Last post before the election, unless something major happens . . .

Not with a bang but a whimper? Hardly. A huzzah for Baker v. Carr, Warren Court, without which things could be worse.

My ballot is in. Others have the vigor, will, inspiration, and inclination to door-knock; bless the young and dedicated -- on the correct side of course.

Possibly a sidebar update if/when Strib does an AG endorsement, or if Timmer, Sorensen or Dan Burns posts something between now and then so special that it begs for recognition.

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Counterpoint to Strib endorsements: Blaha. Radinovich.

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False Prophets and "Law and Order." Think about it. False to deny the humanity of something besides "one man one woman for life" when spoken without qualification by one on a second marriage. Order is the important part. A disordered state exists when there is no universal simple access to healthcare needs. As with food and shelter these are essential needs. If government turns away from essential needs, and the private sector takes advantage of that, if some rig the tax and wealth situation in their favor and to the disadvantage of everybody else, that is disorder. Not order. The failures to function decently in DC, the churning of negative half minute soundbites with voiceover and image manipulation, that is anything but orderly. Manipulation is disorder. Using the courts for something - demonizing others - is manipulation of what should be justice. That is truth and simple truth not needing much exposition. This in the context of Strib punting on fourth down instead of going for it. Opinion here is not equivocal, as Strib is.

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Link. Second link. Decide whether either rings false in your heart and mind.

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Current items: The American Jewish World, link. Pioneer Press, link. City Pages, link. City Pages, separate item, link. JTA, link.

Past items: Powerline, months ago, link. Wikipedia, re 2004, link. City Pages, 2006, link. JTA, a year and a half ago, link. HuffPo, Dec. 2016, link. WaPo 2006, link. Crabgrass, early October, link.

In a class by itself, MinnPost, link. All for now.

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Judgment of our peers? LTE sampling offered by Strib, Nov. 1, link. Will Tell Stories for Food, link. A letter. KSTP Channel 5, link.

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See updating of this earlier Crabgrass post.

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Latest Strib item on AG contest, link. With luck the garbage truck is coming for Wardlow, Bob Kroll, ADF, Dobson, Freedom Club, Andrew Parker, the bunch, so please put them curbside next Tuesday. Vote Ellison and have a place in your heart for the DFL volunteer door knocking helpers. Bless them, and GOTV. Between now and poll closing, if you've not voted yet, DO IT.

Dan Burns, link; including his link to the TC Daily Planet voter guide, helpful for urban dwellers more than in the hustings.

After seeing references, the actual Wardlow agenda item is posted at realdougwardlow.com; something I had not seen there until taking a full look at those postings. His item does state he would institute things he suggests to would-be volunteers; i.e., it goes beyond talking points to agenda points, a distinction that matters.

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Same realdougwardlow.com site - when he talks of "law and order," to the extent that means playing by the rules, as an upstart Tea Party zealot on his first and only MN House term, he breached or appeared to breach his own party's rules. Would such actual action pattern carry over if he is elected this cycle, or would he keep the doubtful promise of not being political if AG? The question is a hypothetical only to the extent he could be defeated by voters, otherwise it becomes very practical and troubling.

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After Strib declined to state an AG endorsement, there are two contesting counterpoint submissions; here and here. One thing voters need to retain in memory, the AG budget, like all budgets, is finite so that priorities beyond the historical focus have to be at the expense of that focus, so if you like how the office has functioned recently and for decades, be aware of the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" aspect of allocating a finite amount of budgeted money. To the extent a voter sees differences in priorities between the two candidates in such a context that voter will have to decide who represents the better track record and better set of goals.

A question, have county attorneys been inadequate in handling their duties, especially as to prosecuting crime? The reelection of county attorneys in urban centers is a historical fact suggesting voter satisfaction. There is no information known here to suggest rural county voters are unhappy with their county attorney performances, in general, with changes in office expected over time. In Anoka County where I live, there was a regularly unopposed county attorney, Robert Johnson, until he retired with the next election installing a county attorney from within the office, not an outside candidate - even when the outsider was Robert Johnson's son, working in another jurisdiction. Since then, there was reelection of the incumbent. It is a fact question for each voter in the county in which they reside and vote.

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There have been a number of Republican office holders over the past decade and a half. Have any of them endorsed Wardlow? It would be putting their credibility at issue if they do, but it seems reticence is the rule. Ellison's counterpoint was submitted to Strib by two prominent Democrats willing to say, "Good man. Exceptional record." Ellison features endorsements on his website, personal ones. Either Wardlow does not value personal endorsements, or has none. Monanan's lawyer, Andrew Parker, Wardlow's former boss, has been reported to have solicited support and money for Wardlow on his talk radio show. Other than that, Bob Kroll, it is unclear. Durenberger, Boschwitz, Coleman, Amy Koch, Kurt Bills, Arne, seem to have not been asked or if asked, declined. Strib, in 2013, reported:

Accompanying mismanagement and legislative missteps is the increasing ideological insularity of the state's GOP. In 2010, the state party's central committee imposed a two-year expulsion from party activities upon former GOP U.S. Sen. David Durenberger and former Govs. Al Quie and Arne Carlson for ideological deviations.

A tiny group of fewer than 26,000 activists appeared at 2012's GOP precinct caucuses. Their unrepresentative opinions gave the unelectable Rick Santorum the caucus victory in the presidential nomination race and left eventual national nominee Mitt Romney in third place.

Once Santorum dropped out, GOP activists gave a large majority of the state party's national delegates to another unelectable candidate, Ron Paul. Minnesota's GOP delegation was one of only three state delegations with Ron Paul majorities at the national convention, and it cast the most Paul votes of any state's delegation.

Kurt Bills, the party's state convention U.S. Senate endorsee, voiced Paulite positions and wound up with 30.5 percent of the vote in November -- the worst electoral performance by a major party nominee for U.S. Senate in decades.

The Minnesota Republican Party has to decide whether it wants to govern or engage in ideological self-indulgence. [...] The sole GOP-endorsed candidate to win a U.S. Senate race since the national GOP "wave" year of 1994 was Norm Coleman in the extraordinary 2002 election, marked by DFL Sen. Paul Wellstone's October death in a plane crash.

Rick Santorum. "Ideological self-indulgence" is an interesting term. It could be applied to Santorum. To Monahan re psycho-babble. To Wardlow. To Kroll and to Parker, each in his own sandbox. As well as to Jeff Johnson. Wardlow and Michele McDonald, per a screen capture from here:

click to read

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Taxpayers of the U.S. of A. pay for jet fuel for an idiot pairing, briefly, at the airport before anoth4er fueled jet idiot pairing in Wisconsin, guess the other one of the idiots in that pair:

Wardlow greeted Pence with a Minnesota Vikings jersey after the vice president stepped off Air Force Two at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Saturday. Pence was passing through to attend a rally with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Hudson.

If that brief Hi-ya has any influence on any substantial number of voters we, as a nation, are in dire straits.

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Timmer officially endorses Ellison, "An unreserved endorsement." Good reasoning. Good writing. Unimpeachable conclusion. Backed up with links.

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The one thing not yet written about Doug Wardlow, he astoundingly defies the Peter Principle, having risen well past his level of incompetence to be taken seriously as a choice for Attorney General against a better person, one better in all ways imaginable, but particularly in not being loose with truth. This Alpha News propaganda hit piece, at 2:20 min into the vile character assassination attempt, displayes a trained, graduated, practicing lawyer deliberately lying about a proposed upper marginal taxation rate as if it were to apply to you and me and "every dollar you get." We are not folks in the stratospheric brackets, like Wardlow similarly is not. He knew the truth and he shaded an absolute unquestionable lie, with no real benefit to doing so but appearing as if done simply out of a feeling he could get away with it. Such scorn for actuality shades his saying he'd apply the law evenly, if elected, even when the policy of established law does not square with his prejudices, the shade being he's throwing shade at us because, again, he thinks he might get away with it. He does that. He bullied another kid in school, the record seems fairly certain on that, and then in a letter to a school board he says bullying is bad and nobody should suffer it. The man is unprincipled. That way. Many ways one can argue, but in playing a game with truth, he shows himself in a less than stellar light. In being a plain bigot, he should be shunned, not even considered as fit for a job he would horse up in ways we regular people may be pressed to imagine.

Dobson's dope is nobody's hope, and nobody of credibility has endorsed him. Figure out why. Mondale and Skip Humphrey stepped up to the plate for Ellison, per Strib, while Wardlow had to sing his own praises because such a song would stick in the craw and be stillborn if any public figure besides Bob Kroll were asked to sing it. Kroll, having a credibility and temperament equal to Wardlow's, is a cold-comfort surrogate. Like Wardlow, he appears inadvisedly overeager to test limits. Another link.

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With somewhat fast web downloading at home, this site even loads slowly for me. Apology to any/all readers with more limited access web bandwidth, for slow site loading. Fewer images in the posts and the sidebar likely would speed things up; but images are a part of the communication without which the communication is incomplete. Again, apologies for it being as it is.

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Greg Laden's blog, re Indivisible:
http://gregladen.com/blog/2018/11/02/keith-ellison-for-mn-ag-statement-from-indivisible-leaders/

Another link. Another.

This City Pages link. Posted earlier, the link suggests an anti-Jewish bias on Wardlow's part because he caught himself into mouthing anti-George Soros platitudes, a common thing among ignorant ultra rightwingers. That latter Soros-based point is clear from the City Pages item reposting Wardlow Tweets. However, criticism of Soros is not the same as criticizing Jews, which also is apart from opposing some of the worse politics of rightwing Israeli leaders, or being a skeptic of Zionism itself. Wardlow would not have Andrew Parker's support if he displayed anti-Jewish or anti-Israel sentiments. Parker, if anyone, would know to distance himself were it the case, Parker being active in the Minnesota Jewish community and a pro-Israel voice, e.g., here, here, here and his radio talk show description, "Andrew Parker hosts The Victory Hour every Sunday, from 4 - 5 p.m. on 1280 AM, The Patriot. Discussing Israel, politics and the law. [...]." One of these links mentions a Parker and Nauen presentation, with Nauen being DFL-linked. That is mentioned to disarm any misreading of the question as suggesting the Minnesota Jewish community has any bias favoring Wardlow/Republicans.

The Soros boogeyman thing actually is pretty tiring the more that drum gets beaten by aggressive politicians getting a ticket punched. But Wardlow is Wardlow. Truth is truth. Blowing smoke is blowing smoke. Wardlow is Wardlow.

Were Wardlow tweets ever proven true, instead of Wardlow just blowing smoke it would show Soros less a knee-jerk Islamophobe than Haim Saban, if nothing else. Although there of course is more to Saban's politics than that. Background fact is always worthwhile. Ellison has opposed the big donor control of the Democratic Party and has championed grassroots; while Soros is a big donor. Go figure. What we do see is Wardlow and that truth thing popping up, yet again.

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Many may have seen this, but it is worth a replay, short, sweet, from 2015, and having the beltway pundits laughing up the thought. The beltway pundits like their punditry, cash flows included, actually preeminent. It might be my favorite Ellison YouTube item. It shows a level of understanding of the political process the Republicans REALLY want to keep out of Minnesota's Attorney General seat, and all they've got to interpose is a tightly programed automaton, Doug Wardlow.

They and their situation is, to use a word favored by another; sad.

Will the little *$&^%$)&()$% just "fold up shop and go home?"

This link, from when the little *$&^%$)&()$% last had an official opportunity to do mischief. Unsuccessful, but not for lack of trying to be his own off-tune drummer. Getting Biblical now, so that he may understand himself:

... but has he any such reputation?

Joseph Heller had a Catch 22 character, Nately, whose motif was, "lots of intelligence and no brains." Also a character Scheisskopf, who prospered.

What is the term to use for the opposite of hush money?

This link.

Iowa Congressional ultra right wing extremist Steven King losing support.

PiPress:

In the wake of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, King’s white nationalist statements are once again under scrutiny. Fast Company reported that Intel, another company that donated to King, has dropped its support for his campaign.

After this and other outlets published stories about the calls for a boycott on Oct. 29, Land O’Lakes issued a statement withdrawing support on Oct. 30:

“The Land O’Lakes, Inc. PAC has traditionally contributed to lawmakers of both parties that represent the communities where our members and employees live and work and are also on committees that oversee policies that directly impact our farmer owners. We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for good and also seek to ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company’s values. On that basis, we have determined that our PAC will no longer support Rep. Steve King moving forward.”

Is this a conundrum about Doug Wardlow, or just one more instance of his having an elasticity relationship with truth? [UPDATED]

In PiPress updated reporting on the high school bullying allegation against Wardlow, there are these three mid-item paragraphs:

Wardlow gained a national platform in his role as he defended businesses that practiced unequal treatment of gay or transgender people on religious grounds.

In 2015, Wardlow penned a piece for FOX News criticizing the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.

Wardlow wrote: “Marriage is and always will be the union of one man and one woman for life, regardless whether the government incorrectly applies the label of marriage to other kinds of relationships.”

Unequivocal? For life?
Why that caught attention, that precise wording from Wardlow, is this - his first marriage, not the present one:

Register of Actions
Case No. 19-F5-05-012337
DOUGLAS GARY WARDLOW vs. LEONIE WEISHI HUANG

Case Type: Dissolution without Child
Date Filed: 01/25/2005
Location: - Dakota-Apple Valley

Party Information
Lead Attorneys
Petitioner WARDLOW, DOUGLAS GARY -- DOB: 07/03/1978 -- Pro Se -
EAGAN, MN 55122
Respodent HUANG, LEONIE WEISHI -- DOB: 11/22/1979 -- Pro Se -
ST PAUL, MN 55114

DISPOSITIONS
02/28/2005 -- Dissolution/annulment granted (Judicial Officer: Judge, Presiding)


OTHER EVENTS AND HEARINGS
01/25/2005 - Converted Filing Fee
01/25/2005 - FLD-Case Filed (Judicial Officer: Judge, Presiding )
01/25/2005 - ORD-Order (Judicial Officer: Sovis, Michael )
01/25/2005 - Confidential Information Form 11.1 personal information - Index # 1
01/25/2005 - Default Scheduling Request - Index # 2
[...]

Separated at the time, both in Minnesota then, wrapped up in a month - each pro se - a very quick uncontested default dissolution of the marriage. If there were any money arrangements that would have to be determined by the press examining the file. It likely will show nothing directly explanatory of a quite short marriage between two career people, why entered, how long, why abandoned in a possibly quite short time frame. That is a guess. Two spouses, each with a law degree at present, possibly so during the marriage. One with the better career arc than the other. A guess, the patriarchal inflexible one had difficulties with a spouse wanting to shine, and outshining. Which seems not the case in the present stable Wardow marriage. This one with children. The file should at least show duration of the marriage. Nothing is known here of the Huang citizenship status before, during, or after the marriage.

Online information not behind aggregator site paywalls is scant. Wardlow's campaign website about page and his Wikipedia page do not give resume-like milestone dates nor could academic milestone dates be found online for Huang, although each studied at Georgetown and might have met there, that being a guess. Wikipedia notes Wardlow spent time in Taiwan and mainland China. No dates given. Wardlow declined to respond to email inquiry sent to the email address he listed in registering his AG campaign committee with the Campaign Finance Board. The motives behind the entry into and exit from this first Wardlow marriage, its duration in weeks, months or years being beyond any web references encountered. Yet in understanding the candidate, examination of facts relating to a strange failed marriage are clearly open to full press scrutiny.

What is known about Huang, from web search:

The One That Got Away

There is the date of the first marriage dissolution, "Dissolution/annulment granted" 2/28/05, per the court record, and this known from online about the second marriage, license dated 10/10/09:

Readers can research to verify, Huang also is licensed to practice law in New York, has focused on Intellectual Property law, and has served on a an NYSBA bar association committee with that focus. A successful lasting big firm career in a challenging practice field, without any hostility shown against any sector of the public, LGBTQ, or otherwise.

Many causes may exist but possibly a patriarchal view of spousal positions in a marriage, especially if the woman has the most successful career of two, might be at play in the first Wardlow marriage failing to last "for life," indeed, being substantially less lengthy (PiPress reporting Wardlow's high school graduation in 1997, unmarried at that time). That uncontested 2005 marriage breakup would have been happening at the time when Wardlow was clerking for MN Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson, and doing his Rostra blogging on the side, anonymously.

The question of Huang citizenship re the marriage with Wardlow is fair game to ask, given how GOP allegations against Illan Omar exist, that she "married a brother" for immigration advantage, allegations which are denied as false and not substantiated, but which nonetheless reverberate as sauce for goose, sauce for gander.

Furthermore, given how Alpha News was intent in wanting access to the Ellison marriage file, that outlet should be the one to inquire most vigorously about the Wardlow first try, yes/no?

UPDATE: What you can learn when you go back and read carefully, that one Huang item, the law firm's bio, "Ms. Huang focuses her pro bono work in the area of criminal defense." While in law school at Fordham she received an award recognizing her criminal defense clinic service. Read that bio.

What would Wardlow "law and order" mentor police Lt. Bob Kroll say about that? Just think. If they ever met, Huang and Ellison could swap war stories about the criminal defense work each has done or assisted. Nice.

FURTHER: As to Wardlow's secret blogging while clerking for Barry Anderson, realdougwardlow.com publishes:

Wardlow: Access to Contraception Goes Against “American Values”
October 28, 2018

Recent reporting by City Pages and The Intercept reveal that Doug Wardlow authored a secret, extreme right-wing blog in violation of judicial ethics standards, where he detailed his backwards and dangerous views on women’s health care and the rights of LGBTQ Americans.

In a blog post from November 2004, Wardlow laments that “activist courts” have subverted “the ordering of American values” and “the will of the American people” through their decisions to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, women the right to choose, and women and couples the right to use contraception as they see fit:

A sizeable portion of the left has now given up on America's original constitutive values. They subvert the ordering of American values, putting their own views on lesser political issues above the interests of democracy and liberty. The first sign of this has been with us for some time -- the use of activist courts to subvert the will of the people and foist liberal social values on society by fiat. The Massachusetts same-sex marriage decision is a prime example, as are the Texas sodomy case, Roe v. Wade and even Griswold v. Connecticut, the seminal contraception case.

The first marriage, however long it may have been, was "without child." Contraception is one way to have a marriage without a pregnancy, but there are others. So, the key question for Wardlow, "between a man and a woman for life" means what exactly, in the actual life history of Douglas Gary Wardlow, not as an abstract hypothetical, or for the others? Nietzschean specialness? Or taking a liberty with words vs actions seeming a good idea at the time?

FURTHER: With Huang's record of multiple residences stateside, and a number of relatives noted in the States, it is more likely than not that she is second generation or more established here, having citizenship before meeting Wardlow and before going to college. There remains a possibility otherwise, but not an apparent probability.

FURTHER: Link for the "for life" glide and slide. Yes, it is buried late in the item, and yes, the usage is not necessary but gratuitous, yet is that not exactly where one schooled in precise writing should be precise, being then on his second marriage? Surely a glide and slide likely would go undetected in context; until it was detected and tied to the man's own inextricable history. In short, he knew better. That his current marriage is intact is cheerful news, and his children look healthy and well cared for. But as surely as that is nice to see, he knew "for life" was a gratuity untrue to his experience when he wrote it.

FURTHER: Another conundrum for Wardlow, two web screen captures, each captioned as to source; focus word, "bullying," click the images to read:

From p.9 of 10 pages - Mar. 2017 ADF letter
to School Board authored and signed
by Wardlow, focus, final paragraph

Nov 1, 2018 Strib LTE,
authored by Wardlow's High School Classmates

As I say not as I did? Contradictions do exist and are important.

"The 160-page complaint alleges that Trump and his family received secret payments from three business entities in exchange for promoting them as legitimate opportunities, when in reality they were get-rich-quick schemes that harmed investors, many of whom were unsophisticated and struggling financially."

This link, with the quote in the above headline the fourth paragraph into the report.

Strib headline, "Judge orders release of Stauber emails with GOP group" [UPDATED]

Oct. 30 online AP item:

DULUTH, Minn. — A judge has ordered St. Louis County to release a series of emails between County Commissioner Pete Stauber and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Stauber sent and received the messages on his county government email account while campaigning for the 8th District seat in northeastern Minnesota. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party had sued for access to the emails.

County spokeswoman Dana Kazel says the deadline to produce the documents is noon Wednesday, but the county will release them if the party posts the required bond.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin hailed the ruling as a victory for accountability.

This was use of a business computer for what appears to be political purposes; with Stauber and the county giving the appearance it was all or primarily political, by vigorous opposition to release of content.

__________UPDATE__________
Strib follow-up coverage of email content.

Jeremy Drucker, a spokesman for Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, said in a statement, “These e-mails clearly show that the plot to undermine the Boundary Waters began long ago.”

Whatever the outcome of the election, the judge’s decision this week is an important ruling in the realm of open records law.

Earlier in October, a state agency issued an advisory opinion stating the e-mails are public records and should be handed over. The county ignored the ruling.

The order did not elucidate the judge’s reasoning but merely said the plaintiff “has the right to obtain or access the public data requested.”

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The Radinovich campaign released a statement, true in its content, and the wonder is whether it, truth, or soundbite TV 30sec trash will carry an election:

These emails are clear evidence that Pete Stauber has been openly and knowingly violating the law and county policy to use taxpayer resources to advance his political agenda. Stauber then went on to lie about the fact that he had used county staff and resources for campaign purposes, and he knew it was illegal to do so. It’s part of a broader pattern of misleading the public. He’s been as slippery on his policy positions as he has been untruthful about these emails, and it's clear Stauber can’t be trusted to do the right thing when no one is looking.

Stauber and his campaign folks strike me as Wardlow pal Bob Kroll, with Stauber having a touch more class and probably better ice hockey skill, but with the same attitude of "got the badge" so "call the rules." One rule I had even forgot writing of is "pay your parking meters" as Dylan sang in his early years; so hat tip to Dan Burns for broadcasting the Joe R. explanation of things, with added commentary, and linking to something here I had largely forgotten having written. Yeah, Joe drove like a minor scofflaw, when young, but Stauber ignores Kurt Daudt still doing that. It is convenient to be able to be like a flounder, both eyes on one side of the head, and able to ignore what contradicts attack dog tactics, but it is not a trait suggesting good service would happen if Stauber is sent to Congress. "Got the badge" is only a preliminary requirement to being a good cop. "Got integrity" matters, respect for rules, now and for the ones that count more, such as do not use public property to push a private party's run for office. Basic stuff like that. Not quantum mechanics where you need to understand the math.

Insensitivity: Strib report concerning a Michigan political rally, late in the item, "Detroit-area Rabbi Jason Miller said on Facebook that there are at least 60 rabbis on a directory of Michigan rabbis and 'yet the only rabbi they could find to offer a prayer for the 11 Jewish victims in Pittsburgh at the Mike Pence rally was a local Jews for Jesus rabbi? That's pathetic!' "

This link. It appears that it was a local candidate, not Pence, responsible for the SNAFU:

The major denominations of Judaism reject Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism, and Jacobs' participation was condemned by Jews on social media.

A Pence aide told The Associated Press that Jacobs was invited to pray at the event in suburban Detroit's Waterford Township by GOP congressional candidate Lena Epstein and said Pence did not know who he was when he invited Jacobs back onstage to offer another a prayer for the victims, their families and the nation. As Pence stood next to him, Jacobs ended his prayer by saying, "in the name of Jesus."

The aide was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"He was not invited by the VP's office to speak on behalf of the Jewish community," the aide said.

UPDATE: With Trump reported as intending to go to Pittsburgh, another Oct. 30 AP report carried by Strib:

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's campaign spokeswoman, Beth Melena, says the governor based his decision on input from the victims' families who told him they did not want the president to be there on the day their loved ones were being buried.

Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto says he also won't greet Trump.

Peduto earlier said the White House ought to consult with the families of the victims about their preferences and asked that the president not come during a funeral.

Super rich Republican Stanley Hubbard rides again. Or make that wanted to, but Tina Smith was not born yesterday, as a LTE writer to Strib noted.

General LTE page, Oct. 29, about Strib's more recent 2018 endorsements. Specifically:

It is surprising that no reader has yet challenged Howard Root’s complaint that Sen. Tina Smith’s refusal to debate her challenger, Karin Housley, on KSTP-TV and its affiliates shortchanged voters (“What does Smith offer voters? An empty podium,” Oct. 25). Readers may recall that Housley credited KSTC owner and neighbor Stanley Hubbard with encouraging her to leave the Minnesota Legislature and to run for a U.S. Senate seat. The so-called debate was to be moderated by a longtime Hubbard employee, not by a neutral host. Plaudits to Smith for avoiding an ambush.

Joe Fleischman, Roseville

Now, whether Karin Housley fell off the turnip wagon is a separate question.

Trump in the news in two Bloomberg items carried in the Seattle PI.

Unfavorable polling and anticipation of Democratic House takeover.

Selective amnesia? "In a previous Star Tribune interview, Wardlow said he did some writing for a blog but couldn't remember when or which one."

Strib, here. If one did that much online publishing early in his first job, and cannot remember, there is a disconnect.

That it was highly partisan is only window dressing. The window itself is transparent, it is the statement of not remembering.

That his brother was a Marine helicopter pilot in Iraq at the time and had a brush with death, and he posted about his brother, unremembered as unremarkable? Wow. A mind that learned Mandarin Chinese, failing in memory.

In what may be the most significant tech acquisition of the year, IBM says it will acquire open-source software company Red Hat for approximately $34 billion. Under the terms of the deal announced Sunday, IBM will acquire Red Hat for $190 a share — a premium of more than 60 percent over Red Hat's closing price of $116.68 on Friday. "The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market," Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "This is the next chapter of the cloud."

The headline is from MPR reporting. Meanwhile, "GitHub is now officially a part of Microsoft -- With government approvals received, the acquisition announced in June is complete," per Ars Technica.

The MPR report closes with a link on the GitHub purchase, linking to The Verge, here.

A Linus report; a websearch return for those not recognizing the name.

Another Strib no-surprise endorsement: Steve Simon, Secretary of State.

This link.

A shout-out on what Dan Burns has been doing with Blogger, while the MN Progressive Project site is down.

Looking at legislative seats, what the DFL candidates are running on as key policy points; with a link or two at the more egregious aspects of the Republican opposition. There is no specific order to which district gets featured when, but the sidebar can be used by readers wanting to see when/if their district has been posted.

Do check it out, even to see the mood of other districts.

Where I live Bill Vikander, very recently posted. He has a good outlook and understanding of what would be a focus, if elected. Check it out.

https://mnppannex.blogspot.com/

With little commentary here, PiPress publishes two items about Doug Wardlow.

The main item, here. The follow-up, here.

The focus in this post is the latter. It is tacky and self-demeaning for Wardlow to reflexively blame Kieth Ellison when this story landed. As the second item explains, he is plain wrong, but went that route anyway without inquiry of PiPress about Ellison in relation to the main item. The Wardlow statement did not mention the collaborating person mentioned in the main item, Kopp, who is pictured in the main story when he and Wardlow were school students.

Wardlow did not respond in person, but by a written statement, something which he knows cannot be cross-examined. As Dave Orrick notes in the second item, Wardlow exaggerated his accuser's web posting history, which appears as a reflexive step to blame the accuser; much as the reflex was to try to disarm the story by suggesting Ellison produced it to PiPress when the PiPress author pair clearly indicate it was independently sourced. The second of the PiPress items makes that crystal clear.

Apart from that, Wardlow is too young to have lived through the turmoil of the sixties and Nixon years, but Bob Kroll is older and likely did live during Kent State and Jackson State and the ending of the J. Edgar Hoover timeframe, up to and including the Lee Atwater - Willie Horton BS, affirmatively run as a campaign ad by/for George H.W. Bush, to the disadvantage of Michael Dukakis. Bob Kroll is mentioned online in at least three items, here, here and here. Treat this paragraph as a comment in passing, a written statement which cannot be cross-examined.

The main PiPress story does shine some attention onto the right-wing extremist blog where it is near certain Doug Wardlow wrote it in a partisan way while being a judicial law clerk under a duty to not reflect badly upon judicial impartiality. It also includes an embedded video of Wardlow testifying at a hearing of the Anoka-Hennepin School District Board Wardlow has previously characterized as "representing a client" that being the ADF. Whether it was an attorney-client relation or an employment with policy-making input by Wardlow is a question left hanging. Was it a fee for services, or being on a payroll with executive decision-making is a question worth consideration.

PiPress links are given. Readers of Crabgrass are urged to follow them.

Two more Strib no-surprise endorsements in Congressional contests.

Dean Phillips. (Fresh is best.)

Emmer.

Ian Todd is a very good and decent man, pushing a rock uphill in an unfriendly demography. Todd has votes in this household, with a yard sign out front on the lawn. Todd may have a rewarding future, and seems intent that way.

Is "Practice what you preach" too shopworn to apply to Doug Wardlow?

Cited previously, Peter Callaghan, wrote:

While Wardlow portrays the ADF as a legal non-profit that defends attacks on First Amendment rights of citizens, particularly religious freedom, the organization itself describes its mission much more broadly. “It is not enough to just win cases; we must change the culture, and the strategy of Alliance Defending Freedom ensures lasting victory,” it states on its website.

Not pushing ‘any kind of policy view’
Wardlow said he doesn’t think the work he did at ADF would have anything to do with him seeking the attorney general’s office. “The attorney general shouldn’t be a political position and it shouldn’t be positioned as pushing forward any kind of policy view or any kind of advocacy,” he said.

[...] In a campaign piece aimed at supporters and volunteers, Wardlow asked them to rank the actions they want him to take if elected. One of those is “Defend President Trump’s agenda in court.” Others are to “prosecute illegal trafficking in fetal body parts” and “investigate and prosecute illegal voting.”

Wardlow said that campaign literature was aimed at “getting the base fired up… we were soliciting input.” He first said it was asking for suggestions and didn’t say he would do any of those things. But after being read the words on the card “Doug Wardlow will institute these duties when he is your MN Attorney General,” he said he wouldn’t, in fact, take all of those actions.

“I can tell you this, I’m not going to use — and I’ve said this consistently — I’m not going to be doing anything political with the attorney general’s office,” he said. “When we’re talking about President Trump’s agenda, I’m not going to be pushing any particular agenda.”

And, again, this video, at one minute into it. One might call that inconsistent, perhaps fully contradictory of "I'm not going to be pushing any particular agenda."

Wise words that perhaps might be called new to Wardlow. Words some might say he should take to heart and heed:

Plato understood that some men are more fit to judge and to lead than are others. Some, in their integrity, their commitment to the virtues, and their philosophic nature (i.e., their access to the true form of the Good), will make more just judgments in the role of judge, and will better guide the polis in the role of politician. Although this may sound slightly elitist, America, in its shared democratic values, agrees with Plato -- we have selected the vehicle of elections as the best way to choose those who are more fit to govern and entrust them with positions of power. Elected officials are not just conduits for the views of the people -- they are also filters, chosen because of their integrity and conscientiousness to apply those qualities to their own judgments.

Edmund Burke, in his Speech to the Electors of Bristol discusses the nature of representation. The representative’s
unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you [constituents], to any man, or any man living...They are a trust from Providence. ... [G]overnment and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that, in which the determination precedes the discussion...?

Burke echoes Plato, that it is the natural conscience of a man that ought guide him in governance, for he has been selected by his fellow citizens because his conscience is particularly 'enlightened.' To ignore that God-given conscience for political considerations or in deference to a realization that others may not agree with you is a violation of the trust of the people governed and the trust of our Creator. When a political leader rejects his conscience and instead applies political judgments alone, he moves from true political leader to demagogue.

How might those opening Wardlow related observations be incongruent with such high-faluting stuff, and what is the very worse we can make of any such incongruence?

Perhaps the answer is in the nature of the opening quoted imaterial, the video of an agenda, in light of the authorship of The Rooster Rostra, an authorship that has gained attention on the web; that site, this post - a worry about degeneration into demagogue from being untrue to one's conscience however that conscience is triangulated in words, then actions.

Yeah, why not in truth call it "The Rooster" with the on-script crowing call, even when it really don't fit. UPDATE: Best juxtaposition of the crowing refrain, and the actuality, realdougwardlow.com at its current homepage, as of 2:30 pm, Saturday, Oct. 27.

Lil' Red Rooster.

image source

MPR, Capitol View - Briana Bierschbach October 23, 2018, 3:45 PM

Read an item. Watch two linkedquite short video presentations. Tell yourself, which video is true, which false.

Being tough means more than being a career cop or handling a hockey stick. It means being true in your future to what you have had to see and learn from in your past.

City Pages asks, "Doug Wardlow, is this your extremely conservative blog from 2004?" Damned right it is. And the blighter should never have been doing that while serving and paid as a judge's law clerk, under ethical duties.

City Pages, this link. Read it as it speaks for itself and presents strong evidence the annonymous right wing extremist author was Doug Wardlow when he was a judicial clerk, where judicial clerks are ethically barred from expressing politics outside of the job, as the City Pages item details.

Clerks are warned the moment they start the job they are not to engage in partisan or political discourse. Wardlow's blog was anonymous; the writer called himself “Marius."

Archived versions of the “About Me” section reveal that “Marius” “holds a degree in government and political theory from Georgetown University and J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center,” as Wardlow did, and that he “resides in St. Paul.”

The banner, which sports an American flag, some ruins, and some pointy font, was hosted at lynnwardlow.com/rostrabanner.jpg. Lynn Wardlow is the name of Doug Wardlow’s father, who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009.

After that, City Pages catalogs a sampling of political posts from that blog, with lynnwardlow.com as source of that site's header. Read about it there. Not only is a sampling stated, links are given.

Sorensen, at BluestemPrairie actually broke the story two days before City Pages posted. Since that, the story, properly, has grown legs.

The Intercept has cataloged and linked as City Paeges did, to Internet Archive pages, and has noted:

Nowhere in the blog does it explicitly say that the author is Wardlow, but City Pages notes that there is circumstantial evidence that he was indeed the author. The blog’s “about me” statement says that they hold a degree in government and political theory from Georgetown and a J.D. from its law school — just as Wardlow does. The contact email listed is “dwardlow@mac.com.” The American flag banner on the webpage was hosted at “lynnwardlow.com/rostrabanner.jpg” — Lynn Wardlow is Doug’s father.

But the strongest evidence is a blog post from 2004, which was not archived on the Wayback Machine but was saved by a source before the blog was taken down, and provided to The Intercept. The post gives away the identity of the author by referencing Wardlow’s brother, Capt. Jason Wardlow: [see Intercept item, for screen capture of that post]

RawStory, in part, posts:

Among other things, the author decried a Supreme Court ruling that found the death penalty should not be applied to crimes committed by minors. They also appear to be strongly biased towards the administration of President George W. Bush, celebrating the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry during the 2004 campaign.

They also wondered if encouraging high voter turn out was a good thing. “Their goal is generally to increase turnout and make voting easier,” they wrote. “

Laudable goals? Maybe not. Higher turnout is not necessarily a virtue if it is sparked not by voter education and real civic concern on the part of those casting ballots, but rather by the goading of voter turnout advocates combined with easy access to balloting,” they wrote. “If people are too lazy to show up at the polls over the course of twelve hours, it says something about the intensity of their support for their chosen candidate.”

As a clerk for the Minnesota Supreme Court, Wardlow was prohibited from promoting partisan positions, experts told the Intercept.

“The rules of judicial conduct, which applied then and which include clerks, would have prohibited this type of partisan activity,” David Schultz, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and ethics expert, told the Intercept. “In addition, the Rules of Professional Conduct would have also prohibited it.”

MORE: In addition to the City Pages and Intercept links to The Rostra posts which are clearly of a Republican political nature, there is this screen capture from the published archive version of a Rosta post on Internet Archive, from the Rosta site as of Feb. 10,2005:

click the image for author bio detail

Opening that post, bio facts: Dad Retired Marine Reserve Lt. Col., brother a Cobra pilot; "recently returned from Iraq," I went to law school, sidebar saying Georgetown.

Doug Wardlow's father, Lynn, has a Wikipedia page noting:

He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1995 at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

This screen capture from lynnwardlow.com [a site now scrubbed from the web] is from Internet Archive captured there, July 27,2004:

Viewing the pagesource code for that archived Rosta item corresponding to the screen capture above, besides the blog banner being from lynnwardlow.com, two other items show up in the code, three altogether at lines 458, 896 and 916, respectively:

img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210195651im_/http://www.lynnwardlow.com/rostrabanner.jpg"

href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210195651/http://www.blogsforbush.com/" ...img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210195651im_/http://www.lynnwardlow.com/bush.gif" border="0" alt="Blogs for Bush"

href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210195651/http://www.georgewbush.com/" ...img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210195651im_/http://www.lynnwardlow.com/gwbanner.jpg"

Only the first image, the blog banner remains in archive. From the other two image names the politics of each is evident.

Yes, it is cumulative evidence, but in toto it also pins the tail on the donkey tale on the weasel with unimpeachable authority.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an ethics question, and one expects an Attorney General to have at all times adhered to clear norms of legal ethics. It is not expecting much. However it is expecting a lot, when Doug Wardlow's past actions are under scrutiny. The judge Wardlow clerked for doubtlessly expected Wardlow to follow ethical norms, indeed, likely trusted that Wardlow would. A trust which was breached.

I trust Kieth Ellison, even if he grabbed a lady by the ankle and knocked off a shoe. Something which has never been proven. His policies and his dedication to them are absolutely trustworthy. Wardlow lied about being non-partisan and without a litmus test for attorneys he'd hire or fire. From the day he won the GOP AG primary onward, he belied that assertion of non-partisanship. This is not about an incident outside of the run for office; it goes to the heart of what Wardlow is promising within his campaigning, one thing to the public, the opposite to Republicans at GOP love-in sessions, and that breach of public trustworthiness is far more severe a breach than an alleged incident of justified anger in a dying relationship Ellison was ending while generously still allowing Monahan to stay longer in his home while she looked for other housing. He cut slack, and got exceptional vengeance in return, but that is collateral to the primary fact: Kieth Ellison has never lied about his priorities once in office as AG, which were his identical priorities during his Congressional service, and which are priorities which would have won the Presidency had Bernie been the Democratic Party presidential candidate in 2016. How it is, like it or love it. Wardlow has hidden and downplayed his extremism and even lies about non-partisanship in seeking votes.

____________UPDATE____________
In fairness to Wardlow on the ethical question, the Intercept item notes it is nuanced and not black and white, but that there is a spirit to not acting to reflect wrongly on the impartiality of the courts:

Another University of Minnesota legal expert, Carol Chomsky, offered a more nuanced answer, saying that it depends on when and where Wardlow would have written the blog posts.

“I believe that the current policy of the state court, adopted in 2006, states that ‘[a]ll of an employee’s activities and actions, both on and off the job, have the potential to reflect upon the impartiality and integrity of the Judicial Branch,’ but the specifics of the rule don’t expressly forbid all political activity,” she wrote in an email to The Intercept. “The rule forbids engaging in political activity during scheduled work hours, on court property, or when using government vehicles or equipment, and also prohibits using public facilities or an official employment title even during non work-hours. The ethical rules in federal court are more expansive, indicating that judicial employees should ‘refrain from partisan political activity’ without reference to whether the activity is during or outside of work hours. I think engaging in partisan activity of the sort you’ve referred to is contrary to the spirit of the state rule because it would reflect on the sense of impartiality of the Judicial Branch, but may not have violated the explicit provisions of the rule, depending on when and how the work was done.”

__________FURTHER UPDATE__________
When it comes to having an idea vs ducking a question, a life and death question, guess what.

How about selling this brand:

In a campaign piece aimed at supporters and volunteers, Wardlow asked them to rank the actions they want him to take if elected. One of those is “Defend President Trump’s agenda in court.” Others are to “prosecute illegal trafficking in fetal body parts” and “investigate and prosecute illegal voting.”

Wardlow said that campaign literature was aimed at “getting the base fired up… we were soliciting input.” He first said it was asking for suggestions and didn’t say he would do any of those things. But after being read the words on the card “Doug Wardlow will institute these duties when he is your MN Attorney General,” he said he wouldn’t, in fact, take all of those actions.

“I can tell you this, I’m not going to use — and I’ve said this consistently — I’m not going to be doing anything political with the attorney general’s office,” he said.

The man is a joke.

Douglas Gary Wardlow - A liar. But was he lying in his very early acceptance speech, "... replace them with solid conservative lawyers ..." or when he said more recently, "... no litmus test ..."? One or the other is true, but both cannot be.

This YouTube video posted online June 2, except at one key point is pure bullshit, pure Wardlow, and the good news is you need not watch it all.

Ignore preliminary stuff -- Cut directly to the 1:00 min mark, and see the man saying "turn over the tables" and "fire 46" and "replace them with solid conservatives." Then consider mpr, Oct. 12, quoting at length:

In remarks during a fundraising event Monday in Shakopee for Congressman Jason Lewis, Wardlow described plans for a partisan purge.

“It’s really exciting now to be in a position for the first time in a half century to take this office back,” Wardlow said. “We’re going to fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat and get Republican attorneys in there.”

The remarks, which were caught on tape, contrast with Wardlow’s frequent public pledge to take politics out of the office. He has criticized his DFL opponent, Keith Ellison, as being overly partisan.

A Minnesota DFL Party staffer recorded the fundraiser comments. The party provided the audio to MPR News.

Wardlow declined an interview request to elaborate on his plan or explain the specificity of the number of attorneys he’s targeting.

He released a written statement Friday describing himself as the victim of a desperate attack by Ellison.

“His attack is laughable, considering he is the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee,” Wardlow said. He added, “I am running to take back the Attorney General’s Office for the cause of the rule of law, the Constitution and for liberty, not for the Republican Party.”

Wardlow also insisted he would not make partisan staffing decisions.

“I have consistently stated throughout this campaign, I will appoint assistants and deputies who believe in the rule of law and the Constitution. There will be no litmus test for party affiliation.”

The only difference: June 2 it was fire 46, October 12 it was fire 42, and the best guess is each was his being candid about his actual and consistent intent but his numbers were off between months, by 4, and then the "no litmus test" is such a flat out inexcusable on-the-record lie that his balls are roasting from pants on fire.

Last, if you say, first time he said "solid conservatives" to a celebrating Republican party gathering, but second time he said "Republicans" to a celebrating Republican party gathering; then you are over enamored of hair-splitting hyper-distinctions without any frigging difference. Atop that, you are a fool, or a dissembler, or both. AND - Keith Ellison was not even in the picture June 2, "Lori Swanson" he said then, so blaming the press calling bullshit on him as Ellison's doing just makes the pants burn hotter.

The man, and truth, are somewhat apart. In a substantial way. End of story.

Muddying the waters in the AG contest. Just as one on-ballot candidate, the legalizing marijuana party rep. has endorsed Ellison while leaving his name on the ballot, a write-in complication has arisn.

Strib headline today,"Tom Foley registers as write-in candidate for Minnesota attorney general."

Former Ramsey County Attorney Tom Foley said Thursday that “a number of people” asked him to run so their votes could be counted.

In Minnesota, voters have the option of writing in a candidate’s name, but for some offices (such as state, judicial and county offices) those eligible candidates need to file a written request by Oct. 30 to have those votes counted.

“I’m not so delusional to think that you can win a write-in campaign on a statewide race without putting in a lot of effort,” Foley said. [...]

Of the five Democrats who were competing to be their party’s pick in the primary, Foley finished third with 12.5 percent of the vote.

Foley has said he is focused on consumer protections for seniors, safe schools and the environment.

“A lot of people know my positions from the race we ran in the primary,” he said. “But there’s a large disconnect with the two party candidates running for attorney general, and a lot of people are unhappy with that choice and that’s why they want to write my name in.”

Foley said he is not actively campaigning or spending money, but would be “honored to have your vote. You just have to write it in,” he said.

So, spoiler. Admittedly so. His positions are 180 degrees opposite of Doug Wardlow, who wants "law and order" as his calling card, not the civil priorities the office has traditionally spent limited budget upon since Skip Humphrey's days in the office. Those affected by the mud-slinging against Ellison to the point of doubt toward a black, Muslim man with all the correct and sensible policy positions, those soreheads believing the Parker-Monahan BS, will have a sane alternative to Doug Wardlow, should they wish to write-in Foley.

Anyone really embracing the common policy viewpoints of Ellison and Foley, both Democrats, should not want Wardlow anywhere near the office to monkey it up disasterously, and should support Ellison, the fair-and-square primary victor in the DFL. Dilution of DFL inclined votes toward a spoiler would be unfortunate; but with a non-Ellison candidate besides the extremist, Wardlow, there is leeway.

The anti-Ellison campaign Wardlow has run might have convinced too many of the casual and less skeptical voters that wholly negative bunk matters; and Foley is a safety-valve that way because he is more humane than Wardlow's hate-laced Dobsoniam extremism. However, in total, the Foley step is ill-advised, at best, coming just when the third-party candidate on ballot has endorsed Ellison as being the sane candidate of the two-party official offerings on the question of sensible change of marijuana policy.

BOTTOM LINE: VOTE ELLISON. If fully convinced not to do that, then vote anyone BUT Wardlow.

Just as Wardlow shifted gears from being primed to go negative against Swanson, had Foley won the DFL primary Wardlow'd have figured out ways to go negative against him, and that is because there really is nothing positive about himself that Wardlow can run on. He's that extreme and mud-slinging prone a candidate. He's just a mud-slinger at heart. Mr. Negativity. Far and away the worse candidate on any spot for any office on the ballot this election.

Ask Aimee Stephens about Wardlow's cold steel heart.

Last, to whatever extent the Foley write-in thing is intended by party regular pooh-bahs' as a payback to Ellison for having been the first member of Congress to have endorsed Bernie, those people in Clinton-speak are "deplorables" and would cut off their noses to spite their faces. It would be fine if Foley were to say who those "people" were encouraging him to take this step. Him and his shadow? Or actual others Foley alludes to but declines to name.

Two no-surprise Congressional conterst endorsements by Strib - Angie Craig in CD2 and Dam Feehan in CD1.

And yes, there are other contests where endorsements are awaited, and yes, opinions can differ, but here, it is BRAVO!

Craig endorsement.

Feehan endorsement.

These endorsements are not surprising because each of the chosen candidates is excellent. However, in CD1 there is a credible alternative while in CD2 there is --- Jason Lewis, and how he won last cycle is still unfathomable except for the fact he got more votes. WHY is the question. WHY? The man is an opinionated jackass and his opinions are consistently as expected, braying from a jackass.

___________UPDATE___________
Before anyone gets upset, yes, even the right-leaning Washington Examiner had an uncomplimentary report on Feehan's opponent, Hagedorn, but with all his unfortunate flaws, he is still a cut above Jason Lewis. Lewis and Wardlow are in the same boat as deplorables, in my view, while Paulsen is just a bad choice who has prospered and Stauber is a lesser candidate than Radinovich; but neither Paulsen nor Hagedorn rises to the level of offensiveness to values espoused by Radinovich and Ellison; as does Wardlow, the worse, or Lewis, close second.

That WashEx item focuses upon an undeserved and unenlightened hard judgement Hagedorn had for the two Senators from Washington State. Having lived there, Hagedorn is far off base on Maria Cantwell, who I'd judge a cut better than Klobuchar, and Patty Murray who I'd judge as a short cut below Tina Smith. Maria Cantwell, from a more populous state and with broader recognition could be presidential, more so than Kirsten Gillibrand, most certainly so, and a cut better than Kamala Harris with the divide there much closer. On policy Cantwell is quite more of a moderate than Elizabeth Warren, but she is Warren's intellectual equal. And that says a lot.

Apology for something of a digression, but Strib noted and linked to the WashEx item, so the digression is not too severe.

Bottom line, Strib is spot on with its Minnesota CD1 and CD2 choices.

GOTV in those districts to assure the better candidate wins.

Obsequious conscious parallelism; and if you want to do that, choose a far better less dogma-prone role model, please. Rephrased How close is Doug Wardlow, still, to James Dobson's extremism?

Just as Wardlow on his website uses that Ted Cruz type of catch the fire button, top left,

without comment upon it's symbolism but as a sign to similarly inclined Dominionists, there is this strikingly Dobsonian posing:

Dobson, Abstinence to End Aids - Cannot suppress a grin.

Wardlow spouses' FocusOnFamily pose.
Can you make it to the finish of
this hopelessly cloying video?

Rephrased, Doug Wardlow advertises who he is and has been, in indirect but apparent ways.

After an election day loss to Ellison and having run on "law and order" will he specialize his private sector practice in criminal defense? Or will he just rely more on James Dobson's ADF paycheck and agenda of hate for gay people and others who decline to buy into the Dobson brand? He can move on from that, growth of perspective is always feasible, and may Wardlow, in maturing, come to see the greater wisdom of secular humanism and inclusiveness - the love of human diversity in its many forms. However, if he still has his drawers in a bind over Angie Craig's marriage for example, he's a total butt and will remain so for the remainder of his human-like life.

My favorite part of the video is Dougie twice giving his bicycle riding son hand signals as one might use in training a field dog to range on voiceless cue, in order to flush grouse.

Calling liers out, and ending with an Oscar Wilde quote, an op-ed item by one educated on the issue and offended by the lying of selective seizure upon a single aspect of a healthcare approach representing a net nine percent saving under Single Payer.

Read the truth. Suspect the liars, and the op-ed author does name names.

What is missing from this PiPress report: Doug Wardlow has ties to extremists - James Dobson's Alliance Defending Freedom. However, the report of Wardlow campaign money from phony for-profit "education" folks raises questions about whether he'd sit tight or fight, if ever becoming AG.

Link. Headlining and opening paragraph:

Doug Wardlow criticized for taking contributions from donors behind fraudulent for-profit college
By Christopher Magan | cmagan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: October 24, 2018 at 3:14 pm | UPDATED: October 24, 2018 at 7:19 pm

Republican candidate for attorney general Doug Wardlow took $24,000 from owners and executives of the for-profit college chain Globe University, which was successfully sued for fraud by the state.

"... successfully sued for fraud by the state" would mean DFL AG Lori Swanson proved the fraud, and Wardlow took the cash. From the losers in the lawsuit. From those wanting the DFL out of consumer protection, given their loss of student loan cash flow that could have gone to legit operations. Besides wanting to buy the DFL out of the AG office, what positive purchase would be hoped for? Detail as reported:

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin highlighted donations from the Myhre family, which owns Globe University, and from Jeanne and Nathan Hermann, who worked for the family’s for-profit college chain, at a Wednesday news conference.

“You don’t have to be a campaign finance genius to wonder what these donors are hoping to gain by donating to Doug Wardlow,” Martin said. “The fact that Doug Wardlow has cozied up to individuals who systemically ripped off college students should alarm everyone in the state who has been or could be a victim of consumer fraud.”

Billy Grant, Wardlow’s campaign manager, said the donations would be returned because of the “recent litigation” by the attorney general’s office. He called Martin’s criticism “laughable,” saying that Wardlow’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Keith Ellison, has ties to extremists.

[...] Swanson filed a lawsuit against Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business in 2014 after hundreds complained the schools deceived them. The case focused on the criminal justice programs that students said they were told would lead to careers in law enforcement.

[...] The court ruling in 2017 led to the state revoking the schools’ authorization to operate in Minnesota. The institutions also lost access to federal student loan programs.

"Careers in law enforcement" such as that of Bob Kroll? Another extremist with ties to Wardlow, as posted in the sidebar and in earlier Crabgrass content.

When fraudsters pay what's the play? And then that broken record crap, Ellison has ties to extremists. That is all Wardlow and his people can say.

Note also, "... donations would be returned ..." means that without press attention, bad money was hunky-dory with the Wardlow crowd. Green is green is insufficient justification for not being attentive, or caring, about the character and track record of those ponying up green for Doug. It reflects upon Wardlow's care for appearances while running a negative campaign against Ellison with the unsubstantiated Parker-Monahan stuff.

If things such as Wardlow's done suggest to you a sound likelihood Wardlow would be a good fighter for consumer protection as he's said, look in the mirror and question your judgment. You take money from frauds, willingly and only when caught will it be given back, who are you really? Remember, those students who got ripped off are consumers, protected by a DFL Attorney General's steadfast focus upon protecting consumers from fraud and abuse, and weigh that in the context of Wardlow promising he'd fire people in the office, if elected.

Think: Which attorneys would the fraudulent "educational" operation want fired? Yes. The good ones who caught onto the truth about the operation and won in court. The winners on behalf of consumers would be targets these donors would wish revenge upon, and without PiPress scrutiny, what would you foresee happening in a Wardlow regime?

Silence of the Lambs.

A number of self identified staunch DFL persons, two in particular being so staunch as to run for Attorney General, seem content to allow Ellison to be savaged by the Wardlow-Parker-Monahan-Alpha News machine without a peep bleat.

Just saying . . .

MIA is MIA. Matt Pelikan. Debra Hillstrom. BlueWave blue to the core?

Sore losership is distasteful. Hanging separately, as Ben Frank would have viewed it.

Hannibal the Cannibal understood the silence of the lambs. Unfortunately, I do not. With only a proto-understanding, I don't like much of what I feel and infer from the pair of too-quiet lambs. They were not quiet back then, Aug. 12, tweets and not bleats.

In fairness, inference is less than understanding. Yet - Kieth twisting in the wind might imply something for next cycle. As in, long-term eye on the prize. Lambs being able to fatten in the interim, should Ellision lose, a sense of loss being denied him, in their primary.

Daily Beast - Pete Hegseth, and baseless assertion that Islamists have "infiltrated" the Hispanic caravan heading north. Islamist fear mongering seems a Republican mainstay. Vile and false does not matter . . . [UPDATED]

Link. Screen capture:

click to read

Republican fear mongering
Cumulative but differently nuanced sources; here, here, and here.

If it were Hegseth in isolation, well, Pete is Pete and Trump is Trump, business as usual.

However it is not just Pete being Pete. Instead, it is larger, and orchestrated. Some Minnesota readers may recall a parallel "infiltration" scare tactic being used locally; e.g., reporting here. They are under the bed, in the pantry, in droves like weevils. (Is "drove" the proper pluralization for weevils, or insects in general - e.g., Moses and the "plague" of locusts, so Republicans could say "a plague of Islamists" and that usage can be anticipated before election day although such usage has yet to be encountered, even via Hegseth or the Minnesota GOP).

Minnesota local GOP shenanigans:
Sorensen at Bluestem Prairie has posted much on the engineered GOP phenomenon; recently this item deconstructing a circulated hate mongering mailing per Sorensen's post lead image, copied below, see also, Sorensen, here:

It is a drumbeat from June 18, onward, starting on the heels of the Swanson choice to run for Governor, being heartlessly used and appearing to be having traction in the hustings with women and the young less prone to accept the propaganda barrage than men and older people.

This image of a hate-piece video's opening image, posted Sept. 20 on Doug Wardlow's own facebook page, 29K viewings - mongering for the worse in voter bias:

Ellison would keep continuity of the award winning focus at the AG if elected - protecting consumers from abusive banks, credit card enterprises, elderly exploitative "insurance," pharma ripoffs and outright frauds. Wardlow would foment discord and disarray. Ellison is black and latent racism seems afoot. Ellison follows the Muslim faith, and overt Islamophobia is being ginned up. An Oct. 14 Gilmore-Alpha "News" item in part:

This week Wardlow did something few Minnesota Republicans do: he ran an ad that will likely get him elected because it is unstinting in telling the truth about Ellison and his abusive past, while deftly pivoting to positive reasons to vote for Wardlow. When I first saw it, I could hardly believe that it was one from the party for which I vote: who flew in a shipment of Rocky Mountain oysters?

With Gilmore posting that kind of stuff at Alpha News, as if it was something other than one more Wardlow step down the negative campaign path, he should be ashamed of himself. That ad that went up on YouTube Oct 9 is a sack of crap. The same sack as used in the June 18 Alpha-Wardlow staged "interview." Same consistently negative stuff, repackaged.

It is sick Willie Horton redux. It is Wardlow. It is bias. It is Alpha News. It is bias. It is not suitable for suggesting Wardlow would somehow be different than abusive of other viewpoints if ever being Minnesota's Attorney General. Moreover, Gilmore does a glide and slide over Alpha News in bed with Wardlow doing that stuff from early and throughout his campaign, per the crudely staged "interview" immediately posted upon the heels of Swanson's filing for governor and with the Wardlow hate machine changing gears to dump on Ellison as primary target.

BOTTOM LINE: Women and the young need to show up and vote. The DFL knows that fact and will be generating a get out the vote effort. Besides the easy votes, the two female U.S. Senate incumbents and Walz's reasoned record and position on issues, voting down ticket DFL in every Minnesota House district is necessary to prevent the worse of possible outcomes. And that includes strong turnout and voting for Ellison, who has been subjected to the most vile mudslinging the Republicans have indulged in, this election cycle.

Watch the video that matters and not scurrilous stuff from Wardlow-Gilmore-Alpha and in watching the fair half-hour video, compare Ellison and his mannered approach with Wardlow in constant attack mode. And then contemplate the Swanson achievements being ongoing vs stymied by a Wardlow office purge.

________UPDATE________
A quick reminder, please take time to fully read and reflect upon Sorensen's Oct. 17, post, as previously linked to while posting its opening image. Having a sense that one of the dirtiest campaigns ever in Minnesota is unfolding from the Republican side will be helpful to all the "undecided" friends we have and can speak with between now and election day.

________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Sorensen, Oct. 23 Bluestem Prairie post: The ethics of a man using the advertising stamina he has shown in attacking his opponent for the Attorney General seat, a seat where unimpeachable ethics is a necessary expectation.

_______FURTHER UPDATE_______
That miserable video that Gilmore says gets his juices flowing has to be from the same Halloween scare-house GOP beltway mill as this one - identically formatted, as Gilmore phrased it telling stuff about the Democrat and his abusive past, while "deftly pivoting" to positive reasons to vote for the Republican as good-guy for all Minnesotans. If lawyer John Gilmore truly saw anything "deft" at all in any way about the "pivoting" within that hackneyed structuring of creepy voiceover with image shuffling format, then Gilmore deserves less respect than I had previously thought. Two GOP productions, same creepy voiceover genre, (only the gender of the creep-speak person on the soundtrack is different), same shuffling of pejorative images; with one key difference being Wardlow's campaign paid for his own half-minute crappy little beltway-produced video, while Republican DC outsiders paid for Stauber's. You can catch that at the end of each.

I hope the Wardlow people paid a lot. They got their pockets picked, however much they got stung for.

If that kind of beltway dreck really can motivate voters in Minnesota, than the state most assuredly is in steep decline. And if it works on a national level then the Chinese are going to eat our lunch.

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Ellison got the female creepy voiceover treatment. You look long enough you find an outside agitator group playing the identical hate-card the Wardlow campaign played. It seems either coordinated, or suprisingly parallel, go figure.

Unless I err, the Radonivich hit piece and Ellison item flagged in this update have the same female voice doing the creepy deed. Go figure that one too.