Bob CollinsYou probably figured as soon as Donald Trump blamed his sexual exploit talk on ‘locker room talk’ that former Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe would weigh in on life in the Vikings locker room to set him straight. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for October 2016
As a fan of a team that will likely never win a World Series in my lifetime (a distinction, we suspect, you Chicago Cubs fans are about to lose), you’ll find no bigger supporter than me of the notion that baseball is the perfect game.
Sure, we joke from time to time that it’s like a religion, but we don’t really mean it. Read more →
The kids in Alvin Junior High School in Texas learned the lesson we all have to learn sooner or later and made the best of it. Read more →
We’re rather eating up the opportunity to hear behind-the-scenes stories afforded by the new book from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The book is published by a division of CBS, so CBS News has gotten two days of exclusive interviews out of the deal.
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It was 1918 when activist and socialist Eugene Debs made a speech in Canton, Ohio urging resistance to the World War I military draft. So President Woodrow Wilson — Debs ran against him in 1912 — ordered him arrested and charged with violating the Sedition Act. He went to prison.
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The PiPress says the meters are more expensive than those in Minneapolis, even though the downtown is generally devoid of retail. The rate per hour next year will go up again — to $2.25 under Mayor Chris Coleman’s plan to ‘maximize’ revenue.
At what cost to the city? Read more →
This has been in my head today as I see tweets from important people who are shocked to learn there’s “gambling in this establishment.” That as recently as August 2015, when I originally wrote this, some male journalists — at the liberal The Atlantic, no less — couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. Read more →
Raymond Haerry, 94, of Rhode Island, didn’t do much talking in August on his experience on the USS Arizona the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
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There are two amazing takeaways from this NOAA video of a “hurricane hunter” airplane flying into Hurricane Matthew. Read more →
In its editorial today, the newspaper gives thanks for the Mall of America’s decision to stay closed on Thanksgiving. That’s a far cry from 2011 when it told retail workers to stop whining. Read more →
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are familiar with this helicopter, a Hiller FH-100. It had been involved in a June 2006 incident when the pilot reported he heard a ‘bang’ and then a shudder. The tail rotor had separated from the helicopter, the NTSB said. Read more →
Today’s daily dose of bittersweetness comes from Peter DeMarco, a Boston writer whose 34-year-old wife died after an asthma attack. Read more →
Today’s Duluth News Tribune story on the death of Don Pasek, 88, is an additional reminder of what we’ve lost in the chain-store world. Locality and community identities. Pasek was the last remaining independent pharmacist in Duluth when he retired seven years ago. Independent pharmacies have been swept away by the Walgreens, Targets, and CVS’s Read more →
We get it, housing inspectors have a job to do. And, yes, the structures are not built to the code of St. Paul, but shutting down neighborhood haunted houses still has an ‘are you kidding me?’ ring. Read more →
Today’s daily dose of sweetness comes from Derry in Ireland where Alexandra Johnston, 14, is fighting cancer for the second time. While undergoing chemotherapy treatment, she finished off all seasons of Sons of Anarchy in one-month and has developed a bit of a thing for motorcycles. Read more →