abandonedfarm

Is Big Ag really trying to push traditional farmers under?

December 5, 2019

First, let’s assess the situation as it is now. – Most farms in the U.S. are still, technically anyway, traditional, family farms. Though the farmers’ kids, and even grandkids, are very often far from kids, age-wise, any longer. Economically, though, what those farmers do is determined by Big Ag and Big Ag-friendly (to say the […]

PolyMet: Fourteen Years of Bullshit, the eBook

December 2, 2019

With a link to free ePub, azw3, and mobi format copies, and as a PDF, too

mprbuilding

The long, erratic decline of MPR News

November 25, 2019

I remember when Minnesota Public Radio’s morning e-newsletter was called “Polinaut.” Back then their reporting in general really was a cut above that of corporate-owned “news” media. That is, it was more grounded in objective reporting of facts, and less in false equivalence and other forms of providing conservative spin. In retrospect, I can’t pin […]

hegsethtrump

A Minnesota lad keeps plunging deeper into the swamp

November 24, 2019

Pete Hegseth is from Minnesota. He did high school in Forest Lake. He tried for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2012, but lost to Kurt Bills. Bills went on to be obliterated, by something like thirty points as I recall, by Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the general. That Amy stomped Kurt, and Kurt […]

The Smiler and Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg pulls ahead

November 19, 2019

The Most Trusted Name In Iowa Political Polling™, Ann Seltzer, dropped a new poll on Saturday that showed a completely different race from the one we saw just two months ago. This time, instead of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in the lead, this poll finds the leader of a small provincial fiefdom South Bend, Indiana […]

new nafta

Corporate Dems look to ram through “new NAFTA”

November 17, 2019

Contrary to what some may be claiming, this pretty much bites. “Not quite as bad as the old NAFTA” is not the same as “good.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly press conference (November 14) that a deal on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was “imminent,” and that it would serve as a template […]

Soon to be former St. Paul Council-member Kassim Busuri

Chasing Those Precious Second Choice Votes Part 2

November 11, 2019

On Friday November 8th St. Paul conducted the reallocation of Ranked Choice Voting Votes for Wards 1 and 6. This was a big moment for the anonymous St. Paul “insider” we were introduced to in part one of this soon to be concluded series. Either the “insider” would be correct and Ward 6 Council-member Kassim […]

Minnesota District 30A State Representative Nicky Zerwas

Who is the Most Online Minnesota Legislator?

November 7, 2019

An investigation

Likely St. Paul Ward 6 winner Nelsie Yang

Chasing Those Precious Second Choice Votes

November 6, 2019

Appointed St. Paul Council-member Kassim Busuri appears to have lost his seat in yesterdays elections. I say appears because while he’s way, way behind, and has no realistic chance of victory, he’s not actually eliminated yet. He could still pull this thing out. If you read the mistake-prone half of the Morning Hot Take Dish […]

jenin

MN-04: Rep. McCollum could use attention and support on Palestinian rights

November 5, 2019

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced HR 2407, the Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, on April 30. It was referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and nothing has happened since. It does have 22 co-sponsors, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). This is nothing new for Rep. McCollum. For years […]

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-big-hail-mary-can-jack-kemp-save-the-gop-14110

Why did a Court of Appeals Judge ask if PolyMet’s dam was a Hail Mary?

October 29, 2019

It’s more of a Lazarus, really

Shannon Lotthammer: We don’t know where all that mercury is coming from

October 27, 2019

It’s a puzzle that the TMDL study would have answered, which is why it was scotched