MINOT, N.D. — Even as supporters rally around embattled lawmaker Luke Simons, minimizing or dismissing accusations of harassing and inappropriate conduct, at least some of which he’s admitted to, one of his Republican colleagues is adding to the pile of evidence against him. Rep. Emily O’Brien was first elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives…
Friday Mailbag: Luke Simons, ‘Hit Pieces’, the ‘it’S Just the Flu’ Argument, and the Price of Insulin
MINOT, N.D. — Is anyone else tired of outrage? We’ve become addicted to it. Many things warrant outrage, of course, but so much of our modern culture is built around finding things to be outraged about. From Facebook and Twitter to traditional news outlets, our media deliver a steady stream of it, as do the…
More Reports of Inappropriate Behavior From North Dakota Rep. Luke Simons Come to Light
MINOT, N.D. — In a column late Wednesday night I wrote about Rep. Luke Simons’ abusive behavior toward colleagues. Women, in particular. Majority Leader Chet Pollert, a Republican from Carrington, told me that he spoke with Fargo Democratic Rep. Karla Rose Hanson and Minority Leader Josh Boschee about Simons cursing the former out after she asked him to put on a mask in…
Bastiat Lawmaker Has Shown a Pattern of Abusive Behavior to Colleagues
MINOT, N.D. — Rep. Luke Simons is a member of the controversial and secretive Bastiat Caucus in the North Dakota House of Representatives. According to multiple sources, as well as public records, Simons, R-Dickinson, also has a history of abusive and disrespectful behavior. The incident that was the last straw for many who work in…
Plain Talk: North Dakota Senate Has Passed a Bill Hiding Presidential Vote Counts
The fighting over close national elections can be vicious. We saw that last year in the heated battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump where many of the latter’s supporters made claims of vote fraud. But it’s not a recent phenomenon. Turn back the clock and you find Democrats in the George W. Bush-era hatching conspiracy theories about Diebold voting…
Democrats Recruiting Corporate Giants to Silence Conservatives Is All Kinds of Wrong
MINOT, N.D. — In 2016, in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump‘s win in the national election, Kevin Cramer, today a senator but then a member of the House of Representatives, wrote a letter to the broadcast television networks threatening congressional hearings over biased election coverage. Cramer’s (rather thin) justification for congressional involvement was that broadcast networks…
What Is Hating Ted Cruz Going to Accomplish?
MINOT, N.D. — We are not far removed from the grim spectacle of enraged Donald Trump supporters violently attacking the U.S. Capitol, so you’d think the vicious pile-on against Sen. Ted Cruz would give us pause. The man’s travel plans with his family were apparently leaked by an airline employee. Angry activists gathered at Cruz’s private residence, the place where…
Price Controls Are Not the Solution for Expensive Insulin
As has already been demonstrated by recent insulin price drops, the solution to this problem is more choice and more competition. Our lawmakers should be focused on how to make those things happen, not dictating arbitrary price levels. Continue reading…
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) prepares for an interview with CNN. Photo via TwitterPhoto via Twitter
Plain Talk: ‘The United States Used to Be the Best Country in the World When It Came to Infrastructure’
Congressman Kelly Armstrong talks about power outages, energy infrastructure, working in Congress in the Biden era, and what drives intransigence in Washington D.C. Click to listen…
The Political Tantrum Against Masking Grows More Obnoxious
MINOT, N.D. — Two political factors led to the North Dakota House of Representatives voting yesterday to ban mask mandates, be they implemented by local leaders or the governor. At least some of the proponents of House Bill 1323, including primary sponsor Rep. Jeff Hoverson of Minot, a member of the secretive band of merry goofballs called the Bastiat Caucus, believe, with…