Gadfly

Bye-bye, Miami—Greenland is melting

February 8th, 2017

Congress diddles while the Earth wobbles

The first real study of the changes in the earth’s climate took place at Camp Century in Greenland, in 1960, which was supposedly built by the United States to test Arctic construction methods and carry out “other research.” Scientists from the engineering school of Toronto’s York University drilled the first ice core samples in order to study the earth’s climate.

Have you ever heard of Camp Century? It’s a big deal. It had a mobile…

Read more...


I’ve Always Lived In A Great Country

February 1st, 2017

Dear Mr. President:

I was born in 1932 during the Great Depression on 180 acres of sand and rocks near Little Falls, Minnesota. I played Anti-Over and Pump-Pump-Pull-Away with my 20 schoolmates from surrounding farms in a little country school for eight years. I thought I was living in a great country.

My four older brothers and sisters and I milked 20 cows before breakfast and milked the same 20 before supper. We read books by kerosene lamp. We warmed and cooked by a wood-coal stove in…

Read more...


Here comes Trumpistan

January 25th, 2017

How to make America a third-world country again

A national columnist asked the question, “Did we really elect Donald Trump to be president of the United States?” Even with all the investigations pertaining to Russian intervention, voter repression, Wikileaks exposure of Democratic Party e-mails and the FBI director’s letters to Congress about Hillary’s private server and e-mails. We probably will never know.

In the 2000 presidential election the five Republican appointees on the…

Read more...


​Weeping and wailing about wealth

January 18th, 2017

A most unpopular Bible verse

I have been listening to religious sermons for almost 78 years since I passed to my “age of reason” at seven, so I have “analyzed” about 4,000 sermons give or take, 20 years worth delivered by Roman Catholic priests and 58 years by Lutheran ministers. I think I have a sharp ear for the turn of a phrase or a potent verse.

I swear on a stack of King James’s I had never heard James 5:1-6; this eye-and-ear catching bible verse about the subject of…

Read more...


Gender myths and beliefs

January 11th, 2017

Sex chromosomes XX and XY just don’t cut it anymore

In my last column of December, I wrote that the January 2017 special issue of National Geographic would be totally devoted to the issue of gender around the world. I have received my copy, so I have spent hours marking up the 152 pages that have explored the science of homosexuality and its effect on social systems in civilized and not-so-civilized areas of the world.

I think this effort is the most important document published in at…

Read more...


​From Lucy to Ellen

December 21st, 2016

What kinds of freedom do you want with your religion?

Here we go again. The Telescope Media Group in St. Cloud, Minn. wants to get into the wedding photography business—but does not want to video, film, or photograph same-sex weddings.

In other words, they want to have the religious freedom to discriminate against their fellow human beings. They claim they are Bible-believing Christians who do not want to be forced “to produce a conception of marriage that directly contradicts their…

Read more...


Deportation might be one answer

December 14th, 2016

Firearms kill one and wound two Minnesotans every day

When 23-year-old law clerk Chase Passauer was killed in April of 2016 in the St. Paul law office of North Star Criminal Defense, someone finally kept track of how much his death cost.

The eight bullets fired into his body cost about $3.00, but the crime committed by an ex-felon who should not have had a firearm in the first place ended up costing society about $7 million. That sum included the costs of the investigation,…

Read more...


A long way to go

December 7th, 2016

Things to consider

In this age of the disappearing middle-class and the greatest income inequality in our history, I see the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is sponsoring a fund drive called KeepThem Ruby, to repair and preserve Minnesota’s own Judy Garland’s leather, sequined, and glass-beaded slippers from that epic “The Wizard of Oz.” Holy Toto, they think it will take $300,000 to fix the 80-year-old shoes, so donors will receive tote bags by a Tony…

Read more...


Southern whites voted as they had shot during the Civil War

November 30th, 2016

Is the white god creating a mighty white fortress?

Six weeks and six days after Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer.

His speech was a plea to end the division of the states that had cost the lives of over 600,000 troops and 400,000 civilians: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we…

Read more...


Triggers and unintended consequences

November 22nd, 2016

Chaos and the American empire

Harper’s Magazine in the last edition published a long list of items that were mistaken for guns in the hands of people killed by police in the United States since 2001.

People were shot to death because they held hairbrushes, bottles of cologne, beer, and pills; toys and underwear.

Among the hundreds of items handheld, one seemed to stand out: a Bible. Maybe the victim got a break later when he approached the pearly gate. I wonder if the police shooter…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1 Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms Tracker Pixel for Entry NewSalem1C Tracker Pixel for Entry EmpireAUG2021

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee NelsonLocal groups will speak out against current and projected federal budget cuts in downtown Fargo this Saturday, April 26. The Red River Valley chapters of Fearless and Indivisible will lead a protest from…

By Prairie Rose Seminolems.prairierose@gmail.com I was a child who walked behind my parents into classrooms and kitchens, spaces of song and prayer, where teachings lived in the air and settled on my shoulders. I didn’t yet have…

Saturday, April 26, 1:30-3:30 p.m.Rourke Art Gallery + Museum, 521 Main Ave., MoorheadThings are coming up rosy at the Rourke in a true feast of the senses during the third annual “Gallery in Bloom” exhibit. The pop-up…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I feel like reading a newspaper is the equivalent of listening to music on vinyl. Not only is it analog, it’s an experience. I might be a little biased, but there's something about the rustling…

By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comThe wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red tiesA hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white…

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 After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…

Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comRyan Coogler goes big and bold with “Sinners,” a sweaty, bloody vampire movie set in 1932. The filmmaker stuffs this universe with enough ideas to serve a limited-series season of episodic…

By Raul Gomez Modern Man was a gentle soul. If you were down or just wanted a friend, he’d be there for you. I remember the first day I met Modern Man. It was Jeremiah Fuglseth and me. He wanted to write about this legendary…

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 Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com In 2023, the Superintendent of Fargo Public Schools, Rupak Ghandi, gave a passionate plea to the Fargo School Board to follow federal law, because a recently passed state law would increase…