Even despite signing a compromise deal from Congress which funds a portion of his border wall priority, President Donald Trump has decided to go nuclear. In addition to what Congress has approved, the President announced he will declare a national emergency, using his executive powers to redirect billions of additional dollars to building a border…
House Passes Bill to Use Legacy Fund to Replace the Income Tax, Democrats Incorrectly Say It Will Make State More Reliant on Oil Taxes
Not so long ago I interviewed Rep. Craig Headland for Plain Talk about his bill to use Legacy Fund earnings to replace the personal and corporate income taxes. Here’s the audio: The bill, HB1530, would transfer Legacy Fund earnings into an income tax reduction fund. Over time that fund would be used to replace income…
UND Plans to Spend up to $25,000 Per Year Letting Chief of Staff Work From Home…in Texas
UPDATE: This post originally indicated that Foster would be working from North Carolina, where she is from originally. That was based on previous information from UND indicating that Foster was resigning to be closer to family. I have since learned that Foster will be moving to Texas, and commuting from there to UND. I’ve updated…
Analysis: No Donations to Republicans From NDSU Faculty or Administrators During 2018 Election Cycle
We hear a lot about the need for diversity on America’s campuses. Gender diversity. Racial diversity. Things like that. What our friends in the higher education industry seem little interested in is diversity of thought. It’s not exactly news that the faculty and administrators on America’s campuses lean left, but it can still be surprising…
Of Course Ethics Investigations Should Be Secret
During the last election cycle a left-wing, Democrat-aligned group filed an ethics complaint against Republican candidate Tom Campbell because one of his campaign ads featured him standing in front of a truck with his business logo on it. The complaint was announced to the media by the left wing groups filing it. The complaint went…
Oh Sure, Now Democrats Want to Have an “Honest Conversation” About Wearing Blackface
“We — all of us, black, white, gay, straight —got to start extending grace to one another so that we can start having honest conversations with one another and leave room for growth,” Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Corey Booker said at an event recently. He was talking about the controversy over two Virginia Democrats admitting…
The Legislature Must Recognize That the Land Doesn’t Belong to the Hunters
I’ve written a lot about SB2315, introduced by Senator Robert Erbele (R-Lehr), which would flip North Dakota’s presumption of land access. Currently everyone, at any time, is presumed to have access to rural lands in the absence of signs posting it as off limits. Outdoors enthusiasts, hunters in particular, see this status quo as a boon…
Trump Invites Bison Football Team to the White House
This per a press release just out from Senator Hoeven’s office. The full release is below. Here’s a video statement from Hoeven: “The NDSU Bison have won seven of the last eight FCS national football titles,” Hoeven is quoted as saying in the statement. “After a meeting with the President, I spoke with him about…
Joel Heitkamp’s Ratings Problems Are Very, Very Real
Last week I wrote a post about the ratings problems talk show host Joel Heitkamp is facing. Today my colleague, former Heitkamp employee Mike McFeely, has a column suggesting I got it all wrong. “His thesis was that despite Joel’s sister being a statewide story every day as she ran a U.S. Senate campaign to…
If We’re Really Concerned About Ethics in North Dakota We Should Have Given Lawmakers Their Free Lunch*
There is a lot of Sturm und Drang about ethics in North Dakota right now. Most of it – especially the clouds of smug coming from the Measure 1 supporters – isn’t so much about ethics as a group of partisan cranks out to shift the state’s political winds by regulating political activity. Because what do you…