pour encourager les autres

 Politics are too often a blood sport. Overnight this became evident, as Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated: 

Two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot by someone impersonating a police officer, sources confirmed to FOX 9. Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed.

Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot in the overnight shootings in Champlin and Brooklyn Park. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is "cautiously optimistic" they will survive. 

Hortman was Speaker of the House in the previous legislature, but because of a power sharing agreement with the Republicans, she became the minority leader. The party leaders had to hammer out a budget agreement for the next two years. The results were contentious in the extreme. Hortman was as partisan as anyone in St. Paul, but in this instance she had to side with the Republicans to get the budget passed, so she cast the deciding vote in favor of the compromise proposal. I am guessing that vote cost her life. Donks do not like traitors in the main.

Hoffman cast a similar vote in the Senate [UPDATE - APPARENTLY HE DID NOT], which reinforces my supposition about the motive. We'll probably find out soon who the shooter is, because there's a manhunt underway and apparently law enforcement may have him cornered.

I don't write much about politics any more, because I find it depressing. During her career, I probably never said one good thing about Melissa Hortman. She didn't deserve this. No one does.

Always remember...

 Follow the money:

The money that individuals working abroad send to their families in Mexico fell for a third month this year.

And some fear further, possibly catastrophic declines in this vital source of income for the Mexican economy if the U.S. Senate approves the 3.5 percent tax on remittances the House green-lit in its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Bank of Mexico (Banxico) data released this week shows Mexican families received $4.76 billion in wire transfers, checks, money orders and cash from abroad in April. That’s more than a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar decline from the $5.14 billion received in March, Banxico reports.

It also represents a 12.1 percent year-over-year decline – the biggest dip since September 2012. Mexico last year received $64.7 billion in remittances representing 4 percent of its gross domestic product.

Yeah, you'd fight too if that kinda money was involved. What you really wonder is what the Donks are getting out of the deal. Everyone assumes it's votes and political power because of the way the Census counts people, but I wonder.