Friday 4/5
Thanks to everyone who rallied yesterday across the state publicly protesting to demand that Barr release the Mueller report and make it public. A picture of the St. Paul rally even made a blip on The Rachel Maddow Show! It’s been great seeing the pictures on twitter of all the rallies here in MN.
We won’t stop until the report is released. “The attorney general’s actions raise suspicions about whether he is acting primarily to benefit the president because they don’t make sense when viewed through any other lens. Barr is neither inexperienced nor naive, yet when deciding among the several options available to him when he received Mueller’s report, he chose the one course of action that would raise questions about his own integrity and plunge the Justice Department into political controversy.”
“Barr still has a chance to lift the cloud his actions have placed over his leadership, but to do so, he will have to reverse course quickly. He is right to redact classified information and information about what he called peripheral third parties from the version of the report that is set for the public release, but he should make sure that information is transmitted to Congress. He should petition the D.C. District Court to unseal grand jury information contained in the report, and he should follow the precedent the department set in both the Starr investigation and the 2016 Clinton email investigation and provide underlying investigative materials to lawmakers.
Finally, he should realize that the special counsel is not his antagonist, but his protector. Mueller is one of the most talented and respected prosecutors of his generation, and his integrity will accrue to Barr’s benefit, if only Barr will let it. The sniping the Justice Department has directed toward the special counsel’s office in the press over the past two weeks, both on the record and through leaks to reporters, is not just unseemly — it also hurts the entire department and its ability to do its job.”
Trump has led the most anti-climate and anti-clean energy administration in history. https://thinkprogress.org/trump-campaign-climate-change-clean-energy-a45eeb1a00b3/
There is a lot happening in the omnibus bill in the MN legislature. Here is the schedule. https://www.leg.state.mn.us/cal?d1=04/05/2019
The public safety panel added gun control provisions to the omnibus bill, which has the GOP up in arms. “Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul) successfully offered the amendment containing language from HF8, which he sponsors. It would require the state to conduct background checks for most private firearm transfers and raise the age to receive a firearm in a private transfer from 18 to 21.
Pinto and other DFL members noted that similar legislation passed in other states has successfully reduced gun violence.
“I appreciate your desire to reduce violent crimes committed with a gun … But this bill does none of that; it is onerous for people already abiding by the law,” said Rep. Jim Nash (R-Waconia).”
“Described as “aspirational” by members on both sides of the aisle, the omnibus education finance bill passed its first hurdle Thursday.
Sponsored by the division chair, Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls), HF2400 includes $900 million in new E-12 investments and an array of policy provisions. It was approved, as amended, by the House Education Finance Division and now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee, where it is scheduled to be heard Monday.
“It’s a package that puts the student at the center and surrounds them with the services, supports, opportunities and challenges that they need to succeed,” Davnie said.
The bill recognizes cost drivers for districts, particularly in the area of special education funding, he added. It also targets barriers to student development and achievement by increasing the availability of school support services.”
We need to keep putting pressure on the MN Senate to let our secretary of state have the money needed for election security. Election security is bipartisan across the nation except in MN. “In most states the top elections administrator could put the federal HAVA money to use immediately in 2018. But Minnesota is one of a handful of states where the legislature must pass a bill that allows the secretary of state to spend the election security money.”
“Native American women and girls have been murdered or gone missing across the nation in heartbreaking numbers for generations.
Indigenous women are murdered at a rate 10 times higher than other ethnicities. Murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women according to the Center for Disease Control.
The facts are, the majority of these murders are committed by non-Native people on Native-owned land.
Roadblocks are lack of data, jurisdictional responsibility and the incompatible means of communication between state, local, and tribal law enforcement, interfering with the investigation process.
Minnesota’s agencies are ready to tackle this historic trauma as a core member of this task force.
I am optimistic that with the strong bi-partisan support in House and the Senate, legislators will acknowledge the necessity to address this dark part of Minnesota’s and the national endemic and pass this bill from the respective floors onto to the Governor for signature.” -Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein
Here is a bit of good news! MN is number one in voter participation and number one in youth voter participation. Good habits start early! https://www.sos.state.mn.us/about-the-office/news-room/minnesota-2018-youth-voter-turnout-tops-in-the-united-states/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Walz https://mn.gov/governor/
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