Most of the rural areas are red, some of them decidedly so.

2020 Presidential results:

Just sayin'.

to keep the GOPers in the legislature under control, but it's a constant struggle.

though there are a few Up North who aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. And the statutes defining the possible offenses are different. If the same judge and prosecutors who were involved in the Chauvin trial had handled it, the result might have been different - at least there wouldn't have been the obvious bias toward Rittenhouse, and the prosecutors wouldn't have been stepping on their dicks. Except for the statutes, I think the outcome was affected more by the particular court than by the state generally.

Really?

And a police officer was found guilty.

I think you're making the common mistake in assuming that Minnesota is a monolithic blue state. It's nothing of the sort. Parts of it are rabidly conservative. Remember Michele Bachmann?

At the moment, it has one of the worst new Covid infection rates in the entire country.

Why? This is where the jobs are. WhY? Also better school system.

And then they run for office, as Republicans, of course with the goal of cutting all the benefits that attracted them in the first place.

full of antt-vaxxers and maskholes. Parts of MN are basically Alabama only cold and with wolves.

and tying up the hands of the governor in declaring emergency..

of children in MN attend school? Every state has the back-to-school problem.

In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Supremacist Court tied the hands of Gov Evers, though I think some counties were able to impose mandates and restrictions (though nobody is doing that this year, that I'm aware of).

I suppose I can't say this here, but I very much admired Mpls Mayor Frey for being strictest on the bar & restaurant restrictions last year. Keeping e.g. the no sitting or standing at counters and the physical bar for longer than anywhere else. And even the bar & restaurant closings longer.

In Iowa, NoDak, and SoDak, right-wing governors haven't imposed any restrictions other than back in the first few months of the pandemic.

Anyway, this year in this fall wave, there aren't any restrictions or mandates anywhere in any of the 5 states other than some imposed by businesses, or the unenforced federal mask mandate on public transportation AFAIK, some schools, so it's pretty much all down to how people behave -- how many get vaccinated, wear masks, stay away from crowded places, etc.

Last year in the fall-winter, MN spent time in the #1 spot too. Before that there was a period when we were an oasis of relatively low covid cases compared to all our neighbors. Its interesting how the rankings of states change with time.

George Floyd trial and verdict is like 180 degrees different. Blue Minnesota, not the red rural part, is to be commended. How does that happen? They're all mid-western states. And didn't Wisconsin used to be blue with it's own progressive party?

And the cases really aren't analogous.

I didn’t know. And your opinion is soooo important to me.

Does this mean the prom date is off?

Minnesota man is close to replacing Florida man.