Mary Ellen Klas

Florida’s Young Republicans Have a Hate Problem An ugly feature of the Republican Party in the MAGA era resurfaced this month in Florida, even though the GOP has long been trying to hide it.

You can’t ban classroom discussion of race, gender and religion and then be shocked by hate speech. Florida Republicans own the racist group chat scandal. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Florida Bill Would Open Door to Building More Housing in the Everglades Florida lawmakers who say they want to encourage construction of more affordable housing are trying to strip away powers Miami has used for decades to keep developments, strip malls and warehouses out...

Florida legislators try to use the excuse of affordable housing to strip Miami of its power to protect its water supply and the Everglades. As developer Armando Codina wisely said: Anyone who supports this "quite frankly, does not deserve to hold office."
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Can State Election Officials Trust the White House? After federal officials said last week that they didn’t plan to station immigration agents at voting locations during the midterm elections, secretaries of state from across the country had two reacti...

State election officials are working to shore up confidence in the midterm elections. But those I spoke with also have growing doubts about whether they can trust federal officials to do the same. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

FBI obtains voting data from Arizona GOP’s 2020 review that confirmed Trump’s loss

Vance, 9/28/24:

DOJ docs, FBI interview, raise new questions about Epstein's "suicide" Notes from an FBI interview indicate that prison guards discussed "cover-up"

New: Prison guards discussed cover-up in Epstein's death, inmate tells FBI. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

ProPublica Sues Education Department for Withholding Records About Discrimination in Schools Under Secretary Linda McMahon, the work of the Office for Civil Rights, which aims to protect students from discrimination, is cloaked in secrecy.

“Actions by the Department of Education have real consequences for millions of students and families,” a lawyer representing ProPublica said. “The public deserves to understand how executive authority is being exercised.”

Photos from a benefit concert today across from where federal agents killed Alex Pretti and just over a mile from where Renee Good was killed 17 days earlier

Dropkick Murphys performed prior to their show tonight in St. Paul.

L signs during "First Class Loser".

Minneapolis March 6, 2026

This is a remarkable fail. Where's the faith in the next generation? There are so many excellent, younger Black Democrats and they deserve to be elevated.

Corey Lewandowski looks to have been comfortably in the middle of the money flowing through Noem’s controversial $240 million ad campaign. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Noem will now be “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas” because we’re in the Marvel Universe.

Looks like we're gonna have some pretty chonky overperformances in PA tonight—and unlike in Maine, we can calculate the presidential results by district with great confidence. Got 'em here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

California mother with legal permission to live in US deported in under 24 hours The Sacramento resident had spent 27 years in the state and was deported despite the government granting her legal permission multiple times

Trump administration arrests a DACA recipient with legal permission to live in US at her green card hearing in Sacramento. They deport her to Mexico within 24 hours. Gift link: www.sacbee.com/news/califor...

Help Minneapolis Get a Nobel Peace Prize Students protest against ICE during a walkout at the University of Minnesota, on January 26, 2026 (Brandon Bell / Getty Images) The editors of The Nation are formally nominating the city of Minneapo...

Please sign this petition to help Minneapolis get a Nobel peace prize.

actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...

This Trump-Voting Town Doesn’t Want an ICE Prison Camp The people of Social Circle, Georgia, want their community to be known as “Georgia’s Greatest Little Town.” It’s a sweet descriptor which adds to the already charming name a traveler gave the communit...

A vast internment camp for migrants is set to open in the small town of Social Circle, Georgia. This Trump-voting town isn't happy about it, but it's a window into what's coming elsewhere. Gift link:
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The Supreme Court Just Did Congress’ Job on Tariffs The US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs is a loud wake-up call for Congress. If the legislative branch had been doing its job last year and hadn...

The Supreme Court just gave Congress permission to hit the reset button on ceding power to the president. It shouldn’t waste the opportunity. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Prince Andrew's Arrest Across the pond in Britain, accountability is a serious matter

"It’s astonishing how much accountability seems to be possible once you cross the Atlantic" - @jkbjournalist.bsky.social

Prince Andrew's Arrest open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

The Parkland Teens Beat the Gun Lobby — and Fear They Couldn’t Today As the US struggles with how to respond to the violent actions of federal immigration enforcement agents, it’s a good time to remember how one small Florida community turned its tragedy into a nationa...

Eight years ago, Parkland teens accomplished what decades of activism couldn’t: They changed Florida’s gun laws and sparked a global movement. Their fearlessness and moral urgency are lessons we should learn from today. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The GOP’s Voter ID Bill Is Back and as Cynical as Ever There’s something very cynical about Republicans’ efforts this week to pass a law requiring massive changes to the nation’s voting laws ahead of the November midterms. They must think Americans are ea...

Americans can do banking, file taxes and get health records virtually — but if the SAVE America Act becomes law, they’ll no longer be able to apply for a mail ballot online. It's not about saving America. It's about staunching GOP losses in Nov. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Grand Jury Rebuffs Justice Dept. Attempt to Indict 6 Democrats in Congress

“It was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington rejected the effort, sending a signal that they did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...

A "filter barricade" setup on Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis. Saw quite a few of these today.

Those at the barricades have told me they're to bring community together and protect their neighborhoods by not allowing federal agents through if identified.

February 7, 2026

Federal judge rules DOJ can ‘no longer’ be trusted in voter roll crusade The judge pointed to a letter from Bondi to Minnesota that tied federal immigration enforcement to demands for voter data as the smoking gun.

🚨NEW: A federal judge out of Oregon has issued a sweeping rebuke of the DOJ’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls.

The opinion released Thursday concluded that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warned that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.

AI Has Turned Bernie and DeSantis Into Unlikely Allies Bernie Sanders and Ron DeSantis don’t agree on much, but the data-center boom is a rare exception. Vermont’s Democratic Socialist senator and Florida’s right-wing governor want to slam the brakes on t...

Bernie Sanders and Ron DeSantis both want to hit the brakes on the data-center boom. They've got a good point. Gift link:
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Democrats erupt in fury over Trump demanding Schumer help rename Dulles, Penn Station "There is no point in yielding to his ever-changing ransom demands," said one Democrat.

“Trumpism”: When you play chicken with vital and economically essential railway and tunnel funds so you can get a train station and an airport named after yourself.
www.axios.com/2026/02/06/t...

Follow this photographer, showing us in real time how MPLS is doing it, with power and peace.

When the cover is a subtweet

Jessie Diggins, Olympic cross-country skiing gold medalist, from the Twin Cities: “I want to make sure you know who I’m racing for…”

Republicans Have a Problem That’s Bigger Than Texas Two special elections last week in Texas and Minnesota demonstrated something very encouraging about America's voters right now: They are jettisoning party labels and thinking for themselves.

Taylor Rehmet’s special election upset in Texas shows the danger of underestimating voters’ independent streak. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The FBI’s Georgia Ballot Raid Is About 2026, Not 2020 The FBI raid on the Fulton County elections center outside Atlanta on Wednesday looked to many like the latest attempt by the Trump administration to sow doubt on the 2020 presidential election. In fa...

FBI's raid of Georgia's ballots isn't really about the 2020 election. It feeds the president's obsession over it, but really serves as a dress rehearsal for federal overreach in November. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...