Bob Collins
The top 10 political affairs
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.
Is thinking back in fashion, the jobs that can’t be filled, the Timberwolves trade, urban beekeepers, is the Appalachian Trail in Argentina, and what’s the use of long-term planning by short-term-thinking politicians?
The very tail end of President Obama’s news conference today provided the best glimpse into the workings of the White House Press Corp
“Who cares?” a follower on Twitter asked today, when the subject of the death of Ed McMahon came up. I guess I don’t have a great answer for it, although I do think there’s value in remembering the icons of mass media when it was really mass media. Like McMahon, the Milton Berles and Dinah Read more →
People rise to the occasion in DC, what happens to your private data when a firm that specializes it goes belly up, the lowdown on Moussavi, your iPhone is an accident waiting to happen, and the humanity of pet names.
Clearly, there’s a difference between St. Paul and Tehran in the level of violence between authorities and lawful demonstrators. But on the fundamental question of whether protesters — if peaceful — should be allowed to take to the streets against a government, is there a difference?
Who is more responsible for emitting greenhouse gases. It depends on how you want to measure it.