August 21st, 2021
By Ed Raymond
Why Does the Sign by the Tallahatchie Bridge Have to Be Bulletproof?
I had Ben Eveslage for chemistry and physics at Little Falls High School. With his wild gray hair and on-tip-nose glasses, he looked like the mad scientist, and if you didn’t answer his questions precisely, he would give that “Don’t be so damn stupid” look -- and then grin. Science was very important to him and he passed science on.
Nobel Prize for Science winner Swiss Henrich…
August 17th, 2021
By Ed Raymond fargogadfly@gmail.com
19 August 2021
Health Care Is a Right, Not a Privilege
Shubham Chandra’s father, a New York City cardiologist, died of COVID-19 in his hospital after spending seven months in one of its beds.
Shubham quit his well-paying job in a media startup to manage the insurance coverage and the hundreds of medical bills. He spent his mornings analyzing the charges on new bills…
August 8th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
There’s Nothing but Trouble in the City on the Potomac
When “The Chosen One,” Donald “Jesus” Trump, arrived at the city on the Potomac River in 2017 to swindle the “losers” for at least for four years and maybe forever, his ascent to attack and loot the treasury of the United States was sure to cause trouble. When trouble is around, I always think of the lines “Ya Got Trouble” in that great musical The Music Man:
Except in this case…
August 2nd, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
05 August 2021
Sometimes Facts Lead to Theories. Sometimes They Lead to More Facts.
On 21 May 1946, veteran Canadian physicist and chemist Louis Slotin, working in our Manhattan Project in New York, was experimenting with uranium and plutonium cores to determine their critical mass values. Pushing the cores together with a screwdriver in one hand, it slipped in his hand and started a fission nuclear reaction, releasing a burst of hard radiation. He died…
July 26th, 2021
Ed Raymond
29 July 2021
This Is About the Religious-Rich-QAnon-White Supremacist-Trumplican Cult
There are hundreds of thousands of cults in countries and societies around the world that have played or are playing a role in the formation or disintegration of a group or government. Therefore, the definition of a cult has to be quite broad: A cult is a group of people with extreme dedication to a certain leader or sets of beliefs that are often viewed as odd by others,…
July 18th, 2021
Ed Raymond
22 July 2021
Bosom Buddies: Genghis and Bernie
In the 13th Century Genghis Khan of Mongolia ruled the largest empire the world has ever seen: from the Pacific Ocean to the borders of Europe and from Northern Siberia to Southern Persia. His government, known as The Golden Horde, took in many countries, including present-day China, Mongolia, Russia, Afghanistan, Persia, Hungary, Turkey, and all of Central Asia.
To govern it well, Genghis established the…
July 11th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
15 July 2021
Looking Backward: 1887 to Brave New World, 632 After Ford
We currently have three billionaires spending billions to leave planet Earth.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the richest man in the world, will soon take a ride on his Blue Origin New Shepherd rocket with a passenger who paid $28 million to sit beside him. Jeff is working on putting huge cylindrical rings in space where millions of Earthians will live after escaping grilling on a hot planet.…
July 4th, 2021
by Ed Raymond
08 July 2021
Miranda Was Wrong: We Are Terribly Short Of ‘Goodly Creatures’
Before I attack God, Catholics, evangelical Christians, and Trumplicans, I’ve got to attack the Supreme Court. The Court voted 8-1 that a foul-mouthed bratty teenaged cheerleader, with parents who want be “friends” instead of parents, had had her First Amendment rights violated.
She had been suspended from school for using Trumpian profane language against teachers,…
June 27th, 2021
by Ed Raymond
01 July 2021
HecKKK, There’s No Racism in the Divided States of AmeriKa!
Although I lived on Highway 27, four miles east of Little Falls, for my first 18 years, I didn’t learn until I was 89 that HW 27 actually was constructed on top of an Indian trail that had been used by Minnesota tribes for thousands of years.
Isn’t it amazing that we probably learn something about our history every day? I played cowboys and Indians in the hills near it, walked…
June 20th, 2021
by Ed Raymond
24 June 2021
When Will Money Talk for the Very Last Time?
I have never been a country music fan, but I have been a country “poet” fan for decades. As a vocalist, I have sung solos, in duets, trios, in male and mixed quartets, in madrigals, and in church, high school, and college choirs. I also sang in a mixed quartet called the Winter Wonderland Quartet and traveled for a year in a show WCCO’s Cedric Adams put together with Miss America Bebe Shopp…
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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…
