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Patrick Fenelon

@patrickfenelon.bsky.social

Foreign Policy. NBA. Democratic Socialism. Cats. i will fight Elon Musk in Outer Space Twitter: @patrick_fenelon

14487 Posts10914 Follower1331 Folgt
Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · 13h ago

Why is Miauricio signing contracts with his paw? 🥹😆🐈

Miauricio el "Gerente de apoyo emocional" de Geotest #gatitos #gatos #cat

YouTube video by ANewsMX

youtube.com

Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️@snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 14h ago

A company in Mexico hired a stray orange cat as its Emotional Support Director and named him “Miauricio.” Daily duties include roaming the workplace, delivering smiles & reducing stress levels. He has his own workspace and ID badge. #AGoodPlace

Ken Burnside@kenburnside.bsky.social · 13h ago

This. We should make every Federal agency a cat cafe. If the cat doesn't approve of you, you don't work here. Added bonus: it would significantly improve willingness to Return to Office among the employees you want to keep.

Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️@snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 14h ago

A company in Mexico hired a stray orange cat as its Emotional Support Director and named him “Miauricio.” Daily duties include roaming the workplace, delivering smiles & reducing stress levels. He has his own workspace and ID badge. #AGoodPlace

🍞 Cole Hanson 🥬@colewritesalot.bsky.social · 2h ago

The fact that they did this to renter right to repair, and not rent stabilization, or the trash wars, or administrative citations, or universal child care, should tell you about the priorities of the owners and landlords in this city. If you rent, the mayor's office wants nothing to do with you.

🍞 Cole Hanson 🥬@colewritesalot.bsky.social · 2h ago

Sure is disappointing to see our city, which has touted its adherence to the law In the face of federal occupation, flout its own charter thanks to bullying from @mayorher.bsky.social

Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

The St. Paul City Council just voted to refuse to put the Tenant's Right to Repair law on the ballot for voters, claiming it conflicts with state law even though Duluth passed a nearly identical law last year. A press release from the Safe Homes coalition which has pushed for the law:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 5, 2026 St. Paul City Council Blocks Certified Right to Repair Petition, Coalition Says City Broke Its Own Charter Saint Paul voters collected over 8,000 signatures to put Right to Repair on the November ballot. Ramsey County Elections validated 5,440 of them against voter registrations, after duplicates and errors were accounted for, and submitted their report to council. Today the St. Paul City Council chose not to send the measure forward anyway. Safe Homes St. Paul (SHSP) considers this a breach of our city's charter and protocols that have guided ballot measures in our city for years. The St. Paul city charter is not ambiguous on this point: section 8.03 requires the council to determine "the sufficiency of the petition" by resolution. Section 8.04 gives the council exactly two options once a petition is sufficient: enact the ordinance as written within 60 days, or place it on the ballot. There is no third option where the council simply declines because the Mayor and her attorney found a new legal theory weeks after the deadline to act. We have seen the Mayor's approach to public disclosure over the past week, and are not surprised to see the everyday residents of our city who signed our petition treated with similar dismissal. As our democracy faces unprecedented threats at a national level, it is the responsibility of our local leaders to demonstrate not just that democracy can function, but that it can deliver results for everyday people. This decision does the opposite by choosing fear of wealthy interests over the actual residents of our city. As has been communicated to SHSP organizers, City Attorney Irene Kao's office told council members this week that Right to Repair conflicts with state law and is "too broad", even though it is nearly identical to language passed in Duluth nearly one year ago. The same office had several months to raise that argument while the campaign spent it gathering signatures. Instead it surfaced on…
Trevor Magnotti@illegalscreens.bsky.social · 9h ago

An obvious tactic but not enough have used it yet - just say what data center proponents are using the data centers for. “They want to upend your community and the environment to make sad little videos online” is a winning message

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 10h ago

El-Sayed: "Mike Rogers is a guy who wants to put a data center in your backyard so he can make himself feel a little more manly by making an AI video ... he's a guy who went back to Florida so he could lick every single boot Donald Trump owns to bet for his endorsement."

Senator Chris Van Hollen@vanhollen.senate.gov · 1h ago

Today, the Senate received a briefing on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan. Here's the bottom line: We can & must do more to stop this. This war has already killed over 150,000 people & displaced over 14 MILLION. We must act NOW.

Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

The St. Paul City Council is entitled to disagree with Right to Repair. They can all exert their influence to convince voters not to vote for it. If it passes, they are free to repeal it on the one-year anniversary. But they cannot substitute their policy decisions for the right of the voters.

Sec. 8.06. - Repeal of ordinances or resolutions submitted to voters. No ordinance adopted by the voters on initiative or ordinance or resolution approved by referendum shall be repealed within one year after its approval.
Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

And field preemption only exists when state law "leaves no room for local regulation.” Cities can regulate maintenance! To claim that Right to Repair is field preempted would basically require St. Paul to abandon its entire property maintenance code for rental properties.

We turn next to whether the MHRA occupies the field of preventing discrimination such that it preempts the Ordinance. Field preemption occurs “when the Legislature has addressed the subject matter in a way that leaves no room for local regulation.” Graco Inc. v. City of Minneapolis, 937 N.W.2d 756, 759 (Minn. 2020). In determining whether state law impliedly preempts an ordinance by occupying the field, Minnesota courts consider four factors, known as the Mangold factors: (1) What is the ‘subject matter’ which is to be regulated? (2) Has the subject matter been so fully covered by state law as to have become solely a matter of state concern? (3) Has the legislature in partially regulating the subject matter indicated that it is a matter solely of state concern? (4) Is the subject matter itself of such a nature that local regulation would have unreasonably adverse effects upon the general populace of the state? Minn. Chamber of Com., 944 N.W.2d at 449–50 (quoting Mangold, 143 N.W.2d at 820); see also Graco, 937 N.W.2d at 762–63.
Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

A great example of cities being able to regulate in excess of the state is the case challenging the Minneapolis Section 8 nondiscrimination ordinance, Fletcher Properties, Inc. v. City of Minneapolis, 24 N.W.3d 287 (Minn. 2025). cases.justia.com/minnesota/su...

Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

As someone who's spent a lot of time considering conflict preemption btwn state landlord-tenant law & local ordinances, I can confidently say the St. Paul City Attorney is full of shit. Nothing in Right to Repair conflicts with state law, and our courts are clear that cities can go beyond state law

Patrick Fenelon@patrickfenelon.bsky.social · 2h ago

This is absolute fucking bullshit. I canvassed for this. This was good policy. And this is a RIDICULOUS reading of the law by the city council

Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

The St. Paul City Council just voted to refuse to put the Tenant's Right to Repair law on the ballot for voters, claiming it conflicts with state law even though Duluth passed a nearly identical law last year. A press release from the Safe Homes coalition which has pushed for the law:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 5, 2026 St. Paul City Council Blocks Certified Right to Repair Petition, Coalition Says City Broke Its Own Charter Saint Paul voters collected over 8,000 signatures to put Right to Repair on the November ballot. Ramsey County Elections validated 5,440 of them against voter registrations, after duplicates and errors were accounted for, and submitted their report to council. Today the St. Paul City Council chose not to send the measure forward anyway. Safe Homes St. Paul (SHSP) considers this a breach of our city's charter and protocols that have guided ballot measures in our city for years. The St. Paul city charter is not ambiguous on this point: section 8.03 requires the council to determine "the sufficiency of the petition" by resolution. Section 8.04 gives the council exactly two options once a petition is sufficient: enact the ordinance as written within 60 days, or place it on the ballot. There is no third option where the council simply declines because the Mayor and her attorney found a new legal theory weeks after the deadline to act. We have seen the Mayor's approach to public disclosure over the past week, and are not surprised to see the everyday residents of our city who signed our petition treated with similar dismissal. As our democracy faces unprecedented threats at a national level, it is the responsibility of our local leaders to demonstrate not just that democracy can function, but that it can deliver results for everyday people. This decision does the opposite by choosing fear of wealthy interests over the actual residents of our city. As has been communicated to SHSP organizers, City Attorney Irene Kao's office told council members this week that Right to Repair conflicts with state law and is "too broad", even though it is nearly identical to language passed in Duluth nearly one year ago. The same office had several months to raise that argument while the campaign spent it gathering signatures. Instead it surfaced on…
Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 2h ago

As someone who's spent a lot of time considering conflict preemption btwn state landlord-tenant law & local ordinances, I can confidently say the St. Paul City Attorney is full of shit. Nothing in Right to Repair conflicts with state law, and our courts are clear that cities can go beyond state law

ProPublica@propublica.org · 2h ago

ProPublica spoke to about 150 people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. This is what they wrote. (Published Dec. 2024)

“I Have Lost Everything”: The Toll of Cities’ Homeless Sweeps

Cities often take belongings — including important documents and irreplaceable mementos — when they conduct sweeps of homeless encampments. ProPublica gave notecards to people across the country so th...

projects.propublica.org