PLAIN TALK

"I would never and did not advocate for any sort of end-run shenanigans. I wanted to push to make sure that shenanigans weren't being pushed in either direction," North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in response to a report that he advocated for recounts in the 2020 election in a message that reached former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Where is the outrage when college coaches see their multi-million dollar salaries subsidized by student loans? Where is the anger when billionaire professional sports team owners reach into taxpayers' wallets to subsidize a new stadium they could afford to build on their own?

This strategy playing nice with lunatics will eventually blow up and start costing Republicans elections.

On this episode of Plain Talk, activists for and against a term limits proposal weigh in.

In a better sort of world, where politicians and activists and social media rubberneckers were capable of a modicum of empathy and rational thought, we might have waited for facts that might support the conclusion before turning Ellingson's death into a political talking point. Sadly, we don't live in that world.

This is a situation that deserves better than the hot takes we're getting from Twitter demagogues and cable news creeps.

"I'm not smoking any pot," Dooley said on this episode of Plain Talk, which featured a debate between the two candidates. "He's actually accomplished what he says he's accomplished," adding that he's even gotten permission from Goehring to hunt on his land.

Believe it or not, it's possible to acknowledge that migrants crossing our borders illegally are engaged in a proud American tradition — how many of our ancestors were immigrants seeking safety and prosperity for their families? — while simultaneously believing that immigration ought to be regulated and orderly.

From a philosophical perspective, these troglodytes are working at undermining the public's faith in our electoral processes which are, in turn, the very foundation of our system of self-governance. As a more practical matter, they're distracting state and local election officials from the important work of preparing for the upcoming balloting. But there's also the risk this poses to the integrity of our state's open records laws.