National Security

A new study says the net economic impact of the 2008 Republican National Convention on Minnesota’s economy was $170 million, Minnesota Public Radio reports. (The research was done for the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee by the University of St. Thomas’ Center for Retail Excellence, so you know it’s good.) But when the St. [...]

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has vowed to co-sponsor a bill that would restrict the United States’ use of cluster bombs, rendering as many as half a billion stockpiled weapons off-limits. That’s according to activists who say the announcement — made at a meeting with her Wednesday, after months of pressure by Minnesota citizens and peace groups — came as a surprise.

Why would young Somali men living in Minnesota return to their war-ravaged homeland to wage jihad? That’s the thorny question that’s been debated by the Somali community and federal investigators since the mysterious disappearances of as many as 20 young men surfaced last year.

Do not be alarmed, you residents near the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant. The state, federal and local officials you see acting as if there’s been a terrible nuclear accident are doing just that: acting. They do this every other year, at the insistence of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This year, Tuesday and Wednesday [...]

The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on Wednesday indicating a significant rise in militia activity across the United States (pdf). It also addresses political and media figureheads — including Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann — who are amplifying anti-government sentiments.

Last summer Tom Elko posted here about barrels containing who-knows-what that U.S. Army contractors sank in Lake Superior 50 years ago. Last night, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa told a Duluth audience about its plans to begin bringing those barrels to the surface next summer.

Update: CNN confirms that North Korea has released and pardoned journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
As a Fargo artist renders one local symbol of press freedom in stencils — journalist Roxana Saberi, who was accused of spying and jailed in Iran — another pair of American reporters remain imprisoned in North Korea. But there’s a [...]

The Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., was evacuated Wednesday afternoon when a suspicious package was found near the office of Rep. Tim Walz, Air America is reporting. Update: The suspicious package was sent to Walz and contained a medal, but because of a chemical stain, the FBI was prompted to investigate.

Norm Coleman used to sit on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, which oversees the U.S. Census Bureau. But now that he’s out of the U.S. Senate, he won’t have to worry about turning a corner at the Capitol and running into U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and her deep suspicions about the [...]

Gov. Pawlenty got off an international flight from Iraq and Afghanistan and immediately took to the domestic airwaves. The health care reform plan is a “joke” he told Fox News, and President Obama is ”scamming the American people” — with “false advertising,” he added on Minnesota Public Radio. On his WCCO-AM show this morning, Pawlenty interviewed Colin [...]