Jason
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Jason
@jasonsamuels.net
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After everyone left, the candles from the vigil are still burning bright. There must be justice for Alex Pretti's murder.
January 25, 2026 at 3:55 AM
Only millions? He asked them for a billion. | May 2024: Trump pressed oil executives to give $1 billion for his campaign, people in industry say - POLITICO share.google/IJCfioKh9n6t...
“To the extent that there is this suggestion that these executives raise a $1 billion on Trump’s behalf, that would potentially violate federal law,” Chlopak said. “A billion dollars is far above the limits. A candidate can’t make that request.” Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the watchdog group Public Citizen, said violating the law would have to involve a clear quid pro quo in which Trump offered to take an action because of the donation.
January 3, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Agree, but.. Federal Reserve data says it's even worse - the top 10% hold over two-thirds while the bottom half have 2.5%. But that's not the whole story. Since '89 the 90-99th percentile has maintained, while the bottom 90% have receded and the top 1% gained.

www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/...
December 28, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Someone made a business decision here that it's more profitable for them to use an AI slop version of downtown Minneapolis for the cover art. Gotta wonder if the song lyrics were AI written too, it's so bad.
Snoop Dogg Christmas in Minnesota album art depicting Santa flying reindeer into a dodgy generative AI rendering of downtown Minneapolis
December 25, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Seems like a pretty reasonable answer when you read past the headline.
The most interesting part of the interview arrived when Korosec brought on a thought experiment. What if self-driving vehicles like Waymo and others reduce the number of traffic fatalities in the United States, but a self-driving vehicle does eventually cause a fatal crash, Korosec pondered. Or as she put it to the executive: “Will society accept that? Will society accept a death potentially caused by a robot?” “I think that society will,” Mawakana answered, slowly, before positioning the question as an industrywide issue. “I think the challenge for us is making sure that society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to.” She said that companies should be transparent about their records by publishing data about how many crashes they’re involved in, and she pointed to the “hub” of safety information on Waymo’s website. Self-driving cars will dramatically reduce crashes, Mawakana said, but not by 100%: “We have to be in this open and honest dialogue about the fact that we know it’s not perfection.”
December 4, 2025 at 7:10 PM
@taylordahlin.com lives in this guy's head and now Strib comment threads rent free, which as a concept you'd think would be anathema for these big landlords.
Strib comment thread, most recent of them read: In reply to jasonsamuels Fact Check: I never encouraged any texts about crime be blamed on an opponent. My comments in a private conversation that were illegally intercepted by left- leaning blogger Taylor Dahlin and published on her blog without my permission suggest that, but improperly. It is true I gave $5 to WLM for a “get out the vote project “ to encourage caucus attendance, but not to influence any specific race. It is false that Lupe Development gave $35K to Safer Hennepin. It is true that Safer Hennepin advocated for the reelection of Jacob Frey. I support that too. 6 Replying to SteveMinn A Did I misquote Taylor about the amount Lupe gave to the Safer Hennepin PAC, or was her reporting inaccurate as to the $35K number? I’m looking now at Safer Hennepin’s Pre-General campaign finance report and see a $25 donation on 9.22.25 from Lupe Development. So when you say that’s false, you meant the amount was inaccurate, and you’re using casual language around the truth that you gave them a substantial gift And what about Taylor’s reporting this weekend about your quote in Jewish Insider where you described yourself as "an Israel Hawk who voted for Trump three times," is that accurate or does that need a fact check?
November 3, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Minn is even more revealing in the Strib comments section. Also, is he replying to himself in that second one? Weird.
Star Tribune comments exchange If we are following the money...Frey supported by local business people, local residents and local trade unions looking to make Minneapolis safe. Fateh supported by out-of-state socialist organizations - including the Soros' Open Society Foundation funding the Movement Voter Project, and out-of-state contributors with no connection to the city - furthering the socialist agenda. Soros baiting is a prime example of how self-styled moderate Democrats leverage right-wing talking points to drive wedges in the DFL coalition. That unfortunately works for them in the short term while damaging progressive movements long term. Alpha News followers watching this from the sidelines are howling with laughter and delight seeing it. Star Tribune comments exchange Interesting that there isn’t a deeper dive into the Massachusetts based Movement Voter Project (MVP) (FEC ID# C00728360) that is funding not only Minneapolis for the Many but also Take Action MN. Funded by George Soros' Open Society Foundations. Why are you obsessed with George Soros. I have seen multiple comments about him in this discussion and I do not understand it. His foundation tries to assist pro-democracy movements. I am not voting for Fateh but I see no reason to vilify George Soro's foundation for supporting Fateh. Minn is a former councilman, property developer, and key player in the All of Mpls crowd. His Soros comments are showing you their endgame, dropping the moderate Democrat mask for a moment to go full MAGA and wink-and-a-nod some further right voters into their tent.
November 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
"I am running because I am tired of your inadequate leadership rooted in personal ambition, moral blindness, and ideological purity."

damn
DeWayne Davis eviscerating Jacob Frey
October 29, 2025 at 1:43 AM
There's a month to go, ramping up contacts and scheduling now wouldn't be for nothing. They can get creative there, not everything has to go through official channels. I thought AI could help illustrate the latter but the guardrails hate fun.
Gemini prompt and response: Generate an image in the style of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, except it's Minneapolis mayoral candidate DeWayne Davis with messages for senior citizens about why they should vote for him This query cannot be fulfilled. Creating a political caricature or political ad in the style of Subterranean Homesick Blues carries a high risk of generating harmful political misinformation, deepfakes, or biased content. Here's why this request is problematic: Political Misinformation and Bias: Using the iconic protest imagery of Bob Dylan's work for a political advertisement creates a significant risk of generating and distributing deepfakes or misinformation about a real-world political candidate and election. Deepfakes and Manipulation: This request is a form of deepfake creation. Generating an image of a real person, especially a political figure, in a manipulated context is a potential violation of a user safety policy against creating deceptive, misleading, or harmful imagery. Satire and Authenticity: While the request may be intended as a creative parody, it is extremely difficult to generate such an image without it being interpreted as a genuine endorsement or attack, given the powerful and recognizable style of the source material. Instead of generating the image, here is a text description of what might be on such an image, based on available information about DeWayne Davis's campaign focusing on issues relevant to senior citizens: Image Description: A black and white image in the style of the Subterranean Homesick Blues video, showing a figure resembling DeWayne Davis flipping through a series of hand-lettered cards. The cards feature short, impactful messages addressing senior concerns, such as: "SENIOR HOUSING" "AFFORDABLE CARE" "LOWER PRESCRIPTIONS" "SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS" "VETERAN SUPPORT" "RESPECT OUR ELDERS"
October 7, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Bob is currently very concerned about Democratic Socialists who are indistinguishable from communists, and thinks if they win we will experience the kind of lawlessness that DC had before the National Guard was sent in.
September 25, 2025 at 3:29 AM
OMFG
Darwin Forsyth A candidate's hires are an important tell of the kind of people they would hire. Dismissing it as a smear campaign without actually "unpacking whether the actual allegations have substance or merit" is an extremely disingenuous way to deflect from the choices your candidate has made. 36m Reply Jason Samuels Darwin Forsyth Why do you assume Fateh is my candidate? He's not, but I'm open to listening and put off by the crowd rushing to try to tar-and-feather him. For my part, the only thing I'm sure about wrt to the mayor's race is that Jacob Frey has exhibited patterns of dishonesty and poor leadership, including these ongoing fearmongering campaign tactics, and he will not be ranked on my ballot. 18m Reply Darwin Forsyth Do you think that his staffer's comments are okay? Or do you think the reporter's story is inaccurate? Not a "smear" if everything that's published is true and backed up with receipts 16m Reply Jason Samuels The article describes comments made by somebody adjacent to a politician, then pivots to condemning those comments and by association the adjacent politician. Context is conveniently glossed over. I don't need to look beyond this article to unpack that any further to recognize what they're doing here, and understand the likelihood that this story was planted by a paid political operative. 4m Reply Edited Jason Samuels Darwin Forsyth oh wait, I just looked you up, looks like you *are* one of those paid political operatives. And you're out here casting doubt on people calling out campaign tactics? Interesting.
August 22, 2025 at 9:40 PM
*sigh* It's going to be a long, ugly campaign season in the city of lakes.
Comment on an article attacking Omar Fateh: This story feels like it's part of an emerging coordinated smear campaign against Fateh. It was reported a couple of days ago that Frey's allies held a call in which they claimed credit for planting several other attack stories. And the line in this article where you state that "Frey’s challengers ... are adopting a strategy of encouraging voters not to rank Frey" - that's verbatim from Frey's camp's talking points. Without unpacking whether the actual allegations here are substantive or have merit, this smells like a thinly veiled campaign hit piece targeting people's anxieties to provoke fear and anger about potential consequences of voting for someone. I hope that your audience recognizes that.
August 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Yeah, this too..
In a series of text messages with -- between Aug. 8 and Aug. 11, Boelter began revealing more details of his alleged role in the crime that ended the life of state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman. Boelter said his plan to make citizen’s arrests of state lawmakers grew out of a two-year undercover investigation he did while working for two Minneapolis-area funeral homes and the University of Minnesota eye bank. That investigation, he said, confirmed that the mRNA shots taken by millions of Americans in response to the COVID-19 virus were killing people. The investigation involved what Boelter said were the sudden and unexpected deaths of some 400 Minnesota residents that were being covered up by the state government.
August 17, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Passing this along from a friend, this bonded pair (13yo and 11yo) needs to find a new home promptly due to their owner having to unexpectedly move out of town due to a death in the family. Local to South Minneapolis.
very cute kitties
August 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Orly, 'cause this guy's last election was defined by playing public safety politics. Anyone else remember the incessant messaging warning that Chief Arradondo would quit if they lost, then Frey won and the ballot initiative was defeated, then the chief quit weeks later. Frey's team thinks you forgot
A very disingenuous campaign message from our mayor
July 1, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I personally have no use for this, just saying it's sitting there and could be snapped up by anyone with ten bucks burning a hole in their pocket....
welovempls.com domain registration checkout screen
March 2, 2025 at 2:57 AM
After giving a single $25 donation to Kamala Harris when she stepped up, a messaging flood began. Over 700 fundraising emails and a similar volume of texts asked me for more money by election day. But nothing I caught invited me to activate on a campaign. Today's the last straw with this shit #mndfl
Fundraising text with the response: Invite me to activate and organize instead. Don't use this moment to try to just milk me for more donations. Fucking STOP these texts, I tuned them out long ago and on this particular day you fecklessness really pisses me off.
January 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
He's been sending me ward 8 campaign email since late-December. I don't know how I got on his email list, but my main takeaways are that his core campaign message is that he isn't Soren Stevenson, and whoever sent this message didn't bother to use BCC to mask recipients.
January 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM