This guest post was submitted by Raheem Williams, policy director for the North Dakota Young Republicans. North Dakota has developed an infamous reputation as one of America’s least desirable tourist location. The state has proposed a few solutions to draw in tourists – gimmicks such as the numerous redesigns of the official state logo and an expensive temple dedicated to a…
Guest Post: Let’s Dream Big and Build the Theodore Roosevelt Library
This guest post was submitted by Patrick Finken. He helped create the Norsk Hostfest and produced the Party of the Century that drew over 100,000 fellow North Dakotans to the state capitol mall in 1989. His company, Odney, also created the very successful Legendary brand strategy and campaign for the North Dakota Tourism Division. North…
A Lawmaker Posting Memes Comparing Trump to Hitler Is Why North Dakota Democrats Can’t Get Traction at the Ballot Box
“Will Democrats Ever Be Able to Win Back Rural America?” That was the headline over a recent Vice article by former Grand Forks Herald reporter Sam Easter. Given his background covering the state, Easter chose to explore an answer to that question by focusing on Democrats in North Dakota. And conclusion of the article seems…
You Can’t Just Do Art Without the Government’s Permission
Recently I read an article from Reason about a pizzeria in Arlington, Virginia, which came under fire from local government because the mural they paid to paint on their business featured pizza. The mural included pizza because the business, you know, sells pizza, but apparently that’s against the rules. “Under Arlington County’s sign code, no…
Senate Committee Adopts Hog House Amending Turning Vaping Flavor Ban Into a Tax
When HB1477, introduced by Alisa Mitskog (D-Wahpeton), was passed by the House it was a simple ban on selling flavored vaping products to minors. Here’s the text, which also would have created a stiff penalty for any infractions: The bill passed the House on a 60 – 33 vote, mostly because I think reasonable people…
Maybe North Dakotans and Minnesotans Spurn Heating Assistance Because They Think Self Sufficiency Is a Good Thing
“Most North Dakotans, Minnesotans who qualify for heating assistance don’t seek it,” reads a headline over a recent article by my colleague April Baumgarten. “Of the 55,358 households eligible for heating assistance in North Dakota, only 22 percent (12,331 households) received it in 2017, according to the most recent analysis by the National Energy and…
Plain Talk: Rep. Armstrong Says Amount of “Anti-Capitalist” Thinking in Washington D.C. Is “Very, Very Scary”
If we buy into “her version of a social contract…we are doomed,” Congressman Kelly Armstrong said on this episode of Plain Talk. He was referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s questioning of Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan earlier this week during which she asked pointed questions suggesting his bank had been complicit in the “caging of…
Roscoe Streyle: The Law Is Not Ambiguous, Lawmakers Must Make the State’s Constitutional Funds Whole
This guest post was submitted by Minot resident Roscoe Streyle, a former member of the state House of Representatives. In 1889 the State of North Dakota, through an act of Congress called The Enabling Act, received a gift of over 3 million acres of land from the Federal Government for the purpose of funding public…
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Says Something Pretty Stupid About the Dakota Access Pipeline
Yesterday the CEO of Wells Fargo appeared before a House committee where he was grilled by progressive media darling Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Her questioning, both juvenile and vapid, was an illustration of the left’s tactics in 2019. After demanding to know why Wells Fargo was “financing the caging of children” (no, really) she went on…
Environmental Activists Promote Fake News About Coal Ash
This week a headline about coal ash contaminating groundwater in North Dakota and other states probably caught your attention. And for good reason. Even the most ardent supporter of coal mining and coal-fired energy is no doubt opposed to a byproduct of that process contaminating our water. But one didn’t need to read too far…