I learned today that my county has spent a million dollars on a “mine resistant vehicle”

Little ol’ Stevens County, Minnesota, population 10,000 (dropping to between 8 and 9 thousand when the students go home) has been busy militarizing their police force.

Right. We needed one of these things:

I vaguely recall reading a while back that there was a small coalition of a couple of rural counties to put together a mighty task force of super-soldiers to handle Big Crime; they may have made the news for an assault on a motel in Sauk Center. So maybe it “serves” a slightly larger population, where “serves” is a rather dubious verb.

I’m having a tough time imagining the circumstances in which local law would need a monster troop transport. A meth house catches fire, and the gangly, toothless desperate addicts start puking on the lawn? Another cat lady refuses to allow animal services to break up her 50 cat swarm? The corn revolts? Maybe they’re getting ready for a hypothetical “Red Dawn” scenario.

There is a petition to defund the Minneapolis police. Maybe we should all be looking closer to home, too, and asking what kind of ridiculous expenditures our local police are making. This is basically Mayberry — we’ve got some modern challenges, but nothing that requires a tank.

I have good news, and I have bad news

The Iowa primaries were held yesterday. Great news: rabid racist and white supremacist Steve King is out on his ass. Finally!

The bad news: he was defeated for the Republican nomination by Randy Feenstra, who promises to be more of the same, except he just won’t say the quiet parts out loud anymore.

But there have been notable changes of heart in Iowa, too. Among those who backed Feenstra was activist Bob Vander Plaats, a GOP political kingmaker in western Iowa who once was one of King’s staunchest allies. In an ad funded by the Priorities for Iowa super PAC, Vander Plaats said King was “no longer effective” in Washington — echoing Feenstra’s central campaign message.

“He can’t deliver for President Trump, and he can’t advance our conservative values,” he said. “Thankfully, Iowa has a better choice.”

Craig Robinson, who runs the website TheIowaRepublican.com, said Feenstra offered the district everything King did as a conservative, but with no baggage.

New boss same as the old boss, I guess, just with slightly more discretion.

Good Morning, America! The sun is shining upon us!

I took a break from everything yesterday. It felt good. Today, I woke up, stretched, and noticed all the wild and crazy things that are going on with fresh eyes, and thought everyone would appreciate a little reminder.

  • The Republicans still want to dismantle the one reliable government institution, the US Postal Service!
  • The Republicans are engaging in ongoing acts of voter suppression!
  • Trans people are still getting murdered for being who they are!
  • Did you remember…we’re still in the middle of a pandemic? That one slipped my mind!
  • Republicans have shut down women’s medical services all across the country because they don’t want them to control their own reproductive health!
  • Misogyny! It’s still a thing!
  • The Republicans hate education, especially higher ed, and would like to shut it all down!
  • Uh-oh. Climate change hasn’t stopped to give us a break — the planet is still warming!
  • The Supreme Court is still in the hands of Republican ideologues!
  • Mitch McConnell is still controlling the senate, blocking responsible legislation right and left!
  • Our president is still a tyrannical narcissist!
  • The Democrats are in the process of nominating an incoherent geezer in the pocket of the banks and insurance companies to run against him.
  • Black people have been oppressed for at least 4 centuries, and white people like it that way!

I probably forgot a few crises and institutionalized horrors, but I just started on my first cup of coffee. AMERICA!

I am antifa

As much as one can be, given that antifa is not an organization. I don’t have a membership card. I’ve never paid dues. I’ve never attended a meeting. I’m not part of a cell. There is no hierarchy. I have failed to punch any Nazis.

I am thoroughly anti-fascist though, so I guess the president is going to have to send some cops to my door.

I will, as a certified academic pedant, have to explain to them during the whole ride to the prison that being anti-anti-fascist means you’re a fascist. I’m not too worried, though, since the threat is just blustering bullshit from a bully.

Water: scary stuff

It doesn’t look like much at the beginning, but this dam failure in Michigan led to thousands of people being evacuated, destruction of bridges and homes downstream, and some houses were flooded to a depth of 9 feet. All it took was a little rain. OK, a lot of rain.

Here’s an analysis of the failure. There was something more going on.

This video is going to be a classic in the teaching of geotechnical failures, but it also clarifies the events that led to the Edenville Dam failure. It would have been simple to ascribe this to a simple overtopping event that occurred when the capacity of the spillway was exceeded. But in reality the events are are more worrying than that – the dam appears to have undergone a slope failure; a failure of its integrity. This should never occur, and to me it suggests that the problems at the Edenville Dam went further than known issues with the spillway.

So not just rain, but also negligence by whoever had responsibility for the dam. It turns out that this dam was privately owned, by absentee landlords with a criminal history who neglected it, refused to do necessary repairs and expansion, and had their federal license to run the dam revoked for their greedy refusal to do what was needed. I guess it is unsurprising that Lee Mueller is a Randian Trumpkin who lives in Las Vegas.

America’s crumbling infrastructure isn’t helped by the parasites and rentiers who’ve taken it over.

What? The History Channel is showing history?

I haven’t watched the History Channel in years, since I have little interest in UFOs, Hitler, or pawn shops, but I may have to see if the tuner on my television works tonight. In celebration of Memorial Day, they’re showing a documentary on US Grant, based on the Chernow biography (which is very good), that is getting good reviews.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the Confederacy getting a good whuppin’. Again.