By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers.
Early in-person voting begins Friday, June 26.
Some good news, maybe: A deal to end the war, and maybe this time it’s real.
Tuesday night, see me in person: I’ll be talking to Secretary of State Steve Simon about election administration and the threats to our elections from President Donald Trump at an event being put on by Principles First and Fair Vote Minnesota.
Also in attendance: Charlie Sykes, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, Blois Olson, David Schultz and Lori Sturdevant.
After that I’ll be running over to the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists awards dinner to celebrate the Reformer’s annual haul.
Blanca Lara holds her youngest son at their Burnsville apartment on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Madison McVan
Read the story of a family separated by deportation, even though Hugo Diaz had been here for decades, started businesses and had no criminal record. Definitely not “worst of the worst” the Trump administration claimed when they sent 3,000 agents here. Great reporting from Madi and photographs from Nicole Neri.
Diaz and his partner Blanca Lara are among the thousands of Minnesota families separated by the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, which culminated in Operation Metro Surge. Federal agents arrested more than 3,700 immigrants, including hundreds of people with valid work permits or other permission to remain in the U.S. while their immigration cases were pending. The arrests left many families separated from loved ones who’ve been detained on their way to likely deportation.
The forced family separation is a feature, not a bug of the arrests. The Trump administration is creating various hardships for immigrants to nudge them into self-deportation. On the flip side, the administration is also offering free travel and a $2,600 “exit bonus” to those who voluntarily self-deport.
By Kevin Hardy
For years, ranchers across Southern states have prepared for a potential invasion of the flesh-eating parasite that can wreak havoc on livestock, pets and even humans.
Though the United States went decades without a confirmed case of the invasive pest, it’s now made its way across the U.S.-Mexico border. Officials have confirmed one case in a New Mexico dog and five cases in Texas, including cattle, a dog and a goat.
The New World screwworm poses potentially life-threatening risks to pets, wildlife and livestock. While the risk is concentrated in a few states, experts say a massive invasion could ripple across the American economy through higher grocery prices.
IN OTHER NEWS
Lawrence, Kansas, embraces Algerian national soccer team | Africa Is a Country
Trump’s Iran truce has the hallmarks of defeat | Bloomberg gift link
OH BY THE WAY
A lot of people are citing “Idiocracy,” the 2006 satire, upon seeing images of the UFC spectacle on the grounds of the White House Sunday.
Tim Miller put it this way:
“‘Michelle Obama is a man’ shouted on the White House lawn in a ring sponsored by Bud Light only available on Larry Ellison’s Paramount Plus. What a way to celebrate America 250 and the twilight of liberal democracy.”
My preferred reference, however, is “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” when Hunter S. Thompson’s alter ego stumbles into Circus Circus, the downmarket casino on the north end of the Strip:
“Circus Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos... but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space.”
Terry Gilliam’s brilliant film adaptation captures the moment perfectly, and when we were much younger, some friends and I replicated the scene at the rotating circular bar.
Funny ha-ha but then read this Heidi Blake New Yorker investigation of the Tate brothers, who are at least adjacent to this whole world.
Andrew Tate, former kickboxing champion and self-described misogynist, has a huge following online that he used to promote Trump’s ‘24 election and is also accused of running a massive sex-trafficking ring, as well as asssault and rape. He’s palled around with Barron, Don Jr. and UFC CEO Dana White. The White House has intervened on behalf of Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate to help them with their multi-continent legal troubles, ProPublica has reported.
This is Epstein-level corruption.
Happy 250th!
Correspond: [email protected]
Have a great day all! JPC
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