Two Minnesota State Lawmakers Shot, One Killed, in ‘Politically Motivated’ Attack

Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

Two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes early Saturday, in what Gov. Tim Walz [pictured right] called "politically motivated" 

An unspeakable tragedy has unfolded in Minnesota," Walz said at a press briefing later Saturday morning.  " My good friend and colleague, [former] Speaker Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early this morning in what appears to be a politically-motivated assassination."

Hortman and his wife, Yvette, were also “each shot multiple times,” but both were out of surgery as of mid-morning.

“We are cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” Walz said.

Two Minnesota State Lawmakers Shot, One Killed, in ‘Politically Motivated’ Attack

Story by Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

Two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes early Saturday, in what Gov. Tim Walz called "politically motivated" 

An unspeakable tragedy has unfolded in Minnesota," Walz said at a press briefing later Saturday morning.  " My good friend and colleague, [former] Speaker Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early this morning in what appears to be a politically-motivated assassination."

Hortman and his wife, Yvette, were also “each shot multiple times,” but both were out of surgery as of mid-morning.

“We are cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” Walz said.

The pair of shootings, which rocked Minnesota and drew a wave of condemnation nationwide, appears to be just the latest incident of politically fueled violence in the country, including two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington last month.

Don’t Listen To The Emotional Blackmail Arguments Against Pardoning Derek Chauvin

https://www.dailywire.com/news/dont-listen-to-the-emotional-blackmail-arguments-against-pardoning-derek-chauvin

By Matt Walsh, 03/10/25

A couple of months ago we discussed once again the travesty of justice that was the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin [pictured right] . This was a trial that was conducted just down the street from ground-zero of the BLM riots of 2020, which destroyed Minneapolis’ police precinct, caused $500 million in damage to more than 1,500 businesses, and resulted in several deaths. We’re talking about the single most destructive riot in United States history, after the Los Angeles riots of 1992. And it happened in the same place where Derek Chauvin’s trial was being held. But the judge — who later declared that “every case is about racial justice” in some way — didn’t move the trial to a different venue. Instead, he made sure that Chauvin’s fate was determined by jurors who knew well that their city would burn to the ground if they didn’t convict. They had security fencing and National Guard troops all around the courthouse throughout the trial, just in case that message wasn’t clear.

Pam Bondi Fires Warning Shot Over Women’s Sports

Mary Margaret Olohan, 02/25/25,  DailyWire.com

Attorney General Pam Bondi [pictured right] ... issued letters to officials in Maine, Minnesota, and California following pushback from left-wing lawmakers and state officials who have refused to comply with the president’s executive order banning men from women’s sports and spaces.

“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said Tuesday. “We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s Executive Order protecting women’s sports.”

Her letter reminds these officials that Trump’s executive order states that allowing men and boys to compete in women’s and girls’ sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.”

“The practice is also illegal under federal law: it denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports, in violation of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972.”

Warning From a Minneapolis Meeting

The New York Times reported:

 

When 12,000 public health professionals gathered in Minneapolis last week for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, issued a pointed warning about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“If R.F.K. has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines,” Dr. Adams said. “I am worried about the impact that could have on our nation’s health, on our nation’s economy, on our global security.”

Now, Mr. Kennedy, a vocal skeptic of vaccines, is in a position to have significant influence, and over a broad range of policy. Mr. Trump’s sweeping electoral victory, with Mr. Kennedy at his side, is — in the eyes of their supporters — not only a mandate but also a repudiation of the public health establishment that has long kept Mr. Kennedy at bay.

Mr. Kennedy’s worldview is embodied in two of his most frequent refrains: “There is nothing more profitable for much of the health care system than a sick child” and “Public health agencies have become sock puppets for the industries they are supposed to regulate.”

John Kelly Provides Written Testimony Opposing Assisted Suicide

John Kelly, Boston Globe Photo

There is no way to contain eligibility to a narrow set of people. Especially when thousands of disabled Americans now live with conditions that in some states are seen as “worse than death.” Anorexia nervosa and diabetes can now qualify as terminal conditions. Once death is accepted as a positive outcome of medical care, it inevitably gets offered to more and more people.

The problem for us disabled people is that we are already treated badly in the medical system. As medicine has focused increasingly on patient “quality-of-life” as a barometer of life-worthiness, death has been re-characterized as a benefit to an ill or disabled individual. Most physicians (82%,  a 2020 Harvard study found) view our “quality-of-life” as worse than non-disabled people.

Jesse Bethke Gomez Regarding Physician Assisted Suicide

In my healthcare career in service to people with apparent, and non-apparent disabilities and to older adults, I am deeply concerned about why legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Minnesota is especially harmful to people with disabilities and also to older adults. The proposed bill would exacerbate many complex problems in healthcare, and would result in the devaluation of people with disabilities and older adults.

Physician-assisted suicide is opposed by the National Council on Independent Living, the National Council on Disability and the American Medical Association. In my role as Executive Director of Metropolitan Center for Independent Living, we provide services to people with apparent and nonapparent disabilities in advancing independent living. I join these national organizations and the Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare in opposition to this harmful legislation that has the potential to place in great risk people with disabilities and older adults.

Assisted Suicide Is a Danger to Us All

https://www.postbulletin.com/opinion/letters/6734352-Letter-Assisted-suicide-is-a-danger-to-us-all

Proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide lacks safeguards.

Written By: Paul Stark | 10:30 am, Mar. 9, 2021

Arne Carlson says that Minnesota should legalize assisted suicide (“Medically assisted death is not a partisan issue,” March 2). He says the proposed bill to do so contains adequate safeguards. He’s wrong.

The legislation includes no safeguards once the lethal drug has been dispensed. And it doesn’t guard against the pressure insurers may exert if they offer to cover suicide but not  life-extending treatment. That’s happened in some states that already have assisted suicide laws.

Bills Seek to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Three bills were introduced in the 2019-2020 Minnesota Legislative Session, seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. The bills are HF 2152, SF 2286 and SF 2487. For more information, see bill histories here, here and here.

On September 11, 2019, there was an informational meeting in the House Committee on Health and Human Services regarding HF 2152.

For information about similar bills in prior years, click here and here.