Bluestem Prairie

Struggling farmers not what they used to be

We were impressed when, earlier this month, Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg visited a farm in Faribault County to learn about struggling farmers and participated in the roundtable discussion (pictured above) for an audience of very larger farm machinery.

Coverage of struggling farmers continued this weekend, with the latest narrative appearing in the Star Tribune, which includes a map that demonstrates acreage, not farm equipment, votes.

The struggle is real. In Minnesota farmers struggling with low prices amid tariffs weigh their support for Trump, we were surprised to read this:

It's going to take years to get it back,” Nate Hultgren, of Raymond, said of his lost soybean markets. He estimates his family farm took a total loss of up to $12,500 on soybeans because of the trade war with China.

Trump’s farm bailout, paying out $19 billion so far, was intended to offset the impact on farmers of the administration’s trade disputes with China, Mexico, Canada and other countries. Since October 2018, nearly $1.5 billion has been paid out to an estimated 54,000 farmers in Minnesota. . . .

We're also surprised that the Star Tribune didn't drill down to see what any of the farmers interviewed for this article received, since that data is available at the EWG Farm Subsidy Database. Market Facilitation Program payments (the farm bailout) for 2018-2019 are discoverable by searching by counties. In Kandiyohi County, Hultgren Farms * was in the top ten recipients, getting $172,856, putting them at #9.

Here's the list of programs for which the Hultgrens received payments during 2018-2019:

Market Facilitation Program - Corn    $3,832

Market Facilitation Program - Soybeans $49,400

Market Facilitation Program -
Non-specified commodity crops    $119,624

Now, that's for all four members of the family who receive subsidies, found here in the EWG database. 

We can only hope the $172,856 helped with the pain of losing "$12,500 on soybeans because of the trade war with China."

The Strib article continues

At the same time, some Minnesota farmers have made clear that they don’t vote on trade policy alone.

Noah Hultgren, Nate’s brother, wants less government spending, opposes abortion and is wary of policies such as Medicare for All or eliminating college debt. For a lot of farmers social issues outweigh the losses they’ve taken from tariffs, he said.

“They’ll say, ‘Maybe he has cost us one dollar a bushel on soybeans, but I like his stance on abortion, or other conservative stances,’ ” Noah said.

Impeachment also does not seem to be changing many minds among rural Trump supporters, who tend to see it as a distant, partisan exercise. Noah said he and others are just tired of the partisanship.

Nate is one of several Minnesota farmers — including some Republicans — who said they would potentially vote for Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar if she won the Democratic nomination. She has visited their local sugar beet cooperative, and Nate said he trusts her more than the other candidates. But with Klobuchar netting in the single digits of national polls, he is looking at other options. And he is unimpressed.

Noah, 40, and Nate, 43, help run their family farm west of Willmar, a sprawling 6,000-acre operation. Both men supported Trump in 2016 and lean Republican, though they like Seventh Congressional District Rep. Collin Peterson — one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, who voted against impeachment. While Noah plans to vote for Trump, Nate is on the fence. The farm’s CEO, Nate has a finance degree and manages the budget from a modern office with the black and red family logo on the wall. He watched the trade war with China shrink their bottom line, and he’s hesitant to vote for Trump unless he reaches a firm trade deal before Election Day.

We have to give the Hultgrens credit for diversifying their operations beyond corn and soybeans, though the Strib doesn't tell its readers that. Willmar Radio reported in August, Pennock area farm operation growing industrial hemp:

Hultgren Farms of rural Pennock is growing hemp this year, trying to see if they can be successful in meeting the increasing demands of people who want to eat, drink, smoke and wear the once illegal plant and it's by-products. The 2018 Federal Farm Bill categorized hemp as an agricultural crop and allows for production. Nate Hultgren says they've planted 65 acres of hemp, which is about 1% of their total acres, in a field near Belgrade. Hultgren says they planted about 45 acres last year and were not pleased with the results. Hultgren says the key is to have the crop classified as "food grade" which then opens up many market possibilities...

. . .Hultgren says when it comes to hemp, they are taking a slow, careful approach. He says with corn and soybean prices so low, new opportunities are often born out of tough times. He says, why not try and make a profit instead of a gauranteed loss.

There's more, as MN Farm Living's Wanda Patsche reported in MN Agriculture: Noah Hultgren, A Diversified Farmer:

Day 14 of my “30 Days of MN Agriculture” is Noah Hultgren. Noah is a fourth generation farmer located in western Kandiyohi County, MN. Kandiyohi County is in the Willmar are and is known as the area where the lakes begin. What’s interesting about Noah and his family is how diversified their farming business is. They grow six different crops. In addition to farming, Noah is the president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

Tell me a little about your farm and/or business?

The Hultgren Farm is a fourth generation farm. They are diverse as they raise sugar beets, corn, edible beans, soybeans, canning crops and alfalfa. 

 . ..Where do you sell or provide services to? Who is your end consumer?

“We sell silage and alfalfa to a local dairy farm. We sell some of our corn to a local ethanol plant.” . . .

That local dairy? Part of the Riverview Dairy: Meadow Star Dairy. Willmar Radio reported in 2015's Meadow Star Dairy near Pennock under construction:

After 7 years, Construction of Meadow Star Dairy near Pennock is well underway. Partner Nate Hultgren says they hope to start milking cows by late October. Hultgren says the mega-dairy operation is licensed for 8500 cows and they will actually be milking about 6000 on a daily basis, using a gargantuan carousel...

Meadow Star is owned by Riverview Dairy in Morris, and Hultgren says if you want to see what Meadow Stay will be like, tour the Riverview facility during their open house on Thursday. Hultgren and Kim Larson are the local partners in the project...

The Hultgren Farms website notes on its "Our Team" page:

Nate graduated from MACCRAY High School and was a Cum Laude Finance graduate from University of Minnesota-Duluth.  He and his wife Jaime have been married for 19 years and have five children: Lily (13), Nora (11), Elias (11), Ruby (9), and Oliver (7).  

 

Nate is the also the managing partner for Hultgren Holdings.  He serves on boards of directors for Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, American Sugarbeet Growers Association, and Heritage Bank.  He is also a member of the Governor's Advisory Board for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 

 

Farm activities include input purchasing, crop marketing, operations planning, planting, Meadow Star Dairy/CY Harvesting grower coordinator, capital budgeting, cash flow forecasting, FSA Programs, kidney bean harvesting, and corn drying.

Bluestem had noted the irony of a Riverview dairy partner being on the Governor's Advisory Board in Guy who works for dairy at heart of elimination of MPCA Citizen Board appointed to new fake board.

 

More from the Our Team page:

 

. . . Noah is a real estate broker for Fieldstock Realty.  He is past president of the Minnesota Corn Growers and is on the Kandiyohi County Corn & Soybean Growers board.  

 

Noah's areas of responsibility at Hultgren Farms include seed selection and planting, crop scouting, and managing the sugarbeet harvest.

 

Noah has focused his agronomy studies on no-till and minimum-tillage practices.  He is investigating increased use of cover crops and other soil health improvement techniques. . . .

 

. . .Duane has been the heart and soul of Hultgren Farms since he started farming full-time in 1972.  He has been an integral part of growth that has seen acreage go from 400 acres to 6,000 acres.  

 

Duane has been married to Nancy for 46 years.  Together they raised four kids (Nate, Noah, Emily, and Carly).  They have 12 grandchildren.

 

Duane has served on the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative board, NFO board, Raymond/MACCRAY School Board, Kandiyohi County Economic Development board, and currently is the chair of the St. Johns Township board. . . .

The About Us page notes:

Today, Hultgren Farms is the owner of two patents for grain drying without the use of fossil fuels, is a partner in CY Harvesting (a custom forage harvesting group), is partner in Riverview LLP (dairy and beef), and has a retail farm-fresh beef store.  We collaborate with our neighbors to originate forages and apply manure for adjacent Meadow Star Dairy, an 8,500-head dairy.

 

We have embraced a minimum-tillage approach, and are utilizing cover crops  and non-commercial fertilizer sources.  We plant filter strips along waterways, and we are working with Fieldstock Realty to build wetland banks across West Central Minnesota.

 

We are working hard to tell our story in Washington D.C., St. Paul, and in our local community.  Our family serves on boards and committees such as Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, Minnesota Corn Growers, American Sugarbeet Growers Association, Kandiyohi County Corn & Soybean Growers, Heritage Bank, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Johns Township, Calvary Lutheran Church, and MACCRAY Schools.

It's good to see that this struggle hasn't been at the expense of diversification, conservation and community service, even though the Hultgrens now populate an article about struggling farmers and support for the President.

 

Photo: A roundtable discussion in a machine shed near Wells, Minnesota. Photo by Pat Christman in the Mankato Free Press gallery, PHOTOS: Michael Bloomberg makes campaign stop in Wells. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reported about the visit's purpose:

Jim Anderson, a Bloomberg senior campaign adviser, told reporters the visit was part of a series of campaign stops to highlight various sectors of the United States economy that are struggling.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Environmental digest: nitrates in Minnesota drinking water; beewashing; PFAS in creeks

A trio of environmental  stories caught our attention the past week.

EWG report on nitrates in drinking water

A national group summoned up its own report on Friday:

A new EWG analysis found that half a million Minnesotans drink tap water contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate from agricultural pollution. The innovative report mapped the locations and levels for nitrate in Minnesota’s public water systems and private household wells.

“Many years of unaddressed nitrate from farm pollution have brought Minnesota to the brink of a public health crisis,” said Sarah Porter, senior GIS analyst with EWG and one of the report’s authors. “Now Minnesotans are paying for the state’s failure to hold farmers accountable for not keeping fertilizer and manure out of the water supply.

The group's news digest on Nitrate in Minnesota Tap Water:

Associated Press: Minnesotans are drinking water contaminated by nitrate

In a report released Tuesday morning by the Environmental Working Group, it was found that one in eight Minnesotans are drinking nitrate-tainted tap water, according to the Star Tribune. Reprinted by Idaho Statesman; U.S. News & World Report; News-Times (Danbury, Conn.); Laredo Morning Times (Texas); Westport News (Conn.); 22 other media outlets

Star Tribune (Minneapolis): One in eight Minnesotans drink nitrate-tainted tap water, report says

Years of unchecked pollution from farm chemicals have brought Minnesota “to the brink of a public health crisis,” according to the Environmental Working Group, which based its findings on public records from the state Department of Health and Department of Agriculture.

Fern’s AG Insider: In Minnesota, study finds drinking water tainted with nitrates

Hundreds of thousands of Minnesota residents are drinking water contaminated with elevated levels of nitrates, according to a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group. 

InForum News Service: Report: Thousands of Minnesotans are drinking water contaminated by nitrate

But because drinking tap water with even small amounts of nitrate in it may be a risk factor for cancer and birth defects, the Environmental Working Group called in its report for an "aggressive policy and programmatic approach" to address the situation in Minnesota. Reprinted by West Central Tribune (Willmar, Minn.); Brainerd Dispatch (Minn.); Duluth News-Tribune (Minn.); Post Bulletin (Rochester, Minn.); Twin Cities Pioneer Press (Minn.)

InForum New Service: Minnesota Agriculture Department releases fertilizer restriction map

A report released Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group, an environmentalist nonprofit, found that thousands of Minnesotans are drinking from water sources contaminated with potentially unsafe levels of nitrate. Reprinted by West Central Tribune (Willmar, Miss.); Brainerd Dispatch (Minn.); Duluth News-Tribune (Minn.); Grand Forks Herald (N.D.); Post Bulletin (Rochester, Minn.)

The Mankato Free Press: Farm fertilizer restrictions come as nitrate problems rise

The new regulations come as the Environmental Working Group released a report this month saying an estimated half a million Minnesotans — or one in eight residents — draw from groundwater contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate, a toxic pollutant that is linked to cancer and is especially dangerous for infants, causing “blue baby syndrome.” Reprinted by The Land (Mankato, Minn.)

Fox 9 (Minneapolis-Saint Paul): Report: Potentially dangerous nitrate levels found in some Minnesota drinking water

In a new review of state data, the Environmental Working Group found almost 300,000 Minnesotans drink water from public systems where nitrate was found at above 5 milligrams per liter. Another 150,000 people drink water from public systems that tested at or above the federal limit.

Pesticide industry's toxic beewash

In The Intercept, Lee Fang reports in The Playbook for Poisoning the Earth:

. . .In 2013, the European Union called for a temporary suspension of the most commonly used neonicotinoid-based products on flowering plants, citing the danger posed to bees — an effort that resulted in a permanent ban in 2018.

In the U.S., however, industry dug in, seeking not only to discredit the research but to cast pesticide companies as a solution to the problem. Lobbying documents and emails, many of which were obtained through open records requests, show a sophisticated effort over the last decade by the pesticide industry to obstruct any effort to restrict the use of neonicotinoids. Bayer and Syngenta, the largest manufacturers of neonics, and Monsanto, one of the leading producers of seeds pretreated with neonics, cultivated ties with prominent academics, including vanEngelsdorp, and other scientists who had once called for a greater focus on the threat posed by pesticides.

The companies also sought influence with beekeepers and regulators, and went to great lengths to shape public opinion. Pesticide firms launched new coalitions and seeded foundations with cash to focus on nonpesticide factors in pollinator decline.

“Position the industry as an active promoter of bee health, and advance best management practices which emphasize bee safety,” noted an internal planning memo from CropLife America, the lobby group for the largest pesticide companies in America, including Bayer and Syngenta. The ultimate goal of the bee health project, the document noted, was to ensure that member companies maintained market access for neonic products and other systemic pesticides. . ..

Bayer’s advocacy, designed to position the firm as a leader in protecting bee health, included a roadshow around the country, in which Bayer officials handed out oversized ceremonial checks to local beekeepers and students. The firm hosts splashy websites touting its leadership in promoting bee health and sponsors a number of beekeeping associations.

Meanwhile, Bayer has financed a series of online advertisements that depict individuals who fear that its pesticide products harm nontarget insects as deranged conspiracy theorists.

Read the rest at The Intercept.

PFAS in creeks

At Minnesota Public Radio, Kirsti Marohn reported in Foam with ‘forever chemicals’ found in two Twin Cities streams:

State researchers have found foam containing elevated levels of PFAS, sometimes known as “forever chemicals,” in two streams in the east Twin Cities metro area.

Officials from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health said that there's no immediate health threat to the public. But they are cautioning people to keep away from the foam and take precautions if they — or their pets — come into contact with it.

The foam was found in Raleigh Creek in Washington County and Battle Creek in Ramsey County. Researchers made the discoveries while testing surface waters last year.

PFAS — short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a broad class of man-made chemicals known for their durability and ability to repel water and grease. Their tendency not to break down made them useful for consumer products ranging from Teflon pans to Scotchgard fabric protectors.

• 3M settlementTesting for ‘forever chemicals’ widens as cities wait for solutions
• Last weekWoodbury takes emergency action to tackle water contamination
• 'Forever chemicals'PFAS leave costly water problem in Bemidji, cities across the country

Maplewood-based 3M produced two PFAS compounds in the eastern Twin Cities for decades, beginning in the 1950s. Waste containing PFAS chemicals was legally disposed of in landfills in the eastern metro area, where the chemicals leached into the groundwater, and contaminated the drinking water supplies of several communities.

The state of Minnesota sued 3M over its role in the contamination. In 2018, 3M agreed to pay $850 million to provide clean drinking water to the affected communities and clean up natural resources.

At a news briefing on Monday in St. Paul, MPCA assistant commissioner Kirk Koudelka said four instances of PFAS foam were found along Raleigh Creek in Oakdale and in the city of Lake Elmo. The stream was already known to contain PFAS, but the foam the MPCA found has a higher concentration of the chemicals than the stream itself, he said. . . .

Read the rest at MPR. EWG looks at national coverage of an effort to do something about these "forever chemical." It's quite an extensive roundup:

H.R. 535: The PFAS Action Act 

PBS News Hour: The House just voted to regulate PFAS. Here’s what you need to know

A 2018 report from the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found that more than 100 million Americans may have PFAS in their drinking water. Reprinted by Democratic Underground

ABC News: House passes bill to force EPA regulation of ‘forever chemicals’ linked to health concerns

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that pushes to limit exposure to chemicals, has found that water data shows as many as 16 million Americans could be exposed through their drinking water to levels of these chemicals that are well above the EPA's recommended health limit. Reprinted by Yahoo!; News Channel Nebraska; WFIN (Findlay, Ohio); Cenla Broadcasting (Alexandria, La.); KTBB (Tyler, Texas); 16 other media outlets

Star Tribune (Minneapolis): U.S. House passes bill to address PFAS; unclear if Senate will act

More than 100 million Americans in 1,400 communities have been exposed to PFAS-tainted drinking water, according to a database run by Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute and the Environmental Working Group. Reprinted by The Fresno Bee (Calif.); Sun Herald (Gulfport, Miss.); Bradenton Herald (Fla.); Belleville News-Democrat (Ill.); Lompac Record (Santa Maria, Calif.); La Crosse Tribune (Wis.); 30+ other media outlets

Common Dreams: After Approval by House Democrats, GOP-Controlled Senate Urged to Pass Measure to Curtail Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’

According to Environmental Working Group (EWG), PFAS contamination affects over 600 sites in 43 states, including public water systems.

The Fayetteville Observer (N.C.): U.S. House passes GenX/’Forever Chemical’ water contamination bill

More than 100 million Americans in 1,400 communities have been exposed to PFAS-tainted drinking water, according to a database run by Northeastern University’s Social Science Health Research Institute and the Environmental Working Group.

The Gazette (Colorado Springs): House passes legislation to address ‘forever chemical’ contamination; Senate prospects unclear

As many as 100 million Americans could have drinking water affected by the chemicals, which are also known as PFAS, the Environmental Working Group estimates.

Military Times: House bill would require Pentagon to support PFAS cleanup in communities

Scott Faber, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the Environmental Working Group, the advocacy organization pushing for stricter controls over PFAS chemicals and environmental cleanup, said last week the EPA’s efforts to address PFAS contamination are decades late. Reprinted by 10z US Politics

News-Herald (Southgate, Mich.): Debbie Dingell delivers weekly Democratic address

According to the Environmental Working Group, forever chemicals have been detected in more than 1,400 communities, across 49 states, including near 400 military installations. Reprinted by Press & Guide (Southgate, Mich.)

The Oklahoman: House passes bill to curb chemicals found in some Oklahoma water

The Environmental Working Group, using Defense Department documents, found that drinking water supplies at the Midwest City Readiness Center and Camp Gruber, near Muskogee, had been contaminated with PFAS.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: U.S. House votes to crack down on toxic PFAS chemicals; Trump threatens veto

Nearly 300 military sites across the county, including the former Willow Grove air base in the Philadelphia suburbs, have PFAS contamination and as many as 110 million Americans are drinking PFAS-contaminated water, she said, citing Environmental Working Group data. Reprinted by Florida Phoenix; The Colorado Independent

Penobscot Bay Pilot (Camden, Maine): Congresswoman Pingree amendment to Label Safe Textiles passes in House bill regulating Forever Chemicals

According to the Environmental Working Group, 297 military sites across the United States have PFAS contamination and as many as 110 million Americans are drinking PFAS contaminated water. 

News 22 WWLP (Chicopee, Mass.): House passes bill addressing PFAS contamination in drinking water

Over 100 million people are estimated to have drinking water contaminated by PFAS according to the Environmental Working Group.

A bit of light reading for the cold end of the latest upper midwest snowstorm.

Photo: Blue baby syndrome. Via Baby Health.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Alpha News invents "greater Twin Cities community;" includes Waseca and Albert Lea

We've got to hand it to the conservative online site Alpha News. In order to squeeze the recent shooting of a highly respected young Waseca police officer Arik Matson into Minnesota Republicans' narrative frame that portrays the Evil Metro as a hotbed of crime, it's invented a new neigborhood: the "greater Twin Cities community."

John Lucke reports in Police Officer is recovering with support from community after being shot in head:

Officer Arik Matson of Waseca, MN, is receiving support from many different groups in the greater Twin Cities community after he was shot in the head while responding to a report of a suspicious person on Monday night.  . . .

Waseca High School’s theater is using the proceeds from a play into a way to give back to the officer and his family. Additionally, there is also a Go Fund Me set up to support the medical bills and other expenses for the Matson family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/arik-matson-family… Arik and his wife Megan have two young daughters and have been a staple in the Waseca community for many years.

A prayer service for Officer Matson’s recovery was held at Crossroads Church in Albert Lea last Thursday. The church even an acknowledged and prayed for the suspect charged with shooting Matson in the face. The prayer meeting was held specifically in Albert Lea because Arik grew up there and then went on to serve as a police officer in the city with his dad, Tim, who is now retired.  . . .

Officer Matson's shooting is indeed an awful thing for the fabric of the small Southern Minnesota towns, as KARE 11 report, Friends describe injured Waseca police officer as a 'really good guy', illustrates:

Arik Matson's dedication to community goes beyond his work as a police officer for Waseca, a role he's held since 2013. 

The 32-year-old is also a volunteer firefighter for the town of Freeborn and serves on Freeborn's city council. 

"He's just a really, really involved person," said Freeborn Fire Chief, Steve Seipp. "Outgoing, always willing to help. He’s one of those kind of people even if he meets a stranger, he’s able to talk to them." . . .

t's a theme echoed by people throughout Freeborn, where Matson has been a volunteer firefighter for about seven years. The city clerk also called Matson "very involved" while speaking about his work as a city council member, a position he's held since 2018 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. He was then elected to his seat in 2019. . .

Matson is also well respected in Waseca. In addition to serving on the Waseca Police Department's patrol unit and drug investigative unit, Matson is also a DARE officer. That work brings him to Waseca Intermediate School. . ..

And Matson is improving, the Associated Press reported Thursday in Shot in head, Waseca police officer is fighting to sustain ‘miracle’:

A southern Minnesota police officer who was shot in the head has shown small signs in his fight for recovery, his pastor said.

Waseca Officer Arik Matson remains hospitalized in critical condition at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

Matson was gravely wounded Jan. 6 as he and three officers responded to a call about a suspicious person roaming backyards in Waseca, a city of about 9,400 located 65 miles south of the Twin Cities.

"Greater Twin Cities"? We don't think so.

Matson's other stomping grounds, Albert Lea and Freeborn, Minnesota, are in Freeborn County. The county is located on the Iowa border. Albert Lea and Freeborn are represented in the Minnesota  by Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, for cats' sake. Waseca itself is represented by John Petersburg in the state House. All are in Minnesota's First Congressional District, a seat now filled by Jim Hagedorn.

In 2015, Nick Magrino discussed the question, "what is the metro, anyway?" in Measuring the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro Area, and Getting Real with the Map at Streets, from which we grabbed the image at the top of this post--in one definition, Rice County is metro and some parts of it are in CD1. 

However, the Met Council defines The Twin Cities region as:

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is a thriving community of nearly 3 million people, in 7 counties and 182 communities, encompassing nearly 3,000 square miles.

That would be this map from Magrino's article:

Nope, by any rational definition, Albert Lea, Freeborn and Waseca aren't part of the Twin Cities. Not on the Census Reporter's map, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area, either.

Nor do we see Waseca--where Officer Matson's shooting occurred--in Minnesota Republicans say they’re going to make urban crime an issue. Here’s the data. The Minnesota Reformer's Rilyn Eischen reports:

Minnesota Republicans are taking a cue from President Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election by raising an incendiary issue: Urban crime.  

Although there’s not a single Republican in the state Legislature representing either St. Paul or Minneapolis, GOP leadership are already signaling they will try to leverage fear of urban crime to win support in the suburbs. That’s where they need victories to hold their narrow state Senate majority and win back the House after a metro-wide drubbing in 2018.  . . .

Alpha News has gone one better to secure this talking point in a shareable post: defining Southern Minnesota as part of the greater "Twin Cities community" where the shooting happened.

For some of us boomers, there's an old Dakota word for all of this, metro and rural: Minnesota.

Maps: two version of the Minneapolis-St.Paul metro area, via Measuring the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro Area, and Getting Real with the Map.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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Is MN Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka hallucinating about Mark Dayton's pot position?

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka's had a rough news day.

Off the bat, Ricardo Lopez at the Minnesota Reformer reported about various crinkles in the Brainerd Lakes-area lawmaker's worldview in Senate leader tells televangelist he’s in a ‘spiritual battle’.

Some classic placebaiting in that spiritual battle, as well as the usual anti-queer folx material.

We found another mouth-dropper in Gabriel D. Lagarde's article, Gazelka cites bonding, tax relief, infrastructure as primary issues in 2020 session, in Thursday's Brainerd Dispatch:

Now with some experience in negotiation with Gov. Tim Walz after years haggling with former Gov. Mark Dayton, Gazelka said Walz often presents himself a dyed in the wool liberal with much the same points of focus as Dayton. However, once they’re able to parse away less pertinent legislation and focus on policy that affects all Minnesotans, Gazelka said, Walz has proven to be a solid collaborator.

“I think he wants to do the same liberal goals and policies — recreational marijauna [sic], the 20% gas tax, Minnesota as a sanctuary state, etc.,” Gazelka said. “But, once we get beyond the things we know we’re not going to do … then we work together and get it done. I hope we do that this year, so that we focus on what we can get done together.”

Bluestem wonders what Gazelka was smoking when he thought former governor Mark Dayton shared Walz's "liberal goals and policies — recreational marijauna [sic]..."

It's true Tim Walz supports legalizing recreational cannabis. He campaigned on the issue.

I support legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use by developing a system of taxation, guaranteeing that it is Minnesota grown, and expunging the records of Minnesotans convicted of marijuana crimes. #mngov #OneMinnesota

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 10, 2018

But Dayton? In 2017, Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bakst reported in Dayton: No legal recreational marijuana on my watch:

Gov. Mark Dayton warned Minnesota advocates of legal recreational marijuana that they won't be successful on his watch.

Dayton ruled out the possibility Thursday during an interview with MPR's Kerri Miller at the Minnesota State Fair. Asked by a member of the audience about the changing attitude toward cannabis nationally, the DFL governor said he won't loosen Minnesota's marijuana laws during his final year of his term.

Dayton went on to list problems he said stem from drug abuse -- though he focused on opioids and other illicit drugs. He said making marijuana more readily available goes in the wrong direction.

"If somebody wants to use marijuana, go visit California or Colorado. But don't bring it back here," he said. "But I don't see it as improving the quality of life of those societies."

Those states are among the eight that have legalized marijuana for any use. Many others, including Minnesota, have medical marijuana programs.

Bills to fully legalize marijuana through a ballot initiative have been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature but haven't gone anywhere. . .

Uffda. That's not Tim Walz's position, but then perhaps all DFLers look alike to Gazelka.

Earlier posts at Bluestem about Senator Gazelka:

• Second-hand socialism: MN Senate Republicans seek to import prescription drugs from Canada
• MN Senate Majority Leader Gazelka embraces the gospel of Minnesotans for Global Warming
• Gazelka claims diabetes advocate didn't contact him. Then says calls came at "busy stretch"
• Are ties of new MN Senate majority leader with New Apostolic Reformation recipe for gridlock?
• Senator Gazelka tells Little Falls forum that Minnesota's new buffer law didn't happen

Photo: Proof that Gazelka (right) has been in the same room as former governor Mark Dayton (center) and should be able to tell him and Governor Tim Walz apart. Photo by Don Davis, Forum News Service.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Willmar anti-refugee activist rips Tim Miller for being in CIC Facebook page cover photo

Bluestem Prairie doesn't often say pleasant things about state representative Tim Miller, New Republican-Prinsburg, but a recent Facebook post by Willmar's anti-refugee, anti-Muslim speaker, twice unsuccessful city council member candidate, and 2017 pro-Trump rally organizer Bob Enos deserves pushback.

Enos posted this dig on his Facebook page:

We noticed first of all that the focus of the Community Integration Center (CIC) cover photo (we offer a cropped screenshot at the top of the page) isn't Miller--who is behind two figures on the left- but two women at the center of the photo.

One is Cherie Miller, a highly respected Medical Assistant instructor (her linked-profile notes that she's the program director) at Ridgewater College in Willmar. She's the woman on the left, closest to Miller. As the screenshot shows, she likes the photo on Facebook.

Given the mission of the Community Integration Center, we're not surprised to see an educator from a technical program visiting the center with her spouse. The Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission note in Cultural Prosperity:

The ethnic mosaic that makes up Kandiyohi County is a beautiful blend of cultures and faiths. A mostly European heritage has evolved into a melting pot with an influx of people with Hispanic, Native American, Somalian and other African ancestry. As of a diverse business survey done in 2017, there were 70 diverse businesses in Willmar; the largest number in Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities. 

The multicultural makeup of Kandiyohi County gives way to a unique environment with ethnic shopping and dining options and festivals. The Willmar Community Center hosts weekly cultural events and a variety of opportunities to engage with and learn about people whose background may be different from yours. The newly-opened Community Integration Center seeks to overcome health, cultural, economic and social barriers through education, integration and engagement.

In 2017, the EDC received a grant from the Southwest Initiative Foundation to design and implement a Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Program for diverse businesses in the Willmar area.  The EDC conducted 18 diverse BRE site visits and prepared a final report on its research.

While the first immigrants were mostly Lutheran, our most recent immigrants are primarily Muslim. Because of our ethnic diversity, Kandiyohi County is home to numerous faiths and nearly 100 congregations. No matter your denomination or faith, there is sure to be a place that will welcome you and help you feel at home.

That diversity is reflected in a December 2019 photo of the latest graduates of the Medical Assistant Program, posted by Ms. Miller's rightfully proud husband:

That class reflects Willmar--and the program graduation ceremony took place on the Willmar campus of Ridgewater College. Does Mr. Enos think the boundaries of Representative Miller's district should have kept him away? 

While we don't agree with Cherie Miller's politics, her own life story--shared widely by pro-life activists and groups, demonstrates that she rose from a traumatic childhood--and we suspect she's able to put that experience to work in helping students of all ages and backgrounds. Mutual friends say good things about her.  Her husband has said that HF3370, passed unanimously in both houses in 2016, was written so that victims could avoid what she experienced after her attacker was released back into the community.

What was going on at the CIC on June 9, 2018?  At the West Central Tribune , Erica Dischino reported in StreetFeast: Breaking the fast at sundown, on June 10, 2018:

Community members gathered in downtown Willmar for the first ever StreetFeast celebration Friday evening. Around one hundred fifty people attended StreetFeast, which was held by the Community Integration Center. The event provided traditional Somali food eaten when breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan. The daily fast observed by Muslims begins at dawn and ends at sunset from mid-May through mid-June.

In the second photo in the series of four at the bottom of the West Central Tribune article, the Somali men--in the golden robe and the plaid suit in the CIC cover photo-- are also in the newspaper photo, with this caption:

Erica Dischino / Tribune Imam Bishar Yusuf leads a prayer at StreetFeast in downtown Willmar Friday evening. The event provided traditional Somali food eaten when breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan. The daily fast observed by Muslims begins at dawn and ends at sunset.

Go over to the West Central Tribune article and take a look. The man in the blue and white plaid clothes is a little hard to see, but he's on the left edge of the group shoot.

We can't say whether the Millers participated in the meal, but it does look as if they joined 150 other people for the event. While Mr. Enos may be offended by this--as he appears to be alarmed by Representative Miller being near the CIC, we think either--and both--readings of the picture are encouraging.

Related posts:

• Ilhan Omar focus of Minnesota state house candidate fundraiser on the lone prairie
• Tim Miller moves fundraiser to Montevideo American Legion because "bullies" urge boycott
• 'Celebrate President Trump' rally in Willmar features talk of voter fraud, 'civil war' (City Pages)

Screengrab: the cover photo of the CIC's Facebook page.

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Believer in term limits: Blue Earth County Commissioner Will Purvis won't seek re-election

Blue Earth County District 4 Commissioner Will Purvis will not seek re-election in November, the rural Vernon Center public servant said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

We had received a tip from a reader who had heard Purvis share his intentions at the most recent county Soil and Water Board meeting.

"I believe in term limits," he told Bluestem Prairie.  Purvis was first elected to a four-year term in 2006, according to his campaign website. He serves Amboy, Good Thunder, Lake Crystal, Mankato Precinct 1 and 3, Vernon Center, and Cambria, Butternut Valley, Lincoln, Ceresco, Pleasant Mound, Judson, Garden City, Vernon Center, Shelby, South Bend, Lyra, Sterling, Rapidan Townships.

This is part of the state house district that elected Tony Cornish and Jeremy Munson. Purvis supported Munson's rival in the primary for special election that occurred when Cornish resigned after allegations of sexual harassment at the state capitol. We reported on his support in MN23B: Blue Earth Co Commish Will Purvis lavishes support for Sanders in new mail piece.

We met Purvis at an event on the Le Sueur River sponsored by CURE, where we were impressed by his thoughtfulness about erosion and water quality. Purvis lives on his family's farm where he was raised.

Before running for office, Purvis served in the Blue Earth County sheriff's department. The Mankato Free Press reported in Purvis takes on another form of service:

. . .  Purvis was still a teenager, 19 to be exact, when he took his first job as a part-time police officer in Amboy while working on a law enforcement degree at Mankato State University. His first full-time job was in Osceola County, Iowa, where he worked for four years before returning to Blue Earth County to work for the next 27 years.

Many of those years were as a detective, working on cases ranging from burglaries to murders.

“Some of the most rewarding stuff has been the major cases — the people who went to prison for hurting people,” Purvis said. “There’s always personal satisfaction when you put someone in prison who needs to be in prison.”

His last case to go through the court system ended with a former Lake Crystal pastor pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a parishioner. It was a crime the pastor, James Holthus, admitted to during an interview with Purvis.

It was a laid back, non-confrontational personality that gave Purvis the ability to get people to talk, said Capt. Rich Murry of the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department. Murry has worked with Purvis for a decade at the Sheriff’s Department and for another decade before that when Murry was a police officer in Mankato.

People, including suspects, were comfortable talking to Purvis, Murry said. That often led to convictions when the cases went to court.

It was a skill that couldn’t always be used, though, Purvis said.

“Dealing with child victims were always the toughest cases,” he said. “Those are the tough ones: When you know in your gut something happened, but there’s no physical evidence and the victim is too young to tell you what happened.

“I was so fortunate, or unfortunate, to work on so many cases. There’s probably more than I care to remember.”

That ability to communicate also has been put to use helping kids through the D.A.R.E. program at several area elementary schools, Murry said. Teaching kids about the dangers of drug abuse was also one of the jobs Purvis listed as a career highlight.

“You could get cynical working with all those felonies,” Purvis said. “The kids always kept you grounded.”

The one incident that has become legendary among local law enforcement officers is the day Purvis, while on lunch break, was forced to shoot a man while responding to an armed bank robbery in North Mankato. He talks about the situation pretty freely these days (it happened about 16 years ago), but it hasn’t always been that way.

It was a life and death situation, Purvis’ co-workers said, that ended with Purvis returning fire through the bed of a pickup truck. The suspect was killed.

Deputy Tom Coulter was a student at Minnesota State University when Purvis came to his law enforcement class about police stress to talk about the situation. He told the students about how the shooting affected him and his family.

“I’ve been very impressed with how he’s handled that situation over the years,” Murry added. “It’s something no cop wants to go through.”

Another story Murry, Coulter and other deputies like to tell is the one about Purvis’ plan to keep liquor store cashiers from complaining about entrapment after being busted for selling booze to minors.

Underage buyers were told to give their real age and real identification if asked. Sometimes they also wore ball caps that said, “Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department Alcohol Compliance Team.” About a dozen people ignored the hats and sold liquor to minors.

Purvis told Bluestem Prairie that he'll continue to be involved in the community, but as a volunteer. He and his wife are very involved in their church, he said.

Given the number of people who had in the past had expressed interest in running were he to retire, Purvis thought that strong field of candidates would emerge in the race to fill the empty seat.

Purvis tells us he'll be meeting with the Mankato Free Press's Trey Mewes tomorrow. We'll link to Mewes' story here when it appears.

Photo: Will Purvis, via his campaign website.

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Minnesota Deer Hunters Association supports DNR's captive deer movement emergency rule

We recently posted about the Minneota Department of Natural Resource's Chronic Wasting Disease emergency rule in MN DNR emergency rule prohibits all movement of farmed white-tailed deer for next 30 days and MN DNR Report: Emergency Response to Disease Outbreaks in Wildlife; or, Chronic Wasting Disease activities & spending.

Now the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has come out in support of the action, as well as urging changes to the Board of Animal Health. Roseville Democratic state representative Jamie Becker-Finn tweeted a copy of the letter:

MN Deer Hunters Association issued letter today in support of @mndnr emergency action to stop movement of captive white tailed deer.🦌@MNDeerHunters also support changes to Board of Animal Health based on their failure to take strong action against chronic wasting disease #CWD pic.twitter.com/9Mwzqg8QfU

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) January 14, 2020

We'll look for responses to the letter. The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association notes that it has 20,000 members in chapters across the state of Minnesota united in a mission of "Building Minnesota’s hunting and conservation legacy through education, habitat and advocacy."

UPDATE: After we tweeted this post, we learned that Blufflands Whitetails and Back Hunters and Anglers also have issued statements:

Bluffland Whitetails sent a letter last week, and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers have also weighed in. There's a BOAH meeting tomorrow morning, with no appointments made for the expiring terms.

— Johnny Magnum (@JohnZanmiller) January 15, 2020

Photo: A white-tail buck.

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Guest post: State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn reflects on Beltrami County anti-refugee vote

A week ago, Beltrami Co. [became] the first in state to reject refugee resettlement, Minnesota Public Radio reported. The Pioneer Press noted the response in Boycott Bemidji? Beltrami County’s vote to ban refugees stirs a backlash.

The StarTribune looked at the county in Some residents say refugees would just make Beltrami County's struggles worse.

State Representative Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, grew up in Beltrami County. She shared her thoughts on her campaign Facebook page. We repost it here with her permission.

I grew up in Beltrami County, Ten Lake Township to be exact. The land I grew up on is also Leech Lake Ojibwe tribal land, the home of my ancestors. More than 20% of Beltrami County residents are Native, primarily from Red Lake Nation and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, whose lands are encompassed by the County borders.

Sadly, I was not surprised that the majority of the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners voted against allowing refugee resettlement. I was not surprised because Beltrami County and the Bemidji area have faced problems rooted in racism for centuries. The irony is that the racism Beltrami County most often faces is rooted in the fact that immigrants came to the area, uninvited, displacing Indigenous folks. Then those immigrants imposed their language, their laws and their systems of power. Those systems of power benefit some at the expense of others, and through that lens, the vote only made official what so many of us already knew.

All that being said, Beltrami County is not necessarily a bad place to live. It was not a bad place to grow up, despite the poverty, despite the racism. Poverty and racism exist everywhere. I got to grow up on the same land as my ancestors, fish the same lakes, hear the same birds, walk the same woods. There is value in that and there is value in the people who choose to make Beltrami County their home today.

The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners is made up of five men. Three of those men voted against refugee resettlement. The views of these three men do not truly represent many of the people who live in Beltrami County. I know because my family and friends still live there. I visit them often and I have seen their anguish in the past week, as people across the world now know their home as an unwelcoming place.

I’ve seen the comments from people who vow to never visit Beltrami County, or spend money there, and I implore you to reconsider. Do not hold the votes of three scared old men against all of the other good people in Beltrami County who are worth knowing and worth supporting. Because a lot of those people are poor, and a lot of those people are Native, and the last thing they need right now is more hate.

The sadness, the anger, the hurt that those three votes caused - channel it in to helping local residents organize. Two of the Commissioners voted in favor of welcoming refugees, Tim Sumner and Reed Olson. Support them, make sure they get re-elected. Help Beltrami County residents to support candidates whose votes will not be guided by fear and hate. Have the courage to step up instead of turning your back. We need each other now more than ever.

Photo: State Representative Jamie Becker-Finn, from her campaign website's About page.

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Second-hand socialism: MN Senate Republicans seek to import prescription drugs from Canada

While Minnesota's state senate Republican majority isn't about to regulate prescription drug prices within the North Star State--perish the big government socialism or so the talking point goes, they're perfectly cool importing drugs from a country where lower prices are the consequence of government regulations.

In Monday's caucus  website statement, Senate Republicans roll out “Vision 2020” agenda, we learn of the Senate Republican solution for the insulin crisis, as well as other expense prescription drugs:

In 2020, the Senate will look at further reducing drug costs with a drug reimportation program so patients can get cheaper Canadian drug prices at their local pharmacy – including insulin and other life-saving drugs.[emphasis in original]

Why do "cheaper Canadian drug prices" exist? Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Connecticut C. Michael White writes in Why cheaper drugs from Canada likely won’t cure what ails US, in the Conversation:

President Trump has called for ways to allow U.S. residents to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. Many drugs are cheaper in Canada, thanks to government price controls in that country. . . .

Canada offers the same drugs at cheaper prices because the Canadian government, which foots the bill for prescription drugs, will not pay for a drug if a government review board believes the cost is excessive. This board, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, is a quasi-judicial agency. It was established by Canadian Parliament in 1987 under the auspices of the minister of health. If the board thinks a price is too high, it won’t pay. Faced with loss of the entire Canadian market if it doesn’t lower prices, manufacturers capitulate.

Also, Canadians have different expectations about what is covered and what is not. Canadians accept that their health care resources are finite.

In addition, there are price caps after a drug appears on the Canadian market. The price charged each successive year is allowed to rise only with the rate of inflation. In the U.S., even generic drug prices can rise precipitously with little advanced warning. . . .

Curious that it's okay to import those cheap big government drugs, but heavens forbid that state government regulate drug prices.

There are several other barriers to importation of Canadian drugs, as Kaiser Health News reports in Border Fight: Trump’s Plan To Import Cheaper Drugs From Canada Faces Hurdles. Read about the hurdles there. There's also the possibility that cost savings won't happen, as CBS News reported in late December's Experts "not optimistic" about Trump plan to import drugs from Canada.

There's another issue as well: Canada may just not be willing to cough up all those commie capsules to the United States. The CBC's David Thurton reported back in July's Shortages feared as U.S. looks to Canada for cheaper prescription drugs:

The prospect of Americans raiding Canadian pharmacies for cheaper prescription drugs is raising the spectre of drug shortages north of the border.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said it would create a system to allow Americans to import cheaper Canadian drugs legally. The policy change would reverse previous decisions by past administrations by allowing American states and pharmacies to buy more affordable medicines north of the border. Washington offered no estimate of when this new policy would start.

Ten U.S. states have passed or proposed laws to allow pharmaceutical imports, but those laws have no teeth without U.S. federal approval.

Reacting to the news, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said ensuring Canadians continue to have access to the medicines they need "is one of our top priorities." She said her department is in touch with U.S. officials to learn more about the proposed changes to American drug policy.

We could export every pill, every vial of insulin ... and the U.S. would still have a problem.

- Health policy academic Joel Lexchin

"(We) will be working closely with health experts to better understand the implications for Canadians and will ensure there are no adverse effects on the supply or cost of prescription drugs in Canada," the minister said in a media statement.

If Trump's plan becomes a reality, it could be the largest change in U.S. health care policy since Obamacare. But while it could be good news for Americans struggling to afford prescriptions, concerns remain about the risk of drug shortages in Canada.

The Reuters news agency uncovered Canadian government documents earlier this month showing Ottawa opposes any American plan to lower its drug prices through accessing Canadian supply.

"Canada does not support actions that could adversely affect the supply of prescription drugs in Canada and potentially raise costs of prescription drugs for Canadians," says an April briefing note for Canadian officials Reuters obtained under freedom of information laws.

• U.S. plans to allow importing prescription drugs from Canada

• U.S. demand is threatening Canada's drug supply, groups warn feds

The document instructs Canadian officials to say that "importing drugs from Canada is probably not your silver bullet."

The documents also cite a 2010 study which estimates that if 10 per cent of American prescriptions were filled across the border, Canada's drug supply would run out in 224 days. . . .

And there's this from the Kaiser Health News'  Border Fight: Trump’s Plan To Import Cheaper Drugs From Canada Faces Hurdles

The Canadian Pharmacists Association called on the Canadian government to oppose the importation plan, arguing that it could cause a shortage of drugs there. Even if Canada were willing to help — a big if — it’s unlikely the country of 37 million people would be big enough to help in a big way. (California alone has 40 million people.) [emphasis added]

“It is important to recognize that Canada’s market for pharmaceuticals is too small to have any real impact on U.S. drug prices,” Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s acting ambassador to the U.S., said in a statement following her meeting in November with Joe Grogan, Trump’s domestic policy chief. . . .

In short, there isn't enough Canadian socialism to go around for the United States. Perhaps the Minnesota Senate Republicans might consider honestly growing some of our own right here in the US of A, were calling one's opponents "socialists" not part of the anti-Democrat play book these chuckleheads have been repeating endlessly for the pass months--

Oh heck, the last 90 years.

Graphic: Drug costs, via Fox 43's U.S. falls behind world for cost of prescription drugs, January 13, 2020.

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Rep. Peggy Bennett, two GOP #mnleg candidates promote event using graphics from hate group

On Monday evening in Austin, Minnesota, state representative Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, the MN027A GOP challenger Mueller For Minnesota and Senate District 27 Republican candidate Gene Dornink For Minnesota are hosting Resist the Comprehensive Sex Education Bill.

On her Representative Peggy Bennett page, the veteran lawmaker and retired teacher posted on Sunday:

Friends, tomorrow (Monday) evening at 6PM at the Austin, MN Senior Center, I will be speaking at an educational event about Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE.) I will be joined by some other experts on this subject as well. CSE is being pushed by a number of legislators and special interest groups, including Planned Parenthood. Those promoting it would like to see CSE mandated for all public and charter schools in Minnesota. It is being touted by its proponents as “scientifically accurate and developmentally appropriate” sex education for our kindergarteners through 12th graders. After studying the bill and this topic in depth, I find CSE highly concerning. It sounds benign and somewhat sensible on the surface, but in reality it is a Trojan Horse, sexualizing our children early and, in fact, grooming them for sex. Parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens, please come tomorrow evening to learn more about this very important topic. Our children are too important to ignore this!

Neither Bennett nor the event post say who those other experts might be, so Bluestem thought it might be worth looking for the makers of the film "The War On Children: Exposing the Comprehensive Sexuality Education Agenda."

Monday night's event post uses a screenshot from that film, as the banner for this post demonstrates. Mr. Google led us to the website Stop CSE [Comprehensive Sexuality Education], which is a project of Family Watch International and the Protect Child Health Coalition, whose website's About Us page tells readers is "The Protect Child Health Coalition is facilitated by Family Watch International (FWI) and directed by a rotating leadership of co-chairs representing various organizations working to stop CSE in the U.S. and abroad."

At the top of the Stop CSE [Comprehensive Sexuality Education] page, readers learn, "“Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) goes far beyond sex ed, and is a dangerous assault on the health and innocence of children…” (American College of Pediatricians)"

Who are these folks? The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Family Watch International as an Anti-LGBT extremist hate group. On the SPLC page for Family Watch International, readers learn:

Family Watch International works within the United Nations and with countries around the world to further anti-LGBT and anti-choice stances. Founder Sharon Slater promotes anti-LGBT pseudoscience that includes the falsehood that homosexuality is a mental disorder derived from childhood trauma, and that so-called “conversion therapy” can effectively eliminate same-sex attraction.

Founded in 1999 as Global Helping to Advance Women (Global HAWC), Family Watch International (FWI) is based in Gilbert, Arizona, and claims to be a nonprofit international educational organization. FWI is under the leadership of founder and longtime anti-LGBT and anti-choice activist Sharon Slater, who is Mormon.

Sharon Slater touts herself as an “internationally recognized leader in the effort to promote and protect the family and family values.” Her attacks on LGBT individuals — who, she repeatedly insists, are prone to disease, “significantly more promiscuous,” and “more likely to engage in pedophilia” — are presented under the guise of protecting children, who she claims are most at risk of being unwittingly indoctrinated into the sinister “global sexual rights revolution” that seeks to undermine the nuclear family, unleash sexual predation on children, undermine religious values, and sow “gender confusion.”

Though FWI occasionally dabbles in domestic policy, it is an international outreach group with an intense focus on Africa and the U.N.

Slater, along with a network of other religious fundamentalist organizations active in Africa, spreads her homophobic, anti-choice, abstinence-only agenda by claiming that the U.N,’s push for equal rights for LGBT people and women is part of a Western neo-imperialistic project. She’s forged close ties over the years with virulently antigay African activists like Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa — an enthusiastic supporter of the country’s “ Kill the Gays ” bill — who have helped her lead campaigns to oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality. While these laws impose long prison terms on LGBT people, Slater insists that her position is a compassionate one: by reinforcing a culture inimical to homosexuality, she claims, LGBT people will be encouraged to unlearn their attraction, in turn neutralizing the threat they present to what the Christian Right calls the “natural family.” The rights of LGBT individuals, she argues, are “fictitious.”

In its own words. . . .

On Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE): “Promotes affirmation of and/or exploration of diverse gender identities. May teach children they can change their gender or identify as multiple genders, or may present other unscientific and medically inaccurate gender ideologies. Fails to teach that most gender-confused children resolve it by adulthood and that extreme gender confusion is a mental health disorder (gender dysphoria) that may be helped with therapy.”
—“15 Harmful Elements of CSE,” on FWI’s Stop CSE Website, 2016

 . . . Sharon Slater founded Family Watch International as Global HAWC in 1999 after experiencing what she claims was a political awakening at the World Congress of Families (WCF) gathering in Geneva, Switzerland. WCF, an anti-LGBT hate group based in Illinois, is composed of Christian Right activists and serves as an umbrella for the Christian Right to create networks at home and abroad and drum up support for their efforts to curtail LGBT and reproductive rights. The organization opposes all that it sees as oppositional to the heterosexual, divinely ordained, “natural family” — including abortion, birth control, and homosexuality.

Before attending the Geneva conference, Slater later wrote, “I had never been involved in a cause. That experience changed the direction of my life, as I learned about the assaults in almost every area of family life and was instilled with the hope that if we all worked together, we could effectively stop many of these attacks.”

While managing her own organization, Slater also worked as president of United Families International (UFI) from 2001 through 2006. Also based in Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Arizona, UFI is a hate group that formed when two organizations founded by activists Susan Roylance (currently the International Policy and Social Development Coordinator at WCF) and Jan Clark merged in 1983. During Slater’s tenure, FWI has used its consultative status (under Global HAWC’s name) within the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to promote abstinence-only education and counter “homosexual activism.” . . .

FWI has also entered the world of documentary filmmaking, where they promote the work of discredited psychologists and therapists under titles like Porn Pandemic (2014) and The War on Children (2016). . . .

Learn more at the SPLC. Will Bennett's fellow experts come from a homegrown talent agency like the Child Protection League, or will the documentary and FWI staff join her on the tage? Or is the screengrab from a SPLC designated hate group enough?

As for the American College of Pediatricians, the Wikipedia entry for the group notes:

This article is about a socially conservative advocacy group. For the major professional association of pediatricians, see American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States.^[1] The group was founded in 2002 and claims to have over 500 members, although independent sources have previously reported that the group has between 60 and 200 members and one employee.^[2][3] The group's primary focus is advocating against the right of gay or lesbian people to adopt children, and it also advocates conversion therapy.^[4]

The organization's view on parenting differs from the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which holds that sexuality has no connection with the ability to be a good parent and to raise healthy and well-adjusted children.^[3][5][6] ACPeds has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for "pushing anti-LGBT junk science".^[4] A number of mainstream researchers, including the director of the US National Institutes of Health, have accused ACPeds of misusing or mischaracterizing their work to advance ACPeds' political agenda.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's page on the American College of Pediatricians states:

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a fringe anti-LGBT hate group that masquerades as the premier U.S. association of pediatricians to push anti-LGBT junk science, primarily via far-right conservative media and filing amicus briefs in cases related to gay adoption and marriage equality.​

ACPeds opposes adoption by LGBT couples, links homosexuality to pedophilia, endorses so-called reparative or sexual orientation conversion therapy for homosexual youth, believes transgender people have a mental illness and has called transgender health care for youth child abuse. . . .

. . . Though it sounds official, the ACPeds is not the leading organization for U.S. pediatricians; that designation goes to the 66,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). ACPeds was founded in 2002 when a small number of socially conservative AAP members broke away from the AAP after it endorsed adoption by same-sex couples. ACPeds subsequently issued its own report stating that gay parenting puts children’s health and development at high risk.

ACPeds supports “reparative” or sexual orientation conversion therapy for homosexual juveniles, the debunked theory that homosexuality can be “cured” through therapy, and has encouraged the practice in communication with schools nationwide. ACPeds has also called being transgender a mental illness, and opposes families’ support of their transgender children, calling such support “child abuse.” Though membership is believed to be just a few hundred, ACPeds spreads its falsehoods by acting as a go-to authority for far-right media outlets like Breitbart and the Daily Caller, and Christian publications and websites. . . .

ACPeds’ founder, Dr. Joseph Zanga, described it as a “Judeo-Christian, traditional values” organization, “open to pediatric medical professionals of all religions who hold true to the group’s core beliefs: that life begins at conception; and that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children.”

ACPeds now claims more than 500 members, though its current president, Dr. Michelle Cretella, wouldn’t answer a direct question about its membership numbers in 2016. In 2012, ACPeds was estimated to have no more than 200 members. AAP currently has more than 66,000 members. . . .

Are those folks some of Bennett's experts?

Some commenters on Bennett's post are pushing back, though not connecting the dots with the graphic source material:

Doogie Houge Any health professional would tell you that the education is appropriate. Again, we're going to deny science, and build support among those least likely to know. Backwards here we go 🙃

Angie Hanson Rep. Bennett, as a fellow educator, I am extremely disappointed in your fear rhetoric about educating children about their own bodies and health.

My mom was a volunteer at Crime Victims Crisis Center when I was a child. She had different curriculum, but I remember being taught at a young age about the correct names for all the parts of my body, that I control my own body, that I could and should say no to unwanted and inappropriate touch and finally how to report.

She saw first hand that molesters often used unusual names for body parts which made reporting difficult for children.

She taught me this to try to protect me and to ensure I would have the knowledge to report had something ever happened.

Not all parents have the same knowledge, experience or comfort level that my mom had to teach their own children.

Education also is the most effective way to prevent unplanned pregnancy and STDs. Keeping students safe and bringing down number of abortions.

I believe the bill allows for districts to have choice over curriculum and parents are allowed to opt their children out. Does it not?

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson Representative Peggy Bennett, "grooming children for sex" has a specific meaning in the context of sexual abuse. The intent of the CSE legislation is to help educate children (and parents) to recognize this behavior and know who to turn to for help--the opposite of making children more vulnerable. I am already using this curriculum (which is very well done, but could have a stronger component on internet safety) with my children partly for that purpose. Are you thus saying I am harming my children?

You may have good reasons why you don't like the curriculum, but it's careless and wrong to make an extreme statement about it grooming children for sex. That's a very serious and misdirected accusation.

We look forward to learning just who the "experts" on stage with Bennett are, and whether the film in the graphic for the event is shown.

Related earlier post:

Cities in his district are talking LGA, but state rep Gruenhagen can't stop obsessing about LGBT (2016)

Screengrab: The Facebook art work for Resist the Comprehensive Sex Education Bill event on Monday night in Austin, Minnesota, hosted by state representative Peggy Bennett and two Republican candidates hoping to unseat incumbent DFL state legislators.

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