Free Republic

Where’s the beef? Well, it made way for the pork. On Sunday afternoon in downtown Minneapolis, Twin Cities foodies celebrated the pig in all of its glory at Cochon555. An event dedicated to all things pork, Cochon555 celebrates heritage pigs and sustainable farming of the animal. The competition featured five chefs, who compete head-to-head creating dishes using a whole heritage breed pig. The focus is on fine dining. Proceeds from the 14-city event go to Piggy Bank, a charity focusing on sanctuaries for heritage breed pigs and Open Access Agriculture.

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press.

A growing number of Twin Cities businesses will close Thursday in solidarity with a nationwide protest dubbed a “Day Without Immigrants.” The one-day boycott, organized through social media, urges immigrants — whether citizens or not — to not go to work, open their businesses, spend money or send their children to school in reaction to President Trump’s views and actions on immigration. The idea is to send a message that the “country is paralyzed” without immigrants, who do everything from run corporate boardrooms to clean them. In the Twin Cities, primarily Hispanic-owned businesses posted Facebook messages saying they will close,...

I’ve been writing about Keith Ellison since he was endorsed by the DFL Fifth District convention to succeed Rep. Martin Sabo in the spring of 2006. I wrote some 20 Power Line posts under the heading “Who is Keith Ellison?” I summarized my findings in the Weekly Standard article “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman” and in the companion Power Line post “Keith Ellison for dummies.” When Ellison published his 2014, memoir cum manifesto My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, I wrote about it in the Weekly Standard article “The Ellison elision” and the Star Tribune column “Keith Ellison remembers to forget.” I...

Local community members are reacting to a video circulating social media depicting possible Saint John's University students chanting, "Build that wall" on a bus. It's only a six-second video, but with more than 30,000 views it's caught the attention of nearly everyone on the campuses of St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict Rallies held Tuesday afternoon turned the discussion toward diversity, asking others to build bridges, rather than walls. Organizer Gladys Gutierrez said the rally was already being put together when the video surfaced. "The situation we are in, the political climate that we are in right...

An internationally-recognized Somali-American nonprofit has declined to accept a federal grant in protest of President Donald Trump’s restrictions on refugees and travel. Ka Joog, which counsels and mentors young people in Minnesota, has turned down a $500,000 federal grant to show opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration policies that the nonprofit says targets Somalia and six other predominately Muslim countries. Ka Joog Executive Director Mohamed Farah told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that as much as the organization does not want to turn down such a significant grant, the board has decided it cannot ethically accept the money in light of Trump’s...

A Minnesota Republican congressman is criticizing President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.                 Rep. Eric Paulsen said in a statement Monday the executive order "is too broad and has been poorly implemented and conceived."                 Paulsen says it doesn't ensure that legal residents such as green card holders and people who are no threat, such as those who served alongside the U.S. military in Iraq, are treated fairly.

Gwendolyn Gillen, a Wisconsin artist whose bronze sculpture of Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat became a downtown Minneapolis landmark, has died. She was 76. Gillen's daughter, Alessandra Gillen, says her mother died Friday in hospice care at Madison Heights Senior Community in Madison, where she had lived since 2013. Gwendolyn Gillen died two days after Moore died at the age of 80.

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, one of Donald Trump’s most outspoken supporters, spoke in Minneapolis on Saturday. Clarke spoke at an event honoring first responders and service members. Throughout the evening, Clarke weighed in on a number of issues, including immigration and crime. The event was called “A Celebration of Law and Order,” and honored many individuals, including a soldier from Rochester wounded in the Fort Hood attack. The event was hosted by a conservative grassroots group, Rightway Minnesota, the mission of which was supported by all of the speakers during the night. Clarke, the keynote speaker...

Lately a little-known clause in the Constitution has been making big headlines. It's called the emoluments clause, and it's just 49 words total. The clause reads in full: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any Present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." The ethics group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claims President Donald Trump is in violation of that clause, and as...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Health officials are investigating how a rare rat virus called the Seoul virus infected eight people in Wisconsin and Illinois. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says all eight people had direct contact with rats at Illinois and Wisconsin ratteries, which are rat-breeding facilities.

Global warming is going to steal away some of those postcard-perfect weather days in the future, according to a first-of-its-kind projection of nice weather. On average, Earth will have 10 fewer days of mild and mostly dry weather by the end of the century, the researchers estimate. Some places will get more days perfect for picnics or outdoor weddings, while other places will lose a lot. Rio de Janeiro, Miami and much of Africa are big losers, while Europe and Seattle will gain nicer weather. “It’s the type of weather where you can go outside and do something fun,” said...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 27-year-old White Bear Lake man faces charges after he allegedly drunkenly drove into a ditch, had sex there with a female passenger, and spit on a deputy attempting to arrest him, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Alan Krueger is charged with one felony count of fourth-degree assault and one gross misdemeanor count of DWI with a refusal to submit to chemical test in connection to the Jan. 16 incident. ~SNIP~ After failing standard field sobriety tests, Krueger was asked to provide a preliminary breath test sample. Before that, deputies told him to form a...

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison may be the only Minnesota Democrat making a stand by not showing up at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. The Minneapolis Democrat announced Monday he'd boycott Friday's ceremony, joining more than two dozen lawmakers in skipping the event. Ellison is the nation's first Muslim congressman and is currently running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.

WASHINGTON – Kim Clement was known as the “singing prophet” before he died Nov. 23, just 15 days after Donald Trump shocked many by winning the presidency. But if recordings of Clement’s predictions are accurate accounts of what he reportedly said in appearances in 2007, he wouldn’t have been surprised. Audio recordings of “prophecies” reportedly delivered by Clement nine years ago, long before anyone was taking Trump seriously as a presidential candidate, not only predict his successful bid for the White House, they also say he is God’s choice – and will become known as a “prayerful president.” “Trump shall...

Rep. Keith Ellison says he will not be attending the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday. I will not celebrate a man who preaches a politics of division and hate. I won't be attending Donald Trump's inauguration. — Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 16, 2017

Donald Trump didn't win Minnesota. And he never visited Mower County. But his message resonated with voters in LeRoy and Lyle. Now they wonder: What's next? ~SNIP~ With Fox News on a nearby TV, the coffee crowd, which included a former deputy sheriff and retired and semiretired farmers and truckers, was decidedly optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump. “We’re the kind of people who believe in country, family and faith — not necessarily in that order,” said Dave Johnson, a semiretired cattle and hog farmer, Trump man and the table’s informal alpha dog. “We’re concerned about the future, and a lot...

The superintendent of St. Louis Park High School reported a case of tuberculosis. The school district says it was notified by the Hennepin County Department of Health that one individual at the high school had been diagnosed with active TB in late November. The individual was receiving medical care by the time the school district was notified. But the school district says the person was contagious in September, October and November before the diagnosis was determined. The superintendent says the Hennepin County Department of Health asked the district to wait to communicate the information until they could determine who else...

A police officer stopped a vehicle for a driving violation just after midnight Tuesday in the city of Ramsey. During the stop, the officer found out the vehicle had been stolen and discovered a woman in labor and seven juveniles with packing tape over their mouths. There were three adults in the vehicle. The woman who was in labor was transported to a hospital, according to the Ramsey Police Department. Seven juveniles who were also in the vehicle were initially found unresponsive with the tape over their mouths. Police say there was no immediate threat to their safety and released...

Instead of watching what must have been the most painful of viewing experiences in the history of the planet... What did you do, instead?