October 1st, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
A Rich Caveman Had Extra Skins While Today a Super Rich Man Has Two Yachts
The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch’s daily recipe for the rich and infamous, publishes a section called “Mansions” every Friday. In the September 16th edition, the section bragged shamelessly that a developer was asking $250 million for a penthouse on the 129th through 131st floors of a New York skyscraper 1,400 feet tall. It had 17,500 sq. ft. of livable space, seven…
September 25th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
From Mansion or Hovel, We All End Up Dead
We are now living in the Divided States of America, which has been developing for more than 240 years. Economist Frederic Bastiat has come up with the main reason for the division: “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
English poet Thomas Gray captured the…
September 18th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Double Jeopardy: Being a Member of the LBGTQ+ Community and College Debt
In the 16th Century, King Henry VIII told the Roman Catholic Church in England to go back to Rome after Pope Clement VII refused to give him an annulment or divorce from his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, because she did not give him a male heir to the throne—plus other reasons. Besides, he wanted to marry the beautiful Anne Boleyn, the sister of one of his mistresses.…
September 17th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Our Society is Facing Several Nuclear Options in These Critical Times
I always had my senior English students at Fargo Central High School read and discuss “The Strange Death of Louis Slotin,” because for the rest of our human history we were going to live or die with atoms.
It had little to do with literature, but a great deal to do with life. Canadian physicist Louis Slotin at the Los Alamos nuclear facility in New Mexico, in 1946, was showing his…
September 14th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
I Pledge to Maintain a Good Constitution as I Pray to Liberal Gods and Goddesses
During the Pledge of Allegiance mess in Fargo a couple of weeks ago I suggested as a former member of the Fargo School Board that, as Homo Sapiens have been around for 300,000 years, we have pledged allegiance to thousands of gods. Why not name a different god for each daily pledge? In five minutes of googling I discovered thousands of gods created by Homo sapiens over that…
August 27th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gnail.com
Isn’t It Time Everybody Learns About Sex Before “It” Happens to You?
We just had a president who didn’t read anything but body language on stacked trophy women. He watched television while trying to overthrow the government of our country.
Americans no longer read much. They watch TV, smart phones, laptops, tablets, social media, internet sources, podcasts, and other electronic marvels. In 1989, 62.6 million subscribed to daily newspapers when…
August 20th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Hell has Nine Stories—and We Will Have Politicians Getting Off at Every Level
American politicians are going to Hell today and the elevators are exceeding weight limits. When Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin was elected to his last two terms in 1976 and 1982, he spent less than $200 in campaign funds to win each election. The campaigns for just one of the Wisconsin U.S. Senate…
August 20th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Politics From Bill Fields: “I Never Vote for Anyone. I Always Vote Against.”
Every day, if possible, I have a martini on the rocks in tribute to a man who has enriched my life. At the age of twelve W.C. Fields was learning how to juggle while helping his poor father sell milk and oranges door-to-door from a horse-drawn cart in Philadelphia. At age 18 his ability to…
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…
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By Bryce HaugenNot everyone detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an undocumented immigrant. After a Jan. 12 scuffle at a local Walmart, Tim Catlett, a resident of St. Cloud, Minn., was held at the Bishop…
By Kooper Shagena Just off of I-94 and Highway 83 on State Street in Bismarck, an abandoned Kmart sits behind an empty parking lot, watching the cars roll on and off the interstate exchange. It has been standing there quietly since…
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 John Strand If you are reading this editorial and you too are worried sick about the state of our country, keep reading. Maybe we can inspire each other. It was near closing time. We were discussing our values crisis. So this…
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 Rick GionSince the much-dreaded Covid years, there has been much ebb and flow in the Fargo-Moorhead restaurant scene. In 2025, that trend continued with some major additions and closings. Let’s start the New Year on a positive…
Saturday, January 17, doors at 7:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include members of The Ergs!, Dillinger…
By Greg Carlson There is a great scene in the middle of Kelly Reichardt’s excellent movie “The Mastermind” when protagonist James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is chastised by criminally-connected wheelman Jerry (the…
By Jacinta ZensThe Guerrilla Girls, an internationally renowned anonymous feminist art collective, have been bringing attention to the gender and racial imbalances in contemporary art institutions for the last 40 years. They have…
Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…
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…
January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…
By Vern Thompson Benjamin Franklin offered one of the most sobering warnings in American history. When asked what kind of government the framers had created in 1787, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Few words…
