MINOT, N.D. — I’ll admit to not caring much about the Olympics. I have a passing interest in watching the American athletes do well, and every once in a while a particular team or athlete will be possessed of a story that intrigues me, but beyond that my attention is usually elsewhere. The Simone Biles story has been…
Let’s fairly apportion the finger-pointing over pandemic handling
MINOT, N.D. — Our public authorities seem perversely intent on undermining their credibility at a time when we desperately need them to be credible. They have been since the beginning of the pandemic. Motorcycle rallies and right-leaning protests against lockdowns were castigated as super-spreader events, but the often violent and chaotic Black Lives Matter protests last year got…
Petitioners for term limits ballot measure falsely claiming it targets Congress
MINOT, N.D. — Is it too much to ask that ballot measure campaigns represent their proposals to the public honestly? Last year a left-wing group circulated a constitutional amendment that would have done away with our existing primary process. It would have reduced your representation in the state House by half. It would have replaced…
Sanford, Mayo mandating a vaccine that still hasn’t been approved by the FDA
MINOT, N.D. — I’m a supporter of the COVID-19 vaccine, and that’s not just words. I’ve been vaccinated. Every eligible member of my family has been vaccinated. But I’m worried vaccine mandates of the sort Sanford Health and the Mayo Clinic are in the process of implementing may do more harm than good. How might things play out? We…
The NDGOP is governing successfully, and the Bastiat Caucus hates it
MINOT, N.D. — Car alarms are pointless. On paper, they make good sense. What better way to alert you to someone tampering with your car than a lot of loud honking and beeping? Only, when was the last time you heard a car alarm and assumed someone was up to something nefarious as opposed to…
Biden’s capitulation to the Russians is almost enough to make a person miss Donald Trump
MINOT, N.D. — I’ve been accused of being too hard on Trump supporters. Or, more specifically, lumping all Trump supporters together. Putting the Republicans who voted for Trump because the alternative was Hillary Clinton, and then Joe Biden, in the same category with QAnon aficionados who think the Jan. 6 riot was a “false flag” operation put…
‘Freedom Phone’ is the apotheosis of monetizing the conservative ghetto
MINOT, N.D. — Have you heard about the Freedom Phone? It’s a product being hawked by a 21-year-old kid named Erik Finman who lays dubious claim to the title of “youngest bitcoin millionaire.” The phone’s premise is that it represents a pushback against Big Tech’s efforts to serve as the speech police. The Freedom Phone won’t censor apps…
Maybe the way to fight vaccine hesitancy is to do less?
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s progress on vaccinations has stalled. In March, the state averaged 6,013 doses administered per day. In April that average was 3,980 per day. By May we were down to 1,492 per day, and June saw the daily average drop to 1,023. So far in July, we’re averaging just 563 doses,…
Congressman Armstrong will be a credit to the investigation of Jan. 6 riot
MINOT, N.D. — When news broke yesterday that Congressman Kelly Armstrong had been chosen to serve on a select committee that will investigate the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, there were many in political circles familiar with Armstrong’s track record of leadership both in the state Legislature and as chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, who were nodding…
Biden’s oil lease moratorium is costing North Dakota billions
MINOT, N.D. — Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem recently filed suit against President Joe Biden’s administration over a moratorium on federal oil and gas leases implemented by Secretary of the Interior (and anti-oil activist) Debra Haaland You might think this is a relatively small matter, with a marginal impact on North Dakotans, given that most of our state’s land and minerals are privately…