MN Dems Craig, Morrison Pathetically Back GOP Anti-Socialism Resolution

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

MN Lawmakers Denounce Socialism

New York City’s democratic socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, visited our deranged president at the White House today, and ahead of this meeting Trump’s stooges in the House of Representatives thought they’d give their owner a little gift: A resolution denouncing “socialism.”

So, how many Democrats signed on to this statement that “Congress denounces socialism in all its forms, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States”? 

Eighty-six, including Minnesota Democrats Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison. (All four MN Republican House members voted for it as well.)

It’s not even worth noting the irony of a GOP-backed bill against “totalitarianism” as the president usurps the power of the legislature and sics his secret police on U.S. cities. Republicans indulge in this kind of time-frittering stunt bill all the time. The idea is that Democrats who won’t assent to the lie that socialism = Stalinism will meet ads crying “SHE’S A SOCIALIST!” come election time. And the ones that do sign on? Oh, Republicans will call them socialists anyway.

No one expects any better from Angie Craig, a crypto-funded copagandist who’s beelining even further right as she runs for U.S. Senate. But Morrison, who won Dean Phillips’s seat last year, is a disappointment. Does she really think her constituents in the western suburbs were going to think she supported the Great Leap Forward and the killing fields of Cambodia?   

Yeah, none of this really matters in the grand scheme of things—though the fact that the resolution singles out Venezuela and mentions its president, Nicolás Maduro, in the same breath as Mao and Pol Pot even as Trump is conniving to overthrow him isn’t exactly ideal.

Anyway, when countless Americans let their unaffordable health insurance lapse and die of untreatable conditions next year, I hope a more enlightened country will pass a resolution that denounces the “horrors of capitalism.”

Support For Families of ICE Detainees

Federal officials now admit that Tuesday's raid at Bro-Tex Inc. in St. Paul was an ICE raid; 14 people were arrested for alleged immigration violations during the operation, MPR News's Sarah Thamer reports.

In a fundraiser seeking help with legal expenses, Karla Alarcon Hernandez writes that her father, Carlos Alberto Alarcon Avila, was among those arrested. He worked at Bro-Tex, according to the GoFundMe, and as a cook at the Minnesota State Fair's Turkey to Go stand.

“My dad has lived in the St. Paul area for many years, working long hours and doing everything he can to care for us," Hernandez writes. "He has no criminal record, no history of harm, nothing but a life of hard work and love for his family."

In a separate fundraiser, Alejandra Villagrana Ibarra writes similarly about her father, Leonel Villagrana Flores, and her uncle, Isaias Villagrana Flores, both of whom she says were taken during Tuesday's raid.

"My dad came here looking for opportunities for work to support his family back home in Mexico ... his family was built here, like so many immigrants who give everything to build a better life," she writes. "He has been part of this community for years. He works, he pays taxes, he helps his neighbors, he shows up."

Ryan Perez, organizing director of Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL), tells Sahan Journal's Katelyn Vue that Tuesday's raid was the largest (ICE) workplace raid he knows of in Minnesota this year. 

Hamm’s Brewery Site Is Looking Totally Badass

It’s been closed for nearly 30 years, but Hamm’s production site, at the intersection of Minnehaha and Payne Avenues, definitely hasn’t been empty. At least, that’s what these really cool pics from John Autey for the the Pioneer Press suggest. Developers are working on reimagining the site over the next few years, but in the meantime we have a mega graffiti’d dystopian warehouse that looks like a place skateboarding hackers would have hung out in during the 1990s. 

While there are plans to turn the building into a mixed-use space, with a market and affordable housing units, developer JB Vang still needs to raise the funds to do that over the next few years before construction can begin, which means it’s not getting a cleanup anytime soon. Still, writes PP’s Fred Melo, the folks involved want to keep a lot of the space's unique features, including the giant floor holes that once held beer tanks. “Even some of the more intricate or elaborate graffiti could be saved, depending upon the condition of the tile and what contractors find behind it,” he writes. “Discussions with the State Historic Preservation Office are already underway.”

A Good, Very Viral Wolves Tweet

Why yes, Yearner Herzog, that's exactly what Rob Dillingham's hoodie says. And sorry to anyone who thought "that goes incredibly hard, actually"—the hoodie is by the streetwear brand Praying, and it's extremely sold out.

Lots of other stuff to ponder in this photo though, like "What's the deal with Dillingham's shirts pants?" "What greasy food is Ant holding in that bag?" And, "Isn't he worried it will stain his tan sweats if he clutches it like that?"