John Woebke
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johnwoebke.bsky.social
John Woebke
@johnwoebke.bsky.social
200 followers 55 following 75 posts
Honestly, I don't intend to post about politics.
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lyz.bsky.social
My hero of 2025
December 11, 2025 at 8:33 PM
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artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social
Stadia II, by Julie Mehretu, 2004, 📸 by @ReinerJacob
December 7, 2025 at 5:10 PM
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staciaann.bsky.social
Cities97 has been playing the last two bars of the @maxmcnown01.bsky.social song “A Lot More Free” for over 7 minutes. lol methinks this is in error
December 3, 2025 at 1:52 AM
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pleasebegneiss.bsky.social
every generation loves Rumours. it’s fucking Rumours
esquire article with headline “why does gen z love rumours so much?”
November 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
Apparently, Gopher puck is not going to dig us out of this mess.
October 26, 2025 at 2:09 AM
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object.works
Are you ready for some football
October 12, 2025 at 5:07 PM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
God damn, that sounds good.
etrigan.bsky.social Etrigan @etrigan.bsky.social · Oct 9
I’m just looking forward to Penn State locking into a pattern of getting a hot hire every decade, getting one B1G title and three playoff appearances, never dipping below nine wins, and then repeating.
October 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
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rodger.bsky.social
when UNC scored on the first possession of the first game and Colin Cowherd immediately posted this, and then UNC lost by 34
Wasn’t really sure what to expect from Chapel Bill. But after that drive, I have him as second best college coach I’ve ever seen, just below Saban.
October 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by John Woebke
adotsad.bsky.social
First Democrat that promises retribution and legally going after this lawless administration gets my money in the 2028 primary
timlambert-pa.bsky.social Tim Lambert @timlambert-pa.bsky.social · Oct 9
"One of the fired FBI employees, a combat veteran who was months away from becoming eligible for retirement, was called back to the office after having left for the day and informed of the dismissal, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News."
ryanjreilly.com Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · Oct 8
FBI fires special agents who worked on Jack Smith's probe into Trump

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
October 9, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by John Woebke
dbrauer.net
Another comment from a former media associate who turned Kupchella down:
Thanks for summing up the show. I meant to record it, but didn't. I was approached a couple years ago to help make this doc. During our call, Rick hinted at his pro-business slant. I told him I thought Minneapolis has suffered undeserved reputational damage after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests. And that every city in the country was struggling with empty downtown real estate now that workers proved they didn't need to be in the office. I let him know I'm in Minneapolis at least three times a week, and I think it's pretty great place to work, hang out, and volunteer. No surprise, I never got another call to work on the project. Ended up steering a couple friends away from it, since I suspected it was AlphaNews-esque. I remain convinced that many who "don't go downtown anymore" rarely went in the first place and choose to believe the Alpha News narrative, which plays right into fascist politics (obsession with mythic past, fear, us v. them, and so on). Thanks for raising concerns. Not sure who funded the doc. Maybe just Rick. He's made plenty of money messaging for huge MN companies since his journalism days
October 4, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by John Woebke
dbrauer.net
Some of you know me as an OG media reporter, but Brian Lambert, who I don’t think is on here, taught me. He had some great thoughts about Kupchella’s landlord ad & “journalism.” Sorry for no alt-text; these excerpts are too long. If you need alt please message me & I’ll shoot you an email or text.
If you're in the news, tough facts and full transparency business, the question, "Who paid for this?" should not come as tough or surprising. Like some of you last night, I watched the documentary, "A Precarious State", noting the presence of former KARE-TV reporter Rick Kupchella, its unusual commercial-free runtime on several ABC stations owned by the Hubbard family and its weighted cast of landlords, "business leaders" and conservatives of varying pedigrees. Being a guy who doesn't get out much, I had no inkling of the production until yesterday morning, when I read an infomercial on the Star Tribune's op-ed page. It was a piece written by Kupchella touting his show. I could have thought, "Cool! The Strib is now running paid promos in its editorial section. Kind of like Budweiser decals on Nascars." I hadn't stopped asking, "What the f*ck is this? before several texts arrived asking if I knew anything about the show." Several of my woke, Marxist, anti-capitalist, eat-the-rich, let's all eat bugs-and-roots cronies were already smelling a new variation of a MAGA-marinated Liz Collin/Mrs. Bob Kroll attack on the faerie lefty nymphs running Minneapolis... or in the case of Kupchella's piece, all of Minnesota. Not knowing anything about what was up, I told them that I only knew Kupchella from back in the day and generally liked his work. As they say in the biz, "He's good TV." Not a raver. Not a ranter. Adept at compiling statistics and delivering the goods with a genial, neighborly vibe. To a couple of my pals I did add, somewhat recklessly, that he was also "a relentless self- promoter", "relentless" probably being a bit much. But the point was the guy, even as a staff reporter for a corporate-owned TV station knew how to market his goods. As a media columnist at the time I always knew when a new Kupchella piece was about to drop. And as I say, they were consistently "above average." Quality visuals. Lots of interviews... and stats. Not that any of that guarantees a… If you missed the show last night, the capsule summary is that Minnesota, Minneapolis in particular, has descended to the levels of depressed, illiterate, crime-ridden hellholes like Louisiana and Mississippi. Everything around us is trending toward disaster. And the main reason is ... wait for it... oh, you already guessed ... radical democratic socialists... who in five short years have emasculated both our prosperity-inducing developers, landlords and cops. But mostly our cops. Now, being an old white guy living in Edina I don't pay as much attention as I should to the daily nitty of the Minneapolis City Council. But even as a delusional, woke, MAGA-resistant scold I can accept that some of the stuff the council's majority yabbers about and proposes is kinda batty. As batshit as Tylenol causing autism? Defunding pediatric cancer research? Or flushing anyone who knows anything about science out of the CDC? No. Not quite that loony and destructive. But counter-productive. IMHO a lot of the current council lacks the realpolitik awareness that any city, especially big cities like Minneapolis, require buy-in from a wider range of influencers than the 40 people who showed up on caucus night and got you on the ballot. Kupchella's film, which plays like it got a script polish by John Hinderaker and Katherine Kersten at the Center for the American Experiment, (another operation from whom I'd love to see a donor list), does make some valid points about the easily-gamed caucus system. But its primary focus is ... crime. Lots of crime. Constant crime. Crime so pervasive "no one" wants to go anywhere downtown. Put simply, the film argues, Minneapolis needs lots more cops. The deep irony there being that the appallingly inadequate vetting and training of cops was what (along with outside agitators) incited the George Floyd riots. But (without new taxes of course) let's quickly put 600 more of those guys out there and hope for the best this time (In the context of "too few cops on the street", I always like to remind readers that in the George Floyd episode, two MPD squad cars and a third, a Park Police squad, carrying a total of six peace officers, turned up to check out the possibility of a fake $20. And were soon bellowing f-bombs, waving guns and murdering the suspect.) Kupchella's statistics team wove in a lot of gloomy numbers about our crime and student achievement. But, odd thing about Google ... five-seconds of tapping turns up other numbers that paint a far ... far ... less grim picture. Like the stuff US News and World report culled from FBI stats showing that The City of Lakes and Free Fire Hellholes was actually dead last in violent crime among the USA's 25 largest metros. Similarly, the state's academic achievement scores, while certainly in need of improvement (whose aren't?) still hold up well in comparison to say, Texas, which Kupchella and crew regard as a beacon of deregulated, low-tax, free enterprise supremacy... never mind the wretched state of its schools, which landlords, developers and can-do entrepreneurs invariably hate paying taxes to support. (Those Democrat unions, y'know.) And on the topic of schools, at one point Kupchella interviews what I guess he regards as an average, representative suburban Minneapolis couple; parents of school age children. Nice looking folks. Tidy house. But, I'm sorry when the dude with the crucifix necklace starts muttering about "indoctrination" in Minnesota's public schools and how "parents need more input" into curriculum, one guesses, I'm out of there. Similarly, in the context of "good TV" we have "exclusive security cam footage of a wild shoot out last year down off Franklin and 19th. It's berserk. Sixty-some bullets fired. Some guy with an Uzi- style machine gun. Bad. No way to coat it. But for, um, dramatic purposes, Kupchella runs that clip ... three times ... and on the last roll intones, that this ... "is the new normal." Also, just asking… But that would have ruined the fun. I could go on ... and on ... but the point is that this, very much like, but with far more mainstream polish than your average Alpha News/Liz Collin rabble rouser, is a film with an agenda. And that's fine. For the next few hours at least it's still a free country. You got something you want to say and you've got somebody willing to write the check to buy an hour of airtime on a half dozen network affiliates around the state, knock yourself out. But if the game here includes the pretense of journalistic integrity you owe it to your viewers to show your work. Like a list of who contributed how much to cover the two years of production and tab for an hour of commercial-free network airtime. After the film aired Kupchella hosted an on-line discussion with several of the key sources/subjects and took questions from viewers. Mine was, "Who provided money to produce this film? Did the Hubbard family donate? Why wasn't Mayor Frey interviewed? Did he deny a request?" Unless I missed it, time expired before they got to those
October 4, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by John Woebke
jeradwalker.bsky.social
Holy shit. A 360lb receiver. 😬
September 28, 2025 at 1:26 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
Biking, with a stop at @utepilsbrewing.com for lunch and a beer. Let the suckers buy a cabin.
August 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
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cjzero.bsky.social
Almost
Nebraska fan wearing a shirt that says WE ALMOST ALWAYS ALMOST WIN Nebraska Football
August 29, 2025 at 4:14 AM
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matthumbert.bsky.social
Fuck you, with all due disrespect.
justinbaragona.bsky.social Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · Aug 27
Fox News' Trey Gowdy: "The only thing that can give us any modicum of peace at all is those two children are with the person who loved them the very most, the person who created them, that being Jesus. That is the only thing that can possibly give parents in the future any modicum of peace."
August 27, 2025 at 11:01 PM
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jdmill.bsky.social
Thoughts and prayers...
Anthony Jeselnik Thoughts And Prayers - Virtue Signaling On Social Media
YouTube video by Gino Orlandini
youtu.be
August 28, 2025 at 1:02 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
Im still watching, btw
johnwoebke.bsky.social John Woebke @johnwoebke.bsky.social · Aug 15
I like when @tpt does their money drives and shows concerts for old timers like me. I see Fleetwood Mac on the guide and click to see ... a cover band. A really l, really good cover band, for sure. But maybe show us the real thing or stick with the Bee Gees.
August 15, 2025 at 2:15 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
I like when @tpt does their money drives and shows concerts for old timers like me. I see Fleetwood Mac on the guide and click to see ... a cover band. A really l, really good cover band, for sure. But maybe show us the real thing or stick with the Bee Gees.
August 15, 2025 at 2:11 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
Why would a retired person be on LinkedIn at all, let alone sign up in retirement?
garethwatkins.bsky.social Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · Aug 10
Somebody on LinkedIn said what we're all thinking.
August 11, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by John Woebke
ndrew.bsky.social
this is the way rich people think about health insurance
ohrobin.bsky.social gamera obscura @ohrobin.bsky.social · Aug 4
It’s ever a good idea to see what’s going on at the NYT, but
The NYT When Everybody Has Airport Lounge Access, Nobody Does Aug. 3, 2025
August 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
Hello from my awesome daughter and cute granddaughter.
July 11, 2025 at 3:12 AM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
My account was hacked and I just got it back. I'm not sure what was posted from my account over the past two or three weeks, but I hope it was entertaining.
July 8, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by John Woebke
indivistwincities.bsky.social
The day started with tragedy with political violence in MN and instead of being scared, neighbors SHOWED UP to stand together at No Kings Twin Cities. We packed the Capitol Mall all the way to the Cathedral. Estimate 80,000+ right now. So proud of our state. #nokings #indivisible
June 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
johnwoebke.bsky.social
I've been pretty impressed with the local TV coverage on the assassinations, considering they don't have a lot of experience with day long coverage with no breaks.
June 14, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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ellenbraaten.bsky.social
Let’s not forget that earlier today, this day was known as “we cannot build bananas in America” day. That is, until everything went bananas
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jun 5
DEAN: What's the tariff on bananas?

LUTNICK: Generally 10%

DEAN: Walmart has already increased the cost of bananas by 8%

LUTNICK: If you build in America, there is no tariff

DEAN: We cannot build bananas in America
June 6, 2025 at 12:57 AM