Hello and welcome back. Bari this week asked Olly Wiseman to edit a story a little more before it runs, and he just stood up and screamed “I stand with 60” and threw a fire extinguisher out the window. Pretty wild. For anyone who wants to sign the team letter wishing Bar a happy new year, I just added my name!

→ The Quality Learing Center: The big bizarre news in our dear country, and what much of this newsletter will be devoted to, is that the entire Minnesota economy is built on scams. A young independent YouTuber named Nick Shirley went knocking on “day care” centers door to door but weirdly found that the places were closed or otherwise devoid of children. We need more information but it definitely appeared he was finding scams, a bevy of scams. At one point, he went to a building with apparently more than a dozen supposed healthcare companies all located in the same building—and he was ushered out. He posted the 42-minute video investigation last week, and it went enormously viral, with some 134 million views on X alone.

Days after Nick Shirley’s video came out, two things happened. On the one hand, a bunch of kids were brought to the center Shirley found empty, to prove that it was, in fact, actively in use, so the press could cover it as a totally normal day care. Around the same time, a state agency claimed that that location had already shut down, so the press could cover it as a problem that has been long solved, silly gooses. The agency then said the center had “decided to remain open.” So it’s not a problem—but if it were, it’s been solved. One Minneapolis day care has now claimed that an unknown criminal broke in this week and stole paperwork documenting enrollment and employee information. I, for one, hate when that happens to my day care that’s being investigated.

Here was Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan showing solidarity with the Somali community amid the probe.