Brian Klaas

1 week ago | forkingpaths.co | Brian Klaas

Thank you for reading The Garden of Forking Paths. This edition is for everyone, but please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to fully unlock this essay and 200+ others from the archive. Your subscriptions make my writing sustainable for the future. Alternatively, you could check out my book: FLUKE: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters. When I was a kid, I could rattle off telephone numbers. Landlines. Clunky, oversized cell phones, bricks in purses. I knew the digits by heart.

1 week ago | contrarian.substack.com | Brian Klaas

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a lone gunman allegedly impersonating a police officer killed Melissa Hortman, a prominent Democratic state representative in Minnesota, and her husband, Mark. In the minutes before that shooting, the gunman had allegedly already targeted another Democratic state senator, John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who survived multiple gunshot wounds. The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, was apprehended Sunday night.

1 week ago | forkingpaths.co | Brian Klaas

Thank you for reading The Garden of Forking Paths. This edition is free for everyone. If you’d like to support my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription for just $4/month, or consider buying my book: FLUKE. Note: if you’re interested in my thoughts on the tragic assassination of Melissa Hortman in my home state of Minnesota this past weekend—and how we can make sense of American political violence—I wrote about it for The Atlantic.

1 week ago | theatlantic.com | Brian Klaas

Early this morning, a gunman apparently impersonating a police officer targeted two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers in their homes. First, he shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, who were seriously wounded. Law-enforcement officials believe the same gunman then shot Melissa Hortman, who served as Minnesota’s speaker of the House from 2019 to 2024. She was killed, along with her husband, Mark.

1 week ago | buff.ly | Brian Klaas

Early this morning, a gunman apparently impersonating a police officer targeted two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers in their homes. First, he shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, who were seriously wounded. Law-enforcement officials believe the same gunman then shot Melissa Hortman, who served as Minnesota’s speaker of the House from 2019 to 2024. She was killed, along with her husband, Mark.