by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | December 23rd, 2014
Dick Cheney, the architect and godfather of our policy of torture after 9/11, appeared on Meet the Press last Sunday and assured the public he was the man who casually tossed over 200 years of American history and morality into the Potomac trash can. We were a moral nation at birth. During the Revolutionary War General George Washington developed a series of policies regarding the care and treatment of British…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | December 17th, 2014
So This Is A “Culture?”
What is a culture? Right-wingers like to acclaim the myth that America is an “exceptional” country—the “shining city on a hill” and all those wonderful, marvelous cultural images. Dictionary definitions of culture include these statements: “The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, a way of thinking, and art, from…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | December 10th, 2014
At our Pelican Lake home we have about 30 wild turkeys show up occasionally to spend a half-hour or so cleaning up under our bird feeders. Blue jays and marauding squirrels have terrible table manners, spilling sunflower seeds, millet, and corn all over the place. If we let the dogs out while they are feeding, helter-skelter results. Some fly 70 feet to the top of trees, some run for the woods and bushes while…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | December 5th, 2014
The Egyptian government estimates that 91% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have had their genitals operated on for physical, mental, and cultural reasons. Among young teenagers 15 to 17 the rate is 74%. The practice of cutting off external parts of genitalia of both males and females probably started in Egypt in the time of the pharaohs according to historians.…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | November 25th, 2014
Every day we learn more about death, whether its from old age, disease, accident, murder, war, religion, suicide, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t seem to handle death very well in most instances, although it is inevitable. In Shakespeare’s epic, Hamlet is debating whether he should kill Claudius, the killer of his father who has married his mother, or whether he should avoid the whole mess by…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | November 19th, 2014
As Syrian children go to schools and playgrounds in Raqqa, a provincial capital now controlled by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (commonly known as ISIS), they walk by spiked fences topped by the decapitated heads of the followers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many heads belong to relatives of the children. The headless corpses were left on Raqqa streets as further warnings to Shias and Alawites,…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | November 12th, 2014
This world is getting discombobulated again. Here we have the deadly disease ebola circulating in three central African countries and around the world, killing thousands of people. One touch may give a person a death sentence. But here in the United States we are also deluged with ads for the cure of toenail fungus. I have never heard of anyone dying of toenail fungus. No one in our large extended family has ever had it to…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | November 5th, 2014
This country is acting as if dementia is just around the corner – or maybe we haven’t been taking our Prozac lately. We have about 19 million underemployed and unemployed in this country but the Polaris Company of Roseau is flying low-paid Mexican skilled workers from their Mexico plant to Roseau so they can continue to sell small recreational and work vehicles at a “double-digit” rate. What is going on? Have we succumbed to…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | October 29th, 2014
Since the Republican Supreme Court decided to dump parts of the Voters Rights laws passed almost 50 years ago, most states controlled by Republican legislatures and governors, including North Dakota, have attempted to pass hundreds of restrictive voting laws, particularly the requirement to have a photo voter ID. Some have been successful. After all, a great deal of fraud has been committed in voting precincts!…
by Ed Raymond | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | October 22nd, 2014
Astronomers have discovered about 600 planets swirling around the stars that could possibly have more intelligent beings than us roaming in their confines. Ten of them are about earth’s size and receive about the same amount or sunlight. Since 1955 we have spent billions of dollars attempting to contact extraterrestrials on these other planets. The program Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) started in earnest in 1960…
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After nearly two and a half years since the people of North Dakota voted to pass the Compassionate Care Act into law in the state, medical marijuana is finally available to patients. Only one dispensary is open right now, but seven…
It was an, “aha,” moment, said Jeremy Jensen. A woman had her vehicle towed into the Fix It Forward Auto Care shop in Moorhead. Jensen and fellow Fix It Forward Auto Care co-founder Matt Carlson had the vehicle on a hoist…
Thursday, April 18, 5-9 p.m.Drekker Brewing Company, 1666 1st Ave N, FargoThe folks at Drekker have partnered with a handful of area artists and the Lend A Hand Up program. A program providing help and hope to families facing…
In 2016, the Rand Corportation’s National Defense Research Institute published a year-long study looking at potential consequences for transgender members to serve within the U.S Military. This study looked at seven different…
The Nordic ModelDr. Thea Hunter, a graduate of Columbia University and an adjunct professor of history at a number of elite colleges and universities, recently died at age 63 of extreme capitalism—and asthma—because of lack of…
Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in! For nine weeks,…
After three years Jon Beyer aka “Jonny B” has become the face and the beard behind Jonny B’s Brickhouse in Jamestown North Dakota. Besides the largest selection of craft beers between here and Bismarck, wood-fired pizzas and…
By Gary Usseryusseryg@gmail.comFYB. Three letters, three words, well known by the guys who make up Cascades, and anyone who is a fan of the five-man band. When asked what genre best describes their sound, I was bombarded with at…
Harmony Korine keeps a tight grip on his title as one of the most critic/critique-proof filmmakers of recent times with “The Beach Bum,” a sultry companion piece to 2012’s memorable “Spring Breakers.” Not without its own…
“I started to look around at state arts council positions because I felt that even though I had never done that, I felt like it would be a really good blend of skills, so I started to look around in 2016. A few jobs came up but I…
Countless examples can be found throughout the history of great art that was only recognized as such after the life of the artist that created it. Such is true of Georges Bizet’s opera "Carmen." While its reception during his…
Stand-up comedy is traditionally a one-way exchange. Outside of the odd question addressed to a random audience member, the limit of the spectators’ contribution to the conversation is their laughter at the comedy stylings being…
By Gabrielle Herschgabbyhersch@gmail.comThink & Drink is coming to Fargo! Organized by Humanities North Dakota, Think & Drink is a happy hour series that hosts a facilitated public conversation about big issues and ideas. Lead by a…
I’m a big man, I’m tall and powerful, but this also causes some issues in the body department. I suffer from acute scoliosis in my lower back, and pain radiates from this area on a daily basis. I have only ever had one massage…
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by Devin Joubertdevinlillianjoubert@gmail.comIt’s that beautiful time of the year that’s filled with seasonal decorations, sparkly lights, warm family gatherings, and delicious feasts. I love everything about this time of the…
It seems like the threats to North Dakota’s Badlands never cease. Let’s go back and revisit Wylie Bice. He’s the rogue, rich, rancher up in Dunn County, on the eastern edge of the Badlands, who’s built himself a private…
