Blackhawk helicopters circling Minneapolis

from flickr user MillCityTimes

No, it's not a full-on police state or a military take-over. The Blackhawk helicopters circling parts of downtown Minneapolis are simply taking part in training exercises throughout the week - each night from 7 PM-Midnight. Hey, it's a believable explanation... until the military is trudging down your street and mercilessly beating you until you cough up whatever secrets they can beat out of you. Yep, just routine training.

Jesse Ventura not a fan of being molested

Former Navy Seal, conspiracy guy, TV show host, former governor, former mayor and former pro "wrestler" Jesse Ventura is all about getting his name in the news. This time he's gone ahead and filed a lawsuit against the TSA.

The lawsuit said the pat-down "exposed him to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body."

I'm with him in feeling that these tactics used by the TSA are overly invasive. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? If you have a legitimate reason as to why you're setting off the metal detector -- like a titanium hip replacement -- then you're in the clear.

Oh, sure, plenty of people think that Ventura is straight-up crazy due to some of his conspiracy-related beliefs but there are also plenty who feel that his sniffing around and the refusal of those in command to answer even the simplest of his questions is reason enough to believe in some of the very conspiracy theories his show attempts to expose but his objections over the TSA tactics have merit.

I have plenty of objections when it comes to flying given the current state of security at our airports. The tally of terrorists detained by TSA security measures still stands at zero and that number says alot. It says that the TSA is a failure of an agency -- an agency created out of fear. An agency which hires the unhirable and places them in charge of security for an agency created in some rather unscrupulous ways -- maybe even unconstitutional -- should have no place in America.

Maybe Jesse Ventura should bodyslam one of these glorified mall cops next time he's hassled and forced to endure a pat down if he ever goes back to flying commercially.

Gas stations unwilling to sell gas?

First off, I'll correct myself and call them convenience stores. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it was a mechanical issue. Maybe it was a simple computer mishap. Or maybe it's a vast conspiracy put in motion by Super America stores across the Twin Cities and their corporate overlords, Speedway.

Whatever the case was, the pumps (not just mine) at the Super America in Shakopee on Marschall Road were unwilling to give up the gas that my car was jonesing for. The dude (it's all about the hair and his sweatshirt) at the pump next to mine said all the pumps were painfully slow. I trust words coming from a dude. I even joked about going home without my fix however I wasn't going to leave empty-tanked because at prices ($1.65) I haven't seen for four years, I was definitely filling up here.

Maybe it isn't a vast conspiracy where Super America signs advertise a shockingly low price (although the adjacent Kwik Trip had the same price) and refuse to dispense any actual gas. Maybe the tanker truck mistakenly filled the underground tanks with varying grades of molasses. Maybe it was worse, cement!

Or maybe, just maybe, Super America is conspiring to starve the Twin Cities of its gasoline supply. Sure, it starts with just the one store but soon enough Burnsville stores aren't pumping fuel. Then it jumps across the river to Bloomington, Richfield, Edina, Plymouth and on until the entire Twin Cities is without gas! Then other stores such as Holiday, Kwik Trip and BP follow suit — all because $1.65/gallon is just too damn low to justify actually selling the fuel!

Or maybe it was a one time hiccup localized to that one damn store that I stupidly pulled in to. But a vast conspiracy like the one I laid out can be entertaining too. Right?

Or maybe you want to get the hell out of here and go someplace sane. May I suggest MinnPics and its wealth of amazing photographs of Minnesota by Minnesotans?