Kendal Killian
@kedrickillian.bsky.social
Baltimore/Mpls/DC/Duluth
I ❤️ government
I ❤️ government
Pinned
Kendal Killian
@kedrickillian.bsky.social
· Mar 16
DOGE took away Adobe Acrobat from Fed workers, causing mass inefficiencies.
And we essentially give our city police departments an open checkbook. As perhaps we should. These debates do not seem to be happening in public. This is an outright erosion of our public institutions and this is how it’s happening.
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 7, 2025 at 3:36 PM
And we essentially give our city police departments an open checkbook. As perhaps we should. These debates do not seem to be happening in public. This is an outright erosion of our public institutions and this is how it’s happening.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 7, 2025 at 7:24 AM
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
We have an epidemic of leading a government officials who do not read the newspaper
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you support the pardon of the former Honduran president?
SCHMITT: I'm not familiar w/ the facts or circumstances
S: What do you mean you're not familiar? It's been front page news
SCHMITT: You spew Democrat talking points every single week, which is why your ratings are so bad
SCHMITT: I'm not familiar w/ the facts or circumstances
S: What do you mean you're not familiar? It's been front page news
SCHMITT: You spew Democrat talking points every single week, which is why your ratings are so bad
December 7, 2025 at 3:05 PM
We have an epidemic of leading a government officials who do not read the newspaper
What I mean is. Citizens are being arrested without cause. Billions are being stolen from public coffers. The voting rights act and campaign finance law has been totally reshaped. The 2nd amendment has bene warped. The right won its project.
Time to reset.
Time to reset.
In some sense, tracking our politics in blue and red from a national perspective is a distraction. Pendulums swing. The campaign industrial complex is a multi billion dollar machine.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
December 7, 2025 at 2:42 PM
What I mean is. Citizens are being arrested without cause. Billions are being stolen from public coffers. The voting rights act and campaign finance law has been totally reshaped. The 2nd amendment has bene warped. The right won its project.
Time to reset.
Time to reset.
In some sense, tracking our politics in blue and red from a national perspective is a distraction. Pendulums swing. The campaign industrial complex is a multi billion dollar machine.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
December 7, 2025 at 2:39 PM
In some sense, tracking our politics in blue and red from a national perspective is a distraction. Pendulums swing. The campaign industrial complex is a multi billion dollar machine.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
Dems lost the court. Lost Bush v Gore. Lost abortion rights. Gun laws have been reinterpreted. Dems lost.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Reposted by Kendal Killian
This is an important point. I recently renewed my expired passport. My state-issued birth certificate was my proof of citizenship. If that no longer works then I (and likely most Americans) can’t prove citizenship, even though my family has been here since the late 1600s.
It really cannot be stressed enough that if we don’t have birthright citizenship we don’t have citizenship.
The only Americans who have any proof of citizenship are either naturalized adults or the tiny fraction of natural born citizens who are born abroad. Everyone else has birthright citizenship.
The only Americans who have any proof of citizenship are either naturalized adults or the tiny fraction of natural born citizens who are born abroad. Everyone else has birthright citizenship.
Stephen Miller thinks it’s terrible that I can vote
December 6, 2025 at 10:32 PM
This is an important point. I recently renewed my expired passport. My state-issued birth certificate was my proof of citizenship. If that no longer works then I (and likely most Americans) can’t prove citizenship, even though my family has been here since the late 1600s.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson
December 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson
This is a budget conversation, not a police conversation, and the council has the right to debate and set the budget. For the mayoral departments to abuse the budget is the question.
Palmisano frustrated at having to hear so many times that MPD overspent their budget by $20 million, says the council will learn more about that on Monday and that her colleagues are "bashing police over the head."
Chughtai: "Nobody's bashing police over the head. Literally nobody is."
Chughtai: "Nobody's bashing police over the head. Literally nobody is."
December 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
This is a budget conversation, not a police conversation, and the council has the right to debate and set the budget. For the mayoral departments to abuse the budget is the question.
That sounds like a leader
Aurin Chowdhury rebutting Michael Rainville on his "defund the police" accusation. MPD has done nothing but ramp their budget off the chart. And then overspent that budget by $20 million. "That's the opposite of defunding the police. So let's give it a break."
December 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
That sounds like a leader
Reposted by Kendal Killian
I am so excited that Jess is running! District43B deserves a representative that actually cares about them, and we need more climate and clean air champions at #mnleg!
(also i made her logo and i love it)
(also i made her logo and i love it)
December 4, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I am so excited that Jess is running! District43B deserves a representative that actually cares about them, and we need more climate and clean air champions at #mnleg!
(also i made her logo and i love it)
(also i made her logo and i love it)
Reposted by Kendal Killian
I have a grand total of zero patience left for the top paid city staff in charge of community safety not being able to answer basic questions about crime trends and personnel allocations as we deliberate our budget.
Worth watching not just because it's fun. The Frey admin choosing to implement the budget priorities of their friends over their foes is not how the council's power of the purse is supposed to work.
December 5, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I have a grand total of zero patience left for the top paid city staff in charge of community safety not being able to answer basic questions about crime trends and personnel allocations as we deliberate our budget.
Chris Madel is a Dollar General version of Gary Schiff.
Readers Write: Chris Madel running for governor, Trump’s comments on Somali Minnesotans
In attempting to criticize Madel’s candidacy, the DFL disparaged a core legal right of all Americans.
www.startribune.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Chris Madel is a Dollar General version of Gary Schiff.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
A plausible theory for why the city council hasn't been moved back to city hall yet.
December 4, 2025 at 6:13 AM
A plausible theory for why the city council hasn't been moved back to city hall yet.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
The entirety of the left/liberal friction in Democratic Party politics is summarized by how one looks at basically anything Hakeem Jeffries says and if your reaction is "Jesus fucking Christ we could do so much better than this" or "I like the way he's not Donald Trump"
That's it. That's all of it.
That's it. That's all of it.
December 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The entirety of the left/liberal friction in Democratic Party politics is summarized by how one looks at basically anything Hakeem Jeffries says and if your reaction is "Jesus fucking Christ we could do so much better than this" or "I like the way he's not Donald Trump"
That's it. That's all of it.
That's it. That's all of it.
Trump pardons Cuellar. Hakeem Jeffries says defended the move, calling the case “very thin” and the pardon “the right outcome.”
And Jeffries complimented Trump on the border.
The higher ups of the Democratic party are putting their fingers on the scale for Craig over Peggy Flanagan for US Senate.
And Jeffries complimented Trump on the border.
The higher ups of the Democratic party are putting their fingers on the scale for Craig over Peggy Flanagan for US Senate.
December 4, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Trump pardons Cuellar. Hakeem Jeffries says defended the move, calling the case “very thin” and the pardon “the right outcome.”
And Jeffries complimented Trump on the border.
The higher ups of the Democratic party are putting their fingers on the scale for Craig over Peggy Flanagan for US Senate.
And Jeffries complimented Trump on the border.
The higher ups of the Democratic party are putting their fingers on the scale for Craig over Peggy Flanagan for US Senate.
Reposted by Kendal Killian
Can I let you in on a little secret?
Billionaire philanthropy isn’t charity.
It’s PR to distract you from low wages, labor exploitation, and a tax system that’s rigged for the rich.
Billionaire philanthropy isn’t charity.
It’s PR to distract you from low wages, labor exploitation, and a tax system that’s rigged for the rich.
December 3, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Can I let you in on a little secret?
Billionaire philanthropy isn’t charity.
It’s PR to distract you from low wages, labor exploitation, and a tax system that’s rigged for the rich.
Billionaire philanthropy isn’t charity.
It’s PR to distract you from low wages, labor exploitation, and a tax system that’s rigged for the rich.
The Somali diaspora in Minnesota didn’t begin in Minneapolis. It began in Greater Minnesota — in Willmar, St. Cloud, and other towns where meatpacking plants offered hard, essential work. Somali refugees came as workers, filling jobs that sustained local economies.
December 3, 2025 at 10:58 PM
The Somali diaspora in Minnesota didn’t begin in Minneapolis. It began in Greater Minnesota — in Willmar, St. Cloud, and other towns where meatpacking plants offered hard, essential work. Somali refugees came as workers, filling jobs that sustained local economies.
The President’s blaming Feeding Our Future, but the fraud he’s talking about was enabled by the CARES Act — a bill he signed that gutted oversight to get money out fast. It’s also the law that allowed members of Congress to pocket PPP loans for their own companies.
December 3, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The President’s blaming Feeding Our Future, but the fraud he’s talking about was enabled by the CARES Act — a bill he signed that gutted oversight to get money out fast. It’s also the law that allowed members of Congress to pocket PPP loans for their own companies.
Derek Chauvin inflicted more harm on Minnesota in 9 minutes than the Somali-American community has in decades.
Don’t take my word for it. In 2015, Majority Whip Tom Emmer said:
“Somalis.. are some of the fastest-assimilating populations that we’ve had.” www.thisamericanlife.org/600/transcript
Don’t take my word for it. In 2015, Majority Whip Tom Emmer said:
“Somalis.. are some of the fastest-assimilating populations that we’ve had.” www.thisamericanlife.org/600/transcript
Trump goes on another racist rant about Somalis: "Ilhan Omar should be thrown the hell out of our country, and most of those people -- they have destroyed Minnesota. It's a hellhole right now. Those Somalians should be out of here. They have destroyed out country ... go back to your own country."
December 3, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Derek Chauvin inflicted more harm on Minnesota in 9 minutes than the Somali-American community has in decades.
Don’t take my word for it. In 2015, Majority Whip Tom Emmer said:
“Somalis.. are some of the fastest-assimilating populations that we’ve had.” www.thisamericanlife.org/600/transcript
Don’t take my word for it. In 2015, Majority Whip Tom Emmer said:
“Somalis.. are some of the fastest-assimilating populations that we’ve had.” www.thisamericanlife.org/600/transcript
Question: How much do you spend on Patreons, Substacks, and the like? Include news sites like the Times or your local outlets, if you prefer.
I want to contribute to journalism, but it's a bottomless endeavor. What's a good budget to set?
I want to contribute to journalism, but it's a bottomless endeavor. What's a good budget to set?
December 3, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Question: How much do you spend on Patreons, Substacks, and the like? Include news sites like the Times or your local outlets, if you prefer.
I want to contribute to journalism, but it's a bottomless endeavor. What's a good budget to set?
I want to contribute to journalism, but it's a bottomless endeavor. What's a good budget to set?
What. The. Fuck.
Jeffries claims the charges against Cueller were "very thin" and says Trump's pardon was "exactly the right outcome"
December 3, 2025 at 7:10 PM
What. The. Fuck.
I hope Aimee Bock is carrying around her passport.
December 3, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I hope Aimee Bock is carrying around her passport.
One critical correction to note in this NYT story. Feeding Our Future was not a "Minneapolis nonprofit." Its headquarters were located in St. Anthony, Minnesota — a suburban office park outside the city limits of Minneapolis.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:58 PM
One critical correction to note in this NYT story. Feeding Our Future was not a "Minneapolis nonprofit." Its headquarters were located in St. Anthony, Minnesota — a suburban office park outside the city limits of Minneapolis.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
The CARES Act was $2.2 trillion economic stimulus signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020. It was designed deliberately to distribute funds with little regard for oversight. Speed was an explicit choice by Trump.
His signature facilitated the Feeding Our Future fraud.
His signature facilitated the Feeding Our Future fraud.
December 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The CARES Act was $2.2 trillion economic stimulus signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020. It was designed deliberately to distribute funds with little regard for oversight. Speed was an explicit choice by Trump.
His signature facilitated the Feeding Our Future fraud.
His signature facilitated the Feeding Our Future fraud.