Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Angie Craig Promises to Vote 'Nay' This Time
Last week, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) voted “yea” on H.R. 9495, a (failed) bill that would allow the Treasury secretary to yank nonprofit status away from any organization viewed as sympathetic toward terrorism, and could/would be used as a tool for Trump to censor opponents. This morning, Craig announced that she’d had a change of heart, and would be voting “nay” when the bill is re-introduced this week.
“I strongly oppose any actions that support foreign terrorist organizations,” she writes in a Twitter statement as to why she originally supported the bill, failing to note that this is already illegal in the U.S. “However, over the past several days as the president-elect has rolled out his cabinet nominees, I've become increasingly concerned that H.R. 9495 would be used inappropriately by the incoming Administration.”
Wait. She’s just figuring this out now? (Racket contacted Craig's team last week about her initial support of H.R. 9495, but never heard back.)
Trump Transportation Secretary Pick Is (Kinda?) One of Us
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Wisconsin native Sean Duffy, cohost of Fox News’ The Bottom Line, will be joining his cabinet as secretary of transportation. Trump boasted that Duffy “will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.” Hm, that sounds racist!
And, sadly, much like fellow Fox News buddy/Trump nom Pete Hegseth, this fool has ties to Minnesota: He's a graduate of St. Mary's University and William Mitchell College of Law. After stints on MTV’s The Real World and Road Rules, he served as Ashland County’s district attorney from 2002-10, and was a U.S. House Rep. for Wisconsin from 2001-19 before heading to Fox.
Over the past couple of days, there have been a plethora of very dry “Who Is Sean Duffy?” stories. So now that we’re past the intros, let’s take a look at some of the weirder, more hypocritical, and more racist moments in his guy’s very public history.
- Duffy was “the Republican” on the 1997 Boston season of The Real World, aka the one where everyone chain-smoked in a firehouse and worked at an after-school program for kids. During the show, he met Syrus, his “first Black friend,” voiced opposition to affirmative action, flashed his butt to his female roommates, and got in trouble for drinking alcohol in front of kids.
- Duffy met his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, while on a season of Road Rules. You might remember her as “the Republican” of Real World: San Francisco, best known for making out with that season’s “token bigot,” actual garbage human Puck Rainey. Duffy and Campos-Duffy have nine kids.
- After Wisconsin passed a bill in 2011 freezing state employees’ salaries, Duffy told folks at a Polk County town hall that he too was struggling to make ends meet, even with his $174,000 salary. "I guarantee most of you, I have more debt than all of you,” he said. “With six kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage. I drive a used minivan.” Not a used minivan!
- Duffy is a big "parental rights" guy, and he's against vaccine mandates. “I know what morals and values are right for my children,” he told Daily Citizen. “I think we should not have an oppressive state telling us what to do.” He is anti-abortion and Planned Parenthood, however, so women’s oppression is A-OK.
- In 2017, Duffy told CNN that he saw acts of white terrorism as “one-offs,” while terror acts from Muslims are “different.” That same year, he also voiced support of Trump’s Muslim travel ban.
- He might not have the best handle on what terrorism actually is. In 2018, he accused countries that placed tariffs on the U.S. in reaction to tariffs the U.S. placed on them of “economic terrorism.”
Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor?
No official statement has been made yet, but it sure looks like Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) is aiming to run for mayor in 2025 thanks to this excellent find from Melody Hoffmann at Southwest Voices. Since his time in Congress, Fateh has worked on a rideshare minimum wage bill that Gov. Tim Walz ultimately vetoed and penned the overwhelmingly popular e-bike rebate program. His fundraising page contains one statement: “Together, we can build a city that works for everyone!” That’s very vague! The news comes about a month after self-professed politics nerd Josh Martin discovered that Rev. Dr. Dewayne Davis had filed on Minneapolis’s campaign finance site. Still no official word on Emily Koski's plans; earlier this month, the Ward 11 Minneapolis City Council member was "strongly considering" a mayoral run.
Girlboss! Snowy Owl Uses Humans to Get Ahead
Animals: They’re just like us. They hunt at night, taking to the dark skies, shredding rodents and other small creatures with their powerful talons. They also take boat rides across Lake Superior, just like this lady snowy owl, who delighted the crew aboard the James R. Barker freighter on their way to Two Harbors.
Apparently, it’s totally normal for an owl of this ilk to hitch a ride this time of year. “In the past, we may have thought this owl was in trouble,” noted bird expert Sharon “Birdchick” Stiteler tells Cathy Wurzer for MPR, “but this is just a very smart young female owl who's using humans to her advantage for hunting.”
In other “birds are cool” news, we spoke with Stiteler last year about the giant murder of crows that show up in town every year. You can read more about why here.
