Minnesota’s Ties to MeToo

"The idea that anybody who accuses someone of something is always right—that's not the case. That isn't reality," -Al Franken

It’s no secret that we currently reside in Minnesota. We live in a suburb right outside of Minneapolis. In fact, we grew up in Minneapolis right down the street from Lake Bde Maka Ska, formerly known as Lake Calhoun. Ever since we were very young we wanted to live in New York. It has always been our dream. Someday we plan on moving there. But Covid hit and kept us from our dream, for now at least.

If you’ve been watching our work you know how closely we’ve been reporting the situation surrounding Governor Andrew Cuomo. We’ve been watching it unfold, because, despite the fact we aren’t from New York, it does directly affect us. You see, some of our own politicians have been through similar accusations to Governor Cuomo. One of them even was forced to resign by a New York politician! One you know VERY well. New Yorkers have a history of meddling in Minnesotan politics.

Let’s back up and start at the beginning.

Al Franken. A name you should be familiar with if you have been watching the #MeToo movement decimate lives. Many people have been saying, “Don’t Franken Cuomo.” Franken is currently 69 years and originally from New York. While he worked at SNL during the ’80s as a writer and performer he received 7 Emmy nominations and 5 wins. He even had his own stand-up show at one point. Like President Reagan, he got his start in the entertainment business. He was a Senator for MN from 2009-2018. Since 2019 he has hosted his own show on SiriusXM (Progress ch. 127) on Saturday mornings at 10am EST called the “Al Franken Show.” He also has a Podcast on Art19 called “The Al Franken Podcast.

Franken is no stranger to drama. He angered NBC President Fred Silverman during the 1979-1980 season of SNL when he mocked him in an episode of Weekend Update about bad ratings. So Silverman refused to promote Franken to producer. Franken eventually left SNL in protest because he lost the role of anchor of Weekend Update to Norm Macdonald, who we are not big fans of. He went on to write 4 books that ended up on the New York Times bestseller list, and he even got a Grammy award for one of them. He has been a political activist since the ’70s. We are also political activists. In addition, he created a radio show where he delved into politics, especially surrounding Bush. Then he ran for Senator and won.

He was known as a level-headed politician after a video of him discussing health care calmly at the MN State Fair went viral. Everyone loved him. It seemed like he was well on his way to The White House and nothing could stop him. Little did we know MeToo was lurking in bushes, ready to take out another man’s promising career. In 2017 Leean Tweedan, a conservative talk show radio host accused Franken of forcibly kissing her on the lips in 2006. She was touring with him to promote her USO (United Service Organizations) skit. Not unlike our very own Lindsey Boylan, she did this through a blog post and through her own radio station. You will see the situation with Governor Cuomo and Mr. Franken are eerily similar.


A photo emerged of Franken with his hands above Tweeden’s breasts while she was sleeping and she was wearing body armor and a helmet for her skit. CNBC's John Harwood, who currently is seen on CNN, said in defense of Al Franken, "That pic was obviously a joke, not groping, just like LeeAnn Tweeden wrapping her leg around Robin Williams and smacking his butt; entertainment for soldiers deployed overseas is raunchy like that." We speculate that Tweeden was possibly asked by the GOP to fabricate a story against Franken to derail his political career. They were probably very worried he was going to become President someday. It looks like Boylan is trying to do the same thing to Governor Cuomo. If Cuomo ever decided to run for President, he would win.

7 more women came forward with complaints of how Franken acted during photos. This is too perfect. It is so similar to what’s going on now with Governor Cuomo. Franken apologized and said "I've met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. I'm a warm person; I hug people. I've learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women—and I know that any number is too many." Since when did awkward photographs become a crime? This cannot be allowed to become a normal thing to complain about. One woman even complained about a wet kiss on the cheek that happened during a handshake.

Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell teamed up and submitted Tweeden’s allegations to the Senate Ethics Committee. Even though Franken asked to defend himself Chuck Schumer wouldn’t allow it. And he forced him to resign by threatening censure and to be stripped of his committee assignments. Not unlike what Silver did to Veto Lopez. Kirsten Gillibrand also called for Franken to resign. This happened during Trump’s Presidency. It is shocking that major Democratic leaders fell for this smear campaign that was clearly politically motivated. The woman who started it all was a conservative! Franken was rising in popularity and doing quite well. He was probably on his way to the White House and the Republicans put a stop to that. Actually, they manipulated Chuck Schumer to do it. What is he gullible?! Especially after he himself went through the same type of allegations that same year when he was falsely accused of having an affair with a 16-year-old girl.

When Franken resigned he mentioned it was ironic that Trump stayed in the White House after he made derogatory comments about women, yet he had to resign. Why didn’t Chuck Schumer call for Trump to resign? We know, he’s a secret Republican! Franken left the public eye for a while and became very depressed.

Keith Ellison. You might think that this was the only time in MN something like this ever happened. What if we told you that is factually inaccurate? Keith Maurice Ellison has been our very own MN’s 30th Attorney General since 2019. He started out as a Representative in Congress for MN’s 5th Congressional District from 2007 to 2019. He was also the Deputy Chair for the DNC from 2017 to 2018. He is the very first Mulsim ever in Congress, perhaps this is why some people don’t like him. He was also the first Muslim to a statewide office. He was highly criticized for his affiliation with the Nation of Islam. He was raised as a Catholic in Detroit, Michigan.

During his campaign for AG there arose allegations of domestic violence. His former girlfriend Amy Alexander went into great detail about how he allegedly physically harmed her. Ellison eventually got a restraining order against her because she wouldn’t leave him alone. She tried to get one against him, but it was denied.

Another ex-girlfriend, and known friend of Lindsey Boylan (see their Tweets to each other), Karen Monahan, accused him of attacking her too. Ellison said he did not wish to address it because he did not want to demonize her. Is that something a guilty man would do? Her son said there was a video, which she never produced. She said it was lost or something like that. So the judge dismissed the case because there was no evidence.

You all may know Ellison because he was the prosecutor in the George Floyd case. You can thank him for the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin. His son, Jeremiah Ellison, is a member of the Minneapolis City Council which had vowed to defund the Minneapolis Police Department. He is also acquaintances with New York AG Leticia James. We respect Ellison and believe that he would not associate with her if she was not trustworthy. 

It seems like these ladies have a script they are following. We know that some of them are friends, but they don’t all seem to know each other. So where are they getting this playbook from? We have a theory. MeToo actually is an organized non-profit. Women can go to them anonymously for help handling harassment claims. Perhaps they are coaching these women on what to do? They may have even built a handbook of some sort.

Both of these cases were prominent during Trump’s Presidency. It is really obvious Trump and his party had their hands in this as it benefited them greatly to target these two rising stars. Again, why did Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand eat out of Trump’s hand!? They never once called for HIS resignation. What on earth!? Schumer and Gillibrand have eagerly called for Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, despite having no horse in that race. Why do they so quickly turn on their fellow Democrats, but not Republicans? Which side are they REALLY on? Also, don’t meddle in MN business if you don’t want us to start watching what you’re doing in New York. It’s bubbling over into MN!

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