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 …
Many years ago, Roland Martin and I were young reporters at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Roland quickly went on to become, well, Roland Martin, the ubiquitous personality on national television and radio, a longtime fixture of Sunday morning network talk shows. But Roland clearly remembers one part of our brief acquaintance. He and I had several important discussions about race …
The newsflash on the ND-BIRDS listserv on Monday afternoon of the sighting of an accidental bird near Cross Ranch State Park triggered what has been for me a quixotic quest to see it for myself. The Thick-billed Kingbird’s territory is in far southern Arizona and New Mexico, along the border with Mexico. This particular bird was very lost and its …
After days in the depths of digital hell, I’ve concluded that I must have evolved into a cyborg while I wasn’t paying attention. I have turned into a half-human, half-computer hybrid. When the computer died, I began to think what’s left is not my better half. After my desktop’s motherboard tragically departed for that great blue screen in the sky, …
One of the features of Trump University alternate mathematics is the ability to optionally count invisible people, a revolutionary new system of viewing numerals and other math adjacent quotients. Kevin Cramer evidently clicked on “other.” Anyway, on a nationally broadcast political show, Showtime’s “The Circus,” Cramer told John Heilemann “… if it happens that Donald Trump is right for North …
As I prepare for the great “Water and the West” humanities retreat at Lochsa Lodge west of Missoula, Mon.t, in mid-January, I’m rereading Marc Reisner’s water classic, “Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water.” Here’s the first paragraph of Chapter Three: First Causes: “When archaeologists from some other planet sift through the bleached bones of our civilization, they …
So, the Forum editorial board has decided that the 2019 Sears catalog cover boy, Kevin Cramer, is the best choice for the U.S. Senate, rather than the suspiciously superior Heidi Heitkamp. The decision is not a surprise. The board always find a way to placate ownership and endorse the Republican candidate. It’s their prerogative. Some poor sap had to type …
Katie Moller scored four goals and Olivia Knox added two more to lead the University of North Dakota women’s soccer team to a 7-1 Summit League rout of Purdue University Fort Wayne on Sunday afternoon at East Grand Forks Senior High. Moller became UND’s all-time leading goal scorer in the Division I era with the goals. Veronica Kessler score the …
Cole Smith scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team to a 4-3 win over Minnesota State University-Mankato on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The gave North Dakota a a split in the two-game series. Minnesota State won 7-4 Friday night. Gabe Bast and Grant Mishmash scored the other goals …
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 …
Max Coatta scored three goals to lead No. 7-ranked Minnesota State University-Mankato to a 7-4 win over the University of North Dakota on Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Fighting Hawks (0-2-1) jumped out to a 2-1 lead just 2:44 into the first period, but a checking from behind major penalty and an automatic game disqualification against captain Rhett …
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 …
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. …
I don’t know if you’ve been following along but there’s this thing 58 percent of Americans do the first Tuesday of November. And no, it’s not check the mailbox for a welfare check as some might have you believe. It’s called it an election, although some people refer to them as train wrecks. The last election should have been sponsored …
Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate. President Trump told America that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia “forcefully denies the killing.” President Trump then went on to say there may have been “rogue killers” involved and said he was waiting for information. That’s another presidential lie, since Turkey has made clear it shared …
Some say that Plato was the one who came up with the well-known and often-used proverb that states necessity is the mother of invention. That’s a distinct possibility, but I’m not so sure it wasn’t an imaginative cook who coined that phrase. The reason I say that is that some of my favorite recipes are ones that were invented because …
University of North Dakota quarterback Nate Ketteringham threw four passes for touchdowns and ran for another as the Fighting Hawks knocked off No. 22 University of Montana on Saturday afternoon in the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. Ketteringham threw two touchdown passes to Noah Wanzek and one each to Garret Maag and Izzy Adeoti. Running back James Johannesson scored the other …
Northeast North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota experienced its first taste of winter this past week, and photographer Dave Bruner captured the essence of it in Grand Forks before, during and after the season’s first significant snowfall.
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team rebounded from a Friday night loss to Bemidji State University by skating to a 1-1 tie with the Beavers on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Grant Mishmash gave the Fighting Hawks (0-1-1) a 1-0 first-period lead lead, but Charlie Combs scored at 15:46 of the third period to pull BSU (1-0-1) even. …
“Where are the Cool Ranch Doritos?” barks Donald Trump. “This is the worst disaster in the history of disasters. Maybe ever.” “Bottom left drawer.” “Oh, thanks, Eyebrow. I wonder what other presidents used this drawer for? Probably alcohol and cocaine powder. This country is a mess. Obama must have been one lubed up skinny Kenyan from shithole Africa, believe me. …
We finally had blue skies in North Dakota on Friday, after a long spell of gray weather. We are grateful to go into winter with the moisture, but the dreariness was beginning to wear thin. At least we didn’t get the heavy snow that hit the eastern part of the state. We got a little snow last week, and it …
Well, that was a waste of time. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a letter to North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak and sent copies to her fellow commissioners,, Randy Christmann and Brian Kroshus, asking them to assume jurisdiction over the Davis Refinery project being proposed for construction beside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I also wrote here asking …
The guy I roomed with for most of my first two years of college is one of the best. Brian Johnson started as an architecture major, then became a mechanical engineering student at North Dakota State University from 1986 to 1991. We shared rooms, first in Stockbridge (a.k.a., “Jockbridge”), then in University Village. You’d be hard pressed to meet a …
Minnesota’s average temperature in mid-October is just short of 60. So when it’s been raining for a week, we’re already covering our plants, and there’s 6 inches of snow in parts of North Dakota, depression can set in easily. For the baseball fan, October is supposed to be a happy time. Play-in games followed by playoff games followed by the …
In the context of the hearings to determine if Bret Kavanaugh is fit to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Rep. Kevin Cramer has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that he isn’t fit to represent anyone. Again. Again. The only time North Dakota’s lone congressman makes national news is when he’s inserted his foot so far down his …
The Facebook comments were harsh. “WHAAAAA!?!?!?!??” “Terry, I am legitimately baffled by this factoid.” “I weep for you.” “Unfriending.” Some were even harsher. “YOUAREDEADTOME!” “You some kinda Commie?” “No, but definitely one of those Socialists!” You’d think I had voted for Hillary, or something. What’s the cause of all this? What did I do to deserve such criticism? I wrote one simple …
Based on his related comments, it’s hard not to imagine a Kevin Cramer conversation with a sexual assault survivor that doesn’t go something like this. A Cramer-related female rushes in the front door, and yells, “Father, er, sir, I’ve been attacked.” Cramer doesn’t look up. “Who are you?” He continues smiling down on a photo of him trying to give …
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. …
I am a survivor. That is what I always call myself. I am not a victim of sexual assault. I am a survivor. One of the titles for the many talks I’ve given over the years about my sexual assault is “From Victim to Victor: Finding Healing and Strength in the Face of Violence.” In it, I address the so called …
The University of North Dakota received goals from five different players en route to a 5-0 win over Western Illinois University in Summit League play Thursday afternoon at East Grand Forks Senior High Field. Mimi Eiden, Brittany Mueller Olivia Knox, Cassie Giddings and Emma Bangert scored for the Fighting Hawks (8-2-1 overall, 2-0-0 Summit). Goaltender Olivia Swenson recorded her seventh shutout …
SEPT. 27, 2018, WASHINGTON — Senate Judicial Committee Chairman Charles Grassley is seated. Brett Kavanaugh fastidiously adjusts the items on his desk. Cory Booker snaps a selfie. Jeff Flake nervously chews a Lifesaver. Lindsey Graham pages through the latest edition of Good Housekeeping. GRASSLEY: (whispers) “Where’s my gavel? Sen. Feinstein, did you swipe my gavel?” FEINSTEIN: (snores softly) “Huh, wah? …
Gender Bias Needs to Be Removed from Dress-Code Enforcement in Fargo Public Schools Each year, Fargo Public Schools officials tell our daughters — sometimes explicitly, often implicitly — they will be a “distraction” to other students and teachers if they wear spaghetti-strap tops that are “too revealing,” pants that are “too tight” or skirts that are “too short.” The “too” statements are …
Caution: Some meandering ahead. I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford because I can see, hear and comprehend sincerity. It isn’t a tough call. As for this Brett Kavanaugh character, he has a disposition that would embarrass a Rottweiler. All that snarling would get irritating after about 10 minutes. I’ve seen his type before, and they usually screwed me out of …
Getting Bad News (From the Online Journal of Everett Charles Albers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2002) “A few weeks ago — but about 20 days past — I turned yellow, most jaundiced in eye and skin. Damning whatever gods may be, convinced I had somehow contracted infectious hepatitis, I went to see a general practitioner. I did tests, ultra-soundings, CT scans, …
There’s nothing like a funeral to remind you of your own morality. Especially when you’re 73 and the person’s whose funeral you’re attending is younger. So today, as I sat in the pew at Temple Israel listening to Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman talking about a man I’d ironically never met (though I knew his wife), that’s where my mind drifted. I …
The University of North Dakota used a strong running game, with James Johannesson and Brady Oliveira each rushing for over 100 yards, en route to a 38-13 win over Northern Colorado University on Saturday at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colo. Johannesson ran for 141 yards and Oliveira chipped in 123 yards and two touchdowns as the Fighting Hawks improved to 3-2 …
My first memory was playing in the dirt with a hand trowel just inside a wooded area near my home. I was digging deeply into the tan soil, pulling up chunks to later break down in search of “gold” — all of the good stuff was going into my dump truck, which was nearby. I was really into the moment. …
The University of North Dakota women’s volleyball team made its Summit League debut one to remember with a 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 24-26, 15-9) victory over the instate rival North Dakota State University on Wednesday night in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Senior Jordan Vail led the Fighting Hawks (10-8 overall, 2-1 Summit League) with a career-high 19 kills. Several other UND …
The regular Kevin Cramer hijinks and loathsome burbs is required writing because the belligerent stupidity is such great fun to opine. After the stomach stops churning. I mean his last gullet convulsing diatribe, on the attempted illegal something versus the completion of an illegal something equals Q was brilliant in it’s combative contempt for women, girls and sanity. I assume …
A LOT of people read Monday’s post about the North Dakota Public Service Commission and the Davis Refinery on The Prairie Blog and Unheralded.Fish, and I had a number of requests asking how they could get involved. Here’s how: Write a letter. Elected officials react to public contact. Letters, e-mails, phone calls and attendance at meetings all influence their actions. …
There is a certain, unequaled thrill sitting in the front seat of a four-wheel drive SUV, its engine roaring like a locomotive as it churns its way up a 15-foot sand dune and slides diagonally down the other side, only to bounce across a valley, take aim again and repeat the scream-inducing ride all over again. This is dune-bashing in …
A letter to North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak. Don’t do it. Don’t just blindly accept the recommendation of an administrative law judge to reject the idea that you could assume jurisdiction over the Davis Refinery, which Meridian Energy wants to build three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. That judge based his recommendation on a strict reading of …
I spent more time on my fantasy football picks than the Senate has on Brett Kavanaugh. No matter how it turns out, I’ll have another chance next year. But the Supreme Court is for keeps. If the 53-year-old nominee serves to the age of 90 like Oliver Wendall Holmes Jr. did, he’ll reign until 2055. Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner and his wife, Sheila, recently took a two-day northeastern North Dakota road trip to view fall colors, which were in full display. On their way to the Turtle Mountains and the Pembina Gorge, with a final stop at Turtle River State, in Cavalier they found colorful painted bales on display throughout the town.