Regarding institutional movements afoot, bear in mind that the Republicans have a one-vote majority in the Minnesota Senate. The more this fragile majority drags its feet, the more stentorian the voices can be around the state urging voters to think about the larger issues involved. If police misconduct in Minneapolis is not restrained because a handful of outstate Republicans want to "stick it" to the urban areas that sustain the economic viability of the entire State of Minnesota, they will richly deserve contumely from their more savvy constituents.

The citizens of Minneapolis will also have the opportunity to remove the .017 headcount requirement from the Minneapolis City Charter and such an amendment can be brought forward by existing entities like the City Council itself and/or the action of the City Charter Commission. I think the headwind is there for these possible initiatives to move forward without having to resort to a petition process. If the Mayor drags his feet for whatever reason, 2021 municipal elections aren't all that far way.

It is also first-rate that the Police Federation has been removed as a negotiating agent. Never forget that only 5% of the force actually lives in the City they are sworn "To Protect and Serve". Also never forget that more often than not, the outsiders depend on military hardware to force their opinions into reality against unarmed citizens who now appear in opposition in an aggregate of tens of thousands.

It is axiomatic that rule cannot be maintained at the point of a gun and without doubt divesting the Force of heavy weapons and overblown responsibilities will have to happen no matter what that one-vote Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate might prefer to see. Just as the extortionate behavior of the Police Federation is being sidetracked, so also the opinions of the State Senators who do not live in the core cities of this State will have to set aside their pretensions of supremacy and get real about solutions that can be sustained.

Some remedies are beyond the reach of the State of Minnesota and its subdivisions. The qualified immunity from prosecution profile of the United States Supreme Court has been abused to a fault and should membership in that Court of Last Resort need to be expanded, that can be achieved by a blue wave sweep through the Congress of the United States and the Office of the Presidency - a future prospectus that's looking increasingly real. The tail of the low-population States has been wagging the dog quite long enough and we are likely to see that eliminated in the time ahead. So also the benefit of adding Washington D. C. as a 51st State of the Union and a renewed effort to make a similar offer to much maligned and neglected Puerto Rico. The Electoral College is profoundly undemocratic as matters stand.

I also believe that the use of the filibuster in the United States Senate has surely reached its "sell by" date. It  ought not be possible for a rump group of cynical Senators to bring that Upper House to a standstill. The corrupt practices of the current Majority Leader in that body demeans the good name of the State of Kentucky and it would not be good practice to let such malfeasance continue compliments of the use of the filibuster. Nor ought the Republican Senators who insist on "going down with the ship" as President Trump is given a red slip by the national electorate this fall be immune from the harsh consequences they are bringing into their careers.

The implications for the national economy remain quite daunting no matter what initiatives and decisions are reached in the remaining months of 2020. Speculation in the stock market is as flimsy now as it was in 1929 and the outwash of impending economic collapse compliments of the pandemic is both incomprehensible and inevitable. "Buckle up", as they say, because there's a very rough ride ahead.