Worse, in the lead-up to these letters, the state’s Board of University and School Lands (which counts Gov. Doug Burgum and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, among other statewide elected officials, among its membership) met repeatedly behind closed doors — almost a half-dozen times in the last three months according to the Bismarck Tribune — to…
Plain Talk: Seven Years in the Making, Fighting Sioux Documentary to Be in Theaters This Spring
Bismarck-based filmmaker Matt Fern has been making a documentary about the controversy around the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname for seven years now. This spring, he’s finally ready to put it in front of audiences. The film, now called Fighting Over Sioux, will get a theatrical release in North Dakota this spring, to…
Guest Post: Bismarck Embraces Cancel Culture and It’s Not a Good Thing
Dustin Gawrylow is the managing director of the North Dakota Watchdog Network and a Bismarck resident. Bismarck’s latest controversy can be summed up as follows: A local artist wanted to practice his first amendment rights by hanging an old fashioned black and white portrait of an internationally known climate change zealot on the alley-facing exterior wall…
“It’s a Bull***T Process”
MINOT, N.D. — In North Dakota, if you are arrested for something like driving under the influence, the state initiates two separate legal proceedings against you. One is the familiar criminal proceeding. The other is a civil proceeding aimed at removing your driving privileges. “It’s a bulls**t process,” a reader who is also a practicing…
Plain Talk: Burgum Talks About the Greta Thunberg Mural Controversy, His 2020 Challenger, Energy, Agriculture and Trump
“Art is art,” Gov. Doug Burgum said of controversy in Bismarck over a mural of activist Greta Thunberg. “Art is free speech.” On this episode of Plain Talk, he also discussed what he described as our “broken energy market,” which is contributing to the financial woes of a major coal-fired power plant owned by Great…
Plain Talk: Who Is Dr. Shelley Lenz, the Veterinarian Who Wants to Be Governor of North Dakota?
“I don’t have a party. I’m an independent.” That’s what Dr. Shelley Lenz told me on this episode of Plain Talk. Lenz is a veterinarian from western North Dakota who, despite her assertions of independence, is running for the North Dakota Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nomination. She said that part of the reason why she wants…
Rush Limbaugh Changed My Life
With hard work and prodigious talent, he ascended to heights of success and influence achieved by few others working in his medium. However you feel about his politics, what he did with little more than his voice and a newspaper is both astounding and inspiring, An example to the rest of us of what can…
Plain Talk: Sen. Cramer Talks About Great River Energy’s Financial Woes, Impeachment Acquittal, Mitt Romney Blowback and the State of the Union Address
Great River Energy says it’s facing some financial woes at it’s Coal Creek Station power plant. While coal power has seen some tough sledding nationally, this may be the first indication of those problems coming to North Dakota, where traditionally, the coal industry has proven more resilient. In this episode of Plain Talk, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.,…
Guest Post: Romney and the Impeachment Vote
This guest post was submitted by Fargo-area attorney Mark Western. The impeachment trial of President Trump is now over. It is a part of history. The President has been acquitted on both counts. There will be collateral damages, both in terms of the body politic as well as public trust in their institutions. Now the…
Plain Talk: Does Marijuana Lead to Satanism?
David Owen, a pro-marijuana activist, working to put legalization of recreational pot on North Dakota’s 2020 ballot, says a Legislative study into how to handle legalization has gone “off the rails.” A meeting this week of the committee overseeing an interim study intended to look into the logistics of implementing legal recreational marijuana policy, should…