May 19th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
How many cardinals in red look at Michelangelo’s sexy ceiling?
Michelangelo finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512. It is examined and admired by millions every year. The first conclave to elect a pope in the chapel took place in 1492, and since 1878, every conclave to elect a new pope has been held in its beautiful confines. He returned in 1536 to paint the altar wall and finished it in 1541. Michelangelo painted his famous Last…
May 15th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Perhaps it was by IVF — the Know-Nothings are “concepting” notzees
In the middle of the 19th century the Republican Party morphed to the Know-Nothing Party for a short time. Members quickly threw off STUPID and were “born-again” to the Republican Party. It remained so until the rise of the second Trump, which is an attempt to emulate the rise of the Third Reich by Hitler. In a very short time, Trumusklicans are morphing to the Notzee Party,…
May 12th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
In which century would you love to live, the 14th or the 22nd?
History tells me we are in a period where Americans are fighting for their choice. Just 48 hours after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, several trade agreements were about to expire. With large lumber imports from Austria and a 200 million Reichsmark trade deal with Russia pending, Hitler’s finance minister Count Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, was told an…
May 5th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
What age has been determined to be the worst in world history?
Historians have estimated about one third of the population of Europe died of the bubonic plague, also known as the black plague, from the fifth century through the 15th century of the Middle Ages. The early years of this era are also often called the Dark Ages by historians. During this disastrous time, the Roman Catholic Church (with its denizens and popes in the Vatican) burned thousands…
April 27th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
There is a big difference between ears and legs
Our English language adds words to dictionaries every year because there are more than 6,000 languages on earth and we do communicate with friends and enemies. We now have more than 600,000 words in the most complete dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary. This year we added 42 words from other languages as well as words created by new developments in many scientific fields. The dictionary added the…
April 7th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
The wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red ties
A hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white sheets and pointy hoods marched by the White House and down to the capitol before thousands of cheering Americans. They came by foot, horse, steamboat, train, bus, car, taxi and perhaps plane. Rumor was the New Jersey KKK wanted to have a plane carry a huge…
March 31st, 2025
By Ed Raymond
A column on How Trumusklicans are trying to change history
It took William L. Shirer a couple decades to write and then publish “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany,” but it took a very short time to become the 1,599-page explosion that “shook the conscience of the world” after it was published in 1959. I still treasure my paperback copy I paid $1.65 for when I was teaching English literature and history to Fargo…
March 29th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
A description of “Big Boss” King Donald and his Trumplican mob
Our new Health and Human Services Dictator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has sold and been addicted to heroin and other drugs and suffers from worms eating his brain, has a solution for people who have been addicted because of anxiety, depression, diabetes, and other “conditions” he has suffered. He would sentence those people to labor camps called “Wellness Farms” where they would…
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…
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By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comDairy Queen restaurants across the country will raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals during Miracle Treat Day on Thursday, July 31. At least one dollar from every Blizzard…
By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comFM Pride Week returns to the Fargo-Moorhead metro August 3-10. A snapshot of events are listed below. Discover event descriptions and locations as well as volunteer opportunities online at…
Monday, August 11Fargo Theatre, 314 N. Broadway, Fargo “Saw The Musical” premiered Off-Broadway in the Fall of 2023, parodying the events of the first “Saw” film. It has been described as “a love story with fluidity (and…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com On July fourth, Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest took place at Coney Island. The winners, Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo, reigned victorious. Chestnut earned his 17th title by…
By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comNotes about terror, tyranny, torture, freedom, laws, lies, and truthWhen Vice President Mike Pence needed an answer to a question about the 2020 presidential election that might end American…
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 Gion and Simone Wairickgion@gmail.com The Red River Market returned to downtown Fargo on Saturday, July 12. The event will take place every Saturday except July 19. (That date will be moved to Sunday, July 20, due to the…
By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comThe Moorhead Public Library will offer three free, all-ages outdoor concerts featuring regional bands this summer. The series begins on June 12 with the Meat Rabbits, a group that blends…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Cinephiles and fans of classic midcentury Hollywood biography will find much to appreciate in Mariska Hargitay’s insightful documentary “My Mom Jayne.” As protagonist Olivia Benson on…
Press ReleaseTouchmark at Harwood Groves will host a special artist reception featuring renowned glass artist Jon Offutt on Tuesday, July 29, at 2:00 p.m. in the community’s auditorium. The event celebrates Offutt’s temporary…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comPhoto by Yvonne Denault There is something intimate and personal about plays. Even in our age of multimillion dollar Hollywood productions and droves of streaming services, watching actors…
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 Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comCaregivers for school-aged children and teenagers are encouraged to bring them to back-to-school immunization clinics scheduled for every Tuesday in August. Fargo Cass Public Health (FCPH)…
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@rocketmail.com Working in the Bakken oil fields of the Williston Basin is so different from my home in Fargo. I'm not judging, because the people working and living in western North Dakota are very…
