Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Christmas is on a Wednesday this year, folks. It’s a hump day holiday that has thrown me off completely. I was scratching my head this week trying to remember the last time we had Christmas smack dab in the middle of the week, and do you know why? Well, apparently it happened in 2019, the last Christmas before the COVID-19 pandemic changed our world. It feels like a lifetime ago, and in many ways that’s true. I publish two newspapers now, and one of them has to be sent to the printer 12 hou...
Biden and Trump have brought the presidential pardon power center stage Readers’ questions about the origins and scope of the presidential pardon power, triggered by President Joe Biden’s grant of a pardon to his son, Hunter, and the possibility he would issue blanket clemency – a preconviction pardon – to those whom President-elect Donald Trump has said should “go to jail,” coupled with Trump’s declaration that he will “most likely” pardon January 6, 2021 defendants, invite exploration of the most delicate, yet imperial, of the president’s con...
I promised Cecile Wehrman of the North Dakota Newspaper Association I would write opinions for the weekly newspapers that focused on opportunities rather than problems. I want to share "useful thinking" with readers who live in rural places. Some of that thinking comes from me, but much from others I have listened to, or read what they wrote. Former Ag Commissioner Roger Johnson is tired of me quoting people who had said important things. I understand I can be tiring to listeners and readers....
In just a few weeks, from a beautiful venue in central Bismarck, there will be seemingly endless angst and rancor, triviality and consequence, enterprise and enthusiasm. For the 69th time, the North Dakota Legislature will convene in regular session. There, our duly elected representatives will spend somewhere up to 80 days conducting business they see as good, important and necessary. Most of us won't care much about most of what they do. Some will care a little about a lot of it, a few will...
Hey, federal teleworkers, your days of working from home appear to be numbered. According to the New York Post, only 6% of federal employees work in the office full time and more than a third work from home full time. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 3% of the federal workforce worked from home. These are the findings from a scathing report by Sen. Joni Ernst that identifies a number of government inefficiencies, including various abuses among unsupervised teleworking employees. One employee...
Constitutional character as destiny If it is true, as the Athenian philosopher Heraclitus said, that “character is destiny,” then it may be said that a nation’s constitution is its destiny. Does a nation’s constitution exalt fundamental principles – due process, equal protection and the rule of law, and freedom of speech, press and religion? Equally revealing of a nation’s character, are its laws, policies and programs. They reveal its values, as Aristotle said, and open a window onto its soul. How does a country treat the poor, the hungry,...
It's December 4, and I still don't have my Christmas tree at home decorated. A bare evergreen stands tall in the corner of the living room, staring at me. I'll get to it soon, I say. Traditionally, we'd decorate it on Thanksgiving weekend. It's something we've done with our kids since they were little. This year, nobody was really feeling it. My oldest had put up the tree in her apartment weeks ago, and my middle child spent hours decorating the display windows in the newspaper office last...
With this holiday season following a hotly contested election, some Americans fear that political disagreements among family will boil over like a pot of poorly watched potatoes. In North Dakota, where the Plains meet the prairie and the spirit of the old country lives on, the secret to peace at the family table may be found in prioritizing lefse over politics. Norwegian immigrants began arriving in North Dakota in the 1870s. According to World Population Review, Norwegian Americans are predominantly concentrated in the Midwest, with North...
“Does the U.S. President have the authority to withdraw from NATO?” President-elect Donald Trump is not a fan of NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – which has been the backbone of the US-European security alliance since its creation in 1949. He has mused publicly about withdrawing the United States from the treaty. Along the campaign trail, Trump has reminded audiences of his threat to refuse military support for a NATO ally that he believes doesn’t pay enough to support the alliance, despite the promise in Article V of the treat...
Complaining has become a taboo in today’s society, with an abundance of advice online about avoiding complaints during the holidays or managing frequent complainers. While it’s easy to dismiss complaining as harmless, the reality is it affects how we connect with others – and even how we view the world. Will Bowen, author and motivational speaker, suggests that the average person hears 500 complaints daily. This staggering number reveals how deeply embedded complaining is in our culture. According to Bowen, one reason people complain is to ga...
You know the old song lyrics “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am?” I’ve been hearing that on a loop in my inner ear over the past two weeks since Donald Trump pulled off what some have called a surprise landslide but which, after the votes were counted, seems to be more of an anti-Kamala “boy are they blue” wave. In other words, I doubt that America has embraced Trump because he’s received a lower popular vote percentage than almost every prior winner. Still, America cou...
Trump’s demand for recess appointments brings the Constitution and the Senate’s role into sharp focus The Recess Appointment power, seldom at the forefront of national discussion, resurfaced last week as a headline topic when President-elect Donald Trump declared that those Republicans seeking the title of Senate Majority Leader “must” agree that his nominations for the U.S. Cabinet should be installed as recess appointments, a move that would bypass approval by the U.S. Senate. The unprecedented command from a president-in-waiting to an inde...
Taking home a state championship is something few kids ever get to experience. This past weekend, our boys of fall at New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock ended their football season in dramatic and dominant fashion, by shutting down the LaMoure/Litchville Marion Loboes and setting a state record for most points scored in a championship game. This season has been epic since the beginning, and this team was like none we've ever seen. I got to see it all from the sidelines, standing right in the midst...
Since the chaos of election season has ended, and we’ve stopped receiving daily text messages asking us to contribute a few dollars to our favorite candidate’s legal expense fund or celebrity endorsement financing plan, we can turn our attention to more important matters, like gravy. Seriously, though, I’ve read several articles recently warning that Americans should avoid discussing political topics during holiday gatherings in order to avoid conflict, hurt feelings and damaged sheetrock. The problem is that arguing is a cherished pasti...
“Liberty, justice and civilization depend on the rule of law” Presidential elections have consequences, as they say, and national airwaves are filled with voices engaging in speculation and prediction about the legislation, policies and actions that President-Elect Donald Trump will promote in his second term. Whatever Trump chooses to do, this much should be said about his presidency, as it should be said about any presidency. The nation’s chief executive has, by virtue of his Oath of Office, an obligation to preserve, protect and defend the C...
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its monthly Small Business Optimism Index this past week. Small business owners are slowly regaining confidence, but with an uncertain holiday season ahead, there’s a degree of trepidation. “With the election over, small business owners will begin to feel less uncertain about future business conditions,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Although optimism is on the rise on Main Street, small business owners are still f...
“Now that’s a mic-drop moment.” “You’re a rockstar.” I was sitting in a large room in the basement of the Washington State Capitol building for my very first fireside chat, sharing my personal experience bridging divides and the audience sat rapt. At this point, I’ve given plenty of speeches and presentations in my career. This one, though, was in my own state, to some pretty important people, and I was uncharacteristically nervous. Thankfully, I’d been reading Terry Szuplat’s "Say It Well" in the lead-up to this talk. It felt like a rich,... Full story
James Madison, writing in August of 1823 from his home in Montpelier, Va. – to which he repaired in what turned out be a futile effort to retire from public life – continued to assess the defects of the Constitution, including the way America elects its president. Madison, who preferred direct election of the president, addressed what he regarded as a foundational weakness in our electoral system. In the case of a tie in the Electoral College, the Twelfth Amendment requires the U.S. House of Representatives to choose the next president. Mad...
You know how it is when the weather gets cool. The leaves change colors. The birds start to migrate. And out of the clear blue sky, your family drops a bomb on you. Not a literal bomb. We fight like every other family, but none of us use lethal weapons. Yet. During a perfectly nice dinner where everyone at the table was peacefully staring at their phones, the female wing of the family launched a barrage. “We’re not spending enough time together as a family,” announced my sister. I didn...
The presidential election of 1788, the first under the newly minted Constitution, was unusual and even unique in ways that 21st century Americans can scarcely imagine. For one, there was no campaigning. In the 18th century, it was an unwritten rule that any display of ambition would be unseemly. For another, George Washington, widely viewed as Father of His Country, was for all practical purposes anointed by his fellow citizens. As it happened, he was elected unanimously by the Electoral College, a feat that he would achieve, again, in the...
The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. My ancestors came from Germany, Norway and Scotland, among others. We have people coming to our communities from the Philippines, Ukraine, Venezuela and other countries right now. Yes, there are barriers. No, it isn't easy to integrate new people, especially when language limits communication and the American way takes some getting used to. When I first heard about the Uniting 4 Ukraine program developed by the Carrington City Council, I...
Dear Editor, As the election nears, hopefully, we all get to the ballot box for the candidates, but also for the measures before us. I’d like to address Measure 4. First, I think we can all agree we need property tax relief – and it’s overdue. I’m not sure what that looks like exactly in the future, but it needs to happen. Measure 4, though, isn’t the right approach. If the measure passes, it would become part of our State Constitution, making it difficult at best to correct or even refine. This really worries me, as there is no clear-cut...
Our ongoing review of the origins and rationales that undergird the Electoral College reveals a central point that cannot be ignored. The disturbing vice of the Electoral College, as we have seen, is that it undermines our political system by providing presidential candidates with an incentive to visit competitive states, particularly large competitive states, at the expense of small states. In a system providing for the direct election of the president, which would more effectively represent...
Property tax is a contradiction to private property rights, implying that government is the actual owner, and real estate is only rented in perpetuity vis-a-vis property tax. The deed to your house or land really only conveys use or occupancy rights. Miss enough "rent" payment and you will be evicted. This system creates an unfair hardship for anyone on fixed income, to the point that rising property values and taxes can eventually force them out of their homes. Even if they are able to remain in the house, the property tax bill consumes an... Full story
One of the chief justifications for the Electoral College, advanced by its advocates, is that small, lightly populated states require protection for interests that would be overwhelmed by large states under a system based on the direct election of the president. Readers may be surprised to learn that in the Constitutional Convention, James Madison told fellow delegates that small states don’t need protection from large states. His own state, Virginia, like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, he said, were divided by various interests, including e...
