Gadfly

A Continuum of Cons

April 10th, 2019

The Garden of Earthly Delights

An Orgy Of Business, Politics, Religion, And Sex
On March 4, 2019, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump had lied 9,014 times since his inauguration. He must be close to 10,000 by now. Having followed the career of The Donald for about 35 years, I wrote in 2015 that he was unfit for any office because his mental condition is fully described in the American Association of Psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders. Psychiatrists label him…

Read more...


​Atheists 1, “Christian” Imperialists 0

April 3rd, 2019

Photograph by Sabrina Hornung

Are Modern Religions Straying Away From God?
When Christians were challenging the teaching of the “new” science of evolution in the 1925 Scopes trial, the hymn that probably best described the position of most Christians contained the following lines:

“Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me.

Makes me love everybody, it’s good enough for me.

It will do when I’m dying, it’s good enough for me.

It can take us all to heaven, it’s good enough for me.”

Read more...


Animals Have Large Brains—Too

March 27th, 2019

After All, With A 20 Pound Brain, What Does A Sperm Whale Know?
Perhaps because I was a farm kid surrounded by spiders, horses, geese, maggots, pigs, rats, chickens, cats, bullheads, cows, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, dogs, honey bees, crows, and hundreds of other things with brains and nerves, I have been fascinated enough to keep files on what animals, insects, birds, and other creepy-crawlies do.

For an English literature class in college, I read T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J.…

Read more...


American Failure-Extreme Capitalism

March 13th, 2019

The Battle Between Extreme Capitalism And Democratic Socialism
After Vice-President Mike Pence representing racial and extreme capitalism ended his scathing rant about democratic socialism at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he went back to the dressing room, peed into a capitalistic toilet and flushed his waste into a socialistic sewer. Then he washed his hands at a capitalistic faucet of clean tap water from a socialistic water treatment facility-- then again ran…

Read more...


​A—sexual To Z—ygote

March 6th, 2019

Let’s Study The Difference Between Monosexual And Plurisexual
If we are interested at all in the science of genetics we are running into the terms “gender identity” and “gender fluidity” more and more. The difference between criminal and civil law becomes important. If a judge or jury finds a defendant guilty, that generally means there is “no doubt.” But in civil litigation there may be some doubt, but the person can be determined guilty by “a preponderance of…

Read more...


​Any Day We Shoot Over 380

February 27th, 2019

-

How Many People Have To Die For The Second Amendment?
There are no licensed federal gun dealers in our capital of Washington D.C., but 29-year-old resident Bobby Perkins Jr. recently went to prison for selling guns and drugs on the streets of D.C. A district court found him guilty of selling 224 guns bought in surrounding states on the street in just five months in 2015, with 94 of them being traced to homicides and crime scenes from Virginia to New York. But Bobby had spent much of his…

Read more...


Chang and Eng

February 20th, 2019

Chang and Eng

The Monsters Of The Midway
Back in college eons ago I and a fellow footballer spent half a summer employed by a concessions company that worked county and state fairs in the region. We sold foot-long hotdogs and ice cream bars on the carnival midway at night. It was a great job for people-watching, both the people riding the death-defying machines and the carnival barkers in front of the tent walls advertising the freak shows. Carnies are fascinating people whether they are disabled,…

Read more...


Anti-Life America

February 13th, 2019

All The Evidence Points To An Anti-Life Political Party
After observing and experiencing the machinations and voting records of the Republican Party from Nixon to Reagan To Bush To Trump, one can arrive at only one conclusion: It is anti-life. The Trump-White-Republican (Trumwhiticans) Party calls itself pro-life when it comes to abortion. But when we examine political platforms and voting records, the only period the Trumwhitican Party is actually pro-life for is the nine-months from…

Read more...


​A Feudal System Resurrection

February 6th, 2019

The World Economic Forum Meets Two Caravans
As 2,000 private jets carrying the world’s oligarchs, plutocrats, CEOS, millionaires and billionaires to Davos, Switzerland where they would decide in January how they were going to screw the bottom 99 Percent out of their last dollar, two caravans were slowly moving to the United States-Mexico border. One was from the south from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and other Latin American countries; the other from the United States and Canada.…

Read more...


​Ancient Myths and Modern Facts

January 30th, 2019

A Formula for Trouble: Sex and Religion
Humankind has had two major vexations for thousands of years: sex and religion. Sex has caused wars between individuals and among groups since Lucy decided to go to the back of the cave with another relative of Homo Erectus. Religion has caused more wars between tribes and among countries more than any other vexation, including economics. If there is a problem in River City, it’s probably sex or religion. Ever since Leviticus declared that…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry EmpireAUG2021 Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans Tracker Pixel for Entry FPL Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms1 Tracker Pixel for Entry blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comIt’s been eight years since the Water Protectors were cleared off the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It was a bitter ending to a battle to protect the water; and for most of us…

By HPR Staff We’re all a part of building strong, healthy and inclusive communities. But the region’s non-profit organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now it’s time for these organizations to step into the spotlight.…

February 15, 6-9 p.m.Miss Kitty’s, 5855 16th Ave SE, Braddock, North DakotaWhat better way to celebrate the day after Valentine’s Day than with a nut fry? Mind you, we’re not talking about chestnuts roasting on an open…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com As I write this article, it’s January, and the temperatures in North Dakota are negative. I’m living in a house and our furnace just died a forever death after years of quick fixes. Yet,…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow billionaires with brain rot are creating bedlam in the USAOn January 21, 2010, the Republican-dominated United States Supreme Court approved a death sentence for American democracy of 250 to…

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 So far in 2025, announcements for new restaurant openings in the metro far outnumber closings. This is good news going into the new year for us hungry folk. In my opinion, the positive trend will…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Now streaming on MUBI, Elizabeth Sankey’s essay film “Witches” morphs from what at first appears to be a feminist deconstruction of movie and television representations of the title…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…

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 Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…

By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com A friend of mine, a well-known Bismarck liberal (I have a few of those), came up to me after church the other day and asked, “So, are you moving out of the country?” I knew he was referring…