Gadfly

Bedlam in the White House

January 20th, 2021

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The Ku Klux Klan Don’t Wear Hoods Anymore

In a December column I wrote the following: “We are in the middle of dangerous times. We are on a knife’s edge of losing ‘it’.” “‘It’ stands for country.”

On January 13, the day the House impeached Donald J. Trump, I saw 2,000 National Guard troops trying to sleep on the well-lit marble floors of our Capitol near their rifles and equipment, taking a break from guarding it from Trumplican…

Read more...


The Chain of Being

January 13th, 2021



By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Where Do We Belong in God’s Universe?

In the 16th century the dominant religious “theory” was that everything on the planet from God down to minerals and rocks were links in the Elizabethan Chain of Being. The earth that came from the disintegration of rocks was at the bottom of the chain. At the top of the chain was God. It progressed downward to angels, demons (fallen angels), stars, moon, kings and queens, princes, nobles, men, wild animals,…

Read more...


Ancestors: Anamensis to Afarensis to Thomas

January 11th, 2021

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The Scientific Method, Darwin, and Religious Erosion

People who study us and our surroundings use the five following methods to come to a conclusion, basing it on this scientific method: hypothesis, observation, prediction, experiment, and confirmation.

As an example, the experts in past pandemics used this scientific method to determine that a vaccine will work against COVID-19. They observed what the virus did to people. They predicted it was similar…

Read more...


The Gadfly: Autopsy of a Dying Party

December 27th, 2020

The Gadfly: Autopsy of a Political Party

Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Why did Trump win Robeson County?

The southeastern corner of North Carolina is a low-lying area in one of the poorest sections of the state. It is the home of the Lumbee Indians, the largest Indian tribe east of the Mississippi River. The town of Lumberton is near the center of the county. It is poor farming country, and is heavily wooded yet rather swampy.

I became rather familiar with the area when our battalion…

Read more...


A Microcosm—Wyoming

December 17th, 2020

The Love Of Dogs--And The Super Rich And Superpoor Of Teton County

President Harry Truman is a favorite of mine. He read a lot of history books, threatened to punch a music columnist criticizing his daughter Margaret’s singing, kept a sign on his Oval Office desk: “The Buck Stops Here,” and insisted: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Almost all presidents had dogs. Research at Duke University on dog intelligence points out that over thousands of years dogs…

Read more...


America on Hospice

December 4th, 2020

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Mission Possible

President Joe: your first important mission, if you choose to accept it, is to ask 90 million American registered voters why they didn’t vote in 2020. Then tell Chairman Tom Perez and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to wake up from political dementia and call each non-voter for an exclusive interview. Why didn’t we have 50 million more voters? We had an election that really didn’t move us on the arc to FDR’s “Four Freedoms”:…

Read more...


Freedom or Free-For-All?

November 14th, 2020


Is There Personal Liberty? When Does It Begin And End?

It was bound to happen to an inquiring mind. Scientists around the world are monitoring sewage for outbreaks of COVID-19 because victims of the virus have had the very infectious virus in their feces. At least 65 universities in this country are taking samples of sewage daily from dormitories and campus sites to see if the virus is present. When tests prove their existence, the residents of that sewage system are tested to see who…

Read more...


A Two Minute Political Fly-By

October 21st, 2020

PQ: “With this COVID-19 pandemic, we are already in another Great Depression. Soon we will have millions of citizens living in ‘Trumpvillas’ when they are evicted or foreclosed on.”

by Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Where Was That Messenger From?

During the vice-presidential debate, there were three beings on stage who tried to obey the established rules that responses to questions must be limited to two minutes: two were moderator Susan Page and candidate Kamala Harris, the other…

Read more...


Politics and Religion 2

October 7th, 2020

by Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

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…

Read more...


Results of the 2016 Roundup

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…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Empire Tracker Pixel for Entry Seven Tracker Pixel for Entry Cottonwood Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…

Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comA Supreme Court umpire should call for replays on every actFor more than 20 years I have been wondering what makes Chief Justice John Roberts tick. During a Senate confirmation hearing he slid and…

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 Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com As a reflection on our perilous political landscape, “Bugonia,” from the ever curious and boundary-stretching auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, joins several other 2025 releases that have something…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

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 When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

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@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…