Plain Talk

Rob and Jay talk about coronavirus, mask mandates, and employee bonuses for the state of North Dakota.

In a recent tweet , President Donald Trump criticized a portion of wall built along the American southern border by a private group of his supporters. "I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of the wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads," Trump wrote, responding to media reports claiming this section of the wall is facing problems from erosion. "It was...

Rob and Jay talk about re-opening North Dakota's schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Rob and Jay talk about mobs tearing down statues across the United States.

"He liked watching him on the shows." That's what Senator Kevin Cramer said on this episode of Plain Talk, responding to a question about why President Donald Trump would have hired John Bolton in the first place. Bolton is currently peddling some salacious stories about his tenure in the Trump administration, and that has earned him quite a bit of condemnation from Republicans, up to and includin...

Does North Dakota need a special session? House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, a Democratic lawmaker from Fargo, thinks so. He is one of a group of Democratic lawmakers who are requesting a special session to address the impacts of the coronavirus. One major issue Boschee would like handed is some $1.25 billion in federal funding North Dakota is receiving to help address the COVID-19 situation. As...

Rob and Jay talk about another billionaire-backed initiated measure for North Dakota, though this one is being pitched under false pretenses.

Both North Dakota and the nation are grappling with the task of returning our society to some semblance of normal while still keeping in place appropriate measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic. On this episode of Plain Talk, Arik Spencer from the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce talks about some protections his organization feels business owners need to help them get back to employing their em...

"To say that money buys elections in North Dakota is a little bit insulting to the people of North Dakota," Governor Doug Burgum said on this episode of Plain Talk. He was addressing a question about the criticism he's faced for spending millions, much of it his own money, on promoting his preferred slate of candidates in the North Dakota Republican Party's recent primary election. "There's so muc...

The political parties didn't hold their traditional biannual state conventions. The candidates were constrained in their ability to campaign in person. All of the voting was done by mail. The President of the United States endorsed in a down-ballot primary race for a sleepy executive branch office with little influence over actual public policy. This primary season was probably the most unusual in...

"If Governor Burgum's people win it will be a huge blow to conservatism," state Rep. Rick Becker said on this episode of Plain Talk. Becker is a Republican lawmaker from Bismarck and a founder of the Bastiat Caucus of conservatives in the Legislature. He was responding to a question about Governor Doug Burgum's involvement in the NDGOP primary season. Burgum has backed a number of candidates in co...

Rob and Jay talk about the issues surrounding law enforcement, both locally and nationally.

Zach Raknerud is the endorsed candidate of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL for the U.S. House of Representatives. He also acknowledges that he's the underdog, by a country mile, in his race against Republican incumbent Kelly Armstrong. Still, he credits his recent criticism of what he perceived as Armstrong's silence in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis with getting the incumben...

"Good cops know who the bad cops are." That's what Congressman Kelly Armstrong said on this episode of Plain Talk, addressing a question about what we can do to solve the problems with racism and abuse in America's law enforcement agencies. Armstrong, a formal criminal defense attorney, argues that most law enforcement officers are good people doing their best with a tough job. He'd like to see th...

How do we fix our national problem with law enforcement abuse? There's no single silver bullet that will do it, but on this episode of Plain Talk, Fargo defense attorney (and former cop) Mark Friese says one big step in the right direction would be to end to end the qualified immunity America's courts have created for cops. It's a little complicated, but unless the government waives it the police...

Rob and Jay talk about the riots and protests in Fargo.

On this episode of Plain Talk,  Fargo Forum columnist Raheem Williams, who is also a resident of downtown Fargo, talks about living through the violent protests which took place there over the weekend. "I never thought in my life I would have to act as a sentry in my own community," Williams told me. We discussed what he saw and did, how the protests evolved from something peaceful to something ug...

Jay and Rob talk about the Fargo Forum reducing its print editions and the controversy surrounding North Dakota's Care19 app.

One of the innovative things the State of North Dakota has done during the coronavirus pandemic is work with a Fargo-based developer ProudCrowd to create a contact tracing app. Contract tracing is an epidemiological technique aimed at tracking where an outbreak is happening and who it is happening to so that policies can be targeted. This allows policymakers to better strike a balance between addr...

Rob and Jay talk about absurd coronavirus restrictions.

Gary Emineth is a long-time activist in North Dakota politics, and at one point was the chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party. He was an outspoken supporter of Governor Doug Burgum's 2016 campaign, but he sees problems in Burgum's decision to spend big money defeating other Republicans in primary races . The Governor is "using his wealth as the chief executive to go after the Legislature,"...

Brandt Dick is already a superintendent. He works for the public school system in Underwood, North Dakota. He'd like to continue to be a superintendent, albeit of all of North Dakota's public schools. He's asking North Dakota voters to do that this election year. He's one of three candidates for the position on the June primary ballot, along with incumbent Kirsten Baesler and gadfly candidate Char...

On this episode of the Plain Talk podcast, Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) recounts being lectured about not wearing a mask by a reporter who was wearing a mask, albeit around his neck and not up over his mouth and nose. "All this is turning into a new realm of virtue signaling," he said. Will Congress pass more relief legislation for the COVID-19 pandemic? Armstrong thinks so. "There is going...

Rob and Jay talk about the recent story about workers, fearful of coronavirus, walking out of their jobs at a Fargo business. Was that story fairly reported?

To hear Ladd Erickson tell it, when Coal Creek Station was built the justification for constructing the power transmission line that services it across acres and acres of prime North Dakota farmland (to the consternation of many farmers at the time) was that the coal plant would generate economic activity. Erickson is the State's Attorney for McLean County, and he believes that if Great River Ener...