Random thoughts

• I don’t care that much about Ilhan Omar’s marital status per se, which has never been easy to sort out. What I do care about is it has been a marker for corruption, including the likelihood that she was a participant in, among other things, immigration fraud. And I especially care about the chance she has been paying her paramour a salary. That’s a big issue.
• Are the Packers for real? It’s always difficult to tell in the week-to-week world of the NFL, but for the moment the answer is yes. One thing is certain – Aaron Rodgers is not carrying the team on his back. If anything, he was along for the ride yesterday against Dallas. That’s by far the most promising development of the season thus far. Having said that, if Rodgers were to suffer a season-ending injury, it would be a disaster. Beating Dallas in Dallas is big, but beating Detroit in Green Bay next week is even more important, because it would establish clear supremacy within the division. Vic Ketchman, the retired Packers.com writer who is one of the best football minds around, thinks the Packers should be 11-2 when they hit the end of the season. If that happens, it could be a very special season. But then again, I’ve thought the Bears and the Vikings were actually the more dominant NFC North team at different points this season, only to see both of them underperform in key moments. This much seems to be true – while the Packers have not been dominant in any one game, they’ve done enough to win four games of five in the NFL, and have defeated three of the preseason favorites to be content for the NFC championship. That matters. Still, it’s best to trust no one.
• The local community newspaper chain that covers New Brighton and its neighbors has apparently gone out of business. In recent years, they haven’t done much other than print DFL politician press releases and semi-amusing police reports (no, seriously). Ad revenue hasn’t sustained their operations, and almost no one took a “voluntary” subscription to subsidize their efforts. It’s not surprising; many such small publishers have gone out of business in recent years, but it’s still a little sad. Almost no one covers the local scene any more and if any local government could use a little scrutiny, it’s New Brighton’s. I may have to step up my efforts on this beat.