Last Word

A challenge

February 28th, 2025

By Gilbert Kuipers

gilbertkuipers@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 letters to the editor in the Valley City Times Record, Bismarck Tribune, and Fargo Forum. In 2022, I spent about $1,000 on Valley City ads, trying unsuccessfully to get a serious response. It would be nice to have a meaningful discussion to understand what they…

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The web in the sky

February 21st, 2025

By Winona LaDuke

winona@winonaladuke.com

Some days I just sit out by Bad Medicine Lake in the no internet zone. (Well at least last time I checked, there were no bars on those roads towards Rice Lake in the back country.) That’s remarkable; no bars, a free zone. In this day and age, we sit at our keyboards, day in and day out…and yet some places have no internet and they survive.

A long time ago, we Anishinaabe came from the Sky world. That’s to say that the first woman came down…

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An election story with a happy ending

January 17th, 2025

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

A friend of mine, a well-known Bismarck liberal (I have a few of those), came up to me after church the other day and asked, “So, are you moving out of the country?”

I knew he was referring to the future of America, in light of November’s presidential election. It’s kind of been a half-joking theme among those of us who aren’t happy with the outcome of that election.

I said that I was taking deep breaths and staying put, but that my wife had…

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​Two Contrasting Visions of Agriculture

December 2nd, 2024

By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.

Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu

In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication of the Grand Farm Innovation Shop and Midwest Ag Summit Panel presented the precision agriculture side of the contrast, while the Barnes County Historical Society's and Dakota Resource Council’s sponsorship of John Ikerd’s presentation “50 Years That…

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How to Maintain Hope in Difficult Times

November 23rd, 2024

By Faye Seidler

fayeseidler@gmail.com

My name is Faye Seidler and I’m a suicide prevention advocate and a champion of hope. I think it is fair to say that we’ve been living through difficult times and it may be especially challenging to see the way forward today. But I want to assure people there is still a way forward, there is still hope, and we can still leave a better world for both our kids and theirs.

I understand that without context, the weight of those words means pretty…

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​What The Hell Just Happened

November 20th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

Okay, so last month I promised you a woman President of the United States. So much for my predictability quotient.

Lesson 1: Never promise something you can’t control. And nobody, not even Melania, can control Donald Trump.

The rest of my predictions were not too bad. I just missed a big one. By a mile. I predicted Republicans were pretty much going to sweep North Dakota, though. I got that right.

But I was pretty confident all along that Donald…

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Don’t let it happen here

October 25th, 2024

By Dina Butcher

dina.wtba@midconetwork.com

In 1938, when my parents were living in Germany, my father — along with 30,000 other Jewish men — was rounded up by Nazi Stormtroopers during an event known as Kristallnacht. He was taken to a concentration camp and performed forced labor until some relatives were able to secure his release. Shortly after this horrible experience, he began planning to bring his family to the United States. His mother, sisters, and several other relatives stayed…

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Go home and slop the hogs: examples of anti-democratic efforts in North Dakota

October 21st, 2024

By Curtis Stofferahn

curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu

In1915, Arthur Townley, an organizer for North Dakota's Socialist Party, witnessed a session of the state legislature where legislators were poised to discuss the establishment of a state-owned terminal elevator aimed at granting the state's farmers a degree of control over the marketing of their wheat. Amidst the fervent debate surrounding the elevator, Treadwell Twitchell, a Representative from Cass County, reportedly admonished…

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​Protecting the First Amendment and preserving the integrity of libraries

October 17th, 2024

By Terry Kalil

terrykalil@gmail.com

Public libraries are making headlines nationwide and have become an unexpected target of efforts to limit individual rights, freedom of speech and critical thinking. Nationwide, Minnesota has taken a strong leadership stance in protecting Andrew Carnegie’s vision of public libraries as “dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge.” As a 2013 National Public Radio article noted, during the Depression when no one had any money, people went there to…

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​A lawyer in the governor’s office? Maybe.

September 19th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

You might recall that memorable line, uttered by Dick the Butcher, from perhaps the least memorable of Shakespeare’s plays, “Henry VI.” I’ve been thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about lawyers. And governors.

It’s been 40 years since North Dakota had a lawyer in the governor’s chair. That could be coming to an end. Because right now, our congressman, Kelly Armstrong,…

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