October 7th, 2020
by Ed Raymond
What Century Are The Catholic Supreme Court Judges Living In?
If Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed there will be six Catholics, two Jews, and one former Catholic on the Supreme Court making monumental decisions about how Americans are going to live out our lives. What centuries will they represent? The Roman Catholic Church, of which I was a member for 27 years, has been bedeviled by sex, politics, and power grabs for 2,000 years. It is suffering the death…
September 29th, 2020
The Trump Knives and Branding Irons Have Done their Work
Poor “Moscow” Mitch. Absolute power does corrupt. Chimps, bonobos, and Homo Sapiens share over 99% of DNA. The Senate Majority Leader could not even wait for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s body to reach room temperature before he announced the Senate would vote for Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court as soon as possible. Bonobos love each other and use sex to pacify relationships. Chimps and humans love…
September 20th, 2020
The Death of Empire by A Thousand Cuts
Some empires last longer than others. Rome was one. The Chinese empire died the death of a thousand cuts they made famous a thousand years ago. But the Chinese heart that was sliced centuries ago evidently was put on life support, because it is beating strong after getting shocked back to life about 300 years ago. Lingchi, the death of a thousand cuts, was applied for three reasons: public humiliation, for treason and other serious crimes, and for…
September 15th, 2020
The New Normal: The Senate Of The Living Dead
In the 1968 film classic The Night Of The Living Dead, the dead have come back to life and are marching through forests and farms looking for food. They look just like us except for the eyes, the drooling, and the rotten tattered clothes they wore in their caskets. Driven by instinct and ravenous appetites, they are carriers of an infection that turns the people they bite into more zombies. Reminds me of the Trumplicans in the House and…
September 7th, 2020
How Many People Can Retire For Forty Years?
King Donald got a lot of votes in coal country stretching from West Virginia to North Dakota in 2016 by lying that he would bring coal back. He is a good salesman as most narcissistic psychopaths are. But it never happened—and it is never going to happen. Coal mining has collapsed to the point that the life expectancy of coal miners and the people who supported them in small towns in many states is decreasing. Butcher Holler, West Virginia is…
August 30th, 2020
Yes, America Is Truly Exceptional In The Healthcare Business!
In 1833 conservative German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck created the first universal healthcare system in the world because he recognized it was the job of government to protect all Germans. In addition to the Insurance Bill of 1883, he passed the Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and the Old Age and Disability Bill 0f 1889. Imagine that, a German conservative passing all that socialistic crap! In fact, over the years, many…
August 23rd, 2020
Joe: Use These Points To Tell Americans What You Are Going To Do
First, a little story of how my French brothers and sisters run a civilized country. Maurice was a happy rooster in his backyard on the island of Oleron off the French coast. He guarded the three hens that lived with him, even if he was getting a bit cantankerous and doddering in his sixth year. He still woke everybody up in his neighborhood with a puffed-up chest early in the morning, crowing his trills. But the rich…
August 19th, 2020
Will Thoughts And Prayers By The Violent Gun Culture Save The NRA?
The National Rifle Association was chartered in the state of New York in 1871 as a non-profit organization with a social welfare mission. In the good old days it taught hunters, marksmen, and young boys and girls the proper use of firearms with safety as one of its major “missions.” Over the years it has gradually turned itself into a juggernaut providing billions of profits to firearm manufacturers, million-dollar…
August 9th, 2020
Will We Ever Recover From The Trump Pandemic Sweeping The Divided States?
Some foreigners are terribly concerned about the future of the Divided States of America. They say we are committing mass suicide. We are in the middle of a number of national pandemics we need to fight. The 400 million firearms flooding the country are now appearing on both sides in our current racial civil war. Protesters supporting Black Lives Matter protests in hundreds of cities have been killed and wounded…
August 2nd, 2020
Please, Democrats, Socialists, and Never-Trumpers, don’t pay too much attention to the political polls this time. You have to understand that Donald J. Trump is a psychopathic nutcase who has no ideology or moral base in his baseness. Baseness is defined as being corrupt, treacherous, and contemptible with low moral standards. One of the greatest horror movies ever made was “Nosferatu” in 1922, the first film of the “Dracula” series. The sequels have frightened and horrified…
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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 The writing/directing partnership of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck has to be one of the most curious cases of crazy connect-the-dots career moves in recent cinema. From short documentaries and…
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…
