Gadfly

Conjoined Country

September 16th, 2023

By Ed Raymond 

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Art: José Guadalupe Posada, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Can Our Conjoined Democracy Be Separated and Survive?

A two-headed western rat snake is back in a pit at a Waco, Texas zoo after recovering from an injury that most likely was caused by an argument between its two brains.

The unusual snake with brains labeled Pancho and Lefty was discovered in 2016 by a family in its backyard. Now eight…

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Wars of Chimps and Homo Sapiens

September 2nd, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

At What Evolutionary Level Do Animals Make War on Each Other?

Many animals are territorial but only a few will kill brothers and sisters to maintain a predator area.

Foxes are known to kill chickens when they are looking for one to eat. Wolves kill a lot of sheep and eat some. Lions, often called the king of beasts, kill to eat—but not for the hell of it. Northern pike kill little northern pike to eat but not to force them to migrate.

Male grizzly, brown,…

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iHomo Sapiens: Love and Hate

August 19th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Linus: ‘I Love Mankind, It’s People I Can’t Stand’

On August 8, two brothers, 8 and 9, were shot to death as they played with kittens in their backyard in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and a 19-year-old boy who lived with the family, the real target in this mass shooting, was also shot to death at the same time.

On August 13, a smash-and-grab group of about 50, entered a Nordstrom high-end store in the Woodland Hills, California Westfield Topanga Mall,…

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​Humor Cannot Be Bought

August 16th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

How Many Things in This World Do Not Have a Price Tag?

During my years at the Harvard of the Midwest I took a course in Russian history which emphasized the contributions of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Tzar Nicholas and wife Alexandra, Lenin the Liar, and Stalin the Slayer.

I ended up with the thought that the Russian people were like us. That idea led me to Russian literature such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novels “The Brothers Karamazov”…

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Hobson’s Options

August 5th, 2023

By Ed Raymond 

fargogadfly@gmail.com

In What State or Country Do You Want to Live – and in What Century?

In 16th Century Cambridge, England, Thomas Hobson owned a livery stable where he had 40 horses for rent. When customers saw 40 horses, they might assume they had a choice. No way. If the customer refused the horse in the stall nearest the door, he left without a horse.

Hobson insisted on this procedure so his horses would share in…

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​A Pair of Blabbermouths

July 30th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Can You Imagine a Blabbering Nutcase and a “No Kidding—No Joke” Guy in 2024?

There is little doubt that the 2024 presidential election in the Divided States of America is probably the most important election in this country and the world for decades— possibly centuries, depending upon what happens in this country and the world in the next few months. Pick a few issues: economic and religious wars, climate change, economic inequality, civil wars, and…

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Cruising to Cataclysm

July 22nd, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadly@gmail.com

Sliding to Hot Maelstroms on a Cool Six Waterslides Aboard an Icon Reality Show

Las Vegas, Nevada, and its suburbs is the largest metro area in the Mojave Desert in the United States at 2.3 million residents and loves to call itself THE ENTERTAINMENT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD—which it probably is.

It averages more than three million visitors a year, probably because “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It is always in the top three destinations for…

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​One Morsel, Then the Whole World

July 19th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

“We Are Swamped in the Wake of Yachts and Chopped Up by Propeller Blades”

In the final episode of the TV series “Succession,” which is all about the desire for power, the power theme is based on this truism: “Human nature yearns for one morsel, and then one more, and then eventually wants the whole world.”

Too often the spirit of the common good of Aristotle turns rapidly to excessive greed, egomania, and abuse of political power. Think of…

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​Aristotle Was Right

July 17th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The Supreme Court Is the Only Political Party in a Time Machine in Reverse Gear

In his Book 1 of Politics more than 2,300 years ago,Greek philosopher Aristotle claimed – correctly – that man is political by nature. And to achieve “common good,” citizens had to participate in a political community to achieve community safety. The citizen must also actively engage in politics, whether as a soldier or ordinary citizen, if a society is going to serve…

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​A Tale of Contrasts and Similarities

July 1st, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Maybe Someday Orcas Will Be Able to Tell Us Why They Attacked Our Boats

In the first two weeks of June, each of the continents of America and Europe had maritime disasters in deep seas, one at 12,500 feet in the Atlantic Ocean and the other at 17,000 feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

A submersible on a sightseeing trip filled with one captain and two billionaire fathers and sons imploded near the wreck of the Titanic, an “unsinkable” ship carrying…

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