Rob Port is the editor of SayAnythingBlog.com, a columnist for the Forum News Service, and host of the Plain Talk Podcast which you can subscribe to by clicking here.

Author Archives: Rob Port

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) listens to Michael Cohen testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 27, 2019. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/Copyright 2019 The New York Times)

Plain Talk: Rep. Armstrong Says Amount of “Anti-Capitalist” Thinking in Washington D.C. Is “Very, Very Scary”

- March 15, 2019 - ,

Plain Talk: Rep. Armstrong Says Amount of “Anti-Capitalist” Thinking in Washington D.C. Is “Very, Very Scary”

- March 15, 2019 - ,

If we buy into “her version of a social contract…we are doomed,” Congressman Kelly Armstrong said on this episode of Plain Talk. He was referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s questioning of Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan earlier this week during which she asked pointed questions suggesting his bank had been complicit in the “caging of…

State Treasurer Kelly Schmidt testifies on a bill clarifying North Dakota oil extraction tax allocations Wednesday, March 13, 2019. John Hageman / Forum News Service

Roscoe Streyle: The Law Is Not Ambiguous, Lawmakers Must Make the State’s Constitutional Funds Whole

- March 14, 2019 - ,

This guest post was submitted by Minot resident Roscoe Streyle, a former member of the state House of Representatives. In 1889 the State of North Dakota, through an act of Congress called The Enabling Act, received a gift of over 3 million acres of land from the Federal Government for the purpose of funding public…

Senator Kevin Cramer David Samson / The Forum

Plain Talk: Senator Cramer on Ocasio-Cortez: “I Think She’s a Paid Actress by the Republican Party”

- March 14, 2019 - ,

“I think she’s a paid actress by the Republican Party.” That’s what Senator Kevin Cramer said, jokingly, in response to a listener question during this episode of Plain Talk. The listener had asked if Cramer thought Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be some sort of a plant. Cramer went on to say, “I refer to her…

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Screen capture via CSPAN video

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Says Something Pretty Stupid About the Dakota Access Pipeline

- March 13, 2019 - ,

Yesterday the CEO of Wells Fargo appeared before a House committee where he was grilled by progressive media darling Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Her questioning, both juvenile and vapid, was an illustration of the left’s tactics in 2019. After demanding to know why Wells Fargo was “financing the caging of children” (no, really) she went on…

Plain Talk Podcast: ND United Keeping Options Open for Lawsuit Over Mistake in Allocations to Constitutional Funds

- March 13, 2019 - ,

Could the state of North Dakota be sued over a mistake in how oil tax revenues were allocated to certain constitutional funds? On this episode of Plain Talk the head of North Dakota’s combined teacher and public worker unions, Nick Archuleta of North Dakota United, says that’s something he and his group like like to…

Minnkota Power Cooperative's Milton R. Young Station, near Center, N.D., burns lignite coal to generate electricity for customers in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. In 2017, North Dakota coal-fired power plants produced 2.7 million tons of coal ash, which must be properly disposed of and monitored. Special to The Forum

Environmental Activists Promote Fake News About Coal Ash

- March 12, 2019 - ,

This week a headline about coal ash contaminating groundwater in North Dakota and other states probably caught your attention. And for good reason. Even the most ardent supporter of coal mining and coal-fired energy is no doubt opposed to a byproduct of that process contaminating our water. But one didn’t need to read too far…

Archive Photo by Dickinson State University Theodore Roosevelt Center

Guest Post: Build the Theodore Roosevelt Library and It Will Be North Dakota’s Top Tourist Attraction

- March 12, 2019 - ,

This guest post was submitted by Charley Johnson of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Julie Rygg of the Greater Grand Forks CVB, Phyllis Burckhard of the Minot CVB, Terri Thiel of the Dickinson CVB, and Suzie Kenner of the Destination Marketing Association of North Dakota. We are writing to express our support for the allocation…

Ben Tucker, who farms near St. Thomas, N.D., is one of many private citizens who bring ideas to the Legislature and seek help from lawmakers and Legislative Council staff to guide them through the legislative process. Diane Newberry / North Dakota Newspaper Association

This Is the Sort of Citizen Activist Measure 1 Will Hurt

- March 11, 2019 - ,

Over the weekend reporter Diane Newberry from the North Dakota Newspaper Association had a very interesting report about citizen-driven politics at the state Legislature, focusing on an activist named Ben Tucker who has been working on the expansion of Medicaid benefits. Tucker is from St. Thomas, and his lobbying activities at the Legislature are backed…

A wind far in Morton County Mike McCleary, Bismarck Tribune

Wind Energy Companies Shouldn’t Be Dismissive of Their Inability to Produce Power When It’s Frigid Outside

- March 11, 2019 - ,

We’ve had some positively arctic temperatures in our region this year. Back in late January, amid a “polar vortex,” Jason Bohrer of the Lignite Energy Council wrote a guest post for SAB pointing out that it was coal keeping the lights on. Definitely not wind power. You would expect the head of a pro-coal group…

Nathan and Abby Bauer of Fargo stand at attention Sunday during send-off ceremonies for members of the North Dakota National Guard 188th Engineer Company at the North Dakota State College of Science's Blikre Activities Center in Wahpeton. David Samson / The Forum

Occupational Licensing Reciprocity Is Good for Military Spouses, but Why Not for Everyone?

- March 11, 2019 - ,

“North Dakota, meanwhile, has more than 13,000 unfilled jobs, many of which require licensing,” the Grand Forks Herald wrote in an editorial over the weekend. “Often, trailing military spouses are qualified to fill those openings, but because of the existing licensing process they are not able to immediately work. Since many military spouses are in the…

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