Gadfly

​American Zombies as Legislators

May 21st, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Fargo Superintendent and School Board Know Right from Wrong

Back in the 1950s when Corky and I lived under Jim Crow laws in Virginia and North Carolina, we were angered to see our Black Marines and neighbors forced by law to walk in the streets of Jacksonville and Parkfairfax instead of on sidewalks.

By that time the southern slave states had passed more than 200 racist laws known as Jim Crow. Southern states passed laws making it a crime to teach Blacks…

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​Will American Nazis Replace Us?

May 17th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Do American Nazis Know the Angel of Death Operated on 3,000 Twins?

I was twelve years old when pictures of thousands of dead, naked, starved Jews stacked like cordwood in neat rows or dumped in concentration camp streets were published in the world press.

Because of the absolute horrors of the Holocaust, I have made a special effort to learn more about Homo sapiens who would do such things to other humans. I have kept a file on the Holocaust for 65…

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A Victim of Schizophrenia

May 8th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

What’s Too Little and What’s Too Much? The DSA Is Famous for Both Positions

Schizophrenia is defined as “any of a group of psychotic reactions characterized by withdrawal from reality with highly variable accompanying affective behavioral and intellectual disturbances.”

Well, this is a big country of more than 335 million people, so mental health experts have determined that as much as six percent of the population, or about 20 million, go…

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A Three-Week Graduation Ceremony

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…

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​Anarchy or Democracy?

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…

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From Disaster to Chaos to Savage

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!…

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Born-Again Know Nothings

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…

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Tolerate Waco Wacko? OK! You Jest!

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,…

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​The Forum Needs a Resident Proctologist

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…

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​Christian Ideoruptcy

March 18th, 2023

By Ed Raymond 

fargogadfly@gmail.com

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…

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