Good morning, Yard signs don't vote, a famous political adage goes — but that doesn't mean they can't cause a ruckus. Several Minnesota towns have ordinances requiring political signs to come down a few weeks after Election Day, but are now getting pushback over attempts to make people in these conservative towns take down their Trump signs. In part, this reflects how support for (or opposition to) Donald Trump has become somewhat of a cultural position, and not merely a matter of electoral politics. There are also First Amendment implications. [ Read more from Dan Gunderson] Dive deeper: A recent experiment found yard signs have a small but real effect on turnout, though the actual impacts varied quite a bit depending on the type of race, type of sign, and more. [Read more from Donald P. Green, Jonathan S. Krasno, Alexander Coppock, Benjamin D. Farrer, Brandon Lenoir and Joshua Zingher] The race for Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota is getting heated. Incumbent Jennifer Carnahan called her challenger, state Sen. Mark Koran, "a man of no integrity," while Koran is accusing Carnahan of a "massive conflict of interest." [Read more from the Star Tribune's Patrick Condon] President Biden will be making a national address about COVID-19 tonight at 7 p.m. CT. You can listen live on MPR News. [Read more] Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty — the last Republican elected to statewide office in Minnesota — has thoughts about the future of the Republican Party. In a recent speech, Pawlenty called for Republicans to accept same-sex marriage and offer up plans to address climate change, in order to win votes "to push back against the naive, but rising, call for socialism in our country." [Listen at MPR News] With jury selection underway in the Derek Chauvin trial, I was struck by how I've never been called for jury duty. I'd wager many of you Minnesotans are in a similar situation. That's because fewer than 5 percent of Minnesotans get called for jury duty each year — a rate that (ignoring people who move in and out, or come of age or die) would have most people called for jury duty once every 25 years. That's far below a national average of 15 percent of the population called for jury duty each year. MinnPost's Greta Kaul looked into the reasons why Minnesota's rate is so low, including a different way of empaneling juries than many states, and fewer no-shows. [ Read more from MinnPost's Greta Kaul] Gun permits are way up in Minnesota — and a rising share of these gun owners are liberals. Learn about gun safety classes that teach people about "toxic masculinity," and gun rights advocates who compare the right to own a firearm with the right to have an abortion. [Read more from the Minnesota Reformer's Max Nesterak] Something completely different: A viral tweet posits the following game: "Someone puts a blank map of the USA in front of you. Says you have a chance to win up to $50 million: $1 million for every state you can correctly identify. The catch: if you get one wrong, you get nothing, but you can leave blanks. How much money you making?" Now, I may spend more time staring at maps than most people, but to me that's an easy $50 million. Here's a more interesting challenge for you: click on each state on a blank map. I got 100% with 4:55 remaining (Wyoming as my first state made it tricky!); if you can get 100% with more time remaining, email me and I'll give you a shoutout in Friday's newsletter. [ Play the game] Listen: "Born in the USA" is great, but I've got a soft spot for early Springsteen — the verbose, surreal urban streetscapes of "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." And it doesn't get any better than that album's longest track, the epic "Lost in the Flood" — especially a live cut.
Gun permits are way up in Minnesota — and a rising share of these gun owners are liberals. Learn about gun safety classes that teach people about "toxic masculinity," and gun rights advocates who compare the right to own a firearm with the right to have an abortion. [Read more from the Minnesota Reformer's Max Nesterak] Something completely different: A viral tweet posits the following game: "Someone puts a blank map of the USA in front of you. Says you have a chance to win up to $50 million: $1 million for every state you can correctly identify. The catch: if you get one wrong, you get nothing, but you can leave blanks. How much money you making?" Now, I may spend more time staring at maps than most people, but to me that's an easy $50 million. Here's a more interesting challenge for you: click on each state on a blank map. I got 100% with 4:55 remaining (Wyoming as my first state made it tricky!); if you can get 100% with more time remaining, email me and I'll give you a shoutout in Friday's newsletter. [ Play the game] Listen: "Born in the USA" is great, but I've got a soft spot for early Springsteen — the verbose, surreal urban streetscapes of "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." And it doesn't get any better than that album's longest track, the epic "Lost in the Flood" — especially a live cut.
