Everything sucks!

​A group of University of Minnesota students and community members has been holing up in a campus building all week, and say they won't leave until their demands are met.

As for those demands, the key gripe here seems to be tuition costs, which could increase by 2 percent next year at the U of M.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

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​The ongoing saga of Jeremy Giefer has been chock-full of disturbing revelations.

First came the charges that he repeatedly raped his young daughter over a period of years. Then the news that during this same period he successfully applied to have his previous record as a sex offender from Governor Pawlenty and his Board of Pardons.

But worst of all was the discovery that his wife Susan--the mother of his alleged victim, and also the woman he was sentenced for statutorily raping--was running a family day care center next door to their home the whole time.More >>

Brian Scott Poquette goes to prison.

​ Almost 20 years ago, a homeless guy named Brian Scott Poquette was polishing off a couple of cases of beer down by St. Anthony Falls with the help of three other drinking buddies.

A fight broke out, and two of those men died.

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Boyd faces possible prison time.

​We expected a firestorm of hostile comments about Holly Boyd, who's accused of killing a Chihuahua puppy by slamming it into a piece of furniture.

But we didn't see this one coming: an argument about vegetarianism.

"Of course all those other animals that are killed so we can eat, are done so with love and care," opined Valid. "No deadly blows to the head with blunt objects--ever. They are petted to death by softest hands."

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Hennepin County's smoking ban: Does it go too far? Take the poll below.

​We mentioned the other day that Hennepin County Commissioners have now passed a far-reaching ban on smoking in and on all country property. The new rule builds on previous policies that banned smoking in, and within 45 feet, of all county buildings.

"People are free to smoke, just not on our property," commissioner Mike Opat said after the measure passed 6-1.

Now the county has published a more detailed description of what the ban entails:

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Caffthoughts

Bachmann dodging the media -- on tape!

​It's not news that Michele Bachmann exists in a carefully regulated bubble, talking only to sympathetic outlets guaranteed to disseminate her nonsense without question.

But it isn't everyday that we get video of la Bachmann stiff-arming reporters who might actually ask her probing questions, though.

That's what local blogger Ken Avidor found on the website of one of the Bachmann-friendly bloggers who was granted a Bachmann audience at the recent Iowa Renewal Project, a conference where conservative politicians talk with religious leaders about how to get right wing talking points into the pulpit.

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Bachmann has a date with Arpaio.

​Michele Bachmann has a date with Sheriff Joe Arpaio down in Arizona this weekend. Maybe while she's down there, she can hitch a ride with a freshly minted member of Joe's new civilian air posse, lean out the window and wave a gun around.

The sheriff, you see, has just launched a novel way of controlling the riff raff and illegal immigrants in his county, deputizing 30 or so vigilante pilots to be his eyes in the sky.

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MinnPost advertises Governor Mark Dayton's appearance at MinnRoast

​Tomorrow night is the fourth annual MinnRoast, a fundraiser for MinnPost's "non-partisan, nonprofit" brand of journalism. And former Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman argues convincingly today that the whole event compromises MinnPost's journalistic credibility.

"I draw the line at making buffoons out of ourselves, and giving the impression that we're buddies with the powerful and political types who shouldn't be calling us to find out when we're available for golf or beer," Coleman says.

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Eugene Glaraton is back in the slammer.

​After several weeks on the lam, convicted sex offender Eugene Glaraton has been captured in Roseville.

"Back behind bars," says Department of Corrections spokesperson John Schadl with satisfaction.

He says anonymous tips from the public led authorities right to Glaraton's doorstep.

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This man does not work for free.

​Can we all agree now that Adrian Peterson's NFL lockout talk about players being "slaves" was ill advised, at the very least?

And if you're not convinced, maybe Omilara Aribisala can change your mind. She's a fifth-year defensive end for a Washington, D.C., women's semi-pro team called the Divas, and idle talk about slavery cuts a little too close to the bone for her.

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