Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses
In 1980, a young, left-wing Argentine militant named Horacio Campiglia was abducted in Rio de Janeiro and then taken to a military base in Buenos Aires, never to be heard from again.In the southern...
View ArticleImmigration officials tight-lipped about detainee release. What is known?
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said last week it was releasing a "few hundred" detainees to save money ahead of the automatic spending cuts in the “sequester.” A few days later, the...
View ArticleAnger courses through Nile Delta and Suez Canal, spelling trouble for Egypt's...
This city in the center of Egypt's Nile Delta bears the telltale signs of a protest-turned-fight with police – the street is littered with rocks, broken glass, and remnants of burned tires. The smell...
View ArticleWhat is Hugo Chávez's legacy in Venezuela?
With the passing of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, a chapter on one of the most controversial modern leaders in Latin America has come to a close.Mr. Chávez has for the past decade and a half so...
View ArticleHugo Chavez is dead
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a long battle with cancer, the government announced. He was 58.The death of a leading voice of the Latin American left plunged his...
View ArticleHouse to vote on post-sequestration funding bill Wednesday
WASHINGTON — A snow-shortened week of work for the U.S. House will culminate Wednesday in a vote on a resolution to continue funding the government at its current, post-sequester level through...
View ArticleBoehner pledges (but not really) to stick to 'Hastert Rule'
As a quick follow-up to yesterday's post about Speaker John Boehner's evolving relationship to the "Hastert Rule," which holds that the speaker shouldn't allow a bill to come to a final vote in the...
View ArticleMPS critique offers an ideological spur to resentment
For the last week, I’ve been staring at a postcard that arrived in the mail. The front carries a picture of a small, solemn girl who appears Latina. Against a sea of pixelated gray that suggests the...
View ArticleTwin Cities traffic congestion? Eat your heart out, Portland
As I mentioned in an earlier post, city planners and other urban do-gooders tiresomely and endlessly praise Portland, Ore., for its efficient use of land and transit -- to the detriment of our more...
View ArticleU.S. House approves stopgap budget bill
WASHINGTON — As expected, the U.S. House passed a bill Wednesday to fund the government through September, the first step to avoiding a government shutdown at the end of the month.Most Republicans...
View ArticleClik here to view.
GOP's Gruenhagen on welfare, 'minorities' and out-of-wedlock births
GOP Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen has already made a name for himself, though probably not the sort of name many of the rest of us would care to have. And that was before his latest, uh, thoughts, on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hilstrom finds that gun bill meant to unite quickly divides
Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, has discovered again that there is no comfortable middle ground when the subject is guns.Rep. Deb HilstromAt noon at the Capitol, Hilstrom, standing with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Despite brighter economy, Minnesota’s homeless numbers still rise
Even as the state’s jobs numbers get sunnier and the Dow hits an all-time high, the numbers of Minnesota’s homeless are rising as well — though not as fast as a few years ago.Increases are slowing,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How does media violence influence us?
Socrates predicted that reading and writing would devastate his community. He urged the students of Athens to avoid the written word, for fear their minds would go undeveloped and their baser instincts...
View ArticleGOP plans to fire amendment barrage at health exchange bill
Look at it this way: They’re doing the only thing they can. Elizabeth Stawicki of MPR reports: “Republicans say they will offer about 100 amendments to an insurance exchange bill when the Minnesota...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Congressman Paulsen on Israel: Future is bright
Erik PaulsenOn the last day of the AIPAC Policy Conference 2013, AIPAC delegates from across the country descending on Capitol Hill. For the first time in AIPAC’s history, delegates lobbied all 535...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The double lives of leading Twin Cities executives
Small-business owner Dave Wirig would blend in well at any business luncheon. Scott Kadrlik looks like you’d expect a managing partner in an accounting firm to look. Tabatha Erck’s appearance is...
View ArticleSt. Paul third-graders dig in to promote 'Adopt-a-Hydrant' program
A group of third-graders in St. Paul have their shoveling work cut out this week.Sure, we hope they were helping to clear the family driveways and sidewalks after the big snowstorm, but these seven St....
View ArticleNorm Coleman says he won't run for office in 2014
WASHINGTON — In a series of tweets, former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman announced Thursday night that he won’t seek office in 2014.Coleman, a Republican, had previously said he wouldn’t seek a rematch...
View ArticleBritain to remove last troops from Germany in 2019
One of Britain’s enduring legacies of the cold war will end a year earlier than expected when the last British troops leave German soil in 2019.The government this week announced a speeding up of...
View Article