News & Articles

Need a job?

Thanks to the reader who sent in the Department of Homeland Security’s new recruitment pitch for 10,000 more ICE officers to carry out Trump’s retribution on the America he hates.
Have you ever been reprimanded for using too much force as an officer?
Were you ever kicked out of school or been accused of being a bully?
Did you torture animals when you were young?
If you have a strong back and a weak mind, then the Department of Homeland Security needs you. Our fearless leader, Kristi Gnome, will give you total immunity for any of your actions while you bully and kill American citizens.
IF you are
• a thug
• a murderer
• a flat Earther
• a dunce and/or dolt
• a despicable MAGA fool
• or just plain anti-American
We need you now!

Roger Biebl
Duluth, Minnesota

Trump and Noem should go on tour as Dumb and Dumber

Donald Trump says that we need Greenland and Venezuela for security reasons to protect us from an invasion from China or Russia.  He doesn’t know his geography very well because if they were to invade us it would be easier for them on the west coast since as Sara Palin said that she could see Russia from her door and China is closer to Hawaii then Greenland or Venezuela. It’s not about our safety it’s about the oil.

It doesn’t surprise me that he doesn’t know geography like other things that he has said that made no sense. Like most people under him. We have Kristi Noem calls people shot by ICE terrorist and killers trying to kill inocent agents yet she thought that it was ok to kill an innocent puppy for being a puppy and bragged about it on 60 Minutes. Of course she says that’s different. She also claims that like president Trump we need Greenland,  Venezuela and Canada for our protection. My thought is dumb and dumber. The list goes on and on.

Cecilia Hill
Duluth, Minnesota

Rattle

ICE Agents in Minnesota, January 2026

A baby grows into a monster.
Small hands mature to hold a gun,
sweet kicking feet now fill a boot,
the cooing throat now shouts and spits,
The crib that held the little babe
has grown into a barricade.
The rattle held with tiny clutch
grows to a club to strike and hit.

The darling in his mother’s arms,
sweet as a lamb with promise,
develops to barbarian
in a nursery of menace,
where fairytales and storybooks
give way to manifestos
and playthings turn to handcuffs
and lullabies to sirens.

Jane Whitledge
Duluth, Minnesota

The case for electrifying your house

A community-based approach to energy consumption, where our society benefits, would include converting all household energy consumption to electric.

By converting all appliances in our houses to electric to set up a situation that enables us to change energy production (electricity) at the source, we can then produce electricity using whatever fuel makes the most sense economically and environmentally. Solar, nuclear, gas wood, wind, oil…what fuel is the best fuel to produce energy (electricity) for our communities at large? The answer is complicated, but in my own household, we are beginning a project to replace our gas appliances (stove, water heater, gas boiler, and dryer) with more efficient electric solutions. Once we have electrified our house in its entirety, we can look to our electric utilities companies to use the fuel that delivers the best economic and environmental solution.

As fuel economic profiles change and the environmental concerns are considered, changes can be made at the fuel generation source. For example, the prices of Solar generation have been dropping steadily over recent years. In fact, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reports a dramatic 68.4% drop in the average residential solar system price over the past 20 years, chalking up the substantial cost reductions to two things: rapid technological advancements and increased production capacity. At some point, it seems, the cost of producing electricity via Solar (or some other yet to be discovered technology) will be the best economic energy solution for our communities with the added benefit of not producing greenhouse gases. Electrifying our homes set us up to take full advantage of that probable change.

In Wisconsin, Focus on Energy (focusonenergy.com) is offering substantial rebates on new more energy efficient appliances, including efficient heat pumps. The rebates can be as high as 75%. There has never been a better time to move to an all-electric house.

B.J. Havlik
Bayfield, Wisconsin

Another satisfied Reader reader

I wanted to say how much I appreciate your paper, and also to thank you for M. Arnold Bowen’s poem, “Ode to a con man” (Jan. 15, 2026 Reader)– so on point! Thank you for being our voice!

Eldon Koch
Duluth, Minnesota