“People don’t care one iota”

April 2, 2017

The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a transportation bill: The Minnesota House on Friday approved a $2.2 billion transportation plan that would boost state spending on roads and bridges and likely force cuts to public transit. Here’s what the bill’s chief author, Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, said about the it; the bill contemplates spending $6 […]

by Steve Timmer

“Fascism is the result of the failure of the left to provide an alternative”

March 27, 2017

Update 4/7/17: Readers here know that I am an admirer of writer Thomas Frank. He just finished a long and international book tour that ended in his home town, Kansas City. I am sure it was kind of a valedictory presentation for him. Here’s a video of his appearance at the Kansas City Public Library; […]

by Steve Timmer

Paul goes fishing with Fredo

March 26, 2017

From The Hill on Saturday evening: Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro, whose show President Trump urged his followers on Twitter to watch earlier in the day, opened her program on Saturday evening by calling on Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to step down. “Ryan needs to step down as Speaker of the House. The reason, […]

by Steve Timmer

Dear rural friends: it’s not our fault: a reprise

March 20, 2017

The politics of grievance and resentment

by Steve Timmer

The comedy team of David & Linda

March 2, 2017

When Sen. David Osmek and Rep. Linda Runbeck filed legislative resolutions to divert about a billion federal dollars away from the Southwest Light Rail Transit line, I almost wrote about it then, but I decided to wait for the inevitable denouement. (I like that word; I haven’t had a chance to use it lately.) Said […]

by Steve Timmer

What happened to the rule of law?

February 12, 2017

I haven’t written anything for a long time. I will amend that; I haven’t written anything at LeftMN for a long time. I have been busy with lawyering stuff, though, about which you will undoubtedly hear more later. Since last we’ve spoken my friends, Donald Trump has become our president. Opinions about President Trump are […]

by Steve Timmer

A Christmas Day homily

December 25, 2016

St. Thomas University Law School professor Mark Osler is recognized as a national champion in the cause for clemency for low-level non-violent offenders in federal prisons. A former Assistant United States Attorney in Detroit, he had ample opportunity to see the implementation of draconian sentences. He was a speaker at Drinking Liberally some months ago […]

by Steve Timmer

Dogs get blamed for farts, too

December 17, 2016

There was a reprint of a WaPo article in the Strib this morning, about how the FBI was now agreeing with the CIA about Russian hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign chair, John Podesta. Great, I thought, seizing the newspaper, now we will get to the bottom of this! But not really. It was […]

by Steve Timmer

Shut chur pie hole an’ getta work!

November 23, 2016

As we near the season of shopping savagery, I repeat a story I did the day before Thanksgiving in 2011. Black Friday was then a mere shadow of what it is now. There has been some push back of late, with retailers like REI saying, “Go outside. Enjoy the day with friends and family. All […]

by Steve Timmer

Damn you, Electoral Collage!

November 22, 2016

I saw a tweet the other day blaming the “Electoral Collage” for Hillary Clinton’s loss. A typo, no doubt, but I like the imagery. There has been a lot of blaming of the Electoral College for the Democrats’ losses, noting that Clinton won the popular vote, which she did. But that is not the way we […]

by Steve Timmer

Welcome to LeftMN

November 14, 2016

There are some new readers here because of my Commentary in the Star Tribune (Monday evening on the website and in the Tuesday paper edition; please read it before continuing here) in support of Keith Ellison’s run for the chair of the Democratic National Committee. We’re glad you came over to check us out and hope […]

by Steve Timmer
Absentee Voting at Minneapolis City Hall

Hinderaker at his pearl clutching, fainting couch finest

November 8, 2016

It has take me a bit to get to this one, but a reader sent me a link to a post by John Hinderaker at Powerline about voter fraud, or so he claims. He says that Secretary of State Steve Simon “refuses to follow the law.” A suit for a temporary restraining order was brought in […]

by Steve Timmer