I’M PUMPED UP
RIC
ARNOLD
JIMMY P.
AND IT’S MAKING MY OVERGROWN BACK HAIR STAND UP AND I LOOK LIKE A PORCUPINE!
PORCUPINE
ME
743. Welcome to today’s Blog. In the past week I’ve seen, heard and read so many things I’d like to talk about that I had to defragment my brain about three times. I’m definitely experiencing information overload for sure. So let’s just get to it.
744.
Punxsutawney Phil
Six more weeks: A team of top-hatted associates on Sunday said Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of wintry weather. The prognosticating woodchuck made his forecast as the sun rose in western Pennsylvania. The annual ritual goes back more than a century and has far older roots in European agricultural life.
Punxsutawney Paine
Six more months: A team of very hated associates on Sunday said Punxsutawney Paine saw his butthole and predicted six more months of apathy, bad decisions, higher taxes and corruption. The prognosticating buttchuck made his forecast as the sun rose in western Wisconsin. The annual ritual goes back to 2017 when the citizens of Superior made the tragic mistake of voting him Mayor.
AND NOW A POEM FROM OUT FRIENDS AT SOUPNUTZ.NET
SoupNutz Episode 14 – BREAKING NEWS!: Superior Mayor Found Burying Numbers in Deep, Dark Hole!
January 31, 2025
In a town called Superior, not far away,
Lived Mayor Jim with numbers to play.
He found a well, deep and wide,
Where truth would sink and numbers would hide.
“Throw in a mill rate,” Jim said with cheer,
“And watch it shrink—it’ll disappear!”
But taxes rose, and spending too,
While Jim spun tales that just weren’t true.
He tossed in dollars, he tossed in dimes,
Out came a budget that climbed and climbed.
“Our streets need fixing!” the townsfolk cried,
But Jim just shrugged,
“The well will provide!”
Sidewalks cracked, potholes grew,
Yet Jim had
better things to do.
Tax breaks for friends, handouts galore,
But the alleys?
Pay for those yourself—Mayor’s orders!
With wallets drained and patience thin,
The town saw where their cash had been.
Blacktop by the people, while Jim played king,
Handing out taxpayer money it didn’t cost him a
thing.
The well would bubble, the well would churn,
Yet no real answers they’d ever discern.
For while Jim believed in his magical knack,
The town saw promises that didn’t add back.
So, children, beware this tale of woe:
A mayor whose budget
grows while your streets erode.
For when truth goes missing and trust runs thin,
You might just end up with a Mayor Jim!
COMMENTS
745. I was thinking in my warped mind what would a Shelley Nelson poem to the Mayor look like. So here it is:
Oh Jimmy! Oh Jimmy! where have you been
Since the tax scandal you’ve hardly been seen
But don’t worry Jim, I’ll cover it up
It’s the least I can do, my sweet buttercup.
I think I’ll leave the poetry stuff to Souptnutz!
Then I read this in the Superior Telegram
746. This article appeared in the Telegram on Jan 31. It’s an article about various how various businesses will be affected by the new bridge. I found the article interesting but one business stood out,
Great Lakes Electrical Equipment. So I will report on that one. You can read the whole article on line at the Telegram’s website.
Blatnik Bridge replacement will displace several businesses
The impacted businesses are Superior Lidgerwood Mundy, Halvor Logistics, Allstate Peterbilt Group, Twin Port Testing, Great Lakes Electrical Equipment and Halvor Lines/Halvor Logistics.
By Shelley Nelson
January 31, 2025 at 6:00 AM
SUPERIOR — The city’s northernmost waterfront is going to look different when construction gets underway to replace the Blatnik Bridge.
Great Lakes Electrical Equipment
Mahan said he would prefer to keep his electrical supply company at 320 Baxter Ave., which offers outdoor storage and about 20,000 square feet of indoor storage. “I have been told by the state that I have to be out by Jan. 1, 2026,” Mahan said.
Mahan said he has been looking at other buildings but hasn’t purchased one yet. He said he’s still negotiating with the state on the purchase price for his existing business, and he won’t know how much money he has to work with until those negotiations conclude.
“I would just as soon stay in Superior,” Mahan said. He said his preference is to relocate somewhere north of 28th Street and east of Tower Avenue or in North End.
Mahan said he thought the city and Development Association would be more helpful in the process.
“I believe the mayor made a statement at one time that he was going to make sure that they retained all the businesses, or they wanted to maintain all the businesses that were displaced by the bridge,” Mahan said. “Well, he sure hasn’t made an effort.”
Mahan said the city did offer some land available near Lakehead Constructors, 3801 Winter St., but it’s not where he wants to go
“It would destroy my business,” he said of the location on the west side of the Winter Street Industrial Park. “Would you put a restaurant down there? Would you put a gas station down there? … We’re a service business so people would have to find us.”
In addition to selling electrical supplies, Mahan said he runs his real estate business out of the Baxter Avenue location. His holdings include three downtown buildings in Superior, a venue in Duluth, a couple of warehouses and 92 apartments. He said those buildings would not suit the needs of his electrical business.
COMMENTS
747. What stood in this article was the following:
“Mahan said he thought the city and Development Association would be more helpful in the process.”
“I believe the mayor made a statement at one time that he was going to make sure that they retained all the businesses, or they wanted to maintain all the businesses that were displaced by the bridge,” Mahan said. “Well, he sure hasn’t made an effort.”
Once again another dissatisfied constituent. Can Jim Paine be the most business unfriendly Mayor that Superior has ever had? Yes it appears that way. Can the city continue to prosper and attract new business with a Mayor like him? The answer is no. Why is it that every time I turn around he has his dirty, filthy, grimy, greasy and corrupt hands on yet another confrontation with a local business? What is his problem?
The good news is that for the first that I can remember, crack reporter and the “Scribe of Superior” Shelley Nelson actually included this in her article. I can’t remember her ever putting a negative note about Paine in one of her articles before. It felt like watching your baby take it’s first steps.
The bad news is she didn’t explain in detail why Mr. Mahan was not happy with the Development Association and Mayor Paine and once again leaving us with more questions than answers.
As for Mr. Mahan. I would would like him to remember and take solace in those precious and caring words our beloved Mayor once said:
As Mayor Paine said,”Because we help citizens. That is our only purpose. When citizens, businesses, or developers need help, we do everything we can”.
On the other hand Mr. Mahan:
HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR INSURANCE RATES LATELY?
I HAVE AND THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL
748. Home and auto insurance rates have skyrocketed in last few years all over America. If you Google it, there are hundreds of articles. I chose this one which was in Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 30th.
“IT’S A DISASTER, QUITE FRANKLY”
Minnesota’s property insurance rates are
climbing fast, with no end in sight.
Like many of her clients, insurance agent LuAnn Paulet has wished for a bad hailstorm.
Property owners have “forever” viewed their policies as maintenance contracts, she said, keeping fingers crossed for just enough damage to win cheap repairs on aging homes.
But rates are rising so quickly as coverage diminishes, “it’s a disaster, quite frankly,” she said.
“Roofs are through-the-roof expensive,” said Paulet, owner of Rosemount’s Insurance by Design, an independent agency, pointing to price tags climbing between $20,000 and $40,000.
“But that never, ever was the intention of homeowner insurance.”
Following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, poised to become the country’s most expensive natural disaster on record, with costs estimated in the tens of billions for insured losses alone, insurance experts are worried about the toll of a changing climate on an unstable industry built on pricing risk — and the potential consumer fallout.
Heavily driving increased costs for Minnesotans are severe wind and hailstorms. In 2023, a single storm swept the Twin Cities and central Minnesota, leaving behind roughly $1 billion in claimed losses. That came one year after the costliest season in state history in 2022, which tallied $6.3 billion in storm damage.
Events of such magnitude are striking the country with far greater regularity, according to data maintained by the National Centers for Environmental Information.
Risk is the chief factor that governs home insurance bills, and states regulate the industry to ensure fairness in pricing and coverage. But some researchers point to a growing gap between risk and insurance rates, as leaders in high-risk regions face intense political pressure to keep rates low at all costs.
Daniel Schwarcz, a professor at the University of Minnesota with expertise in insurance law, said there are different ways to answer how highdollar climate catastrophes can influence the home insurance market across state borders.
Regulatory pressures in some states create distortions such as artificially low rates in California and Florida that may encourage insurers to seek compensation in states more forgiving of increases. Recent evidence has supported that position, he said.
Another factor is that an unprecedented event — like the California wildfires — broadly changes risk calculation for that eventuality, causing prices to rise more broadly.
As the market continues to grow more “dysfunctional,” Schwarcz thinks the federal government should take a more active role in regulating property insurance.
‘A real challenge’
Even absent a coastline with storm threats or a year-round climate that carries the possibility of a wildfire, homeowner premium costs are rising faster in Minnesota than most other states, data collected over the past few years consistently show. An S&P Global analysis of 2017 through 2023 data found the state ranked 12th for the rate of home insurance premium increases.
The Minneapolis Fed over the summer put out a report examining the rise of home insurance costs across the northern region as providers notch greater losses. It pointed to a 39% increase over a seven year period in Minnesota, well above the pace of inflation, with premiums shooting up 15% on average just in 2023.
While premiums jump and coverages scale back, Minnesota’s private home insurance providers have struggled to turn a profit in recent years. Aaron Cocking, president and chief executive of the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, said 2024 marked the first time in the past six years when carriers actually made money in the state. Losses reached a high mark in 2022, when carriers paid about $1.92 in claims for every $1 collected in premiums, Cocking said, with weather disasters a key driver.
To stay in business, insurers need to make enough money to cover the risk of an area. Over past years, Cocking said, some insurers set premium increases just below the legal threshold to avoid triggering rate hearings. California has witnessed a mass exodus of insurance companies. Cocking said that happened because the companies were unable to get the rate they needed — a problem Minnesota has also seen to some extent.
“I think California felt, as they were doing that, that they were protecting consumers,” Cocking said. “Do you think that those consumers now feel protected from what happened? Or would they have rather paid a little more in premium and still have their insurance now?”
Although Minnesotans enjoy a relatively competitive market, Cocking said that could change. “It’s a real challenge for insurers to get the rate that they need,” he said. “The only thing worse than unaffordable insurance is unavailable insurance.”
Regulators’ role
Many Minnesota policyholders are growing increasingly frustrated. Property insurance-related complaints to the Department of Commerce, which regulates insurers doing business in the state, doubled between 2020 and 2023. Common grievances were high costs after wind and hail damage, as insurers narrowed coverage and increased deductibles.
The role of the department is balancing the interests of consumers and insurance providers, Commissioner Grace Arnold said. She stressed that the rates Minnesotans pay are based “on the conditions we’re experiencing here in Minnesota,” saying disasters in California are unfortunate but that regulation is left to individual states.
Still, one way the financial toll of California’s multibilliondollar disaster may ripple out is through more expensive reinsurance — the insurance that insurance companies buy to contain their own exposure — which weighs risk and sets cost on a global scale. Insurers say rebuilding costs are rising, driven by factors like limited labor and expensive materials and technology.
Arnold said Minnesotans are not encountering “deserts of insurance.” Cases of insurers unwilling to write coverage are rare compared with other states with greater risk levels. There is a backstop for residents unable to secure private insurance. But few use the Minnesota FAIR Plan, the insurer of last resort established by the state, said Gary Rupp, its executive director.
At its height, Rupp said, the plan carried about 12,000 policies. Today it has 3,338. But applications have increased: In 2024, the number rose by nearly 50%, Rupp said, but the overall number of new policies issued went up only 6%.
Paulet, the independent agency owner, recalled Wisconsin-based Secura’s exit from doing business in Minnesota in 2023. The company quit writing home and auto insurance policies in Minnesota, along with other states in its coverage area, on the heels of heavy weather-related losses. She views that as another sign of hard times while the industry undergoes a “fundamental shift.” Premiums are shooting up so quickly, Paulet said, that she sees a 30% increase to renew as a relatively attractive option. “It’s bad. It’s gonna be bad,” Paulet said, adding that she had been advising clients to look forward to 2026.
Destruction in Blaine
At least one Minnesotan is happy with her home insurance provider — even though her bill is getting more costly. Rena Hammes, a Blaine retiree, has kept American Family Insurance for about 40 years. Her latest premium increase is about 20%, she said, which she learned in a recent letter.
She and her husband live in a community with well-kept yards. In June 2017, a destructive storm turned her neighborhood upside down. Hail pummeled one side of her house. One of the first things she did was take photos. Then she called her insurer.
The damages amounted to about $98,000, Hammes said. “The damage was so extensive. It was crazy,” she said. She counted herself lucky to get her home fixed quickly. Some neighbors waited about two years, she said. So, when her latest increase came in the mail, Hammes understood. “It’s not like they’re doing it just to my household,” she said. “Everybody is in the same boat with this. It’s all the same everywhere.”
COMMENTS
749. This problem is country wide but has especially affected residents in Superior. The timing is bad. On the Blog I’ve spoken about my friend who bought a home for $90,000.00 a couple of years ago and the city appraised at $214,000.00 which resulted in a tax increase of over $700.00. Well now he just got his insurance bill and it’s up $300.00. And he is on a fixed disability income.
Our two vehicles have been with Progressive Insurance for many years. We put about about 3,000 miles a year on each of them. I moved to Las Vegas in October 2022. I want to show my rates. These rates are all for 6 months. No tickets, no accidents and no claims in probably 15 plus years.
02/13/2021 $442.00 WI
08/13/2021 $547.00 WI
02/13/2022 $629.00 WI
08/13/2022 $738.00 WI
01/20/2023 $1,348.00 NV
07/20/2023 $1,400.00 NV
07/20/2024 $1,647.00 NV
01/20/2025 $1,953.00 NV
There you go. It went from 442.00 on 2021 to 1953.00 in 2025. I called them and after talking for about 30 minutes they gave me $100.00 off. I then spoke to a friend that’s in the insurance business and he said All of our companies suck right now. “They overcharge and they are extremely picky on everything they write. They then inspect things and look for ways to charge more after they already wrote the policy.”
So the bottom line is “ Everything is too damn high”.
FAKE NEWS REPORT
When is a Nazi salute not a Nazi salute?
(Hint: Never)
JENNIFER BROOKS
JENNIFER BROOKS Columnist
JANUARY 30, 2025 Minnesota Star Tribune
Here’s the thing about Nazi salutes.
If you didn’t mean to make one, you would apologize if someone thought you did. Say you’re at a right-wing rally and find yourself in the middle of “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” — clapping your hand over your heart and then thrusting it stiffarmed over the crowd. Twice.
ELON MUSK NAZI SALUTE?
When people point out that that was exactly how the Nazis saluted, do you recoil in horror? Do you denounce the hate groups who are cheering your little “my heart goes out to you” gesture? Or do you wink and nudge and enjoy the distress and confusion you created?
BARRY AND HILLARY NAZI SALUTE?
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” said Elon Musk, professional rich guy, amateur government bureaucrat and man of a thousand awkward gestures.
Every day since the inauguration feels like stepping out your door to find a troll in a red hat, flipping you the bird.
GRETCHEN WHITMER NAZI SALUTE?
“Did you just flip me off?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“No, you did the thing where you turn a little invisible crank as your middle finger slowly extends upward.”
“Accusing people of making rude gestures is such a cheap attack.”
“You just flipped me off again!”
TAMPON TIM NAZI SALUTE?
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for one, is tired of America poring over Musk’s straight-arm salute, frame-by-frame like the Zapruder film.
“We spent three days debating, having them trying to debate that President Musk gave a Nazi salute,” Walz said on MSNBC Tuesday. “Of course he did.”
Musk responded like every troll should — by sliding into someone else’s mentions and stealing their idea.
“I hope Elon sues [Walz] for all he’s worth,” someone on X posted about Minnesota’s famously not-rich governor.
CREEPY CLOWN NAZI SALUTE?
“I think I will,” Musk replied. “Tim Walz is a creepy [clown emoticon]”
It’s Musk vs. Walz vs. the thing we all saw.
And let the record show, throwing ironic Nazi salutes for giggles doesn’t work out so well when you’re not a billionaire.
On Tuesday, the conservative Anglican Catholic Church defrocked a priest who threw a Musk-style straight-armed salute at the conclusion of his remarks at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C.
KATHY HOCHUL NAZI SALUTE?
Calvin Robinson had been warned against trolling behavior. When his superiors saw that gesture, they didn’t bother to debate the line between pretending to throw a Nazi salute and actually throwing a Nazi salute.
NANCY PELOSI NAZI SALUTE?
“The Holocaust was an episode of unspeakable horror, enacted by a regime of evil men,” the College of Bishops of the Anglican Catholic Church said in a statement. “We condemn Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism in all its forms. And we believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators. Such actions are harmful, divisive, and contrary to the tenets of Christian charity.”
JIM PAINE NAZI SALUTE?
COMMENTS
NOOOOO,NO,NO,NO,NO.NO
750. The words above were muttered by America’s most popular communist Bernie Sanders last week at a RFK nomination hearing. And he’s right. None of the above people in this article were making a “Nazi Salute”. But according to the nauseating scribe Jennifer Brooks and Tampon Tim Walz and many other far left lunatics, that’s exactly what Elon Musk did. I just can’t take this kind of article seriously so I won’t. At first I thought it was satire but it wasn’t. The good news is that Jennifer Brooks has made a living spewing this garbage since 1992. Why is that good news? Because here in America we have “Free Speech” and it allows people like her to say what she wants and if some news organizations want to pay her they also have that right. According to her bio she has worked for nine different ones, her longest tenure being at her current job at the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2018.
The bad news! According to the miserable Ms. Brooks, all of us are guilty of doing the “Nazi Salute”. How’s that? Because if you have at least one functioning arm you have made that “Salute” hundreds of times. And if you are a hockey parent you can double or triple that number. And by the way, is there anyone more annoying than a hockey parent? Yes there is. Jennifer Brooks. Maybe Jenny should read my next article.
ATTENTION: FAKE NEWS ALERT!!!
CNN and MSNBC report worst ratings month EVER in key demographic - while Fox News enjoys its best
Published: 12:27 EST, 31 January 2025
Amid a looming landscape of languishing cable and legacy news stations, CNN and MSNBC were met with their lowest-rated Januarys in history in the highly sought 25-54 demographic.
The statistic holds importance to advertisers due to the group's spending power, and the fact that it pertains to both daytime and primetime.
Fox News, meanwhile, enjoyed its best January ever - continuing a 23-year stretch as cable news's top dog.
Seemingly unaffected by trends affecting its contemporaries, the network is gaining ground as the most-watched overall.
The distinction was once held by CNN, which recently had layoffs to raise its bottom line. The station also aired plans to shift toward a more digital-based model.
At the same time, chief executive Mark Thompson - brought in to address the situation as he has done at both The New York Times and BBC - is reportedly demanding a tone-down in reporting surrounding President Donald Trump.
SpinCo CEO Mark Lazarus, the new boss of the media conglomerate that oversees MSNBC, also expressed such a desire amid their own post-election slump, newsletters Status and The Ankler both reported.
Fox News, however, has continued to fly high - capturing more than 70 percent of cable news' audiences during primetime since, as well as nearly 50 percent overall.
The channel averaged 1.9 million total day viewers this month alone - nearly double that of MSNBC and CNN put together.
The left-leaning networks, by contrast, collected 506,000 total day viewers and 421,000, respectively - with the difference in primetime even more drastic.
During the hours of 8-11 pm ET, MSNBC barely managed an audience of 734,000, with CNN securing just 522,000.
This all occurred during a hectic news cycle that featured coverage of Justin Trudeau's resignation, Trump's inauguration and the controversy surrounding the president's parade of appointments and pardons.
Talking heads ranging from Jake Tapper to Joy Reid failed to stop the bleeding - as did a move from MSNBC that brought back Rachel Maddow to TV sets five times a week, at least for the first 100 days of the new administration.
Fox News, during primetime, raked in an average of 2.8 million viewers - a 40 percent spike when compared to last year, while both MSNBC and CNN experienced double-digit declines.
But the real damage was done in the 25-54 demographic.
In primetime, Fox managed to grow its audience by an astounding 61 percent in the demo - as CNN and MSNBC both saw double-digit drops that brought them to their knees, while widening the gap between them and their Rupert Murdoch-owned rival.
MORE
It’s a long article and you can read it in full here:
COMMENTS
751. On Nov 5th we elected a new president and the media landscape changed almost overnight. Liberal news shows ratings on NBC, ABC and CBS dropped and cable news channels like CNN and MSLSD have plummeted. Resignations, firings and layoffs have dominated their news cycles. Some are doubling down on stupid, others are trying to find a path forward to stay relevant. And the print media which is primarily liberal driven has been slow to adjust. Social media like Facebook, Google and others have actually been the leaders in trying to reform their past pro-liberal policies. We will see how it all works out.
752. What I like about all this is that you, the people, especially liberals are waking up to all the nonsense that the left wing media has been feeding you for years. I call it the “Political Ozempic Diet”. You’re brain is sick and tired being fed all this garbage and you’ve decided to go on a media diet. I guarantee you will be smarter, that brain fog will lift and most importantly life for you will be better once that toxicity is removed from your head. Your IQ will go up and your social life will improve.
THE GREAT SUPERIOR SHOCKING TAX SWINDLE
753. Sadly it was here on the last Blog that we were the first to announce that there was no property tax relief on the way. The first payment date was last Friday and it came and went with no fanfare. Nothing from the Mayor, City Council or Fake News.
Pretty disgusting don’t you think? I had this thought. It’s not a big deal but at least it’s something. If you pay your property tax bill by credit card there is a charge of about 35.00 per $1,000.00. How about the city absorbing the fee and that would also buy you some extra time to pay. Again, not a big deal but at least it would have shown you that your elected officials were thinking about you. And never forget the words of the anointed one, Jim Paine:
As Mayor Paine said,”Because we help citizens. That is our only purpose. When citizens, businesses, or developers need help, we do everything we can”.
FINAL THOUGHTS
754. Well that’s it for today’s Blog. On the next one I will be talking taxes, fake news and local politics featuring “Tooler Elmo” AKA Tylor Elm and “Jenny Van Popsicle” AKA Jenny Van Sickle and a lot more. I’ll see you then.
Brian
