opinion

The principal credit for Minnesota’s terrific budget forecast belongs to the people of Minnesota. We proved again that we have the best business innovators and the most productive workers anywhere. By working hard and working together, we turned a $6 billion deficit predicted just...

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s $20 billion net worth founder, has invested a large chunk of his money into destructive comprehensive immigration bills, one in the House and another, already passed, in the Senate. Zuckerberg’s goal through his pro-immigration lobbying group FWD.org,...

In April 2012, I watched a news program about seniors having to give up their dogs due to various inabilities to keep them. Being a dog owner and dog lover, the story of these unfortunate dogs weighed sadly on my mind. I already had a dog, but nonetheless the idea of a dog being confined...

“We have just enough religion to make us hate,” wrote Jonathan Swift, “but not enough to make us love one another.” A lifelong religious controversialist, the 18th-century Irish satirist definitely knew whereof he wrote. After all, it’s fewer than 20 years since Protestants...

If at any time while reading this article your attention wanders, you may have ADHD. If you pause to check your email sometime during the next three paragraphs, you should consult a doctor. If you fail to read this article all the way to the end, you should get on Adderall, Ritalin...

Saturday was the Wreaths Across America Day, a day to honor the men and women of the armed forces. Once again the local Civil Air Patrol sponsored this event. Individuals gathered at the Greenwood Cemetery for the beautiful ceremony which began promptly at 11 a.m. (nationwide).

The civil war ripping through the Republican Party is familiar by now. But a similar battle inside the Democratic Party is just starting to emerge. Orthodox liberals are trying to mimic the tea party and impose political correctness on moderate apostates. They point to the election...

Time magazine's "Person of the Year" -- Pope Francis, if you haven't been paying attention -- went out for a spin one Sunday in Rome. It was one of his early forays into challenging Vatican security. He joined Rome's Mother's Day March for Life, both a celebration and a demonstration,...

Last week, the Minnesota Management and Budget Office released the recent economic forecast showing a $1 billion budget surplus. This is one of two forecasts that get released each year to show how the economy is doing at various points throughout the budget process. The current surplus...

In recent weeks there has been a flare-up of discussion at the State Capitol and in editorial pages across the state regarding property taxes and cities’ use of the $80 million boost to local government aid (LGA) approved by the Legislature at the end of the 2013 session. Many have...

The whole world mourns Nelson Mandela. Rightly. But, as usual, some politically and historically challenged liberals have seen the passing of a great man of history as a chance to take more cheap potshots at Ronald Reagan. One human rights attorney, Gay McDougall, made a fool of...

A hundred years ago, business tycoon Samuel Insull consolidated smaller utility companies to form the behemoth (albeit public charity-sounding) Commonwealth Edison. Because of the infrastructure needed to provide energy to an increasingly power-hunger public, Insull and others argued...

The commentary that was published on Nov. 15, “The climate is changing (it’s fall)” in the Pioneer is full of distortions and inaccuracies to say the least. Susan Stamper Brown cites such cringe-worthy sources like the Heartland Institute, which has been a puppet of the fossil...

Be still, your beating hearts. As we exultantly find ourselves in this festive place once again. The most wonderful time of the year. When squealing children race home from school to check and recheck their favorite news websites. Husbands and wives fight for possession of the...

One thing that distinguishes our country is that facts are argued, and arguments can move free of the foamy and sentimental to achieve deep sentiment — which is always different. The layered human fact can be made into an accurate and transcendent feeling, true or false. This week,...