Free Republic

On Sunday afternoon, a veto-proof majority of Minneapolis City Council members will announce their commitment to disbanding the city’s embattled police department, which has endured relentless criticism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, on May 25. “We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police. We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa...

We have been in this restaurant/bar for over an hour. They’re playing classic rock, mostly ‘70s. Their music service has yet to play a single woman’s voice - not even a duet. Not even *backup*. #JustNoticing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Officers on Thursday cleared away a protest encampment that sprang up in front of a Minneapolis precinct following the fatal police shooting of a black man last month, arresting eight demonstrators and erecting a fence to dissuade others from trying to return. Police ordered around 50 chanting demonstrators to disperse at about 4 a.m. and soon began removing tents and equipment while firefighters extinguished campfires. Dump trucks carried away tents and supplies while crews removed makeshift barricades that had been blocking the street in front of the station and erected a high fence to keep people off...

Mayors from eighteen U.S. cities signed a letter to President Obama saying they are willing to take even more refugees than what has been proposed by the administration. “We will welcome the Syrian families to make homes and new lives in our cities,” wrote the mayors, all of whom are part of the Cities United for Immigration Action coalition. “Indeed, we are writing to say that we stand ready to work with your Administration to do much more and to urge you to increase still further the number of Syrian refugees the United States will accept for resettlement.” “This is...

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges posing with a convicted felon while flashing a known gang sign. The man in the photo is a twice-convicted felon for drug selling and possession and illegal possession of a firearm. He is currently sentenced to five years at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility, with the prison term stayed for three years while he is under supervised probation until 2016. If he violates terms of his probation during that time, he will serve the five years behind bars. ... Retired Minneapolis police officer Michael Quinn, who also managed the department's Internal Affairs Unit, says the photo...

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges .. hours after she lost the Southwest light-rail vote, she visited a Somali mall on E. 24th Street in a blue hijab, accompanied by her Somali liaison, Abdirahman Muse. Hodges’ office said she is fulfilling many of the promises she put forth in a 100-day plan for the Somali community, including asking the city attorney for a review of small business regulations. In an upstairs room, Somali shopkeepers praised her for showing up, and poured out their concerns through translators, telling her they needed more space to park, more opportunities for idle youth, and more Somali...

A former Minneapolis, Minnesota mayoral candidate was mercilessly beaten up by two teenage girls after having his cellphone stolen at a Mall of America Starbucks. Mark Andrew came in second to Betsy Hodges in the most competitive mayoral race Minneapolis has seen in a generation. The former Hennepin County Commissioner had just hung up the phone and was in the middle of writing his New Year's resolutions Thursday evening when a young man came up and swiped his iPhone 4S off the cafe table. 'I was targeted because the phone was out and I'm 63 years old, and I'm sure...