Max Hailperin
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maxhailperin.bsky.social
Max Hailperin
@maxhailperin.bsky.social
Despite headlines like "MIT study finds AI can already replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce," that isn't what the report says. The researchers did a poor job of explaining their results, and news outlets did a poor job of explaining the poor explanation. iceberg.mit.edu/report.pdf
November 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The filing period for MN HD 47A and 64A special elections closed 5pm on 11/25 and the withdrawal period 5pm on 11/26. From what's been posted, it's impossible to say whether anyone withdrew, but even without that it seems that the MNGOP decided not to contest 47A. www.sos.mn.gov/election-adm...
November 26, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Max Hailperin
This 1906 story of women on the lower east side rioting because of rising beef prices is delightful and priceless. Complete with dialogue!

"You people von't eat dead shickens," he said, "so ve must ... sell dem dead mit a quarter pound less in bleedingness."

www.nytimes.com/1906/11/30/a...
EAST SIDE WOMEN RIOT OVER HIGH MEAT RATES; Butchers Put the Price Up and Blame the Beef Trust. HOUSEWIVES GO ON STRIKE March from Store to Store Proclaiming That They'll Live on Fish -Some Butchers Cl...
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Max Hailperin
As you prepare to celebrate the holiday, here's my story of grumpy old men brought back to life by kindness from long ago. Happy Thanksgiving, friends.
Brown: Bitterness dies, but gratitude lasts generations
Columnist Aaron Brown recounts stories from the life of his grandfather — a man whose gruffness couldn't erase his moments of kindness.
www.startribune.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I so regret that I'm no longer teaching or writing textbooks for which "deadlock" needs illustration.
So this happened in Oslo yesterday. Four articulated buses got stuck in a roundabout.
November 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I wish my expectation level were high enough that I could be disappointed in KSTP for acting as though withholding benefits from individual SNAP recipients pending investigation were the same kind of thing as withholding payments to a service provider.
November 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
I parted ways with Scouting 25+ years ago, but I still have the 12 points of the Scout Law memorized, and it's easy to see how the current administration would have have a problem with such values. www.scouting.org/about/faq/qu...
November 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Sounds like a plea deal is in the works, which doesn't surprise me. They requested and received two more months to work it out, coming back January 26th.
This afternoon's plea hearing for Timothy Scouton, the election judge who thought election day registrants didn't really need to register, should be interesting. Case 29-CR-24-1128. The denial of motion to dismiss for lack of probable cause, index 42, provides a good recap of where it stands.
November 24, 2025 at 7:21 PM
This afternoon's plea hearing for Timothy Scouton, the election judge who thought election day registrants didn't really need to register, should be interesting. Case 29-CR-24-1128. The denial of motion to dismiss for lack of probable cause, index 42, provides a good recap of where it stands.
November 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Twin Cities folks: Soul To Soul Smokehouse at Midtown Global Market qualified as a reliable smoker of turkeys until they closed. Is there anyone currently operating that we could give a shout-out?
Here’s a non-Thanksgiving turkey tip: if you have a reliable local barbecue spot and they make smoked turkey and you’ve never had whatever kind of turkey sandwich they make with it, it will probably change your life
it is tired to the point of cliche to say if turkey was good, people would make it more than once a year. but it is understated that at least one American explodes every Thanksgiving in a brave attempt to make the main dish more palatable
November 23, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Jeff Howe not seeking re-election in MN SD 13 needs to be put in context of Lisa Demuth doing the same in HD 13A, so the room for GOP newcomers in that area will be even greater. All three legislative districts (SD 13, HD 13A, HD 13B) are safe for the GOP.
November 23, 2025 at 9:12 PM
I edited my post to include an update: a subsequently-released video describes the MetroTransit garage mural’s creation and credits the artists, Daniela Bianchini, Pablo Kalaka, Gabriela Sepúlveda, and DAKA Studio. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN4I...
November 23, 2025 at 4:50 PM
The story of two working-class men: a Minnesotan whose identity was stolen and a Guatemalan national living in Missouri who had purchased that stolen identity without knowing its origin. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/u...
Two Men. One Identity. They Both Paid the Price.
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
John James's op-ed may or may not be good policy advice, but it's lousy history. He asks what has changed since Minnesota's 1858 statehood. Given the context, the most obvious answer is that there were fewer counties then. Also, state tax was property tax. www.startribune.com/mn-human-ser...
November 23, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Trump has no more power to cut off Somali TPS (whether in one state or nationwide) before its March 17, 2026, expiration date than he has to spell our governor's name correctly. But we should also understand that only 705 Somalis are approved for TPS nationwide, presumably fewer in Minnesota.
November 22, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Wait, the critic of supposedly secret negotiations advocated against making the deal public? www.startribune.com/university-o...
November 21, 2025 at 8:30 PM
To belabor the obvious, this is the context in which the U is still talking about finding a new partner. Hello?
i have heard that north memorial hospital in robbinsdale is heading towards failure and being taken over by hennepin county

story from may 2025 warning of this -

www.startribune.com/could-north-...
www.startribune.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Analysis: Ellison Leads by Overriding U of M’s Intransigence tcbmag.com/analysis-ell...
Analysis: Ellison Leads by Overriding U of M’s Intransigence
Minnesota’s A.G. worked with Fairview and the physicians’ group—both ready to make a health care deal.
tcbmag.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:51 AM
I still haven't seen a press release from @minneapolismn.gov, so this excerpt from the canvassing board minutes will have to do. If you want to see people putting ballots onto piles and counting how many are in each pile to verify the optical-scan accuracy, Thursday is your chance.
November 20, 2025 at 2:02 AM
I see the U firing the UMP CEO from his parallel role as a VP at the U as a positive development because when his successor fails to negotiate a better deal, it will be apparent that it's because there's no better deal to be had, not conflict of interest.
www.startribune.com/u-ousts-high...
www.startribune.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:17 AM
I knew MN legislators were elected w/o party designation from 1913 to 1973. But I assumed the 1913 change was just a progressive-era reform idea. The real history of how a provision intended as a "poison pill" to kill a bill became law for 60 years is wild. storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-sup...
storage.googleapis.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Including Minnesota's Steve Simon
November 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
This minor-party candidate for Minnesota governor may wind up benefiting one major party or the other, but he passes my initial sniff test of sounding genuine rather than put up by a major party to divide the opposition. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
November 18, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Minneapolis releases Cast Vote Record (CVR) extracts for each individual ranked-choice race but not for entire ballots. However, based on the precinct columns perfectly matching up, it appears the rows are in the same order in each CVR file. If so, one can do cross-race analyses like this.
November 16, 2025 at 3:12 PM
On a citywide basis, 13 times as many voters voted for Frey in the first rank and left the next two blank as voted for Frey in all three ranks. But this ratio of styles of Frey-only voting varies substantially from ward to ward, ranging from a low of 4 in Ward 5 to a high of 26 in Ward 13.
The @jakesteinberg.com and @jeffhargarten.bsky.social analysis somewhat misstates its result. Yes, 26,573 ballots were "Jacob Fry, undervote, undervote" but no, that isn't the number "that only ranked Frey" (and similarly for Fateh) because there are other ways to only rank Frey.
November 15, 2025 at 11:06 PM