Bob Collins
Since 2008, analogies to Nazis have permeated the American political discourse, pretty much neutering the true historical impact of the systematic extermination of a race.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.
Thousands of government bodies all over the United States — including the Minnesota House and Senate — open their meetings and sessions with a prayer. Today the U.S. Supreme Court gave the practice its blessing. Read more →
How prepared do you want to be for what’s coming? In New York Mills, Patrick Kilby is making a pretty decent living in the dying business. He simple pine boxes for caskets. Read more →
Dave Hickman was hunting with his grandfather near Boston, Indiana back in 1955 when he heard a cooing sound. The teenager looked in some brush and found a baby. How and why she got there is anybody’s guess, but their time together was short lived. The baby was turned over to a sheriff. Eventually, she was adopted by a couple, who moved away.
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There aren’t many companies with a bigger bunker mentality than Target, so it’s unlikely we’re ever going to get the story behind today’s announcement that president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel has left the company in the wake of last fall’s big data breach. Steinhafel has “resigned,” which is corporate speak for “he was fired” but Read more →
You have a choice, Minnesota. You can either avoid the pothole craters or you can get a ticket for straying outside your lane. What will it be? Read more →
While generally making himself available as needed to the Minnesota news media, U.S. Sen. Al Franken doesn’t do a lot of interviews with national journalists, who generally consider themselves a cut above their local brethren.
It’s not hard to figure out why. National reporters just can’t seem to get over the idea that the guy was once on Saturday Night Live. Read more →
Take a sport played predominantly by whites and followed by predominantly white fans, add a city with a racist reputation, and mix in some social media and you have the ugly result in Boston this week when the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins began their playoff series. Read more →
It fairly boggles the mind the extent to which one person in one spot and one moment was the difference between that safety and an unspeakable mass murder.
Or does it?
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If there’s one thing we’ve learned from states that set up their own health care exchanges, it’s that silly advertising doesn’t make a good case for getting health care.
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You’ll be seeing and hearing more of Garrison Keillor in the coming weeks. The humorist, normally a pretty reticent sort except between and 5 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays, is pushing a new book at the same time he’s observing the 40th anniversary of his show. After leading everyone to believe he would retire a Read more →
There’s no question that driving Minnesota highways, especially those in the metro, is a frustrating experience. Anybody can get a driver’s license and it shows daily in the incompetent and dangerous moves we all see, and sometimes participate in.
How far are we willing to go to change that behavior? Read more →
A Minnesota school has dropped a requirement that prom goers be tested for drinking before being allowed to attend.
The Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union said Perham High School’s requirement is likely unconstitutional and ineffective.
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Let them go, helicopter parents. Nearly four out of 10 Americans between 18 to 24 years old say their parents are involved in their search for employment, a recent survey said. The generation of helicopter parents apparently can’t let their kids get their own jobs. The survey from Adecco Staffing found that 38% of young Read more →
It’s a fine line that separates good-natured NHL playoff rivalries from you-need-to-get-a-life-status. Hello, Boston. The Bruins open their playoff series tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. It’s probably the biggest rivalry in hockey and there’s no rumor for humor, apparently. In Montreal, a liquor store plastered Montreal Canadiens logos over any mention of Boston on its Read more →