Target faces boycott over transgender bathroom policy

MinnPost’s Daily Newsletter

The latest on the politics and policy shaping Minnesota.

Delivered straight
to your inbox.

Stay in the know.

MinnPost’s top stories delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Saturday.

Yet more proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Breitbart News’ Dan Roehl writes, “Director of Government Affairs for the American Family Association (AFA), Sandy Rios, joined Breitbart News Saturday host Matt Boyle to discuss the problem with Target’s recent decision regarding its store’s public restrooms. Rios said, ‘The Target department store chain has jumped into the transgender bathroom debate by declaring that men who claim to be women may use whatever bathroom or changing room they choose.’ According to Rios: The problem with Target’s policy is that they are now opening their bathrooms, really welcoming and inviting people of all sexual persuasions to go into bathrooms, and I have in my hand probably a dozen articles of cases where men who were dressed as women abused or raped or molested women or children in bathrooms. She went on to say that within 24 hours, the American Family Association heard ‘from close to 250,000 people already’ in support of an effort to boycott Target.” I’d like to see that list of articles, if you dont mind.

For Red State, Caleb Howe says, “On Wednesday, the American Family Association put out a ‘Boycott Target Pledge‘ on their website. Right now, almost exactly 4 days later, the petition has reached, at this time of this writing, an incredible 406,467 signatures. Target may have misjudged the size of the audience they were choosing to make uncomfortable. The press continues to frame this as an ‘LGBTQ-friendly’ policy or a ‘trans’ policy, but of course nobody is checking equipment. What the policy does, in practical effect, is allow men to use the women’s bathroom at any time for any reason and without question. … People aren’t standing for it.” Clearly we are experiencing an epidemic of rampant fake transgender molestation.

Meanwhile, in other Minnesota businesses, Dee DePass of the Strib says, “Spiraling retirements and shrinking unemployment in rural Minnesota are driving worried factory owners to get creative so that current workers stay and future workers come. …With operations in the western Minnesota cities of Morris and Hancock, Superior Industries recently bought a $300,000 apartment building and now spends another $250,000 a year on housing and plane tickets so 40 to 47 workers can migrate from Mexico to work at its concrete plant seven months each year.”

Someone finally wants to buy the stuff. The AP says, “Iowa and Minnesota lawmakers are exploring a system to allow Iowa residents to buy medical marijuana oil from their northern neighbor, lawmakers from both states have told the Associated Press. As Iowa’s Legislature barrels toward adjournment, legislative leaders are still struggling to expand a 2014 law that legalized marijuana oil for certain patients suffering seizures but left them nowhere to buy it. Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer said Friday they’re now considering an agreement with Minnesota as one option.”

Related. The AP says, “Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota are warning of a rise in seizures of a potent marijuana concentrate. Authorities say marijuana wax has a stronger concentration of THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient. The substance comes in the form of powders, oils and solids that look like peanut brittle or honeycombs.”

Also in intoxication news, Grace Wong of the Chicago Tribune reports, “A Minnesota woman was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail Sunday after being arrested at O’Hare International Airport with more than 3/ 4 of a pound of methamphetamine and about 37 1/2 pounds of opium. Khoua Vang, 49, of the 11100 block of County Highway 5 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, appeared in bond court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building … .  The drugs found were believed to have a street value of almost $518,000, according to court records.”

At the DailyInterLake.com, a Montana operation, editor Lynette Hinze (a native Minnesotan) compares the two finest examples of paradise on earth. “What does Minnesota have that Montana doesn’t? I had to ponder that question this week as I was led to an online story titled ‘15 reasons why my heart will always be in Minnesota’. … No. 1 on the Minnesota list is beautiful lakes. Yes, there are 10,000 of them, but I think a good number of them are sloughs and nothing special, except they’re big incubators for mosquitoes. Living in a place like the Flathead, which touts two of the best lakes in the state, leads me to believe Montana wins the beautiful lake contest. No. 2 is fun people, and the article shows a bunch of goofy Minnesotans playing broomball in the snow. I’m going to give this one to Minnesota because gosh darn it, we are just so nice and upbeat. My favorite Minnesota saying: ‘It could always be worse.’ We smile in the face of adversity and constantly search out new ways to have fun in the snow.” I’ve read worse.

Second Amendment activity at a Wisconsin prom. Via the AP, “An 18-year-old gunman opened fire outside of a high school prom in northern Wisconsin, wounding two students before a police officer who was in the parking lot fatally shot him, authorities said Sunday. … The Unified School District of Antigo said [Jakob] Wagner had approached the school with a high-powered rifle and a large ammunition clip.” Purely for self-defense and varmint huntin’, you understand.

And how many people can actually explain their medical insurance coverage … or any of their insurance? In the Strib, Tom Montminy writes, “To mark Financial Literacy Month, we set out to learn more about the state of education across the country, including here in Minnesota. And what we found was surprising. … Minnesota teachers cited money management skills as the top benefit of financial literacy for students … . Learning to create and maintain a budget, for example, was acknowledged as an invaluable skill. But an overwhelming number of Minnesota teachers (81 percent) cited a lack of appropriate curriculum to teach students personal finance skills.” It’s simple, really. Unless your credit card is declined, you’ve still got money.

Still more Prince. Jeff Baenen’s story for the AP got wide coverage. “Bob Dylan left Minnesota, but Prince never did. When the music superstar died at age 57, it was in the same suburban Minneapolis studio compound where he had lived for years. He could have opted for the glamour of either coast but stayed home, where fans occasionally saw him in local nightclubs, a record store, or just bicycling near Paisley Park. … Lars Larson, who worked as security for Paisley Park on and off since 2001, said he thinks Prince cherished small-town life. ‘He had the freedom to do stuff here and not worry about paparazzi bothering him. I remember he would take trips to Dairy Queen in his BMW. I don’t know if you can get away with that in Hollywood,’ Larson said. A few years ago, Prince showed up with a guitar at First Avenue, where he frequently performed, to see the band Gayngs, the club’s general manager, Nate Kranz, recalled. But instead of performing, Prince just watched from the stage, Kranz said.”

For the Strib, Michael Anthony writes, “Who could have anticipated that the Minnesota Orchestra would be giving performances of Brahms’ “Requiem” on the weekend that many people, not just here but around the globe, were in deep — and rather bewildered — mourning for Prince, the pop star who died at his home in Chanhassen? The orchestra’s programming is set years in advance. As such, what could only be coincidence … may have taken on special significance for some members of the audience Friday night at Orchestra Hall.”

Long time chronicler of things Prince, Jon Bream writes, “ those who saw him regularly say there were indications that the always-mysterious Minnesotan might have been concealing health problems. He abandoned his trademark high-heeled boots for custom platform sneakers, for one thing, and began carrying a cane. … Attuned to every nuance, the superfans who attended nearly all his public events at Paisley were struck by his appearance six nights before his death. ‘It was like his curtain call,’ said Paisley regular Denise Young, 36, of Rosemount. ‘When he said, ‘Wait before you waste your prayers on me,’ I was like, ‘Why you saying it?’ Now you put it together and you understood it.’ Two nights before that, a Georgia critic thought Prince sounded congested in what turned out to be his final show.”

We might want to save something for Bob Dylan. The AP story says, “A state senator in Minnesota is pushing to make the official state color purple in honor of music superstar Prince. Sen. Karin Housley says she plans to introduce a bill Monday hoping to make that happen. … Housley never met the musician but says she and former NHL hockey player Phil Housley, her fiance at the time, once waited for three hours outside of the downtown Minneapolis club First Avenue to catch a glimpse of Prince after a show. She says Prince gave the couple a nod and that she was ‘in heaven’ for the rest of her life.”