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Articles by Roger Haglund
Letter: Trump is a danger
I have lived through about one-third of America’s history as a country. There have been stressful times such as WWII (I still have my ration book!), McCarthyism, the struggle for equal rights for minorities, unnecessary wars (Vietnam and Iraq) and 9/11. However, I view the threat to America’s future by Donald Trump, the billionaire class and the groups and legislators they fund to be the greatest danger to our country since the Civil War.
Letter: A brief history and look into future
O Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump committed a treasonous act by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn the election that made Joe Biden president. Then he watched on TV and made no attempt to stop thousands of his followers as they broke into the U.S. Capitol, chased Congress into hiding and caused millions of dollars in damage to the building. Over 140 police officers were attacked and injured. In the five years since, Trump has continued to insist that he won the 2020 election.
Letter: We were protesting Trump's abuse of power
News headline Saturday morning: Top DOJ official delivers ominous warning to “No Kings” protesters." I participated in the Fargo “No Kings” rally anyway. Why? Because, as Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., warned last week, “America is in the middle of an authoritarian takeover. The GOP plan is to destroy American democracy and create a new set of rules that will allow Trump and his allies to rule forever.” Why protest?
Letter: Charlie Kirk was no saint
I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on almost every issue, but political violence solves nothing, causes great suffering for those involved and hurts democracy. Everyone should offer condolences to the family and condemn the violence that took the life of Charlie Kirk, and almost all Democratic leaders have done so. Former president Biden said on Sept. 10, “There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now.
Letter: Income inequality is at the root of current political crisis
During my 80+ years of life, I have always worked to understand the world around me as much as possible. A question that has bothered me recently is this: “How could the country that provided me such a good life descend into such a state of chaos, confusion and discord?” After much research I believe I have some answers. The first thing to note is that it has happened before.
Letter: Raise your voices against authoritarianism
In a recent interview President Trump said he “doesn't know if he must uphold the Constitution.” The U.S. Constitution established a system of three separate but equal branches of government. The founders were trying to protect us from tyranny by creating a system with separation of powers and checks and balances to ensure that no one branch can dominate the others. But Trump apparently feels the executive branch can ignore the legislative and judicial branches if he disagrees with them.
Letter: Christian authoritarianism
Throughout history, heretical or apocalyptic movements have sprung up in Christianity. Gnosticism (the belief that all matter is evil) was a heresy that threatened the early Christian Church. In more recent times William Miller, a Baptist preacher, convinced thousands of people to sell their belongings and wait with him for the predicted end of the world on Oct. 22, 1844.
Letter: Groundwork for Trump was laid by Gingrich
Atlantic magazine writer, Anne Applebaum, recently wrote an article entitled “History Will Judge the Complicit”. In the article she deals with the question “Why have most Republicans abandoned their moral principles and collaborated with an immoral and dangerous president?” The word “collaborator” became prominent in WWII when it was used to describe Europeans who abandoned their values and cooperated with their Nazi occupiers.
Letter: 'The Fourth Turning'
In 1998 I read a book by William Strauss and Neil Howe titled "The Fourth Turning – What the Cycles of History tell us about America’s next Rendezvous with Destiny." The authors believe that Anglo American history has experienced 80 to100 year cycles with each cycle consisting of four stages or “turnings.” The current cycle started at the end of World War II and its first turning lasted about two decades.
Letter: Political party or extremist organization?
At the 1964 Republican National Convention, ultraconservative Barry Goldwater was seeking the nomination for president. New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller spoke and warned that the Republican Party was in real danger of subversion by a radical well-funded minority and asked for an amendment to the party platform denouncing extremism. Many delegates booed, the amendment was voted down and Goldwater won the nomination, but he lost the election badly when Lyndon Johnson received 61% of the popular vote.
Letter: Let's review the history of Iran
“US strikes Iranian militants in Iraq and Syria”: This recent headline reminded me of a quote from former President Harry Truman: “There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know,” so let’s review the history of Iran. Imperial Britain controlled Iran during the first half of the 20th century and oil was discovered there in 1908. The British formed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum) and made huge profits by paying Iran very little for the oil they took.
Letter: The pillars of truth
“If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what is true from what is false, then our democracy doesn’t work.” Do you believe this statement made by a former president is true? Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief (truth) from just an opinion, and knowing what and who to believe is critically important as we approach the upcoming election.
Letter: Most con men like Trump are 'charming'
Donald Trump is a “charming man,” also “kind,” and a “good listener” who “encourages debate.” When I first read this sentence in Scott Hennen’s “Confidential Memo” I thought the writer was being sarcastic. But I quickly realized that Hennen actually believes that these terms describe Trump’s nature. Hennen admits that “the vast majority of the voting public rarely sees that side of [former] President Trump” but that he discovered Trump’s “charming” nature after meeting him a few times.
Letter: Republicans are only concerned with the debt ceiling when a Democrat is president
Once again our country is perhaps two weeks away from defaulting on its debts for the first time in history. The debt ceiling is the amount of money Congress authorizes the government to borrow. It does not authorize any new spending; it simply authorizes the government to pay for those programs already passed by Congress. Congress started authorizing a general amount of debt during World War I so it didn’t have to approve each individual debt incurred during the war.
Letter: Republicans are waging war against our government
Rep. Kevin McCarthy was expected to claim the House Speaker’s gavel Tuesday, Jan. 3, but party infighting caused so much chaos that he couldn’t claim the gavel until Saturday morning. It took 15 ballots (and a near fistfight) before McCarthy could claim the victory.
Letter: How can we find 'common ground' if one side has no common sense?
Rob Port disparages the news media, academia and the entertainment world as “epicenters of progressive dogmas” because many of them issued statements saying that passing some common-sense gun regulations would reduce the mass shootings in our country.
Letter: The climate change misinformation campaign is working
In response to the column " The point was to call for energy caution " published May 7: Mike Hulett does not accept the conclusions of “99.9% of climate scientists” regarding climate change and says we should not follow their advice because it means we will sacrifice our “safety, security and energy independence.” He claims there is still an argument whether humans are causing global warming and that “climate speculation is making Americans needlessly anxious.” Therefore, we should choose...
Letter: Recent climate change letter was 'filled with misinformation'
Once again, the Forum has published an opinion letter filled with misinformation on climate change, starting with the letter’s title “There is no climate change consensus” .
Letter: Mike Hulett is the one misinforming readers about climate change
“Hulett is scandalously disinforming readers by ignoring the evidence and scientific consensus.” Now that I have fulfilled the prophecy Mike Hulett made in his last opinion piece , I will show that his facetious remark contains more truth than anything else he wrote. Hulett begins by blaming President Biden for the increasing cost of gasoline by reducing oil production in our country.
Letter: The truth about renewable energy and high gas prices
The Forum column “The Cost Keeps Rising” by Cal Thomas contains so much bad logic one hardly knows where to start in refuting it so I’ll just highlight a few examples. Like many Republicans, Thomas erroneously blames the Biden administration for the rising price of gasoline saying “What’s needed is obvious, the restoration of the Keystone Pipeline and drilling for oil on federal land.” First of all, the Keystone Pipeline has been fully operational since 2017.
Letter: Gov Burgum made right choice for open Public Service Commission position
I was so pleased when Gov. Burgum appointed Sherri Haugen Hoffart to the North Dakota Public Service Commission on Feb. 11th. As one of your former public service commissioners, I know how important this position is in state government. Haugen Hoffart has excellent qualifications for the PSC, including experience serving in state government and nonprofit positions. She also comes to the PSC with an understanding of electricity markets, due to serving as board chair of Capital Electric Cooperative.
Letter: Does this sound fair to you?
Buehre questions why Officer Kim Potter was sentenced to prison for a "mistake." Opinion by Doug Buehre February 22, 2022 04:01 PM It’s not what you know or did, it’s who you are or who you know. Why is Officer Kim Potter going to prison for a mistake, and Alec Baldwin is still free for a mistake? Doesn’t seem fair. Doug Buehre lives in West Fargo. This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
Letter: Recent AARP hit piece one of many lodged by Big Pharma
The op-ed, “AARP has a conflict of interest when it comes to drug pricing legislation,” reads like all the other opinions that Big Pharma and its enablers recycle. If anyone has a conflict, it is astroturf groups like Patients Rising, claiming to speak for patients but cozying up to Big Pharma. For decades, millions of seniors across our country have been forced to pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
Letter: Much ado about nothing on Jan. 6
On January 6th, 2021, one year ago this Thursday, nothing significant happened. Does it sound like I’m being very dismissive of the Capitol riot? It should, because I am. It’s commonly described as an “insurrection” or a “coup d’etat;” President Joe Biden called it “the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war.” Multiple media pundits even called it worse than 9/11. All of this is a crock of nonsense that defies reality. Protestors disrupted a vote; that’s what happened.
Letter: How Fargo of you?
Thursday evening, Dec. 30, my sister was locked out of her workplace near the Holiday Gas Station on 25th Street and 30th Avenue South. With only a short-sleeved shirt and pants on, she, my less than five feet tall sister, ran there in the below zero temperatures and terrible wind chill before 8 p.m. They were just locking the door. She banged on the door, yelling that she needed help and to use the phone because she had been locked out.
Letter: A 'slow-motion insurrection' is threatening democracy
Recently an Associated Press article titled “Slow-Motion Insurrection: How GOP Seizes Election Power” was published in many newspapers across the country.
Letter: Outrage equals ratings at Fox News
Letters Haglund writes, "The Fox News business plan is simple. Stir up a constant sense of discontent and outrage among viewers and they will become loyal followers and keep coming back for more. Fox chooses a topic, usually a lie, and then rants about it day and night stirring up anger and total acceptance of the lie by their viewers. When viewers grow tired of the topic, Fox finds a new subject to appeal to the emotions of its listeners." Written By: Roger Haglund | Nov 24th 2021 - 10am.
Letter: A grim prediction for America
Letters Haglund writes, " (Republicans') only policy goals seem to be retaining power at all costs, cutting taxes for the rich, and valuing personal freedom above the common good." Written By: Roger Haglund | 11:00 am, Oct. 28, 2021 × In 1997 I read "The Fourth Turning," a bookby William Strauss and Neil Howe. They saw an American society that was unraveling, predicted it would get progressively worse, and reach a crisis in about 20 years.
Letter: The Republican slide to the extreme right occurred over several decades
Letters It appears that the Republican Party has not only lost control of its base but lives in fear of offending them. Written By: Roger Haglund | 9:00 am, Aug. 27, 2021 × At his recent rally in Alabama Donald Trump told his followers that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and gently suggested that they should also get vaccinated. The resulting chorus of boos led to a quick backtrack with Trump telling them “You’ve got your freedoms.” When Rep.
Letter: Fox News and the search for truth
Letters Kevin Drum in Mother Jones makes a good case for believing that it is mainly “Fox News that has torched the American political system over the past two decades. Fox News is a grinding, daily cesspool of white grievance, mistrust of government, a belief that liberals are literally trying to destroy the country out of sheer malice” and that Fox viewers are the only real Americans.
Letter: Let's talk about the 'tilt'
Letters In 2010 Republican political consultant, Karl Rove, said, “He who controls redistricting can control the government” and the “Redmap Plan” he devised worked very well. For example, in the 2012 election in Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates won 51% of the total votes but ended up with only 28% of the seats in the legislature. Thus at present gerrymandering obviously “tilts” elections toward Republicans. Written By: Roger Haglund | 10:00 am, Jun.
Letter: Vibeto should look in the mirror
Letters Haglund is responding to the letter, "Every society has a Joan of Arc," by Amber Vibeto.
Letter: The GOP welcomed extremists and now has a problem
Letters People and groups with extremist views were no longer rejected by the Republican Party but were welcomed as partners in their struggle to gain and retain power. Written By: Roger Haglund / Moorhead | Mar 2nd 2021 - 9am. × What is the future of the Republican Party? Some pundits say the party is doing fine because 74 million people voted for Trump and the political map shows a lot more red than blue.
Letter: We may as well consider Jan. 6th a trial run now
Letters Perhaps the framers thought that once elected, people would act honorably and put the interests of their country over their own political interests. The reality is most Republican senators did not have the strength of character to hold themselves accountable, which meant they could never hold Trump accountable. Written By: Roger Haglund | Feb 15th 2021 - 1pm.
Letter: The GOP's answer to election loss is voter suppression
Letters The GOP answer to election losses is to manipulate the system to retain power using techniques such as gerrymandering, blocking Democratic legislation in Congress, and suppressing the votes of people who are likely to vote for Democrats. Written By: Roger Haglund | Feb 2nd 2021 - 6am. × After losing the presidency and the Senate you would think that Republicans would want to examine why the ideas they ran on were rejected and perhaps modify their positions to attract more voters.
Letter: A country divided by conspiracy theories
“Wish we could find a media source we like. Definitely not CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, BBC, or lately Fox. Some recommend NewsMax … any good?” This post from one of my right-wing friends on Facebook represents the new dilemma for those on the right, finding a “news” source that will prop up their distorted beliefs now that Trump has turned against Fox.
Letter: Our democracy is in danger
Letters Our downhill slide began with then President Reagan’s assertion that “government is the problem” and then inaugurating a neoliberal economic policy for our country. Republicans raised the laissez-faire free market ideology combined with a small weak government to a god-like status, claiming if everyone tried to get all they could for themselves with few restrictions it would force the economy to grow and everyone would be more prosperous.
Letter: Monarch massacre should come as no surprise
Letters When community ed offered a class on creating a pollinator garden I signed up. Since I knew that permethrin is very toxic to bees and butterflies I asked the instructor “What’s the point of attracting pollinators? Aren’t we just luring them to their deaths the next time they spray?” He had no answer. Written By: Roger Haglund | Sep 11th 2020 - 4pm. × The Forum story about the monarch massacre really shouldn’t be a mystery.
Letter: The Republican platform
Letters As you might expect, the Republican agenda is not popular with a majority of Americans so they have to resort to a negative campaign of fear and falsehoods to frighten voters into supporting them. Written By: Roger Haglund | Sep 2nd 2020 - 9am. × I had to stop watching the Republican Convention.
Letter: Dismantling racism in America
Letters Written By: Roger Haglund | Jun 10th 2020 - 10am. × The recent story on former Deputy Police Chief Todd Osmundson’s “change of heart” is quite revealing. He admitted that before May 30th he disliked Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee during the national anthem to protest the way black people were treated by the police.
Letter: Going back to 'normal' would be a serious mistake
As people are growing weary of isolation and social distancing, many are asking “when will this pandemic end?" Gina Kolata, writing in the New York Times, says historically pandemics have two types of endings, medical and sociopolitical. Smallpox is the prime example of a medical end when an effective vaccine was produced that offered lifelong protection. What is happening now with COVID-19 illustrates the sociopolitical type of ending.
Letter: The need for an independent press has never been greater
Letters Written By: Roger Haglund | Feb 4th 2020 - 3pm. Probably few people noticed the small article in The Forum Jan.
Letter: Many who deny climate change are in oil company's pockets
In his letter published Dec. 6, Ken Sims falsely claims he is not a climate change denier after stating all the reasons he doesn’t believe that human activity is causing climate change. However, if you examine his reasons closely, you will see that his real reason for being a denier is not scientific evidence, it is fear.
Letter: The unraveling of U.S./Iran relations
The Nov. 3rd Forum ran a Washington Post story titled “Embassy seizure leaves legacy of bitterness between Iran, US.” As the story mentions, most Americans were not even born when the embassy takeover occurred but you have to go back even further in history to find the real reason for the bitterness between Iran and the U.S. When I was 10 years old, the Aug.
Letter: Grande delivers another ill-informed climate change column
Betty Grande in her Sunday opinion column says we are “suffering from climate change fatigue.” But, as Don Miller wrote, what we are really suffering from is “the ridiculous number of climate-change deniers featured on Inforum.” Most of these people have little background in science and often quote others who also do not understand how science works. Science deniers often say science cannot be trusted because past theories have sometimes been proven to be incorrect.
Letter: A history lesson about Central America
Letters Written By: Roger Haglund | Jul 19th 2019 - 12pm.
Letter: Yes, we do need Medicare for all
Letters Written By: Roger Haglund | Jun 29th 2019 - 6am. Raheem Williams asks the question “Do we really need Medicare for all?” in his Forum column published June 23. The answer is a resounding yes. Williams agrees that our current health care system is in “desperate need of reform,” but his Republican friends have shown no interest in reforming a system that fills their pockets with re-election money.
Letter: Don't fall for Conservatives' socialism scare tactics
So Rob Port now believes that the State Bank of North Dakota and the ND Mill and Elevator “aren’t really socialism, they are just services which the state of North Dakota offers.” Isn’t it strange how the conservative rhetoric can change when socialist ideas are implemented and result in great good for society? Republicans called the State Bank and State Mill socialist at the time the Nonpartisan League proposed them and put them into law.
Haglund: There's something fishy about Cramer's tax plan figures
So why is Cramer's number so high? Perhaps because average is generally assumed to be the mean and just a few outliers have a great influence on the mean.For example if a group of 43 people has 42 getting $570 tax savings and one millionaire getting a $70,000 tax cut, the average (mean) benefit is $2,185.
Haglund: Exaggeration and lies from NRA members and the political right
In the March 27th Forum story about local NRA members, Erik Clemenson stated that a rifle such as the AR-15 is "not a killing machine because the small, high-velocity bullet is designed to wound." Videos on YouTube demonstrate that this rifle can fire 90 rounds a minute using a 30-round magazine that can be switched in 4 seconds.
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