MINOT, N.D. — Let’s start here: North Dakota is a wonderful place. That was a subtext of the refugee resettlement debate in Burleigh County this last week, though one overlooked by most. The county commissioners had before them the opportunity to exercise a veto over continued refugee resettlement. They ultimately voted to continue resettlement, though in…
Print Column: North Dakota Opened Its Arms to Oil Workers, Why Not Refugees Too?
MINOT, N.D. — The Trump administration has given the states and local governments the ability to opt-out of federal refugee resettlement. The feds, or the private groups doing resettlement for the feds, haven’t always been cooperative. City and county governments, not to mention school districts and social service organizations, have often found themselves struggling to…
Print Column: The Left Can’t Complain About Trump’s Fabulism While They Perpetuate Their Own
Ever noticed how the news media appends words like “without evidence” to claims President Donald Trump makes? I don’t blame them. Our president’s endless adventures with falsehood are undeniable. The man lies, with bald-faced constancy, about things both trivial and consequential. The examples are far too numerous to list here. Yet while Trump may be the most…
Print Column: Shame on You, Hunters
MINOT, N.D. — I would like to direct your attention to a Facebook page called North Dakota Lock Out. It was created after the debate in the Legislature earlier this year over SB2315. That bill would have reversed the backward presumption of public access to private land in our state. Currently, those wishing access for activities like…
Print Column: Be Thankful That Americans Choose to Do So Much of What They Don’t Have To
MINOT, N.D. — One of the wonders of our free society is that nobody is required to do much of anything. Sure, there are certain imperatives. We all need food and shelter, and getting those basics requires effort. Yet our society enjoys a level of convenience and wealth which would be almost unimaginable to our…
Print Column: Maybe Parents Shouldn’t Be Allowed at Sporting Events
MINOT, N.D. — What is it about sports which bring out the absolute worst in some parents? We’ve all seen the headlines, and sometimes the videos too. Parents brawling at a fourth-grade basketball game in Oklahoma. A half-dozen grown men punching each other at a game played by 7-year-olds in Ohio. A man firing a gun and chasing a…
Print Column: Please, Conservatives, Don’t Abandon Local Media
MINOT, N.D. — I wrote a column recently about local journalists getting blowback for the bias of the national news media. I almost always get a lot of feedback from my writing, which I’m deeply thankful for, but this particular column garnered more responses than I expected. Mostly from two categories of reader. One was from people…
Print Column: National News Outlets Squander the Public’s Trust and Local Journalists Suffer for It
MINOT, N.D. — This year the Columbia Journalism Review released the results of a national survey finding “the press” was the least trusted institution they asked about. They also asked respondents about Congress. You have to work at being trusted less than Congress. That term, though. “The press.” What does it mean? More on that in a…
Print Column: ‘Progressive’ Energy Policy Hampers Progress
MINOT, N.D. — It’s remarkable how many self-described progressives are against progress. Is it progress for hundreds of thousands of Californians to go without electricity in blackouts power company officials say may be necessary for at least the next decade? Our modern society, with all of its speed and convenience, is built on the back of…
Print Column: How Many Times Did North Dakota Cops Violate the Fourth Amendment?
MINOT, N.D. — By all appearances, cops in North Dakota are routinely violating the Fourth Amendment and its protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” Let me give you some examples. Last year, in a case originating in Stutsman County, North Dakota District Court Judge Jay Schmitz suppressed, as evidence supporting criminal charges, some 500 pounds…