Zoomin’ MN Senator Votes Topless

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.

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As stressed-out workers familiarized themselves with technologies like Zoom and Google Meet in the pandemic's early days, mistakes were made. There was the Texas lawyer who left the cat filter on during a virtual civil forfeiture case hearing; less adorably but just as memorably, the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin jacked it during a Zoom breakout session, for which he was rightly fired. That genre of goof has become less common as people learned how not to expose themselves to their coworkers... until today, when Sen. Cal Bahr (R-East Bethel) briefly appeared, shirtless and supine, for a Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor meeting. Journalist Aaron Rupar (no longer banned from Elon Musk's Twitter) captured the moment and shared it nearly 900,000 followers.

There's no joke we can make here that hasn't already been made in the replies and quote-tweet's to Rupar's video ("He had one of those 2 oz joints and had a hard time getting out of bed") so please simply "enjoy" the following clip.

Klobuchar Wins an Award for Being Thirsty

Late last week, Politico announced its inaugural Thirsties, a celebration of the most attention-seeking, fame-hungry, historic hopefuls in D.C. these days. Minnesota's U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar managed to take home the eponymous “Amy Klobuchar Lifetime Achievement Award.” “In an era when most lawmakers, and certainly most senators, would never dream of attending a reception filled with staffers, reporters and hangers-on, Klobuchar stands alone,” the winner’s blurb explains, going on to congratulate her on her impressive ability to always turn conversations back to her agenda. Other winners include Rep. Don Bacon for “The Ray LaHood Award for the House Republican Willing to Veer Off-Message” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for “The Donald J. Trump Award for Pretending to Hate the Media While Simultaneously Craving Their Affirmation.”

The Nation Is Watching MN’s Attempt at a Progressive Paradise

No pressure, Minnesota, but this NBC News story says that we’re a laboratory of sorts for what happens when a state goes full liberal. So far? NBC says we’re super productive, giving us shout-outs for passing bills protecting gender affirming care and abortion, adding more stringent background checks for gun licenses, and returning voting rights to felons after they’ve served their time. According to The States Project, the “legislature passed more bills in its first 11 weeks of the current session than in the same time frame of every session since 2010.” (It’s amazing how much more can be accomplished when everyone’s playing for the same team.) “States really are these places where policy can happen, can be copied by other states, and then ultimately go national,” St. Paul-based DFL strategist Jeff Blodgett tells NBC. “And right now, Minnesota is the model for that.”

Concert News: New Target Field Festival, State Fair Announces Grandstand Opener

As you’ve heard us grouse before, summer festivals are not a-plenty in these parts any more. Basilica Block Party, Rock the Garden, Summer Jam—all gone. With that gap in mind, Target Field is “stepping up to the plate” (as they say in baseball) for two days of music that they’re calling the TC Summer Fest. Friday night is a bit more “alternative,” as we used to say, with headliners The Killers supported by the festival-lovin’ Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie. Imagine Dragons—the “stadium-friendly” Imagine Dragons, as the press release call them—will make the ball field their lair on night two, with AJR and Chelsea Cutler opening. (Both headliners are from Vegas—make of that what you will.) You can learn more about it all here.

Meanwhile, the State Fair has announced the band for opening night at the Grandstand on August 24. It's the Black Keys. (Feel free to add an exclamation point or two there if it better fits your reaction.) The Akron blues-rockers are the eighth show announced for the fair this year. To refresh your memory, so far we’ve got: The Hold Steady with Bob Mould Band and the Dillinger Four; The Chicks, Boyz II Men, and Chaka Khan; The Happy Together Tour featuring The Turtles, Brandi Carlile, Yung Gravy, Duran Duran, and Blippi. Can't forget Blippi.