Since the private "security" contractor Blackwater (re-branded last February as "Xe") hit the news last fall for allegedly killing unarmed civilians in Iraq, the professor's question has led me to a more important question for a constitutional republic: When, why, and how did the United States of America become the land of mercenaries?

The Strib promotes one of its own while rethinking how it has covered government.

By David Brauer

In addition to liberating Minnesota's political scene from purgatory, the MN Supremes may also have helped the rest of the nation figure out how to handle the mystery of Bush v. Gore

By Eric Black but really by Ned Foley

Rush Limbaugh: Minnesota's election system is like Iran's

By Eric Black

Q-and-A with Kurt Zellers: He's all business

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Flanked by soldiers, amid a huddle of blue-and-white Honduran flags, the bespectacled de facto president of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, raised his hands to supporters and gave his best war talk.

To hear Taxpayers League President Phil Krinkie describe it ("Stop the whining about Pawlenty's unallotment decisions," June 24), one would think that the state budget had been on an unbridled growth course for years. The fact of the matter is that real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per capita state general-fund spending has fallen 9 percent from FY 2002-03 to FY 2008-09. It is in this context that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's $2.7 billion unallotment needs to be considered.

Taking dead aim at reports that flared Wednesday, Pioneer Press owner Media News Group denies it might use bankruptcy to get out from under $1.3 billion in debt, or that there will be a change in company control.

By David Brauer

Credit watchdogs and an Illinois congressman are questioning the formula used by Minneapolis-based FICO to calculate credit scores for millions of consumers.

Management again seeks to toss out laabor deal over potential pension liabilities.

By David Brauer

Yesterday, in reporting on the PiPress layoffs, I noted that "there is no indication bankruptcy is imminent" for Denver-based owner Media News Group. Now, there's an indication, though it's difficult to verify the claims.

By David Brauer

It seems highly likely the St. Cloud Times will get hit with layoffs in the wake of today's news that owner Gannett will cut 1,000-2,000 jobs in the company's Community Publishing division.

By David Brauer

Famous Dave's said today that graduation party orders aren't coming in at the pace it anticipated, and that the restaurant chain continues to face a "very difficult" economy.

As every Minnesota political junkie knows, video news site The Uptake has been the U.S. Senate recount's wall-to-wall coverage champ. But even as Norm Coleman was preparing a graceful concession speech, his press secretary all but put an Uptake reporter against the wall.

By David Brauer

TEHRAN — Two nights after the presidential election, government militia forces informed students at Tehran University that their end-of-term exams had been postponed.

"The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" on PBS Tuesday featured analysis of the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision in the U.S. Senate race and a discussion of its implications. Gwen Ifill interviews MinnPost political writer Eric Black and Amy Walter of The Hotline at the National Journal.

RED WING, Minn. — Mikhail Gorbachev's recent op-ed, "It's time for a second American revolution in the spirit of perestroika," published June 10 in the Sydney Morning Herald, took me back to the summer of 1990.

My analysis of the Supreme Court's Franken-Coleman ruling

In the wake of Pioneer Press layoffs today — which took out 7 percent of the newsroom — the paper's journalists are asking the baffling question: why wouldn't ownership let them take concessions to preserve headcount?

By David Brauer

Election law Prof. Rick Hasen of Election Law blog and Loyola Law School of L.A. has posted his quick reaction to the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling and the future of the case from here.

Hasen is one of several top national election law scholars who have been following the case closely. He has five excellent analysis points in this post, but those who don't click through, here's one in which he reiterates why he feels the U.S. Supreme Court won't want anything to do with this case:

"A Stay in the U.S. Supreme Court I think a stay is very unlikely. First, you've now had eight judges look at this case (the three judge court and 5 of the members of the State Supreme Court) made up of judges with varied party backgrounds and they agree: Coleman could not find enough problems with the way the election was run to make out a constitutional violation. (Coleman was just unlucky in this regard; it could have just as easily been Franken. The election was razor-thin, and Minnesota's procedures pretty good, so there was not much for Coleman's lawyers to work with.) So the conservatives' red flags will not be raised, as they were in Florida 2000. Second, as I've explained in my Slate and ACS pieces linked above, Coleman's arguments depend upon an expansive reading of Bush v. Gore that would essentially enmesh the courts in the political thicket every time there was a close election and some deviations in how local election administrators enforced state election rules. That would mean a lot of litigation, state election law centralization, or both. That's not going to be appealing to any of the Justices. Third, the Court still has not cited Bush v. Gore in any opinion---majority, dissenting, or concurring---since the case was decided. It is still the third rail, and I don't see that they'd want to touch it, especially given what else they've been doing recently in election law. So I think Coleman's chances are slim in the Supremes."

A new Standard & Poor's report details costs from last fall's interest rate spikes, and ongoing risks to Target Field repayment. Still, the club's financial strength held steady amid the economic gale and remains better than many.

By David Brauer

BELFAST — The British Army map of Belfast shows green for Catholic enclaves, orange for Protestant areas and white for mixed districts.

Over the last year, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities have stopped some Somalis from boarding planes. A few of these individuals have been put on the no-flying list despite the fact that they have not being implicated in any crime. It is said that their profile made them security risks.

We don't do Pledge Week -- but are YOU a member?

DIYALA PROVINCE, Iraq — At the peak of Iraq's civil war it was not uncommon for militants to leave killing fields littered with bodies in the open desert outside of Fawal Kamel Sadah's village of Mufriq. Nearly a month ago, an execution site dating back to that time was discovered, serving as a reminder of the hard times just recently overcome.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar is leading a public and bitter inter-party battle with President Barack Obama over the administration's recently announced plan to delay for 18 months or more the consideration of a new six-year federal surface-transportation act.

Boozing it up in the land of Mao for fun and, of course, profit.

HAVANA — As a general rule with Cuban revolutionary slogans, the second choice is never a good option.

BOSTON — It is, by now, strictly routine for the NBA draft to feature prominently an international cast. Since the year 2000, when Turkish star Hidayet Turkoglu was the top foreigner drafted, 43 foreign players have been selected in the first round.

BOSTON — This year's web wunderkind, Twitter, has been credited as a force in organizing protesters in Thailand, Moldova and, now, Iran. But in Iran, the government has clamped down on the mobile network and put up Internet firewalls, leaving us to wonder how opposition leaders are getting the word out — which they seem to be doing, as reports trickle out in spite of government restrictions on the media that demonstrations continue unabated.