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John Reinan

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
5 years 15 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 01/23/12 at 02:00 pm in response to For the Star Tribune, failure leads to freedom

What Rich has described sounds very much like the way Gannett operates. It's why Gannett has always been the most popular newspaper chain with Wall Street investors.

Posted on 01/17/12 at 05:42 pm in response to This is what Citizens United hath wrought

I'll point out that the Democrats never really had a "filibuster-proof" majority, something that an astute observer like Eric surely realizes if he'd stop to ponder it for a moment. They did have 60 nominally Democratic senators, but at least 5 or more of those were likely to vote against the party's wishes quite often. The filibuster-proof majority only works when you have 60 senators who can be counted on to reliably vote in a bloc according to the wishes of party leadership. The...

Posted on 01/16/12 at 02:24 pm in response to Will Charles Barkley score for Weight Watchers?

You guys are funny. Yeah, the Chuckster is doing well so far, but I can definitely see him losing a bunch of weight, then putting it all back on next year. I do agree, though -- his candor is refreshing.

Posted on 01/12/12 at 10:39 am in response to Legislators face fourth down on Vikings stadium

If there's any substantial amount of public funding -- say more than 25% of the cost (which will certainly be the case) -- then we're idiots if we don't insist on some sort of clause giving the public a share of the increased value of the team in any future resale.

If Zygi gets a new stadium, the value of his franchise immediately increases by a large amount -- $300, $400 million or more.

If he sells the team in 10 years, the public should share in the value created by the new...

Posted on 01/10/12 at 11:39 am in response to Divided youth hockey community has to do better job teaching -- and protecting -- its players

I completely agree with your point, Pat. We've all seen, thousands of times, those plays when a player goes into the corner for a puck and one or two opponents come flying at him, launching themselves at his back and pile-driving him into the boards from behind.

That play has become a basic and accepted part of the game, and it should be completely illegal.

And clearly, if such obvious violations aren't even being called, then the lesser ones won't be.

Posted on 01/10/12 at 04:01 pm in response to Divided youth hockey community has to do better job teaching -- and protecting -- its players

For a long time now, I've been saying that football should go back to leather helmets with no facemasks. Players would have to think twice about launching themselves like missiles if they had to worry about taking a knee in the face. It would lessen the high-speed, head-on collisions that so often lead to injury.

Posted on 01/09/12 at 11:12 am in response to What Best Buy and newspapers have in common

Rachel is absolutely right, and it's a very perceptive comment. Most people outside of the newspaper industry don't realize how badly the loss of classifieds hurt. Papers used to run dozens of pages of classified ads every day. Those little blurbs went for anywhere from $10-30 and were an absolute river of cash, generated with very little effort by the newspaper -- they just sat back and took the calls.

The other sides of the great advertising triangle were real estate and autos. Now...

Posted on 12/22/11 at 10:42 am in response to Is ex-reporter Christine Clayburg paying TV journalists to help clients tell their good news stories?

"Who would have thought a meaningful First Amendment was dependent on the classified ads at the back of the paper?"

Dave, that is about the most accurate and succinct summation of the state of the news business that I've seen.

Posted on 12/19/11 at 06:46 am in response to What happened when Chicago privatized its parking system

I don't know, Steve -- I think we need to be a little more skeptical. Privatization is all the rage -- Pennsylvania is actively looking to sell the revenue stream of its tool roads, if it hasn't already. There are others.

But I fear it could become a cash grab in which the politically connected reap huge long-term benefits while government entities in effect sell their seed corn for a modest short-term gain.

Look at the math you just laid out. You say Chicago was getting about...

Posted on 12/12/11 at 09:33 am in response to Who could be the Twin Cities' Warren Buffett?

Yeah, I knew that about Taylor, but I couldn't resist the opportunity for a T-wolves joke.

By the way, Brauer -- who poked a stick in your cage???? En fuego!