Homs is Syria’s third-largest city. Or, at least it was before it was bombed literally back to the stone age. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
War
The U.S. has been at war so long you’d think people would ‘get’ the whole ‘support our troops’ thing by now.
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If you’ve lived through a few winters, maybe the Arctic blast and a half-inch of snow wreaking havoc on a morning commute in the Minneapolis St. Paul area as it did today, rates a little bit lower than if you’re a kid from Syria whose home was literally blown from under you. Read more →
There’s a new poll out with questions surrounding the Middle East and the so-called “war on terror.” But before we talk about them, please answer these questions. Read more →

We might well find out one of these days whether Facebook can force the U.S. to do something it doesn’t want to do: Let a refugee into the country it doesn’t think should be allowed in. Read more →

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wittingly or unwittingly provided a sharp contrast between his country and the one to the south when a plane load of Syrian refugees arrived overnight in Toronto. Read more →

The predictions that the This American Life spin-off would focus on the case of Bowe Bergdahl were correct. This year’s podcast, the first episode of which was posted overnight, shifts from ‘who did it’ to ‘why did he do it?’
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In his swim to honor the sacrifice of Gold Star families, Chris Ring swam 2,350 miles through 10 states. He’s the first American swimmer to accomplish the feat, and only the second human to do so. Read more →
Gov. Mark Dayton used some common sense this week when he unraveled a public relations disaster at the state’s Department of Corrections. Read more →

It seemed like only yesterday that Navy vet Chris Ring jumped into the little creek known as the Mississippi River in Itasca and headed south. Read more →

Three stories in the news today reveals that some realities of war don’t fit on bumper stickers:
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A pitcher for the Oakland A’s and his girlfriend showed a proper response to the fear whipped up by politicians looking for some cheap points with fearful voters. Read more →
This is an incredible video put together by Milan Vuckovic, a Berlin designer who started putting it together after the attacks in Paris.
He documented every terrorist attack in the last 15 years in which at least 21 people died. Read more →
The police in Brussels didn’t find what they were looking for when they staged a series of raids looking for Salah Abdeslam, suspected to be one of the gunmen in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Read more →
We’ve reached another predictable stage in the coverage of a terrorist attacks: the ‘how to talk to your kids about Paris’ articles are starting to populate the InterTubes.
Here’s an idea: Don’t bother. Read more →