Skip to Content

Michael Fleming

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
3 years 42 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/19/13 at 04:39 pm in response to Did GOP gerrymander its way to controlling U.S. House?

Eric -- Your earlier column discussed how the idea of congressional districts is not even part of the constitution but is rather a later-added statutory thing (that could be wiped away with just another statute)(not that this Congress is likely to ever do that...).

I'm curious -- If we'd not done the 'whole country' count like you did above (where Dems outnumbered Reps), but instead did it at a state-by-state level (as opposed to the district-by-district level we have now), would the...

Posted on 02/19/13 at 04:30 pm in response to Getting over our Portland envy

So, rather than consider which of us is better, we should (a) learn from each other's successes (and non-successes); and (b) all be glad we're not in [insert your favorite arm-pit city that pretty much nobody loves, but which I'm not going to fill in because whatever I'd say somebody will be ticked off because every town has somebody who loves it].

Seriously -- Both metros are actually pretty cool on balance. That's what matters.

Posted on 12/10/12 at 07:13 pm in response to Minneapolis committee rejects demolition request for 1903 Gluek saloon

It's pretty much abandoned today from the looks of it: http://goo.gl/maps/QP3VX If the developer just walks away, what will the city get out of this?

Posted on 12/10/12 at 11:23 am in response to Minnesota news media: Who tops the Twitter 1,000

Is it just me, or do we love our sports reporters here way too much (to the loss of real news being watched by the Twitterati)?

Posted on 11/27/12 at 06:35 pm in response to Duluth's economy is looking better

As noted, the other high-price airports: Topping the list are three United Airlines hubs, Houston Bush ($517.50) , Washington Dulles ($504.20) and Newark Liberty ($480.30) airports.

Except - People who might use any of those three airports have an alternative airport available to them in no more than 50 miles drive. Not so those of us in the TC, who have no 'real' airport closer than Des Moines or Chicago to use as an alternative to MSP. (Rochester, Madison, Chippewa, Duluth --...

Posted on 11/19/12 at 04:53 pm in response to Why Gallup hates Nate Silver

Aggregators merely repeat what others have said, and their add-on analysis is rarely if ever of any value at all. And, never do I hear of an aggregator who promises a truly comprehensive review of all statements on a particular topic.

Silver is taking other parties' public statements of fact, and doing a great deal of analysis in order to determine how we (if we believe his methods) should think of those other parties' statements. Then, he doesn't do it randomly, but attempts to cover...

Posted on 11/12/12 at 04:44 pm in response to 11 ex-legislators successfully fight their way back to the Capitol

Do you think the GOP faithful would have been urging their legislators to hold back on what they should do with their new power had they gotten it?

(Actually -- I agree with my fellow commenters -- Tacking towards governing for all citizens, and not just the base of our party, is the right thing to do, and it's what will ultimately define us in two years, not our willingness to run rough-shod over those who did not come out ahead in this cycle. Otherwise we stand a good chance of just...

Posted on 03/07/12 at 01:19 pm in response to Does licensing occupations amount to protectionism?

I generally agree with the notion posed by the reductions in licensing, although there are a certain limited number professions where the heavy-hand of the state should be maintained (ones where the professional could cause serious damage and where the consumer is truly unable to see enough to judge for him/herself, or ones where there is a particular regulatory privilege, such as right to write a prescription or a right to confidentiality privilege). Those exemptions are necessary, but in...

Posted on 03/07/12 at 03:13 pm in response to Does licensing occupations amount to protectionism?

He is right. Liability suits on the individual level are slow, expensive, subject to risk of non-justified wins, and all else he suggests. And, in that way, it's a bad answer to how an individual can avoid the market consequences of a non-licensed system.

I'd merely suggest that a robust tort system still has value on a macro-level. Much like Public Health is not really concerned with any one individual's results so much as how it impacts us all as a whole (e.g., do we decrease...

Posted on 11/29/11 at 05:31 pm in response to Rough new poll for the Tea Party and the Repubs

Any breakout specific to the MN-6?