The Weekly Scramble

Gov. Tim Walz is defending his vote to pardon a man convicted of molesting a 10-year-old child more than 20 years ago.
Last week, the Trump administration deported Tou Lue Vang despite a pardon approved by Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson in their role on the Board of Pardons.
Walz said the victim’s advocacy for Vang factored in his decision to grant the pardon.
“I can tell you in these pardons, one of the overriding factors that continuously influences the decision — certianly of me, I can’t speak for the rest of the board, but looks like that — depends on where the victims are at,” Walz said.
The governor emphasized that this action “didn’t let this person out of jail.” Vang completed his sentence — served entirely as supervised probation — in 2019.
Walz said his vote to pardon Vang was not an attempt to prevent him from being deported, though Vang is at least the third convicted felon with pending removal orders to be pardoned in Minnesota this year.
In May, the Board of Pardons unanimously granted clemency for At “Ricky” Chandee, who was convicted of second-degree assault in 1993; and Jai Vang, a Laotian man who was convicted of aggravated robbery in 1994.
On the same day the board considered a pardon for Vang, four others who had applied for pardons — including three who were facing deportation — were denied. Brian Evans, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said they lacked victim support.
In all cases, the Department of Homeland Security criticized the pardons as attempts to “take away qualifying convictions” for removal from the U.S.
Vang was deported anyway.
Walz questioned whether Vang’s removal improved outcomes in Minnesota.
“I guess the question I would as is, did that make us any safer? Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?” Walz said.
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A woman who held the legs of her husband as he was nearly sucked head-first out of a Ryanair cabin window on Friday said his "right shoulder and head were outside the plane".
Svetlana Grković, who was travelling with her husband Ljubisa Karović from Greece's Thessaloniki to Germany's Memmingen, told BBC Serbia how two other passengers helped pull him back inside after nearly two minutes.
"We pulled him back together," she said. "His entire face was deformed and blood was pouring from his nose and mouth."
Speaking to Serbian outlet Nova, Grković said she "immediately reacted and grabbed his legs", adding: "I thought: 'If we die, we die together.'"

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More details are emerging after an American flag was displayed upside down at a Somali Independence Day event in Minnesota, sparking both outrage and apologies in a situation that has gone viral on social media in recent days.
The St. Cloud Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that on July 3 at 5:29 p.m., the department received a call that the U.S. flag was being flown upside down on a city flagpole at the Lake George Park Pavilion during a Somali Independence Day event.
A video from that event, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, showed the flag upside down as event attendees, roughly 500 people at peak times, enjoyed the festivities. The department said the officer "corrected the flag without objection" and that organizers "indicated to City staff that the flag being flown upside down was not intentional."
Police leader blasts ‘spineless’ Mayor Frey, Minneapolis City Council for Somali gang problem, staffing woes
Joe Gamaldi, the national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about policing in Minneapolis.
Somali gang problem captured on camera from the 4th of July
This past weekend marked yet another violent Fourth of July in Minneapolis. Dozens of car windows were smashed, there was a homicide, and several people were injured by gunfire—with some of it caught on camera.
Despite the danger to the public, many local leaders seem unwilling to publicly acknowledge that there is a Somali gang problem in the city.
Gamaldi, however, had a lot to say about policing and crime in Minneapolis.
“I think Mayor [Jacob] Frey likes to talk tough with everyone, but I think we all know he is completely spineless,” Gamaldi said.
“Because these gangs know that even if they are arrested, they’re just gonna be let right back out over and over and over again,” he said.
Gamaldi pointed out who is really getting harmed by all of this: “the law-abiding, hardworking members of the community.”
“You know, it’s funny because you’ll see politicians who, I will remind you, sit their asses safely behind their desks and say we need to defund and dismantle the police department. But it’s not them who has to deal with the consequences,” he added.
Gamaldi explained how “defund the police” ideology shares much of the blame for the rise in violence.
“When we went down this failed social experiment back in 2020 and 2021, you saw 16 American cities experience their highest murder rate in recorded history. Innocent civilians paid with their blood,” he said.
Gamaldi spoke clearly about the hypocrisy of the “defund the police” movement: “You know who got it the worst? It was black males who averaged a homicide rate of 12 times that of any other race. Yet we still had these lunatics pushing defund the police.”
“It is very clear that they are willing to put their failed ideology over the safety of their community members, and it’s sickening,” he added.

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Nobody and i mean NOBODY breaks down the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding like Reuvers and Frattallone.
Here is the Huffington Post piece:
My Husband Deleted Our Invitation To Taylor Swift’s Wedding. When He Told Me Why, I Lost My Mind.
Here is the 4th of July fireworks show from Washington DC that Reuvers mentioned:

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That magical time of the year where we celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day!!!!!
Bobby Bonilla receives a check for $1,193,248.20 from the Mets today, something he’s been cashing in on every July 1st from 2011 through 2035. He has not played a game since the year 2001.
Reuvers is officially in love with Sophie Cunningham.
The WNBA has the second biggest selling jersey in basketball.
Happy 50th wedding anniversary to Grandpa and Grandma Reuvers.
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