SCRAMBLE: All candidates in the MN DFL party run the EXACT same playbook and it's hilarious!!!

Summary

Garage Logic – Weekly Scramble

Episode: SCRAMBLE: All candidates in the MN DFL party run the EXACT same playbook and it's hilarious!!!
Date: May 12, 2026
Host: Chris Reivers
Co-host: Mike Fratelloni

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Weekly Scramble dives into a range of local and national issues, with the main focus skewering Minnesota DFL political ads and their formulaic approach, plus an exploration of economic pressures on families, small business struggles, and some notable fraud cases in Minneapolis. Reivers and Fratelloni blend local color, personal anecdotes, and their trademark irreverence for a spirited discussion on the state of politics, city living, and everyday common-sense logic.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Economic Squeeze on Average Minnesotans (04:42–12:45)

• Inflation & Discretionary Spending:
  Rising gas prices and overall inflation are causing lower-income consumers to run out of cash before month’s end. The hosts cite major corporate CEOs (Kraft Heinz, McDonald’s, Whirlpool) warning about negative cash flows and a worrying decline in the appliance sector.
  • Quote (Mike, 05:41): “They're literally running out of money at the end of the month.”
• Impact on Family Life:
  The hosts discuss how parents are choosing not to drive to all their kids’ events due to $5/gallon gas, and ponder how much discretionary spending will remain for summer.
• Restaurant Closures:
  Rising costs and ongoing city construction push more local restaurants like 30 Bales and The Downtowner out of business.
  • Quote (Mike, 09:08): “We’re unfortunately seeing a lot of restaurants close here in the Twin Cities…and most of them have been doing so because the cost of doing business is just too great.”
• Service Industry Reflections:
  Both hosts reflect on how everyone should work in the service industry to learn the value of hard work, with Mike sharing his daughter’s short-lived experience (“People are nuts.” – 12:29).

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2. Bargain Hunting in Hard Economic Times (12:45–16:00)

• Secret Grocery Stores:
  Reivers resists giving up the name of a discount grocery store in Montgomery, MN, likening it to not revealing a secret fishing spot—eventually relenting under Fratelloni’s “guilt trip.”
  • Fun moment (Chris, 13:44): “So you’re going to hold? Everyone is struggling. You own the airwaves to the Weekly Scrabble podcast and you’re not gonna tell us?”
  • Resolution (Mike, 14:07): “Fine. You guilted me into it. It’s called something discount something or other. But it’s in Montgomery, Minnesota.”
• Rise of Aldi:
  Aldi is exploding in popularity, hiring as fast as possible to keep up with demand for bargains—especially important for consumers feeling economic pinch.

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3. DFL Politics: The Templated Playbook (17:33–22:00)

• DFL Ad Critique:
  Reivers dissects an Ilhan Omar ad, pointing out the sameness of all DFL political messaging: fighting for “hardworking Minnesotans,” standing up to Trump, championing immigrants—without specifics.
  • Quote (Chris, 19:03): “When you watch this 30-second campaign for Ilhan Omar, you could just remove the name Ilhan Omar and insert Angie Craig, Tim Walz, Peggy Flanagan…it doesn’t matter. They all run the same exact ad and they hit on the same exact bullet points.”
• National Political Comparisons:
  Fratelloni jumps in drawing contrasts between Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and AOC, arguing that perceived looks, not just ideas, drive attention.
  • Humorous (Chris, 20:55): “So is [Omar] the pretty Rashida Tlaib? Should we start calling her pretty Rashida Tlaib?”
• Political Realities:
  The DFL endorsement in Minneapolis’ 5th district essentially guarantees election, making it all but impossible for a Republican challenger.
  • Quote (Mike, 21:54): “Any Republican that runs against her has absolutely no chance…”

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4. Minneapolis Politics & Living in Two Different Worlds (22:00–28:19)

• Campaign Smear Ads:
  The hosts laugh about the absurdity of attack ads targeting politicians for not wanting to build new homes for “the unhoused.”
  • Quote (Chris, 22:21): “Spencer Pratt says, get off the drugs or get off the streets. Oh, okay. So he doesn’t want people…”
• Driving Through Minneapolis—City Perceptions:
  Reivers recounts driving his retired-sheriff father through Minneapolis, whose reaction is dismay and disbelief at decay and oddities (like a man fixing his car on a busy street).
  • Quote (Mike, 25:14): “He’s like, what in the sweet hell happened to this city?”
• Debating the City’s Future:
  Fratelloni, more optimistic, pushes back: “If it’s getting 1% better, we have to start clapping…We have to start praising positivity.” (27:13)
  • They debate whether the city is in decline or quietly rebounding.

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5. Minneapolis Fraud: “You Almost Have to Tip Your Cap” (30:55–37:34)

• EBT/Government Assistance Program Fraud:
  A Minneapolis grocer is charged with felony fraud for using other people’s EBT cards (intended for food assistance) to purchase wholesale goods and resell them at his own store, amassing over $1 million.
  • Quote (Mike, 31:35): “A Minneapolis grocery store owner is now facing felony charges in what investigators say was a million dollar food assistance fraud scheme.”
  • The hosts banter about possible accomplices, flaws in oversight, incidentally highlighting a leniency in fraud prosecution.
  • On the system (Chris, 34:06): “They just let a guy who stole $11 million in fraud. They gave him probation.”
• Policy Critique on Usage:
  Both hosts decry that SNAP benefits are widely used for junk food and sugary drinks, calling for reform—“It’s not compassionate” (Chris, 37:34).
  • Quote (Chris, 35:51): “Why am I using my money and your money to buy someone a Monster energy drink? I don’t let my kids drink it. Why am I letting someone else buy it with their EBT card?”
  • Memorable: “The vast majority of people that are on SNAP benefits are morbidly obese...20% of all SNAP benefits go to the purchase of sugared drinks.” (Chris, 36:52)

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6. Sidebars, Anecdotes, and Memorable Moments

• Family, Food, and Lawn Care:
  Anecdotes about Mother’s Day celebrations and secret grocery store finds thread through discussions about economic pressure—offering a snapshot of Minnesota suburbia.
• Recurring Lightheartedness:
  Jokes about discovering a bargain grocery store and not sharing its name (“like a guy discovers a honey hole when he’s fishing”—13:51), or the running commentary about city driving oddities and nutty campaign tactics, keep the show punchy and accessible.
• Final Joke:
  Chris cracks a joke about getting a massage from a dyslexic masseuse who “really rubbed me the wrong way.” (38:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Economic Pressures & Family Life: 04:42–12:45
• Local Restaurant Closures / Service Industry: 09:08–12:45
• Secret Grocery Store & Bargain Shopping: 12:45–16:00
• DFL Playbook Discussion (Omar ad, national parallels): 17:33–22:00
• Absurdity of Local Campaign Smears: 22:00–23:22
• Driving Through Minneapolis—City Debate: 24:00–28:19
• Minneapolis Fraud & Government Benefits Critique: 30:55–37:34
• Chris' Joke / Episode Wind-down: 38:35–39:10

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Notable Quotes

• “When you watch this 32nd campaign for Ilhan Omar, you could just remove the name Ilhan Omar and insert Angie Craig, Tim Walz, Peggy Flanagan…it doesn’t matter. They all run the same exact ad.”
  — Chris Reivers, 19:03

• “He’s like, what in the sweet hell happened to this city?”
  — Mike Fratelloni, 25:14

• “Any Republican that runs against her has absolutely no chance of running in the fifth Congressional District in Minnesota.”
  — Mike Fratelloni, 21:54

• “Why am I using my money and your money to buy someone a Monster energy drink? I don’t let my kids drink it.”
  — Chris Reivers, 35:51

• “So you’re going to hold? Everyone is struggling. You own the airwaves…and you’re not gonna tell us?”
  — Chris Reivers, 13:44

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Tone, Style, and Takeaways

The episode embodies the Garage Logic spirit: irreverent, common-sense, and decidedly local in flavor. The hosts mix humor, skepticism, and personal experience to critique political messaging, economic woes, resilience (or lack thereof) in Minnesota’s cities, and the sometimes-baffling world of public policy, with an unmistakable tinge of nostalgia and exasperation—plus plenty of playful jabs.

For listeners seeking a blend of inside-baseball Minnesota commentary, political skepticism, and unvarnished opinions on the week's biggest local stories, this episode delivers the goods—plus a few laughs along the way.

Transcript

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[Mike Fratelloni]

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[Chris Reivers]

This is the Weekly Scramble, a place

[Commercial Announcer]

where we chat about life over a cold one. Or it's time to belly up to

[Chris Reivers]

the pod with Mike Fratelloni and your host, Chris Reivers.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's right, it's time for the Weekly Scramble podcast. My name is Chris Reivers. With me, as always, his name is Mike Fratelloni. Hello, Michael.

[Chris Reivers]

How you doing, Reivers?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I'm doing good. I was asked about this just a few minutes ago. Johnny Hight was actually doing the show in studio. He's just like, hey, how are you doing? How's everything going? Just like it's that magical time of the year that I love where it's baseball season for both of my boys. But it's, you know, we eat dinner at 10:45pm Now. Right. So it's just kind of like one of those things where you're running from this game to that game. But I love it. I absolutely love it. And. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

[Chris Reivers]

You know what's nice about that Reavers is you're in the mix where you still have to drive them around.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

So I turn to my kids because they have that same schedule, and I'll be laying on the couch and I'll wake up a little bit and I'll be like, work hard, play hard. Like, I'll give them sound advice from a nap on the couch, and they'll be like, dad, I got to work. And I have golf, and I have. And then at tonight, hey, work hard, play hard. Girls, will you grab another beer quick? Right.

[Mike Fratelloni]

As long as you're off.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, as long as you're off. My legs, I think, have fallen asleep. It is nice once you don't have to drive. But I think you said something else about that you're really getting to spend some quality time.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah, you know, it's kind of neat. You know, we're driving quite a bit, actually. In fact, last night, it was. It was. For me, it was, you know, Minneapolis to Jordan. My oldest son had a 5 o' clock game in Jordan, and my youngest kid had a 7 o' clock game down in St. Peter. And so we just get to spend a lot of. It's fun and it's nonsense. And granted, we only have, what, two. I think two more weeks of school. So once schools are with, that'll kind of alleviate some of the oh, we still gotta get up at 6 o' clock in the morning even though we went to bed at midnight or whatever it was.

[Chris Reivers]

No, you just gotta get used to it. It's good for kids to push a little bit.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Absolutely. So I did see this and the reason I bring it up is you're my money guy. You're my smart. Well, Mr. MoneyTalk is my money guy.

[Chris Reivers]

I was gonn.

[Mike Fratelloni]

But you understand where I'm going with this in terms of just.

[Chris Reivers]

I like math.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yes, exactly. I found this story courtesy of our friends at Axios and I was curious to get your opinion on this because I know people that have been doing this exact very thing. Lower earning Americans are increasingly strapped for cash. One recent corporate earnings call, some CEOs warned that their customers are struggling to deal with rising gas prices and higher inflation. Why that matters. It's painful on an individual level and more broadly, it could be a sign of a slowing economy, a warning to investors and a hit to the various companies that sell stuff to people across the country. They're literally running out of money at the end of the month. Kraft Heinz CEO Steve.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Nailed it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Said it. Nailed it with Bloomberg last week. We're seeing negative cash flows in the lower income brackets where they're dipping into savings. His comments echoed remarks from McDonald's CEO Christopher Kempczynski nailed it. Who talked about rising gas prices disproportionately hitting low income consumers. The pressures are going to continue, he said. Last week, Whirlpool CEO Mark Blitzer said the appliance industry is seeing an industry decline on par with the financial crisis. By the numbers, Americans are spending down their savings. The personal savings rate was at 3.6% in March, the lowest since the revenge spending days of 2022. They also feel worse than ever, citing stress levels and things like that. Well, that's the thing I was going to hit on because I think what some people are doing right now, in fact I know one person that said, well I'm not because so my oldest kid, they're playing school baseball. So they ride the bus to and

[Chris Reivers]

from

[Mike Fratelloni]

from school so parents don't have to transport them for that. And there was one person that basically said I ain't driving all the way over there. Gas is five bucks a gallon, basically, things like that where they've got multiple kids and multiple activities and there's only so much dollars that go around for a given paycheck. I was just curious because I think what's going to happen, Mike? Granted we're hearing statements that saying once we get the situation in Iran resolved, the gas prices are going to plummet. Well, okay, some are saying that's not quite that easy. But I gu. My whole point is I don't know how much discretionary spending people are even going to have, especially as we get into summer where now all of a sudden you've got to find places for your kids to go. Some are working or whatever, but some of the people that have younger kids, that have full time jobs, it's like, well, now what do we do?

[Chris Reivers]

I wonder if it's kind of an interesting thing because I've listened and read some articles about travel because you think plane travel has to increase because the cost of jet fuel is skyrocketing. Right? But they said, I think it was like name one of the big kayaker something. One of the big travel sites. They said they still see high demand in ticket prices and they think some of that is being offset by lower costs on hotels because hotels are saying, hey, we're not seeing as many people coming to the hotels. Right. So it is a. Remember back when this last happened when fuel prices went real high? And I don't know if you remember the car, the Geo Metro from 1989, the three cylinder Geometro, people were buying those for seven or eight thousand dollars. I do remember that. And it's like we had a neighbor that had one.

[Mike Fratelloni]

We had a neighbo neighbor that had one of those.

[Chris Reivers]

It's three cylinder, it got 55 miles per gallon. Some crazy amount of miles per gallon. They were spending a fortune on them. I do think that if we wanted this war in Iran to be over, it could just be over. All we have to do is say, okay, we're done, right? And then everyone's going to start pumping oil again and everything goes right back to normal. What I don't get is how is the market still so high? Because of course everything has to become more expensive. When diesel fuel goes from 3 bucks to 6 bucks, that's a huge portion of the cost of any product is shipping. And now it just went up 100%. What do you do? So I don't know what to think of this. Reivers. It is a tax on poorer people, right?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh yeah, absolutely.

[Chris Reivers]

And then the arrogance of saying we're going to reduce the federal tax by 19 cents.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Well, I'll cite two specific examples. Oh, shoot, I forgot to write the name of the place down. But I guess what I mean. And this was happening before gas prices had happened. But we're unfortunately seeing a Lot of restaurants close here in the Twin Cities, and most of them have been doing so because the cost of doing business is just too great in the metro area. And unfortunately, our good friends at 30 Bales have had to close their doors. Their last day of service was Saturday. Fortunately, no. And I wish I had known sooner, because I 100% would have stopped in for one last meal. Cause their food is fantastic. It's just. This is that time of the year where I'm constantly running from this place to that place. So I just haven't had the time. But I did. I sent a note to our buddy Todd. We gave him a shout out earlier today on garagelogic. But places like that, where it's a great restaurant with great food in a wonderful location, but there are many things. Obviously, cost of business is what it is. That's a very real factor. But for poor Todd and 30 Bales, the construction and everything else that was going around there, it just was Dr. Driving people away, saying, well, it's too much of a pain in the ass to try to find your restaurant.

[Chris Reivers]

It's not convenient.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And what's the pizza place in West 7th that's right next to Burger Moe's there?

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not a pizza place. The Downtowner Cafe.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Downtowner Cafe.

[Chris Reivers]

I'm sorry.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Not a pizza place, but there's a

[Chris Reivers]

pizza place on Grand Avenue. The Italian pie shop on grand is closing, too.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Okay. That's why I'm confusing the two. But it's just. That's the. I think. I guess the thing that really bums me out is there are ancillary effects of things like this, and that's just kind of how the world operates, you know?

[Chris Reivers]

Give me your advice on this. Okay. Let's say you own a restaurant.

[Mike Fratelloni]

All right?

[Chris Reivers]

Let's pretend Reavers you own a restaurant.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Okay.

[Chris Reivers]

And life's kicking you, and it's just no longer fun to run. Right. And you want to just get out of it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Sure.

[Chris Reivers]

Would you not tell people six months ahead of time so you can have six months of outrageously good sales?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Sure. Kind of like when I. When a band announces, this is our retirement.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah.

[Mike Fratelloni]

This is our.

[Chris Reivers]

This is our last tour. Because I think a restaurant like the Downtowner, a lot of people went to that restaurant. It's been open for 30 years or 27 years. I'm forgetting what the run was. It was a very long time. People have had dates there, met their spouses there, had anniversary dinners there. And I think you could be busy for a long time. If they're not doing that, is it because it doesn't matter how busy they are, they're still not going to make money. The economics of how things are going today, where it's just not worth it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Well. And I know someone personally that did own a restaurant. This is a few years ago. And it's like, I'm so sorry. And this person just basically said, I'm tired.

[Chris Reivers]

I'm tired.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I'm just. I can't work 18 hours a day, five, six, seven days a week anymore. I'm just, I'm okay. It was fun. It just didn't work. And I'm moving on, you know, almost anyway. But it's just like. You just get to a point where it's like, well, I tried. It didn't work. I had fun. And I learned something.

[Chris Reivers]

You know, work restaurants are. Remember when we were kids Reavers. And you said I'd love to own a bar.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

Or a restaurant.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

And it would be so romantic.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And it's a terrible idea.

[Chris Reivers]

And boy, it's work. Yeah.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It really is. But I will say this every. I have. I have said this so many times with you. Every single person at some point in their life should work in the service industry.

[Chris Reivers]

Work.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yes. Not necessarily, but you should work in the service industry because that will teach you the value of hard work.

[Chris Reivers]

In fact, it's taught people so well that my daughter, my youngest, lasted like two months. And then she said, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm out of here. And I'm like, what do you mean? She goes, people are nuts. I said, well, sometimes treat them nicely and you won't have to worry about it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So you were saying something earlier, before we go to break here, we had like a little family gathering for mom for Mother's Day on Saturday. So we all got together at my parents house. It was so much fun. It was all of us, the grandkids, the whole shooting match, right? It was lighting off fireworks and drinking beers. It was awesome. Right? And so my sister in law was telling me about. Because you know, we're all trying to find the best bang for our buck right now. Right? Well, have you heard about this grocery store? I like this so much, I'm not even gonna name this place at all publicly. And I'm like, oh, come on. This town. And it's not a big town, it's a smaller town. Like no, I'm telling you, this town over here has this hidden gem of a grocery store. And it's basically, think of it. As like a. A knockoff version of like a Costco. Oh, nice. But it's. But it's an independently owned and operated deal, and so I stopped in. Oh, sweet Moses, Michael. I mean, it was fantastic.

[Chris Reivers]

Why can't you name this place?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Because I'm not giving. I don't want to all.

[Chris Reivers]

Are you kidding me?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I don't want. It's like when a guy discovers a honey hole when he's fishing.

[Chris Reivers]

Parking spot 100%.

[Mike Fratelloni]

If you want to email me, I will give you that information.

[Chris Reivers]

Put it on the frat pack at least. Let's give it to our frat packers.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I'll think about it.

[Chris Reivers]

I'll think about it.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Really?

[Chris Reivers]

So you're going to hold? Everyone is struggling. You own the airwaves to the weekly Scrabble podcast and you're not gonna tell us?

[Mike Fratelloni]

All right, you know what? Fine. You guilted me into it. It's called something discount something or other. But it's in Montgomery, Minnesota.

[Chris Reivers]

Montgomery, Minnesota.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Right off the highway. I didn't even know that there was even a store back there. I mean, I drive through there routinely

[Chris Reivers]

and it has like knockoff Cheerios.

[Mike Fratelloni]

No, it's not even that. I bought an entire tray of this wonderful Spanish rice that I love for like $5.

[Chris Reivers]

Really?

[Mike Fratelloni]

It was awesome. I got two gigantic things of butter for a buck.

[Chris Reivers]

Okay, let me ask you this. Are you going to a break soon?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yes.

[Chris Reivers]

Is it a we are nuts break?

[Mike Fratelloni]

It can be.

[Chris Reivers]

Okay, because we are nuts. Those people own a brokerage. I wonder if this grocery store, like, they take.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I didn't even.

[Chris Reivers]

Seconds package seconds or whatever or overruns. And they sell that. That's how they started in business, right?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I did.

[Chris Reivers]

And I wonder if that's part if. I wonder if they supply this. This discount grocer in Montgomery. It's funny that you say that like you're finding. And you're okay with going to this discount grocer. Aldi is seeing like 75,000 new customers a week. I mean, exploding people are going to all the Aldi offers a really good deal.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I have a friend who works at a high level job because they're headquartered out of Farewell. I don't know if you knew that or not. What is Aldi? The Minnesota bread.

[Chris Reivers]

The upper Midwest branch out of Norway or Sweden or something.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yes, the upper Midwest branch. So what services the Minnesota stores? Both Dakotas, I think Iowa, and portions of western Wisconsin and even parts of

[Chris Reivers]

Illinois, like Faribault, Minnesota.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It's a huge complex. It's right off the freeway and he's a big shot there at that. I mean, he left a big time, big shot job there and took this job down there.

[Chris Reivers]

Wow.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Okay. Anyway, but he said the same thing. He's like, we just, we can't hire people fast enough. Yeah, they're doing so well, they're just exploding right now.

[Chris Reivers]

That makes sense. Yeah. For a good value. People love it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So let's talk about we are nuts and wearenutsmn.com and you know what going on right now through the month of May. Speaking of gas, you want to save money? Well, how about this, You Quick Rewards members at all participating Quick Trip locations. If you stock up on we are nuts right now at Quick Trip, which why wouldn't you be? I filled up yesterday at QuikTrip in St. Peter. You're going to get 5 cents off per gallon of gas, but you have to be a Quick Rewards member. Hey, you want to see my Quick Rewards card?

[Chris Reivers]

You got one.

[Mike Fratelloni]

You're okay.

[Chris Reivers]

Don't show it on camera though. What if people take your Quick Rewards?

[Mike Fratelloni]

God, you're so smart.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. Thinking about it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's when you purchase any We Earn Nuts products that participate in Quick Trip locations. You know what, right now, through the end of the month, March, it doesn't matter. I grabbed myself a jar of maple bourbon toffee almonds last night. But you can also get the hot nuts, the original toffee peanuts. It's all there for you and you can also find them on at all of your Fratelloni's, hardware and garden stores locations, Mac's Hardware, Coburn's, Cub Foods, Lunds and Barley's. There's so many locations and you can find them [e-mail] and you can also place your order online. Today it's weearnutsmn.com, the weekly scramble. We we'll be right back.

[Chris Reivers]

Just a heads up to you folks sitting with a notebook and pen. Mishke, the new podcast here in Garage Logic Land is now coming out twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you're in fact scribbling this down, Wednesday is kind of tough to spell. It's not like it sounds. You want to spell it W, E, N, Z. But that of course would be a mistake. Friday is spelled just like it sounds. You're gonna be okay there, but Wednesday's a bugaboo. Let me tell you people. Just a pain in the patootie.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Jeez, it's hard. She's unavoidable. She's always in the News. And I knew I didn't even have to prep you for this, but Ilhan Omar is in the news again. And I gotta tell you. So yes, I believe. Was it yesterday she received the DFL endorsement. Oh, I know. We're all shocked that she received the DFL endorsement to represent the hard working citizens of the 5th congressional district here in the great state of Minnesota. And so that happened. And of course she got the endorsement of Peggy Flanagan. And then Peggy Flanagan got the endorsement of Ilhan Omar.

[Chris Reivers]

Nice.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And then I was looking at something last night. I was probably looking at just random baseball highlights on Twitter while I was trying to fall asleep. Cause that's super good for you. Oh yeah, scroll on social media right before you're trying to go to bed.

[Chris Reivers]

That's a dead rot. Scrolling.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So an Ilhan Omar ad came up. And you know it's the same 32nd of Ilhan walking the streets of Minneapolis holding kids hands. Right. And. And I said this to Joe earlier today and I was trying to find the ad, but the problem is when you try to play an ad on social media, it filters you through a different ad. A different ad. And then of course all your algorithms get. So then all of a sudden you're watching a campaign video for some idiot in Kentucky. Right, Whatever. And so I watched the video. I think it was a 30 second ad. So I watched the whole thing and then I rewounded. And then I watched it again as I was writing notes.

[Chris Reivers]

Taking notes. Yeah.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And I said, okay, here's the playbook. And again, Mike, when you watch this 32nd campaign for Ilhan Omar, you could just remove the name Ilhan Omar and insert Angie Craig, Tim Walls, Peggy Flanagan, it doesn't matter. They all run the same exact ad and they hit on the same exact bullet points. What was it? It was Ilhan Omar is fighting for hardworking Minnesotans. Okay, how, how, what exactly have you done? And then the next bullet point was Ilhan Omar is standing up to Donald Trump. Okay, how, how, how?

[Chris Reivers]

What are you doing?

[Mike Fratelloni]

He barely knows you exist, but okay. Ilhan Omar is here to fight for. And it didn't use the word illegal, but it used the word immigrant families here in the great state of Minnesota. Everyone is welcome, but okay. And standing up to ice and things like that, right? So it's like. Okay, but how about. What about her role with fraud? Are we gonna. Of course that's not gonna come up in the main video. But again, it's. They do this why? Because it's working. Because people buy this Phony crap. Even though she hasn't done a damn thing for the likes of you and me and everyone else that's lived in this state their entire lives and have paid taxes their entire lives. She doesn't give a damn. The only thing she cares about is make sure you get that check in by April 15th.

[Chris Reivers]

Do you think she's as big nationally as we make her in Minnesota? Here's my supposition. Rashida Tlaib kind of the same politician.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Almost the exact same.

[Chris Reivers]

Yep. But not pretty. So is she the pretty Rashida Tlaib? Should we start calling her pretty Rashida Tlaib. And then Rashida Tlaib, we should start calling her ugly AOC or Ilhan Omar? Cause she does. I mean, AOC is a perfect example. She's espousing the exact same thing as Rashida Tlaib. No one knows who Rashida Tlaib is. And AOC might be our next president cuz she's pretty.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And well, she legally couldn't become president.

[Chris Reivers]

Why? She wasn't. She wasn't she born in America?

[Mike Fratelloni]

She was.

[Chris Reivers]

The hell she wasn't.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh, I thought you were talking about Ilhano.

[Chris Reivers]

It's AOC or Ilhano. They're all the same thing, right? They're pretty, so we're paying attention to them.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Sure.

[Chris Reivers]

But if they were Rashida Tlaib saying the exact same stuff, we kind of don't pay attention to them anymore. We don't pay attention to Rashida.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's what makes me so infuriated, is that's what all of this has just turned into. Because basically she received the DFL endorsement yesterday, which that won her the election.

[Chris Reivers]

She's done.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Any Republican that runs against her has absolutely no chance of running in the fifth Congressional District in Minnesota.

[Chris Reivers]

We are living in two different worlds. And I'll give you another great example. This Spencer Pratt. Now you've learned a little bit more about Spencer Pratt. They had a video that someone put out a commercial against Spencer Pratt. And one of the very first lines in the. In the video was, Spencer Pratt does not want to build new homes for those that are unhoused.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh my God.

[Chris Reivers]

You're like, wait, he doesn't want to build new homes for those that are unhoused? Spencer Pratt says, get off the drugs or get off the streets. Oh, okay. So he doesn't want people. I mean, reverse. Somebody made that ad thinking we got him. We're gonna let people know that he doesn't want to build new housing for those people that are Living on the streets because they'll of course appreciate the brand new house that you give them that they'll rip the copper out of to go sell for drugs. Right? To recycle and get money for drugs.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Hates education. He hates your kids.

[Chris Reivers]

Honest to God, it was so, so incredibly surreal that somebody. And it's not a joke, it's Nate, not AI. Somebody went and put this out and. And every point they made, you're like, yeah, he wants people to be able to take their kids on a walk. Spencer Pratt doesn't want homeless shelters. Nobody should want homeless shelters. We want homeless shelters. We don't want homeless encampments. Right. It's like, what is going on in this world?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I gotta tell you. So last Friday I came in early to put together a Vesta for garagelogic. And I had to take my dad to Abbott Northwestern. Everything's good. Hopefully he's coming home today. Just some heart related stuff. So thank you to those because I did mention it. And I usually keep my family out of the stuff, but there's a reason I'm bringing this up. So he came with me here so that I could get my. The best of stuff done.

[Chris Reivers]

Your dad did?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah, my dad came in here.

[Chris Reivers]

Nice.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So Friday morning we came in here, went and got lunch downstairs, did some work.

[Chris Reivers]

And here was cartoon bubble. He's holding a cigarette and a beer

[Mike Fratelloni]

in his hand, walking through the.

[Chris Reivers]

Hey, where's Hubbard?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Congratulations to him. He hasn't had a drop of alcohol since 1987. Okay, but. And I think he quit smoking shortly thereafter too. But anyway, I digress.

[Chris Reivers]

And he still has heart problems, right? What is the note on that? You might as well smoke and drink.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So he's okay. He came here with me, we did a little bit of work, we had some lunch, and then I said, all right, we gotta head. We gotta head. Because he had an appointment, I think, at noon over at Abbott. And this just in. It takes forever to get anywhere right now in this city because there's just. Everything's under construction.

[Chris Reivers]

All north south roads and then east west roads.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So I said, well, we're not taking the freeway. That's just stupid. So I decided to take. Well, kind of, but you take Franklin down, cross the river, and then I went that way towards, like Cedar, thinking, well, it's the middle of the day. It'll be fine.

[Chris Reivers]

We're gonna be fine.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Honest to God. So I'm used to being in the city, but even me, it's. I come here and I get back on the freeway and I Go back to Jordan or Farib or wherever I'm going, right? To see this guy who's been a Rice county deputy sheriff who's basically lived in Rice county his entire life. And then he's like, what in the sweet hell happened to this city?

[Chris Reivers]

Why would people do this?

[Mike Fratelloni]

And he said, well, Mike, we were driving down. So picture we're. Does Franklin turn into Cedar or do you have to take a turn to get onto Cedar?

[Chris Reivers]

It doesn't matter.

[Mike Fratelloni]

We're on one of those. These are four lane roads, like two going eastbound, two going westbound. And there's a guy with a beat up old Jeep Wagoneer just stopped in the middle of the road with the hood up and his four ways on, just working on his car. And I'm thinking, what. What is going on? It's just. And I hate saying this because I know Minneapolis has, it's. It hasn't always been roses and sugar. I get all that. But you truly feel like you're not even in Minnesota anymore. You just feel like you've. You've traveled to a different part of the. I just.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, something's different.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It's just. And it really bums me out because I started working in the city back in the summer of 2001 when I graduated from college, right. And I remember, like, it was awesome, like just being out. We used to have the Hennepin Avenue street festival and stuff. And the block parties were. And they were awesome and they were fun. And sure there was crime and there was, but you just didn't feel like your city was desolate.

[Chris Reivers]

Well, I'm gonna be totally against you on this, Ray Ross.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Of course, go right ahead.

[Chris Reivers]

Because I'm still living in the city. I don't live in Minneapolis, but I spent a lot of time in Minneapolis. I drove through campus the other day. I wanted to go see the fraternity. I talked about in the other program that we had the other show the other day. I drove from the east bank to the west bank to downtown Minneapolis. I had to do some stuff was in uptown. The city looked good. People were walking around. Single women, not single women, women by themselves, walking their dogs. I was like, okay, this looks good. This has a decent vibe. We have to give it. If it's getting 1% better, we have to start clapping like, hey, let's go. Right? Keep the momentum going, right? And I don't want you to be a curmudgeon at such a young age.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh, it's too late for that.

[Chris Reivers]

No, it's not.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It doesn't.

[Chris Reivers]

You just need to go down there and have some fun. Your dad might be too far gone,

[Mike Fratelloni]

but I used to. Mike, I used to bartend downtown five years ago.

[Chris Reivers]

I know you did. And it's. I think if you went into the North Loop at 2 o' clock in the morning or had got a bartending job in the North Loop, you'd feel the same way maybe, right? I do think the city's getting better. I really do. When I was driving down Washington and I was in the North Loop and walking around there, someone recognized me from the show, which is a big deal, right? That made you feel like the city's not all crap because they're like, they're smart enough to know me. Okay, that was pretty smart. Ish. This guy's name was Ish.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Okay.

[Chris Reivers]

Like Nimish or just Ish? And he's like, just Ish. And I was like, well, you poor son of a bitch. That's a horrible name. Super nice guy. Super, super nice guy. And. But the city felt good. Things felt vibrant. I think we should praise positivity.

[Mike Fratelloni]

All right.

[Chris Reivers]

If things are going well. That being said, driving where you were driving with your dad, who hasn't been in the city for a while, I get it would have been a dramatically different look for him. Like, what is going on?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah, the nicest part too was the, the, the, the. The giant fencing that we've had to put underneath the underpass of the. Those are really nice.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, you gotta love that when you're like, well, we could just tell people they can't be there, or we can spend 400 grand on a fence that goes under every underpass to make sure that that is it. Every time I get off 35 to pull into, like into uptown and I see that big fence that, you know, people just used to sleep under that underpass. Why let him sleep there? Say no, right? You can't sleep here. You can't be on drugs sleeping in the underpass.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Let's talk about Quick links golf and quick linksgolf.com we are right smack in the middle of the golfing season, lad, ladies and gentlemen. And you know what? For Quick Links golf, you don't just have to use this in the winter. You can save time right now by practicing at home on your own golf simulator. Instead of having to go out to the course, you know, heading to the driving range or waiting for other people or even between kids sporting events. That's the beauty of having your own facility. With Quick links golf and quicklinksgolf.com you can practice with realistic feedback. There's instant video recordings or if you just want to play courses at the pros play. That's what you can have. If you contact my [e-mail] they work with all different types of contractors to add spaces to home floor plans or even create fun spaces for your employees at your office. That's what's really neat. Go ahead.

[Chris Reivers]

What would five better points if you went from a 15 handicap to a 10? No, let me restate that. If you went from a 14.9 to a 9.9, you were under 10. I don't care what they charge for these things. You go out and get one because you are that much better of a person if you're a 99 and if you get down to a 4 9, you're like liked in society at a whole different level. God forbid you're a plus something. A plus one. I don't care what you have to spend for that.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's worth it.

[Chris Reivers]

It is worth it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

And they have all their past projects they've worked on on their website too. And you can book your free consultation [e-mail] and please let them know that you heard about them here on the weekly scramble podcast. And we will be right back.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah, I had to mention the drive because it just, it was pretty eye opening for one Francis Reavers. I also wanted to bring this up because Lord knows fraud is once again in the news. And this one, you almost got to tip your cap to the guy to a certain degree because it has the feel of where everyone else is getting out of this. I'm gonna try a new way. Oh, I like it. A new way to create.

[Chris Reivers]

Was it basic or did he have to do a little chess?

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's what I'm saying.

[Chris Reivers]

Okay, so I'm excited to hear this.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So here's we're gonna. Obviously, this is Dateline Minneapolis.

[Chris Reivers]

Why? Again, why? Okay, go ahead.

[Mike Fratelloni]

A Minneapolis grocery store owner is now facing felony charges in what investigators say was a million dollar food assistance fraud scheme. Abdi Waheed Muhammad. I hope I pronounced that correctly.

[Chris Reivers]

I want to do respect for him.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Waheed Muhammad. I don't think he's from here.

[Chris Reivers]

Okay. We don't know that. That's the second generation.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I don't know if he's from here or not. I don't. I don't want to. I don't know if he's from Bloomington

[Chris Reivers]

or 21 years old.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Doesn't matter. Yeah. Well, he is accused of using other people's EBT cards to get more than a million dollars to buy items from wholesale stores that he later sold at his store.

[Chris Reivers]

Okay.

[Mike Fratelloni]

So.

[Chris Reivers]

So he would go to Sam's club, he would get the money off their EBT cards, go to Sam's club, buy gallons of milk for a dollar a gallon or four bucks or whatever and bring it back his. Okay. That's arbitrage income. Good for him.

[Mike Fratelloni]

EBT cards work like debit cards for low income families who receive government paid benefits. Investigators said Muhammad owned Minnesota Food Grocery LLC near West Lake street in Minneapolis and was seen buying items such as energy drinks and baby formula with EBT cards that did not belong to him. Investigators said Muhammad then loaded the goods into his vehicles and took them to Minnesota food Grocery where they were unloaded and placed on store shelves for resale. The court filing says one woman, identified as F.F. told investigators that she had not paid for groceries at Minnesota Food Grocery for more than a. For almost two years after agreeing to let Muhammad use her EBT card. The charging document says that between March 8th of 2021 and August 10th of 2021, so five months. Mohammed received $1.14 million in EBT payments. If convicted, Muhammad could face up to 20 years in prison.

[Chris Reivers]

I'd get the girl who was known as FF forever. Fallon. I'm gonna call her. She gave her EBT card to this guy. She goes to jail, too. Well, she knows what she's doing. He didn't steal it from her.

[Mike Fratelloni]

We all know that neither of these two are gonna serve any jail time. We don't know that, Mike. They just let a guy who stole $11 million in fraud. They gave him probation.

[Chris Reivers]

Really?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yes.

[Chris Reivers]

That doesn't seem quite right.

[Mike Fratelloni]

No.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. Is that true?

[Mike Fratelloni]

I almost broke my mind.

[Chris Reivers]

Is that true?

[Mike Fratelloni]

In fact, Michael, he received not a plea deal, but he. They didn't confiscate his passport.

[Chris Reivers]

Oh. And then he just ran away and he just disappeared.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I mean, who could have seen that coming?

[Chris Reivers]

So. Okay, and I. And that's a very specific one. I don't know the story behind that. Right. And it might be exactly what you said, but. And if this guy's doing this. The store that took the EBT cards from him, like when he went to whatever big box retailer.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Yeah, let's indict anybody.

[Chris Reivers]

But let's say he went to somebody.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Sure.

[Chris Reivers]

And then he said, oh, I'm buying all this stuff here, use this card, use this card, use this card. And they're not his name. Why didn't that store say timeout? These are not your EBT cards. Show us your driver's license.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Because you know that, I mean, I would guess that, that the person running those places are very busy. Yeah, but you're not checking an ID on a debit card when you're making a transaction. You're just swiping the card or tapping the card now.

[Chris Reivers]

Well, that's the problem. Let's get back to the days reverse. Let me give you. Here's what we'd have to do. Remember how our farmers, like, we're making too much milk and cheese. And so what we did as a society, we said, you know what we should do? We need to make sure that. That farmers, dairy farmers, can make milk and cheese because we need it for our country in times of war, we might need more of it. Let's give it to the poor. So you would get government cheese. Right. And you would get some government bread and some government canned goods and so on. I think we should get right back to that. I know it sounds cold, but why am I using my money and your money to buy someone a monster energy drink? I don't let my kids drink it. Why am I letting someone else buy it with their EBT card?

[Mike Fratelloni]

Remember, we did have an administration that tried to put a stop to that. And remember the hue and crack from everybody everywhere clutching their pearls and said, we can't do this to people. And we tried to do that. We tried to say, no, this should only be used to buy essentials that

[Chris Reivers]

you need a safety net to not starve to death.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Not for you to load up on 10 trillion calories worth of junk food. That's not what this is for. This isn't free money. This is supposed to get you by. And that's the problem. I'm gonna get emailed and I really don't. Please don't email me, don't engage me. I get that this is a necessary program, but there's too many people that take advantage of it. Here's the other thing, though, with this guy, what he should have done if he was already in business, if he already owned a store, why didn't he just go to the Large wholesale place and buy it with his own money. He was still gonna make money off of it.

[Chris Reivers]

Sure.

[Mike Fratelloni]

You know what I'm saying?

[Chris Reivers]

I totally get it.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Why didn't he just do that?

[Chris Reivers]

Because they're all just scammers. They're not the deepest thinkers.

[Mike Fratelloni]

That's true.

[Chris Reivers]

Right? These scammers. And when I say they, I just mean gener scammers are not the deepest thinkers. I do go back to when we talked about this before. Like, the vast majority of people that are on SNAP benefits are morbidly obese. It's like 62%. Right? 20% of all snap benefits go to the purchase of sugared drinks. Why we allow that to happen to people. I don't get it. I don't get why we would say if I saw someone dying of liver disease because they were alcoholic, I wouldn't go give them another 10 bucks to buy another drink. I wouldn't do that. If we're seeing people die of heart disease and everything else you get from being morbidly obese, why are we letting them buy sugary drinks on our dimes? It's not compassionate.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It's a huge problem in this country. There's no doubt about it. Okay, I wanna make sure I mention our friends at North American banking. Company banking done differently since 1998. And that's because way back then, they decided to create a better banking experience for their customers where you get to know your banker and they also get to know you. And you know what? A lot has changed since then. However, this commitment to being a true community bank in the Twin Cities, that of course has not nor will it ever change. So you can walk into any one of the six Twin Cities locations and get that experience firsthand. Whether it's Roseville, 50th in France, Woodbury, Hastings, Shoreview, and also in Maple Grove, Offering you the same updated online and mobile banking tools as all of those other big national banks. However, the key difference is that true community bank feeling and that customer service that you're going to get. Check them out online today. It's nabankco.com to learn more. It's banking done differently. North American Banking Company member FDIC is an equal housing lender.

[Chris Reivers]

You know, reivers. I was stressed out the other day.

[Mike Fratelloni]

I'm sorry.

[Chris Reivers]

And I went to a masseuse and the woman at the front said, hey, this masseuse is great, but she's dyslexic.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Oh no.

[Chris Reivers]

And I said, oh, okay. It turned out she really rubbed me the wrong way. Cause she's dyslexic.

[Mike Fratelloni]

You weren't Deshaun Watson or anything?

[Chris Reivers]

No, I wasn't. I wasn't Kraft. Okay. Reverse. You are the best.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Thank you, Michael. Please do us a favor. Rate and review the show wherever you happen to be listening to the weekly Scrabble podcast. It helps others find the show. It helps us out as well. And we appreciate each and every single one of you. His name is Mike Frattalotti. My name is Chris Reivers. Thank you so very much for listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. We'll talk to you again next time. Until then, cheers.

[Chris Reivers]

Everybody talked about it since I first moved to Oregon.

[Mike Fratelloni]

The big one.

[Chris Reivers]

The earthquake that trashed the whole West Coast. Total destruction.

[Mike Fratelloni]

Officially calling it the largest natural disaster in American history.

[Chris Reivers]

I just didn't know what would help me next. So I took it all.

[Commercial Announcer]

Even the gun.

[Mike Fratelloni]

It was time Cello see why American Afterlife is the number one fiction and drama podcast in America. Presented by pair of thieves. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows available now.