We've been looking a lot at anti-Muslim sentiment in Minnesota partisan politics, but the effort by nearby Watertown SD state senator and Republican congressional candidate Neal Tapio surpasses any of the nonsense peddled by Chanhassen Republican state Rep. Cindy Pugh.
KELOLand blog Greg Belfrage posted in State Senator Neal Tapio heats up his flamethrower:
If they handed out awards for hyperbole in politics, Neal Tapio would be the state's uncontested champion.
Tapio, who says he's running for U.S. House, sent out a news release yesterday asking state lawmakers to approve Senate Concurrent Resolution #13... "Recognizing the root cause of the global war on terror.”
More: Text of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 13It wasn't the resolution, but Tapio's comment in the attached news release that got my attention.
"Any organization, business or political candidate who fails to support the resolution is by omission declaring themselves an apologist for radical Islam, an enemy of the state and de facto supporter of and accomplice to violent jihad on American soil," says Tapio.
In other words, if you don't vote for Tapio's resolution, you're a supporter of radical Islam.
I'm reminded of the one word response from General Anthony McAuliffe, who refused to surrender to the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge...
"Nuts!"
Over at the Dakota Free Press, Cory Allen Heidelberger names the 19 “Enemies of the State” [Who] Kill[ed] Tapio’s Anti-Islam Resolution; Joint Rule 5-11.1 Kills Reconsideration. We were happy to see our own state senator on that list; Jason Frerichs seems to actually attend to real issues in Northeast South Dakota.
Heidelberger romps through a mostly tongue-in-cheek romp looking at the Root Cause of Terror in Willmar: Trumpy White Folks?. He writes:
The Senate is scheduled to waste its opening minutes today debating Al Novstrup’s “Root-Root for Israel!” resolution (SCR 7) and Neal Tapio’s aggressive-passive “Root Cause of Terror” resolution (SCR 13). I say aggressive-passive on the latter time-waster, since Tapio soaks his Whereases in blood and Islamophobia, only to mushmouth his Resolved with a feeble call to the feds to “identify the root cause of the global war on terrorism” without explicitly saying, “The root cause of terrorism is ____.”
If Senators feel like giving Tapio any more attention than his annual five minutes of crocodile tears and Führer fetish, they may find relevant an arrest last week in Willmar, Minnesota, where some scary locals certainly appeared to be loading up for terrorist activity. Willmar has figured prominently in the hate rallies Tapio has been stoking here in Aberdeen, with local bigots inviting yahoos to talk (counterfactually, of course) about refugees wrecking Willmar. So what Willmarians got busted last week for stocking up on drugs and weapons worthy of a serious terrorist attack? ...
See the image at the top of this post for their mug shots. He continues:
search warrant Tuesday led to five arrests and uncovered drugs, nearly four dozen firearms and suspected explosives, including items found in a concrete bunker in the basement.
The items seized from the rural Willmar home included submachine guns, homemade silencers, night vision goggles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Arrested were Chad Lee Monson, 46, of Willmar, the resident of the property; Kayla Marae Lindstrand, 27, of Willmar; Thomas Walter Quimby, 41, of Willmar; Christine Ewelda Johnson, 37, of Cosmos, Minn.; and John Russell Jacobson, 45, of Lake Lillian, Minn.
…According to the criminal complaint, Monson had told someone that he had the addresses of a judge, a prosecutor and another attorney and intended to use explosives in or near their homes and vehicles. [emphasis added]
The five people arrested face a variety of felony and misdemeanor drug and weapons charges [Linda Vanderwerf, “Drugs, Homemade Silencers and a Grenade Launcher Found in Rural Willmar Home; Five Arrested,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2018.02.03].
According to his public Facebook postings, Thomas Quimby of Willmar is a pro-Trump Alex Jones believer who promotes White Pride...
Excavating business owner Chad Monson digs far fewer holes on his Facebook page, sticking with mostly fun Minions posts...
Christine Ewelda Johnson was just in the papers last November for arrests for fifth-degree drug possession and second-degree DWI refusal-to-test. Her Facebook page doesn’t make clear whether she’d be an anti-refugee Tapio supporter; her profile picture just shows a doormat reading, “Come Back with a Warrant.” . . .
See the screengrabs at Dakota Free Press.
We had noticed that some of Willmar's Anti-Muslim Bund wondered about the "demographics" of those arrested until their names were reported after being formally charged. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Photo: The mugshots. Drug/weapons suspects arrested in Willmar, MN, 2018.01.30; TwinCities.com Pioneer Press graphic, 2018.02.03.
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