Again, I marvel at how sane Minnesota is, surrounded by rigid, selfish and cruel

[question everything]

Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas.

[empedocles]

1. They rural

[rzemanfl]

2. Huh? n/t

[TwilightZone]

4. Not all of Minnesota.

Most of the rural areas are red, some of them decidedly so.

2020 Presidential results:

[LakeVermilion]

22. Perhaps the Blue areas are centers of education.

Just sayin'.

[Ocelot II]

5. Parts of MN are just as awful. We are fortunate in having a Dem governor

to keep the GOPers in the legislature under control, but it's a constant struggle.

[question everything]

8. Could a similar trial ended this way in Minnesota?

[Ocelot II]

9. None of the judges I know of are as bad as that idiot in Kenosha,

though there are a few Up North who aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. And the statutes defining the possible offenses are different. If the same judge and prosecutors who were involved in the Chauvin trial had handled it, the result might have been different - at least there wouldn't have been the obvious bias toward Rittenhouse, and the prosecutors wouldn't have been stepping on their dicks. Except for the statutes, I think the outcome was affected more by the particular court than by the state generally.

[madaboutharry]

6. Stereotyping 101.

Really?

[question everything]

7. None of the neighboring states even had a lockdown, none demanded masks

And a police officer was found guilty.

[TwilightZone]

10. Most of rural Minnesota never locked down, either.

I think you're making the common mistake in assuming that Minnesota is a monolithic blue state. It's nothing of the sort. Parts of it are rabidly conservative. Remember Michele Bachmann?

At the moment, it has one of the worst new Covid infection rates in the entire country.

[question everything]

15. Also, there is net migration from the neighboring states into Minnesota

Why? This is where the jobs are. WhY? Also better school system.

And then they run for office, as Republicans, of course with the goal of cutting all the benefits that attracted them in the first place.

[Ocelot II]

18. Outstate, that is to say Trump Country, is a mess,

full of antt-vaxxers and maskholes. Parts of MN are basically Alabama only cold and with wolves.

[progree]

12. We have and have had for some time higher new Covid cases per capita than any of our neighbors

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

We've been swapping the number 1 spot for at least a week with Michigan. Today's the first day lately that I've seen when we're not #1 or #2 highest -- we're #4 after Michigan, New Mexico, and New Hampshire.

Three of our neighbors are close: Nodak #6, Wisconsin #8, SoDak #13, Iowa #21.

[question everything]

16. I think that opening the schools is a major reason why MN is number one

and tying up the hands of the governor in declaring emergency..

[progree]

19. Did our schools open earlier than our neighboring states? Or a higher percentage

of children in MN attend school? Every state has the back-to-school problem.

In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Supremacist Court tied the hands of Gov Evers, though I think some counties were able to impose mandates and restrictions (though nobody is doing that this year, that I'm aware of).

I suppose I can't say this here, but I very much admired Mpls Mayor Frey for being strictest on the bar & restaurant restrictions last year. Keeping e.g. the no sitting or standing at counters and the physical bar for longer than anywhere else. And even the bar & restaurant closings longer.

In Iowa, NoDak, and SoDak, right-wing governors haven't imposed any restrictions other than back in the first few months of the pandemic.

Anyway, this year in this fall wave, there aren't any restrictions or mandates anywhere in any of the 5 states other than some imposed by businesses, or the unenforced federal mask mandate on public transportation AFAIK, some schools, so it's pretty much all down to how people behave -- how many get vaccinated, wear masks, stay away from crowded places, etc.

Last year in the fall-winter, MN spent time in the #1 spot too. Before that there was a period when we were an oasis of relatively low covid cases compared to all our neighbors. Its interesting how the rankings of states change with time.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. This is a crap take.

[brush]

13. Spot on. Comparing the Rittenhouse trial, judge, jury and verdict to the...

George Floyd trial and verdict is like 180 degrees different. Blue Minnesota, not the red rural part, is to be commended. How does that happen? They're all mid-western states. And didn't Wisconsin used to be blue with it's own progressive party?

[TwilightZone]

14. Neither is representative of the state as a whole.

And the cases really aren't analogous.

[rsdsharp]

17. I'm rigid, selfish and cruel, apparently.

I didn’t know. And your opinion is soooo important to me.

Does this mean the prom date is off?

[the_sly_pig]

20. Totally agree.

[iemanja]

21. I don't know about that

Minnesota man is close to replacing Florida man.

A man was found dead Monday inside an air duct at a home near the northwestern Minnesota town of Dent after family members were unable to reach him for several days.

The 40-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office said. His name was not released.

Deputies went to the home just before 10 a.m. after concerned family members reported they had not been able to reach the victim by phone. Members of the Dent Fire Department and paramedics also went to the scene. Responders found the victim stuck in an air duct, the sheriff's office said.

"The death appears to be accidental," the sheriff's office said in its incident report.

https://www.startribune.com/man-found-dead-in-air-duct-in-northwest-minnesota-home/600122334/