MINOT, N.D. — A majority of students in North Dakota, some 53%, attend a school at which there is a police presence. Far more students in our state, some 74%, attend a school that fails to achieve the student-to-counselor ratio recommended by national organizations like the American School Counselor Association. Those numbers are from a…
Plain Talk: ACLU of North Dakota Talks Cash Bail and Cops in Schools
On this episode of Plain Talk, Dane DeKrey from the ACLU of North Dakota talks about his group’s opposition to cash bail. They’d like to see the state use other methods to guarantee that defendants, released from jail pre-trial, show up in court. He also discusses his group’s opposition to the use of police officers…
Print Column: We’re More Affluent and Connected Than Ever, So Why Do We Feel So Alone and Unhappy?
MINOT, N.D. — “The average person in the U.S. has only one close friend, according to a study published in the American Sociological Review.” That’s something NBC News reported earlier this year. “One in four people have no confidantes at all,” they also reported, and some 75 percent of people say they’re unsatisfied with the friendships they…
Plain Talk: Why Do Americans Feel So Anxious? “It’s Not Trump” Says NDSU Professor
Americans are living at historically high levels of prosperity, but we also see increasing rates of problems with things like anxiety. About 20 percent of millennials say they are alone all or some of the time. Many of them say they have no real friends. “More and more people are taking anti-depressants and buying self-help…
Print Column: Still Not Convinced We Should Listen to Teens on Policy
MINOT, N.D. — I’ve spent the last week getting roasted over a previous column belittling Greta Thunberg’s obnoxious political movement predicated on the policy expertise of dumb kids. You’re not supposed to call kids dumb despite our society treating them, often with force of law, as the immature and inexperienced people they are. The law…
Plain Talk: “We’ll Be a Mining Superpower”
On this episode of Plain Talk Stephen Moore, an economic advisor to President Donald Trump, talks about the need for the United States to develop its domestic supplies of resources like uranium. In a recent column Moore wrote that “more than 99 percent of US uranium requirements are now imported” and “more than 40 percent…
Print Column: We’re Probably Going to See a Lot More Presidents Impeached After the Trump Era
MINOT, N.D. — Only two United States Presidents have ever been impeached. The House of Representatives impeached Democratic President Andrew Johnson in 1868 amid a squabble over the cabinet in the wake of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. About 130 years later the House impeached Democratic President Bill Clinton for lying under oath and obstructing justice during the investigation of…
Plain Talk: Congressman Armstrong Says He “Can’t Tell You How Much Time” Democrats Have “Wasted” on Impeachment
“I can’t tell you how much time we’ve wasted on this.” That’s what Congressman Kelly Armstrong had to say of the latest push from Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump. He said the current controversy, with accusations that Trump pursued an untoward arrangement with the leader of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden…
Print Column: Who Cares What Children Think About Complex Policy Questions?
MINOT, N.D. — Hey, kids. Recently a bunch of you chose to participate in a national walkout campaign inspired by Greta Thunberg, a dead-eyed Swede who arrived on our shores in a rowboat or something to show how dedicated she is to her apocalyptic faith. It wouldn’t do to have this green-tinged, modern-day Savonarola land…
Print Column: The Left’s Fixation on Identity Politics Has Been a Boon for White Supremacists
MINOT, N.D. — Hate groups are using the internet to target young white Americans. Quite successfully, it seems, according to a recent Washington Post report headlined, “How white supremacists are recruiting boys online.” The story details the efforts of various hate groups to lure white kids into their ignorant causes with memes and humor. It’s working. The infamous…