Dakota Beacon

Today was the day that was set for the “Great Ice House” protest in East Grand Forks.  The reason for the planned demonstration was to bring attention to the plight of restaurant and other small business owners under the draconian Minnesota lockdowns dictated by Governor Tim Walz.  People were going to park their ice houses on downtown streets to show our government that we care about this and that it is really becoming an urgent matter.  Then two things happened.

First, Walz lightened up just a tad.  Whereas when the demonstration was planned all indoor dining in restaurants and bars in the state was prohibited, beginning Monday, limited indoor dining will be allowed.    It was a deep insult to people who live in the climate of Minnesota, for even in balmy St. Paul it is too cold to sit outdoors at a “restaurant” for dinner.  These extreme, repressive measures - ostensibly to stem the coronavirus - have been causing great hardship for owners as well as employees, who never know when they will have work, for suppliers and truckers who don’t know what or how much to supply to restaurants that cannot plan for supplying services.  It is a nightmare that only people in the real world who need to keep a business going and pay their bills can understand.  It is apparently well beyond the grasp of career politicians who simply feed off of this complex system.  

But Walz stepped back a few feet from his iron-fisted shutdown to “allow” restaurants and bars to be open indoors at “50% capacity”, which is not enough to sustain the business, according to those who know - owners.  While this is surely a continuing hardship for people who have already lost huge amounts of revenue and during the expensive season of the year (and after the holiday season at that), it seemed to organizers of the East Grand Forks demonstration a respite and a glimmer of hope - maybe a reminder of what life was like before China’s regime and our state governments pretty much destroyed it.  

The other thing that happened was the hijacking of the peaceful, million-person rally of Trump supporters in Washington on Wednesday.  The violence which erupted at the Capitol has been the excuse for Senators and Congressmen to ignore their duties to constituents and to the truth and to wilt, accepting what they knew was a deeply corrupted election without even hearing the evidence.  Like panicked chickens these elected representatives, many who had pledged to investigate the evidence and seek the truth, faded and allowed a bitterly disputed election to be sustained in the face of this evidence and allowed to fester, unsatisfied as to an airing of the case.  Even when hostile foreign nations evidently manipulated our sacred election, this breach of the peace for the space of a few minutes derailed the entire effort to clear the air and get the facts out.  It also ended the plans for the East Grand Forks demonstration.

The organizer told me that he was prepared to “pivot” to cast the local protest from the continued lockdowns to support for those restaurant (and other business) owners who had already been punished for the act of trying to save their businesses by opening.  Larvita McFarquar, of Lynd, has been fined and threatened with incarceration for simply opening her small restaurant in order to help her staff survive and pay her bills.  Jane Moss, of East Grand Forks, felt she had no choice but to open also.  Her business has lost its liquor license at least until late February.  This means she cannot operate at a profit.  And these are only a few of many.  Yet the local organizer felt that it would be too risky to invite participation of out-of-towners just in case BLM or Antifa came.  

This seems like a long-shot.  With so many other, warmer, bigger places to riot, it seems unlikely that these criminals would have come so far out of their circuit to try to blend in with a lot of ice fishermen in the far northern reaches of Minnesota, but one never knows - it is a calculated risk to be sure.  

In fairness, I was highly critical of the piggy-back “protests” across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer, including an ill-advised event pumped up in Fargo.  Perhaps Fargo had issues with police.  I don’t know how serious or whether they existed, but they were not involved with George Floyd.  It just seemed like an opportunity for local people out of anything constructive to do to make a lot of trouble and do a lot of damage.  And it was.  Downtown Fargo saw a lot of destruction and, it seems, for no reason.  At the time I questioned whether, if there were any issues, these had been hashed out in city council meetings, letters, ordinary, orderly indoor gatherings, before resorting to street demonstrations.  I never heard that they were and I took a lot of flak from some very young, self-inflated “leaders” and their mentors/influencers in Fargo, including a former good friend.  

This was different, however.  The grievances in East Grand Forks were spelled out.  They were real and specific and asked for specific relief.  The people involved had tried to resolve them.  It has become a life-and-death issue for many.  East Grand Forks will lose many of its local businesses.  When that happens how long will the other, larger corporate enterprises remain?  One downtown hotel is up for sale, a long-time business in the area, the local Burger King is now closed, a sign in its window suggesting customers go to the restaurants in Grand Forks, ND, which are and have been open for business.  The Boardwalk, of course, is closed.  The River Cinema has on its marquee the news that you can buy “movie snacks to go” inside.  No movies.  A satellite restaurant, Roxy’s, was set to open just when the shutdowns began.  East Grand Forks is literally a ghost town.  How long can this continue?  Even at a 50% capacity rate?  

As I have said, I do not necessarily blame the organizer of the demonstration for cancelling, although I think that was hasty and unnecessary.  The people involved in this issue are not idle malcontents, they are hard-working businessmen and women and their employees and suppliers, their landlords and mortgage holders and lenders and service providers such as snow removal, cleaning, printing, advertising, etc.  The number of people who are affected is immense.  Walz thinking he can “ease restrictions” and alternately lock them down, like they were on a light switch or water in a reservoir, is fatal to a real business.  And there is no guarantee at all of how long these businesses will be able to operate and even if they can stay open at this rate for a while they cannot turn a profit, which means they cannot sustain it.  

Those who have been hurt the worst - those who have either had to close their businesses, pay excessive fines (actually, any fine is excessive if it is for operating a legal business) or even do time in jail - they are the ones who made opening possible by drawing the nation’s attention to their situation, for these other businesses (such as the one owned by the organizer of the cancelled protest) to get Walz to lighten up.  It won’t last.  And other restrictions will no doubt be imposed.  But we have heard nothing about relief for these freedom fighters.  They have been left out to dry now that the other businesses can open even a little.  

The hijacking of the rally in Washington has been the excuse for a lot of moral weakness.  It is the rationale used by people to back down on their principles.  I wished that Trump had not called supporters to a rally, not because they would act violently or break the law, but because a huge event like this would inevitably draw Antifa and BLM.  And so, it seems, they did.  And in doing so they have given a black eye to people who exercise their First Amendment rights and delegitimize them, discouraging people speaking out - just as it did the overly cautious protest organizer in East Grand Forks.  Just imagine over a million people together in the streets all day, and the only problem was with about 250 Antifa activists who infiltrated.  

The upshot is that some businesses and their owners will by limping along, only half-dead at 50% capacity, while those who made even this possible will pay brutal fines, remain shut down and perhaps even rot in jail.  Their legal fees, fines and court costs will probably put most of them out of business.  

We can’t allow criminal gangs who hijack our peaceful events, to do this to our First Amendment rights.  This leaves us vulnerable to a takeover of everything from a three-legged race at a county fair to a farmers’ market or concert in a park, to say nothing of a political event.  The first step is to find out the truth about this violence in Washington.  It was certainly the least, albeit still totally unacceptable and shameful, of the terrorism that took place with local governments’ blessings from coast to coast throughout 2020.  These mayors couldn’t hand over police precinct buildings fast enough.  Seattle experienced the “summer of love” in CHAZ-CHOP.  Nothing wrong with that.  And never, ever forget that no less than the supposed Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris had this to say about the rioting before January 6, and with a huge grin: https://www.theepochtimes.com/video-trump-supporters-stop-antifa-from-breaking-into-capitol_3649380.html     If this were not enough to give us a chill, here is Detroit politician Cynthia A. Johnson, warning the rest of us.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+-+ca+johnson+threat&docid=607994261041775714&mid=ABADEECEBAD2F07F8667ABADEECEBAD2F07F8667&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

So first, identify the criminals and call them out for what they are - dangerous operatives, many of them paid professional insurgents in the employ of foreign actors, next outlaw their organizations, whether they be BLM, Antifa, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Shabab or any other and make membership in such organizations illegal, as well as their events and merchandise.  This is not to be taken lightly.  America prides itself (or has prided itself) on freedom of association and free speech and a free press.  But we can’t let that be used to undermine that very First Amendment.  The people who are doing these acts of violence - the recent one in Washington as well as the summer of violence across the nation - are not acting within the scope of the First Amendment, which states:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment protects the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.  When it is no longer peaceful, there is no protection.  When the intent is violence there is no protection.  

So, secondly, apply the law.  Arrest and charge those involved in this activity, try them and if found guilty in a court of law, punish them severely - with long prison sentences and other punishments.  Politicians who encourage law breaking and violence must be censured and perhaps also tried for their crimes.  If we did this at least a few mayors and Kamala Harris would be behind bars.  Then, perhaps, the rest of America can return to freedom.  Until then, the lawful are punished and the criminals are free in America.