Ramsey special election result - Chris Riley elected to the at-large seat.

Less than two-hundred fifty people voted, Riley getting more than two-thirds of the votes. This link.

UPDATE: The outcome page can be reached from the city homepage or from the city election page, respectively:

http://www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/
http://www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/165/Elections

Scared of Randy Bryce, or just time to go into lobbying and collect on the IOUs?

Petty meanness taking a walk. Besides the headline options a third and more remote possibility, the Michael Cohen office sweep might involve other hush-payer persons. Like Panama Papers. Names one might never expect.

He whose name no longer need be spoken. Nor written here.

UPDATE: Strib carries a Jenifer Rubin op-ed item that is unfriendly to the departing. Here, let's just say a hind under-tail part of the horse belongs in pasture with the rest of the horse. Not in Congress. Now we will see it happen.

Soybeans, Wed. April 11.

A link.

Of interest, free market touting jocks aiming to subsidize where, coincidently Trump polled ahead of Clinton, November, 2016 - opening paragraphs:

April 6, 2018 11:58 AM
To shield farmers from feeling the brunt of China’s tariff action, the Trump administration is considering direct payments through the Commodity Credit Corporation analysts say.

In tit for tat action between President Trump and China’s President Xi on Thursday night, President Trump announced that he is considering another $100 billion of additional tariffs against China.

"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said.

In addition he has “instructed” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to “use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.”

According to Pro Farmer’s Jim Wiesemeyer, USDA has been instructed to come up with a plan. “Details are sparse, but if any plan is implemented, it will likely rely largely on the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act, which could mean direct payments for some producers,” he explains.

The CCC is able to assist through loans, purchases, payments and other operations, Wiesemeyer explains.

“The Act also authorizes the sale of agricultural commodities to other government agencies and to foreign governments and the donation of food to domestic, foreign, or international relief agencies,” he says.

Urban Democratic voters can feel trade war pain; rural Trmpsters, pat 'em on the back and consider giving 'em free money? Is that sound policy? Will it skew crop plantings? Is it an honest embrace of market principles, or a turn to politics as usual reward and punish voting segments?

UPDATE: Tofu eaters rejoice? Or as that one Mondale ad ran years ago, "Where's the beef?" Are callous and calculating appropriate words?

FURTHER: The poor, they are not going without Trump-Pence-Ryan consideration. Children can go malnourished if unfortunately having parents with a Ryan-deficient work ethic? Let 'em eat cake? What?

Skewed priorities, a/k/a it is hard to get rid of 'em over the egregious way they discharge public duties - so attack the flanks.

Scott Pruitt. Donald Trump.

Each has been a disaster in decisions. Pruitt, for example:

Consider smog, a type of air pollution formed when exhaust from vehicles and power plants heats up in the sun. It is a major contributor to asthma and premature death. One 2014 study found that people of color live in communities with 38 percent more nitrogen dioxide, a compound that is a precursor for the formation of smog.

The nation has made strides in reducing this type of pollution and was on track to do an even better job when the EPA, under former President Barack Obama, set more protective smog standards in 2015.

Last October, the EPA was required to pinpoint those areas of the country that weren’t meeting the 2015 air quality standard, so action could be taken to clean up the air.

But instead of identifying all those problem areas, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt simply ignored federal law by missing the October deadline. In fact, Pruitt has stalled numerous environmental regulations by delaying action or deciding to revisit rules that were set for implementation.

This prompted Earthjustice, the nonprofit I work for, to sue him on behalf of a number of health and environmental groups, including the American Lung Association, National Parks Conservation Association and Environmental Defense Fund.

Pruitt’s inaction is one of many examples of how the Trump administration has attempted to stall the implementation of required health protections so that corporations can focus on their bottom lines, rather than on the communities or neighborhoods they may be polluting.

Egregious servitude to Koch brothers and other environmental villians. He should be ridded from DC for that.

Yet, Pruitt faces an indirect attack, on grounds outside of intentional partisan malfeasance/misfeasance; e.g., Breitbart countercontentions.

Trump, his record of egregious appointments stands as worse in the nation's history. So, attack him over Don Juanism? The problem is not his personal habits, it is his absolute dereliction of duty and disdain for the best future for the bulk of the people of nation. If he lied about Stormy Daniels and is bending truth along with others about hush money that is less an offense than appointing John Bolton or Scott Pruitt to any position in government.

Fault for what really matters, people, please. Thugs put into power matters. Hush money, less so. One shows disdain for duty and for the well being of the earth and the populace. The other shows a mere weakness of character. Follow the money and not the bedsheet stains.

UPDATE: A critique from George Will is not one from a partisan of the Democratic Party, myopic in any way, that way.

One Cambridge Analytica question seeming to get insufficient attention: snake oil, or real?

Implausible sounding, RT reporting:

The data mining firm, which worked for President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016, pitched its “unique” data and “psychological profiling” abilities, which could be used to micro-target voters on Facebook, according to a Channel 4 News report.

According to the documents seen by Channel 4, Cambridge Analytica told prospective clients that its data had been successfully used by the North Carolina Republican Party, the conservative For America advocacy group and a number of Republican campaigns in Arkansas, North Carolina and New Hampshire, which were funded by the John Bolton Super PAC.

Cambridge Analytica claimed it had been able to “accurately predict partisanship, turnout, issue importance and build psychographic profiles” for voters in North Carolina.

“We produced clusters of voters based on the modeled data to maximize campaign impact, which enabled the creation of tailored messages directed to specific voter groups,” the company said.

The firm even boasted that they had been able to boost turnout among target voters by about eight percent. Adverts created by Cambridge Analytica were “tailored to voter personality profiles” and had “clear calls to action” that reminded people to vote.

The company detailed how it had categorized voters according to personality types in North Carolina in 2014.

Contribution solicitation lists appear to be bought and sold or otherwise exchanged among candidates and parties and outside groups; as a cottage industry. Selling "special" capabilities beyond lists has no aim beyond cash flow generation. As such, reality could take a big hit when cash generation governs above any testable truth.

Koch assault on socialized medicine, because it works.

This link. Use of the Big Lie propaganda technique.

Perhaps politics can become too local, but more important to me than whether Trump bedded a porn person (of either gender) is why are badges obscured in this image. As in, who are we dealing with wanting a more local office, a State office, not federal.

YouTube.

Where, doing what, when, why obscure badging?

UPDATE: Trump is not up this cycle. This guy wants HD 35A voters to vote for him. Who is he? Besides a badge hider? He shows that on a website photo. So, why a badge hider? What's at play?