Gadfly

​Rejection of Exceptionalism

August 17th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

What Kind of a United States Do You Want in 2022: Diverse Democracy or MAGA?

The 2022 elections will likely determine whether the American poor and middle class will be as powerful in 2023 as the wealthy fundamentalist Christion White Nationalists and Dominionists that currently use the courts and laws allowing a minority to rule a majority.

The conservative English magazine The Economist has an article called “The New Exceptionalism” with a rather…

Read more...


​Whimpering With Dried Voices

August 6th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Remembering Two Men Whimpering in the Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdom

In 1284, Hamelin, Germany hired a rat killer to rid the residents of the flea carrier bringing them the Black Plague. For some reason, the mayor refuses to pay him after he supposedly accomplishes the task. The rat killer, piping beautiful music, leads 130 of the town’s children out of a town—and the hypnotized children are never heard from again.

Today, a plaque on what is now…

Read more...


​Did the Devil Make Them Do It?

July 24th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

God’s Knitting of the Human Body Is Rapidly Unraveling

If you get a shiny new quarter as change in 2022, see whose image is on it. Astronaut Sally Ride rode the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 and 1984. She was the first American woman to do so. She retired from NASA in 1987, but later served on the Challenger disaster commission after it blew up entering space, killing seven astronauts aboard. Besides advising NASA when it suspended the shuttle…

Read more...


​Buy Stock in Cremation Ovens and Caskets

July 20th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Hey! Hey! Supremes! How Many Men, Women, and Kids Did You Kill Today?

Life in a complex, advanced society can be very hazardous to your health. We generally kill more than 40,000 a year in traffic accidents, many when freedom-loving drivers and passengers fly through windshields and open doors because they are not wearing seatbelts. Bikers die because helmets keep the wind from hair before heads meet concrete. We lose about 50,000 people a year to drug…

Read more...


​Cult of the Ideoidiots

July 3rd, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Christianity Has Fallen Off the Cross

Corky and I have classified ourselves as faithful Christians for nearly ninety years, but we both have reached the point where a solid majority of “Christians” no longer seems to agree with the teachings of Jesus Christ. The good Christians who are left, wherever they are, aren’t trying to save their brothers and sisters from religious suicide or euthanasia. Consequently, Corky and I are withdrawing our…

Read more...


​Democrats Can Win

June 28th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Remember: Eighty-Five Million Eligible Voters Did Not Vote in 2020

There’s only one person in Washington who can convince young voters of every color to go to the polls in 2020 en masse and vote for Democrats at every level of government—and he’s not even a Democrat. He is the most popular active politician in America. While Joe Biden falls off bikes at a Delaware beach, this leader constantly does the work necessary to win many votes.

Vermont…

Read more...


​Crossing the Autocrat’s Crevasse

June 19th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

A Most Important Question: How Do You Deprogram 52 Million Cult Members?

In a recent poll, 52 million Trumplicans of the gun cult said they were willing to sacrifice several thousand U.S. children each year in order to keep the Second Amendment on the books.

On top of this alarming declaration, our last two presidents have serious problems with reality. In a complex world going through climate change, autocracy, economic inequality, racial…

Read more...


​Empathy or Sociopathy?

June 19th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Congress: Why Does Australia Have Only One-Tenth the COVID Death Rate?

The opening sentence about the COVID virus in “The Last Word” in THE WEEK magazine is shocking: “If the United States had the same death-rate as Australia, about 900,000 lives would have been saved.”

Other countries such as Japan, Kenya, and Norway had lower death rates than us, but Australia is the better comparison. We speak English, have similar demographic profiles, and…

Read more...


​Choice: Military Rifles or Democracy

June 4th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

First, because of the intractability of the gun culture for forty years, and a Supreme Court that bases its firearm opinions on the flintlock musket, I propose that public K-12 and college and university professors in the country tell Congress: pass all necessary and reasonable gun safety and control laws to eliminate the gun culture that has flooded the entire country with firearms, or we will call a national strike on September 1, 2022, that will…

Read more...


​Going Ape and Crowing About It

May 28th, 2022

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Taking a Break From Politics While Watching Bird Brains

As a farm boy I always enjoyed feeding our animals and birds after helping to prepare the foods they all enjoyed, whether it was corn on the cob for pigs or silage chopped up for the cows for their winter buffet. Sometimes the horses got dessert in the form of a nosebag of oats. The geese, ducks, and chickens ate every seed and grain known to man before laying eggs and being eaten. Being French we…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Aquarium3 Tracker Pixel for Entry Rodeo2 Tracker Pixel for Entry EmpireAUG2021 Tracker Pixel for Entry Gruff1 Tracker Pixel for Entry NN Tracker Pixel for Entry Aquarium

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comIt’s been eight years since the Water Protectors were cleared off the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It was a bitter ending to a battle to protect the water; and for most of us…

By HPR Staff We’re all a part of building strong, healthy and inclusive communities. But the region’s non-profit organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now it’s time for these organizations to step into the spotlight.…

Saturday, March 15, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Hjemkomst Center202 1st Avenue N., MoorheadLet’s be real, Irish culture is on everyone’s mind in mid-March, so why not expand your horizons and…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com 2025 marks us halfway through the roaring 2020s. Boy, am I glad I didn’t bob my hair for this go-around. It feels like we’re off to the wrong roar, opening Pandora’s box of what-the-Fox…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comLennon: “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can!”On January 8, 2025, Timothy W. Rybeck of “The Atlantic" magazine published “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days” with the…

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 As a food enthusiast, there’s nothing better than attending a local event featuring hotdish. And as far as hotdish events go, no place does it better than the fine folks at Brewhalla and Drekker…

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.comBong Joon-ho’s highly anticipated follow-up to the game-changing Oscar-winner “Parasite” was set to arrive in theaters last year, but the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike pushed the date. Was the…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Everyone has heard the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” However, it is safe to say there are far more than a thousand in Mickey Smith’s photographs. When one hears…

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 Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…

By Gilbert Kuipersgilbertkuipers@outlook.com I live in North Dakota District 24 and have been challenging the district Republicans about their understanding of climate science for years. There has been no serious response to my…