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Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
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The Triumph of Bad Taste: When Inferior Prevails
Editorial
Donald Trump started the war early Saturday morning, Feb. 28, urged on by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as U.S. and Israeli forces shelled military and civilian sites in Iran, without …
Donald Trump appears to be descending into dementia, and Republican congressional leaders should be held to account if they refuse to curb Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior and his efforts to …
Donald Trump showed a taste for empire and plunder when he sent U.S. special forces to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from their home in Caracas in an overnight raid …

THE ONLY REFUGEES LEGALLY SETTLED IN THE US SINCE OCTOBER WERE WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS.

Not a single refugee who isn’t a White South African has been legally resettled in the United States since October, according to the State Department’s most recent arrivals report, Stephen Prager …

WHY TRUMP BROKE HIS PROMISE TO MESS WITH TEXAS SENATE RACE.

Republicans were breathing a little easier on March 4 after Donald Trump said he would intervene to end a bruising GOP runoff in the Texas Senate race. Yet nearly a week later, Trump still …

‘’FBI HAS THE RECORDS’: 2020 ARIZONA AUDIT INFO SUBPOENAED.

The FBI has served the Arizona State Senate a grand jury subpoena for voting records related to the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona, in the latest sign that the federal …
Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
Dispatches

TRUMP’S UNIQUELY UNPOPULAR WAR ON IRAN.

You almost couldn’t design a more unpopular war. Not only do very few Americans support President Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran starting Feb. 28, but our chief ally in the ongoing conflict, …

‘WHILE NO ONE’S LOOKING,’ TRUMP DOJ SETTLES ANTITRUST CASE WITH LIVE NATION-TICKETMASTER.

The Trump Justice Department on March 9 reportedly reached a tentative deal with Live Nation—the owner of Ticketmaster—to settle a Biden-era antitrust lawsuit that aimed to break up the company, …

TRUMP’S ‘SLAUGHTER AT SEA’ CONTINUES, AS US MILITARY KILLS 6 MORE IN EASTERN PACIFIC

With the Trump administration’s unprovoked war on Iran spiraling out of control, sending oil prices skyrocketing and leading to war crimes allegations against the US, the public’s attention has …

GLOBAL CHAOS AS TRUMP’S IRAN WAR SENDS MARKETS DIVING.

President Donald Trump’s unprovoked and unconstitutional war against Iran is sending shockwaves across the global economy in the form of skyrocketing oil prices and diving financial markets, Brad …

TRUMP EXPLOITS 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF US INDEPENDENCE FOR YET ANOTHER GRIFT

Allies of the Trump administration, in partnership with the White House, are reportedly using the upcoming 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence as another opportunity …

Manifest Destiny Revisited: Greenlanders Should Scream ‘No’

In his zeal to wrest Greenland from Denmark, President Trump has resurrected Manifest Destiny. Ages ago we grew our footprint, seizing Texas from Texas, much of the Southwest from Mexico, as well as …
Rural Routes
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Here we go again. Spring.   And while I appreciate the good weather, the green shoots that announce the coming of flowers and the budding trees, I don’t appreciate the chemical sprays …
Grassroots

Rogue Nation America

We are a rogue nation.Not just an imperialist nation, but a rogue one, imposing our will outside international norms and despite the constitutional and legal safeguards we’ve long believed …

Health Care

Cupid Needs a Public Health Backup

The Grinch axed the “have a healthy” part of the New Year greeting. We are plummeting into a maelstrom of illness. Measles is no longer rare. As for whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis, influenza, …

Satire

Hell Hath No Fury …

As the saying goes, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” nnU.S. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Green, stalwart Trump supporters, but …

In The Public Interest

How Some Courageous Super Rich Can Save Our Country from Trump’s Expanding Dictatorship!

There are reportedly about 900 billionaires (probably more) in the U.S. About 5% can be described as enlightened people who know the importance of contributing to organizations that advance justice. …

Columnists
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The Sac News shared on Facebook my column from Jan. 26 lamenting our loss of freedom, which generated a lot of insight in the comments, like “Art Cullen sits down when he pees.” That caused …
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How about some good news for a change? News that has nothing to do with Donald Whatzizname. News you might even use. It’s about “The Library of Things,” a real library, but …
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As the holidays descend, it’s a good time to think about our goals for 2025 and how we’ve managed to (choose one) (a) achieve them, (b) fail miserably, (c) forget or evade them.   As …
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Democrats are buzzing over the surprise victory of Taylor Rehmet in a Texas state senate race. Rehmet won by 14 points in a Fort Worth-area district Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024. …
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E-editions

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December 2025

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More Columnists
Draft or No: The Alarmists and the Realists
By DON ROLLINS
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Jackson’s Most Consequential Power Was Not His Oratory — but His Vision
In 1988, I was one of only two White elected Democratic officials in all of America to endorse Jesse Jackson to be our party’s nominee for president. The other was Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of …
‘Melania’: The Movie. The Bribe. The Shame.
I haven’t seen it. I hope you don’t, either. nnThis, from one of the kinder reviews: “Across some 104 minutes, the first lady delivers these blatantly scripted and meaningless narrations …
Why Won’t Newsom Tax Billionaires?
California Governor Gavin Newsom has spent 2025 setting himself up as Donald Trump’s leading opponent and the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee. While the Trump-Newsom rivalry has …
Trump’s ‘Peace’ Board is Set to Line His Pockets
Trump Tower. Trump Steaks. Trump University. Trump Watches. Trump cologne, candles, coins, robes, ornaments, towels, pens, gerbils, and gold-tipped suppositories. It’s hard to think of anything …
When Future Historians Write About the Fall of American Economic Power, Will Trump Be the Turning Point?
America’s economic system has never been fair or perfect, but for more than a century it rested on basic guardrails that kept instability in check and allowed us to fight for progress and win. …
In Venezuela, It’s Always Been ‘All about the Oil’
In 1998, former Venezuelan military officer Hugo Chavez stunned the world when he was elected president of Venezuela without the endorsement of the United States. Chavez ran on an anti-poverty …
And Just Like That, Greenland Was Spared
Remember Davos. Here’s a hope and a prayer, offered up to moderate Republicans: Remember the anguish. Store that sick feeling of watching the stock market crater, knowing the losses were harming …
Trump Team Goes to Cruel New Lengths to StripImmigrants’ Rights
It’s clear by now that the Trump administration remains furious that it is required to give immigrant detainees even the meager due process they are currently owed. So it’s setting out to change …
Trump’s Route to Imperialism Traveled Through Venezuela
OXFORD, Miss. - I was an anti-war protester in college who ended up getting drafted and serving as a U.S. Army soldier in Vietnam. Burned out with protesting and not wanting to flee to Canada, I was …
This is What Spite Gets Us
It was just a few years ago that Cliff Tobey and other union miners on Minnesota’s Iron Range won significant wage increases and looked confidently to the future amid a thriving manufacturing …
The Streets of Minneapolis
When former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello introduced Bruce Springsteen to an amazed audience at Minneapolis’ First Avenue on Jan. 30, Morello said: “I believe that the …
Trump’s Assault on Immigrants Hurts US-Born Workers, Too
​​In late 2025, federal immigration authorities detained a non-union janitor who’d accused contractors for Minnesota’s Ramsey County of wage theft. The worker is now in deportation …
Commentary: Rural Voters Have a Move. It’s Time to Make It.
First, some good news: There is a path out of this endless labyrinth of destabilizing crises, both foreign and domestic, being provoked by an executive branch wholly unbothered by international law …
Stephen Miller Makes a Name For Himself
Their claim was self-defense, sir.Just don’t believe your eyes.It’s our blood and bones And these whistles and phones Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies – Bruce Springsteen, “The Streets …
We Need Child Care, Not Partisan Threats
I’m a kindergarten teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota, working hard and contributing to the diverse community I love. But with two children, it’s hard getting by in this precarious time — now …
Trump’s Impunity Turns Lethal
When top public officials and law enforcement authorities lie routinely to cover up police misconduct, the lawless killing of innocent civilians becomes inevitable. That is why Alex Pretti and Renee …
There’s No Heresy in the Law of Supply and Demand
If growing corn is a religion among Midwestern farmers, its Vatican is somewhere in central Iowa. That fact was confirmed in late January when a Des Moines-based ag consulting firm released a …
Eleanor Holmes Norton: A Race Well Run
“With fire in my soul and the facts on my side, I’ve raised hell about the injustice of denying 700K taxpaying Americans in DC – the same rights given to residents of the states…” — …
Lingo Learns Life’s Lesson
Stop The Presses!! Breaking News!! nnHere’s the scoop of the century, even the millennium. After three quarters of a century doing exhaustive research on the subject, your dedicated correspondent …
Letters to the Editor
Deepening Dictatorship
Trump’s billionaires censoring journalists and closing newspapers, it’s not freedom; it’s despotism. nnTrump giving pardons and government favors to financial contributors, it’s not fair; …
Wag the Dog — Or Wag the Rapist?
In 1997, an infamously prophetic film called “Wag the Dog” was released starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. If you’ve never seen it, the movie is about an American president in the …
Return of Voter Suppression
In 1965, LBJ signed into law The Voting Rights Act. This eliminated voter suppression tactics, mostly in the former Confederacy, such as literacy tests, grandfather clauses, poll taxes (also killed …
Frozen to Death in the 21st Century
How can we have heated streets for cars, but not heated homes for babies? How can we build heated bus shelters for people waiting fifteen minutes, but not for families waiting a lifetime for housing? …
Weapons Make the ‘War’
“War” is the freedom to do it, nothing more. Attack defenseless and innocent poor people in a Third World country, a country that has absolutely no capacity militarily to hurt the U.S., take …
Is Trump a King?
In the past Kings and Queens justified their right to rule by Divine Right. This axiom was an accepted fact by the masses. Divine Right meant the king got his right to rule from god. Since God gave …
Winner or Wimp?
The war in Ukraine is about Putin demonstrating he’s a tough guy who can conquer Ukraine and threaten Europe. Trump wants to be a tough guy, too. Trump has the advantage of being president of the …
Greenland=$Greenbacks$?
“There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.” — Winston Churchill Greenland is mostly ice, while Iceland is mostly green. That is about the …
A Modest Intellectual Exercise
Law and order became a brand beloved of right-wingers. They have an Orwellian regard of Liberty!, and actually believe in top-down authority. Principled libertarians break law and order into its …
Well-Armed Demons
As the year nears its close, tragedies of 2025 come to mind, especially the ones made by man and were avoidable. Nothing of that nature so stands oiut on a higher plateau than mass shootings and at …
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