April 30th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
When a Spear and a Boomerang Equals a Computer and a Smartphone
Eighteen years ago I wrote a column “Graduating for Life” about Australian aborigine teenagers at age 13 either dying during their graduation ceremonies or surviving the dangerous environment and becoming an adult in their tribe.
With the battles about the role of parents in the education of their children roiling millions of…
April 30th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Will we goose-step backward with the GOP or stumble forward with Democrats?
Two hundred years ago English poet William Wordsworth wrote a 14-line sonnet “The World Is Too Much With Us” with these opening lines: “The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; little we see in nature that is ours; we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”
A hundred years ago William Butler Yeats published “The…
April 15th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadly@gmail.com
Why Do Hospitals Charge $1,000 to $3,800 for CT Scans? Only the Shadow Knows!
When I typed this headline about healthcare costs, I thought of the old radio program “Shadow,” which kept us spellbound as we milked cows. The introductory lines got our immediate attention: “Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” The conclusion of the 325 radio suspense programs ended with this truth: “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit!…
April 6th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Who’d a Thunk It? The Reincarnation and Resurrection of a Third Political Party!
In 1853, a secret American society known as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner abandoned its secrets by transforming itself into a political party known at first as the American Party. Members refused to talk about what the secret society had accomplished, and were instructed by leaders to respond to questions with “I know nothing.” You get one guess what it was…
April 1st, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Can We Regenerate Our Country by “Rediscovering the Lost Art of Tolerance?”
Columnist Gary Abernathy says our enormous diversity of identity in our sweeping multiculturalism makes it difficult to agree with groups present in the Divided States of America.
We have hundreds of organizations, groups, and religions with which to cope, so Abernathy lists a few that may be very difficult to tolerate: Gays, MAGA Republicans, Nonbinary, Asexuals,…
March 25th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Two ForumWhite Nationalist Trumplican Nincoms Have Pooped All Over Librarians
So it has come to pass that Scott Hennen and Ross Nelson have assaulted librarians in the state, accusing them of putting porn on the library shelves and in the arms and backpacks of innocent big and little children. At 91 I have been disgusted a few times in my life, but those two columns rank with the rankest I have experienced.
Having been a compulsive reader for much of my…
March 18th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
Has Christianity Gone Bankrupt Because of Evangelicals, Stupidity, and the Vatican?
The word “bankruptcy” refers to money because of the word “bank.” The word “bankruptcy” originated in Italy from banca rotta, which literally means “broken bank.” The term developed in the 16th century Renaissance, from Italian money changers and lenders sitting on benches behind tables in…
March 13th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
We Have Had a Mix of Disaster, Chaos, Rotting Capitalism and Socialism for 400 Years
Capitalism leads to a branch of slavery where men and women are in bondage to the plutocrats and oligarchs who have acquired monopolies—unless socialist programs are utilized to restrain economic inequality. We don’t have property deeds for humans as we did before 1865, but bondage remains the same.
Let’s look at the legal definitions of slavery: “Bondage to a…
March 4th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
The 14th Century Wife of Bath Would Appreciate a 21st Century Spa
So would her creator, Geoffrey Chaucer, a justice of the peace and customs agent who wrote the first novel, The Canterbury Tales, in Middle English, in the 14th century. It was his plan to write 120 stories told by 30 pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, a chancellor at age 21 to Henry II, one of the volatile Henrys to serve England as king.
They were buddies when…
February 11th, 2023
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
The Only Solution to Clean the Washington, D.C. Cow Gutter: A 50/50 Power Split
The only way our democracy will survive attacks by the Republican Party is to make sure they keep investigating what the Democrats in power are doing “wrong” instead of doing “right.” We sure as hell don’t want them to actually start governing because they have no clue how to govern a democracy. The national socialism model of Hitler, Mussolini, and Trump is no way…
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Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com A midnight wedding ceremony at the Clay County Courthouse in Moorhead on August 1, 2013 was more than a romantic gesture. Eighteen couples made history on that day by exchanging vows in the…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu On March 11, 2024, we celebrated the 121st birthday of bandleader Lawrence Welk. He was born March 11, 1903 in a sod house near Strasburg, North Dakota, and died on May 17,1992. The…
Saturday, May 117 p.m., gates at 5 p.m.Outdoors at Fargo Brewing Company610 University Dr. N, FargoWisconsin’s finest export, The Violent Femmes, started out in Milwaukee in 1981 as an acoustic punk band, and they’ve been…
Is this a repeating pattern?By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThere’s a quote circulating around the world wide web, misattributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a…
by Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAccording to my great-grandfather many years ago, my French ancestors migrated from Normandy to Quebec to Manitoba to Wisconsin to Minnesota over the spread of more than two centuries, finally…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com It is not unheard of for bands to go on hiatus. However, as the old saying goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” That is why when a local group like STILL comes back to…
Now playing at the Fargo Theatre.By Greg Carlson gregcarlson1@gmail.comPalme d’Or recipient “Anatomy of a Fall” is now enjoying an award-season victory tour, recently picking up Golden Globe wins for both screenplay and…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com There’s no exaggeration when we say that this year’s Plains Art Gala is going to be out of this world, with a sci-fi theme inspired by a painting housed in the Plains Art Museum’s permanent…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…
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Dismissing the value of small towns for the future of our nation is a mistakeBy Bill Oberlanderarcandburn@gmail.comAccording to U.S. Census projections, by the middle of this century, roughly 90% of the total population will live…
