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Facebook’s in need of regulation

The American public has been made aware of some disturbing things that social media giant Facebook has been doing. Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen told, in a “60 Minutes” interview and in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, how Facebook, and its subsidiary Instagram, knew that its policies and algorithms that promote various kinds of content, are damaging to its users. Young girls on Instagram tend to develop harmful body images, for instance. It has allowed misinformation to be spread, widening the divide that already exists in our ...

Find a way to support what matters

The news that three Central Minnesota arts organizations will be requiring audiences to not only mask up, but prove their vaccination status or provide a recent negative COVID-19 test (within 72 hours of the event). Certainly, many patrons of the Paramount Center for the Arts, the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University Fine Arts Series and the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra will welcome the move as a gesture of care for the people who support their programs by buying tickets. Other patrons, to be sure, will not welcome it. Some will stand on their conviction that such ...

Et. Cetera

Disc Golf The Minnesota State Disc Golf Tournament is taking place today and Sunday at Cedar Creek Park in Fairmont. The park offers three 18-hole courses, and it’s right here in Fairmont. Trevor Boehne, an organizer of the tournament, shared that often times registration for tournaments in Fairmont fills up within minutes. What a great asset to the community, which also brings people to town. 4-H Week This past week was National 4-H week. 4-H is an awesome organization that a lot of local people in Martin County are involved in. It’s a great way to help youth get involved and ...

Crisis averted, until December

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have come to an agreement to extend the U.S. debt limit into December, which will avoid a government default that would have occurred next week, and giving time to come up with a solution by December. They are not toning down the hyperbole, however. Democrats are still accusing Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of “playing politics” with the nation’s economy, while McConnell is saying the agreement now gives Democrats the time they said they lacked to deal with the debt limit through budget reconciliation, a process that will not ...

Who is McConnell sticking it to — Democrats or America?

Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are continuing to be the monkey wrench in the gears of government when it comes to raising the federal debt limit. Republicans are planning to filibuster on raising or suspending the debt limit, forcing Democrats to come up with 60 votes they don’t have to end the filibuster. Republicans want Democrats to use the process known as budget reconciliation, a more complex process that would require Democrats to legislate specified changes in spending, revenue, deficits or the debt limit. Democrats would not need any Republican votes, and ...

Pandora Papers document what was always suspected

To borrow a phrase from the movie “Casablanca,” we are shocked — SHOCKED! — to learn that rich, powerful and corrupt people hide trillions of dollars in secret bank accounts and holdings throughout the world. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released its Pandora Papers report over the weekend. It is a detailed analysis of documents leaked by companies showing how hundreds of world leaders, billionaires, celebrities and drug dealers — and even some religious leaders — hide their mountains of cash to avoid taxes and conceal their illegal activities. ...