Bad court ruling, by Trump flunky, puts the BWCA at further risk

March 19, 2020

What a load of crap. A federal district court judge has ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s decision to reinstate federal mineral leases that could eventually lead to a sulfide-based copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The decision, issued Monday, was not a surprise to opponents of the mine, who had expected […]

by Dan Burns

DFLers in MN House look to help the homeless

March 12, 2020

Think it will get far in the GOP Senate?

by Dan Burns

What should Sen. Klobuchar do now?

March 2, 2020

What with the way news gets around on the internet, you’ve probably seen that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) ended – sorry, “suspended” – her presidential campaign, today. I’m not going to speculate as to what pressures may or may not have been brought to bear on her (or, for that matter, on The Smiler). Like […]

by Dan Burns

On attempts to sell clean water down the river

February 25, 2020

We don’t need no stinkin’ sulfide mine

by Steve Timmer

China won the trade war, and farmers will keep hurting

February 13, 2020

They should probably hold off on buying those bigger tractors. According to Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, China will buy at least $40 billion of U.S. agricultural goods in each of the next two years. It will endeavor to buy another $5 billion each year…Ambassador Lighthizer said the specific sub-sector commitments, such as oilseeds […]

by Dan Burns

“Campaign Against Killer Robots” is dead serious

February 7, 2020

I read about this in this month’s Scientific American. That’s paywalled. The gist, via a few quotes from the article: – “Once launched, an AWS finds, tracks, selects and attacks targets with violent force, all without human supervision.” (AWS stands for “fully autonomous weapons system.”) – “Since the mid-2000s, when the U.S. Department of Defense […]

by Dan Burns

A shameless pitch for Drinking Liberally on February 6th

February 3, 2020

Fourteen years of bullshit -the eBook

by Steve Timmer

The incomplete evolution of Lee Schafer

February 1, 2020

Strolling down PolyMet Avenue with Lee

by Steve Timmer

Kurt Daudt sets a “dog-whistle racist” tone for 2020

January 27, 2020

“Dog-whistle racism” is a weird phrase, when you think about it. I mean, the whole point of a dog whistle is that humans aren’t affected by it, right? But we all in fact know what political dog-whistle racism really entails, and that’s what matters. For example: “People want to be able to visit a Twins […]

by Dan Burns

Let’s test that proposition, Senator Gazelka

January 20, 2020

Begrudging an urban single mom $120 a month in food stamps

by Steve Timmer

I see you’re a Democrat, a reprise (with an addendum)

January 17, 2020

Lotsa luck, my friends

by Steve Timmer

Guys, keep your grubby mitts out of Minnesota’s schools

January 16, 2020

First of all, the fact that Alan Page was a very great football player doesn’t give him standing on this. The proposed amendment would remove the requirement for a “uniform” system of public education from the state constitution. This strategy paves the way for taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools, which may discriminate against certain students. […]

by Dan Burns