Robert Reich has spent decades trying to make us go back to doing things better.
We haven’t listened.
Variety of Ojibwe-translated children’s books are headed to immersion classrooms
One of the enjoyable things about living up here is that, on occasion, we try to respect the cultures of those who live here…and those who have been here a long time.
It isn’t perfect, of course. We’ve got our share of red-hatted racists like everywhere else. We just try not to put them in positions of power. Even St. Cloud is getting better at that. Kind of.
In any case, part of getting it right is sharing our languages, and cultures, and stories. This is a good start.
Alabama profits off prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for parole
Prisons should exist for public safety, hopefully for rehabilitation when possible, certainly as punishment.
What they should not be there for is to provide a cheap workforce for corporations. Want to teach some job skills that the state could profit from to return some cash into the operating budget? Well, we can talk about that.
Providing companies a worker pool that you then deny parole to in order to keep them “on the job” should be a crime in itself.
Deconstructed: Hope Butter
I know of Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl from her Appetites appearances on MPR. I did not know she had a series highlighting Minnesota food producers and restaurants. I am going to take more notice. Here’s an old school creamery still doing things the traditional way.
What Happened to Paul Wellstone’s Campaign Bus?
The Star Tribune did a similar story months ago but I couldn’t share because, well, paywall nonsense. So here is an update of Wellstone’s bus, which has just been sitting in a field for the past too many years.
Apparently you may be able to see it on the road in the near-ish future.
Here is a KSTP story I missed:
And a documentary on the bus from almost 20 years ago:
Machines: Global Village Construction Set
This is a good idea that, unfortunately, seems to have gone dormant. In short, how to restart/build technology from a simple base, that builds upon itself. Build simple tools that allow you to step up to more complicated ones, with ever increasing complexity.
I posted this long ago but the links went wonky. I hope someone gets this back on track.
For more background, I am including a TEDTalk from the creator of the concept.
“The Barn”: A murder in Mississippi, and the evil hiding in plain sight
History is covered up all the time, and the South has done a fantastic job of it.
US Jewish group targets anti-Israel protesters in hopes Trump will deport them
Sure, Hamas runs what is left of Gaza, which doesn’t make every Palestinian a victim. But the folks on the ground catching bombs sure the hell aren’t all terrorist patsies.
And neither is every Israeli a goose-stepping fascist.
But wow, their supporters here in the US sure can be assholes.
The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole
I mean, I am sure I have posted this before, but some backstory on the creator of green bean casserole. I have played with this one over the years and, frankly, am mostly back to the recipe on the can.
Who knew?
This man is forcing big companies to halt DEI
The pushback against equality has been going on forever of course, but it kicked into high gear in recent years.
Punchable-face-owner Robby Starbuck is the face of the current push to get companies to abandon their DEI initiatives. So far, the following have knuckled under. More to come of course.
Harley-Davidson
Jack Daniels
Tractor Supply
John Deere
Brown-Forman
Wal-Mart
Boeing
You know, just in case you want to focus on NOT giving money to bigots.