Last Word

A thank you note for Vladimir Putin

November 29th, 2017

“…there is a hunger all over America for a discussion about economic truths, for a counterattack on the ferocious assaults that are taking place against working families, and for a practical plan on how we can reverse the obscene politics that favor the rich over the middle class and the disadvantaged in our nation.” - Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), The Speech, 12/31/10

“I never forgot that it was Hillary (Clinton) in 2003 who told some of the party leaders to pay attention to a…

An open letter to the white working class

November 24th, 2017

By Gary Olson olsong@moravian.edu

I’m writing this letter as the proud son of the working class. My father, who never attended college and was our family’s breadwinner, worked as a Greyhound Bus ticket seller, part-time mail carrier and grocery store stock boy. When he died of a sudden heart attack at age 47, he was working the night shift as a hospital orderly. I was 12 years old and my younger brother was seven.

Because my dad was a World War II vet, we had a very modest house,…

A gold star and a sad face for everyone

October 25th, 2017

By Anthony Paul

[Editor’s note: This piece contains language that some readers may find offensive]

It has been all over social media and the news lately, how our president and commander-in-chief called and spoke with one of these gold star families, the family of a fallen soldier.

This has been common practice with most presidents in recent years. However, President Trump has fallen under scrutiny for words he was overheard saying, “He knew what he signed up for.” Half the country…

Real ID

October 25th, 2017

I have received several questions from constituents over the last couple of months regarding Minnesota’s compliance with the federal REAL ID law.

The REAL ID law was passed by Congress in 2005 as a measure of homeland security. The concept is for states to adopt one set of minimum standards for identification cards that can be used by all federal agencies.

In practice, this requires people to have REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses or identification cards to enter certain federal…

Trump’s Fake Populism Exposes Republican Party’s Fake Conservatism

October 18th, 2017

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution” –Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, 1789

“(Auschwitz) is where people were turned into numbers…(It) was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by…

Aunt Deloris

October 11th, 2017

Deloris Boehmer is my last living aunt. She’s the only remaining member of my parents’ generation in our family. She’s 88, and lives in Edmore, North Dakota, about 40 miles northeast of Devils Lake.

She’s got a pretty nice house in Edmore—used to be the Lutheran parsonage. She and my uncle Leonard—my mother’s brother—bought it about 40 years ago and moved off the farm into town.

But they didn’t quit farming. The farm’s just a few miles out of town and they kept the…

Succeed 2020: Thank you, Hess Corporation

October 11th, 2017

In 2011, Hess Corporation announced a generous $25 million grant to improve North Dakota’s public education system. The grant, called Succeed 2020, aimed to improve student preparation for college and careers and ensure more successful transitions from K-12 to college and/or careers for all North Dakota students. Funding supported efforts through the 2012-2017 academic years.

To accomplish its bold goals, Succeed 2020 specifically aimed to increase ACT scores, decrease developmental or…

Pheasants and true Bliss

October 4th, 2017

Next week I’ll join about 90,000 or so of my best friends on one of North Dakota’s favorite days, hunting pheasants on the opening day of Pheasant Season. I thought I might share here some of the poetry of Paul Southworth Bliss, my favorite North Dakota poet, in honor of the occasion.

Paul Bliss was no outdoorsman. Born in Wisconsin in 1889, educated at Harvard, a World War I veteran, he rose to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army.

Bliss began his professional career as a newspaper…

Repeal but not replace

September 27th, 2017

By Jill Westerholm

jillwesterholm@gmail.com

The latest Affordable Care Act repeal by Republicans, the Graham-Cassidy bill, is reportedly now being pulled due to the good sense of John McCain, Rand Paul & Susan Collins expressing that they would not vote for the bill. A nightmare averted, for now, once again.

Eight years they've had to work on a replacement and they don't have anything. They just don't want an Affordable Care Act; repeal but no replace. Isn't that the best evidence of…

Study: State’s parents back shared parenting; judges don’t

September 20th, 2017

By Robert Franklin, Esq.

parents@nationalparentsorganization.org

In North Dakota, a child’s chances of spending meaningful time with each parent following divorce have less to do with his parents than what county they divorce in.

For example, there’s a whopping 100% difference in joint custody between Grand Forks and Morton counties. Worse, courts are less than one-fourth as likely to order shared parenting as parents are to agree to it.

Those and other worrying facts have come to…

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