German Subversion

The Catholic Diocese of St. Paul put the 90 year-old St. Andrews Church near Como Ave. and Lexington Ave. in the capital city up for sale in 2013. The property was purchased by the German Immersion School, a publicly funded charter school. This article, by pseudo-journalist Joey Peters, details the controversy since then in an article in the City Pages, a "cutting edge" subsidiary of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Never known for coherent content, it's described as an "alternative newspaper". Peters describes himself thusly: I'm a freelance reporter based in Minneapolis. My work has appeared in Reuters, NYTimes.com, Public Radio International, Columbia Journalism Review, KFAI Radio, Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, St. Paul Pioneer Press, MinnPost, Stateline and more. I previously served as senior reporter at NM Political Report and staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, both based in New Mexico.

The German Immersion School, now owner of the property, plans to demolish the church and replace it with a structure more suited to their current mission. This has roused the ire of locals who, as is normal in nimby St. Paul, don't wish to see the local landmark replaced with something of less significance.

The sale of the church was no secret and the local population, who, according to the article, greatly value the structure, could have gone to the trouble and expense of buying it themselves. They did not.

Interestingly, Peters' account of the controversy contains many emails  he maintains are between church administrators, contractors and others regarding the process of altering the property. At no time does Peters tell us how he came by what appears to be private communications between these parties, if, indeed, such emails are genuine.

As is often the case in matters such as this, the offended party has no monetary "skin in the game". They've offered no money to the German Immersion School to curtail its plans. They somehow hoped to simply  talk them into forgetting about the project and leaving the church pretty much exactly as it currently stands. They also feel that a growing number of students will raise traffic issues in the neighborhood, a few blocks from the city swimming pool, Como Park, the Como Lakeside Pavilion, soccer and baseball fields, a railroad main line, and more. 

In the late 19th century, St. Paul, home of Canadian immigrant James J. Hill, the Empire Builder, and founder of the Great Northern Railroad, experienced a building boom. Log cabins and tar-paper shacks were demolished to make way for the newest forms of architecture. If there was any objection to this process we are unaware of it today. Perhaps there were a few Victorian nimbys that resented the replacement of placid views of cabins with cloud obscuring multi-story granite buildings. But there were no historical preservation organizations or bureaucracies to stand in the way of progress then. The rights of property owners were also respected then.

University of Minnesota Won't Change Building Names

The regents of the University of Minnesota have decided, in a 10-1 vote, against renaming four campus buildings as recommended by a student/faculty task force, as described here.

The task force had found that the four individuals for whom the buildings had been named were in some sense bad people who did not deserve to be so honored. 

This may indeed be a matter of some importance but the reality is somewhat different than the substance of the argument. The fact is that the University is engaged in a never-ending search for more funding, both from increasing legislative appropriations and increased tuition, as well as contracts for exclusive access (Coca-Cola), event sponsorships, and other sources, all to finance a massive administrative machine. The naming rights for the football stadium were sold to Twin City Federal, a bank, for $35 million over 25 years. Other structures bear the names of individuals who donated significantly to their cost. It only makes sense to sell the naming rights to other buildings as well. Why not sell the space above the doors of Coffman Union to someone like Target Corporation, who is already in the name business at the Minnesota Twins ballpark and the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball arena? Other big businesses could surely be enticed to have their name and logo emblazoned on a campus building and the price wouldn't have to be in the millions. The TCF Stadium financing scheme costs students $25 a semester so every dollar counts.

Names On Their Backs

This from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, page 563:

15.19 "Jr.," "Sr.," and the like. The abbreviations Jr. and Sr., as well as roman or arabic numerals such as II or 3rd, after a person's name are part of the name and so are retained in connection with any titles or honorifics. Note that these abbreviations are used only with the full name, never with the surname only. See also 6.49, 9.47.

Superstar Ken Griffey Jr. could not only hit a baseball, he knew something about composition and the English language.

Book Thrown At Russian Spy

The sentence has come down. According to this Wall Street Journal account, Siberian espionage vixen Maria Butina has copped a plea in the US government's case initially describing her as an intelligence prostitute and admitted that she attempted, without government permission or license, to influence some people in the land of the free and the home of the brave. She was given a sentence of 18 months which includes time served in solitary confinement since July of last year so she might make it home in time for Christmas this year if her deportation goes smoothly.

Miss Butina wasn't actually accused of ferreting out any classified information, like plans for nuclear weapons or the code to the celebrated "football", but was instead identified as part of Russian state plan to influence key figures in US government and industry. It was pointed out that she was acquainted with Russian central bank figure Alexander Torshin and she admitted to US interrogators that she did indeed know this man. It's no stretch of the imagination that US Federal Reserve officers like Chairman Jerome Powell and Vice Chairman Richard Clarinda would be putty in the hands of a lady with an accent.

 There's no doubt that Yankees are very susceptible to the influence of foreigners and that they should be gratified that the various federal agencies designed to protect them from eastern hemispheric hordes are operating so efficiently. While the exploits of Miss Butina don't seem  to be in  the same class as the Rosenbergs or the loathsome Jonathon Pollard, the US activity in her case does afford an opportunity for myriad federal employees assigned to counter-espionage to perfect their craft.

Cynics might have the opinion that the investigation and prosecution of Miss Butina were simply exercises designed to garner favorable publicity for the agencies involved. Since their other probes into Russian and Chinese influence have achieved mixed results, the obvious success in reining in the Russian firearms enthusiast is certain to cast them in the glow needed to offset their dubious role in the 2016 US election controversy.

There's yet another way of looking at the situation. Since Miss Butina made no effort to hide her nationality and openly discussed gun rights in both countries, it was a small matter to the federal authorities. It was easy for them to corral her and, more important, since she had no connection to Russian intelligence, her arrest didn't jeopardize any ongoing justice department investigations or compromise any American agents or their sources. Miss Butina was an innocent gift. There have been further developments in the story. And this viewpoint.

Washington Sports Hero A Russian Spy?

Not the short guy, he's some Russian bureaucrat. The big fella, however, is a born and raised Russian hiding in the uniform of Washington Capitals hockey player on at least 82 evenings a year and often many more.

It's probably OK for Alex Ovechkin, the tie-less individual, to practice his trade in the vicinity of the Pentagon and it might not mean all that much for people with significant security clearances to practically worship the guy and cheer his every move in the local ice arena. On the other hand, how much does he know? And how much is he telling to the little fellow?

Tamara de Lempicka Masterpieces Go On The Block

Six Art Deco masterpieces painted by Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka are to be up for auction during the May 14, 2019 New York Christie's  Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale.

La Sagesse, estimated sale price $800,000 - $1,200,000

Etude pour le couple, $50,000 - $70,000

Nu debout, vu de dos $100,000 - $150,000

La Liseuse  $250,000 - $350,000

Nu assis $1,000,000 - $1,500,000

Jeune homme au livre  $50,000 - $70,000

Is This Collusion?

In May 2015, the British Labor Party hired Obama election campaign svengali David Axelrod to add his expertise to the attempt to win an election that would bring Labor star Ed Miliband the job of prime minister. Axelrod's fee for this service was 
£300,000 or $392,000.

According to the Manchester Guardian:
 
"Still, the early signs about Miliband’s electoral instincts were not good. In the weeks before the European elections that May, Miliband’s pitch to the public remained mostly incoherent. On 15 May, a week before the vote, Miliband met with David Axelrod – Barack Obama’s chief campaign adviser, who had signed on as a consultant to the Labour campaign for an astronomical fee – at Corrigan’s, an upscale Mayfair restaurant. During the meal, Beales was fielding calls from Miliband, who was still asking him to think of a slogan for the remaining week of the European election campaign; Axelrod was appalled by the low quality of the ideas being discussed, which he derisively characterised as “Vote Labour and win a microwave”. Unless Miliband could present the public with a bigger and more inspiring message, Axelrod told him, it would be impossible to regain the support of the white working-class voters who were deserting the Labour party."

Labor party nabobs were not only upset about the size of Axelrod's fee, they were also very disappointed at the small amount of time he spent in Britain during the campaign and the paltry amount of direction and advice he brought to the election effort, which, of course, turned out to be futile.

Axelrod also failed in his election advisory efforts for Italian Prime Minister incumbent candidate Mario Monti.

 

In fact, another Obama aide, his deputy chief of staff and campaign manager for the 2012 US presidential election, Jim Messina was a paid consultant for  Conservatives David Cameron in 2015 and Theresa May in 2017. Messina also worked on election campaigns for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He and his namesake firm have received over $1.2 million for mostly failed European election engineering.

The point of this description is that neither of these two political gurus are British or Italian or Spanish yet they've received millions of dollars to influence the democratic process in those countries. Their actual election influence, while generally a failure, is orders of magnitude greater than anything the Russians might have been able to pull off in the Trump-Clinton battle. Is there a corresponding effort by a British or Italian Mueller clone to investigate this? Doesn't seem like it. This makes the Russian collusion thing seem even more ridiculous.