It’s one thing to require political candidates and political parties to disclose their finances. It’s quite another to tell private citizens that the private donations they make to private advocacy groups must be exposed to public scrutiny. Continue reading…
The folderol around this mural of Thunberg, a trite and superficial figure who will be a little more than a footnote in history soon enough, has been embarrassing for just about everybody involved. Continue reading…
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…
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…
MINOT, N.D. — The impeachment of President Donald Trump may have been satisfying for certain hard-bitten Trump haters, but as a practical matter of politics, it has backfired on Democrats colossally. I’m not sure we’ve seen anything but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to just how wrong a move it was. From…
When I interviewed Rep. Hanson about her proposed bill last year, she gave the strong impression that this process was designed to be used in extraordinary circumstances. She stressed that orders to remove guns would be sought in emergencies. Yet that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening in Florida. “The law, supported by legislators of…
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…
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…
“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…
Remember, we’re just a few years removed from the violent #NoDAPL protests which saw extremists from around the country descend on the Bismarck region. They terrorized the people. They instigated violence with law enforcement. They vandalized and trespassed and littered, and it was all the more frustrating given how many in the news media who…
