Bob CollinsParticularly in an election year, we’re always looking for things that define who we are.
It’s an effort doomed to failure from the start — we can’t be defined — but we persist anyway. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for August 2016
There should be an extra citation for bad excuses. Or a reward for the effort. Read more →
I often wish that Star Tribune columnist Lee Schafer’s work could find its way off the business pages and closer to the paper’s front page because his work is too stimulating to be relegated to one of the most ignored parts of the newspaper.
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We won’t ever know what prompted a woman to let go of the fence. We won’t ever know what led her to crawl through the hole and to decide that the world she lives in offers no hope. We won’t determine whether the society that saved her, also failed her.
We think the story is over. Read more →
He was surrounded by family and white pine, Aaron J. Brown writes this afternoon in a wonderfully touching memorial. Read more →
If drivers would simply behave differently, the main cause of traffic jams could be eliminated. Read more →
The Associated Press has exposed the dirty little secret your dentist has tried to keep while shaming you for not flossing daily. There’s no evidence flossing is beneficial. Read more →
It’s hard not to imagine what the family might have contributed to a better Iron Range had his family spent more than a year in the Iron Range town on his way to a better life. Read more →
Somewhere — maybe — a political strategist for the Trump-Pence ticket is wondering how booing parents of soldiers is going to propel the Republicans into the White House.
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The City Council last night voted not to ban the game-playing in city parks, specifically around the veteran’s memorial next to a playground and band shell in the city. Read more →
You’ll probably see more of this picture in newspapers and on websites. It’s the headstone of the soldier whose parents have been criticized by Donald Trump. You won’t hear the story of the soldier on whose grave the photographers trampled to get it. You should. Read more →
It should come as no surprise — although it still does — that the preferred Republican candidate for president of the United States thought it made some sense to attack Gold Star parents. It doesn’t take a political science degree to see the stupidity of doing so. Read more →
We’ve seen enough nonsensical real political commentary from the mainstream media during this campaign to dismiss The Simpsons version, just because it’s a cartoon.
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It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been three years since Shaina Briscoe , an avid and well-known Twin Cities cyclist, started out on a race to the lakes of the Twin Cities, and sustained a severe brain injury when she and an SUV collided in Minneapolis. Read more →
People of Winona: Return to your lawns before someone gets hurt. The City Council in Winona is voting tonight to ban Pokemon playing in the city’s veteran’s park, which was built by selling pavers honoring veterans. Read more →