Plain Talk

Is critical race theory an attempt to take over our education system and indoctrinate students with left-wing orthodoxies about race and culture? Or is it controversy ginned up as a "lucrative side hustle" by various pundits and activists, as Nick Archuleta argues in a recent column? https://www.inforum.com/opinion/lette... Archuleta, the president of North Dakota United, which represents teachers...

Congressman Kelly Armstrong, a Republican from North Dakota, was all set to serve on the high-profile House commission aimed at investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Then, suddenly, he wasn't. Armstrong joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to talk about the politics in selecting who sits on that commission, and the work the commission has done so far. Also, Armstrong has recently...

Does North Dakota need term limits? A ballot measure currently being circulated would implement limits for the Governor, and the Legislature, but no other statewide elected offices. Is it a good idea? Former Governor Ed Schafer says he's come around to the idea of term limits after previously opposing them. He joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to discuss.

"We are not supposed to insult these people for their decision to not get vaccinated. We are supposed to understand their position,"  columnist Mike McFeely writes . "But should we be empathetic toward those with no good reason for not getting vaxxed?" "Most are supporters of  Donald Trump  and to call their decision-making deplorable is worse than insulting their grandmother," he continued in a r...

There are some deep fractures in the North Dakota Republican Party. A faction of the party, loosely affiliated under the banner of the Legislature's supposedly conservative Bastiat Caucus, is attempting to recall Governor Doug Burgum. They're pushing a constitutional ballot measure to implement term limits. They attempted to take over leadership of the North Dakota Republican Party this spring. No...

State lawmakers in places like Texas and Tennessee have fled their states in an attempt to block laws backed by the Republican majorities in their legislative chambers. Now, at the national level, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has urged his colleagues to do something similar to block a massive Democratic spending bill. Are these tactics legitimate? Jay Thomas, host of th...

Starting this month, some qualifying Americans with children will receive monthly money from the government in an amount representing up to $300 per child. The payments come from the child tax credit millions of Americans tax every year. Think of them as a sort of advanced payment on a credit these families would have taken anyway. Is this good policy? Also, the calculus on these payments could ge...

Humanity is pushing its way into space, and some billionaires are leading the charge. Not everyone is happy about this. Jonah Lantto from the Good Talk Network joins this episode of Plain Talk to talk about it. Also, in multiple states, Democratic lawmakers have taken to fleeing their state capitols to deny Republicans the ability to pass laws they don't like. Is this a valid tactic? And in Tennes...

A faction of the North Dakota Republican Party which calls itself the Bastiat Caucus is pushing a constitutional ballot measure to implement term limits for the Governor and for the state Legislature. This comes amid deep tensions between the Batiats and the rest of the NDGOP. Does the state need term limits? Is this a wise political move from the Bastiats? Chad Oban, the former executive director...

There is broad bipartisan agreement that America needs to invest in infrastructure. The problem is, there isn't a lot of agreement on what infrastructure is. In Congress, Democrats are pushing an infrastructure bill that includes a raft of progressive policy priorities that have little to do with roads or bridges, or power grids. Congressman Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota talks about that debate...

Jupiter Paulsen was a 14-year-old girl who was brutally murdered in Fargo by a man with a history of criminal conduct who was out on probation. Some are blaming officials for letting Arthur Prince Kollie, the man arrested for the murder, out of custody. North Dakota, like many other states in America, has made some long strides toward criminal justice reform that includes an emphasis on moving awa...

A group of hardcore supporters of Donald Trump have gotten approval to begin circulating a petition to recall North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and his running mate Lt. Governor Brent Sanford. Will they be successful? Chad Oban, former executive director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to discuss it. Also, a federal judge has dismissed the Standing Rock Si...

Critical race theory. You've no doubt been hearing a lot about it. It's in our headlines. It's grist for the ceaseless mill of cable news outrage. It's a topic of debate in our school districts. Do you know what it is? Is it valid curriculum? A worthy avenue for scholastic endeavor? Or is it an ideology? Political doctrine dressed up as academics? Perhaps it's a bit of both. Dr. Dan Conn, a profes...

Since 2007, the City of Fargo has had an ordinance making it illegal for federal firearms license holders to conduct transactions out of their homes. Only, nobody really paid attention to it until federal officials became aware of it and informed FFL holders in Fargo operating that way that they couldn't renew their licenses. There aren't many people in Fargo who do this. There were just seven  in...

Earlier this year North Dakota's lawmakers passed a bill requiring full legislative approval of any interim appropriation of federal money that exceeds $50 million in a biennium. Now lawmakers don't want to follow their own law. Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer weighs in on that situation on this episode of Plain Talk Live. Also, there's drama at the State Investment board, with revelations...

If you can name me a North Dakota community that wasn't built around a railroad stop, or at least had rails running through it at one point in its history, I'll buy you lunch. Rail infrastructure has been important to North Dakota for as long as our state has been a state. Longer, really, so when one of the companies providing rail service in our region is seeking out a merger with another America...

With the vigorous demonstrations against the Line 3 pipeline, the upper midwest is getting another front-and-center look at the often vicious politics of energy infrastructure. Left-wing activists train to be arrested, the plot conflict with law enforcement, all to produce media coverage that is sympathetic to their cause. Meanwhile, every single one of us, including the most ardent and extreme of...

A big name in power is coming to North Dakota to invest in hydrogen energy, and it's a big deal for our state in a lot of ways. It's a new industry, for one, in a state that desperately needs economic diversification. The proposed hydrogen hub will be a new customer for North Dakota natural gas, a commodity produced as a byproduct of oil exploration here. We produce so much a lot of it gets burned...

The Administrative Rules Committee approved a ban on LGBT conversion therapy asked for by the North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners, which oversees licensing for social workers. Some Republican lawmakers resisted the change. Was it the right move? I'll talk about it with former Democratic-NPL executive director  Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. This episode of Plain Talk will also fe...

"Rural America gets bad vibrations from Big Wind," Robert Bryce wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal. He notes that President Joe Biden's administration is pushing for "tens of thousands of wind turbines," but asks, "where, exactly, will all those turbines be built?" It's a good question. Many Americans, even those who support the concept of wind energy, may not realize just how thoroughly we...

Coal Creek Station is North Dakota's largest coal-fired power plant and, for a while, it was slated for closure, thanks to a long-running political campaign to tilt the energy markets away from coal, with environmental activists and political partisans cheering its demise. Then, a reprieve. Current owner Great River Energy is close to a deal with a buyer that would continue to operate the plant. Y...

"I would like us to get the smile back," Sen. Kevin Cramer  said in a recent interview . "I mean, we still are the greatest experiment in political world history. Self-governance requires people of virtue, as Os Guinness puts it, and our virtue needs to be demonstrated in our personalities, not just in our ideals. If I grieve anything, it's that we've become too angry," he continued. How does  Cra...

Earl Pomeroy  served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1980 to 1985, as state Insurance Commissioner from 1985 to 1992, and as the state's at-large member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2010. He knows a thing or two about state politics. And national politics. He joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to talk about the state of national politics, the rise of the T...

Public health officials and other policymakers have been working hard to persuade people to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but one group of citizens in two North Dakota counties are being denied that opportunity. Williams and Burleigh counties — the former in the heart of North Dakota's oil fields, the latter home to the state capital — are  refusing to provide COVID-19 vaccines  to their jail inmates ci...

Earlier this year North Dakota's lawmakers approved a bill that prohibited institutions in the state's university system from working with groups that promote abortion. The bill, as passed, also included a financial penalty, denying matching state fundraising dollars for campuses that ran afoul of the provision. The impetus for the legislation was a long-standing grant relationship between Planned...