August 17th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
What Kind of a United States Do You Want in 2022: Diverse Democracy or MAGA?
The 2022 elections will likely determine whether the American poor and middle class will be as powerful in 2023 as the wealthy fundamentalist Christion White Nationalists and Dominionists that currently use the courts and laws allowing a minority to rule a majority.
The conservative English magazine The Economist has an article called “The New Exceptionalism” with a rather…
August 6th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Remembering Two Men Whimpering in the Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdom
In 1284, Hamelin, Germany hired a rat killer to rid the residents of the flea carrier bringing them the Black Plague. For some reason, the mayor refuses to pay him after he supposedly accomplishes the task. The rat killer, piping beautiful music, leads 130 of the town’s children out of a town—and the hypnotized children are never heard from again.
Today, a plaque on what is now…
July 24th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
God’s Knitting of the Human Body Is Rapidly Unraveling
If you get a shiny new quarter as change in 2022, see whose image is on it. Astronaut Sally Ride rode the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 and 1984. She was the first American woman to do so. She retired from NASA in 1987, but later served on the Challenger disaster commission after it blew up entering space, killing seven astronauts aboard. Besides advising NASA when it suspended the shuttle…
July 20th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Hey! Hey! Supremes! How Many Men, Women, and Kids Did You Kill Today?
Life in a complex, advanced society can be very hazardous to your health. We generally kill more than 40,000 a year in traffic accidents, many when freedom-loving drivers and passengers fly through windshields and open doors because they are not wearing seatbelts. Bikers die because helmets keep the wind from hair before heads meet concrete. We lose about 50,000 people a year to drug…
July 3rd, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Christianity Has Fallen Off the Cross
Corky and I have classified ourselves as faithful Christians for nearly ninety years, but we both have reached the point where a solid majority of “Christians” no longer seems to agree with the teachings of Jesus Christ. The good Christians who are left, wherever they are, aren’t trying to save their brothers and sisters from religious suicide or euthanasia. Consequently, Corky and I are withdrawing our…
June 28th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Remember: Eighty-Five Million Eligible Voters Did Not Vote in 2020
There’s only one person in Washington who can convince young voters of every color to go to the polls in 2020 en masse and vote for Democrats at every level of government—and he’s not even a Democrat. He is the most popular active politician in America. While Joe Biden falls off bikes at a Delaware beach, this leader constantly does the work necessary to win many votes.
Vermont…
June 19th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
A Most Important Question: How Do You Deprogram 52 Million Cult Members?
In a recent poll, 52 million Trumplicans of the gun cult said they were willing to sacrifice several thousand U.S. children each year in order to keep the Second Amendment on the books.
On top of this alarming declaration, our last two presidents have serious problems with reality. In a complex world going through climate change, autocracy, economic inequality, racial…
June 19th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Congress: Why Does Australia Have Only One-Tenth the COVID Death Rate?
The opening sentence about the COVID virus in “The Last Word” in THE WEEK magazine is shocking: “If the United States had the same death-rate as Australia, about 900,000 lives would have been saved.”
Other countries such as Japan, Kenya, and Norway had lower death rates than us, but Australia is the better comparison. We speak English, have similar demographic profiles, and…
June 4th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
First, because of the intractability of the gun culture for forty years, and a Supreme Court that bases its firearm opinions on the flintlock musket, I propose that public K-12 and college and university professors in the country tell Congress: pass all necessary and reasonable gun safety and control laws to eliminate the gun culture that has flooded the entire country with firearms, or we will call a national strike on September 1, 2022, that will…
May 28th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Taking a Break From Politics While Watching Bird Brains
As a farm boy I always enjoyed feeding our animals and birds after helping to prepare the foods they all enjoyed, whether it was corn on the cob for pigs or silage chopped up for the cows for their winter buffet. Sometimes the horses got dessert in the form of a nosebag of oats. The geese, ducks, and chickens ate every seed and grain known to man before laying eggs and being eaten. Being French we…
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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…
