The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances

March 16, 2022

The US guaranteed the territorial integrity and soveignity of Ukraine in 1994 and reaffirmed it in 2009

What President Biden should really do about gas prices

March 9, 2022

Over the years I’ve seen estimates that oil speculators drive up prices by anything from 15 to 25 percent during spikes. (Even the ultra-conservative, market fundamentalist Fed acknowledges that they’re a real factor.) Here’s why they do that. Traders with connections to the oil companies can also make big bets on the opaque crude oil […]

by Dan Burns

Growing voices of righteousness vs. ethanol

March 2, 2022

I have to note right off the bat that the terms “growing” and “righteousness” in the title of this are open to a measure of debate. For example, not all anti-ethanol voices have been righteously motivated. Ever since the mandate’s inception, farm-state senators in particular have pushed to increase it, and oil-state senators have tried […]

by Dan Burns

Twin Metals looks to be a goner

February 23, 2022

A gentleman does not “gloat,” but certainly I was pleased to see this (and I have plenty of company): About three weeks after President Joe Biden’s administration canceled two federal mineral leases near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says it has stopped work on the state’s environmental review […]

by Dan Burns

Sylvia Schwartz wins a Spotty ™

February 20, 2022

Pointing our 1st Amendment muzzling in Minnesota law

by Steve Timmer

Are the school deformers shifting their tactics?

February 14, 2022

I’m in full agreement with what’s in most of the article from which I’m quoting. “School choice” advocates often claim to promote “freedom” for parents to choose the form of education they see best for their children. But the strategy of “school choice” is to move public funding away from public schools into private hands. […]

by Dan Burns

About that Musk mine

February 2, 2022

With updates.

by Dan Burns

Anti-vax, Big Lie acolyte gets humiliated. Does it matter?

January 23, 2022

Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers NFL team. For the most part he’s really good at it, and as the NFL is now by far the biggest sports draw in America that makes him a major public figure, like it or not. From a couple of days ago: “When the president […]

by Dan Burns

Topsoil loss proceeds apace

January 19, 2022

According to a new study, about 35% of the best topsoil in the U.S. Corn Belt is gone. The mechanization of plowing began in the mid-1900s. While this allowed farmers to work larger areas of land, it has resulted in some negative effects on soil health. Tillage breaks up the soil and unlocks nutrients, but […]

by Dan Burns

A bit of a reality check on the Great Resignation

January 11, 2022

I have to confess that when I started seeing news about the Great R, I maybe allowed myself to get a little carried away (though only in my own thoughts, so no harm done). I’ve long yearned to see real movement toward a place where everyone who wants to – a large majority, to be […]

by Dan Burns

Enbridge’s mega-con

January 3, 2022

Well, now. As Republican state officials insist that Canadian oil pipelines are necessary to lower energy costs for American consumers, the fossil fuel giant operating those pipelines is suddenly citing the climate crisis its products are creating as a rationale for raising those prices higher, according to new documents reviewed by the Daily Poster… Last […]

by Dan Burns

A charter school feeds the hand that bit it

December 17, 2021

Hmong College Prep Academy

by Rob Levine