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Archive for May, 2010

May 21st, 2010

Summary: A car bomb exploded at an open-air market in the Shiite town of Khalis, northeast of Baghdad, killing 23 people and wounding more than 50. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 21, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a series of bombings hit Baghdad and the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, killing at least 25 people (including three U.S. troops) and wounding dozens more (including nine American soldiers), one day after a car bomb exploded near a group of restaurants in a Shiite neighborhood of northwest Baghdad, killing 41 people and injuring more than 70.


May 20th, 2010

Summary: Forensic evidence proves North Korea fired a torpedo that sank the South Korean warship Cheonan, while North Korea denies responsibility and threatens “all-out war.” … Psychological evaluation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il by Aubrey Immelman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared on talk radio with end-times pastor Jan Markell to discuss the “Criminalization of Christianity,” where in the past she held forth on topics ranging from homosexuality to the Second Coming; but this time, her topic was the labeling of Christians as terrorists.


May 19th, 2010

Summary: Taliban insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn attack on Bagram air base north of Kabul, one day after the deadliest day of the year for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, with seven Americans dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 19, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqi officials postponed national parliamentary elections until Jan. 30, 2010; that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said “We cannot succeed … in Afghanistan by killing Afghan civilians”; and that the U.N. refugee agency revealed that nearly 1.5 million people had fled their homes in Pakistan in May in an attempt to escape fighting between government forces and Taliban militants.


May 18th, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 18, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported the latest U.S. military deaths and security incidents in Iraqi, along with the latest headlines from the Iraq and AfPak wars.


May 17th, 2010

Summary: Washington D.C. political handicapper CQ Politics, in its latest district-by-district congressional race rating revisions for the 2010 midterm election, has reclassified Minnesota’s 6th District from “Leans Republican” to “Likely Republican” — reflecting an increasing likelihood that incumbent Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann will be reelected for a third term. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 17, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame and the anti-abortion protests it prompted.


May 16th, 2010

Summary: Dr. Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, former leader of the opposition in the South African parliament, has died. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that for the first time in 15 years, a majority of Americans called themselves “pro-life” rather than “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion. Meanwhile, Iraq has lost more than half of the 1.4 million Christians who once called it home, mostly since the war began, and few who fled have plans to return.


May 15th, 2010

Summary: Minnesota’s 2010 open-water fishing opener. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) called on Congress to block ACORN’s access to federal housing funds, citing repeated charges of voter registration fraud against the low-income advocacy group.


May 14th, 2010

Summary: Al-Qaida in Iraq is warning Shiites that “dark days soaked with blood” lie ahead with a new campaign of violence yet to come, with many Iraqis fearful that the current wave of bombings and shootings may revive the all-out sectarian warfare that ravaged the country in 2006 and 2007. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 14, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured five reasons liberals love Michele Bachmann, the only politician — with the possible exception of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il — who flaunts universal, all-encompassing expertise that including such disparate specialties as theology, science, chemistry, finance, world affairs, and even sexual dysfunction.


May 13th, 2010

Summary: President Barack Obama is warning that the war in Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better, but he remains committed to his plan of beginning to withdraw U.S. forces in July 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 13, 2009, Aubrey Immelman summarized and evaluated remarks by Dr. Maureen Reed on May 12, 2009, at a special DFL Minnesota Senate District 14 meeting in St. Joseph, Minn. At the time, Reed was challenging 2008 Democratic candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg for the Democratic Party endorsement in the 2010 Sixth Congressional District race for U.S. Representative against incumbent Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann.


May 12th, 2010

Summary: In anticipation of Saturday’s Minnesota fishing opener, Independence Party-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner has scheduled a 1:30 p.m. press conference for Wednesday, May 12 at Stop Light Bait, 45 8th Ave. SE, St. Cloud, just off Highway 10. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 12, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Army Sgt. John M. Russell shot and killed five fellow soldiers at a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Iraq. Killed were Cmdr. Charles Keith Springle, 52, a Navy military psychologist from Beaufort, N.C.; Maj. Matthew Houseal, 54, an Army reservist and psychiatrist from Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.