Unheralded

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Glad When It’s Over

I’m writing this before the election, so I don’t know what happened, which, come to think of it, is pretty much the norm for me, anyway. If the Democrats won big nationally, as an avowed enemy of the people, I may be under the sheets, contentedly smoking a post-election cigarette. Any celebration will be short-lived, however. Even if Nancy Pelosi …


Unheralded

RON SCHALOW: Heidi Kicks Kevin’s Butt

Executive Summary: Heidi Heitkamp walked over Kevin Cramer like an Irish setter wearing spiked golf shoes Friday eve. But all you get when that happens is a deflated, puffed-up bantam rooster, which makes for little more than a lumpy throw rug with a weak mind and sweaty palms. “Smirky” claimed to be for civility in politics, while his roly-poly role …


JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Sen. Heitkamp? Congressman Schneider? Maybe …

OK, against my better judgment, again, I’m going to weigh in on the 2018 election, just more than a week hence. Here goes. I told Democratic-NPL Congressional candidate Mac Schneider on Thursday that if Heidi Heitkamp wins re-election to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, he can expect to head to Washington, D.C., with her, as our next U.S. congressman. …

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Integrity Matters

Heidi Heitkamp has had better weeks. She’s probably had better train wrecks. “Nobody told me there’d be days like these,” John Lennon sang. “Strange days, indeed.” Last week, her campaign, scrambling for momentum, included in a newspaper ad the names of 127 women purported to be sexual abuse victims. The ad called out Kevin Cramer for his insensitivity to the …

RON SCHALOW: Kevin The Debate Smirker

The congressman stood behind the podium talking in circles, grinning like a meerkat pup that just got the better of his first scorpion, and the crunchy bugger would make a fine breakfast burrito. Then, the smug miniature mongoose of the desert smirked, smarmed and sniggered for 60 minutes after the meal, as is the custom of his holy family. That …

RON SCHALOW: Lies, Lies And More Lies

According to the almanac, this is Rob Port’s 715th Heitkamp lie, which I believe beats Basil Ruth’s record. Basil had good run, but was forced to join the circus last year. Rumor, from one of my anonymous sources, suggests that Port was smiling during the abduction but refuses to lift things. Anyway, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp ran an ad, an open …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Could A Facebook Screwup Determine Control Of The U.S. Senate?

Wouldn’t it be something if control of the U.S. Senate turned on a couple of misinterpreted Facebook posts by an overzealous supporter of an obscure senator from North Dakota named Heidi Heitkamp? Could happen. Heidi, who I would have rated last week as having at least a 50-50 chance of holding her seat in the Senate, is in big trouble. …

TOM DAVIES: The Verdict — This Is My Country, And I’ll Vote

At the risk of losing her Senate seat, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., cast a true and heartfelt “NO” vote on the nomination of Brent Kavanaugh to a lifetime position on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is an attorney, has served as North Dakota attorney general, has dealt with Native American issues and sex trafficking and has broad, solid legal experience. …

TOM DAVIES: The Verdict — With Friends Like This …

With friends like U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, you don’t need enemies. The man is a political coward. While Sen. John McCain was alive, Graham could do nothing but sing his praises. But he did not criticize the president for his ill-conceived, illegitimate, lying comments about the late senator. The Coward in Chief was so petty that he originally would not …

RON SCHALOW: Cramer Can’t Worship Trump And God

Well, he has been, so I guess it’s possible, but it doesn’t seem proper to a hyena-fearing person like me. Maybe “shouldn’t” is a better word. Kevin Cramer’s intoxicating “piousness cologne” doesn’t quite overwhelm the stench of the $#itholes that Donald Sr. dug here and there and has been filling with “Trump Tators™” for most of his life. From the …

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Hurricane Donald

A big wind made landfall last Wednesday in North Dakota, and when I woke up the next morning, North Dakota was great again. A KX News morning show anchor giddily recounted her excitement about President Trump’s visit and how she and her family had gone out to “show our love for the president.” I was a little surprised her objective …

MARTIN C. FREDRBlow It Out … Your Gas

Call Your Senators — Oppose Efforts to Repeal the BLM Methane Flaring Rule The splash of light in the center of North America at night, seen from space, shines like the opposite of a black eye. It doesn’t mark a big city or conglomeration of cities like the other light spots across the continent. In fact, it’s coming from where there …

TOM DAVIES: The Verdict — An Innocent Man Would Want To Clear the Air

I’m wondering if there is something in the air, or if it’s only me. A demand is made for an investigation into communications between the Russians and members of the Trump administration. In the world I live in, I wouldn’t object at all if there was nothing to the matter. I’d tell the complainers, “Have at it!” I would know …

PAULA MEHMEL — Shoot The Rapids: A Son’s Lost Wallet And A Stranger’s Kindness In A Land Far, Far Away

It’s the second worst text a parent can get from a child who is traveling alone abroad. “Mom, my wallet was stolen. I don’t have anything. No documents, no credit cards, no money.” When I backpacked through Europe in college and then around the world when I was 24, I didn’t have the option of letting my parents know what was happening. …