Since we are incapable of having a political debate in this country in 2017 without resorting to partisanship and tribalism, the violent events in Charlottesville have turned into a national game of finger pointing. The various flavors of bigot who showed up, ostensibly to protest the dismantling of Confederate-themed memorials, are beholden of an ugly…
Audio: Congressman Cramer Says “Liberal Media” Would Have Praised Trump’s Words on Charlottesville if They’d Come From Obama
Congressman Kevin Cramer was on my radio show today for his weekly open phones segment, and I asked him about former state lawmaker Ben Hanson announcing a run for the U.S. House for Democrats. “He’s not my challenger yet because I haven’t announced that I’m running,” Cramer said, correcting the way I referred to Hanson.…
Republican Lawmakers to Library: Put Those Gay Books Back in the Closet
Apparently because they didn’t have anything better to do, a couple of Republican lawmakers from West Fargo got their skirts up over their heads because of a display at the local public library promoting LGBT-themed books. From the Fargo Forum: The library mounted the display of 24 books on LGBT topics in early August in anticipation…
North Dakota Gets $10 Million Grant From the Feds to Help Pay for #NoDAPL Protest Costs
In a print column earlier this month I noted that the State of North Dakota had applied, in June, for $13.8 million in funding from the Justice Department’s Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance Program. The intent of the request is to request some of the state’s roughly $38 million in costs resulting from the violent #NoDAPL…
Charlottesville Was a Violent Clash of Identity Politics
All Americans of good faith were horrified by the events in Charlottesville over the weekend. To see that sort of political violence on U.S. soil is nothing short of horrifying. Ostensibly the Unite the Right rally was aimed at protesting the removal of local Confederate monuments, but let’s not kid ourselves. The protest and counter-protest…
Audio: Ward County Farmer Suggests Weather Modification Efforts Are Keeping Rain From Falling
Darin Langerud, director of the North Dakota Atmospheric Resource Board (the state agency in charge of cloud seeding programs in North Dakota), has said that weather modification efforts have suppressed crop-damaging hail by 45 percent and increased rain fall by 5 to 10 percent. But that’s news to Ward County farmer Nathan Smith. “Every time…
Audio: Fired Fargo Cop Tells His Side of the Story
Fargo police officer David Boelke was fired yesterday by Chief David Todd for a number of reasons. You can read Todd’s memo justifying the termination below. I had Boelke on my radio show today alongside his attorney Mark Friese of the Vogel Law Firm. I asked Boelke why this happened. “I don’t know if this…
Hate Crime Legislation Is as Pointless as the Death Penalty
Proponents of the death penalty justify that policy by suggesting that it deters crime. The problem is there’s no evidence that it does. There seems to be no causal relationship between the death penalty and crime incidence at all, anywhere. So why bother with the expensive and legally/emotionally fraught exercise of putting prisoners to death?…
North Dakota May Have Finally Found Rock Bottom in Revenues Free Fall
Yesterday the Office of Management and Budget released their final general fund revenue report for the 2015-2017 biennium which ended on June 30. You can read it in full below. Compared to the previous biennium – which set a record for general fund revenue collections – the State of North Dakota was down over $1.68…
It’s Time to Raise the Gas Tax
It’s not often you’ll hear me argue in favor of raising taxes, but today’s editorial in the Grand Forks Herald makes a compelling case for raising the tax on fuel. “Since 1993, the motor vehicle gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon,” the paper opines. “That’s good when we stop at the local C-store…
