Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “It's the charge of the light brigade!" Rep. Michele Bachmann yelled to an assembled crowd of tea party activists in Upper Senate Park Tuesday, which responded with rapturous applause. Little did they -- or Bachmann -- apparently know that she had just compared them all to a unit about to die in battle in one of the most spectacular blunders in military history. Informed of that comparison by MinnPost today, Bachmann backed off. "Oh, what did I say this time?" she asked with a laugh. The infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade," immortalized in a poem by...

Angie O'Neill recently moved into a new apartment complex for seniors and she's trying to make new friends. But Christmas is a tough time of year for an atheist. "All the planned activities at this time of year revolve around the church," said O'Neill, a retiree and an atheist for decades. O'Neill sought an escape this week, joining a group of her fellow nonbelievers for a weekly "Atheist Happy Hour" at a suburban Mexican restaurant. The group, Atheists for Human Rights, is active year-round but takes it up a notch this time of year with a Winter Solstice party, a...

FBI agents showed up in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon to talk with Somali youth, but they weren't behaving like investigators. What unfolded for a few hours inside the Brian Coyle Center was groundbreaking. The agents, young Somali men and women and Somali elders sat on folding chairs and got acquainted with one another without an immediate crime or crisis hanging over their heads. The event marked another step toward mutual understanding in a tense year that has brought federal indictments against 14 local Somali men accused of providing support to terrorists. A key figure at Saturday's...

In this age of political correctness, a college student's best friend is FIRE -- the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Since 1999, FIRE has safeguarded the civil rights of students across the ideological spectrum -- winning victories at 121 colleges and universities, bringing an end to 81 unconstitutional or repressive policies, and benefiting 2.7 million students. Now, FIRE is riding to the rescue of students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where a heavy-handed attempt at thought control is underway. The Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group of the U's College of Education and Human Development has...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is alarmed by what it perceives as growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Minnesota. Prompted by news of racist fliers being posted in St. Cloud and the candidacy of Lynne Torgerson against Rep. Keith Ellison, the group called for religious leaders to repudiate anti-Muslim acts. In a press release Thursday, CAIR quoted from a Minnesota Independent profile of independent candidate Torgerson, noting that her web site says Islam “is not ‘religion’ recognizable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” (She actually states that one “portion” of Islam, a line in the Quran about “slay[ing]...

A branch of the University of Minnesota may require all education students at the school to understand and accept that they are either privileged or oppressed and that they be well-versed in issues like "white privilege," "institutional racism” and the "myth of meritocracy in the United States." Critics are condemning the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, which proposes making race, class and gender issues the "overarching framework" of all teaching courses. The task group, formed as part of the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative at the state university, aims to change how...

A federal judge has rejected claims that the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota defamed a charter school that the ACLU has accused of promoting Islam. As a public school, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) is a governmental body and can't sue for libel, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said in an order dated Wednesday. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against TiZA in January, claiming the charter school promotes religion in violation of the Constitution's First Amendment. The school, which has campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine, has denied the claims.

Duluth architecture firm donates $5,000 for credits to offset carbon from the Bentleyville light display

Crude cartoons intended to offend Muslims in St. Cloud were found posted on utility poles this week. The cartoons, reminiscent of those published in a Danish newspaper in 2005, "are clearly offensive to the Muslim community here, inappropriate and not wanted in our community," said police Sgt. Marty Sayre. Five pages of cartoons, posted on a pair of utility poles, depict the prophet Mohammed in derogatory ways, the Qur'an and a swastika. "We've had swastikas before, but I believe this is the first time we've seen" images specifically targeting Muslims, Sayre said. One of the posts was stapled to a...

Tim Kedrowski and his sons, Peter and Casey, are not pushovers for Bigfoot stories, but a frame on a game trail camera set up on their hunting land north of Remer has left them in a quandary. “To us, it’s very hard because we lean toward the skeptical type,” Kedrowski said in a telephone interview from his Rice, Minn., home. But after checking with neighbors and any other hunters who might have been walking through the dense woods at 7:20 p.m. on the rainy night of Oct. 24, he said they couldn’t imagine what else the image could be. Tim...

A Minneapolis puppet show is caught up in the controversy over how some of the billions in economic stimulus dollars have been spent. Some members of Congress targeted the Heart of the Beast Theater as an example of wasteful spending. The theater, located on East Lake Street for 37 years, received a $25,000 economic stimulus grant. Kathee Foran, executive director of the theater, said the grant for which the theater applied had to be tied to a specific job. Foran said the money was used to save the job of their community program director--who duties include booking shows outside the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken today urged the Senate to pass an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits before the end of the year, citing the 10 percent unemployment rate and the annual rise in heating bills coming this winter. The Minnesota Democrats joined 22 other senators who signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking for a vote on the issue by Dec. 31. A 65 percent subsidy of premium costs for those with COBRA benefits, authorized by the stimulus bill, is set to expire at the end of the year.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services has distributed nearly $11 million of federal funds to 31 state organizations that help individuals, families and unaccompanied youth find and stay in affordable housing, the department said Tuesday. Minnesota received $23.5 million of the $1.5 billion Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program money authorized under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More than half of the funds will go directly to certain cities and counties in the state to prevent or address homelessness.

A man was arrested for throwing tomatoes at Sarah Palin during her book signing on Monday at the Mall of America. Jeremy Olson, 33, allegedly threw two tomatoes from the second balcony, however did not come close to hitting Palin. Bloomington Police report that Bloomington Commander Mark Stehlik was struck in the face with one of the tomatoes and may face charges for assaulting a police officer. Olson was booked at the Bloomington jail. He was arrested for suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct. More than 1,000 people turned out at the Mall of America Rotunda on Monday for Sarah...

Let's hope former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin brought an extra copy of her new book to Minnesota. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said after a Minnesota Capitol rally Monday that she did not have a copy of the former vice-presidential candidate's new memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." Palin will be at the Mall of America signing copies of her best-selling new book and will join Bachmann at a fundraiser in the evening. "I hope to get a book and get it signed," Bachmann said. Palin and Bachmann have been credited with infusing new energy into the Republican Party after...

St. Paul, Minn. — A group of Twin Cities Quakers has decided to stop signing marriage certificates for opposite-sex couples until the state legalizes gay marriage. "We're simply trying to be consistent with the will of God as we perceive it," said Paul Landskroener, clerk of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting, in an interview with MPR's All Things Considered on Monday. The congregation will continue to hold both opposite-sex and same-sex weddings at its meeting house, but will no longer sign the legal marriage certificate for opposite-sex couples. Instead, couples will need to have the certificate signed by a justice...

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. - Arrangements have been made for a traditional, three-day Hmong funeral for Pfc. Kham Xiong of St. Paul who was among 13 people killed in the Fort Hood Army Base shootings. The funeral service for Xiong will start at Legacy Funeral Home's Maplewood chapel starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28. The service will run through the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 30. Xiong will then be buried with military honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. "Pfc. Kham Xiong came to America from Thailand as a small child," President Barack Obama said during a memorial service at Fort...

According to a criminal complaint, 41-year -old Stephen Louis Olson of Backus was angry the county planned to log the trees. Cass County officials say the stand is thinned every ten to 15 years. About 100 of the 600 trees were slated to be cut down and sold this month. The money would have benefitted the community and school district. - Authorities say the entire forest must be cut down due to safety concerns. Mike Diekmann of the Cass County Sheriff's Office says that if a saw hit one of the nails, "it would explode like a gun going off"...

Staying up all night. Missing classes and work. The cold. The exacting rules. None of that stopped hundreds of Minnesotans from lining up to see Sarah Palin Monday at her book signing at the Mall of America. Before dawn, about 500 people snaked in a line about a quarter-mile long at the mall for the chance to interact with the former Republican vice presidential nominee. The mall stop is part of Palin's tour to smaller cities across the country to promote her book, "Going Rogue." By 11:40 -- a full 20 minutes before her scheduled noon event -- Palin ascended...

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) ― Sarah Palin is bringing her book tour for "Going Rogue" to Minnesota. The former Vice Presidential Candidate and former Alaska Governor will sign copies of her new book at the Mall of America. Palin burst onto the national political stage last year after giving a speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Now Palin brings hundreds of her admirers out to get a glimpse of this maverick of a politician. The excitement surrounding her book tour hits the Twin Cities on Monday. "She seems more real world ... not an average politician," said Jason...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has his facts wrong in criticizing the health care plan Romney instituted in his state. Pawlenty has repeatedly pointed to the Massachusetts plan of his potential rival for the 2012 Republican nomination as the perfect example of how not to do health care reform. The Minnesota governor has made that case in numerous interviews, speeches and op-eds that, while not focused on the Massachusetts program, make his criticism of it clear. Presented with a clip of Pawlenty arguing that the Massachusetts plan did not come close to meeting...

A smear machine fueled by huge sums of cash has fixed its sights on a new Public Enemy No. 1. Her name is U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. Minnesota voters won't be heading to the polls until November 2010, almost a year from now, but this machine is already pouring megabucks into a TV ad campaign attacking Bachmann. In the ad, an actress portraying the congresswoman greets voters with oil oozing from her hands. A frightened baby wails, and constituents glare with disgust at the sticky handprints she leaves on their backs. The message? Bachmann is a shill for Big Oil....

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Military officials say a decorated Marine from Minnesota has been killed in a parachute training exercise at Camp Pendleton. A Marine Corps statement says Corporal Ryan L. Pape died Thursday night from injuries sustained during a low-level static line jump.

About 200 protesters, many of them disenchanted supporters of President Obama, demonstrated in south Minneapolis this afternoon against the escalating war in Afghanistan. "What do we want?" they chanted. "Troops out! When do we want it? NOW!" Among the signs they displayed was one declaring the war in "Barackastan" waged by "Obombya." Another declared him a "Wrong Way War President" on a sign that contained upside-down Obama campaign signs.

Jeremy Engelking will appear in Douglas County court this afternoon to face a trespassing charge. But here’s the kicker: The Superior man allegedly trespassed on his own property. Engelking, 27, aimed to hunt deer Wednesday morning when he noticed a pipeline crew on his land. He hopped on his ATV and told workers they had no right to be on his property because he had received no compensation from Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. for an easement. Engelking said workers told him he was in an unsafe place and asked him to come to an equipment staging area, where he continued...

Days after a brutal sexual assault left her beaten and bleeding on the floor of her church, the 73-year-old victim is expressing shock and dismay that a man once deemed a dangerous sexual predator in Wisconsin was roaming the Minnesota countryside. "I'm just shocked that they would let that man out of the institution," she said. "He should have been locked up for the rest of his life and the key thrown away. ... I blame the system for letting him go. ... That's hard for me to swallow. But what can you do about it?" Lindon Roy Knutson, 61,...

Former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman is gradually returning to the spotlight after months of near silence, a move that some insiders in Washington and Minnesota view as a precursor to a 2010 gubernatorial bid. Five months after the conclusion of his bitter, protracted Senate battle against Democrat Al Franken, Coleman is beginning to cut a higher profile, increasingly voicing his opinions in carefully chosen interviews and public appearances. While Coleman has remained publicly coy about his intentions, the timing of his return to the public eye comes just a few months before the state precinct caucuses in February, the start...

The seemingly creepy fixation some MSNBC on-air personalities have with Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann just continues to persist on the cable network. The latest installment involves MSNBC's "Ed Show" host Ed Schultz relying on a left-wing publication, The Minnesota Independent, which found a high rate of foreclosures relative in Bachmann's district relative to the rest of the state of Minnesota. Schultz, on his Dec. 2 program, contended Bachmann was spending too much time as a conservative activist and not enough time focusing on the problems of her district. But it turns out the data might not be at all...

The Mall of America's public relations director apologized Wednesday to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after internal notes and comments were released to the Associated Press as the mall's guidelines for covering her book tour stop next week. Among the supposed guidelines: Reporters would need to address Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, as governor, and foreign reporters would be banned. Dan Jasper called the comments poorly worded and "definitely an error on our part and don't reflect our policies." "I personally would like to apologize to Gov. Palin and anyone connected to the book tour because absolutely this...

State Sen. Tarryl Clark (D) continues to round up Democratic establishment support for her campaign to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) in Minnesota's 6th District. The latest endorsement comes from Rep. James Oberstar (D), the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who has represented the neighboring 8th district for 18 terms. "I'm proud to support my friend, Sen. Tarryl Clark, in her campaign for Congress," Oberstar wrote in an e-mail to Clark campaign supporters, calling Clark "a seasoned, experienced legislator." Clark received the backing of freshman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) last month and has also received a...

The executive director of Rochester-based Workforce Development, Inc. is on his way to Washington, D.C., for a White House jobs forum on Thursday. Randy Johnson will be among 130 experts in various fields who will share ideas on the economic recovery and what needs to be done next to improve the U.S. economy. "My main message will be that there are a lot of moving parts in this recovery process," said Johnson. "Some of them have not jelled yet--we need to connect with the existing things we already have in place and position the economy for success." Johnson shared details...

A critic of the U.S. military policy is suing the federal government because a letter that she wrote to her serviceman son stationed in Iraq was returned with "DECEASED" errantly stamped on it in red letters. The lawsuit filed last month in Minneapolis federal court by Joan Najbar, of Duluth, claims that "as a result of receiving the letter indicating that her son was dead, Ms. Najbar suffered emotional distress with physical manifestations." Najbar, whose son Sam Eininger was serving with the National Guard when the letter was returned in 2006, is seeking relief from damages including emotional distress, loss...

A convicted sex offender has been charged with beating and sexually assaulting a elderly woman as she gave him a tour of a rural Kandiyohi County church last month. According to charges filed Monday, Lindon Roy Knutson, 61, left the 73-year-old victim bloodied on the ground outside the Crow River Church on the afternoon of Nov. 24. Knutson has been convicted of a string of sexual assaults dating back to 1973 and has spent much of the past three decades in prison. In Wisconsin, he was committed as a habitual sex offender, most recently at a mental health institution in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, Minnesotan Michele Bachmann has spent much of her time in Congress concentrating on tax issues and matters related to the size of the federal government. In this interview with the Christian Examiner Newspaper Group, Congresswoman Bachmann discusses health care, how she handles criticism and the importance of her faith. Christian Examiner: What issues are you concentrating on right now?Michele Bachmann: The number one issue we’re working on is the issue of health care reform. We have a positive alternative that actually would lower costs and create greater...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came out on top in a new Washington Post poll of Republicans but folks in the party are far from united behind her or anyone else. The new poll found that Palin, who will be in Minnesota next Monday as part of a book tour, was the pick of 18 percent of those surveyed as the person who "best reflects the core values of the Republican Party." Sen. John McCain, the party's presidential nominee, came in second with 13 percent. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty earned the backing of just one percent but was in good...

Less than two months after the gunning down of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon in September, a young pro-life activist has had a knife put to her throat by a woman entering an abortion facility in Duluth, Minnesota. 21-year-old pro-life activist Leah Winandy, her mother Sarah and the director of a local pro-life group, spoke with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) about the harrowing incident which took place early Tuesday morning.... When a woman approached, Leah was set to speak to her, but says that the woman then snapped out a long-bladed folding pink-camouflage knife and ordered Leah to not to move or to...

A man is in custody after he allegedly smashed a number of televisions with a hammer in the electronics department of a Target store in Winona. Police say a customer called 911 and reported that a man was smashing TVs in the store around 5:17 p.m. Saturday. When officers arrived they found people exiting the store and were warned that a man armed with a hammer was heading their way. Officers confronted the man, who had blood on his face and a hammer in his hand, and ordered him to drop his weapon. The man refused. When he raised the...

Brig. Gen. Gerald E. Lang (right), the Multi-National Division – South deputy commanding general for support and a Sauk Rapids, Minn., native, shares a laugh with Lt. Col. Clinton Moyer, the chief of Civil Operations with the 36th Sustainment Brigade out of Temple, Texas, and a Clearwater, Kan., native, and Shaykh Uday, during lunch, Nov. 19, at a home in southern Iraq. Photo by Spc. Lisa A. Cope, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). COL ADDER — The Multi-National Division – South deputy commanding general for support recently visited local shaykhs near here to discuss how the drawdown of U.S. forces will...

Those who believe that America is a special place where dreams can come true and everyone has the opportunity to succeed, had better keep their thoughts to themselves if they attend the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development. A new report posted by the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group of the University recommends those training to be Minnesota public school teachers must repudiate our cherished American dream. This “Task Group” even recommends teacher candidates adopt its party line that America is “an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.” Teachers must harbor hatred and resentment for...

A federal magistrate judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily stay the release of a Minneapolis man facing federal conspiracy charges in connection with the 2004 animal-rights vandalism on the UI campus. Scott DeMuth, 22, will remain detained until at least 4 p.m. Monday, a federal magistrate ordered. The emergency stay of release will allow federal prosecutors a chance to appeal a release order issued Tuesday. The release order would have allowed DeMuth, a University of Minnesota graduate student, to return to Minneapolis while the federal case is pending. As part of that release, he was to be placed on home detention...

A black Friday Best Buy ad is getting blasted this Thanksgiving. It includes a nod to the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated this weekend. That has angered some customers, who point out that Best Buy stopped using "Merry Christmas" in its ads in 2006 and replaced it with "Happy Holidays." Best Buy is trying to curb any controversy saying that this year’s ads will feature several different holidays, including Christmas.

A retired Minneapolis police sergeant leaped onto a burning boat in a Florida harbor north of Fort Myers, picked up and moved one badly injured woman, and then another, onto other boats, then got off the distressed vessel seconds before it was rocked by the second of two explosions. Just as Harry Baltzer finished moving the two women from the blazing boat last Friday in an Englewood, Fla., gated community, he could sense that time was running short. "I put one foot on one bow, and I had my other foot on the other bow," said Baltzer, who turns 68...

Allah forbid a major big box retailer send holiday wishes to members of one of the world’s largest religions. But that’s what Best Buy did, including a small message wishing Muslims a “Happy Eid al-Adha” in a circular. And now the Twin Cities-based retailer is facing a boycott by commenters at the rightwing Free Republic forum. Best Buy, as we reporter earlier, was the target of a rightwing “War on Christmas” campaign in 2006 for not using the word “Christmas” in its holiday marketing, but this year, it’s been upgraded on the American Family Association’s list from anti-Christmas to merely...

Police in Wisconsin are trying to determine why a Minneapolis cab driver jumped from his cab before it crashed, and why his passenger ran from the scene. Baldwin police say a Blue and White cab crashed into a light pole and then hit a parked car in the Greenfield Elementary School parking lot around 6:40 p.m. Sunday. Responding officers found the driver, Abdi Mohamed Askar, 38, lying on the sidewalk. People who witnessed the crash followed the passenger when he ran away. Police caught up with him two blocks away and arrested him for leaving the scene of an accident....

Federal regulators filed an "emergency law enforcement action" Tuesday afternoon charging a Minneapolis money manager and a Burnsville radio personality with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 1,000 people out of more than $190 million in fraudulent currency investment scheme. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued coordinated statements in Washington D.C. about the case. The agencies said they had obtained emergency orders freeze the assets held by "self-proclaimed ... money manager" Trevor Cook, 37, and conservative radio talk show host Patrick Kiley, 71, as well as four of their...

Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight defendants they said recruited young Somali-American men to return to their homeland to fight for an Islamist militant group. The charges said men were recruited in Minneapolis mosques to fight for al-Shabaab, which the United States accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation. In all, authorities have charged 14 people with recruiting, training or financing travel for young Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, which is home to some 50,000 Somalis. About 20 young men, all but one of Somali descent, have left the Minneapolis area since...

Note: The following text is a quote: Terror Charges Unsealed in Minnesota Against Eight Defendants, Justice Department Announces The Justice Department announced that terrorism charges have been unsealed today in the District of Minnesota against eight defendants. According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab. Thus far, 14 defendants have been charged in the District of Minnesota in indictments or criminal complaints that have been unsealed and...

Federal authorities are expected to announce charges against eight more people today in a long-running investigation into how perhaps dozens of young men from the Minneapolis area were recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia. It will be the most significant and public move to date in the case. Charges against the eight people will be announced at a joint FBI-U.S. Attorney's Office press conference in Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, a source said. Some, if not all, of the individuals will be charged with providing material support to terrorists, the source said. Many of those charged have already...

Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus. In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of "the...