Tragedy and Comedy in the Twin Cities

The devastation wrought by rioters and looters in Minneapolis and St. Paul has been immense. I am not sure that news stories have fully captured the damage that these criminals (not “protesters”) have done. Bring Me the News is compiling a list of buildings and businesses that have been damaged or destroyed. These are in Minneapolis:

– Wells Fargo Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– J-Klips Lake Street: Property damage.
– Hennepin County Human Service Center: Property damage.
– ICC Wireless Lake Street: Property damage.
– Jackson Hewitt Tax Service: Property damage.
– Little Caesars Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Teppanyaki Grill Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Home Choice Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Dollar General Lake Street: Extensive fire damage.
– Twin Lake Dental: Fire and property damage.
– HD Laundry Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Citi Trends Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Total Wireless Lake Street: Fire and property damage.
– Pineda Tacos Lake Street: Property damage.
– Subway Lake Street: Property damage.
– 7 Mile Fashion Express East Lake Street: Destroyed by fire
– The Fremont Bar Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– O’Reilly Auto Parts West Broadway: Extensive fire damage.
– Broadway Liquor Outlet West Broadway: Property damage, looting.
– Quality Tobacco Lake and 1st: Extensive fire damage.
– Skol Liquor Store 27th Avenue: Property damage, looting.
– Max-It Pawn Shop Cedar Avenue: Extensive fire damage.
– Minnehaha Liquor Lake Street: Property damage, looting, extensive fire damage.
– Hexagon Bar at E 26th and 27th: Extensive fire damage.
– Target Lake Street: Looting, graffiti, property damage, fire damage.
– Wendy’s Lake Street: Fire, destroyed.
– Autozone Lake Street: Fire, destroyed.
– Cub Foods Lake Street: Looting, property damage, fire damage.

This is what the inside of that Cub Foods store looks like:


– Under construction affordable housing development at 26th and 29th: Fire, destroyed.
– 7-Sigma building, 26th and 29th: Fire, extensive damage.
– Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct: Property damage, graffiti.
– Dollar Tree off Lake Street: Property damage, looting.
– Metro by T-Mobile Lake Street: Fire, extensive damage.
– Hi Lake Liquor: Property damage, looting.
– Speedway East Lake Street: Property damage.
– East Lake Library: Windows smashed, graffiti.
– Precision Tune Auto Care Lake Street: Property damage.
– U.S. Bank Lake Street: Property damage, graffiti.
– Dairy Queen East Lake Street: Property damage.
– Papa Murphy’s Pizza East Lake Street: Property damage.
– Planet Fitness on Lake: Property damage.
– Domino’s Pizza 26th and 28th: Property damage.
– Urban Forage Winery and Cider House, Lake and 29th: Property damage, looting.
– Gandhi Mahal Restaurant, 27th and Lake: Window smashed.
– Car-X Tire & Auto East Lake Street: Property damage, vehicle smashed through windows.
– Frattelone’s Ace Hardware East Lake Street: Property damage.
– MN Transitions Charter School: Property damage.
– Laundro Max East Lake Street: Window smashed.
– Soderberg’s Floral & Gift East Lake Street: Window smashed.
– East Lake Clinic: Property damage.
– Seward Pharmacy: Window smashed, graffiti.
– Electra Tune Auto Care on Lake St: Property damage, vehicle stolen.
– Walgreens at 43rd and Chicago: Property damage, looting.
– Elevated Beer Wine & Spirits, Hiawatha Ave: Property damage, looting.
– Schooner’s Tavern, barbershop next door: Fire, property damage.
– Seward Co-op, 28th and Franklin: Window smashed, attempted theft of ATM.
– Midtown Global Market: Property damage, looting.
– Briva Health Lake Street: Window smashed.
– Foot Locker East Lake Street: Property damage, looting.
– BMO Harris East Lake Street: Property damage.
– TCF Bank at 38th and Minnehaha: Property damage.
– Studiiyo23 Hennepin Avenue, Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– DTLR, Broadway, North Minneapolis: Property damage, looting.
– Uptown Pawn: Property damage, looting.
– La Familia Skate Shop: Property damage.
– Target Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– Chicago & Lake Liquor: Property damage, looting.
– East Lake Liquor: Property damage, looting.
– Ingebretsens on Lake: Property damage, windows smashed.
– Freewheel Bike: Property damage, windows smashed.
– Hamdi Restaurant, Midtown: Property damage, graffiti.
– Hudson’s Hardware, East 42nd Street: Property damage and looting.
– Birchwood Cafe, East 25th Street: Property damage.
– CVS Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– Timberland Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– Sunnys Wigs 29th and Lyndale: Property damage.
– Thurston Jewelers West Lake Street: Property damage.
– Banadir Pharmacy West Lake Street: Property damage and looting
– Sephora Uptown: Property damage.
– Gamestop Uptown: Property damage, looting.
– Indulge and Bloom, Uptown: Property damage.
– H&M Uptown: Windows smashed.
– Apple Store Uptown: Windows smashed.
– Urban Outfitters Uptown: Door window smashed.
– Smokeless Northeast: Vandalized, closed till further notice.
– AutoZone at 501 West Broadway, North Minneapolis: Unconfirmed report of looting, property damage.
– Buzzmart, downtown Minneapolis: Property damage.
– Town Talk Diner, Lake Street: Extensive property damage.

This is the inside of that diner:


The St. Paul police had nothing to do with George Floyd’s death, but looters are not much interested in geographical boundaries. These St. Paul businesses have been damaged:

– Lloyd’s Pharmacy Snelling and Minnehaha: Destroyed by fire.
– Target Midway: Property damage, looting.
– CVS University Avenue: Property damage, looting.
– Max It Pawn Shop University Avenue: Property damage, looting.
– Verizon Store Hamline Avenue: Property damage.
– Noodles & Co Hamline Avenue: Property damage.
– Vitamine Shoppe Hamline Avenue: Property damage.
– Big Top Liquors Midway: Property damage.
– TJ Maxx Midway: Property damage, small fire.
– Sprint store Midway: Property damage, looting.
– Midway Tobacco Outlet Plus: Property damage
– NAPA Auto Parts University Avenue: Property damage, fire.
– T-Mobile on Arcade and York: Property damage, looting.
– LeeAnn Chinn Midway: Property damage, graffiti.
– America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses Midway: Property damage, graffiti.
– Furniture Barn Midway: Property damage, graffiti, fire.
– BP on University Avenue: Property damage.
– Walgreens on Randolph and Snelling: Property damage, looting.
– Discount Tire Co. Midway: Property damage.
– O’Reilly Auto Parts Lexington: Property damage, fire.
– TCF Bank Lexington and University: Property damage.
– Lululemon Grand Avenue: Property damage, looting.
– Speedway University Ave: Property damage, fire.
– Ananya Dance Theater University Ave: Property damage.
– Springboard for the Arts University Ave: Property damage, fire.
– 7-Mile Sportwear University Ave: Property damage, looting.
– Fire n Ice Chicken: Property damage.
– Liquor Barrel on West 7th: Property damage, looting.
– Moellers Jewelry, Highland: Property damage.
– The Fixery, Highland: Property damage.
– Bole Ethiopian Restaurant: Fire.
– Enterprise University Avenue: Fire.

You can check back at the link for more as the rioters continue their destruction.

Amid the carnage, there have been moments of comedy. Minnesota State Police officers arrested a CNN reporter while he was on the air, live, covering the riots. For no apparent reason:


Have looters and arsonists been getting arrested? Not that I’ve seen. You can’t make this stuff up.

We have witnessed a massive failure of leadership in the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota. Boy Mayor Jacob Frey has been exposed as a childish nonentity. Meanwhile, what about the Minneapolis City Council, which is responsible for the city’s Police Department? It is one of the most far-left political bodies in the U.S., and so far it has not been heard from, as far as I have seen. Governor Tim Walz, too, has been AWOL, although I do have to give him a little credit for his State Police cracking down on CNN. Amid the general incompetence, President Trump is threatening to step into the breach:

At this point, I suspect that there are a good number of Democrats in the Twin Cities who wouldn’t mind seeing the president make good on his promise.

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