By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Minnesota today to stump for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the final weeks of her U.S. Senate primary against U.S. Rep. Angie Craig. Max Nesterak, Ria Gupta and Glen Stubbe will be there with team coverage.
Today’s children will likely never experience a summer without smoky days like the past week, which will lead to bronchial problems for some of them.
I don’t mean to catastrophize it: I grew up anxious about (well, a lot of things, but…) nuclear annihilation, which was a real threat in the 1980s; our ancestors lived with the constant presence of disease and famine.
U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer knows who is to blame: Canada!
“Another summer of smoke and bad air quality in Minnesota and across the country due to Canada’s inability to manage their forests. Americans shouldn’t have to pay the price for another country’s failures. It is time we make it clear to the Canadian government that this is unacceptable, and demand action so that this does not happen again.”
Somehow, despite his impeccable record of intellectual honesty (LOL), Emmer managed to omit the fires in northern Minnesota, which are the proximate cause of our recent hazardous air. And, of course, no mention of the underlying issue: Hotter, drier summers caused by global warming are making fires all but inevitable, which sound forestry management practices can only hope to ameliorate, not prevent.
Dunking on the likes of Emmer is too easy, however. Untold millions were spent trying to create the political conditions to get something done. Although the Inflation Reduction Act and its climate provisions were a temporary victory, the rest of the climate advocacy effort seems like it’s failed, largely because it just became just another left-of-center issue that could be rejected out of hand by too many voters. An argument for better strategery, as George W. Bush called it.
On the other hand, the polling on climate is extremely favorable these day, which indicates someone has been doing good advocacy work. Climate advocates have always confronted humans’ great weakness for procrastinating. We can worry about it later — and then the next thing you know, the smoke rolls in.
To the news:
Minneapolis-based activist band Brass Solidarity perform “When the Saints Go Marching In during the annual Remember 1934 event in the city’s warehouse district on Sunday, July 19. (Photo by Peyton Haug/Minnesota Reformer)
By Peyton Haug
On the sweltering, smoky Sunday afternoon, history’s rhymes sang loudly through the city as crowds paused for a bit longer to remember the slain Renee Good and Alex Pretti — the two Minneapolitans shot and killed by immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge.
They also memorialized Victor Manuel Díaz, a Nicaraguan man who died in ICE custody.
“The organizing of rapid response, mutual aid and the many ways people came out to defend their neighbors during Operation Metro Surge, it was like the way the community was responding to the Teamsters strike in 1934,” said event organizer Peter Rachleff.
By Ariana Figueroa
A Thursday report from the American Civil Liberties Union found patterns of misconduct by immigration agents during Trump’s second term, identifying 432 incidents where agents either used or threatened to use force against immigrants and bystanders.
The report reviewed more than 1,200 incidents across eight states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland and New Mexico.
Of the traffic-related enforcement, the ACLU found in 76 instances, people and passengers were pulled from their cars; windows were smashed 47 times; officers 14 times rammed vehicles into people’s cars; and they hit people with cars six times.
By KFF Health News
From KFF Health News, we’ve republished a look at whether insurers are keeping their promises:
One year after the Trump administration announced that dozens of health insurers had signed a six-part pledge promising to reduce barriers to doctor-recommended care, some insurers now say they won’t implement all the promised initiatives.
Meanwhile, patients, their advocates, and clinicians say little has improved.
“It has never been this bad for patients,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), a physician who co-chairs the GOP Doctors Caucus.
IN OTHER NEWS
14 wounded in 2 shootings in Minneapolis over the weekend | Star Tribune
Poisoned water is turning Iowa bluer | Politico
Funny review of JD Vance and Jill Biden books | Atlantic (gift link)
OH BY THE WAY
I started reading Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” and it’s living up to the hype, with classic characters, subtle political insights, and oh my the writing:
“The stars are stifled in damp and cloud. Over the city lies the sweet, rotting odor of yesterday’s unrecollected sins.”
Since we’re doing the royals, “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols is your song for Monday.
Have a great day all! JPC
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