Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Great Statement; Questionable Substance
It brings us no pleasure to report that a deranged army of MAGA freaks is coming after Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis). And it won't surprise you to learn the Minneapolis mayoral candidate's faith (Islam), skin color (Black), and politics (left) are in their crosshairs. (Ditto for his country of origin, but Fateh was born in Washington, D.C.—we're not dealing with our country's best and brightest here.)
Among the knives-out commentators: campus-lurking bigot Charlie Kirk, movie theater aficionado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), and their legions of deeply racist and fully enabled followers on Twitter. Fateh's mayoral rivals—incumbent Jacob Frey plus challengers Rev. Dr. Dwayne Davis and Jazz Hampton—were quick to disavow the ugly attacks, with Frey telling Kirk: "Senator Omar Fateh is a proud American who is running because, like me, he loves Minneapolis."
"I'm grateful for the outpouring of support I've received from Minneapolis residents & communities across the country," Fateh posted early Tuesday. "Thank you to my fellow candidates, Mr. Hampton, Dr. Davis & Mayor Frey, for your kindness and firm stance that hate has no place in Minneapolis or this election."
Elsewhere in the world of Minneapolis politics, per this big scoop from Cari Spencer at MPR News: The Minneapolis Police Department, which Frey oversees and has vowed to reform since 2020, put Sgt. Mark Hanneman in charge of use-of-force training seven months after he fatally shot 22-year-old Black man Amir Locke during a 2022 no-knock raid.
“If Hanneman is one of the best officers to become a training officer, why is my son Amir Locke not here?” Karen Wells, Locke’s mother, asks MPR. “They show they don’t care. They show that this is our culture.”
Chief Brian O’Hara acknowledges that the Locke "incident was a tragedy," and that the optics around Hanneman's career trajectory are less than ideal. But he calls Hanneman an "outstanding" trainer, adding that people "don’t know Sgt. Hanneman and they don’t know his commitment to reform." If only we could get to know him!
City Council Member Robin Wonsley disagrees, telling MPR, “Officers who harm residents shouldn’t be promoted. Elevating Hanneman to lead use-of-force training sends a clear message: killing Black residents doesn’t hinder advancement in MPD.”
Wells and Locke's father are suing the city and Hanneman over their son's death; Hanneman was never criminally charged. While campaigning in 2021, Frey claimed to have banned no-knock warrants; after Locke's killing, he admitted his "language became more casual" and the ban had not been total.
NYT Investigation: UnitedHealth Adamant About Reform—Around PR Narratives
Earlier today I asked an editor at another publication: Could you imagine if a deep, well-financed newsroom like the Star Tribune wanted to invest in adversarial corporate accountability reporting in its own backyard of Fortune 500s? We may never know what that looks like, but thankfully national outlets continue to eat the Strib's lunch when it comes to covering our blood-sucking neighbors, Eden Prairie-based UnitedHealth Group chief among 'em.
The latest bombshell from David Enrich at the New York Times isn't about denied coverage or punitive billing. It's about how after UHG executive Brian Thompson was killed last year, his company began siccing lawyers on its many, many, many critics in greater numbers. An activist's film disappeared from Amazon and Vimeo. The Guardian temporarily spiked an investigation. A small New York news website experienced the wrath of UHG-employed lawyers, as did a Texas plastic surgeon whose critical TikTok video went viral.
“Negative publicity may adversely affect our stock price, damage our reputation and expose us to unexpected or unwarranted regulatory scrutiny,” the company admitted in its most recent annual report. (Its stock has plummeted by 42% this year.) But rather than reform the practices people loathe, to the extent private health insurance is reformable at all, UHG is saying heightened criticism after Thompson's killing risks further violence—these lawyer hit squads are keeping the peace!
“Some version of this has been going on for a long, long time,” retired First Amendment lawyer Lee Levine tells the Times, describing embattled companies unleashing legal offensives at shit-talkers. “[But] the incidence of it has increased.”
Minnesota Republicans Vote to Keep Epstein Intel Secret
President Trump is facing a "MAGA rebellion" over his dismissal of the so-called Epstein files, so much so that Sen. Tina Smith (DFL-MN) says he's "spiraling."
"One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the 'HOTTEST' Country anywhere in the World," Trump sweatily farted out to Truth Social last Saturday. "Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Late Monday, one Minnesota lawmaker on the the House Rules Committee, Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach, had the opportunity to advance an amendment that would've forced U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all “records or evidence” of the federal government's incarceration of Epstein who, as we've been told time and time again, 100% killed himself inside his jail cell after years of allegedly orchestrating a child sex ring for the world's most powerful men. Fischbach joined six other Republicans in rejecting the amendment 5-7. Did she vote that way to protect Trump, an infamous associate of Epstein's? We asked her office but didn't hear back.
While Democrats struggled ineffectively to keep ex-Sen. Joe Manchin (I-West Virginia) in line, every single spineless GOP House member bowed to their party earlier today, voting 211-210 to defeat another Democratic procedural maneuver that would've required the DOJ to release the Epstein files. "I'm done talking about Epstein," gummy sycophant Charlie Kirk stated this week (sorry to bring him up again), more or less issuing the marching orders. "I'm gonna trust my friends in the government."
For a surprisingly sober podcast analysis of this whole controversy, check out the latest episode of TrueAnon.
Andale Andale, Mami, E.I. E.I., Uh-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh: State Fair Grandstand Lineup Now Complete
As savvy pop-rap listeners may've gleaned from that header, the Minnesota State Fair announced Tuesday that veteran rapper Nelly will round out the 2025 Grandstand lineup; the 50-year-old MC will is slated to perform August 30 with fellow rapper Ja Rule (didn't he suffer career ramifications from that whole Fyre Festival ordeal?), R&B star Mýa, and anticipatory dick-showers Ying Yang Twins. The "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" hitmaker last appeared locally... last Friday, when he performed to 40,000+ Twins fans post-game at Target Field!
If you've somehow missed the year-spanning reveal of Grandstand artists, we've helpfully compiled them below—click here for tickets.
- August 21: Old Dominion
- August 22: Meghan Trainor
- August 23: Atmosphere, Cypress Hill, Lupe Fiasco, the Pharcyde, and DJ Abilities
- August 24: Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls
- August 25: Happy Together Tour (the Turtles, Jay and the Americans, Little Anthony, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, the Vogues, and the Cowsills)
- August 26: Def Leppard
- August 27: Hank Williams Jr. and Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives
- August 28: Steve Miller Band and the Rascals
- August 29: The Avett Brothers and the Milk Carton Kids
- August 30: Nelly, Ja Rule, Mýa, Ying Yang Twins
- September 1: The Rock and Roll Playhouse and Bri & the Anti-Heroes
