Gadfly

Death comes to opium eaters

November 1st, 2017

The Sacklers: America’s biggest and richest ‘legal’ drug pushers

The first record of humans using drugs to give themselves highs during their humdrum lives is a 7,000-year-old account of Babylonian Sumerians using opium. The Lake Dwellers of Switzerland ate poppy seeds 4,500 years ago according to historian Ashley Montagu in a book about gaining euphoria over the doldrums.

Records about the brewing of alcohol and its potency started about 2,350 years ago in Proverbs 31:6-7: “Give…

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A man for no religions

October 25th, 2017

The madness and sins of the world’s seven ’great’ religions

Robert Bolt’s play “A Man For All Seasons” covers the true story of a principled and religious chancellor of England named Sir Thomas More who eventually lost his head because he refused to approve the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn (who later also lost her head), the sister of his former mistress. Henry wanted a son from Catherine but she didn’t deliver.

The…

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Don’t want to be shot? Get small!

October 18th, 2017

God didn’t save six million Jews from the Holocaust either

We have become so used to mass killings by firearms in the “United” States that they are generally ignored, except for the really unusual or big ones like Texas Tower, San Ysidro McDonald’s, Luby’s Cafeteria, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Aurora Theater, Orlando, and now Las Vegas.

Then the politicians hit the radio and TV with their very old designed talking points starting with “our thoughts and prayers are…

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Taking a knee for truth

October 11th, 2017

I’m a white son-of-a-bitch who will always take a knee for M/Sgt McNair

In 1938 I entered First Grade in District 54 in Morrison County, Minnesota, a little white country school with a total of 23 students in eight grades and two two-holers out back.

That’s where I was first introduced to white history, not real history. For the next 18 years, through high school, college, and graduate school I was exposed to white history in various courses, never getting a taste of real history…

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A lesson for the common good

October 4th, 2017

Norwegians know how to govern -- just ask Ole and Lena

Sometimes we get the idea from Norwegian Ole and Lena jokes that “Norvegians” play with only 39 cards.

There’s the one about Ole calling the airlines and asking how long it takes to fly from Minneapolis to Fargo. “Just a minute,” said the busy and rather irritated desk clerk. Ole says, “Vell , if it goes that fast, I tink I’ll just take a bus.”

Or there’s the one about Ole talking to his brother Svenn, who lived…

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American healthcare

September 27th, 2017

A mixture of despair, extortion, life-saving treatments, and inequality

Fifty-four-year-old Antony Marino of Wise, Virginia keeps a pair of needle-nosed pliers handy so he can pull out a rotting tooth that’s bothering him. He has never been to a dentist. Forty-nine-year-old Joyce Bays tenderizes the meat she eats with a hammer, and cuts it into small pieces because she has no teeth.

Forklift driver Robin Neal has had Type 1 diabetes since age 10 and has pancreatitis, but her…

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Character, or the lack thereof

September 20th, 2017

What kind of characters would charge $99 for a case of water?

In the days before the solar eclipse safety glasses sold for $8.95 for a five-pack of certified glasses. The day before the eclipse the price was raised to $59. During Hurricane Harvey, some gas stations were charging $20 a gallon. The other day I saw a local supermarket selling a 24-bottle case of water for $6.95. During Irma a Florida store was charging $99. An airline out of Houston was charging $6,785 for an economy seat.…

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When does America become Amerikka?

September 13th, 2017

The four horses of the Apocalypse are running wild on the American plains

In the last book of the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride around the world on their red, white, black, and pale horses representing Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

The rider of the white horse held a bow, was given a crown, and rode out as a conqueror. The rider of the red horse was given a large sword to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. The rider of the black horse…

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Arpaio vs. Kaepernick: who will win out?

September 6th, 2017

Eight of our presidents staffed the White House with slaves

Sometime in the future we may teach real history, not reality history, not fake history. The truth is eight of our presidents staffed their White House with slaves personally owned by them—and ran a government from a capitol building mainly built by slaves.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James Polk, and Zachary Taylor, all of the guys who signed that statement about…

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A country rigged for the wealthy

August 30th, 2017

How you can earn $12 million a year in the United States

When Martin Shkreli, who had raised the price of an AIDS drug called Daraprim 5,000 percent while he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, was arrested for eight counts of unrelated securities fraud, the court found it very difficult to find a jury of his peers who said they could judge his case without prejudice.

His infamous act had received wide coverage in the country. The judge and the attorneys had to question over 200…

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