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Great experience here! The front desk was friendly and the salon has a modern cool look to it. I didn't know at the time.. but the owner was standing by the front and greeted me with a warm smile and just simply asked how I was doing today.. which was very nice to walk into .. considering the fact it was my first time there. I when I went to Accolades.. I had extremly long thick curly hair... that was ALWAYS frizzy. I decided to do the groupon for the blowout. I was kind of scared because after I had bought it .. I heard all the rumors about how bad it was for your health e.t.c. My stylist sat me down and explained that it was the actual brazilian blowout.. but one that was much better for me.. which was a relief... It still was considered a brazilian blowout.. just not as intense. After we were finished.. my hair looked beautiful!!! Sooooo smooth and soft. I did these treatments for awhile after this.. until I decided to chop all of my hair off. (Which I got done at Accolades by Josh M.) I now have a cute pixi cut and I am obsessed with it! Josh is great! And the owner complimented me again while I was walking out of the door.. it all just made me feel beautiful! I would recommend him AND Accolades.
Saint Paul, MN Beauty Salons
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1. Accolades Salon Spa
Great experience here! The front desk was friendly and the salon has a modern cool look to it. I didn't know at the time.. but the owner was stand…
2. Ava's On Grand
I really enjoyed myself here. I had a great massage and the masseuse was great at finding the right pressure points. I have never felt so relieved o…
3. Sunbear Salon & Medical Spa
The hair is the richest ornament of women. ~Martin Luther Let me start off by saying, I know good hair and know it well. As the daughter of a fabu…
4. Petite Salon
I couldn't agree more with DawnyBeth's sentiments below. I recently found Dennis and am SO HAPPY I did! I've been a regular at Juut and Jon Englis…
5. Bleach
I've been going to Bleach for a couple of years now, which is saying a lot - as I shopped around for a good cut, cost, location and atmosphere - in …
6. Salon Ori
This salon is really cool - I highly recommend!! Lynzy is a great stylist. She does awesome color and cuts, I always get a ton of compliments from p…
7. 526 Salon
I live the dream life, a legit double life! By day I am a very visible and active Community Activist and Organizer as well as work with Policy Make…
8. Details Style Lab
I love this place! Molly cuts my hair and she's the best. When I cut my long hair off I told her I trusted her and gave her a vague idea of what I h…
9. Moxie Hair Salon
I've tried a number of salons in St. Paul since I moved here six years ago, and Moxie is by far the best. Trixie has done my cut, color and brows th…
10. Root Salon
My mom and sister have been going to Kelly for cuts and colors for 3 years now and always look FABULOUS when they return home from the salon. I have…
11. Rocco Altobelli Salons - St. Paul
Here's the deal. I've been going to Rocco Altobelli for 14 years (I've gone to a number of locations but my go-to is Woodbury). In those 14 years I …
12. Phresh Spa Salon
937 Grand AveSaint Paul, MN 55105
13. Amazing Beauty Spa & Salon
hey char i love you!!!! you rock! it's me jordan myles formaly johnson!?! remember me? hey i was wondering if you had any like odds and ends job tha…
14. 500 Fifth Avenue Salon & Spa
Deb P is awesome! For 20 years she's been my stylist. Very pleased and won't consider going anywhere else!
15. Parkway Barber Stylists
1540 Payne AveSaint Paul, MN 55130
16. Salon Zeo
1042 Highway 96 ESaint Paul, MN 55127
17. Mixx Salon
2152 3rd StSaint Paul, MN 55110
18. Revive Salon & Spa
15322 Galaxie Ave Ste 120Saint Paul, MN 55124
19. Jb Cavour Salon Spa
2170 Silver Lake Rd NWSaint Paul, MN 55112
20. PRO Nails
1630 White Bear Ave NSaint Paul, MN 55106
From Business: To provide a better client experience, our salon was recently renovated in March 2014. We have all new spa pedicure chairs and manicure work stations. Please come…
21. Aric Ashley Salon
2255 Minnehaha Ave ESaint Paul, MN 55119
22. Hair On Earth
887 Village Center DrSaint Paul, MN 55127
23. Hair Expressions
3553 Lexington Ave NSaint Paul, MN 55126
From Business: Classic upscale full service Hair Salon. Voted "Best Place to go for a haircut" 2010. Featured in Salon Today magazine 2010.
24. Moxie Hair Salon
711 Grand Ave Apt BSaint Paul, MN 55105
25. Blessings Salon
1451 University Ave WSaint Paul, MN 55104
26. Fase Nova
1074 Robert St SSaint Paul, MN 55118
From Business: The office has been in business since 2006 and is RUN by DR. Lourdes Borges. SHE is a board certified physician and has been practicing in the ST. Paul area since…
27. Get Gorgeous
878 Selby AveSaint Paul, MN 55104
From Business: Get Gorgeous is a full service salon and spa. We service a multicultural clientele and offer a warm & inviting, peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.
28. Colleen & Company For Hair & Day Spa, Inc.
3092 Lexington Ave NSaint Paul, MN 55113
29. Salon 755
755 Bielenberg Dr Ste 105Saint Paul, MN 55125
30. Artiste Hair Stylists
4417 Lake Ave SSaint Paul, MN 55110
I was recommended to Accolades by a friend who was just blown away by her experience. I had an overgrown hair cut and was recommend to see David. Accolades was a easy location to find and they have a big enough parking lot so I was happy I didn't have to worry about parking. I paid $54.00 for a haircut from David.. and it was beyond worth that price. Not only was my haircut outstanding.. but the experience I spent with David was by far the best. First off, David is one of the most hilarious men I have ever met. It was our first time meeting.. and he made it feel like we had known each other for years. He put me in a great mood and wasn't afraid to say anything.. which I like! Secondly, you get a mini facial when you get your hair shampooed... WOW I wasn't expecting it.. and it felt sooooo goood!!! If you are looking for a new stylist... I would recommend David!! He is very experienced and he is also a great time. You won't want to leave after spending time with David, PLUS.. You get a great hair do out of it!
I love accolades, when i first went there they were very welcoming and made me feel relaxed and at home. I got a deep hair mask done the first time i went as well as a trim off of my long locks and i couldn't believe the difference in my hair! I would definitely recommend this salon and spa for anyone looking for any type of relaxation as well as any treatment that you want done right. I had never gotten my eyebrows done before and i didn't know what i was missing while i sat at home plucking them. They did my eyebrows in less then 15 minutes and i had a whole new look. they shaped them to pronounce my face shape well and i got many compliments but no one knew it was because of my eyebrows! definitely go in and get some kind of treatment done! The staff is very welcoming, i personally preferred a girl named Alana to do my waxings. She knows what she's doing!
Spectacular! I went to Accolades to recieve the special that included a facial, massage, and pedicure. I saw Alana for my facial.. and she did a wonderful job! My face feels clean and refreshed! She also gave me a 40% off total savings card for my next visit at Accolades.. which Im beyond excited to use! The massage was done by a woman named Deana.. and wowzers!! She really knows how to work it... it was an intense massage.. but so worth it afterwards! I got the pedicure done by Alicia .. and my feet look and feel amazing! I cannot wait for my next visit to Accolades! I would for surely recommend Accolades to any of my best friends!
I like to get a massage every once in awhile just so that I can relax and get pampered. When I'm in St Paul, I always plan a visit to Ava's. My work requires me to travel a lot so I've been to a lot of different spas.. some good, some bad. Ava's ranks right up there with the fancy spas I've been to in New York or Los Angeles. Sounds surprising because it's only St. Paul, MN! But really, they do a great job and their staff is just so darn friendly, it's hard not fall in love with the place. It's also the first time I've gotten a facial that didn't irritate my skin afterwards. Major plus for people who have sensitive skin!
I did the internet deal for either a full foil and haircut or a partial foil and haircut. I did the full foil and haircut and got my hair done by Josy! Josy was a total sweetheart and did exactly what I had pictured in my head. I wanted it a lot lighter.. especially since was going lighter from being very dark.. and she did exactly that.. I am now a chocolate brown and I love it! Another great thing is after my appointment.. she gave me a 40% off total savings coupon for next time I come in..such a great deal!
My hair never looked so consistently fabulous!Thank you so much for everything you do – you're a truly talented stylist and I always enjoy my appointments. I am very particular and I have been getting my hair done at beauty schools for 40 years relying on qualified teachers and their insights while keeping up with the latest trends and styles. I finally have found someone who has it all and I'm already looking forward to my next appointment. Shauna exceeds expectations every time.Sincerely,Shirley
The waxing services Angela did on me were fast, painless, and a great aftermath. She is amazing at what she does and I will never allow anyone else to perform these services on me again. I was beyond nervous when I got there but by the beginning of the service.. she made me feel relaxed and got me through it all. I am telling all my friends about Angela.. and if you want to also have a great waxing experience.. Angela is the woman for you!
I was going to a different salon in White Bear Lake and I felt like I was a nobody to them so I stopped going there. I then went into Special Effects Salon and checked it out. IT WAS AWESOME! All their employees are super friendly and personable. They were more concerned with me and what I wanted and how my hair would turn out then anyone at any other salon was. I am now going to special Effects Salon for all my AVEDA products and hair needs.
The only service I have gotten done there is getting my brows tinted and waxed. Both times they were good experiences. I got these services done by Alana.. and she did a great job! My brows weren't waxed too thin or anything... and when she tinted them.. they were the perfect color! I get tons of compliments on them.. so I thought it was worth a review. It was cute salon and I will be back for Alana to do my brows again! Thanks guys!


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Taliban Attacks in Context
"Kabul Is Shelled by the Taliban" reads the dramatic headline in the Wall Street Journal — a newspaper that is a byword for serious, nonsensationalistic news coverage. Variations appeared in newspapers around the world. From the headline, you would think the capital of Afghanistan was under incessant barrage from enemy artillery — as it was in the 1990s during its civil war. But when you read the actual stories (I wonder how many will actually bother to), a slightly different picture emerges:
Taliban militants fired rockets into Afghanistan's capital from about 12 miles away before dawn Tuesday. . . . The attack was the first on Kabul in nearly six months, and relatively minor, wounding two people and damaging a few buildings.
So let me get this straight: a handful of militants unleash a few long-range inaccurate rockets that cause little damage — and this is supposed to be the "shelling" of Kabul? Actually, it's a sign of how safe the Afghan capital is that such a minor attack makes the news at all. In the case of Baghdad, it would have taken dozens of casualties for an attack to get this much media play. But even in Baghdad, it was easy to overhype such attacks. I remember how during visits to the Iraqi capital in the past, I would sometimes get worried e-mails from back home wondering if I was OK after some attack or another. Invariably, the folks back home knew more about it than I did because they were watching CNN, whereas when you are actually in a sprawling city like Baghdad, it is quite possible to be completely oblivious of a bombing that has taken place a few miles away.
I am by no means suggesting that the media suppress the news of such attacks, but I wish they would keep in mind that the only reason the Taliban stage them is to garner this kind of overwrought press coverage.
Taliban Attacks in Context
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Can Turkey be Trusted with F-35s?
Are the warplane's secrets safe?
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the newest generation air platform for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Lockheed-Martin, which builds the F-35, describes it as "a 5th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment." For both diplomatic reasons and to encourage sales, Lockheed-Martin subcontracted the production of many F-35 components to factories abroad. Many program partners—Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, for example—are consistent U.S. allies.
Turkey, however, is also part of the nine-nation consortium producing the plane, which gives Turkey access to the F-35's technology. "As a program partner, Turkish industries are eligible to become suppliers to the global F-35 fleet for the life of the program. In total, F-35 industrial opportunities for Turkish companies are expected to reach $12 billion," the warplane's website explained. "Turkey plans to purchase 100 of the F-35A Conventional Takeoff and Landing variant. Its unsurpassed technological systems and unique stealth capabilities ensure that the F-35 will be the future of Turkish national security for decades to come."
But is the F-35 safe with Turkey? In recent years, the Turkish government has leaked highly-classified information to America's adversaries in fits of diplomatic pique. Back in 2013, for example, Turkey leaked to the Iranians the identities of Israeli spies in Iran. Danny Yatom, former head of the Mossad, told USA Today that the incident would damage U.S. intelligence efforts, "because we will be much more reluctant to work via Turkey because they will fear information is leaking to Iran… We feel information achieved [by Israel] through Turkey went not only to Israel but also to the United States."
On July 19, the Pentagon criticized Turkey's state-controlled news agency for exposing ten covert U.S. bases in Syria in a way that can enable both the Islamic State and Iranian-backed forces to target Americans. Bloomberg reported that the leak also detailed aid routes and equipment stored at each base.
Both these incidents raise serious questions about whether Turkey can be trusted with the F-35, especially given Turkey's growing military and diplomatic ties to Russia, and the wayward NATO state's recent cooperation with China as well. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense is rightly concerned about the security implications of a plan to service its F-35s in Turkey, but such concern should only be the tip of the iceberg.
Should Turkey even receive F-35s and, to the extent the program relies on Turkish factories, is it time to stand up quickly a Plan B? To do otherwise might squander the billions of dollars already spent on the program, risk increasing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ability to blackmail the West, and potentially land America's latest military technology on Kremlin desks.
The Trump Right's Martyrdom of Kim Guadagno
Too many martyrs make a movement.
If the GOP is to be converted into a vehicle for politicians who evince Donald Trump's brand of pragmatic center-right populism, Trump will have to demonstrate his brand of politics can deliver victories for people other than himself. Presidential pen strokes help to achieve that, as do judicial appointments. Nothing is so permanent, though, as sweeping legislative change. On that score, the newly Trumpian Republican Party is coming up short. If the passive process of transformational legislative success fails to compel anti-Trump holdouts in the GOP to give up the ghost, there is always arm-twisting. It seems the Republican National Committee is happy to play enforcer.
The RNC's nascent effort to stifle anti-Trump apostasy by making examples of high-profile heretics has claimed its first victim: New Jersey's Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno. The Republican is running to replace the nation's least popular governor, Chris Christie, and the effort has been a struggle. Trailing badly in the polls and facing the headwinds associated with trying to succeed an unpopular outgoing GOP governor in a blue state, Guadagno needs all the help she can get. That help won't be coming from the RNC. According to NJ Advance Media, the committee's objection to helping Guadagno isn't the imprudence of throwing good money after bad. It's that she was mean to President Trump in 2016, and she must be punished.
"[The president] is unhappy with anyone who neglected him in his hour of need," said a source billed as an RNC insider. The specific complaint arises from an October 8 tweet from the lieutenant governor said that "no apology can excuse" Trump's "reprehensible" conduct on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape. "Christie was not as stalwart as some people in the party, but at least he didn't go against him the way she did," the insider added.
This source's version of events was supported by former two-term New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. "She went down there, and the (Republican National) Committee was reluctant to back the campaign in the way one would have expected," she said. "The implication was, 'Well you were not a Trump supporter in the primary, and so don't expect much money.'"
This is almost certainly a pretext. Republicans are facing stiff competition and an unfavorable political environment in November's gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In 2017-2018, 27 GOP-held seats are up for grabs, nine of which are in some jeopardy of falling to Democrats. Republicans are going to have to husband their resources and triage their officeholders. That's a forgivable, if demoralizing, condition. Declaring Guadagno to have offended the leader and to be cut off from the font of Republican goodwill is not only unjustifiable, it's terribly foolish.
If Republican women are to be punished for saying that Trump's comments about sexually assaulting unsuspecting females were unacceptable, there are going to be a lot fewer Republican women. Moreover, the RNC has invited the perception that there is a double standard at play here. A slew of Republicans called on Trump to drop out of the race after that tape, but the RNC is unlikely to withhold support for Senators Rob Portman or John Thune when they need it. Among those calling on Trump to drop out was his own chief of staff, Reince Priebus—a fact the president reportedly won't let Priebus forget.
Cults of personality can be bullied into existence, but they rarely outlast the personality around whom they form unless that personality can claim some lasting achievements. In lieu of any compelling rationale, the effort to remake the GOP in Trump's image by force will only create dissidents. The ideological conservatives who once dominated the Republican Party are unlikely to make peace with the ascendant populist faction at gunpoint. And the RNC is not solely to blame for this boneheaded move. Even if the notion that Guadagno is being punished for disloyalty is a pretense, it is a response to a clear set of incentives promoted by this White House.
Maybe the most intriguing question of the present political age is whether or not conservatives in the GOP will come to terms with a man they once saw as a usurper. A heavy hand will only catalyze resistance, and Trump needs his own party as much or more than they need him. Guadagno's gubernatorial bid is on no firmer ground today than it was yesterday, but the Republican candidate's allies can now legitimately claim persecution at the hands of personality cultists. Too many martyrs make a movement. The White House and the Republican National Committee should tread lightly.
The Conservative Crack-Up, 2017 Edition
Podcast: Conservatism in shackles while O.J. goes free?
On the second of this week's podcasts, I ask Abe Greenwald and Noah Rothman whether the health-care debacle this week is simply a reflection of the same pressures on the conservative coalition Donald Trump saw and conquered by running for president last year—and what it will mean for him and them that he has provided no rallying point for Republican politicians. And then we discuss OJ Simpson. Give a listen.
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.
Macron's Terrorism Idiocy
Hyperbole yields cynicism, not the other way around.
Newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron surprised almost everyone when he invited President Donald Trump to celebrate Bastille Day with him in Paris, especially after the two leaders' awkward first meeting in Brussels in May. After all, between now and then, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and Macron has become perhaps the most vocal critic of Trump among European leaders.
In hindsight, Macron's reason for embracing Trump might have been to get the president to reverse course on the Paris agreement. From the Associated Press:
French President Emmanuel Macron says his glamorous Paris charm offensive on Donald Trump was carefully calculated — and may have changed the U.S. president's mind about climate change…. On their main point of contention — Trump's withdrawal from the landmark Paris climate agreement — Macron is quoted as saying that "Donald Trump listened to me. He understood the reason for my position, notably the link between climate change and terrorism."
According to Macron, climate change causes droughts and migration, which exacerbates crises as populations fight over shrinking resources. If Macron really believes that, France and Europe are in for some tough times.
First, droughts are a frequent, cyclical occurrence in the Middle East, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa. The difference between drought and famine is the former is a natural occurrence and the latter is man-made, usually caused by poor governance. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the Horn of Africa, where the same drought might kill a few dozens of Ethiopians but wipe out tens of thousands of Somalis.
Second, the common factor in the wars raging in the Middle East today is neither climate change nor extreme weather, but brutal dictatorship, radical ideologies, and the militias supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yemen could be a breadbasket. Its terraced fields rising up thousands of feet in the mountains grow almost every fruit imaginable. Yemen also catches the tail end of the monsoon. If Yemenis planted exportable crops like coffee rather than the mild drug qat, which does not bring in hard currency, they might be fairly prosperous.
It is not climate change that denied the Syrian public basic freedoms and liberty for decades, nor was it climate change that dropped barrel bombs on civilian neighborhoods, tortured and killed 13-year-old Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, or used chemical weapons. For that matter, when it comes to radicalization, the problem is Syria was less climate and more decades of Saudi-and Qatari-funded indoctrination and Turkish assistance to foreign fighters.
Regardless of all this, another obvious factor nullifies Macron's thesis: When drought occurs in regions outside the Middle East, the result is seldom suicide bombing.
Terrorism does not have a one-size-fits-all explanation but, generally speaking, when it comes to Islamist terrorism, ideology plays a key role. Most terrorists are educated, middle class, and relatively privileged. Islamic State caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, for example, has a Ph.D. Many of the 9/11 hijackers were educated. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas recruits inside schools. Simply put, there is no linkage between climate change and terrorism.
Not only would Trump be foolish to buy Macron's argument, but environmentalists who believe climate change puts the Earth in immediate peril should be outraged. It is hyperbole. Moreover, it is the casual invocation of climate change as a catch-all cause for every other issue that breeds the cynicism that leads so many to become so dismissive of everything climate activists say. Macron may look down up Trump as an ignorant bore, but Macron's own logic suggests he is also living in a world where facts and reality don't matter.
Trump Quietly Gives Putin What He Wants
Quid pro quo?
Until now, the notion that Donald Trump was providing Russia and Vladimir Putin with concessions at the expense of U.S. interests was poorly supported. That all changed on Wednesday afternoon when the Washington Post revealed that Donald Trump ordered his national security advisor and CIA director to scrap a program that provided covert aid to anti-Assad rebels in Syria.
The president made that decision on July 7, within 24 hours of his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sources who spoke to the Washington Post accurately characterize it as a reflection of "Trump's interest in finding ways to work with Russia." That is a fool's errand but, more important, this move demonstrates that the United States is willing to cede ground to adversaries and bad actors as long as they are persistent enough.
I endeavored to demonstrate as thoroughly as I could why American interests in Syria and those of Russia not only do not align but often conflict violently. The president appears convinced, like his predecessor, that his personal political interests are better served by allowing Moscow to be the power broker in Syria—even if that makes America and its allies less safe.
Moscow has made it a priority to execute airstrikes on American and British covert facilities in Syria, and Donald Trump has just rewarded those air strikes on U.S. targets. Trump has sacrificed the goodwill he garnered from Sunni-dominated Middle Eastern governments when he executed strikes on Assad's assets and, as recently as June, the U.S. downed a Syrian warplane for attacking anti-ISIS rebels laying siege to the Islamic State capital of Raqqa.
America will continue to provide support to indigenous anti-ISIS rebels, despite the fact that those forces are often under assault from both Russian and Syrian forces. It should be noted, however, that the CIA suspended aid to Free Syrian Army elements when it came under attack from Islamist in February. The agency said it didn't want cash and weapons falling into Islamist hands, but this move exposes that claim as a mere pretext.
This concession to Russia is significant not just because it removes some pressure on Moscow's vassal in Damascus. It sends a series of signals to the world's bad actors, who will inevitably react.
The phasing out of aid for anti-Assad rebels (presumably the indigenous Sunni-dominated factions) gives Russia and Syria the only thing they've ever wanted: the ability to frame the conflict in Syria as one between the regime and a handful of radicals and pariahs. A cessation of aid will squeeze the remaining moderate, secular rebel factions in Syria and compel them to seek whatever assistance they can—even at the risk of augmenting the ranks of Islamist insurgents. How that advances America's interests is entirely unclear.
This move will only further embolden not just Russia and Syria but their mutual ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran. It will convince the region's Sunni actors that the United States is not on their side—a matter of increasing urgency in Iraq. The insurgency in Syria is unlikely to end so long as regional fighters have a means of getting into the country. America will simply sacrifice its leverage over those groups.
This move will confirm, finally, that the use of weapons of mass destruction in the battlefield is survivable. A truly resolute American administration might fire off a handful of Tomahawk missiles at an abandoned airfield, but regime change is not in the offing. That will only beget other bad actors who will test the parameters of America's willingness to defend the international norms prohibiting the use of WMDs. Because American servicemen and women are stationed around the world in unstable theaters, the likelihood that they will one day be fighting on chemical battlefields just became a lot more likely.
American covert involvement in Syria also filled a vacuum that the Obama administration allowed to expand in 2011 and 2012. "One big potential risk of shutting down the CIA program is that the United States may lose its ability to block other countries, such as Turkey and Persian Gulf allies, from funneling more sophisticated weapons—including man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS—to anti-Assad rebels, including more radical groups," the Washington Post speculated. Ironically, American withdrawal from the anti-Assad effort could actually fuel the fire, but in a way that we can neither control nor effectively influence. We've seen that movie before. We know how it ends.
And all of this is for what? To garner goodwill with the bloody regime in Damascus? To court Moscow or Tehran? There is nothing to gain from cozying up to these regimes that is not offset by the sacrifice of American national interests and moral authority associated with rapprochement. For all of the Trump administration's criticisms of Barack Obama's policy with regard to those regimes, this decision suggests he's willing to double down on Obama's mistakes.

subset: commoncrawl