Yes, people are capable of nuance: Jennifer Brooks and Maya Rao write for the Star Tribune: “A majority of voters in the state believe Al Franken groped or sexually harassed multiple women, but more voters believe he should not have resigned from the U.S. Senate than those who think he should have, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. … Sixty percent of the 800 registered voters statewide who participated in the poll said they believed that Franken did grope or harass multiple women. But only 41 percent said he should have resigned, while 48 percent said he should not have.”
We’ve got the beet(s). Says the AP, “Minnesota farmers produced slightly smaller corn and soybean crops last year than in 2016, but they produced a record sugar beet crop. The Agriculture Department reports Minnesota’s sugar beet crop at 12.5 million tons, up slightly from the previous record in 2016. Farmers harvested fewer acres but had a record average yield.”
Ye Old Mill has been sold. In the PiPress, Sarah Horner reports, “After 102 years of operating Ye Old Mill — the country’s oldest operating tunnel of love — the family is handing over the reins. They’ve sold the storied fairgrounds staple to the State Fair itself, meaning a Keenan won’t be manning the wooden canal boat ride for the first time in more than a century when the Great Minnesota Get-Together opens in August, according to Jim Keenan.”
Says Stribber Paul Walsh, “A Rochester teen dared an armed man to shoot him after the two were involved in a minor collision, according to a friend who was in the teen’s car and saw the fatal shooting. Muhammed Rahim, 17, of Rochester, was shot and killed about 8:20 a.m. Sunday at East River Road and 31st Street NE. A 25-year-old Rochester man with a permit to carry a firearm was arrested and remains jailed on suspicion of second-degree murder. The man, who has not been charged, told police that he was acting in self-defense.”
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin checked in with the Vikings the day after. “The Vikings’ come-from-behind win was the hottest topic in sports at the dawn of the new week. It led every highlight package on TV, was debated on sports talk radio shows across the country, and had fans flocking to newsstands to pick up commemorative copies of Monday’s papers. Even in the time the Vikings have had to process what they were a part of, the moment still didn’t feel real. …‘I don’t think it’s still really sunk in as far as like what something like that’s going to be,’ guard Jeremiah Sirles said. ‘That’s the stuff that in 20 years, you turn on NFL Films and it’s going to be the 2018 NFL Classic.’”
Millie not going to Philly: Stribber Aimee Blanchette says: “The 99-year-old fan who was surprised by the Minnesota Vikings with tickets to Sunday’s playoff game received another surprise of a lifetime. Millie Wall and her granddaughter Ashley Wall were approached by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell while in their seats during the game. Goodell handed Millie two tickets to Super Bowl LII. … On Monday morning, the Vikings officially invited Millie to the [NFC Championship game in Philadelphia], according to Ashley Wall. After talking it over with her family and giving it some thought, Millie declined the invitation.”
In The Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay says what a lot of Vikings fans are thinking (if not saying): “How do the Minnesota Vikings not feel like the NFL’s team of destiny? They now have a chance to play a Super Bowl at home, in their fancy new ice fishing shed in Minneapolis. No team has ever gotten to do that. After Sunday’s dramatic victory—and make no mistake, that heave from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs is an all-time, top-of-your-lungs, call-the-police, run-down-the-street-in-your-undies sports shocker—the Vikings have to believe they can win a home Super Bowl. And the NBA championship. And the Masters. And a Nobel. And a Top Chef. It’s especially crazy because this is not what the Vikings do. … Minnesota is one of the most tormented franchises in sports.”
Also at ESPN, the Keenum-to-Diggs pass has made their list of the greatest plays in playoff history. But then so is the 1975 Roger Staubach-to-Drew Pearson dagger.
Finally, at Newsday, Neil Best writes, “Video of celebrations inside U.S. Bank Stadium and in taverns and dens across the world went viral. The Vikings landed on the back pages of all three New York-area tabloid newspapers. … If office water coolers still are a thing, the Vikings were topics A, B and C Monday morning for those working on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. … Even for those among us old enough to have a memory catalogue of such things, it was impossible to resist ranking Keenum-to-Diggs among the greatest finishes ever. Because it was.”
A pox on this poll
Minnesotans feelings on the resignation of Al Franken are really a moot point now. What’s done is done, it’s Smith who must lead…and run.
DFL leaders really need to explain to the grassroots why they didn’t stand up for Al Franken. It’s become kind of a problem.
Why isn’t “because sexual assault/harassment is bad” not a good enough answer for you?
Here’s why…
Because people like you always love to leave out the word “alleged”. Now, with each passing day, we hear of suspect allegations that are imploding the #metoo movement.
There is BAD and there is annoying
I’m 55. If every man of my generation who put his arm around someone during a photograph, pretended to touch the breasts of a sleeping woman as part of a USO tour, touched a woman without asking, accidentally or “accidentally” bumped a woman’s ass, kissed a woman without asking, asked someone out twice for a date after she said no once, told a dirty joke in front of a woman, called a woman hard to get, frigid or a bitch if she said no, hung photos of naked women in a public space (dorm room, office, shop), whistled at a woman, commented on a woman’s appearance, bragged about a real or imagined sexual conquest, and so on lost his job, how many working men would be left??
It has taken many generations for sexual harassment to even been seen as “bad.” It just was. If a woman wanted to avoid it they’s have to become a hermit. Remember it took Lois Jenson 15 years to win her case and she barely “won” anything. And that “landmark” case isn’t really that old.
I’m glad my daughter and the women who follow her won’t have to put up with the crap women have had to deal with for years. Women shouldn’t have to put up with this crap. However, there is a HUGE false equivalency between rape, child rape, physical assault, verbal assault and so on.
Frankly, I’d rather have equal pay, equal health care, equal opportunity for hiring and promotions and so on than demand the firing of every man who ever copped a feel decades ago.
I’m really going to miss Al.