Gadfly

​Anarchy or Democracy?

April 30th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Will we goose-step backward with the GOP or stumble forward with Democrats?

Two hundred years ago English poet William Wordsworth wrote a 14-line sonnet “The World Is Too Much With Us” with these opening lines: “The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; little we see in nature that is ours; we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”

A hundred years ago William Butler Yeats published “The…

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From Disaster to Chaos to Savage

April 15th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadly@gmail.com

Why Do Hospitals Charge $1,000 to $3,800 for CT Scans? Only the Shadow Knows!

When I typed this headline about healthcare costs, I thought of the old radio program “Shadow,” which kept us spellbound as we milked cows. The introductory lines got our immediate attention: “Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” The conclusion of the 325 radio suspense programs ended with this truth: “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit!…

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Born-Again Know Nothings

April 6th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Who’d a Thunk It? The Reincarnation and Resurrection of a Third Political Party!

In 1853, a secret American society known as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner abandoned its secrets by transforming itself into a political party known at first as the American Party. Members refused to talk about what the secret society had accomplished, and were instructed by leaders to respond to questions with “I know nothing.” You get one guess what it was…

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Tolerate Waco Wacko? OK! You Jest!

April 1st, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Can We Regenerate Our Country by “Rediscovering the Lost Art of Tolerance?”

Columnist Gary Abernathy says our enormous diversity of identity in our sweeping multiculturalism makes it difficult to agree with groups present in the Divided States of America.

We have hundreds of organizations, groups, and religions with which to cope, so Abernathy lists a few that may be very difficult to tolerate: Gays, MAGA Republicans, Nonbinary, Asexuals,…

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​The Forum Needs a Resident Proctologist

March 25th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Two ForumWhite Nationalist Trumplican Nincoms Have Pooped All Over Librarians

So it has come to pass that Scott Hennen and Ross Nelson have assaulted librarians in the state, accusing them of putting porn on the library shelves and in the arms and backpacks of innocent big and little children. At 91 I have been disgusted a few times in my life, but those two columns rank with the rankest I have experienced.

Having been a compulsive reader for much of my…

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​Christian Ideoruptcy

March 18th, 2023

By Ed Raymond 

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Has Christianity Gone Bankrupt Because of Evangelicals, Stupidity, and the Vatican?

The word “bankruptcy” refers to money because of the word “bank.” The word “bankruptcy” originated in Italy from banca rotta, which literally means “broken bank.” The term developed in the 16th century Renaissance, from Italian money changers and lenders sitting on benches behind tables in…

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Congress and Emancipation

March 13th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

We Have Had a Mix of Disaster, Chaos, Rotting Capitalism and Socialism for 400 Years

Capitalism leads to a branch of slavery where men and women are in bondage to the plutocrats and oligarchs who have acquired monopolies—unless socialist programs are utilized to restrain economic inequality. We don’t have property deeds for humans as we did before 1865, but bondage remains the same.

Let’s look at the legal definitions of slavery: “Bondage to a…

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A Woman for the Ages

March 4th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The 14th Century Wife of Bath Would Appreciate a 21st Century Spa

So would her creator, Geoffrey Chaucer, a justice of the peace and customs agent who wrote the first novel, The Canterbury Tales, in Middle English, in the 14th century. It was his plan to write 120 stories told by 30 pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, a chancellor at age 21 to Henry II, one of the volatile Henrys to serve England as king.

They were buddies when…

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The Gadfly: An Alternate State of the Union Address

February 11th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The Only Solution to Clean the Washington, D.C. Cow Gutter: A 50/50 Power Split

The only way our democracy will survive attacks by the Republican Party is to make sure they keep investigating what the Democrats in power are doing “wrong” instead of doing “right.” We sure as hell don’t want them to actually start governing because they have no clue how to govern a democracy. The national socialism model of Hitler, Mussolini, and Trump is no way…

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A Plethora of Pandemics

February 4th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Can a Sick Society Recover from Plagues, Pandemics, and Pandemonium?

I wanted to check the dictionary definition of “pandemic”: Widespread; general; universal. In medicine: Epidemic over an especially wide geographic area. A pandemic disease.

Just under pandemic was the word “pandemonium”: “Any place characterized by uproar and noise. The capital of Hell in Paradise Lost. A demon, spirit.” I thought I’d better check “plague” before…

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