ICE’s Only Active University Contract? The U of M.

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

Blammo! Minnesota Is One of ICE's Top Gun States.

Did you know the University of Minnesota has a gun range? Did you know the U leases those shootin' lanes out? Did you know that, since 2022, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have honed their sights at said range, making the U of M the only university in the U.S. to actively contract with ICE? That's the case, according to an exhaustive Minnesota Reformer analysis of the $7 million in contracts the immigrant-nabbing agency currently has within Minnesota.

While our state's total contractual ties with ICE fall far behind, say, Virginia's $400 million, Minnesota is the second-highest leaser of gun range time with $450,150 in active contracts. The U's Rosemount range accounts for $18,867 of that. “I just don’t know why the university is collaborating,” says Luisa Gaona, president of the U of M's chapter of pro-immigrant org Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. “I don’t see the point there.” A gun range that's cooperatively owned by the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury acquired the country's second-largest such contract with ICE—$377,823.

The other smoking gun, so to speak? Czech-owned, Anoka-based ammunition manufacturer Kinetic Group (FKA Vista Outdoors) is the nation's top supplier of ammo to ICE, having secured $6 million in active contracts. In fact, since 2020 via $28 million in contracts, the agency has supplied various Minnesota firms with more bullet bucks than any other state.

Anyway, happy tax week! Your money keeps trickling down to jackbooted psychopaths and the contractors that outfit 'em, all while your health care remains in the private hands of profit-hungry ghouls.

Is Your Tesla Next???

Elon Musk is a creep who has sired 14 children by multiple mothers, hoping to amass “legion-level” numbers of children “before the apocalypse.” He has agreed with and promoted antisemitic and white supremacist posts on his social media website, which we're still calling Twitter. As the head of the constitutionally dubious (to put it mildly) "agency" DOGE, he has allegedly pilfered sensitive data, illegally withheld congressionally allotted funds in ways that will result in millions of death worldwide, and personally enriched himself by awarding his companies government contracts. Don’t even get us started on the Cybertruck, one of which is regularly parked, in all its humongous stupidity, outside of Racket's office.

In short, Elon Musk is a genuinely terrible person, and since he's also the CEO of Tesla, the ill will is spreading to his auto company. There are weekly protests at Tesla dealerships, including several in the Twin Cities, and they’re good fun. Head on down tomorrow morning if you’ve got time. 

That said, it is unfortunately still illegal to key a Tesla. Now Minneapolis police have tracked down a man allegedly responsible for keying six of the EVs, almost all in downtown Minneapolis, and claim the damages somehow add up to a whopping $21K. 

One of the owners protested to the Star Tribune that her Tesla, which she purchased before the formation of DOGE, “had a bumper sticker indicating her family does not support the Trump administration,” according to the story. Her take? “By targeting people who you don’t know anything about, you’re not really accomplishing anything.” We disagree. You may not like this guy's methods, but he's sure helping to make Teslas less popular.

The police say there are “many” more cases of Teslas vandalized in the city that have gone unreported and they are asking for information. Racket condones neither vandalism nor snitching. 

Report: Your SUV Is Mucking Up Traffic

Speaking of vehicles: Does traffic seem worse these days? Do you think it has gotten especially worse over the last 10 years? You’re not imagining things; according to a recent study using data collected from Minnesota roads, trucks and SUVs are partly to blame. Since these vehicles are so much bigger than, say, a tiny Mini Cooper or even a roomier Hyundai Elantra, they occupy more space on the road, take drivers 28% longer to merge with traffic, and require more time to brake, which means more cars slowing down over a greater area in rush-hour traffic.

And most of us don’t need these types of vehicles. “We're using more energy and more material to move the same number of people as we used to. And this is just growing inefficiency,” University of Sydney transportation professor David Levinson, who co-authored the report, tells Aleesa Kuznetsov at MPR. He also notes that the number of SUVs has gone from a “few hundred thousand to almost 2 million by 2019 in Minnesota.”

As for solutions? Levinson notes that none of his suggestions are going to be “popular,” but believes that higher taxes and registration fees for bigger vehicles could deter folks from buying stupid-big cars, as well as adding more road tolls (that is a bummer solution!). “Unless you're willing to discourage trucks in the first place, this is something that you're going to be stuck with,” he says.

Wolves Back

Back in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year under coach Chris Finch, that is. Your sixth-seeded Timberwolves (49-33) begin the postseason Saturday night in Los Angeles against the third-seeded Lakers (50-32), and the shit-for-brains NBA punditry class ain't giving 'em a chance. Fine, very well, whatever—Ant loves the disrespect. And you know whose howl'll never fade? KG's, as the always-faithful T-Wolves legend put co-host Paul Pierce in his place during today's Ticket & the Truth YouTube show, which we've embedded below alongside a nice hype vid. Wolves in six, awoooooooooo!