by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 5th, 2020
Predatory Capitalism Breeds Predatory Medical Care
Survival in the animal world depends upon who eats who. Wolf packs in Yellowstone chase down the oldest weakest elk and kill with a chokehold. African lion prides select the oldest and weakest water buffalo to kill for survival. Killer whale pods kill seals to eat—and sometimes play with them just for the hell of it. Our national symbol the bald eagle swoops down on fish to eat—or gorges on ditch roadkill. At the same time we have a…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | June 28th, 2020
What Is It About The Word “SEX” You Don’t Understand?
Sex has to be the most pleasurable act for animal species on earth, and birth to perpetuate the species has to be among the most painful. One out of 100 human babies in the world is born intersex; that is, born with both male and female equipment, sometimes with some of the parts hidden in the body. This is when sex gets to be particularly interesting. The 6-3 Supreme Court LBGTQ+ decision last week is only one part of the…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | June 22nd, 2020
Will The Dark Wall Cloud Over Joe’s Head Ever Move?
Older readers will remember a character called Joe Btfsplk in Al Capp’s satirical comic strip Li’l Abner. Joe was known for his bad luck which was symbolized by a dark cloud hovering over him. Anyone who was close to Joe suffered because of his presence. Joe tries to capture the cloud in a bottle but he fails. He finally realizes he is what he is. I wonder if Joe Biden will ever realize he is what he is under his dark cloud. Yes,…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | June 14th, 2020
The Last Decoded Message From Hitler’s Bunker In 1945: “Closing Down Forever”
Well, well, well, now we finally have our own little Hitler in his White House bunker, assuming command of the military because, as a genius, he knows more than any of his generals and admirals. He has his own propaganda-guy-Goebbels and the “state TV network”, Fox News, which serves as his Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda 24/7. He has his own vice-president Goring in William Barr, his…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | June 7th, 2020
The U.S. Is A Failed State On A Rudderless U.S.S. Titanic--Captained By A Caliban
And yes, it’s headed directly for a huge iceberg. There is no evidence that Donald The Lyin’ King has read anything beyond a menu or a porn star’s telephone number. His tweets are void of any reference to classical literature or American or world history. I’m sure he has never read any of Shakespeare’s plays.
Donald is a perfect caricature of Caliban, a major character in Shakespeare’s The…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 31st, 2020
Are We Close To Hearing The Last Clicking Of A Stoplight?
Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker, has been creating provocative and entertaining columns for many years. She also was a speech writer for President Ronald Reagan. I call her a true conservative, not a fake one, because she actually believes everyone has “place” in a society. In May she had a fascinating experience. She has been walking the streets of New York for more than half a…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 24th, 2020
Democratic Socialism Rescues Disaster Capitalism—Again
Our elected representatives are currently appropriating trillions of taxpayer’s dollars to save our economy from the ravages of COVID-19 and disaster capitalism. Here we go again. Economists who have studied capitalism for many years say that recessions and depressions happen about every 8 to 10 years between bull and bear markets. The last Great Depression started in 1929 when Wall Streeters opened up upper-story windows and…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 17th, 2020
Something Is Not Rotten In Denmark
William Shakespeare, writer of my favorite play Hamlet, was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England during a plague year. Thomas Nashe, a contemporary, wrote a short poem A Litany in Time of Plague to commemorate serious plagues in England during 1564, 1582, 1592-93, 1603-04, 1606, and 1608-09. These are lines from the first stanza:
“Rich men, trust in wealth,/ Gold cannot buy you health,/ Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,/ The plague…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 10th, 2020
Two American Con Men With An Insatiable Appetite For Wealth
Phineas Taylor Barnum was born poor in 1810 in a rural village in Connecticut where survival was determined by cunning, smarts, drive, and ruthlessness. He had an insatiable appetite for wealth. Some say it was from when he learned to count. He conned his way to becoming a wealthy man during our first Gilded Age in the latter half of the 19th Century.
Donald John Trump was born rich in 1946 in New York City and later used his…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 3rd, 2020
Swift: “A Good Fat Child Will Make Four Dishes Of Excellent Nutritive Meat”
When Donald the Lyin’ King proposed that COVID-19 might be able to be controlled by injecting bleach, Lysol, sanitizers and other disinfectants into the body, the very idea was so nut-crazy I thought of two satiric works of Jonathan Swift that attacked the policies of English and Irish politicians in the 18th Century. Born in Dublin in 1667, he trained to be a priest at Trinity College and spent much of his…
The vibrant life of Ashley Lake Hamilton came to a sudden end on the Sunset Highway between Airway Heights and Fairchild Air Force Base on Thursday, December 10, 2020.Ashley was born on a beautiful Monday afternoon, June 2, 1980,…
By Michael M. Miller michael.miller@ndsu.eduThe late Mary Lynn Axtman, native of Rugby, ND, who dedicated many hours for GRHC, shared this message about ornaments from Joseph S. Height’s section on Christmas in his book,…
Thursday, March 19, 4:30- 8 pm1609 19th Ave N, FargoCass County Soil Conservation District is hosting their annual Ladies’ Ag Night supper event. This event has a goal of bringing together multiple generations of women involved…
Last New Year’s Eve I found myself using the cheer “Here’s to 2020 vision” as I clinked glasses with my friends. 2020 was going to be my year.. Or so we all thought. I originally started to think that 2020 vision wasn’t…
By Ed Raymond fargogadfly@gmail.comWhere 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…
To say that this year’s Bartenders Battle was the best display of talent in the six years since its creation would be an understatement and a disservice to not only the bartenders who made it into the competition, but also the…
Reviving Rural Grocery Stores in North DakotaBy Annie PrafckeFargo, ND – On October 7th, Gov. Doug Burgum awarded Milnor Market and the Forman grocery store project Main Street Awards, as part of an initiative led by the Office…
When we were growing up we often found ways to rebel against our parents, some more nonsensical than others. Not all of us decided to use those methods as inspiration for the name of a band. Bismarck-based band Spite Nap decided…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail27 December 2020Alicia Coombs is an archivist and the head of business affairs for the American Genre Film Archive in Austin, Texas. Outside of watching and collecting movies, she likes to drink…
By Jill FinkelsonWe’ve been hearing the word Unrest a lot lately. Unrest in the streets. Unrest in the capital. Unrest in our own homes as we struggle to hunker down in the face of the unseen pandemic. People are restless. They…
By Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comDrag shows, for me, feel like a celebration of artistry, esthetic, music, and camaraderie. With a dash of confetti thrown in.The local drag community is a close-knit family. Giving back to affiliated…
by Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comAdam Quesnell's last show at The Cellar beneath the Front Street Taproom in Fargo was in early September of 2018. He was embarking on a seminal move from Minneapolis to LA. As always, his comedy was…
by Jill Finkelsonjsfinkelson99@gmail.comFar North Spirits, located up in Hallock, MN, is the northernmost distillery in the lower 48. They may be young in the distillery world but the farm and the spirit reach far into the past.…
by Laurie J Bakeremsdatter@gmail.com Part of modern yoga is participating in the world around us. We live in a time of upheaval in society and nature, and of great suffering in humans of all ages. Most of us perceive this suffering…
By Ashlee Nordquisthpr@hpr1.comI've come to the conclusion that not everyone understands why my brother and I went on ventilators for covid and what that means. As I survived and my brother SO FAR is improving, I can make jokes and…
By Will Blockaredsheep@gmail.comEDITOR'S NOTE: Will Block grew up around a therapist. The year 2020 has been mind-bending beyond belief. We need some humor in all this darkness. HPR reached out to Will and he delivered. Don't…