Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Pillowman’s Phone Seized at Hardee’s, Takes Calls from Media on Another Phone
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was going through a drive-thru in Mankato when his car was swarmed by law enforcement. “The FBI came after me… and surrounded me at a Hardee’s and took my phone. They’ve weaponized the FBl; it’s disgusting. I don't have a computer, I do everything on that phone, and everything is on there," he explained via his podcast (... while using a phone or computer?). He’s been making the rounds since the incident, taking interviews from the Minnesota Reformer, CNN, and our neighborhood Twitter fear monger Rebecca Brannon, who had his name and number already in her phone (the only phone he has?). According to that call, the FBI had questions about some images he had posted online concerning Dominion Voting Machines and the Mesa, Colorado, elections. He told her that asked to be arrested so he could “make international news” regarding voting machine fraud, but the FBI politely demurred. (In reality, we're betting that Lindell was one of the 40-plus people connected to Trump whose phones were seized concerning the January 6 insurrection this week.)
Lindell is currently facing a shitstorm of bad stuff, including a phone records subpoena by the January 6 committee, a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion, the closing of his last MyPillow mall store in Roseville, and retailers like Walmart dropping his pillows like hotcakes. Lindell did not return Racket's call—from either phone.
City Lacks Commitment to Cop Oversight Commission
Given the Minneapolis Police Department’s track record, maybe our city should have an independent oversight commission. Well, actually, we do, but it hasn’t been meeting because only three of its nine positions are filled, Kristen Swanson of KSTP reports. The role of the Police Conduct Oversight Commission, according to the city’s website, is to engage in community discussions about policing, review and act on data on police work, and recommend policies to the city. Seems like stuff we could use, and it’s not like people haven’t been applying for the vacant positions—records show that 12 applicants have sought to join the board. In response to KSTP’s queries, a city spokesperson said there was only one additional qualified candidate among those applications, and adding a fourth member wouldn’t have resulted in the need quorum anyway. Might be time for a little of the ol’ community outreach—though we should hardly expect that from a City Hall that same impervious to outside advice.
Esteemed Favre Biographer: 'He's a Bad Guy'
In his 2016 Brett Favre biography, Gunslinger, author Jeff Pearlman addresses the superstar QB’s warts such as drugs, adultery, and sexual harassment. Mostly, though, the esteemed biographer fortifies the mythos of Favre—the tough-as-nails, good-ol’-boy NFL hero. Late yesterday, as allegations exploded that Favre helped illegally reroute “at least $77 million” in Mississippi welfare funds toward a fucking volleyball facility, Pearlman disavowed his best-selling book and its subject. “Looking at [Gunslinger] now, if I'm being brutally honest—I'd advise people not to read it," he wrote. "He's a bad guy. He doesn't deserve the icon treatment. He doesn't deserve acclaim.” Calling Favre’s actions, which may amount to the largest case of welfare fraud in state history, ”so grotesque, so monstrous,” Pearlman hopes that “crumbs” like the former Packers/Jets/Vikings QB “shuffle off into the abyss, shamed by greed and selfishness.” Speaking loudly and passionately on Fox Sports’ Undisputed, Shannon Sharpe further tees off on the “sorry mofo” who was once a celebrated sports icon.
The WI Tourism Board Owes This Guy Big Time
As a transplant, I can never tell quite how serious the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry is—but I gotta say, TikTok user georgejapan02 is making a pretty solid case for the beer-loving cheeseheads to our east. In a viral video with the caption "Wisconsin is so UNDERRATED🇺🇸," the Japan native lists the reasons he loves Wisconsin: nature, Culver's butter burgers, fried cheese curds, lakes, monster truck rallies at the county fair, apple cider donuts (from... Chicago). Originally posted on TikTok, where it's gained 360,000 views since yesterday, and later shared to Twitter, where it racked up another 3 million, George's wholesome video makes a great case for America's Dairyland. Some would say that Minnesota has all that stuff and more, but hey, we'll let those milk guzzlers have this one.
