Tuesday February 4, 2014  Would mammoths be halal?  Searching on "elephants" and "halal" didn't bring up a definitive answer.

I did confirm that mammoths wouldn't be kosher.

***DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) precinct caucus. 

A bit over half the residents of SE Como (my neighborhood) are college age; the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus is close by.  Last year, most caucus attendees were US-born senior citizens who looked Northern European.  This year there were also a number of Somalis. 

The incumbent state representative has a Somali challenger this year.  Her campaign literature makes a point of her having Somali supporters.

This part of Minneapolis votes left of San Francisco (not left of Berkeley, usually.)  The state DFL is farther right -- a bit left of the UK Labour Party, I think.

The caucus was entitled to elect delegates to various upcoming party conventions.  I became a delegate to the part of the city convention which will choose school board nominees. 

Almost everyone who wanted to be a delegate was elected.  The rest became alternates.

There were also party positions to be filled, and fewer candidates than positions open.

Nearby, the Cedar-Riverside precinct caucus was shut down after a fight broke out between supporters of the state representative candidates.  Apparently, both groups were made up of Somalis.

***Comments of Comment:

seawasp 2/04/14: It may also be "Yes, I think this is a good idea, but if it's not enacted and no one seems likely to, why should I deprive myself and my family of obviously gainful opportunities that are currently perfectly legal and that many argue AREN'T ethically problematic?"

***From Twitter:

Julieanne Smolinski ‏@BoobsRadley How sad for bathing suit designers that they have never ever seen or touched a breast. I mean, I'm assuming.