This man served in the North Dakota senate for 54 years

The state of Minnesota would like to put up a wall along our border with the Dakotas. Or, at least, we’d like you to know we don’t have anything to do with them. I don’t know, I kind of cringed away to the east learning about this story.

Prosecutors said Holmberg traveled at least 14 times from 2011 to 2021 to Prague, Czech Republic, to pay for sex with adolescent-age boys. In court last year, Holmberg admitted to paying young male masseuses, some of whom he had sexual contact with at an alleged brothel. But he claimed not to know for certain how old they were.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl said the crime was “an assault of the dignity of many young boys.” And the majority and minority leaders in the North Dakota Legislature described Holmberg’s crimes as “evil” in a statement that vowed additional resources to law enforcement to help combat increases in criminal sexual assaults and human trafficking, KFGO reported.

Not just the Czech Republic: he was a roaming predator, criss-crossing the country and traveling abroad to abuse boys.

Records previously obtained by The Associated Press show that Holmberg made dozens of trips throughout the U.S. and to other countries since 1999. Destinations included cities in more than 30 states as well as Canada, Puerto Rico and Norway. At least one of Holmberg’s trips to Prague was state-funded through a teacher exchange program, the Klemetsrud Puhl wrote in court filings last week.

“Holmberg’s offending conduct over the course of decades … can only be described as corruption,” she wrote. “That is, he used his position to serve his own ends.”

His position is what makes this even worse: he has a long history as a distinguished state senator in the North Dakota senate.

Holmberg served 45 years in the North Dakota Senate. He resigned in 2022 after The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported on his many text messages with a man in jail in connection with child sexual abuse material. Holmberg chaired two powerful legislative panels, including the Senate’s budget-writing committee.

Because he’s wealthy and privileged and a Republican, and also 81 years old (he’s been playing this vile game for a long time), lawyers tried to argue that he should only get a 3 year sentence. The judge would have none of it, and he’s going away for ten years. That’s still not enough, given this one final twist:

In 2012 and 2013, Holmberg posed as a teenage boy in an online chatroom for teens who had undergone circumcision, and misled and manipulated a 16-year-old Canadian boy into sending him explicit photos, the filing said.

The full story of the relationship is unclear because the boy later took his own life in 2021, “but no doubt Holmberg’s conduct contributed to his struggles,” Klemetsrud Puhl said.

Yeah, he can die in prison. No loss.

Would you believe he was reimbursed by the North Dakota senate for his sex vacations? He was. He led the senate and personally approved all of his expenses.

The Eichorn saga is sinking into the abyssal depths

Remember Justin Eichorn? The Minnesota Republican who was caught in a sting trying pick up 16 year old girls? This is what he looked like before his arrest.

Update: here’s his latest available photo:

Yikes. That man is not coping well. He’s also in even more trouble: he tried to get an accomplice to go to his apartment before the police, in order to get a gun he lied about, and to get rid of a laptop. They failed. The police haven’t yet said what was on the laptop, but I think the fact that he would try to hide the evidence is incriminating in itself.

You know, I don’t feel any need to erase my browser history if I’m ever arrested — it might be weird, and it might trigger a few WTFs, but there’s nothing illegal on it.

Another twist of the knife: Eichorn’s wife has filed for divorce. This guy has ruined his life.

Egregiously predictable

The fellow to the right is Damion Surles, a little-known troll whose previous claim to fame was distributing a doctored, fake photo of Kamala Harris standing next to notorious pedophile and rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

You all know exactly where this story is going, right?

Damion Surles, 40, was identified as the suspect who allegedly interacted inappropriately with a minor.

Surles was arrested on Aug. 15 and charged with first-degree rape and child sexual abuse.

He was booked into the Jackson County Jail.

Man, there’s such a strong correlation between MAGA Republicans and child rape. It’s almost as if you’d expect their president to also be guilty of sexual assault…oh, wait.

Another one! Ricci Wynne.

A MAGA influencer known for posting sensationalized videos of homeless people in San Francisco was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of producing child sex abuse material.

Ricci Wynne, 39, known as Raw Ricci to his more than 100,000 Instagram followers, was first arrested in November and charged with pimping and pandering by procuring, HuffPost previously reported. He was taken into custody alongside a woman shortly after arriving at San Francisco International Airport.

The Minnesota Republican party is full of these guys

Here in lovely, thawing Minnesota, our Republican representatives tried to outlaw opposition to Trump’s policies, on the grounds that anyone who questions the Supreme Leader must be a victim of an illness, Trump Derangement Syndrome. Reverse it, flip it, change it around — I think the real derangement is the failure to see that Trump is a monster wrecking the government and the nation.

Today, one of the Republican sponsors of that bill was arrested, and it wasn’t for proposing a stupid law, nor was it for his haircut (which would be justifiable grounds, I think).

State Sen. Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, was arrested in Bloomington on suspicion of soliciting a minor for sex.

Bloomington Police led Eichorn, 40, to believe he was talking to a 16-year old girl and then met the senator and arrested him Monday near the 8300 block of Normandale Avenue, according to a Bloomington Police Department press release.

Gosh, I guess if you were out cruising for teenage girls, that whole stretch from Normandale to the mall on France Ave. to the Mall of America would be a likely place. That guy, who looks like a low-rent Chris Elliott, should at least wear a hat, though, or expect to be laughed at.

Maybe someone should investigate the other sponsors of the bill, Eric Lucero of St. Michael, Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Nathan Wesenberg of Little Falls, and Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe…oh, wait. Gruenhagen! I know that name!

I’ll never be able to read Neil Gaiman’s work again

The idea that we should be able to separate the artist and their art is an idealistic one, but I just read this exposé of Gaiman’s history of sexual abuse, and no, just no. Every gentle, thoughtful, open-minded word he ever wrote was a lie. The image he presented was a facade, while what was lurking behind his illusion of gentility was a rapist, a selfish brute, an ex-scientologist steeped in that privileged nonsense.

He deserves obscurity and contempt. Actually, what he deserves is a felony conviction and jail time. Unfortunately, we live in a time when the deserving don’t get what’s coming to them.

Poster boy for MAGA politicians

John Jessup ran for the position of county commissioner in Hancock county, Indiana. He doesn’t like gays, immigrants, or trans people, standard MAGA values, and won handily with a plurality against two Democratic contenders…but then he was arrested for a wild night in Las Vegas, if we can call sexual assault merely “wild”.

The arrest stemmed from a reported sexual assault of a woman in January after she and Jessup had a drunken night out in Vegas.

The victim told police Jessup forced her to drink high amounts of alcohol before taking advantage of her in his hotel room and sexually assaulting her.

Witnesses who were with Jessup and the victim corroborated the woman’s story to detectives, adding that Jessup said “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” multiple times throughout the night.

At the time of his arrest, Jessup reportedly told police there was “nothing criminal” about what he’d done while describing the incident as a “f***ed up, drunk night.”

It gets worse. We get the details from the victim.

(Below the fold since this gets ugly.)

[Read more…]

Is this justice, or cruel and unusual punishment?

P Diddy and SBF are locked up together in a Brooklyn jail.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was arrested last week on allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering, is being housed in the same living space of a federal detention center in Brooklyn as disgraced former crypto exec Sam Bankman-Fried, three sources familiar with the matter tell NBC New York.

I don’t know if this is a good idea. Letting these two associate and come up with new ideas could have consequences — I don’t want to imagine the combination of crypto and baby oil.

Alternative possibility would be a Kilkenny Cats scenario. I’d rather not think about that, either, but if I have to, I’m putting $50 on P Diddy.

Also guilty, guilty, guilty

Hunter Biden has been found guilty, deservedly.

Hunter Biden was found guilty on Tuesday of lying about his drug addiction on a gun application form five years ago.

First lady Jill Biden was not present in the packed courtroom as the verdict was read, but she reportedly arrived minutes after. President Joe Biden’s brother James and sister-in-law were in the room alongside Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. As the verdict was read, AP reported that Hunter Biden, 54, showed little emotion and stared straight ahead.

A sentencing date will be set at a later date, and Biden now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the three counts he was convicted on.

I have no doubt that Hunter Biden was one screwed up dude, a long-time drug addict who was rightly held responsible.

I do wonder about proportionate sentencing, though. That was his crime, lying on a gun registration form? And he’s going to get years in prison for it? OK, I’ll keep that in mind when Trump gets some lenient sentence for lying on a tax form.

Minnesota crooks aren’t particularly sophisticated

There’s a huge trial going on in this state, regarding $250 million in funds unlawfully diverted from charity for needy children to the pockets of a small number of greedy grifters. It happens even in the land of Minnesota Nice.

The seven defendants — Said Shafii Farah, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur — were charged in 2022 with wire fraud, money laundering and other charges. They have connections to a Shakopee restaurant, Empire Cuisine & Market.

The seven defendants are among 70 people charged in the broader case, all tied to U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse schools, day-care facilities and nonprofits for feeding low-income children after school and during the summer.

The seven received more than $40 million in federal reimbursements for 18 million meals distributed at 50 food sites across Minnesota — from Rochester to St. Cloud. Prosecutors allege the defendants ran a “brazen” fraud scheme that created numerous shell companies to launder money, submitted rosters of made-up children’s names and inflated meal claims.

Prosecutors also say some defendants received and gave kickbacks to other people charged in the massive scheme, leading to bribery charges. They said the six men and one woman spent the money lavishly on themselves, including the purchases of a $1 million lakefront Prior Lake property, luxury cars and gold jewelry.

That’s already blatant enough, and thoroughly contemptible. They took advantage of a federal program to feed kids to instead outright steal millions. It’s not just a little skimming, either, but outright pocketing all the money.

But that’s not why I say our crooks are unsophisticated. It’s also their plan to escape justice.

A juror in the Feeding Our Future federal trial was dismissed suddenly Monday morning after a woman showed up at her door Sunday with a bag of $120,000 in cash and offers of a second bag of cash if she votes to acquit the defendants, attorneys said in court.

The 23-year-old juror wasn’t home when the woman showed up, but the unnamed person left the juror’s father-in-law a bag of cash and told him to tell the juror that another bag of cash would be dropped off if she votes to acquit the seven defendants in the fraud case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said.

Yeah, big ol’ bag o’ cash. Nothing subtle about it. There are some real boneheads behind that scheme.

I wonder if the Coen Brothers are itching to make a movie of it? Nah, probably not — too real.