BY ED FELIEN Kyrsten Sinema: Sinema’s great moment of fame came when she emerged as one of the principal architects of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. She suffers under the self-aggrandizing delusion that without her it wouldn’t have passed. It was a budget bill. It only needed 50 votes plus Kamala…
BY ED FELIEN What just happened? Did we get hit with an inflationary spiral that skyrocketed prices just before the election and then calmed down just before Christmas? It seems evident that a rise in gas prices began the action. This was caused—it was widely reported and believed—by the Saudis…
BY ED FELIEN Thank you, Andrew Johnson—for being so polite and friendly and helpful. Thank you for always standing for the most progressive ideas, for standing for change when change wasn’t easy, and fighting for it when it was needed. Andrew Johnson has announced that he’s not going to seek…
BY ED FELIEN What’s happening with crime? What’s happening with the police? The murder rate is actually down from last year. It feels a lot safer. There’s lots of chatter on Nextdoor about strange cars in the neighborhood and Ring camera videos of people stealing packages from front steps. The…
BY ED FELIEN Shout hallelujah and just get happy We’re going to the promised land We’re heading across the river Soon our cares will all be gone Forget your troubles, come on get happy You better chase all those blues away Shout hallelujah, c’mon get happy Happy days are here…
BY ED FELIEN No, not him. The other guy, Charles Koch. Charlie Koch loves doing what he’s doing. He did it to Carter in 1979. Remember the gas shortage, worrying about heating oil supplies for the winter? Then, Reagan promised a Morning in America. It was a clear manipulation of…
BY ED FELIEN, PUBLISHER Bill Cottrell wrote to me, “What a one-sided newspaper you operate and write for. I am disappointed with your clear bias and lack of any effort to present a fair and impartial paper.” So I invited Bill to write 300 words to present his point of…
BY ED FELIEN Our ancient mothers and fathers spent a lot of time looking at the sun and the moon. They marked when the sun would be highest in the sky and when it would be lowest. They noted the days halfway between the darkness and the light, and they…
BY ED FELIEN If you’re concerned about Republicans taking the House in November, there are a couple of races where your contribution could make a difference. Angie Craig seems pretty safe. The 538 polls on Oct. 10 say she’s ahead by almost six points. Everyone is assuming the Supreme Court’s…
BY ED FELIEN Goran (the G is pronounced as a Y) Gustav-Wrathall is taking direct action to calm 32nd Street around Powderhorn Park. He’s created his own little traffic circle that forces cars to slow down to go around it. He puts it up every night at 6 p.m. and…
BY ED FELIEN Why is it important to vote for Keith Ellison? Because he’s doing what’s necessary and right, and he’s being punished for it. He’s getting attacked for being soft on crime in the midst of a crime wave. But the attorney general doesn’t prosecute crimes. That’s the job…
BY ED FELIEN It’s time. “It’s time,” the people of the East Phillips neighborhood are saying. It’s time the city started taking itself seriously and started believing some of the things it’s been saying about the environment and equity. In 2019, Mayor Jacob Frey said, “Minneapolis is doing nation-leading work…
BY ED FELIEN The DFL won the DFL primary last Tuesday. DFL-endorsed candidates beat challengers up and down the ticket. At the top of the South Minneapolis ticket, Ilhan Omar beat Don Samuels for a seat in Congress by a little more than 2%, in spite of her support for…
BY ED FELIEN Ian Young, in a Star Tribune editorial published Aug. 5, said, “Those commissioners voting to advance the nine-hole master plan are the ones who have done their homework and understand the reality of the issue.” Really? Young says any proposal to save Hiawatha Golf Course would “not…
BY ED FELIEN After a long and painful two-month inquiry, the Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct cleared state Sen. Omar Fateh of any serious wrongdoing, but they did find that Fateh didn’t disclose the $1,000 he paid Somali TV for campaign advertising. His statement: “The unanimous decision reached today…
Columns by Ed Felien