Metaphors. Last Friday, from the New York Post,
This sexually transmitted fungus causes ringworm in some very unfortunate places — and there’s an outbreak.
And you’ll never guess where. The Post reports,
Cases of TMVII have been on the rise in Europe for the past several years, especially among men who have sex with men.
In 2024, an NYC man became the first reported US case of TMVII, and it seems the icky itch has now made its way to the Midwest.
Since the STI was detected in Minnesota in July, the state has reported 13 confirmed and 27 suspected cases of TMVII.
Minnesota. Of course. News you can use,
The Minnesota Department of Health advises anyone with scaly, coin-shaped rashes on their buttocks, genitals, extremities, trunk and/or face to seek immediate medical attention and alert their sexual partners.
Minnesota has dominated the national headlines for the past three months or so. By all rights, it should return to a much-deserved obscurity, but for reasons unknown, it just can’t manage to do so.
Believe of not, some back in the North Star State miss the spotlight. Coincidentally, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a column today by John Rash, under the headline,
Rash: Minnesota has changed the national narrative on immigration
Anti-ICE activists failed to accomplish any tangible goal during the two-month “siege” of Minneapolis, but have declared a moral victory.
In support of his changed narrative claim, Rash cites a handful of opinion poll results, including this curious one,
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have commensurately come down, with NBC reporting 61% disapprove of the president.
Really? Is this true? I consulted today’s Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Approval poll, which has Trump slightly underwater at 47-51. At 47 percent approval, Trump is exactly where he was back on October 24, some four months ago. during the midst of the prolonged first government shutdown last fall (October-November).
That shutdown took a noticeable toll on Trump’s popularity, as he sat at 53 percent in late September, just prior to the shutdown’s beginning. But the shutdown did not accomplish the Democrats’ stated goal. From today’s Politico,
Why Congress failed to reach an Obamacare deal
Politico reports,
It would be 43-days before eight senators in the Democratic caucus relented, ending the record-long shutdown. But there was still no [Obamacare] subsidy deal in sight.
And there never would be one. But, more importantly to Democrats, they scored big odd-year election wins in New Jersey and Virginia.
We are now in shutdown No. 3 of Trump’s second term. This current dispute is over the now-concluded Operation Metro Surge if ICE agents to Minneapolis, that “victory”which John Rash trumpets.
We’ll see how that works out.
