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Spending more to deter Russia

Vladimir Putin has thrown 97% of his army into Ukraine, U.K. officials said this week, and the Russian dictator is betting he can grind down the West’s will to resist. So it’s good news NATO members are rethinking their current defense commitments. North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the alliance would this summer revisit the pledge that members spend 2% of their economy on national defense. “What is obvious is that if it was right to commit to spend 2% in 2014,” Mr. Stoltenberg said, “it is even more right now.” The ...

Pass red flag law to curtail gun violence

Minnesota’s debate about red flag gun safety laws has focused on DFL politics, gun owner rights and nuanced legal arguments about due process. There’s far too little attention on what matters: people killed by gun violence or those using guns to take their own life. In Minnesota, 70% of gun deaths are suicides, according to the advocacy group Protect Minnesota, which favors red flag laws. Studies show that red flag laws prevent suicides, according to a study by Duke Law School, and also prevent mass shootings, according to a study by the University of Michigan. Democrats, with full ...

Gov. DeSantis’ hypocrisy on the right to bear arms

We’re confused about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ position on guns. He talks a lot about his ardent support for the Second Amendment. He has said repeatedly that he believes putting guns into the hands of law-abiding people would make us all safer. He backs the familiar talking point that a good guy with a gun is a good defense against a bad guy with a gun. So why doesn’t he want those same law-abiding people to carry guns around him? The Washington Post reported last week that the DeSantis campaign wanted guns banned from a victory party at the Tampa Convention Center in November. Emails ...

Anger grows over UN earthquake aid for Syria

A week on, amid the tears of the bereaved and the abandoned, the unbearable scale of the death and destruction has become horrifyingly clear. At least 35,000 people have died as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, making this one of the worst natural disasters of the century. Hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped under rubble, as relatives pray for their miraculous survival. The final death toll may never be known. Many millions are displaced and some communities have been almost razed from the face of the earth. In such appalling circumstances, it seems ...

Crime must be curbed on reservations right now

While there are impasses over many issues among Native American nations, the United States government and the states, the top priority at the moment must be to reduce the unbelievable level of crime on Native American reservations. The U.S. government has treaty and trust obligations to provide “adequate law enforcement” on Native American reservations, and the adjective “adequate” is not specific enough to help. But we don’t think anyone can argue that crime is out of control and, in some places, a complete lawless situation. Consider this: A recent Associated Press story ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Green energy ideas Thumbs Up: New Ulm hosted a group discussion this week of local officials and a visiting German authority on the topic of converting to green energy. With the state committed now to cleaning things up by 2040, it is not too early for the city to get some ideas on what to do. New Ulm runs its own municipal utility system. It purchases most of its electrical energy, but has a natural gas powered system to produce steam for steam heat customers, and to generate power in emergency situations or to meet high demand. Guido Wallraven, technical director for the city of ...