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Articles by Dane Smith
Opinion | If Team Trump prevails, he’s ready to make us pay
Opinion | If Team Trump prevails, he’s ready to make us pay Here are five ways a MAGA win would cost more than the fraud cases Republicans are campaigning on. October 11, 2026 at 8:49AM U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya (left) and Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth (right). (The Minnesota Star Tribune) Comment Gift Share Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
Dane Smith: 5 reasons you can be confident in our election integrity
Many Minnesotans are aware that we usually lead the nation in voter turnout, and did so again in 2024, with almost 78% of the voting-age population casting ballots. Southeastern Minnesotans might not be aware that six of the eight counties in their corner of the state actually beat that nation-leading average, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's data maps. Counties exceeding the state average were Olmsted, Wabasha, Dodge, Goodhue, Fillmore and Houston.
Minnesota fraud panic: Key facts and U.S. context
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. * Please read before republishing * We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines. See our full republication guidelines for more information.
Hard data and context are missing in Minnesota’s overblown fraud furor
This is the final piece in a MinnPost Voices series by Dane Smith called Debunking the defamation of Minnesota on various attacks, including fraud, depicting Minnesota as a failed state. Read the other installments here.
Property investment in Mauritius in 2026/27: New budget breakdown
Mauritius’ 2026/27 Budget strengthens economic stability and global competitiveness, while supporting sustainable, investment-led growth through technology, innovation, and infrastructure. It also signals a shift toward a more controlled, higher-quality investment environment. The fundamentals remain strong, but access is becoming more selective, costs are rising, and investment decisions now require greater strategy and precision. Is Mauritius still attractive for foreign investors?
Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor Receives Official Designation
Two thousand years before construction began on the great pyramids, Indigenous hunters gathered a few miles west of what is now Pinedale. They came to capitalize on a bottleneck where throngs of migrating pronghorn squeezed through a narrow sliver of land between the Green and New Fork rivers on their way south to warmer grazing sites.
Counterpoint | It’s not really a myth — Minnesota is an exceptional state
Counterpoint | It’s not really a myth — Minnesota is an exceptional state Statistics consistently show it’s a relatively better place for most of us. Guest contributor(s) to the Minnesota Star Tribune Emil Didenko-Gamart, 18, does handstands with friends at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis: The Twin Cities region as a whole continues to excel on numerous rankings, writes Dane Smith.
Minnesota — way above average ‘hellhole’
Enter the code sent to your email Email address Enter your password Sign in by entering the code we sent to , or clicking the magic link in the email. 1 Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. * Please read before republishing * We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines.
Rankings reveal Minnesota as a better state in a precarious nation
This is the second in an occasional MinnPost Voices series called Debunking the defamation of Minnesota on various attacks depicting Minnesota as a failed state. Read the first piece, on immigration, here. Long before President Donald Trump and his allies unleashed Operation Metro Surge with a torrent of insults and falsehoods about Minnesota, other defamers were already hard at work fabricating the narrative of a failed state, ignoring ample evidence to the contrary.
Minnesota stands out as an exceptionally generous and prosperous state, thanks to the contributions of immigrants
This is the first in an occasional MinnPost Voices series on various attacks depicting Minnesota as a failed state. Over these hard winter months, President Donald Trump, his top officials and their army of heavily armed and masked ICE troops — joined by local and national right-wing politicians and influencers — have piled up unprecedented insult and injury to Minnesota’s immigrants of color, shooting to death two of their white defenders on the streets of Minneapolis.
Minnesota's warm internationalism vs. the haughty hostility of America First 2.0
Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. As the United Nations prepares to celebrate its 80th birthday on Oct. 24, Minnesotans can take some pride in both its founding and our kindred spirit ever since.
Reducing Waste in the Food Industry: How Smart Distributors Make a Difference
Reducing Waste in the Food Industry: How Smart Distributors Make a Difference Okay, true story: I’m at this bustling souk in Jeddah, eyeing a mountain of shiny pomegranates. The vendor sighs, pointing to a pile of bruised ones
Minnesota's ranking on fraud is still unknown
Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. The Star Tribune's March 30 front-page overview of fraud in pandemic programs ( "Fraud flourished amid torrent of COVID aid") offered some overdue perspective, putting our $266 million in fraud convictions and allegations in the context of an estimated $200 billion stolen nationally, out of $4.5 trillion in total relief over the last five years.
Cutting refunds for small campaign donors serves the oligarchy
Minnesotans should be proud of our history as a state that has stood up when necessary to wealth and privilege, using the tools of democracy to seek common good and greater equality.
Global Market Outlook 2025
Lori Heinel, Global Chief Investment Officer, shares our views on the key trends and developments that will shape the global market landscape in 2025.
Trusting our good neighbors for election security
Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Monique LaCroix for many years donned a clown costume to do a “Magic of Reading” show for kids at local public libraries in the Carver County area. Her other services to her community include both paid and volunteer work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and at a 12-step addiction-recovery center near her home in Chaska. Amelious N.
The thing that’s missing from MinneWalz Mania?
We have too often fallen far short of these ideals, and this DNA is not exclusive to us. Every state has at least some history of heroic social justice activism. But Minnesota truly has stood out in our preference for human rights when in conflict with states’ rights, capitalist orthodoxy, and the eternal conservative resistance to sharing wealth and privilege.
An ambitious to-do list for enhancing the ‘Good Life’ in Minnesota
“Reappraising Minnesota” is a commentary series that seeks to re-evaluate Minnesota’s basic condition today and its evolution since 1973, when a Time magazine cover story praised it as “A State That Works.’’ The author is Dane Smith, who wrote about politics and government as a reporter from 1977 to 2007 for both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press.
What Successful Purpose Statements Do Differently
Sadly, purpose statements at all too many organizations are just empty words. The companies that issue them don’t live up to their lofty promises. But research by Bain & Company identified some companies that are the exceptions. They employ four methods to turn their statements into reality. Most large companies like to have purpose statements. They put those statements on websites, in ads, and maybe on the walls of plants and offices.
Junior Year Highlights
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Today in Minnesota: Business thrives, inequalities widen, largesse and growth less exceptional
“Reappraising Minnesota” is a commentary series that seeks to re-evaluate Minnesota’s basic condition today and its evolution since 1973, when a Time magazine cover story praised it as “A State That Works.’’ The author is Dane Smith, who wrote about politics and government as a reporter from 1977 to 2007 for both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press.
Bonafide bragging rights for Minnesota's arts and culture scene | MinnPost
Each fall for the past two decades in the sparsely populated reaches of the upper Minnesota River Valley, local artisans and crafters have staged an award-winning arts crawl they call “The Meander.” The free, self-guided tour of 30 studios and shops in small towns and farmsteads celebrates local culture and heritage, offering such items for sale as abstract landscape paintings inspired by Native American imagery, Scandinavian pottery and knitwear, and fine art photography capturing rural life...
‘One Minnesota’ vs. rural-metro divergence | MinnPost
The 1973 Time magazine cover story about “The Good Life in Minnesota” focused primarily on the Twin Cities: its robust and diverse economy, generous business leaders, progressive and innovative politicians, sophisticated arts-and-culture scene and overall quality of life.
How to Advance Health Equity While Improving Your Bottom Line
The nationwide data on health inequity is established and well-known among US healthcare leaders. What is less understood is why they continue to struggle to see meaningful results. Healthcare executives know that they are uniquely positioned to advance health equity. They see the imperative: Across providers, payers, pharma, and medtech companies, executives rank it among their top five priorities, according to a recent Bain survey (see Figure 1).
Environmental activism runs strong, reinforced by climate and equity movements | MinnPost
In divining the essence of “The Good Life in Minnesota,” the authors of the 1973 Time magazine cover story frequently alluded to a remarkable reverence among the state’s people for their well-watered and richly diverse natural landscape. “Most of the mood in Minnesota has to do with comparatively unspoiled land. Such an abundance and accessibility of nature has much to do with the Minnesotans’ sense of place and roots,” Time observed.
Reappraising ‘Minnesota: A State That Works’: Examining political shifts by the decade
This is the second part of “Reappraising ‘Minnesota: A State That Works’: More than 50 years of pendulum swings but a persistent center-left consensus.’ The first half of this story can be read here. Megatrends since 1973 In addition to the transformation of Republicans into a far more conservative party, several other megatrends have dominated the state’s political scene since 1973.
Reappraising Minnesota
* Please read before republishing * We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines. See our full republication guidelines for more information. To republish, copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to MinnPost. If you have questions, email editors@minnpost.com. — The Editors
Reappraising ‘Minnesota: A State That Works’: More than 50 years of pendulum swings but a persistent center-left consensus | MinnPost
The 1973 Time magazine cover that revealed “The Good Life in Minnesota” and “A State That Works” to the rest of the nation gave plenty of credit to moderate and liberal Republicans for helping nurture a prosperous and progressive state. Most of the focus, however, was on a generation of young Democratic-Farmer-Laborites who championed social justice, more equitable business growth, a cleaner environment and modernizing and expanding the public sector to realize those ideals. Cover boy Gov.
World scientists’ warning: The behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot
For Will Steffen (1947–2023), one of the kindest advocates for our planet in a time of crisis. ‘The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of’.
Aspiration for equality as our enduring essence | MinnPost
Southern plantation owners in the 1850s were discovering the glories of Minnesota’s cooler summers and they began taking steamboat excursions up the Mississippi River to stay at the fancy new Winslow Hotel, overlooking the still wild and untamed St. Anthony Falls. As they disembarked with their enslaved Black people and piles of baggage at St. Paul’s Lower Landing, the rich white tourists from Dixie were sometimes rudely confronted by forerunners of today’s so-called “woke” activists.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Counterpoint: Blaming the educated class for Trumpism is absurd
Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. ••• David Brooks' effort to juggle his status as Never Trumper and reasonable conservative has been instructive for readers who worry about our democracy. He's often been a deeply thoughtful middle-roader in both condemning and trying to understand an increasingly dangerous right-wing faction that now dominates the Republican Party.
Reappraising ‘The State that Works’: High rankings hold up, mostly | MinnPost
As Gov. Tim Pawlenty was gearing up for re-election in late 2005, he began drawing attention to Minnesota’s high and slightly improving national rankings on measures of public health. Just three years earlier, on his way to becoming the most conservative governor the state had elected in a half-century, Pawlenty’s stock campaign speech had been all about how Minnesota had been slipping on key indicators since the Time magazine cover in 1973.
Major test of loyalty as 26 airlines bid to take share from Qantas with rival HSBC-Visa card, ‘bigger rewards, smaller clip - faster gold status through spending, not flying’ | Mi3
Lift off Air New Zealand and 25 other airlines are bidding to take share from Qantas and Virgin via a new loyalty play almost five years in the making. The Star Alliance is backing bigger rewards and the ability for members to skip 190 hours of flying to fast-track gold status by spending via an HSBC-backed Visa card to tempt “hundreds of thousands” of people to switch from the Flying Kangaroo.
Reappraising ‘The state that works’: Part II, racial disparities belie ‘the good life’
“Reappraising Minnesota” is a commentary series that seeks to re-evaluate Minnesota’s basic condition today and its evolution since 1973, when a Time magazine cover story praised it as “A State That Works.’’ The author is Dane Smith, who wrote about politics and government as a reporter from 1977 to 2007 for both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press.
Reappraising ‘The state that works’: Part II, racial disparities belie ‘the good life’
“Reappraising Minnesota” is a commentary series that seeks to re-evaluate Minnesota’s basic condition today and its evolution since 1973, when a Time magazine cover story praised it as “A State That Works.’’ The author is Dane Smith, who wrote about politics and government as a reporter from 1977 to 2007 for both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press.
Reappraising 'Minnesota: A State That Works' 50 years after Time cover story | MinnPost
“Reappraising Minnesota” is a commentary series that seeks to re-evaluate Minnesota’s basic condition today and its evolution since 1973, when a Time magazine cover story praised it as “A State That Works.’’ The author is Dane Smith, who wrote about politics and government as a reporter from 1977 to 2007 for both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press.
Azioni e obbligazioni stanno tornando ad avere correlazione negativa
A cura di Dane Smith, head of Investment Strategy and Research Nord America di State Street Global Advisors La tradizionale concezione di un’allocazione al reddito fisso di qualità superiore è in parte determinata dalla sua storica correlazione negativa con l’azionario – una relazione vera negli ultimi due decenni. Per coprire il rischio di beta azionario, gli investitori multi-asset hanno fatto affidamento sui benefici, in termini di diversificazione, di tale rapporto.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Requiem for the kind of conservative we need
Our national conversation lost a constructive conservative voice recently with the death of 56-year-old Michael Gerson. He was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush and later a syndicated columnist and a leading never-Trumper. Gerson, whose wisdom often brightened the Star Tribune's opinion pages over the years, died of cancer Nov. 17.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Want to control crime? Don't turn Minnesota red.
Conservatives seem to be betting the farm in the closing days of the 2022 campaign on scaring the bejeezus out of Minnesotans about crime, and the tactic appears to be working. Before buying the pitch that a new breed of extremely Trumpy Republicans will make us safer, voters really must ponder this inconvenient fact: red states, most of them under the firm control of conservatives for decades, tend to have no better crime rates than blue states.
Beware co-opting contempt for government in abortion rights battle
by Dane Smith, Minnesota Reformer October 6, 2022 Commentary following the defeat of the Kansas abortion initiative tended to celebrate the way abortion rights messaging cleverly tapped into anti-government sentiment in the Jayhawk State.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Will Kathy Olson still get to vote?
Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. ••• The Star Tribune has provided a valuable public service with its reporting about the spread of disinformation and intimidation of local officials by election deniers, mostly in a few counties in Greater Minnesota.
Column: Get to college, ignore advice that you don’t need degree
In the summer of 1973, almost 50 years ago, I found myself in a situation very much like the one facing today’s young folks. Jobs were plentiful and unemployment was near an all-time low. Fresh out of the U.S. Navy and with my high-school diploma and my honorable discharge, I might have gotten a decent job with livable wages at the local 3M plant or another employer in south Washington County.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Counterpoint: Actually, blue states still fare better on COVID
It was refreshing to see conservative columnist Bret Stephens call for a truce in the ideological battle over pandemic policies ("Let's end the COVID blame game," Dec. 2). He even apologized for wrongly opining in the early days of COVID that the population density of liberal urban areas would be the main driver of transmission.
OPINION EXCHANGE | A Black and white history tour
Most of us are hoping that the partnership between Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden will be as harmonious and effective as was the first Black-and-white presidential team in our history, which also included Biden. This is partly because most Americans, and most Minnesotans, voted for them, but also because a new urgency has taken hold around racial issues. Awareness of systemic racism is rising and support for Black Lives Matter has never been higher.
r/tattoos - Full Color Kali, By Dane Smith at Fountain Square Tattoo in Indianapolis, IN
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r/tattoos - By Dane Smith, Fountain Square Tattoo, Indianapolis, IN.
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OPINION EXCHANGE | Toward a better patriotism
The National Football League’s top brass has finally gotten around to an awkward apology for squelching protests against police brutality by some of its Black players, who knelt during the national anthem in recent years. The league blackballed the leader of that protest, Colin Kaepernick, and already had paid reparations to him in a court settlement before the uprising over George Floyd’s death. Kaepernick was a pretty darn good quarterback who took the San Francisco 49ers to the 2013 Super Bowl.
Cepheus Protocol Review
Dane Smith June 13, 2020 Zombie media, especially games, have been all the rage these past years. From World War Z to The Walking Dead and Resident Evil, lots of creators keep trying to make the next big zombie addition to the lore. Cepheus Protocol takes the zombie formula and marries it to the RTS world. Can it be the zombie Starcraft or will it be another husk in the pile of stinking corpses?
Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord Review
The Medieval background is a dime a dozen setting for the video game industry. Many games try to use the allure and knights and dragons to woo genre fans to them. Mount and Blade: Bannerlord goes back to the basics, getting rid of any fantasy aspects, instead opting for a gritty world of simple, forceful conquest where might is right, and jumping up in status comes at the tip of a sword.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Counterpoint: A referendum on progressivism? Ok, let's count its amazing accomplishments
It’s understandable why President Donald Trump apologists like John C. “Chuck” Chalberg would want to frame the 2020 election as a referendum on anything but the performance of a president who lost the popular vote in 2016 and consistently has earned some of the lowest approval ratings of any president in modern history (“A referendum on progressivism,” May 24). But yes, bring it on.
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