Bluestem Prairie

Asatru Folk Assembly folkbuilder Jason Plourde joined Willmar Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce

A friend in Murdock alerted us about efforts by Jason Plourde of Willmar to advertise in a local Facebook group. 

He's something of a joiner, it seems. As source of the image above reveals, Jason Plourde Financial Services posted on January 4, 2021, he was "Excited to be part of the community!"

The WLACC Facebook page used the picture as part of a December 30, 2020 post.

Who's Jason Plourde and why are some of our friends in the Willmar also excited about his part in their community?

One Facebook page is for Jason Plourde Financial Services, where he is a "Primerica U.S. Senior Representative, Life and Securities licensed. Agent and future leader recruiter." The portrait photo for that business site, uploaded on August 6, 2020:

It's the same photo used on his personal Facebook page--screenshot:

Note the neckless he's wearing and the pin on the seat of the car. These are pagan symbols used by the Asatru Folk Assembly.

He's displaying them presumably because he's an active leader in the Asatru Folk Assembly, although one wouldn't learn about his residence and business from the group's website, The Runestone.

The last mention of him of him in news on the AFA website, The Runestone, on December 4, 2020, cited his activism in the American Southwest:

The AFA is proud to introduce Andrew Johnston of Colorado as our newest Apprentice Folkbuilder! Andrew will be helping out Jason Plourde in the AFA Four Corners region, a region that is seeing increased activity recently. Let’s give Andrew a warm welcome and watch as his successes pile up.

The website includes him on an August 27, 2020 contact page for Alsherjargothi, the leadership of his organization. Plourde is a Folkbuilder for Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, & Utah according to the page, and the caption below his photo locates him in Colorado. Screenshot:

He seems to have shaved since moving to Minnesota, though he's still flashing the group symbols in his portraits.

Purpose of this position? 

In the AFA, our greatest priority is our members’ needs. We go to great lengths to ensure that we are not just an online phenomenon where all our leaders are on the other side of the country. We prioritize REAL LIFE interaction between our membership and our leaders and ultimately our greatest goal is building REAL LIFE Folkish community’s of like-minded people, honoring our Gods, and building our Folk. Folk builders are the face of the Asatru Folk Assembly in the different regions of the world and the local leadership of these communities. These men and women have stepped up to make a difference and not only do the tasks people see, like throwing events and interacting with membership but also are busy behind the scenes doing things like membership, online management, and helping shape the AFA.

Lately, on the Jason Plourde Financial Services page, he's been touting his civic good works. Volunteering for the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter (truly a fine place) and helping rehab a church building:

According to our source in Murdock, that church would be the Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly, where Mr. Plourde visits almost every day.

So why is this information newsworthy? 

As we reported back in mid-July, when we broke the story on the Murdock situation in  Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota:

Who calls AFA a hate group?

In the Neo-Volkisch article in the SPLC's Fighting Hate's Extremist File, the AFA appears in the list, 2019 Neo-Volkisch hate groups (View all groups by state and by ideology). Under the cruelty of the alphabet, AFA tops the list:

Ásatrú Folk Assembly
. . .
Bloomington, MN
Newport, MN

Read the entire SPLC entry to get a sense of how the group earned its way on the list. Also worth a look? The 1998 SPLC article, New Brand of Racist Odinist Religion on the March, points out:

A neo-Pagan religion drawing on images of fiercely proud, boar-hunting Norsemen and their white-skinned Aryan womenfolk is increasingly taking root among Skinheads, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists across the nation.

Asatrú leaders have opened prison ministries in at least five states recently, and their many jailed followers are heavily white supremacist.

 As for Jason Plourde himself, documents gathered online suggest he's got a bit of the dark side of pagan world in him. Here's a 2017 YouTube video in which he defends !4 words about racial purity for white children:

Plourde apparently live in Florida at the time. He defends the word Aryan against "lunatic leftists" while condemning those who want to "go around playing Viking" without acknowledging the white roots of Vikings. That should go over well in Minnesota (sarcasm) and scientists who've been checking out Viking DNA.

Much of the video is dedicated to an attempt to debunk Declaration 127. The Wikipedia entry, Heathenry in the United States, notes:

More recently, however, many Ásatrú groups have been taking a harder stance against these elements of their community. Declaration 127, so named for the corresponding stanza of the Hávamál: "When you see misdeeds, speak out against them, and give your enemies no frið” is a collective statement denouncing and testifying disassociation with the Asatru Folk Assembly for alleged racial and sexually-discriminatory practices and beliefs signed by over 150 Ásatrú religious organizations from over 15 different nations mainly represented on Facebook

It's all about valuing one's whiteness and excluding non-white people, Plourde explains, not attacking them. Okay then. He talks about liberals throwing fits and destroying property after the 2016 election. Who in Minnesots can forget the Pant Suit Riots of 2017, and a pink pussy hat placed on the head of a statue of Floyd B. Olson?

Should the YouTube be removed, we have downloaded it. Here's this from Clapper:

Globalist propaganda and "the shackles yahweh has use to bind and blind ...noble Aryan ancestors..."? But he'd have Willmar residents think he's volunteering to fix up churches. Sometimes those omissions are telling.

We see the dilemma facing the local chamber of commerce. Can a business group discriminate against a business owned by a leader in a local whites-owned group? Bear in mind that Willmar is a diverse community with East African and Latino (many of whom enjoy indigenous heritage) members. 

Welcome to Murdock's world.

Related posts:

• Digest: Murdock Asatru Folk Assembly news in West Central Tribune and New York Times
• Tales of Murdock: AFA’s newest MN Apprentice Folkbuilder has an interesting personal history
• Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate launches Green Ribbon campaign against white supremacy
• Creator of "Stop the Asatru Folk Assembly" Change.org petition adds a note about donations
• West Central Tribune: city leaders & Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate to criticism of town
• Arrival of Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock prompts Swift Co Sheriff office patrol contract
• From Willmar to Washington: more on Murdock's approval of Asatru Folk Assembly hof permit
• Star Tribune: Murdock council anonymous vote on Asatru Folk Assembly permit may have violated Minnesota's open meeting law
• Murdock city council approves permit for whites-only Asatru Folk Assembly to re-purpose church
• Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota
• AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods
• Bluestem in the news: Strib & the Intercept
• Quiet protest is start of anti-hate movement in Murdock (West Central Tribune)
• WC Trib: "Murdock City Council, on advice of city attorney, not commenting" on whites-only group
• Resident: "We really don’t want to be known in Murdock as the center of hate in Minnesota"

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Part two: Jeremy Munson joined Liberate MN protest early birds at Governor's residence

In Corrected: Jeremy Munson on April's Liberate MN protest at governor's residence, we apologized for reporting that Lake Crystal New Republican state representative Jeremy Monson was at the event, however much reasonable people--friend and foe--might have concluded otherwise at the time.

A sharp-eyed reader who wished to remain anonymous and out of the fray sent us the Glenn Stubbe/Startribune photo at the top of this post. The source thought that the individual in the yellow t-shirt over a black long sleeved shirt in the left front under the large American flag might be Representative Munson.

We couldn't find the photo online, but did find a Stubbe photo accompanying Patrick Condon's April 18 article, Trump-backed rally urges Gov. Tim Walz to 'Liberate Minnesota' with a caption stating "Protesters began to gather outside the Minnesota Governor’s Residence an hour before the protest was scheduled to begin. Liberate Minnesota and other groups opposed to Gov. Tim Walz’s stay home orders protested outside the governor’s residence in St. Paul."

Some of the same idividuals and objects are in this photo, taken an hour before the protest (and the Minnesota House floor session) officially began:

We contacted Representative Munson via Twitter Direct Message to ask if that were he in the top photo. His response:

[Y]es that's me. I was there from about 9-11 and left, changed clothes and was on the house floor before noon. There were a few dozen there before I left, but it wasn't the 500-1000 that were there for the actual protest. I support the reopen movement and especially rejected the idea that government should be deeming 73% of workers essential and the rest as non-essential.

So there you have it. Representative Munson correctly stated that he could not have been at official beginning of the protest at noon and on the floor of the Minnesota House when it convened at noon.

He was, however, part of the early bird special, enough to get his picture in the paper.  Given this Facebook picture and its caption, and his comments posted after noon, it's clear reasonable people might indeed conclude that Munson was at the protest, if they weren't already watching the House session.

Moreover, Munson's earlier Twitter statement mispresents the rally as "support of healthcare workers" while it was clearly branded as "Liberate Minnesota":

I attended three rallies at the Governor's mansion. This one was in support of healthcare workers who were laid off due to walz's shutdown of clinics. I wasn't present for the protest, I met with the organizers while they were setting up and was on the House floor by noon.

Those who placed Munson at the scene weren't making this up

Images: Explained in text.

Related posts:

• Corrected: Jeremy Munson on April's Liberate MN protest at governor's residence
• MN Reformer: Minnesota House Speaker’s office says BCA, Public Safety department leading investigation into St. Paul rally
• Emily Gruenhagen missed something about that Storm The Capitol rally in St. Paul
• Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland
• Digest: Murdock Asatru Folk Assembly news in West Central Tribune and New York Times
• Unmasked, part 2: letters condemning Akland's Storm the Capitol speech poured into Free Press
• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen, Lucero & Munson storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Corrected: Jeremy Munson on April's Liberate MN protest at governor's residence

UPDATE #2: In Part two: Jeremy Munson joined Liberate MN protest early birds at Governor's residence  we shared a photo (below) that places Munson at the governor's residence with some early arrivals at the April 17 Liberate Minnesota protest:

Munson is the fellow in the yellow t-shirt over a black long-sleeved shirt, under the large American flag in the foreground left. [end update #2]

UPDATE & CORRECTION: While Munson misrepresents his presence at the governor's residence as "This one was in support of healthcare workers who were laid off due to walz's shutdown of clinics," that's not what the rally was about--it was indeed the Liberate Minnesota rally.

However, he was indeed on the floor of the House at noon, when the rally began. 

When was the photo taken?

Very far down the comment thread on the Facebook, we find an edited comment that establishes when the photo was taken:

In the post itself (image at top), Munson doesn't indicate that the photo was taken at 9 AM, but states "We are starting to assemble>"

The thread on the post includes 364 comments, including some  with time stamps that make it clear they were made by Munson while he was in on the floor of the House. He does not--as far as we can read--indicate that he is not at the rally but on the floor of the House at the time he replies.

We apologize for thinking he was at the Liberate Minnesota rally while it was ongoing, rather than when organizers were gathering. It is clear, however, that he was at the residence with one of the Liberate Minnesota rally organizers, not healthcare workers.

Munson supporters making comments also appeared to believe he was at the rally, though that's no excuse for us not reading them all. The picture was taken three hours before the floor session, according to his comment.

It is easy to see, however, why reasonable people reading the Facebook post--whether Munson fans or foes--might believe he was at the protest, given his own comments at the time the protest was taking place.

Here's the Minnesota House Information Service YouTube of the floor session. Note that regards of party, those speaking on the floor of the House didn't wear masks while doing it.

We apologize for the error about Jeremy Munson being at the protest, while Representative Munson was clearly at the floor session.

We do not apologize for calling the Liberate Minnesota event what it was. Here's Munson's explanation for his Friday tweets characterizing the event as a rally for healthcare workers:

As with many rallies, they are a compilation of many smaller groups. I was contacted by several nurses and medical staff asking to come to speak and support them. This was when over 10,000 healthcare workers were deemed unessential. I did meet with some after the protest.

— Jeremy Munson (@jeremymunson) January 16, 2021

There's an exchange about one of the news sources used below:

There I am, in suit and tie at noon. Lower left corner, in my chair. I support reopening MN, but I wasn't there for the actual protest. The @Mankatonews also ran an attack piece about me, based on @bringmethenews but they care little about facts. pic.twitter.com/vYLRGUXj1l

— Jeremy Munson (@jeremymunson) January 16, 2021

We're leaving the original post below intact. [end correction]

We recommend reading Michael Brodkorb's opinion piece at the Minnesota Reformer, Former Minnesota GOP operative: It’s time to rid the party of dangerous crackpots, in conjunction with Niko Georgiades' April piece for Unicorn Riot, Who’s Calling to ‘Liberate Minnesota’, and Why.

The former's discussion of April's Liberate Minnesota protest at the Minnesota governor's residence mentions two former Republican electeds' presence at the rally but no current Republican lawmakers, while Georgiades points out:

The protest featured a few local politicians including Minnesota Libertarian Party Chairman Chris Holbrook, former 2nd District Congressman Jason Lewis (who is challenging U.S. Senator Tina Smith in November), and State Representative Jeremy Munson (R-Lake Crystal). Munson is part of the New House Republican Caucus, a faction of the Republican Party. Munson has been a vocal opponent to Gov Walz’s Stay At Home executive order and posted a Facebook picture posing with one of the rally organizers, Don Huizenga.

Elements of more hardcore right-wing organizations were in attendance, including several III Percenter Militia members, Oathkeepers, and a man who professed to be a member of the far-right ‘western chauvinist’ Proud Boys, who have been active in these cross-country actions. But most of the crowd was a mix of capitalists looking to get back to work.

Judging from an interaction on twitter with diabetes warrior mom Lija Greenseid on Friday, we're wondering if the New Republican is hoping Minnesotans don't look beyond Brodkorb's article.

After a discussion Munson frames as meeting with constituents involved in protests, Greenseid asks in a tweet:

Glad to hear that. Can you confirm that this is a photo of you outside the governor's mansion during the "Liberate MN" rally this summer? What message were you trying to communicate with your t-shirt? pic.twitter.com/ro2KfKMjZG

— Lija Greenseid, PhD 😷 (@Lija27) January 15, 2021

Munson replies:

I attended three rallies at the Governor's mansion. This one was in support of healthcare workers who were laid off due to walz's shutdown of clinics. I wasn't present for the protest, I met with the organizers while they were setting up and was on the House floor by noon.

His tweet:

I attended three rallies at the Governor's mansion. This one was in support of healthcare workers who were laid off due to walz's shutdown of clinics. I wasn't present for the protest, I met with the organizers while they were setting up and was on the House floor by noon.

— Jeremy Munson (@jeremymunson) January 15, 2021

Greenseid replies:

From your official Facebook page, photo is from April 17th the day Trump tweeted to "LIBERATE MN" and many gathered at the Governor's mansion in response carrying white supremacist and Qanon messages. pic.twitter.com/8S8qnNG6G2

— Lija Greenseid, PhD 😷 (@Lija27) January 15, 2021

Boss Lady has couple of responses

Huh, that’s not what news reports say. https://t.co/GQwHY3IHeD

— Boss Lady 🇺🇸 (@bosslady952) January 15, 2021

You also posted Trump’s tweet to “Liberate MN” on Facebook. But tell us again how you weren’t part of this protest. pic.twitter.com/MdvqvRfqP5

— Boss Lady 🇺🇸 (@bosslady952) January 15, 2021

Should any of Munson's tweets be deleted or otherwise disappear, we have saved screenshots.

Who's the other guy in the photo?

As for Don Huizenga, he's the author of a couple of posts in the Man Cave of the apparently moribund conservative website, Deplorable Housewives of the Midwest. He was a 2020 National Republican Convention delegate

He announced but withdrew from the 2016 Minnesota Senate District 35 special election prompted by the resignation of Branden Petersen.

A 2014 article in the ABC suburban newspaper chain included this biographical sketch:

Huizenga has been an active participant in local politics and school district issues for more than a decade. He ran for the House in 2008, when he lost in a primary battle against Abeler. He is the current vice chairperson of the District Executive Committee and has championed positive changes within the Republican party. He is a current and past Republican State Central delegate, Congressional district delegate, Senate district delegate and precinct chairperson and was ahead in voting for delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2012, ahead of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, but conceded his spot to Bachmann out of respect for her service.

Huizenga . . . has been an active community volunteer for many years, working with the Tax Payers League, Legacy Christian Academy, The Minnesota Voters Alliance, the Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce, the NW Metro Tea Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota and many other political and philanthropic organizations. . . .

Huizenga does not appear to be a party officer in the Republican Party's Senate District 35.

Related posts:

• MN Reformer: Minnesota House Speaker’s office says BCA, Public Safety department leading investigation into St. Paul rally
• Emily Gruenhagen missed something about that Storm The Capitol rally in St. Paul
• Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland
• Digest: Murdock Asatru Folk Assembly news in West Central Tribune and New York Times
• Unmasked, part 2: letters condemning Akland's Storm the Capitol speech poured into Free Press
• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen, Lucero & Munson storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Screengrab: From the twitter conversation between Munson, Greenseid and Boss Lady.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Minnesota DNR unveils new pollinator license plate to help preserve critical habitat

From a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources press release:

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen today unveiled the design of Minnesota’s newest critical habitat license plate, featuring native pollinators including a bee and butterflies. The new license plate is available now online and at deputy registrar and driver’s license offices statewide.

“Many Minnesotans share a commitment to maintaining healthy populations of bees, butterflies and other native pollinators,” Strommen said. “This beautiful new critical habitat license plate is an opportunity to show your support for pollinators while providing important funding to preserve habitats.”

There is no need to wait for current license plate tabs to expire, as the license fee is prorated when a critical habitat license plate is purchased.

The $30 annual contribution to the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Critical Habitat Program helps to preserve important wildlife habitat and plant communities such as wetlands, prairies, old growth forests and endangered orchid sites. Contributions over $30 go toward buying and managing important natural habitats, which are preserved as public lands. These lands are open to compatible public use, like hunting, hiking and wildlife watching.

The winning license plate design by artist Timothy Turenne depicts the monarch butterfly, Minnesota’s state butterfly, and rusty patched bumble bee, recently designated as the state bee.

In addition to purchasing the new license plate, Minnesotans can take other steps to help pollinators:

• Grow milkweed, the monarch host plant, and other native flowers to provide nectar resources.
• Provide open ground and unmown roadsides as appropriate.
• Reduce pesticide use.

The DNR supports native pollinators by restoring and managing the ecosystems and plant communities they rely on for food. For example, restoration and management activities on DNR-administered lands provide approximately 1.1 million acres of habitat in the northern conservation core for monarch butterflies. The DNR continues implementation of Gov. Tim Walz’s 2019 Pollinator Executive Order through participation in the Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy and other proactive and durable pollinator conservation measures.

More information about Minnesota’s pollinators is available on the DNR website.  

More information about Minnesota’s Critical Habitat License Plates is available on the DNR’s critical habitat page.

At the Duluth News Tribune, John Myers has more in Minnesota pollinator plates finally available:

Better late than never, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Thursday unveiled its latest critical habitat license plate for vehicles, the new design emblazoned with pollinators.

The pollinator plates were originally proposed in 2017. But the same state computer system malfunctions that caused Minnesota driver's license backups — the Minnesota License and Registration System — also delayed the new license plates, DNR officials said. The $73 million failed computer system couldn’t produce the new, six-number plates.

MNLARS has since been replaced and the new plates are now available wherever residents renew their plates or tabs, online or in person.

The winning license plate design by artist Timothy Turenne depicts the state butterfly — the monarch — and rusty patched bumblebee, recently designated as the state bee. Pollinators, including the two species featured on the license plate, been generally declining across the U.S. due to habitat loss and likely issues with pesticides.

Vehicle owners who want the new plates pay an extra fee of $30 per year with the money going to critical habitat acquisition projects through the Reinvest in Minnesota program. In 2019, the plates generated $5.3 million to help buy and manage critical habitats for all types of species.

The new pollinator plates join a host of others on Minnesota vehicles that help wildlife, including chickadees, loons, moose and lady's slipper flowers. The state also offers habitat plates for deer hunters, turkey hunters, pheasant hunters, anglers and state park fans.

Related posts:

• More MNLARS debacle fallout: DNR's pollinator critical habitat license plate on hold
• Vote for new pollinator critical habitat license plate; online poll closes Tues. Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.

Photo: Minnesota's newest critical habitat license plate depicts a bee and butterflies. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota DNR via Duluth News Tribune)

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6 

 

Rapid City Journal: After 4 months, still no decision on whether AG Ravnsborg will be charged for killing Joseph Boever

For the Rapid City Journal, Arielle Zionts reports in After four months, still no decision on whether Attorney General Ravnsborg will be charged in fatal crash:

Four months after Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hit and killed a pedestrian with his car, a prosecutor has yet to make a charging decision or have any communication with the media and public about the status of the case.

The fact that the decision is taking more than a third of a year has upset the family of victim Joe Boever and Gov. Kristi Noem.

"I share South Dakotans' frustration about the amount of time this has taken. To have more than 100 days go by without resolution on this is a disservice to the victim's family,” Noem told the Argus Leader last month.

“Obviously, given that the days have continued to tick by, her frustration has not decreased,” spokesman Ian Fury said Wednesday.

“I’m just appalled at the whole thing,” said Nick Nemec, Boever’s cousin. “It does seem like justice delayed is justice denied for everyone, for the family of the victim and for the alleged perpetrator because he’s left hanging out there.”

Read the whole article, subscribe to the Journal, and follow @Ajzionts on Twitter.

Related posts:

•  AP: Prosecutors waiting on debris testing in SD Attorney General killing of Joseph Boever 
•  Governor Kristi Noem takes off her positive pants, given pace of Ravnsborg investigation

Photo: Joseph Boever (left) was struck and killed by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (right) four months ago.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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Federal court rejects bid by EPA, pesticide industry to keep bee-killing sulfoxaflor on market

From the Center for Food Safety, a January 12, 2021 press release our pollinator appreciating readers will welcome.

In Federal Court Rejects Bid by EPA, Pesticide Industry to Keep Bee-Killing Pesticide Sulfoxaflor on Market Despite Known Risks to Endangered Species, we learn:

(San Francisco, Calif.) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) request to allow farmers to continue using the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor while the agency assessed the pesticide's harm to endangered species.

Today's ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Food Safety and Center for Biological Diversity challenging the EPA's 2019 approval of sulfoxaflor's use across more than 200 million acres despite the agency's conclusion that the pesticide is "very highly toxic" to bees.

In its request to the court, the EPA admitted that its 2019 approval of the pesticide violated the Endangered Species Act because it failed to conduct any assessment on the pesticide's harm to the nation's federally protected species. But instead of removing the unlawful pesticide from the market, the EPA asked the court to permit the continued sale and use of sulfoxaflor while the agency took at least 7 years to complete the required assessment. 

"The EPA has repeatedly approved pesticide uses without any consideration of their harm to our nation's most imperiled species," said Sylvia Wu, senior attorney at Center for Food Safety. "But the Ninth Circuit told EPA that it does not get to put off its legal duty just so that pesticide companies can continue to sell their toxic products."

The EPA reapproved of sulfoxaflor uses in July 2019 after its initial 2013 registration of the pesticide use on soybeans, cotton, strawberries, squash, and citrus was struck down by the appeals court because the agency failed to assess the pesticide's impact on bees.

"This important legal victory underscores that the EPA cannot ignore its legal obligation to assess the harms of this dangerous pesticide to endangered species," said Stephanie Parent, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Sulfoxaflor must come off the shelves while the EPA meets its duties under the Endangered Species Act."

Photo: Bees, via the Center for Food Safety.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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MN House Environment & Natural Resources committee moves funding forward on 17-2 vote

It's good to watch lawmakers discuss a bill and vote on it in committee without yelly moments, while airing disagreements. So it was in the first meeting of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy on Tuesday afternoon.

At Session Daily, Nate Gotlieb reports in House panel approves $61 million for environmental projects:

An annual bill that approves funding for dozens of water quality, research, environmental protection and environmental education projects has been approved by a House committee after falling victim to a partisan disagreement last summer.

On Tuesday, the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee approved HF30, which would appropriate $61.4 million for dozens of projects statewide, by a 17-2 vote. The bill, which has no Senate companion, now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee.

It is nearly identical to one that was approved by DFL-controlled House last spring but was sidelined after the Republican-controlled Senate tied its passage to delaying the implementation of proposed clean car standards.

Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), the committee chair and bill sponsor, is optimistic it would become law this session. He said that hope stems from recent comments by Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria), who chairs the Senate Environment Natural Resources and Finance Committee, and has said he expects the legislation to be moved.

The bill would appropriate money from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the source of which is Minnesota State Lottery revenue. The 17-member Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which includes five Republican and five DFL lawmakers, recommends which projects to fund.

In recent years, DFL and Republican lawmakers have clashed on whether the trust fund should be used to pay for wastewater treatment projects. Democrats say bonding should be used to pay for such projects, while Republicans say using the trust fund to pay for wastewater infrastructure is prudent.

No funds for wastewater treatment projects are included in the Hansen bill.

Ingebritsen's comments were reported by Tony Kennedy in the January 8 Star Tribune Outdoors section article, Held-up outdoors projects, issues piled high for Minnesota lawmakers:

In another outdoors story line, Republicans and Democrats will deal once again with an as-yet-unapproved set of enhancement projects advanced in 2019 by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). Money for the $61 million compilation is in the bank, but both sides have said Republicans withheld Senate approval last year as a way to push back against state implementation of a "clean car" emissions rule for new cars.

Two Republicans — Sen. Carrie Ruud of Breezy Point and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria — both said in interviews this week that it's time to set the LCCMR projects in motion. In addition to the projects advanced by LCCMR in 2019, a second bill will be introduced at this year's session, a record-setting package of LCCMR enhancement projects assembled in 2020. The new measure offers $70.8 million in lottery proceeds for 88 projects ranging from clean water initiatives to conservation of imperiled turtles and preservation of wild rice.

"We should get those two bills off our plate,'' said Ruud, who chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee. "They need to get done and out the door so we can put people to work and get the projects done.''

Ingebrigtsen, who chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee, said he's expecting early movement on the LCCMR legislation.

Approval also is expected for a $127 million bill laying out dozens of new Outdoor Heritage Fund projects related to hunting, fishing, nongame wildlife, clean water and other resources. Constitutionally directed tax money for the enhancements comes from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Ruud, Ingebrigtsen, Meier and Rep. Rick Hansen, D-South St. Paul, provided outlooks for the session in separate interviews with the Star Tribune. Hansen is chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance & Policy Committee.

He said his committee will quickly revive last year's LCCMR projects bill. Until the Senate takes similar action, Republicans will be holding the measure hostage, Hansen said.

Hansen was as good as his word, bringing HF30 to a vote in the session's first meeting of the Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy committee.  After airing his concerns with the "clean car" emissions rule for new cars, minority lead Josh Heintzeman, R- Nisswa, voted for the bill, as did all Republican members save Jeff "Goose Poop" Backer, R-Browns Valley, and Steve Green, R-Fosston.

We'll have more about the clean car rule in future posts.

Here's the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube of the hearing. We've set it to scrolling to the beginning of the discussion of the bill. Occasionally, there are some hiccups with the Zoom technology. 

Update: Committee member Kelly Morrison's tweet sums it up:

Thanks to @reprickhansen for carrying HF30, which includes #LCCMR recs from 2020 (held up last year over unrelated issues). Passed 17-2. Next stop: Ways and Means. Let’s get this done so important projects to protect air, water, land and wildlife can proceed! #ENRTF #mnleg pic.twitter.com/yzcvvKvK8Z

— Kelly Morrison (@Morrison4MN) January 12, 2021

Image: Morrison's tweet of the committee Zoom.

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US Supreme Court refuses Minnesota Sands lawsuit to overturn Winona County frac sand ban

Over the years, we've posted about the threat the frac sand (silica sand for fracking) industry has posed for the lovely southeastern corner of Minnesota and the valiant organizing its citizens have done to preserve the bluffs and farmland they so love.

The ban of frac sand mining in Winona County is one of their triumphs, and it's one that just survived an industry attempt to overturn the ordinance through the United States Supreme Court.

Matt McKinney reports in the Star Tribune article, U.S. Supreme Court rejects suit against Winona County frac sand ban:

A sand mining company's bid to overturn the Winona County ban on frac sand mining has failed after the U.S. Supreme Court refused its case.

A lawsuit first filed by Minnesota Sands nearly four years ago sought to overturn the ban enacted in 2016, saying the moratorium was unconstitutional because it interfered with interstate commerce and violated the Constitution's commerce clause.

The ban was the first in the state to prohibit mining the rich silica sand deposits along the Mississippi River valley. The sand has tremendous value for the fracking industry. Silica sand is 95% quartz and consists of round, extremely hard granules that prop open cracks in shale rock, allowing the extraction of oil, gas and natural gas liquids. The ban allows mining for construction sand, a cheaper and less-pure material used on roadways .

Minnesota Sands first filed a lawsuit against the county in 2017. The Winona County District Court upheld the ban, as did the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision in 2018. In March of last year, the seven-member state Supreme Court affirmed lower court rulings that let the ban stand, with two justices dissenting in full and one dissenting in part.

"The people of Winona County and throughout southeastern Minnesota have organized to oppose the frac sand industry for many years because this industry is incompatible with stewardship of the land and with healthy, thriving communities," read a statement from the Land Stewardship Project released Tuesday. The organization supported the ban's creation. "In passing the ban, the Winona County Board of Commissioners was fulfilling the proper role of local government, listening to the will of the people, and acting boldly to protect the common good for both people and the land."

The Winona Daily News' Josh DeLaRosa reports in LSP commends SCOTUS rejection of suit against frac sand ban:

Land Stewardship Project has expressed satisfaction with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to not overturn Winona County’s frac sand ban.

On Monday, the court elected to not hear Minnesota Sands, LLC’s suit, which could had resulted in the ban eventually being uplifted.

Minnesota Sands LLC, citing Southeast Minnesota Property Owners, claimed the ban violates equal protection, due process and private property rights.

It added that silica sand has been mined in the state for over 100 years and that it is unique because it is “extremely” hard and round and made up of quartz, which makes it valuable for use in energy production around the country.

“The Land Stewardship Project is pleased that the court has made the right decision, respecting the people of Winona County’s right to keep their communities safe from this harmful industry,” LSP said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The frac sand ban was passed in 2016 and Minnesota Sands, LLC subsequently sued in an attempt to overturn the decision. The Winona County District Court upheld the decision a year later, as did the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2018, the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2020 and most recently the U.S. Supreme Court this past Monday.

Back in October when Minnesota Sands, LLC announced it had filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, LSP called the move “disappointing, but unsurprising.”

“The land has inherent value, and the health of the land and of people are interconnected,” LSP said at that time. “All decisions about land use must be made with the needs of the future in mind.”

“The people of Winona County have understood for many years that the frac sand mining, processing, and transport industry offers no benefit to rural communities and is too harmful to be allowed to operate in their communities.”

The entire LSP statement, LSP Statement on U.S. Supreme Courts Rejection of Suit against Winona County Frac Sand Ban:

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would not hear frac sand corporation Minnesota Sands, LLC’s, suit attempting to overturn the Winona County frac sand ban. Thus, the ordinance preventing any frac sand mining, processing, or transportation operations within the southeastern Minnesota county’s jurisdiction remains in place. The Land Stewardship Project is pleased that the court has made the right decision, respecting the people of Winona County’s right to keep their communities safe from this harmful industry.

The frac sand ban was passed in 2016 following a 17-month grassroots campaign in which residents put their values into action to protect their communities. After Minnesota Sands sued the county in an attempt to undo it, the ban was upheld by the Winona County District Court in 2017, the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2018, and the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2020. In October 2020, Minnesota Sands petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.

The people of Winona County and throughout southeastern Minnesota have organized to oppose the frac sand industry for many years because this industry is incompatible with stewardship of the land and with healthy, thriving communities. In passing the ban, the Winona County Board of Commissioners was fulfilling the proper role of local government, listening to the will of the people, and acting boldly to protect the common good for both people and the land. Now, despite Minnesota Sands’ desperate attack on this democratically-enacted decision, hills, bluffs, water, air, and communities in Winona County will remain protected from frac sand companies’ destruction.

We only wish photographer and Price of Sand filmmaker Jim Tittle, an old college friend who died of brain cancer in 2020, were here to learn the news. When his parents' home in Hay Creek Township in Goodhue County was threatened by a proposed sand mine, he started photographing images of the changes mining inflicted on the landscape, as well as creating the documentary film. I was writing about the industry--and his pictures helped renew the friendship. In 2018, he and Wendy Johnson released "Promise in the Sand." 

Photo:  Bird's eye view of a Wisconsin sand mind. Photo by Jim Tittle. Used with permission in 2013.

Related posts:

• MN Sands takes Winona County frac sand ban to SCOTUS; Land Stewardship Project fires back
• Outstanding decision! MN Supremes uphold Winona County frac sand mining ordinance
• State Supreme Court to hear MN Sands challenge of Winona Co frac sand ordinance on April 10
• Johanna Rupprecht: family farmers and rural people can fight back for their values & future
• Frac Sand Interests Object to LSP Having Hand in Winona Co's New Sand Mine Ban Lawsuits
• Winona Co. soil & water board wants fracking sand moratorium; opposition spreads to Olmsted
• One-year moratorium for new frac sand mining gains traction as senate committee approves bill
• Frick off: fracking sanding permits and moratorium momentum slow in Winona Co
• Frac sand: anatomy of a grassroots campaign

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MN Reformer: Minnesota House Speaker’s office says BCA, Public Safety department leading investigation into St. Paul rally

We've been posting about the participation and presence of several Republican House members at the Storm the Capitol rally last Wednesday. Now there's a new development.

From the Minnesota Reformer:

Minnesota House Speaker’s office says BCA, Public Safety department leading investigation into St. Paul rally

By Ricardo Lopez

January 12, 2021

The Minnesota House Speaker’s office said Tuesday that the investigation into the “Storm the Capitol” rally held in St. Paul last week would be led by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) with involvement from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, on Monday said the House would investigate the involvement of six House lawmakers who attended or spoke at the St. Paul rally, which featured violent rhetoric. 

A spokesman for Hortman said the BCA and Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington’s office are conducting a broad investigation, and that any information gleaned could be forwarded to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for potential criminal charges. 

Information about the six lawmakers who attended may also factor into ethics charges, if necessary, the spokesman said. 

“You can bet we will fully investigate exactly what was said and done, and whether any of that is worthy of prosecution,” Hortman said Monday during a legislative forum. 

The St. Paul rally — which remained peaceful with no attempts to breach the Capitol — nonetheless featured heated words. It later migrated to the governor’s residence, where the Minnesota State Patrol moved Gov. Tim Walz’s son to a different location because of the tense scene. 

The Capitol rally featured at least one speaker, Alley Waterbury, a local Republican Party leader from Woodbury, who warned of “casualties.” 

Six GOP House lawmakers attended the rally and some spoke. They are: state Reps. Susan Ackland of St. Peter; Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa; Mary Franson of Alexandria; Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe; Eric Lucero of Dayton; and Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal.

The Star Tribune reported that Lucero and Drazkowski stoked chants against a state court judge who approved Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s agreement to waive witness requirements and extend the deadline for counting mail ballots.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota House Republican Caucus issued a statement saying it condemned “the violence and violent rhetoric at the events in Washington D.C. and Saint Paul on January 6.” Some of the members who signed attended the St. Paul rally. 

The New House Republican Caucus similarly issued a statement condemning the storming of the U.S. Capitol, and denied that any violent rhetoric or violent threats were used “while we were present.”

Emails seeking comment from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Public Safety Department were not immediately returned.

Photo: A "Storm the Capitol" rally attracted several hundred pro-Trump supporters in St. Paul on Jan. 6. Photo by Ricardo Lopez/Minnesota Reformer.

If your like this story from the Minnesota Reformer, please consider giving a donation here.

Related stories:

• Emily Gruenhagen missed something about that Storm The Capitol rally in St. Paul
• Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland
• Digest: Murdock Asatru Folk Assembly news in West Central Tribune and New York Times
• Unmasked, part 2: letters condemning Akland's Storm the Capitol speech poured into Free Press
• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen, Lucero & Munson storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Emily Gruenhagen missed something about that Storm The Capitol rally in St. Paul

In a letter to the editors of the Mankato Free Press, Rally in Minnesota was peaceful, Emily Gruenhagen, wife of Gaylord Republican Glenn Gruenhagen, asserts that there was no connection between the gathering in the US Capitol and the event at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.

She writes:

It’s a sad day in America when liberals try to indict those who attended a peaceful rally at the State Capitol on Jan. 6 by trying to make a connection between them and the violent protesters who stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

We attended that rally in St. Paul and this is what really happened. My husband Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen was among the state reps who spoke. Rep. Susan Ackland introduced herself and shared why she ran for office. Glenn spoke about the governor’s prolonged executive orders which have put excessive burdens on families, schools and businesses, even causing many to lose their businesses altogether.

In addition, two pastors spoke, offering words of encouragement followed by much needed prayers for our nation. Obviously, it’s been a difficult year for our entire nation and people desperately need to hear a word of hope and encouragement from their spiritual and legislative leaders.

As we were leaving the rally, there was a call for everyone to get down on their knees and fervently pray for our country, and most did. Anyone who would try to equate a peaceful, prayerful rally in St. Paul with the violence that was instigated by a relatively small group in Washington D.C. has demonstrated their desire to restrict the Constitutional rights of those they disagree with. This is un-American.

Let me be clear, there was no connection between the two rallies.

Shame on anyone who would try to impugn those who were exercising their 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble in Minnesota. Is this a sign of things to come under a Biden-Harris administration? God help us if that is the case.

This is curious stuff. The graphic at the top of this post--an invitation to the event--clearly states that the rally is for those who couldn't make President Trump's call to the nation's capitol.

She also claims that "liberals" have tried to make this connection. The media has repeatedly reported that the St. Paul rally was peaceful.

But not all speakers were calling for a peaceful transition of power from the Trump administration to that Joseph Biden, nor a peaceful end to Governor Walz's peacetime emergency. And then there was the cheering when it was announced that those rallying in Washington D.C.

It's not just the invitation. Those at the rally made the connection when the invasion of the Capitol building was announced.

First, here's the video of Akland's speech. It's clear that criticism of her praise maskless protestors is completely on target. 

*Roll tape 📼📼📼* pic.twitter.com/Z9LLNj4kNr

— Mark Vancleave 🎥+📰=🎉 (@MDVancleave) January 11, 2021

Here's  copy from Trump supporters protest at Minnesota Capitol, decrying certification, the Minneapolis Star Tribune article reporting about pro-insurrection rhetoric shared at the rally:

They cheered and sang, and they talked about armed revolt. They posed for pictures and wore Colonial-era costumes, and they laughed when they found out a mob breached the U.S. Capitol Building.

The roughly 500 supporters of President Donald Trump who gathered outside Minnesota's fenced-off State Capitol on Wednesday mixed violent rhetoric with jubilation at a four-hour rally that later moved to the governor's residence amid chaos in Washington.

"Now you know why Trump wanted us there!" said Alley Waterbury, a local Republican Party leader from Woodbury who emceed the rally. "My God you guys, we are going to fight, we are going to go down, there's going to be casualties. I'll be the first casualty, I do not care."

Organizers from the group Hold The Line dubbed the event "Storm The Capitol," though they cautioned on Facebook that breaching the fence would result in arrests. Instead, they saved their energy for talk of armed revolution and charges of treason for those who stood in Trump's way.

"This is 1776 … the time for talk is over," one man said. "Be on the right side of history because we are about to make it."

The lack of violence in St. Paul was in contrast to clashes in Washington, D.C., between pro-Trump supporters and law enforcement that unfolded as a joint session of Congress got underway. In Washington, Trump supporters breached security at the U.S. Capitol, forcing House and Senate recesses not long after the certification debate began.

In St. Paul, protesters hoisted Trump flags and homemade signs. Others walked around with recordings of past Trump speeches playing on their phones. Numerous attendees donned camouflage and carried rifles, pistols and other firearms. Up to 20 were there on behalf of a state chapter of the Three Percenters Original group. A smaller group wore garb popular with the Boogaloo Bois anti-government extremist group.

The state leader of the Three Percenters Original group, an Iron Range man who identified himself only as Matt, said the group followed Trump's call to assemble on Wednesday to protest alleged election fraud. But he rejected descriptions of his group as an anti-government militia, and said that they "don't care who is president as long as the president abides by the Constitution."

"We're here because the president who we support has called patriots to the Capitol," he said. "We're here to follow suit in our own state." . . .

We have more at Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland.

Emily Gruenhagen would  have you think that this was a prayer meeting. 

Good one.

Related posts:

• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

 Image: The invitation for the rally.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Unmasked, part 3: Minneapolis Star Tribune fills in Storm the Capitol context for Susan Akland

In Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol , Unmasked, part 2: letters condemning Akland's Storm the Capitol speech poured into Free Press, and Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back

we've shared the district reaction to the remarks made by first-term legislator Susan Akland, R-St. Peter, at the Minnesota state capitol Stop the Storm rally.

We looked at Trey Mewes' article in the Mankato Free Press, St. Peter freshman lawmaker regrets rally controversy, in which Mewes reported these statements from Akland:

State Rep. Susan Akland faced her first political controversy in only her second day in office after she made an impromptu appearance Wednesday at a conservative rally at the state Capitol.

Akland, R-St. Peter, said Saturday her appearance and speech at the rally were taken out of context after the Star Tribune reported part of her speech to rallygoers where she “told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked.”

“Our actions matter and our words matter,” she said. “And I regret that my attendance at the event is viewed as furthering division. That was not my intent and not the leader that I plan to be for my district.” . . ,

Critics jumped on the Star Tribune’s reporting that Akland told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked, as Akland is a retired nurse married to a doctor. While Akland said she didn’t remember exactly what she told the crowd, she said that comment was taken out of context as she meant she was happy to see so many people at the rally.

“The statement was not a call to defy masks or defy masking guidelines,” she said. . . .

That text has been scrutinized by Star Tribune reporters on twitter. Let's take a look at the case they made.

First, a press statement from the Minnesota House majority caucus leadership was shared:

New this morning: House DFL leadership calling for six GOP state House members who participated in Jan. 6 "Storm the Capitol" rally "to be held accountable if they fail to denounce threats made against public servants and our democratic process." pic.twitter.com/DgF8S0J9td

— Stephen Montemayor (@smontemayor) January 11, 2021

After sharing the statment, Stephen Montemayer looked at Akland's reaction to his article in the Star Tribune:

In @Mankatonews interview, one of the participants, newly elected Rep. Susan Akland said "I regret that my attendance at the event is viewed as furthering division" but accused me of taking her statements out of context. (1/2)

— Stephen Montemayor (@smontemayor) January 11, 2021

And what he wrote:

I wrote that Akland "told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked."

(Checks recording)

"I had my mask on cause it’s keeping my face warm," Akland told crowd as she began her speech. "But I’m glad you don’t have yours.”

— Stephen Montemayor (@smontemayor) January 11, 2021

Soon, Star Tribune videographer Mark Vancleave replied with the video of her remarks:

*Roll tape 📼📼📼* pic.twitter.com/Z9LLNj4kNr

— Mark Vancleave 🎥+📰=🎉 (@MDVancleave) January 11, 2021

Akland told the Mankato Free Press "she didn’t remember exactly what she told the crowd..." but it's clear the Star Tribune didn't take her remarks out context. 

Related posts:

• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Video still: State representative Susan Akland speaking at the Storm the Capitol Minnesota rally on Wednesday, January 6. Still from Strib's Mark Vancleave video tweet.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Digest: Murdock Asatru Folk Assembly news in West Central Tribune and New York Times

A letter in the West Central Tribune and a feature article in the New York Times continue the saga of the establishment of the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock, Minnesota.

The group is classified as a white supremacist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other pagan groups in American aren't too fond of it either.

In Hrafnarfjall stands with Murdock,  Crystal resident Laura Bainbridge, Co-founder of Hrafnarfjall, speaks out as one of those pagans:

I am co-founder of a Norse Pagan group in Minnesota called Hrafnarfjall.

Hrafnarfjall has been around since 2016, and it was founded on principles of inclusivity.

All followers of the Old Norse ways, whether called Ásatrú, Norse Pagan, or Heathenry, should share a common concern right now: The Ásatrú Folk Assembly.

With the purchase of a church in Murdock, the Ásatrú Folk Assembly have gained some mention of late.

Please let me be clear: They are NOT us.

Hrafnarfjall denounces their ideology. We stand with Murdock in opposing the dangerous ideals they espouse.

On their website, the Ásatrú Folk Assembly state that their ethics include supporting "strong, healthy, white family relationships," define "our people" as white people, the ideology known as Folkish.

Folkish practitioners believe that, in order to be accepted and welcomed in practice, one must be able to trace bloodlines back to Old Norse regions.

This ideology has earned the Ásatrú Folk Assembly a spot on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups. They join the ranks of the United Skinhead Nation, and the Vinlanders Social Club with this designation.

This ideology has NO place in following the Old Norse ways. It was not of the old ways, has no basis historically, and even the Gods themselves interacted with others.

This ideology should concern all of us — it has given all of us, Norse Pagans, Heathens and Ásatrúar the wrong sort of notoriety.

It's up to us to change that. Who are we to tell the Gods who they may and may not call?

Hrafnarfjall is proud to stand against the Ásatrú Folk Assembly and all those whose ideology is exclusionary, bigoted and biased.

If you wish to know more about Hrafnarfjall and its ideals, please see http://www.kohrafnarfjall.org.

For the Sunday New York Times, Maria Cramer reports in Fear Spreads in Minnesota Town as ‘Extremist Group’ Moves to Open Church:

Maria Barron came to rural Minnesota 10 years ago from Mexico so her husband could work in a nearby dairy farm.

They quickly grew to love the pastoral fields in Murdock, a town of fewer than 300 people. They joined a Roman Catholic church and felt safe when their children, 12 and 14, played outside with children of Mexican and Central American families that settled nearby.

But in December, that feeling of security crumbled when Murdock’s mayor and City Council gave an organization for “ethnic European folk,” known for excluding anyone who is not white, a permit to open a church on Main Avenue, about four blocks from Ms. Barron’s church.

The group, the Asatru Folk Assembly, which describes itself as centered around a “native, pre-Christian spirituality,” has been identified as a white supremacist hate group by other Pagan believers and organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The 3-1 vote in December to approve a permit for the group has made Murdock, which was mostly known for soybeans, corn and its proximity to enormous dairy farms, the subject of intense national attention.

The decision alarmed many residents, particularly residents of color who until recently lived comfortably in the majority-white town. Ms. Barron said she and other mothers had discussed taking turns to watch their children when they play outside. When the elementary school asked Latino families to participate in a video production, Ms. Barron said, many declined.

“I don’t feel threatened right now. But I feel worried,” she said. “What worries me is losing our sense of peace.”

Many residents fear that similar groups will try “to get some sort of toehold here because they feel this is some refuge where they can come and foment this hate,” said Pete Kennedy, 59, an engineer who has lived in the town for about 50 years.

Town leaders have insisted they had no choice but to grant a conditional-use permit, or CUP, because of legal protections that forbid governments from using land-use regulations to impose a substantial burden on people trying to practice their religion. . .  .

Read the rest in the New York Times.

Related posts:

• Tales of Murdock: AFA’s newest MN Apprentice Folkbuilder has an interesting personal history
• Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate launches Green Ribbon campaign against white supremacy
• Creator of "Stop the Asatru Folk Assembly" Change.org petition adds a note about donations
• West Central Tribune: city leaders & Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate to criticism of town
• Arrival of Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock prompts Swift Co Sheriff office patrol contract
• From Willmar to Washington: more on Murdock's approval of Asatru Folk Assembly hof permit
• Star Tribune: Murdock council anonymous vote on Asatru Folk Assembly permit may have violated Minnesota's open meeting law
• Murdock city council approves permit for whites-only Asatru Folk Assembly to re-purpose church
• Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota
• AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods
• Bluestem in the news: Strib & the Intercept
• Quiet protest is start of anti-hate movement in Murdock (West Central Tribune)
• WC Trib: "Murdock City Council, on advice of city attorney, not commenting" on whites-only group
• Resident: "We really don’t want to be known in Murdock as the center of hate in Minnesota"

Photo: "Victoria Guillemard, left, and Ben Kowalskygrahek stand Wednesday, Dec. 9, outside the Murdock building of the Asatru Folk Assembly, a whites-only organization, in protest of the group's presence in the small Minnesota town. Kowalskygrahek said his sign reads, in Old Norse, "Where you see evil declare it evil and give your enemies no peace." Mark Wasson / West Central Tribune.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

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Unmasked, part 2: letters condemning Akland's Storm the Capitol speech poured into Free Press

Late last night, we posted Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol that includes a Mankato Free Press article taking a look at the St. Peter first-term Republican's feels about attending Wednesday's state version of  Storm the Capitol.

She now claims media coverage took her comments about masks out-of-context; she didn't really know what the rally was about.

Obviously, her constituents hadn't seen her excuses, claims of being pro-mask, and the wonderful claim at the end of St. Peter freshman lawmaker regrets rally controversy:  "“I’m sort of a peacemaker so I don’t like this, this conflict,” she said."

Yes, that October 31, 2020 Facebook photo above of her standing maskless in front of a monster truck that's crushed a vehicle spray-painted "Dictator Walz," and two labeled "Socialist" and "Democrats" is clear street cred for peacemaking status.

But on to the letters. In Akland, Hagedorn gave legitimacy to Trump lies, North Mankato resident Wess McConville writes:

The time is now to begin a recall petition on Susan Akland. Jim Hagedorn should also resign because of his votes on Jan. 6. . . .

Akland apparently also perpetuates these lies and participated in a rally that laughed and cheered when the U.S. Capitol was ransacked.

Akland, a former registered nurse and the first-term District 19A representative, announced she was glad to see the crowd unmasked at the undemocratic and extremist “Storm the Capitol” rally she attended and spoke at.

And, according to the Star Tribune, the rally was also attended by the far-right groups the Three Percenters and the Boogaloo Bois. We might as well top off the craziness of that rally with the calls that suggested for an overthrow of the government.

I don’t know if Akland supports armed revolution or far-right extremism, and I don’t know if she was among those laughing at the insurrection, but I believe you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. She needs to answer for her involvement that day. . . .

North Mankato resident Joseph Kunkel writes in Several Republican politicians should resign:

. . .Shame also, on our new state representative Susan Akland, of St. Peter.

One of her first actions was to speak at the “Storm the Capitol” rally in St. Paul, the same day our national Capitol was being ransacked.

But there's more. St. Peter resident Tom Leonhardt writes in Akland's actions dangerous, disgraceful:

The dangerously disgraceful actions of Rep. Susan Akland (District 19A) on the Minnesota State Capitol lawn Wednesday leaves her with no choice but to resign her office.

She willingly and willfully stood next to and joined the chorus of those who called for a cleansing “war” and the death of those who don’t share their beliefs. This happened in broad daylight, on camera and on the same day the president’s insurrectionists laid siege on the U.S. Capitol resulting in the death of several, including a peace officer.

Akland, with her clout as a representative, joined by other state Republicans, supported those in attendance who called anyone who disagreed with them “weeds'' [video here] — needing to be killed in order for them to survive as “beautiful flowers in a garden.”

The group threatened thousands of her constituents, my wife and child, friends, and all those who would question crazy, conspiratorial views and people who simply have differing ideas about the future of our beautiful state and country.

Akland needs to do the right thing and step down immediately. She has clearly shown she doesn’t have the judgement to do the job. Her refusal to resign will only make her work in St. Paul impossible and lead to an eventual recall.

By her actions, Akland has told everyone in the state and the district that she doesn’t value certain lives and they are better off dead. If that’s someone who doesn’t represent you, join the voices calling for her to step down.

Ouch.  In Akland supported sedition, North Mankato resident Georgia Holmes wrote:

According to an article in the Star Tribune about a pro-Trump rally in St. Paul Wednesday, newly-elected District 19A state representative Susan Akland attended the rally and spoke to the group.

In her speech, she supported the rioters who illegally invaded the U.S. Capitol, terrorized members of Congress and desecrated the building.

Akland should immediately resign from office and apologize to the people of Minnesota for her support of sedition.

St. Peter residents Beth Kallaus and Mary Hildebrandt write in Akland should follow science, wear mask:

We have read in the Star Tribune that at the pro-Trump rally in St. Paul Rep. Susan Akland told the crowd she was glad they were unmasked. First, why would Akland go to a "rally" to protest an election she won? That baffles us.

Second, and more importantly though, we feel it was wrong that Akland told people she was glad they were not wearing masks. She is a nurse and her husband is a doctor. Medical training and skills are based and rooted in science.

Why is she not listening to the top scientists and doctors studying this virus? As a nurse, one wears a mask where there are infectious patients to keep everyone as safe as possible. As a representative she should help keep her constituents as safe as possible.

There are thousands of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals in our country that have literally been putting their lives in jeopardy and working tirelessly to care for patients with COVID-19. Some of these people have died or are dying from this virus. They are asking and begging people to wear masks!

Do not disrespect these doctors and nurses who are fighting so hard on the front lines.

We sincerely respect that Akland’s choice is pro-life. However, how does one reconcile believing in not killing early human life, but think it's okay to endanger human lives not in the womb? Wearing a mask protects other human beings.

We should be able to expect our lawfully elected officials to follow science and wear masks. This includes Akland.

Finally, Mankato resident Logan Campa, who unsuccessfully challenged Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, in  2012, includes her inFascist Republicans need to face repercussions.

We'll keep an eye out for developments in this story.

Related posts:

• Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol
• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Screengrab: Peacemaker Susan Akland at a Republican monster truck event in October. Via Facebook. Update: A reader commented with more information about the photo: "That photo with the trucks was taken by Neisens bar and grill (old Whisky River place) along 169, just E of St. Peter. I drove by that day and took a similar photo, as I live in the area."

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Unmasked: Susan Akland's non-apology apology about storming the Minnesota state capitol

Late Saturday evening, the Mankato Free Press reported in St. Peter freshman lawmaker regrets rally controversy:

State Rep. Susan Akland faced her first political controversy in only her second day in office after she made an impromptu appearance Wednesday at a conservative rally at the state Capitol.

Akland, R-St. Peter, said Saturday her appearance and speech at the rally were taken out of context after the Star Tribune reported part of her speech to rallygoers where she “told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked."

“Our actions matter and our words matter,” she said. “And I regret that my attendance at the event is viewed as furthering division. That was not my intent and not the leader that I plan to be for my district.”

The rally, called “Storm the Capitol,” took place as a companion protest with dozens of conservative rallies around the U.S. as Congress certified Electoral College results from the 2020 presidential election. Those protests include the one that turned into a riot where several thousand people stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. . . . 

Akland said she was invited to the gathering by Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, of Glencoe, to briefly attend in the middle of the afternoon and hadn’t heard about the event beforehand. She said she only stayed for a half-hour or so as she didn’t bring a coat or winterwear.

One video of the rally shows Akland discussing the reason she ran for office was because she felt conservative Christian values weren’t being represented in the Legislature.

She said she wasn’t certain about the rally’s purpose before she was invited, though she thought it had to do with holding Minnesota accountable for a fair election process. Conservatives claim Minnesota and other states didn’t follow election rules this past November. Numerous legal challenges to election results around thenation have been defeated in court, and many claims about election fraud have been false or unsubstantiated.

She said she realized there were some extreme speakers after she heard one of them. Akland also said she was unaware of the D.C. insurrection before the rally and didn’t find out about it until later Wednesday.

Critics jumped on the Star Tribune’s reporting that Akland told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked, as Akland is a retired nurse married to a doctor. While Akland said she didn’t remember exactly what she told the crowd, she said that comment was taken out of context as she meant she was happy to see so many people at the rally.

Out of context? Doesn't remember? Didn't check out the rally's purpose?  We've posted the image sponsor Hold The Line Minnesota used on the Facebook event page for the rally. 

As for the event itself, one can watch the entire rally on Mill City Citiizen's Facebook page pair of livestream archives here and here. 

Earlier today we noted in Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back:

Readers know from Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol that the Sedition Faction and newly-sworn in state representative Susan Akland, R-St. Peter, were up with the Stop the Steal crowd at the capitol.

This was the rally where news of the storming and occupation of the United States Capitol was cheered by those in front of the Minnesota state capitol.

Judging from the letters to the editor in the Mankato Free Press on Saturday, her constituents were not impressed. Nor were those who served in the legislature before her.

Bill Horton of St. Peter writes in Akland also has blood on her hands:

Rep. Susan Akland, what in the world were you thinking when you agreed to speak at the “Storm the Capitol,” rally in St. Paul Wednesday, held in conjunction with the insurrection in Washington, D.C?

The seditious rhetoric in St. Paul was the same as it was in Washington. When the Minnesota crowd was informed of the actual storming of our United States Capitol, they cheered.

Like Donald Trump, Josh Hawley and Jim Hagedorn, there is now blood on your hands. You have shamed and dishonored your constituents. You should resign immediately.

In Akland participated in dangerous publicity stunt, Claude Brew of St. Peter writes:

The voters who elected Susan Akland to the Minnesota House of Representatives sent her there to do the people's business, not to participate in cheap, dangerous publicity stunts such as the "Storm the Capitol" rally.

The desecration of the U.S. Capitol on the day of this rally should teach all of us the dangers of using inflammatory words such as "storm" the Capitol.

In addition, for nurse Aklund to tell the gathered mob that she was "happy" to see them unmasked is irresponsible in any public official, especially one trained as a medical professional.

Aklund is unfit for the office to which she was elected and should resign.

In a letter published Friday, North Mankota resident and former state representative Clark Johnson, who held Akland's 19A seat from 2015-2018, wrote in Akland's out of touch:

The Star Tribune reported on Wednesday that Rep. Susan Akland, our newly-elected state representative from St. Peter, told the crowd of pro-Trump protesters at the Minnesota Capitol that she was happy they were not wearing masks.

She is a registered nurse who says that she is pro-life. It made me think of the countless health care workers who live and work in our district that have asked us all to wear masks to help preserve lives.

Akland is clearly out of touch with her peer nurses and in conflict with her own values. She is also deeply out of touch with the hopes and values of the people she is representing.

The anti-mask behavior reminds us of how Tim Miller emailed House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective and Mary Franson's circle of conservative friends maskless private bar party. It takes a special sort of alternative reality/facts to gain membership in the Sedition Faction, but Akland seems motivated.

Over at KEYC-TV, the station reported in the ambigious (Akland, not Brand, attended the rally) headline, Brand calls for Akland’s resignation after attending ‘Storm the Capitol’ rally:

 Jeff Brand, a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, is calling for the immediate resignation of incoming House member Susan Akland.

In a post on Facebook, Brand cited a Tweet by Star Tribune video journalist Mark Vancleave that highlighted GOP House members who were in attendance at the “Storm the Capitol” rally in St. Paul. . . .

Brand highlighted the language that was used at the rally where one unidentified speaker said “we are at the threshold of a Civil War — we need to purge. We need to pull the weeds.”

Brand lost to Akland by 111 votes on Election Night. The Mankato Free Press reported in Akland win over Brand confirmed by recount:

State Rep.-elect Susan Akland’s victory over Rep. Jeff Brand has been confirmed following a recount of more than 23,000 ballots cast in the Minnesota House District 19A, which includes North Mankato and St. Peter.

Brand, a first-term Democrat from St. Peter, trailed Akland by 111 votes following the initial count of the Nov. 3 election results. The recount he requested increased Akland’s vote total by three to 11,624 and boosted Brand’s tally by six to 11,516 — a 49% to 48.5% victory for the St. Peter Republican.

Brand conceded shortly after Secretary of State Steve Simon announced the results of the recount, the paper reported.

The Mankato Free Press article concludes:

Former Rep. Clark Johnson, the North Mankato DFLer who retired in 2018 after representing District 19A, said it’s still early for Akland to learn the ropes at the Legislature. He publicly took issue with Akland’s perceived mask comments in a letter to the editor earlier this week but said he was glad to hear she supported the mask mandate given her history as a health professional.

Still, he said he was concerned over Akland’s choice to join far-right lawmakers in speaking at the rally. Johnson said people in District 19A are more moderate and won’t respect officials who support extreme positions. While he acknowledged being a lawmaker has a difficult learning curve, he said Akland will likely have to learn fast her office is a “very visible job.”

“It requires you to be thoughtful about what you’re saying, what you’re doing, who you’re associating with. She’ll learn soon enough,” Johnson said.

Akland said she’s been frustrated by the response to her rally appearance.

“I’m sort of a peacemaker so I don’t like this, this conflict,” she said.

Who knew peacemaking didn't involve conflict, but depended on ignorance of circumstances.  

It's hard to find a picture of anyone wearing a mask in the photos she uploaded or shared from other sites  and loaded to her timeline of her Facebook page. Here's one.

Indeed, we've not the first to notice this. On one post in which Akland wishes President Trump a speedy recovery from COVID-19, there's this comment:

Susie Quetip

Yes it is a serious disease. Which is why I want to know why you and your campaign are out knocking on doors and talking to voters without a mask on. I expected more from a Registered Nurse.

It's not like the St. Paul rally was the first time anyone noticed the lack of masks.

Related posts:

• Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back
• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Image: The Facebook invite for the rally.

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Correcting the timeline on a report about Stop The Steal; Akland constituents talk back

A quick post about two items related to the Sedition Faction in the Minnesota House of Representatives in St. Paul. Readers learned about this subject in these posts earlier in the week:

• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Our first item is a correction in the timeline of a strong article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

UPDATE 1/9/2021, 10:20 a.m.: We had not refreshed our copy of the Pioneer Press story, and so didn't catch that the timeline had been corrected. Our apologies to Dave Orrick, who had professionally and politely replied on twitter:

Good point. Story adjusted to note correct chronology. Thx.

— Dave Orrick (@DaveOrrick) January 9, 2021

Our bad. [end update]

Dave Orrick reports in MN Public Safety Commissioner Harrington cautions lawmakers about inflamed rhetoric after ‘insurrection’, and we have put the text in bold where a reader might think that the protest and dissent letter prompted the visit to state representative Rick Hansen's house:

Minnesota’s top law enforcement official has cautioned state lawmakers against using rhetoric that could incite violence against public officials, including their own colleagues.

The admonishment of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington was carefully worded in the form of a written memo to all lawmakers Thursday that initially discussed increased security at the Capitol in St. Paul.

But its target audience clearly included Republicans who have sought to encourage increasingly confrontational protests, including Wednesday’s local franchise of the deadly pro-Trump event that spawned the mob that overran and ransacked the U.S. Capitol in Washington — an event Harrington called an “unprecedented insurrection.”

On Jan. 2, demonstrators, some armed, gathered outside the homes of at least two Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party House members, and on Tuesday, as the mob was descending on the U.S. Capitol, a pro-Trump rally outside the state Capitol in St. Paul featured violent rhetoric from speakers. At least five Republican House members attended that rally, with some stoking calls for action.

Here’s a key part of Harrington’s memo from Thursday, a day after the D.C. mob action that was stoked by President Donald Trump, who has perpetuated a series of falsehoods about his November loss to President-elect Joe Biden:

“As we saw yesterday, words do matter. The calls to action by elected leaders can and have had substantial consequences and can change that safe environment in an instant. As (Martin Luther) King once said ‘In the end, we will remember not just the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’ We all play a critical role in ensuring the continuation of safety at the Capitol and I encourage you to carefully consider the effect of our rhetoric. As leaders in our state, I think it is up to all of us to call out language or activity that endorses or encourages illegal or destructive behavior. We simply cannot stand by — and certainly not participate — while some choose to instigate violence or ignore law and order in our state and nation.

“We are also aware of protests targeting elected officials and state agency commissioners over the past months. Last weekend, we saw demonstrators appear at the homes of state representatives in different parts of the state. Some of these protesters were seen carrying handguns and long guns as they stood outside the residences. Groups have also communicated they plan to begin protesting local judges as well as state constitutional officers and state legislators. We have communicated with all chief law enforcement officers in the state to ensure they are aware of the increasing likelihood of this kind of activity and to let them know that the Department of Public Safety is tracking this activity.”

Harrington, a former St. Paul police chief and DFL state lawmaker who was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz, didn’t provide specifics on the previous incidents to which he was referring, and a spokesman declined to discuss specifics Friday, citing “security reasons.” At least one of the protests was outside the home of Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, who tweeted about the affair. Video of the event on social media showed scores of demonstrators with pro-Trump flags and signs. Their stated purpose was to protest coronavirus restrictions. Some of those attending wore combat fatigues and carried sidearms or combat-style rifles.

“Terrorism has many faces,” Mariani tweeted, in part. “Democracy is fragile.”

The protesters then traveled to the South St. Paul residence of state Rep. Rick Hansen. The Democrat was the lead signer of a letter of protest that eight DFL House members lodged against eight Republican House members who signed a letter of support for a failed Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. The Republicans claimed Minnesota’s election was “illegal” under an argument that courts have also rejected. The Democrats’ letter called the Texas lawsuit — brought by the state of Texas and supported by numerous Republican attorneys general, “seditious.”

UPDATE: The paragraph now reads:

The protesters then traveled to the South St. Paul residence of state Rep. Rick Hansen. That was days before the Democrat became the lead signer of a letter of protest that eight DFL House members lodged against eight Republican House members who signed a letter of support for a failed Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. The Republicans claimed Minnesota’s election was “illegal” under an argument that courts have also rejected. The Democrats’ letter called the Texas lawsuit — brought by the state of Texas and supported by numerous Republican attorneys general, “seditious.”

On Wednesday, some of those same lawmakers spoke at the pro-Trump “Storm the Capitol” event outside the state Capitol, including Reps. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa; Eric Lucero, R-Dayton; Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe; and Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, according to videos shared on social media posts and the Star-Tribune. state Rep. Susan Akland, R-St. Peter, also spoke.

On January 2, the protestors could not have known about the letter of protest, as the eight signers of the letter kept it close to chest until placing it in the Journal. They didn't send out a press release or contact any member of the press that we know of.

We learned about the Protest and Dissent letter after opening an email from the Minnesota House Chief Clerk's Office that we received at 8:57 p.m. Tuesday night and following this link in that email: https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/cco/journals/2021-22/j0105001.htm.

Our late night January 5 post From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter went online at 11:32 p.m.

The next day, we were sent a signed PDF of the letter to add to the post.

Our theory of the pick of targetted houses is that the organizers sought committee heads homes in the same direction from the capitol, but we're not that close to Alley Waterbury, although we have written about her in the past.

Watching one of the livestreams of the "House Calls," we were deeply impressed by the participants' inability to make Rep. Mariani's last name sound like a pasta sauce and their repeated stumbling over the  word "constituents" at both residence. Screaming that Rep. Hansen must have gone to Florida was another precious moment, recycling an outlandish rumor about Governor Walz's Thanksgiving.

Despite this criticism, we highly recommend readers check out MN Public Safety Commissioner Harrington cautions lawmakers about inflamed rhetoric after ‘insurrection’

Constituents scold Susan Akland

Readers know from Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol that the Sedition Faction and newly-sworn in state representative Susan Akland, R-St. Peter, were up with the Stop the Steal crowd at the capitol.

This was the rally where news of the storming and occupation of the United States Capitol was cheered by those in front of the Minnesota state capitol.

Judging from the letters to the editor in the Mankato Free Press on Saturday, her constituents were not impressed. Nor were those who served in the legislature before her.

Bill Horton of St. Peter writes in Akland also has blood on her hands:

Rep. Susan Akland, what in the world were you thinking when you agreed to speak at the “Storm the Capitol,” rally in St. Paul Wednesday, held in conjunction with the insurrection in Washington, D.C?

The seditious rhetoric in St. Paul was the same as it was in Washington. When the Minnesota crowd was informed of the actual storming of our United States Capitol, they cheered.

Like Donald Trump, Josh Hawley and Jim Hagedorn, there is now blood on your hands. You have shamed and dishonored your constituents. You should resign immediately.

In Akland participated in dangerous publicity stunt, Claude Brew of St. Peter writes:

The voters who elected Susan Akland to the Minnesota House of Representatives sent her there to do the people's business, not to participate in cheap, dangerous publicity stunts such as the "Storm the Capitol" rally.

The desecration of the U.S. Capitol on the day of this rally should teach all of us the dangers of using inflammatory words such as "storm" the Capitol.

In addition, for nurse Aklund to tell the gathered mob that she was "happy" to see them unmasked is irresponsible in any public official, especially one trained as a medical professional.

Aklund is unfit for the office to which she was elected and should resign.

In a letter published Friday, North Mankota resident and former state representative Clark Johnson, who held Akland's 19A seat from 2015-2018, wrote in Akland's out of touch:

The Star Tribune reported on Wednesday that Rep. Susan Akland, our newly-elected state representative from St. Peter, told the crowd of pro-Trump protesters at the Minnesota Capitol that she was happy they were not wearing masks.

She is a registered nurse who says that she is pro-life. It made me think of the countless health care workers who live and work in our district that have asked us all to wear masks to help preserve lives.

Akland is clearly out of touch with her peer nurses and in conflict with her own values. She is also deeply out of touch with the hopes and values of the people she is representing.

The anti-mask behavior reminds us of how Tim Miller emailed House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective and Mary Franson's circle of conservative friends maskless private bar party. It takes a special sort of alternative reality/factsto gain membership in the Sedition Faction, but Akland seems motivated.

Over at KEYC-TV, the station reported in the ambigious (Akland, not Brand, attended the rally) headline, Brand calls for Akland’s resignation after attending ‘Storm the Capitol’ rally:

 Jeff Brand, a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, is calling for the immediate resignation of incoming House member Susan Akland.

In a post on Facebook, Brand cited a Tweet by Star Tribune video journalist Mark Vancleave that highlighted GOP House members who were in attendance at the “Storm the Capitol” rally in St. Paul. . . .

Brand highlighted the language that was used at the rally where one unidentified speaker said “we are at the threshold of a Civil War — we need to purge. We need to pull the weeds.”

Brand lost to Akland by 111 votes on Election Night. The Mankato Free Press reported in Akland win over Brand confirmed by recount:

State Rep.-elect Susan Akland’s victory over Rep. Jeff Brand has been confirmed following a recount of more than 23,000 ballots cast in the Minnesota House District 19A, which includes North Mankato and St. Peter.

Brand, a first-term Democrat from St. Peter, trailed Akland by 111 votes following the initial count of the Nov. 3 election results. The recount he requested increased Akland’s vote total by three to 11,624 and boosted Brand’s tally by six to 11,516 — a 49% to 48.5% victory for the St. Peter Republican.

Brand conceded shortly after Secretary of State Steve Simon announced the results of the recount, the paper reported.

KEYC-TV included tweets by Star Tribune videographer Mark Vancleave:

“WE ARE AT THE THRESHOLD OF A CIVIL WAR...WE NEED TO PURGE. WE NEED TO PULL THE WEEDS.” Earlier today at the Minnesota Capitol. This rally featured several GOP house members as speakers including Reps. Mary Franson, Eric Lucero, Glenn Gruenhagen, Steve Drazkowski & Susan Akland. pic.twitter.com/4x3WWZlkSC

— Mark Vancleave 🎥+📰=🎉 (@MDVancleave) January 6, 2021

We'll keep an eye out for this developing story.

Image: Our friends at Rocks and Cows of Minnesota were a bit confused about whether Representative Green or Representative Hansen were visited, as this screenshot of a now deleted Facebook post demonstrates. We've seen both lawmkaers in the same committee room multiple times and can assure readers they are not the same person. Tweeted by editor on January 3.

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Tim Miller emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective

From the Minnesota Reformer:

GOP lawmaker emails House colleagues, staff to incorrectly argue masks aren’t effective

By Ricardo Lopez January 8, 2021

 

It’s been more than a year since COVID-19 first detected in China, but a pair of Republican lawmakers still appear confused about how the virus spreads. 

After the Minnesota House adopted a rule requiring face coverings on the floor, state Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, penned an email to all of his House colleagues and staff quibbling with the science behind face coverings. 

“COVID can only be transferred through direct exchange of bodily fluids,” he wrote in an email obtained by the Reformer. He also argued that the only masks effective in preventing the transmission of the virus are N-95 masks that are fitted properly. 

“Cloth masks do little for protection of any sort,” he argued. 

In fact, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say COVID-19 spreads through a few ways, including airborne transmission and through droplet transmission. 

“Droplet transmission is infection spread through exposure to virus-containing respiratory droplets (i.e., larger and smaller droplets and particles) exhaled by an infectious person,” the CDC writes. 

Health experts say other methods include contact transmission, i.e. shaking hands with an infected person, as well as airborne transmission, which is when virus-laden droplets and particles stay suspended in the air over long distances.

Miller said he based his claims on conversations with “numerous health officials” and criticized the “steel hand of government” for imposing rules requiring masks. He also criticized the lack of other measures, suggesting that temperature checks should be taken.

In a reply-all, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, wrote: “If you would like to require a temperature check at the beginning of floor sessions, please let me know and we can consider adding that requirement to House policy.”

He also said: “House leadership will continue to prioritize the health and safety of members, staff and others who work at the Capitol.”

His views found a receptive audience in the Minnesota Senate, which on Thursday voted down a similar effort to require face coverings on the Senate floor.  

State Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, argued incorrectly on Thursday that masks do little to prevent the spread, citing Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. 

<p data-wahfont="18">Osterholm has since clarified his remarks in support of masks and has warned his past remarks should not be cited to argue against masks. 

A call placed to Miller seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday.

Earlier Friday, Lopez had tweeted an image of the email:

GOP lawmaker @timmiller_mn sends an email to all MN House colleagues/staff incorrectly saying "COVID can only be transferred through direct exchange of fluids." He's pushing back against the mask rule

Last I checked, COVID-19 is not a sexually-transmitted infection. #mnleg pic.twitter.com/ILZUqJG0FW

— Ricardo Lopez (@rljourno) January 8, 2021

Photo: This image didn't accompany the Minnesota Reformer article. Bluestem Prairie snagged it off Representative Miller's Facebook page in 2020.

If you appreciate Lopez's post in the Minnesota Reformer, consider donating to the nonprofit online publication here.

Related posts:

• Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

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Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters

Over the last two days, we've posted about a remarkable letter of Protest and Dissent eight brave Democrats entered into the record via the Journal of the House--and the appearance of some of the state representatives called out in that letter at the Storm The Capitol rally yesterday at the state house in St. Paul.

On the floor of the Minnesota House on Thursday, the sedition faction rose in points of personal privilege to decry their treatment--by defending their effort to get Minnesota's vote thrown into the Texas Attorney General's lawsuit, tossed by the courts.

Yes, dear readers, the defense against accusations of sedition is to amplify the sedition. 

We'll embed both the sedition factions' letter to Texas Attorney General Paxton and the Protest and Dissent letter we first read in the Journal of the House after the Minnesota House Information Service Youtube below. 

It's clear that the anger and namecalling by the House of Sedition is simply that--and an unwillingness to understand that the election--indeed, their own election certificates--are legitimate.

First the Youtube of the floor privileges, then the letters themselves embedded in this post so you, dear readers, don't have to take the sedition faction's word for what they're about. The video will scroll to the mark where the discussion begins.

Here is the letter the Republicans sent to the Texas Attorney General. Again, it's worth remembering that while this lawsuit is a touchstone for those who wished to overturn a legitimate and fair election, it was tossed from the court.

And here's the letter of Protest and Dissent that was in the Journal of the House on January 5, 2020:

Letter uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

One needn't take either faction's word for what's happening. One can read the documents.

Finally, we recommend J. Patrick Coolican's righteous spleen in Trump’s Minnesota accomplices should be judged:

Closer to home, Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Mary Franson, Eric Lucero, Glenn Gruenhagen, Steve Drazkowski and Susan Akland, appeared at a rally outside the State Capitol Wednesday. As captured by Star Tribune videographer Mark Van Cleave, the lunacy in St. Paul matched that in the nation’s Capitol, even if the thugs never got up the nerve to storm the Quadriga.  

Some fascist at the event, which, again, was attended by Minnesota state legislators, wowed the crowd with this pseudo-intellectual drivel: “We are at the threshold of civil war,” he intoned, before endorsing violence, referring to the far right’s enemies as “weeds.” 

“The only time we’ve ever progressed, the only time we’ve gone forward, technological advances, economic advances, the only time we’ve evolved as a society is after a war. We have reached that point … We cannot evolve as a people because we are being choked off by weeds … Weeds of leftist liberals. We cannot grow if we have weeds choking us off. We need to pull the weeds.”

He’s mistaken. We aren’t weeds. We are roots, as in the Book of Job. 

“For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not fail.”

Amen.

Related posts:

• Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen and Lucero storm MN state capitol
• From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter
• "Goose Poop" Backer asks MN Attorney General to join TX lawsuit; Ellison had other plans 

Screenshot: Eric Lucero in a point of personal privilege.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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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NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen, Lucero & Munson storm MN state capitol

Editor's note of correction: We left poor Jeremy Munson, R-Lake Crystal, off our headline and have corrected the error.  It's not a small matter, as a new headline in the Mankato Free Press underscores: House to investigate Akland, Munson over state Capitol rally. [End correction]

In At State Capitol, several hundred Trump supporters decry certification, move toward governor's residence, Stephen Montemayor reports for the Star Tribune:

They cheered and sang, and they talked about armed revolt. They posed for pictures and wore Colonial-era costumes, and they laughed when they found out a mob breached the U.S. Capitol Building.

The roughly 500 supporters of President Donald Trump who gathered outside Minnesota's fenced-off State Capitol on Wednesday mixed violent rhetoric with jubilation at a four-hour rally that later moved to the governor's residence amid chaos in Washington. . . .

Organizers from the group Hold The Line dubbed the event "Storm The Capitol," though they cautioned on Facebook that breaching the fence would result in arrests. Instead, they saved their energy for talk of armed revolution and charges of treason for those who stood in Trump's way. . . . 

Public officials and judges were singled out throughout Wednesday's rally, as was the usage of face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. At one point, newly elected Rep. Susan Akland, a St. Peter Republican and a registered nurse, told the crowd she was happy to see them unmasked.

State Reps. Eric Lucero, R-Dayton, and Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, stoked chants against a state court judge who approved Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's agreement to waive witness requirements and extend the deadline for counting mail ballots.

In addition to Akland, Lucero and Drazkowski, Representatives Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, and Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, appear in the video by Mark Vancleave that accompanies the article (watch the video here or here).

On the Facebook event page for Wednesday's rally, Hold The Line MN made clear that this was an auxiliary rally for the main event in St. Paul: "Be a part of history. Get to DC or St. Paul on January 6th, 2021." Here's the graphic:

If only their compatriots in DC had followed the advice in the final sentence: "We do not advise any attempts to breach the perimerer or occupy the premises.

What struck us about the lawmakers speaking in front of the capitol was four of the five state representatives are named in the letter in the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter:

Pursuant to Article IV, Section 11 of the Minnesota Constitution, we the undersigned members of the Minnesota House of Representatives register our protest and dissent against eight members of the Minnesota House of Representatives for their endorsement of a seditious, unfounded, and divisive lawsuit brought by the State of Texas in a vain attempt to nullify the fair, lawful, and appropriate election of President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

On December 10, 2020, the below mentioned members caused to be sent to the Honorable Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the State of Texas, a letter endorsing the lawsuit brought by that State, and in this letter impugned both the State of Minnesota and its duly elected Secretary of State.  The letter said:  

"Considering the totality of the circumstances, we believe that Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon knowingly and deliberately conducted an illegal election by virtue of his manipulation of the law.  As legislators, we were dismissed and our authority was overruled by an individual that was not interested in following the law."  

This statement was made without evidence, was incorrect either as a statement of fact or of law, and brought dishonor upon the members who made this statement.  

The 2020 election in Minnesota was conducted with the highest probity, skill, and accuracy.  This is a statement of fact.  To deny this statement is itself a moment of dishonor in the career of these elected officials.  

These members were:         

      Representative Steve Drazkowski
      Representative Jeremy Munson
      Representative Tim Miller
      Representative Cal Bahr
      Representative Eric Lucero
      Representative Mary Franson
      Representative Glenn Gruenhagen
      Representative Shane Mekeland
 

We the undersigned find the behavior of these members reprehensible, and their endorsement of a lawsuit rejected by the entirety of the Supreme Court of the United States of America as a sad and divisive moment that was harmful to the sound workings of the American polity.  We urge these members and their supporters to repent of their foolish statements, acquaint themselves with the basic facts of fair elections, and to apologize in the total fullness of the knowledge of their graceless lack of honest, comity, and wisdom.

It's a pity that Akland, with a mere day of serving in the legislature, is taking up with such characters.

Related post: Pro-Trump activist concerned about MN precinct caucus training has inspirational backstory 

Images: Mary Franson, still from video by Mark Vancleave, Star Tribune (above). Facebook event poster, Hold The Line MN (below).

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter

Last month, we posted how Kiffmeyer, Draz & other state lawmakers outdo Emmer, wanted Minnesota added to Texas lawsuit:

. . .[Mary] Kiffmeyer and six other state senators, along with eight house members, go one step further, asking the Texas Attorney general to add Minnesota and Steve Simon as a very naughty, naughty Secretary of State. From the New House Republican Caucus Facebook page:

Our four caucus members, Reps. Drazkowski, Munson, Miller, and Bahr together with 4 other House members and 7 Senators, sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urging him to include Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon in his lawsuit challenging the settlements he entered into which changed Minnesota's election laws without legislative approval prior to the 2020 Primary and General Elections. . . .

As the Texas Tribune reported, the U.S. Supreme Court [threw] out Texas lawsuit contesting 2020 election results in four battleground states. 

So much for bad intentions on the part of some Minnesota Republican state lawmakers.

Update: We've received a PDF of the letter:

Letter uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

Reading the Journal of the House for Tuesday, we noticed that eight DFL representatives registered their protest and dissent against this behavior. From the tail end of the journal:

PROTEST AND DISSENT  

Pursuant to Article IV, Section 11 of the Minnesota Constitution, we the undersigned members of the Minnesota House of Representatives register our protest and dissent against eight members of the Minnesota House of Representatives for their endorsement of a seditious, unfounded, and divisive lawsuit brought by the State of Texas in a vain attempt to nullify the fair, lawful, and appropriate election of President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

On December 10, 2020, the below mentioned members caused to be sent to the Honorable Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the State of Texas, a letter endorsing the lawsuit brought by that State, and in this letter impugned both the State of Minnesota and its duly elected Secretary of State.  The letter said:  

"Considering the totality of the circumstances, we believe that Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon knowingly and deliberately conducted an illegal election by virtue of his manipulation of the law.  As legislators, we were dismissed and our authority was overruled by an individual that was not interested in following the law."  

This statement was made without evidence, was incorrect either as a statement of fact or of law, and brought dishonor upon the members who made this statement.  

The 2020 election in Minnesota was conducted with the highest probity, skill, and accuracy.  This is a statement of fact.  To deny this statement is itself a moment of dishonor in the career of these elected officials.  

These members were:         

      Representative Steve Drazkowski
      Representative Jeremy Munson
      Representative Tim Miller
      Representative Cal Bahr
      Representative Eric Lucero
      Representative Mary Franson
      Representative Glenn Gruenhagen
      Representative Shane Mekeland
 

We the undersigned find the behavior of these members reprehensible, and their endorsement of a lawsuit rejected by the entirety of the Supreme Court of the United States of America as a sad and divisive moment that was harmful to the sound workings of the American polity.  We urge these members and their supporters to repent of their foolish statements, acquaint themselves with the basic facts of fair elections, and to apologize in the total fullness of the knowledge of their graceless lack of honest, comity, and wisdom.  

RICK HANSEN             TINA LIEBLING
JAMIE BECKER-FINN    PETER FISCHER
FUE LEE                     JENNIFER SCHULTZ
SYDNEY JORDAN        RUTH RICHARDSON

Here's the letter to which those protesting and dissenting object:

Bravo for those registering a protest and dissent to the letter to Paxton.

Related post:

 "Goose Poop" Backer asks MN Attorney General to join TX lawsuit; Ellison had other plans 

Photo: The Minnesota House Chamber during October's special session,

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Tales of Murdock: AFA’s newest MN Apprentice Folkbuilder has an interesting personal history

Checking in on the Facebook page for the Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly the white supremacist pagan group that is repurposing a former church in sunny Murdock, we saw the image in the screenshot above, with the message:

Congratulations Nathan and welcome to the team!I have no doubt that you will do amazing things!

Please join me in welcoming Nathan Erlandson of Minnesota as the AFA’s newest Apprentice Folkbuilder. Nathan hasAFA’s newest MN Apprentice Folkbuilder, has an interesting personal history #Murdock #HaterMN #OnlyTheBestput in huge effort at Baldurshof, creating a worthy temple for the shining God. Nathan joins an amazing team in a dynamic region and we are eager to watch the growth and development of the AFA Northern Plains over the months and years to come!

Hail Nathan Erlandson!

Hail the AFA Northern Plains!

https://www.runestone.org/new-apprentice-folkbuilder-31/

That fine fellow looks a lot like another Nathan Erlandson, whose image and information are kept here. Screenshot:

 

That certainly appears to be the same fellow, though me must say he's cleaned up some for the AFA mug shot.

Here's another case in which Mr. Erlandson was involved:

State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Nathan Michael Erlandson, Appellant. uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

Clearly, the pagan group is bringing some of the finest examples of Caucasian manhood to Murdock. Perhaps the decision of the Murdock City Council to invest in a Swift Co Sheriff office patrol contract is a prudent decision. Court records show that Mr. Erlandson has been convicted of five felonies, the most recent from a 2016 offense (73-CR-16-3565).

We're reminded of a post from last summer, AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods, although we're told by a non-pagan source in Murdock that Blaine K. Qualls has left the organization. Update: At the Murdock meeting about the AFA in December, the group's lawyer, Alan Turnage, said that Qualls had left the AFA; the details were "personal."

Related posts:

• Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate launches Green Ribbon campaign against white supremacy
• Creator of "Stop the Asatru Folk Assembly" Change.org petition adds a note about donations
• West Central Tribune: city leaders & Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate to criticism of town
• Arrival of Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock prompts Swift Co Sheriff office patrol contract
• From Willmar to Washington: more on Murdock's approval of Asatru Folk Assembly hof permit
• Star Tribune: Murdock council anonymous vote on Asatru Folk Assembly permit may have violated Minnesota's open meeting law
• Murdock city council approves permit for whites-only Asatru Folk Assembly to re-purpose church
• Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota
• AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods
• Bluestem in the news: Strib & the Intercept
• Quiet protest is start of anti-hate movement in Murdock (West Central Tribune)
• WC Trib: "Murdock City Council, on advice of city attorney, not commenting" on whites-only group
• Resident: "We really don’t want to be known in Murdock as the center of hate in Minnesota"

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6