On this episode of Plain Talk, Senator Kevin Cramer takes listener questions (he’s on every week, email your questions any time to rob@sayanythingblog.com). In response to several questions about it, the Senator says he’s co-sponsoring legislation introduced by Texas Senator Ted Cruz which would use some of the money seized from notorious drug lord “El…
Tara Brandner: Support Legislation Requiring Insurers to Support Infertility Care
This guest post was submitted by Tara Brandner, a doctorate nurse practitioner, infertility patient, and primary constituent behind SB 2233. She has also created a Facebook page to share information about the legislation. One in eight individuals or couples, and over 14,000 North Dakota Residents, have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. The American Medical…
It Sure Seems Like Senator Kevin Cramer Is Throwing Shade at His Predecessor Heidi Heitkamp Over Delaying Senate Confirmations
North Dakota got some good news on Senate nominations this week. Last month I wrote in a print column that North Dakota was just months away from having no full-time federal judges. This week we learned that Grand Forks attorney Peter Welte has been scheduled for a confirmation hearing this week. Also, North Dakota hasn’t…
Ladd Erickson: Law Enforcement Shouldn’t Need a Conviction to Exercise Civil Asset Forfeiture
This guest post was submitted by McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson. To Rob, the broader media, and to Bismarck Representative Rick Becker, a criminal conviction as a precondition to asset forfeitures is a commonsense requirement. For prosecutors and police officers, that same precondition in HB1286 is unworkable. To my team, we have to charge…
Plain Talk: Minnesota Governor Continue’s His Predecessor’s Politically-Driven Delay of Line 3 Pipeline Project
On this episode of Plain Talk, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has decided to continue his predecessor Mark Dayton’s political obstruction of the Line 3 replacement project. Mel Olson from Minnesotans for Line 3 talks about it. Also, an analysis shows there were no reported contributions to Republicans from faculty or administrators at NDSU during the…
Print Column: Are North Dakota’s Liberals Willing to Look Past Partisanship on Gay Rights?
MINOT, N.D. — In the state House of Representatives there looms an important test for North Dakota’s gay rights advocates. Will they support HB1441, a bill outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation, even though it doesn’t include protections for transexual citizens? Will they support it even though it’s primary and secondary sponsors are almost all Republicans?…
Analysis: No Donations to Republicans From NDSU Faculty or Administrators During 2018 Election Cycle
We hear a lot about the need for diversity on America’s campuses. Gender diversity. Racial diversity. Things like that. What our friends in the higher education industry seem little interested in is diversity of thought. It’s not exactly news that the faculty and administrators on America’s campuses lean left, but it can still be surprising…
State House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill Banning Sobriety Checkpoints
For several legislative sessions in a row the issue of sobriety checkpoints have come before state lawmakers. If you’re not familiar with what they are, it’s a law enforcement tactic whereby they stop everyone who happens to be passing along a given stretch of road and they conduct a sobriety check. If you decline, there…
Of Course Ethics Investigations Should Be Secret
During the last election cycle a left-wing, Democrat-aligned group filed an ethics complaint against Republican candidate Tom Campbell because one of his campaign ads featured him standing in front of a truck with his business logo on it. The complaint was announced to the media by the left wing groups filing it. The complaint went…
Don’t Call Them a “Sheriff’s Department” Any More
Yesterday I got a press release from the Morton County Sheriff’s Office indicating that they’d like to be called an office now. Not a department. “I know the terms have been used interchangeably in the past, so I wanted to make you aware in order for you to make the appropriate reference to the office…