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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Announcement, okay, I can expect one if he says so. Important? That's a clear wait and see while doubting. [UPDATED as of Feb 13 press release from after Trump's acquittal]

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 Friend Wardlow, what's he up to? Going to announce Mike Lindell has money?

Enough to buy martial law? What?

Lindell's Pillow has lice? (But only a few?)

Wardlow will run for governor? 

That would be an intriguing announcement. 

Important? You decide. 

_________UPDATE________

Wardlow might have something real hiding it under a hat.

Bob Kroll to run for Senate against Klobuchar?

Bob Kroll to be Lt. Gov. candidate, Wardlow's ticket?

With that prep, Facebooking big stuff; will the man let us down? 

We are just waiting, waiting, waiting. Wha's 'appening, Doug?

Let the cat out of the bag.

_______FURTHER UPDATE_______

NOTHING, as of Friday, 12 Feb. - so the big announcement might be on Valentine's Day.

Hopefully it is more than a recycle of stale Strib mid-January speculation - 

[...]

Many influential Minnesota Republicans are not willing to discuss Lindell publicly. For his part, Lindell is now also hinting at rejecting a party whose state leader publicly backed him for governor last fall.

"I've got problems with both parties, are you kidding me?" Lindell said, citing GOP governors in Arizona and Georgia who refused to join attempts to overturn their presidential election results. "I don't keep in contact with anybody in the Republican Party."

Doug Wardlow, Lindell's general counsel, is also considering again seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Attorney General Keith Ellison, who defeated Wardlow in 2018. Wardlow was not available for comment.

Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan wrote in a September tweet that the party was "going to make [Lindell] our next governor.

She has since declined to comment on any would-be candidates, saying that party rules prevent her from doing so before someone wins the party endorsement. Carnahan's previous post backing Lindell for governor inspired state Sen. Mark Koran to launch a campaign to challenge Carnahan as state party leader.

During a 50-minute phone interview last week, Lindell oscillated between agitation and bombast, threatened to hang up and angrily refused to say where he was staying — a departure from past interviews in which he openly described his busy travel schedule.

"I don't want anybody to know where I'm at," Lindell said, [...]

That quote from an item focused primarily on Lindell, third quoted paragraph down, injects contemplation of another possible Wardlow loss to Ellison, the only mystery being whether Monahan shows up again or whether Wardlow's moved on (but perhaps still playing a lightweight Sancho Panza to Kroll's Quixotic demeanor and Gestalt).

_______FURTHER UPDATE_______

A teaser behind a subscription/login wall - run for what? Will Klobuchar be on the 2022 ballot? Imagine, DC Doug surprising everybody.

It would be nice, if any activists or officials really are urging Wardlow to run for something, if they'd say for what, and name or otherwise identify any official or activist who is urging such a candidacy (besides Wardlow himself, who's been rather inactive, while not an official either).

Stupendous, bodaciously audacious announcement can be anticipated at any moment now - we wait to cheer or jeer. Or just guffaw for a minute or two, once the deets are unleashed.

Lundeen does have money, and Wardlow and Lundeen have glommed onto one another as soul brothers. Run Doug run. Hide Doug hide.  

We simply must induce labor for the birth of this giant of an announcement. Waiting is so difficult. So vexing. Every day the massive Wardlow fan base is pointing to the sky or waving a sign, needing or asking for a miracle. [On reflection, some would understand the last sentence better than others, and for the latter, it was joking, OK? Also, really the size of any Wardlow fan base, massive or not, I cannot say.]

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________ 

This sounds as if a third party might be cooking, one where Lindell and Wardlow would fit, hand in glove, with Trump, they part of the true believers, Trump smelling money to grift.

 (Feb. 13 - 1605ET): Former President Trump has issued the following statement following his Senate acquittal:

I want to first thank my team of dedicated lawyers and others for their tireless work upholding justice and defending truth.

My deepest thanks as well to all of the United States Senators and Members of Congress who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.

Our cherished Constitutional Republic was founded on the impartial rule of law, the indispensable safeguard for our liberties, our rights and our freedoms.

It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree. I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate.

This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago.

I also want to convey my gratitude to the millions of decent, hardworking, law-abiding, God-and-Country loving citizens who have bravely supported these important principles in these very difficult and challenging times.

Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!

We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future.

Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

We remain one People, one family, and one glorious nation under God, and it's our responsibility to preserve this magnificent inheritance for our children and for generations of Americans to come.

May God bless all of you, and may God forever bless the United States of America.

Right, and much to share with supporting folks means there will be cashflow enabling within the "much." With the main cashflow sharing being left to the supporting people toward Trump, not the other direction except for rhetoric going in return and as incitement.  

He Could call the third party, "Third Party," or "Trump Party," much as with the ties, vodka and steaks - but envisioning here is calling it "The People," with already a ready recycled logo - just change the TRUMP - PENCE part, and Bingo!

https://media.wired.com/photos/5926dd777034dc5f91becdf2/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/TPLOGOFINAL.jpg

 

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________

A lookback to 2018, the AG race far closer than I'd imagined it could be:


Votes for Attorney General
Candidate Party Total Votes Percent
Doug Wardlow Republican 1,150,459 45.08%
Keith Ellison  Democratic-Farmer-Labor 1,249,407 48.96%
Noah M. Johnson Grassroots - Legalize Cannabis 145,748 5.71%
Write-In Write-In 6,158 0.24%

Over a million people voting for Wardlow is not suggesting too high a discernment capacity in Minnesota's electorate. One question for Wardlow - where on the "Hang Mike Pence" question does the little guy stand? Yeah, he agrees with his friends.

If Wardlow wants another take another shot at the AG office, what role will Andrew Parker play this time, what bogus baseless story to shill, and what role will retired bad cop Bob Kroll play in the Wardlow menagerie? 

What to expect but more of this sad shit pile. Or this.

Yes, Bob Kroll loves him. Beyond that, what else can you say about Wardlow? Pillow guy gave him a paycheck, there is that, but, what else?

What qualities exist, if any, for Wardlow to run upon? That is his main stumbling block. ALSO - Watch - he will duck the Mike Pence thing, and media will give him a free pass on where his heart is. With Pence and the rule of law? Or with Trump and inciting white guys' hate? What say on that dichotomy will Lindell and his money have, with regard to where Wardlow will stand? 

“When I met him, I go: ‘Wow, there’s nobody on this planet I’d rather have be my president than Donald Trump,’” he told The Minnesota Sun. Lindell was launched into the political scene after that summer meeting when he came out in support of then-candidate Trump.

Mike Lindell with then-candidates Donald Trump and Mike Pence

“First of all, let me get it straight. I was never a politician. I didn’t know a conservative from a liberal before I met Donald Trump,” he said in an interview. “I went all-in to back him and to get behind him to be our president. That’s when I actually had to learn what liberal is and what conservatism was. I had to learn all this.”

 

The guess here is Wardlow will stand again with Bob Kroll, and that is not hallowed ground. Neither is standing in lockstep with Trump's world view; Trump Uber Alles.

 

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________

MORE TRUMP UBER ALLES - MIGHT MAKES RIGHT OUTLOOK - KROLL 

Guardian reporting on Kroll and police racism:

“The police federation has historically had more influence over police culture than any police chief ever could,” said [former Minneapolis police chief, Janeé ] Harteau. “I was fought at every turn from bringing body cameras to the police department to having implicit bias training to professional development processes and having some more consistency in promotions.”

That power of the union (or federation) has often stood in the way of reform, perpetuating old-school racialised policing tactics and shielding officers from accountability.

 Harteau attempted comprehensive reforms as police chief for five years until 2017 after inviting the US justice department to examine the conduct of the Minneapolis police. The result was a strategy, MPD 2.0 A New Police Model, that put a strong emphasis on community engagement, transparency and public accountability. Harteau said it was consistently resisted and subverted by the union.

She said that when she also attempted to address issues around burnout and mental health of police officers, and to institute an early warning system to flag up those prone to abuse, the union characterised the measures as no more than a way to discipline officers and blocked them.

Former Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak said the 800-strong police union stood in the way of attempts by successive administrations to change policing culture toward African Americans and other minorities.

“I would say the last five mayors are very different people, but every one has been deeply committed to reforming the police department. Every one of them. Collectively we have failed to move enough of the levers of change,” he said.

Mayor, Jacob Frey, was elected on a promise to reform the police department, with a strong emphasis on community policing. But he has said the union has resisted all such change. In addition, Frey said he is “hamstrung by the architecture of the system” of the union contract and arbitration which makes it difficult to discipline and dismiss officers for abuses.

The single largest obstacle, said Ryback, is Kroll and his leadership of the federation that is resistant to any change away from a style of policing that minority communities in Minneapolis describe as acting like an occupying force.

[...] Before he was federation chief, Kroll had a long record of disciplinary actions against him. He was suspended in 2008 with a fellow officer, while out of uniform and without identifying themselves as police, for beating a man in the street and then having him arrested on false charges. Kroll has also been suspended for using a homophobic slur to describe a gay aide to the then mayor, Rybak.

This week, Kroll was critical of the current Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arrandondo, who is African American, for immediately firing Chauvin and three other officers since charged in Floyd’s death.

The pair have a long history. In 2007, Arrandondo named Kroll in a lawsuit against the police department accusing it of racial discrimination. Arrandondo and four other black officers alleged that Kroll made racist statements in front of senior officers and “wears a motorcycle jacket with a ‘White Power’ badge sewn onto it”.

The lawsuit also alleged that Kroll said then congressman Keith Ellison, who is black and a Muslim, “is a terrorist”. At the time Ellison, who is now Minnesota’s attorney general in charge of the Floyd investigation, was pushing for reform of the police department.

The officers alleged that the force “has a history of tolerating racist and discriminatory remarks by its white police officers and engaged in discriminatory conduct against its African American police officers”.

The action was settled for $800,000 and a promise of change.

[EDIT: Hopefully initial readers were not too confused about the screen capture below --- Lost in earlier modification: "Below is a screenshot of the start of the thorough Guardian report; with much left out in quoting:"]


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Minnesota's largest daily newspaper Strib, online, had little to say about Kroll's sudden recent retirement announcement, except to express scorn and regret it had not happened sooner.

Betting at Crabgrass - Andrew Parker sits this one out, rather than again getting into the pit as last time with the Monahan "video" hoax. Why would he associate, this time, with the likes of Kroll and Lundell already in the pit knee deep in Trump mania (and in Kroll's case, a history of racism allegation and complaint).  

Wardlow is likely betting on progressive dissatisfaction with Biden-Harris cutting into DFL 2022 GOTV, where progressives disproportionately do the GOTV scut-work, together with Trump-GOP racial bigotry enhancing GOP GOTV among angry white men. 

And that, readers, is why the "Hang Mike Pence" thing Trump did - hanging Pence out to dry for conforming to the rule of law - needs emphasis with the evangelical GOP base where Pence is recognized as one of them, long time, from well before Trump decided to hoax-pose insincerely in front of a church while struggling to correctly hold a Bible (as if it was burning his hands).

FURTHER AND FINALLY: Reflective evangelicals should weigh fairness and intent behind purposeful commentary of others of faith, in senior positions. published in online news reporting during 2018 election campaigning. (Asserting a claim of uncalled for agitation by Wardlow operatives, in a Wardlow mailing to the public.) The Wardlow item preached against Ellison based largely upon dislike of Ellison's faith (while generally expressing and promoting disrespectful anti-Islam memes and cliche biases to voters).