Gadfly

And the band played on

July 26th, 2017

A reasonable conclusion: “We should have killed our baby.”

For some unfathomable reason, some people think they are immortal, that death is not a part of life. Our culture tends to teach us to avoid the topic of death as if it will never come. We really get uncomfortable discussing our options about life and death.

But death is also a precious part of life and we should accept it with grace and peace—as well as the difficult and painful parts of both living and dying.

My dad lived to…

Read more...


A world too much with us

July 19th, 2017

Three “great leaders” who might really screw up the world

If you have had a chance to watch documentaries based on North Korean culture you had to notice that all citizens referred to 33-year-old Kim Jong Un as their “Great Leader” in interviews.

His picture was always visible whether inside or out, indicating that he remains in power through the fear and intimidation that only a cult icon can possess. As the ruling grandson of his ruling grandfather it helps tremendously to stay…

Read more...


Of mice and men—and elephants

July 12th, 2017

What are the best laid plans for our future?

Israeli historian Tuval Noah Harari recently made a fascinating declaration in an article about the future: “People living in the 12th century knew pretty well what the 13th century would be like. Now we are in the first part of the 21st century and we don’t have a clue what the 22nd century will be like—or whether there will be one.”

Progress was slow in the 12th century but now in the 21st technical and scientific progress is…

Read more...


Just another day in Tombstone and Dodge, U.S.A.

June 28th, 2017

How many Americans shot themselves or others today?

We won’t know for awhile how many Americans were KIA or WIA from firearms on June 14, when Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise of the House was critically wounded by some of the 71 rounds fired by James Hodgkinson and the police.

Actually it was not a big mass shooting deal, although Scalise was made the national center of attention by his congressional colleagues and the mainstream media.

In the first 165 days of 2017 we had only…

Read more...


Living in Prozac nation

June 21st, 2017

From Homer’s Odyssey to Buddy Holly: The times they are a-changin’

When Robert Zimmerman, born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, better known as Bob Dylan, won the Nobel Prize for Literature (worth almost a cool $1 million), he said, “When I received this Nobel Prize for literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature. The music of Buddy Holly changed my life, along with Homer’s Odyssey, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and Erich Maria Remarque’s All…

Read more...


Aggressive rats and monkeys

June 14th, 2017

Red blankets, thousand-dollar pills, and angry Irish

It makes for an interesting week when people, rats, monkeys, and the Irish wave the middle finger with wild abandon toward their erstwhile enemies. The Irish finally showed how fed up they are with the “state” Roman Catholic Church that treated pregnant girls horribly in forced-labor laundries and transferred priests who took sexual advantage of adolescent boys for centuries.

Irish voters sent the Vatican a final goodbye finger…

Read more...


Disaster capitalism

June 7th, 2017

How long does it take you to pay your Social Security taxes for the year?

Jay Gould was one of the richest capitalists in the United States in the 19th century, bribing legislators, robbing, killing, and hiring a private army to fight labor union strikes over wages, hours, and working conditions.

He and his associate Jim Fisk tried to corner the gold market so they could raise the price of agricultural products and increase the price of shipping on his railroads. Gould came from a poor…

Read more...


Bulls, biblical BS, and blasphemy

May 31st, 2017

A good sign: the Spanish are finally giving up bullfighting

Sometimes it takes thousands of years to rid a society of a cultural icon. Bullfighting has been an integral part of Spanish society for almost a thousand years.

Bullfighting was first mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh which covered prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean area. It later moved to Rome to entertain the crowds in the Coliseum.

In the 1100s the rich brought bullfighting to Spain…

Read more...


To pee or not to pee—that’s a question??

May 24th, 2017

The rich live 20 years longer than the poor

Several recent incidents in the airline industry are sending messages to the Ninety-Nine Percent around the world. If you can’t hold it, don’t book a flight.

A male passenger was removed from a flight because he had to pee while the plane was sitting on the ground. He violated the rule that toilets are closed while waiting for take-off. He had been sitting in his seat for more than half an hour and had told the attendants he had to go. They…

Read more...


How about freedom from religion?

May 17th, 2017

It’s time to end religious slavery, discrimination, racism, and sexual violence

Religions have authorized slavery for thousands of years. It still exists in many corners of the world and is outlawed in few countries.

Religions have allowed men to marry several women at one time, which is now a crime called bigamy in some countries. Remember: Osama bin Laden had four wives.

Churches in our South taught that blacks were inferior to whites and pushed for Jim Crow laws to make sure blacks…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry staveq1 Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans

Recently in:

By Bryce Vincent Haugen There are three Fargo Park Board seats up for election June 9. Park Board President Vicki Dawson and long-time member Dr. Joe Deutsch announced their reelection bids, but board member Aaron Hill is vacating…

By Michael M. Miller Francie M. Berg, native of Hettinger, N.D., edited an impressive book, “Ethnic Heritage in North Dakota,” published in 1983. She grew up on a ranch near Miles City, Montana. Her son, Richard Berg, is…

Thursday, April 23, 7 p.m.Fargodome, 1800 University Dr. N, FargoHeralded as "The Nicest Man in Stand-Up" by The Atlantic, Nate Bargatze is also one of the top-grossing comedians, breaking both streaming and attendance records. Now…

By Sabrina Hornung In the last week of March, we heard about an AI education droid visiting the White House as the first lady made a pitch to replace teachers with androids. In an interview with conservative commentator Benny…

About the leader who sits so far-right from God he can’t see Him I have been reading Harvard PHD Heather Cox Richardson for more than a decade because she knows how important Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is in the study…

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 Gion A brand new food event called the "ONE BITE Challenge" will launch in downtown Fargo on May 23. Rocky Schneider, executive director of the Downtown Community Partnership told us more. HPR: Hi Rocky. Thank you for…

By John ShowalterAs hip-hop started to make its way into the national spotlight in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was largely split into two camps, “East Coast” and “West Coast”. Not content to be left out of a…

By Greg Carlson Veteran documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich has chronicled a number of powerful men in entertainment, politics and popular culture, including Roman Polanski (twice), Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong…

Friday, May 8 - Sunday, May 10, 2-8 p.m.Brewhalla, 1702 1st Ave. N., FargoAmarok Tattoo is working with our pals at Drekker Brewing/Brewhalla to celebrate ink and everything odd and a little macabre. See some of the best in the…

Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…

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 Ellie Liverani In November 2025, the FDA initiated the removal of the “black box” warning from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). The “black box” warning is a FAD safety warning for healthcare providers and patients…

January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…

By Jim Fuglie Okay, here I go again, warning (whining? complaining?) about another threat to the North Dakota badlands. Sorry. Please put up with me for a few hundred more words. Now, some folks I don’t think want to put a…