Secret Flame: new evidence of mammoth cyberspying program against Iran
Not unlike the fictional Mr. Phelps of "Mission Impossible," real-life spies today direct their computer cyberespionage programs to self destruct — delete themselves — after use. Bare scraps of digital...
View ArticleFemale suicide bomber kills foreigners in Kabul in response to video
A suicide bomber targeting a microbus in Kabul on Tuesday left at least 12 people dead, eight of which are believed to be foreign civilians predominately from South Africa.A female bomber detonated a...
View ArticleMarriage amendment opponents air first TV ad, featuring Republican Catholic...
A new TV ad opposing the proposed marriage amendment will air on Twin Cities and Duluth television stations.The ad, by Minnesotans United for All Families, features a couple from Savage who are...
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Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali on writer's block, quashing the ‘Little Hater’
Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali talks on video blog Ill Doctrine about addressing the “Little Hater” — the little voice inside his head that tries to stop him from saying “what needs to be said.”...
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'Marriage Minute' ad relies on much-criticized research
The online ad from Minnesotans for Marriage alleges that same-sex parents have a negative effect on children they raise.Minnesota for Marriage, the main group campaigning in favor of a constitutional...
View ArticleMinnesota's wolf harvest takes shape with reliance on trapping and baiting
[Update: A few hours after this post went up, I got word that the Center for Biological Diversity has gone to court to halt wolf hunting and trapping this fall on grounds that the Minnesota Department...
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Summer camp plants seeds of peace in international conflict zones
TC Jewfolk Euphoric teens charge fully dressed into the lake. Shouting, high-fiving, they embrace each other in twos, in threes and in whole groups. Their excitement churns the water and sends spray...
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Minnesota’s new welfare-fraud law takes effect, food-stamp use rises
A welfare-fraud prevention measure goes into effect this week at a time the Minnesota Department of Human Services characterizes the numbers of food stamp users as at “historic highs’’ here and around...
View ArticleKlobuchar and Bills debate economics in low-key session
Economic issues took center stage Tuesday morning at a U.S. Senate debate between Sen. Amy Klobuchar and her Republican challenger, Kurt Bills.The debate was decidedly more low-key than the one the...
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Jim Heynen and the end of the world in 1999 Iowa
Jim HeynenMost teenagers live in a world apart from the actual world. But to the writer Jim Heynen, who grew up in a Dutch Calvinist enclave in northwestern Iowa, the rest of the world may well have...
View ArticleWhat’s wrong with what Romney said: from Thurston Howell to pandering
You know by now that an unauthorized tape emerged over the weekend of remarks by Mitt Romney at a private fund-raiser in May in which he told the donors that he had no chance of winning the votes of...
View ArticleThe fate of children born of rape explored in essays
Over the weekend, I came across a compelling essay about the incredibly complex relationships that women raped during war have with the children born of that violent act.The essay, which was published...
View ArticleSecret Service checked out New Ulm council candidate over possible threat to...
A candidate for city council in New Ulm says he was questioned earlier this year by the Secret Service after he sent angry letters to Washington.In the letters complaining about the Minnesota...
View ArticleObama's post-convention bounce has disappeared
At its peak last week, Pres. Obama's lead in the Gallup daily tracking poll (it's an average of seven-days of results, updated every day) was six percentage points.As of this morning, it's back to one...
View ArticleRybak joins other mayors to protest pending automatic federal budget cuts
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is among a group of U.S. mayors who will appear at a Washington press conference Thursday to protest the automatic federal budget cuts set to take effect because Congress...
View ArticleNew My Ballot site offers 'one-stop shopping' for Minnesota voters
The Secretary of State’s Office launched a new tool on Tuesday that sets up an individualized, one-stop shop for voters to easily view candidate and ballot question information tailored to their...
View ArticleInitial harvest reports show significant variability
John Mages, who farms in the Belgrade area and is president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, said farmers in west central Minnesota are finding a wide range of variability in the crop yields,...
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Archbishop Nienstedt offers anti-gay marriage message from Capitol steps
Say what you will, he’s not afraid to own it. The Strib’s religion writer, Rose French, reports: “Twin Cities Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt and several other faith leaders gathered Tuesday...
View ArticleBills on tax reform: 'I’ve been saying this all along'
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills has signed anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist’s no-new-taxes pledge, so when he said at a Humphrey Institute forum on Monday that he’d be willing...
View ArticlePeter Hutchinson takes job with Accenture consulting firm
Peter Hutchinson, the former state finance commissioner and Minneapolis school superintendent, has been hired to head the management consulting strategy for Accenture's State, Provincial and Local...
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