Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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The same politicians who mostly killed free checking and debit card rewards programs through government price controls are setting their sights on credit cards – and that means miles, cash back, and other rewards are now in jeopardy. That’s a potential political earthquake, because a recent study found that 84 percent of all credit cards are rewards cards, and 70 percent of cardholders who make less than $20,000 a year have rewards cards. Many small businesses also rely on rewards cards – especially cash-back cards. Those individuals and small...
On Friday, June 16, I had the pleasure of attending DPRCA’s production of “Life Could Be a Dream” with my mom. This is the third time DPRCA has put on this hilarious, light-hearted play, but it was my first time in the audience. The actors they cast this summer are suited perfectly for their roles, and they put on quite the performance that night. With everything from the music and choreography, to the sound and lights, DPRCA gave the community a terrific show, yet again! Danny Hollander was q... Full story
I’m writing to urge the 2021 North Dakota legislative districting committee to study the possibility of splitting each Senate district into two parts for seats to the state House of Representatives. This is important, because rural areas will probably be losing representation in the North Dakota Legislature due to population shifts to urban areas reflected in the 2020 census. As an example, let’s take a look at District 39. It takes up much of western North Dakota, covering the communities of Bowman and Watford City. It is a distance of 124...
"If [Donald] Trump and [Bernie] Sanders take the same position on Big Tech censorship," David Catron writes at The American Spectator, "the issue deserves serious attention." He's right, but in pretty much the opposite of the way he intends. When the mainstream "right" and "left" agree on anything, that's almost always a blazing neon sign warning us that our freedoms are under threat. Catron (and Trump and Sanders) want the U.S. government to seize control of social media platforms, and dictate...
It’s an old dream of mine and I just may do it: Buy a travel trailer and live on the American road for weeks at a time. Recreational vehicle living is a growing trend, particularly for younger people, who, post-Covid, prefer to work at home instead of commuting to their company’s office building. Thanks to technology, your “home office” can now be in an RV parked next to a rushing creek in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been critical of the downsides of digital innovation, which has given us...
The debate surrounding proposals for term limits on members of Congress would benefit from a reminder of the reasoning behind the 22nd Amendment, which imposed a two-term limit on the presidency. That amendment, ratified in 1951, is now 70 years old. Although small pockets of voices advocating its repeal can be heard from time to time, polls show that Americans, with good reason, believe strongly in the merits of that fundamental change in the Constitution. Constitutional history can be a useful guide in a nation’s decision-making process. T...
Every night, just before bed, he’d thank his bride of 70 years for giving him another wonderful day on earth. That was the sweet-hearted nature of Jack Krieger, my family’s next-door neighbor for more than 30 years. I first met him as a very young boy, shortly after my growing family moved to our brand new suburban house in 1964. As I grew up, I knew him as the dad of five children, a good neighbor and an usher at our church. Jack and his wife, Mary, would become lifelong friends with my parents...
Most of the state legislatures have terminated their business for the year, leaving the abortion issue unsolved, most likely because it is an unsolvable issue that straddles the secular and spiritual worlds, making it a political, as well as a theological enigma. Since the protection of life has been a responsibility of society through government action, politicians are bound to get involved. Unfortunately, no issue can be considered objectively these days because perspectives are jaundiced by...
Students of the Constitution often ask for an explanation of the Constitutional Convention’s rationale for distinguishing the length of terms for members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate. Why, they wonder, do Representatives serve two-year terms, while Senators serve six-year terms? The starting point for analysis of Article I, Section 2 and 3, of the Constitution, as James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 52, is to understand that the entire debate in the Philadelphia Convention and, for that matter, throughout the coun...
You can become an American citizen by being born in the U.S., or you can become one by getting “naturalized.” Becoming naturalized is a heck of a lot harder. It not only means having to meet all the legal and residency requirements which Congress has established, it means passing a U.S. civics test that would stump a random, cable-news talk show host. Sadly, based on the results of the civics test they take, naturalized American immigrants understand the uniqueness of their adopted country bet...
Summer weather has started here in North Dakota, and so has the 2021 legislative districting process. It will soon be a hot topic. As you know, there has been a lot of interest in fair elections these days, and North Dakota Voters First aims to keep you informed regarding the districting process. With your help, we can prevent gerrymandering - the harmful practice of drawing unfair legislative lines that protect incumbents and political parties. Every 10 years, the U.S. Census reveals changes in population growth and movement which require new...
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the proposed Constitution. This was an act for the ages, because it not only marked the technical implementation of the new law of the land but, in the words of James Madison, written on April 6, 1796, the "instrument"-the Constitution-"was nothing more than a draught of a plan, nothing but a dead letter, until life and validity were breathed into it, by the voice of the people, speaking through the several state conventions."...
America’s high national living standards lead us to consider things like abundant access to clean water, comprehensive cellular service, and a reliable electric grid as commonplace. Much of the rest of the world regards them as luxuries, unavailable to many people. Consequently, we tend to think about these things only when they don’t work. Cloudy water creates a crisis. A cell phone outage leaves us stranded. Failures in the power market leave us, literally and figuratively, in the dark abo...
Better known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. On June 19, 1865, 156 years ago, Union soldiers landed in Galveston to bring the news of freedom to slaves. The news came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by then President Abraham Lincoln. President Biden signed a bill on Thursday, June 17, declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday. The last time a new federal holiday was added was in 1983, when Congress passed the King Day Bill....
Does Congress, under the Time, Place and Manner Clause of the Constitution, possess authority to “alter” or otherwise override state laws governing the conduct of congressional elections? That is the central constitutional question at the heart of the heated political debate surrounding H.R. 1 — the “For the People Act” — which will determine whether Congress can protect Americans’ voting rights that have been, or will be, restricted by the passage of some 60 state laws across our nation. What were the framers of the Constitution thinking when...
According to the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment in higher education institutions continues to decline, dropping 5% this spring. The 5% represents 725,000 fewer students. According to the National Center of Educational Statistics, the average number of students for each faculty member is 16. There isn’t an institution in North Dakota with that low of a student to faculty ratio. If the figures have any credibility, the 725,000 student drop represents a large number of faculty s...
Need to learn how to unclog a shower drain, jump-start a car, shave your face without bleeding to death, or successfully address dozens of other practical adult daily activities? Rob Kenney offers this kind of basic "dad advice" and millions are tuning into his YouTube channel "Dad, How Do I?" to hear it. Kenney, who promises his subscribers he'll do "my best to provide useful, practical content to many basic tasks that everyone should know how to do," told Buzzfeed he began making YouTube...
Former President Donald Trump has been telling people that he expects to be “reinstated” as president, in August. The premise behind this theory, embraced by his MAGA supporters, is that President Joe Biden’s election victory will be overturned following Republican “audits” of election results in Arizona and Georgia. This is no joke. Charles W. Cooke, senior writer for the conservative magazine, The National Review, has gone on record to attest to the accuracy of these reports. “Maggie Haberman,” the New York Times reporter who broke the sto...
While other armchair quarterbacks are surveying the work of the 2021 legislative session, the three most significant acts include $700 million in bonding for infrastructure, $70 million for “career academies” to expand instruction in technical skills, and statutory authority for using the $8 billion Legacy Fund for some investing in North Dakota. The career academies will welcome employees in dying industries, reach for students whose skills don’t fit into the four-year universities, and offer e...
You may have heard the proverb, "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you'll feed him for a lifetime of crushing debt after he buys the boat, trailer, tackle, depth finder, trolling motor, etc." Seriously, though, despite my dad's best efforts throughout my childhood, and a few excursions of my own as an adult, I'd still rather someone just give me the fish – preferably deep fried with a side of coleslaw and hush puppies. Don't get me wrong, though, I do e...
Texting is replacing talking as the preferred form of communication? According to a recent survey by OpenMarket, 75 percent of millennials chose texting over talking when given the choice between being able only to text, versus call on their mobile phone. To be sure, the powerful digital devices almost everyone is carrying around these days have changed the art of human conversation and the way we relate to each other — and not for the better. When I was in high school many years ago, my mother...
Facebook decided this week it’s no longer “misinformation” to wonder whether COVID-19 was manmade by Chinese scientists in a biolab in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But it’s not just Facebook. The national media and President Biden have just done a similar 180. On Wednesday, the same guy who had ordered the shutting down of the Trump administration’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 told the U.S. intelligence community to redouble its efforts to find out how the coronavir...
I just got another scam phone call from someone pretending to be from the Social Security Administration, and my blood is boiling. When I answered my phone — from the 480 area code in Arizona, far away from Pittsburgh — a recording said, “Your Social Security number has been compromised. Stay on the line and an agent will be right with you.” When the agent, speaking in broken English, asked for my name and address, I got even madder. Why? First, having done cybersecurity assessment and communi...
With the school year ending and the economy slowly reopening, let’s reminisce about the illustrious history of summer jobs. I’m sure many of you worked your way through high school and college by flipping burgers, mowing lawns, performing lifeguard duties, working on an assembly line (I worked three summers in a cosmetics factory), or clerking in a retail store. Or maybe you considered yourself part of show business, while being paid to stand in front of an establishment twirling a sign. (I mus...
Because newspapers have been at the forefront of community building, we cannot talk about the precarious condition of the published word without considering this primary function of nurturing the sense of togetherness. As we look at the decline of the newspaper industry, we also see the fragmentation of relationships in communities. While the development of community becomes more and more difficult as the size of cities becomes larger, the weekly newspapers are in a more advantageous position...
