The story behind the Minnesota shootings gets stranger and stranger.
Partly for my own benefit, here are the four victims: State representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were killed. State senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman were shot but survived. I believe the Hoffmans are still alive, but I haven’t heard how serious their injuries are.
At 2 a.m. yesterday police went to the Hoffman house in Champlin, MN, to check on a report of shooting. The shooter had already left. The Hoffmans were found and taken to a hospital. At some point the Champlin police called the PD in nearby Brooklyn Park, MN, and suggested they check on the Hortmans. The Brooklyn Park police arrived at the Hortman house at 3:35 a.m. The shooter was still there. He came out the front door and exchanged gunfire with the cops. Then he re-entered the house and fled out the back door. That’s when the cops got hold of his car, which had been detailed to look like a police car. And that’s when they found the “hit list” with several names and a note about No Kings. The shooter was wearing “a blue shirt with a black tactical vest underneath and blue pants,” according to this report.
Multiple news outlets, including CNN, ABC, and the Minnesota Star Tribune, have reported that the alleged shooter—57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, who remains at large—left a list of names behind in his car that included abortion providers and advocates and figures with ties to Planned Parenthood, along with Democratic politicians. Rep. Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), told the Star Tribune that she was on the shooter’s list and that local law enforcement told her to shelter in place on Saturday; a spokesperson for Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told the New York Times the senator was also on the list.
Much is still unknown about the suspect’s motivations. A longtime friend of Boelter told CNN on Saturday that the alleged shooter was a staunch opponent of abortion rights. On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said, “There clearly was some through line with abortion because of the groups that were on the list and other things that I’ve heard were in this manifesto.”
I don’t believe the list itself has been made public, but anyone one the list has been notified. The connection to abortion squares with what Wired reported yesterday. Rep. Hortman in particular had worked to protect access to abortion in Minnesota.
The deeper one digs into Vance Boelter, the weirder he seems. Initially it was reported he owns some sort of security company, but subsequent reporting has suggested the company is a fantasy. NPR:
Authorities said Boelter disguised himself as a law enforcement officer during the attack and news reports have focused on his apparent work as a security professional. But NPR’s review of Boelter’s online records and employment history found many of those claims about his professional life that appear untrue.
In social media posts and websites, Boelter said he had extensive experience as a security professional with “training by both private security firms and by people in the U.S. Military.”
NPR found little evidence to support Boelter’s account. He appears to have worked most of his career in the food service industry and one long-time friend described parts of Boelter’s narrative about his life as “fantasy.” …
… On the website for a company called Praetorian Guard Security Services, LLC, Boelter described himself as part of the “leadership team.”
NPR found no record of the firm having clients or providing any services. A call to the company’s phone number connected to what appears to be a private phone line, not a business. The address listed in incorporation papers appeared to be that of a law firm specializing in divorce litigation.
Boelter himself appears to have no history working in law enforcement, the military or private security.
The New York Times interviewed a close friend of Boelter named David Carlson. Boelter rents a room in Carlson’s house and stays there several days a week, even though Boelter is married and, one assumes, has a home somewhere else. Carlson said Boelter has been working at a funeral home of late. Carlson also said Boelter “owned guns and had voted for President Trump last year.” Further,
Mr. Carlson said Mr. Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposed abortion. He had never mentioned either of the lawmakers who were shot, Mr. Carlson said, and had generally avoided talking about politics. He said Mr. Boelter had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges.
And this, from the same NY Times story, is just bizarre.
The man suspected of shooting two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota early on Saturday had served on a state board with one of the victims, records show.
The suspect identified by the authorities, Vance Boelter, 57, was appointed several times by Minnesota governors to the Workforce Development Board, where he served with State Senator John A. Hoffman, who was shot and survived. …
… Mr. Boelter was appointed to the board in 2016 by Mark Dayton, a Democrat who was then the governor. More recently, he was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz, also a Democrat. The board has 41 members who are appointed by the governor, and its goal is to improve business development in the state.
Boelter must have persuaded somebody that he was a real business owner and not a fantasy business owner, and nobody bothered to check him out.
That’s where we are so far. But what I really want to talk about is how this is being reported in right-wing media. Yesterday, to see how the story was being twisted, I went to a reliable source for crazy — Gateway Pundit, to which I do not link. GP already was reporting that Gov. Walz had appointed Boelter to a state board, insinuating that the Governor was behind the shooting. I’ve since read that right-wing influencers are spreading the story that Gov. Walz paid Boelter to do the shootings.
Further, in the wingnut-o-sphere Boelter is being described as a “left-leaning” close associate of Walz, and that Boelter’s wife worked for Walz some time in the past. The Minnesota Star-Tribune has debunked these claims. There’s no evidence Boelter has ever met Gov. Walz, and the Jenny Boelter who worked for Walz back in 2010 or so was a different person, says the Star-Tribune. I take it the board Boelter was appointed to (originally by a previous governor) meets irregularly and doesn’t do a whole lot.
Fox News yesterday suggested another motivation — the shooter must be pro-illegal immigrant.
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was fatally shot on Saturday with the suspect still at large, made headlines earlier this week for being the only Democratic vote in the state House to vote to repeal taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage for adult illegal immigrants.
“I know that people will be hurt by that vote and I’m – we worked very hard to try and get a budget deal that wouldn’t include that provision,” she said following the vote that she said was done in order to move the budget forward in a split legislature, according to Kttc. Republicans hold the House 67-66, and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party holds the Senate 34-33.
It’s not clear to me what Hortman was voting against, though. The story suggests she wanted the provision removed from the budget bill so that the budget bill could pass the House and be forwarded to the Senate. She’ wasn’t actually against denying health care to anybody. And it doesn’t explain why the Hoffmans were targeted. Sen. Hoffman backed legislation that extended the state’s health-care program to undocumented immigrants, according to the Associated Press.
But if you run into wingnuts who fervently believe Vance Boelter is a lefty, now you know why.
the fact that boelter lives in a fantasy world immediately pegs him as having much in common with those wingnuts professing to believe he's a lefty.
"But if you run into wingnuts who fervently believe Vance Boelter is a lefty, now you know why"
It doesn't matter why they do this for every nut job out there, they blamed J6 on te democrats for christ sake? The whole fucking GOP is run by the Breitbart comment section, anything they and the magats say has zero value!
Nailed it.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-vicious-maga-feedback-loop-feeding-trump-los-angeles-crackdown-internet-trolls-ice-raids
The apparent political assassin has been apprehended as they say in cop and reporter speak. This fact eases fears generated when an armed alleged murderer is at large. It also changes the rhetoric. He is no longer a fugitive. He now takes on the role of the defendant. His previous role seemed to be self-appointed judicial system and a one man (questionable) judge, jury, and executioner. Others probably have aided and abetted, as this is an apparent politically motivated murder/assassination. Expect aiders and abettors to be pointing fingers wildly at anyone but themselves.
Fearless leader has already set the tone, with finger pointing, allegations of incompetence and other vague and unsubstantiated claims of bad personhood toward the governor of the state who had political association with the victims of the assassination. Never miss a chance to foul. The great victim does not like to share. Only his friends and allies get unmitigated and unextenuated sympathy when they are wronged. Perpetrators against his political foes get blatant attempts to foul on their behalf.
The statue of lady justice is blindfolded so she can't see your finger on the scale don't you know. Only liberals interpret that as fairness to all.
Right now Mike Lee’s staff is busily trying to figure out a way to connect this to Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Today at the G7 Stump is calling for Putin to be readmitted to the G8? He is actually saying that Puty was treated "very badly" by the US and the other world leaders? If the democrats had any balls (they don't) they would put ads up showing the slaughter at Bucha Ukraine in 2022 superimposed with diaper don spewing about how bad Putin as been treated. Tag line: on June 16th 2025 the President of the United States said the man responsible for this massacre was treated unfairly and should be allowed back into the G7. Just a refresher 458 bodies were recovered, 20 of them children it was a bloody massacre and according to the UN "the deaths included summary executions of at least 73 civilians in Bucha. Photos showed corpses of civilians, lined up with their hands bound behind their backs, shot at close range". There is hours of video footage of this, do the democrats know what you tube is? Putin has also killed tens of thousands of civilians since then. Our party is the weakest most passive bunch of panty waists I have ever seen. We are up against a fucking madman who is working for Russia and a party controlled by Q-Anon and they can't seem to mount even the feeblest of fights for any number of fucking daily outrages. It is time for Chuck and the rest of the democratic leaders to go. What the fuck are we doing, Enough.
OT, I think No Kings + the lame turnout at the military parade put some Fear into F47. Trump Uses False Voting Claims to Target ‘Democrat Power Center’. Great to see this clown knocked back on his increasingly demented heels. The rats are going to be fleeing the ship anytime now.
Here is an example of the wimpyness in our Party. Stump said today on camera that he will not call the MN governor because he is a "whack job". Waltz replied that Trump should be president for all americans. What Waltz should have said was maybe he's busy planning the shooters pardon!
This is SOP for the right. Every time one of theirs acts out violently, the right rushes en masse to pretend the shooter is a democrat, so as to get that into the narrative. That's the playbook. And they ride with it until the weight of reality exposes and makes them look like the lying jackasses they are. They did it with J6, they did it with the Trump "assassinations" with Uvalde. The other goal is to cow the media into not straight reporting the facts, e.g. Boelte is a registered republican, voted for Trump, and all of his political stances based on his own writings track with the far right. What's really low this time is how they are trying to blame Tim Walz for the shooting, and this is nothing but desperation because they know this belongs at the feet of their Fuhrer, Trump. Led by him, they have done nothing but traffic in violent rhetoric against democrats, casting them as enemies of America, and worse. Some have outright called for dems to be killed. So its obvious where the blame lies. And what Mike Lee did lets us know this man is pure trash.
I suspect that the right may have jumped the proverbial shark with this. I believe one reason Trump's approval on "immigration" is falling is because people don't like it when otherwise hardworking people are abused by masked, thuggish ICE agents. Hateful MAGA may relish it, but its obvious most of the people they publicly humiliate are not criminals but people doing all the things they claim decent Americans should be doing.
That no republican in the Senate has condemned Mike Lee is indication that the entire party has no problem with what he said. And little wonder, these are the same people that joked about Pelosi's husband being beaten within an inch of his life by a crazed wingnut. I'm glad Tina Smith got in Lee's face, but its time for the democratic party to get in the collective face of the GOP and call them the trash they are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_terrorism
I use Nazi Germany as a benchmark, comparing Trump's moves toward fascism to Hitler's method. A lot has changed from the 1930s – some elements make Trump's quest easier, others more difficult. The basic challenge, conditioning the population to not just accept, but applaud atrocities using propaganda (lies) that numb human decency. And terror to drive opposition into acquiescence.
The media in the 1930s was print and radio. Hitler's sycophants controlled it in Germany. The media is doing a lousy job but they have not surrendered the facts though they blunt the emphasis and give almost equal treatment to government BS. But you don't have to go to the dark web to find the truth. I know the status of cases against Trump and the administration. I can find video of abuses by ICE. Eyewitness accounts are not (yer) censored. Trump does not control the narrative like Hitlar did. He never will – access to the Internet means access to international accounts of news. For the moment, government does not have the choke hold on what regular citizens can see, unlike China and North Korea.
Borderdenizen properly linked to an article on Stochastic Terrorism, a request for someone (anyone) to commit violence against an enemy of the administration. It's old – an example in Shakespeare: "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" A recent answer to the drumbeat stream of dog whistles from Trump and Miller was granted in a pair of assassination attempts, two dead, two in serious condition. This is horrific but Hitler had an army of terrorists who committed hundreds of murders of people Hitler deemed opponents to his power grab. (Look up "night of the long knives", not accurate considering the purge took place over months.) Trump does not (yet) have an army of killers he can trust to eliminate politicians in opposition, or entertainers who speak out, or visible known organizers. Trump is (so far) counting on lone-wolf nut cases to take out liberals.
Granted, I'm concluding from inconclusive evidence but the Army gave Trump the middle finger on Saturday. You won't find a written memo or proof but the Army showed up with a full head of resentment. IMO, the organization of professionals in the military finds Whiskey Pete an insult. Replacing the top brass in the Pentagon with inexperienced nitwits has to grind the gears of anyone who has put in several decades of honorable service. I can conceive of a military coup to oust Trump and all his appointees – I can't see one happening to perpetuate their undisciplined incompetence. The parade in Saturday confirmed that to me.
Bibi may have committed a strategic error on a par with Hitler's invasion of Russia. He has two fronts now – Gaza, which pitted his equipped forces against Palestinians armed with sticks and rocks. The second front has arms, soldiers, and they do not like Israel. – Iran might be resupplied by Russia. There's no way war turns out well, but this may be an ugly miscalculation by Netenyahu which the US will get sucked into.
Russia's expansive and so is Israel. Iran and North Korea are transactionally involved with Russia in warfare against Ukraine.
The U.S. supports Israel militarily for defense but does not get to define the word defense or even have control of blatant war crime infractions committed using U.S. support. The U.S.'s attempts to control Israel's expansion are generally ignored or otherwise circumvented or denied.
With the current administrations constant overtures to Russia and overt moves towards Kleptocracy, the U.S. presents itself as an unstable force to the rest of the world and seriously at risk of getting painted, or getting painted more forcefully, as a manipulated pawn of Israel.
Some U.S. hawks seem aware of this problem.
The U.S. lacks control over Israel now. Previous agreements with Iran were voided by the U.S. unilaterally, casting doubt about any U.S. present diplomatic attempts at a resolution. The U.S.'s position toward and world organizations is best described as a flagrant scofflaw. This also bodes terribly for any diplomatic resolution or way out of any increased entanglements.
Will the U.S. get sucked in? We suckered into a loser last fall. Now we seem to be catching on to that mistake. That does not mean we learned how not to be a sucker. No worry about outsmarting them all with this administration though, that is a given. We are in this one on the – even the blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while – chances with current administrative blunderers. More horror potential and new levels of horror intensity possible.
At least we don't need to obsess about whether the cup is half full or half empty question, anymore. Now we only need only ponder how to quench our thirst from an empty cup. I am optimistic we might learn that skill soon.