Breaking News

Letters to the Editor

Minnesota saved American democracy

The plans of the Trump administration to remake American society were thwarted by Minnesota’s resistance to Trump’s Metro Surge invasion of the Twin Cities. That is the conclusion of the essay “Trump Has Finally Lost the Plot” by Peter Wehner and Jonathan Rauch. Wehner served in the Reagan and both Bush administrations. Let me summarize their observations. Before the failure of Metro Surge, Trump had made progress toward: running the federal government as “the leader’s personal property and family concern,” degrading “what is considered acceptable in American public ...

Spending taxpayer money by the numbers

Taxpayer cost of the June 2025 military parade: $25-45 million Taxpayer portion of the cost of the White House East Wing demolition and proposed ballroom: $307-352 million Taxpayer cost of renaming the Department of Defense: $52 million (Pentagon estimate) Taxpayer cost for the reflecting pool: $16 million Taxpayer cost for the proposed renaming and renovations of the Kennedy Center: $257-285 million Taxpayer cost for the proposed Trump arch: $15-100 million Total project costs: $672-850 million Taxpayer costs for 108 days for the Iran war: $113.3 billion ($2-3 ...

Ignore bogus campaign issues

Republicans have few real issues to campaign on. They tend to run on bogus issues to energize their base. Consider some of them. Transgender people arguably suffer from more discrimination than any other group. More than 500,000 athletes compete in NCAA college sports; fewer than 10 are transgender. The eligibility of a few aspiring athletes is not a burning national issue. With only a handful of cases nationwide, deciding whether to allow a transgender athlete to compete is a local issue which can be decided by a team or a league without the intrusion of big government. The number ...

State candidates visit Marshall

Without leaving southwest Minnesota, I (like any local resident) have had the opportunity to question candidates such as Amy Klobuchar, Peggy Flanagan, or Steve Simon face to face. Last Saturday, Attorney General Keith Ellison, State Auditor candidate Zack Filipovich, Congressional candidate Erik Osberg, and local legislative candidates Nathan Schmig and Andrea Boettger all joined in the Sounds of Summer celebration in Marshall. Keith Ellison, the only incumbent in the group, discussed ways he and his office have been protecting Minnesotans, including more than 340 convictions in ...

Freedom or socialism is our choice

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” A quote from former President, Ronald Reagan. The choice is ours, freedom or socialism. One cannot exist simultaneously with the other. Some people seem to have a difficult time grasping that truth. This country and our freedom survived solely because of those who were and are still willing to fight and die for the privilege of living in the greatest country this world has ever known. The United States of America has long been the world’s most generous country, bar none. We have come to the rescue of those in ...

Fischbach supporting corrupt government

You are going to have a chance to cast a ballot in November to start the process to get the United States out of this corrupt despicable administration. First, Michelle Fischbach needs to be voted out of office. She is responsible for doing nothing when not a single soybean was sold to China for ten months. She was all for the tariffs that helped facilitate that. How about Fishbach’s war on Iran that was going to be over in two weeks? That was five months ago, eighteen dead American soldiers, 200 dead Iranian school children, and thousands of innocent people killed, 100’s of ...