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Mark Cuban on American automation
One of the more disturbing thoughts about the 2016 presidential election is how little we know about what’s actually going to happen after it’s done. Hillary Clinton could win, but how will she break the congressional logjam that vexed her more popular boss President Obama? No landslide will help her. Donald Trump could win, but how will…
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Bob Dylan’s ironwork built to last
Bob Dylan is only a few years younger than my Grandpa Brown. In fact, Robert Zimmerman grew up just down the street from Pops in Hibbing, Minnesota. Pops would have been one of the tough kids revving engines past the Zimmerman place on 25th Street, perhaps prompting young Bobby to look down from his bedroom…
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In Minnesota, you can vote … today
Election Day in the United States will be Nov. 8, 2016. That should surprise no one. Media reports and social media frenzy constantly remind us of this day’s importance. The television spurts political ads like crude oil on the Clampett farm. But early voting continues to grow in popularity around the country. The practice takes many…
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Brangelina blowout happened in International Falls
Normally I strive to break the notion that Northern Minnesota is “flyover” country. We must fight the pervasive notion that we of Middle America only serve as the soft marshmallowy interior for the much more interesting coastal regions. And I’ll resume that campaign in the near future. Meantime, we are learning that the high profile breakup between…
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Murder loons show mercy on baby duck
Loyal readers of this site might recall a post last year detailing the fixation on murderous black birds shared by contributors to the Mesabi Daily News “Orchids and Onions” section. Nothing is sacred to the hardcore Onionites of the eastern Mesabi: certainly not even Minnesota’s State Bird: the common loon. “Open your eyes!” wrote one…
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Nolan, Mills clash in MN-8’s only 2016 debate
Today, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) debated Republican challenger Stewart Mills in a Duluth News Tribune/Duluth Chamber of Commerce forum. You can see the debate at my previous post. This was a good debate. In about one hour, significant and substantive policy differences found their way into the discussion. Neither candidate necessarily “won,” but both…
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LIVE: Watch ONLY debate in MN’s Eighth District
Today at 10 a.m., the Duluth News Tribune and Duluth Chamber of Commerce host the only scheduled debate between U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) and Republican challenger Stewart Mills. National analysts describe MN-8 as a swing district. The contest started the year leaning toward the incumbent Nolan. In recent weeks, however, we’ve observed uncertainty over Iron Range…
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On Swedish (American) Egg Coffee
If you spend enough time around older Scandinavian-Americans in Minnesota they eventually tell you about Swedish Egg Coffee. Then they make you drink it. They will not let you leave or change the subject until you agree that it is better than “regular” coffee. What is Swedish Egg Coffee? Don’t overthink it. It’s coffee brewed…
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Great Northern Radio Show to broadcast from Tower
On Saturday, Sept. 24, I’ll bring my Great Northern Radio Show to Fortune Bay Resort and Casino near Tower, Minnesota. It’s exciting to start another new season (our sixth!) and to announce some changes. The Great Northern will remain a music and comedy variety show featuring the same talents as before. Instead of broadcasting one live…
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The Iron Range and Donald Trump
The Star Tribune led its Sunday political coverage with this Patrick Condon story about the perceived popularity of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the vaunted DFL stronghold of the Mesabi Iron Range. Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range has voted for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party since WWII, typically by massive margins. (The DFL is Minnesota’s unique version of the Democratic…
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Automation on the industrial frontier
Labor Day on the Iron Range means more than just the last big car race up at the Hibbing Raceway, though that is without doubt a big deal. Here, Labor Day celebrates the broken bodies and fighting spirit of pioneering loggers, miners and entrepreneurs. Their sacrifices slowly built a better world and a better workforce…
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N. Minn., Canada share deep economic ties
The other day I got a note from a longtime reader saying something I wrote “sounded positively Canadian.” And while I’m a proud citizen of the U. S. of A., it’s true that my beloved homeland here in Northern Minnesota is very near (and rather influenced by) Canada. A Northern Minnesota accent sounds more like a Canadian accent than…
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MinnesotaBrown, KAXE at the State Fair
I’ve seen the numbers. Even though this is the only independent blog wholly dedicated to “Modern Life in Northern Minnesota,” nearly half of you live or work in the Twin Cities metro area. That’s fine. We’re cool. But it means we never get to have awkward exchanges at the grocery store, or silently wonder what’s…
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On ‘Clarence’ and wallets filled with gravity
My kids like to watch a show called “Clarence” on Cartoon Network. To be honest, I like it, too. This oddball kid Clarence lives in Aberdale, a suburb of a large city in the American Southwest. His mom is a hair stylist and her boyfriend Chad, Clarence’s father figure, is unemployed. All but one or…
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Bonding spat ends in election season splat
Last week, Minnesota legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton abandoned hope of a special session this year. That means that the legislature’s failure to pass a bonding bill, and Gov. Dayton’s veto of the tax bill, will stand through this November’s election. This sort of thing can happen with divided government. Gov. Dayton is a…