Not so long ago I had as a guest on my radio show Fargo-area citizen Peter Tefft. You can listen to the interview here. At the time, in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Tefft had been making headlines not only as an attendee of that Virginia rally but as a potential organizer for…
You Don’t Have to Agree With Speech to Believe It Should Be Protected
When I was an elementary school kid I got in trouble for fighting with another boy on the playground during recess. I felt my cause was righteous. The boy had been picking on me, then shoved me to the ground, so I gave him a poke in the nose as retribution. Needless to say, we…
Stop Comparing Violent Charlottesville Counterprotesters to WWII Veterans
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.…
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…