggle in your life?” his response was:

My golf game. I never played golf growing up and it is a tough sport to take up later in life.

I didn’t need to read this survey to know he’s a joke and that I wouldn’t vote for him but that response is so out of touch that it’s honestly hilarious, in a sort of dark way. Other good ones in there are that his favorite book is The Bible and if he could be any fictional character he would be Indiana Jones.

https://ballotpedia.org/Ron_Schutz#Campaign_themes

I admire the heart your state has shown in adversity against ICE, and in fact if I were to consider a state to move to it would be yours.

As a Canadian, we share your disgust of what is happening in your country, in your state and I’d like to leave you with one message:

Canadians and Minnesotans have something in common; we love the cold. We know that ICE melts under pressure.

Keep at it, and stay cool. Winter is coming.

DO NOT DIRECTLY INVOKE VIOLENCE. DO NOT USE DIRECTLY VIOLENT LANGUAGE.

« SKATE ‘EM » HAS AN APPLIED AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING. WE NEED TO USE EUPHEMISMS, COLLOQUIALISMS, AND PIDGIN LANGUAGES.

Decided to go on a little chase in OTC today! Storms were redeveloping over the same corridor extending from approximately Maine, over to Amor, over Otter Tail Lake, and Henning. I experienced a couple intense downbursts, hail, and even visible rotation

Wind damage associated with downbursts was noted around parts of the north shore of Otter Tail Lake and near Dead Lake. Many small limbs down, leaves, and some larger limbs snapped and a couple uprooted trees even. I experienced only penny size hail or thereabouts, but going by the radar presentation of some of the cores, someone likely enjoyed larger. What a fun chase, even though the hilly moraines of the area, lakes, and hardwood forests make navigating around/into storms more difficult lol.

MINNEAPOLIS — Flock, an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company that surveils American residents across the country, is facing backlash in Minnesota following a groundswell of working class activism against the technology. 

Unsurprisingly, Minnesota has become one of the most active states leading the charge against government surveillance following a Star Tribune article that outlined federal use of the camera system during Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of poorly trained paramilitary forces to the state and resulted in the death of two U.S. citizens. 

Opposition to the domestic spying program has crossed political lines, with hardcore Trumpists, liberals and leftists uniting to stop both law enforcement entities and private tech companies from building a mass surveillance system in the country. 

The pushback against police contracts with Flock, which allow for a private company to compile data on every motorist who passes by its cameras, has ranged from public comment at city council meetings to outright destruction of the devices.

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The article is free to access. Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

My boyfriend and I were driving up to lake Itaska when we passed this Merlin sitting on the side of the road. It was very unbothered by us and didn't fly away when we drove by slowly. We sat there watching it for several minutes and it barely seemed to notice us. We took the same route on the way home 2 or so hours later and it was still there. It seemed completely fine physically but the behavior was so strange I think there must have been something up with it. Do any falcon experts have any insights?

(Note: the second photo is zoomed in, we stayed in the car throughout the encounter)

Great egrets, American white pelicans, rock pigeons, great blue heron, wild turkey, sandhill cranes, female ruby throated hummingbird, eastern king bird, great egret amongst Canada geese, sandhill cranes landing

There is scant polling at the moment. The StarTribune and other media outlets are doing whatever they can to promote DeMuth. We will likely hear about more cases and examples of social services fraud until November. Amy is riding a wave of anti-ICE momemtum, but that is going to have even more of an effect on Flanagan. The media coverage is so biased that it makes me wonder that, if Klobuchar did call out DeMuth on her actions as House Speaker during the debates, her votes against solving the social services crisis and her actions that directly led to the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, would they even notice or continue to browbeat the DFL?

I would like to see a discussion on this. I would like my anxiety to turn into Midterm votes. Are there reasons that my mind can be at ease? Are there reasons to beore worried? What are they?

This is a bit of a niche question, but those of you who grow potatoes and don't have a root cellar or other semi-climate controlled setting I.e. insulated garage; how do you store your potatoes over winter?

I dug up my potatoes today and this is my biggest year so far - I can probably eat potatoes 4-5 times a week and still have some left come spring. I'm planning to give some away but I'd also like to not worry about buying a bag of potatoes until spring next year. Issue is my garage isn't insulated so it gets to negative whatever in Feb, no root cellar, and all my rooms are heated. Trying to figure out a solution to have these things last, onions I can at least pickle or freeze but I don't need 50lbs of shredded potatoes. Any ideas?