November 3rd, 2025
By Ed Raymond
A Supreme Court umpire should call for replays on every act
For more than 20 years I have been wondering what makes Chief Justice John Roberts tick. During a Senate confirmation hearing he slid and slud around this rather mysterious comparison of two jobs, the umpire in softball or baseball games or judge in traffic or war crimes court. He dazzled senators with this statement: “Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them.…
October 28th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Another public health crisis besides guns: lack of empathy
The Sisters of Charity have finally had enough of their Trumper boss, Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. One of the most prominent congregations of nuns in the United States founded to celebrate the naming of the first American Catholic saint, it has been around since 1846, operating orphanages, nursing homes, hospitals and spent Civil War time nursing wounded veterans. Dolan had…
October 20th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
That old time religion, filled with love, is no longer good enough
In the first “Inherit the Wind” movie about religion and evolution starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly, the theme hymn “Give me that old time religion” had these lines: “Give me that old time religion/It’s good enough for me/It was good for my mother/It was good for my father/ It was good for the Hebrew children/It will do when we are dying/It’s good…
October 6th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Will we be banging or whimpering at the end of the American empire?
T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” accurately portrays the end of most empires in his first lines:
“We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw/ Alas! Our dried voices, when we whisper together/ Are quiet and meaningless/ As wind in dry grass or rat’s feet over broken glass in our dry cellar/ Shape without form, shade without…
September 29th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
John Roberts: what will you do about the monster you’ve created?
Like Dr. Frankenstein, you and your Trumplican cohorts in the operating room of the United States Supreme Court created a monster with “beautiful” hair, a lying mouth, and a malignant narcissistic brain who claims he is a genius and promises the world “I alone can do it, I am president of the United States — and I can do anything I want.”
A New Yorker cartoon reminds us of how…
September 16th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
What are the four freedoms of Donald John Trump?
Nearly a century ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said every citizen in the United States of America should have four freedoms: Freedom from want and fear, freedom of speech and freedom of worship. In 2025, President Donald John Trump has demonstrated his four freedoms: Freedom from truth, constitutional law, empathy and freedom of Christian Nationalism, cruelty and torture.
On August 26, the CEO…
September 8th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
If a child is drowning in a ditch, will you get your shoes muddy?
“Big Moma” Leah Drumwright was a Black slave in the 19th century who had one of her numerous babies and was nursing an infant. At the same time, her white owner had a baby. Leah was assigned the task of also nursing that child. She was ordered to always nurse the white child on her left breast. Rationale? The left breast furnished healthier milk because it was closer to the heart, so…
August 25th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Trump: the new man for all seasons
Five hundred years ago, Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More of England refused to write a letter to Pope Clement VII of the Roman Catholic Church asking that he annul the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon because she had failed to give him a son to succeed him to the throne. He wanted to marry the beautiful young Anne Boleyn so she could provide him with sons and fun. More also refused to take an oath declaring…
August 19th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Will the disappeared ever be able to appear again? Not likely!
In dictionaries more than a decade old, the word “disappear” appears all alone. The definition: “to pass out of sight either suddenly or gradually vanish. To die out, to become extinct.” In the Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary’s recent edition, the word “disappeared’ appears just below “disappear” with this definition: “People who have been arrested by a regime that…
August 13th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Reagan laughed and quipped — but it has come true under our CEO
President Reagan thought he was joking when he spoke to a 1980s political rally: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” Many people in this cruel world of America in 2025 are “most” terrified when CEO Donald Trump sends Secretary Krazy Kristi Noem of Homeland Security and ICE forces out to “help,”…
_(1)__293px-wide.png)
_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
By Bryce Vincent Haugenbrycevincenthaugen@gmail.com Audra Maurer never used marijuana until Minnesota businesses started to sell low-dose hemp-derived THC products. “The first time I was pain free was using legalized hemp…
By Michael MillerAs the holiday season approaches, I extend Yuletide Best Wishes and a special “Weihnachten” greeting to you and your family. I would like to share with you Christmas memories from our Germans from Russia…
Saturday, January 31, mingling at 6:15 p.m. and program at 7 p.m.Fine Arts Club, 601 4th St. S., FargoThe FM Symphony is getting intimate by launching a “Small Stages” chamber music series and it's bringing folks together via…
By Darrell Dorganddorgan695@aol.com I’ve been digging around for information on a company called High Plains Acres. High Plains, which has a presence in Jamestown, Bismarck and five North Dakota counties, owned thousands of acres…
By Ed RaymondA mind that snapped, cracked, and popped at one hundredI wasn’t going to read a long column called “Centenarian: A Diary of a Hundredth Year” by Calvin Tomkins celebrating his birthday on December 17 of 2025…
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 Mandy Dolneymandy@ksbsyndicate.com This cake will be on the menu at Nova Eatery through Thanksgiving served with maple crème anglaise Ice cream. It uses pumpkin pie pumpkins grown locally at Ladybug Acres and local apples grown…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Director Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” frequently writhes and gesticulates with a hypnotizing mysticism that mirrors the fervor of its title character. At its absolute best…
The holidays are fast approaching. If you’re on the lookout for finding your loved ones something truly special and unique, we sought out some of the area’s independent and creative hotspots.VINTAGE AND ANTIQUESMoorhead Antique…
Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…
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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com At the beginning of the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch is introduced as having a smaller than average heart, but as the movie progresses, his heart increases three…
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Chandler Esslinger Across North Dakota right now, a familiar conversation is resurfacing. We hear the argument that harm reduction “enables” people, that syringe access encourages drug use, that naloxone keeps people…
