February 28th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Lennon: “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can!”
On January 8, 2025, Timothy W. Rybeck of “The Atlantic" magazine published “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days” with the opening line: “He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.” What immediately leaped into my mind? King Donald Trump. He is going to try to do what Hitler did, so I’m going to insert Trump’s name and some appropriate facts in Rybeck’s opening…
February 10th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Homo Sapiens are now old enough to know better
According to fossil experts — so far, Homo sapiens have been around for about 300,000 years, evolving slowly from a few other Homos, until most of the Neanderthals met our Maker — if there is One. Homo sapiens have been left “alone” at that point, although it seems some Neanderthals have been hiding in political parties for thousands of years. Notice the high cheek bones and the bellicose larynx on…
January 27th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
How billionaires with brain rot are creating bedlam in the USA
On January 21, 2010, the Republican-dominated United States Supreme Court approved a death sentence for American democracy of 250 to 300 years — and we have already served 244 years. The Citizens United decision removed any limits placed on current spending limits for political campaigns and contributions to political candidates, or even the amounts that could be spent by individuals running…
January 17th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Will the Divided States of America Add or Subtract to the Future?
In 1937, English writer Aldous Huxley published his novel of the future “Brave New World 632 A.F.” (after Henry Ford), a world restricted by a shortage of essential resources to two billion people. Now born and raised in human hatcheries, the amount of oxygen provided in a birthing bottle determines where you will spend your life, whether in a leadership role as an Alpha, or in menial…
January 6th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Maybe we will have a transgender insurrection at the capitol on Jan 6
About 3.18 million years ago an adult female chimpanzee eventually named Lucy (after that famous Lucy in the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”) fell out of a tree in Ethiopia, stumbled, and walked away on two appendages instead of four. Lucy is a relative of ours, a representative of the hominin species called Homo sapiens to which we belong. Although only 3.5 feet…
December 30th, 2024
By Ed Raymond
Would women be able to stop the clock—and possibly rewind it?
Scientists who are members of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists who constantly study the combined risks of nuclear annihilation, climate change, biological threats, and disruptive technologies, set their Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight in January of 2023. After studying the facts of the risks listed above, the members set the clock back or forward each January. With what is happening…
December 20th, 2024
By Ed Raymond
A new type of Civil War: “smash-and grab” capitalism and healthcare
The Divided States of America has the greatest economic inequality among wealthy nations on Planet Earth and has birthed a new type of crime because of wealth gained by the top One Percent. “High-End” stores where millionaires and billionaires buy very expensive jewelry and “stuff” have become the victims of robbers who may have a dozen gang members. The gang raids stores…
December 4th, 2024
By Ed Raymond
Will God Ever Text Margaret Back and Answer Her Prayers?
More than 50 years ago a young Judy Blume wrote about 13-year-old Margaret Simon in a contemporary realistic novel titled “Are You There, God?It’s Me, Margaret.” The daughter of a Christian mother and a Jewish father who were not affiliated with either religion, Margaret felt “uncomfortable” about her lack of religious affiliation because friends did attend church, so she studied and…
November 23rd, 2024
By Ed Raymond
With What is Happening in the World, Why not Artificial Intelligence?
Since Lucy fell out of a tree and walked about four million years ago, she has been evolving to humans we call Homo sapiens. We have evolved from clumsy midgets to seven-footers dribbling basketballs, dashing down the basketball court to “dunk” a ball through a basket set at ten feet.
We walked on all fours for three million years as orangutans, chimps, gorillas and great apes.…
November 4th, 2024
By Ed Raymond
Will We Ever Recover from the Trump Virus of Universal Hate?
Just a month ago, the primary doctor of 336 million U.S Americans,U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory on the mental health of the nation’s current parents. He cited these reasons: (1) economic factors beyond their control, (2) costs of health care, (3)costs of childcare, (4) costs of elder care, (5 costs of housing, (6) and costs of groceries. To support his advisory, he…
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By Alicia Underlee NelsonMore than 1,000 pro-worker events are planned for Thursday, May 1 across the country, including rallies in Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks, Minot and Jamestown. East Grand Forks and Bismarck will host protests…
From concerts and car shows to Japanese art and Juneteenth celebrations, there's so much going on around the region this summer. This year's High Plains Reader Summer Events Calendar is back and bigger than ever. It's packed with…
June 21, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N., Fargo“We Watch Shudder,” Fargo’s favorite horror podcasters, bring on the darkness during the longest day of the year. The Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival features…
By John Strandjas@hpr1.com One description that perhaps aptly describes the mental state of many lately is that they feel they are attached to a string. Or several strings. Call it the notion that people are played like puppets,…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comFor sale: White House in D.C. housing dung beetles and giant leechesI suspect someone close to Donald Trump has read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,”because the Trump administration is…
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 After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…
Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Filmmaker Antonella Sudasassi Furniss constructs an engaging sophomore feature with “Memories of a Burning Body,” selected by Costa Rica to be entered for consideration as a possible Oscar…
By Raul Gomezraul@hpr1.com Minutes before Modern’s Celebration of Life opened its door at the Sons of Norway, I was fiddling with the bar computer, trying to pull up the playlists of Modern’s work I had set aside for the…
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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com There appear to be differences in the incidence of mental illnesses between men and women. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress…
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 Vern Thompsonvern.thompson.nd7@gmail.com Our trucking business has me driving almost daily from gas plants in western North Dakota's oil patch to Canada. I haul natural gas liquids (NGLs) products we used to see flared off at…
