Dakota Beacon

One of the most confusing statements one hears regarding firearms policy is this: “We need to get guns off the streets.” I have heard this statement many times for many years, and I still have absolutely no idea what that means.

The deterrent is NOT KNOWING WHO HAS A GUN, but knowing that many people have guns and therefore, the people in general are not defenseless against aggression.  What keeps the “knock at the door” in the middle of the night from occurring is not Mr. Smith at home with his semi-automatic assault weapon, but not knowing whether he has one and will use it, not knowing if the guy in the apartment down the hall or down the street has one. 

One of the great lies taught to our children through their social studies textbooks and teachers is that we are “a nation of immigrants”.  We are not.  We are a nation of Americans.  This view completely ignores the basic principles which have bound Americans together as a nation – our founding principles, which are centered on individual liberty and how best to obtain and preserve it.  That is a major failing in our education system.  This basic lie has undercut our children’s image of their own country and its history, it has robbed them of the understanding of human nature which shaped our Constitution and it has warped their whole world view.

. . . Gov. Jack Dalrymple; statewide crisis in judicial services; “Out-of-state man”; the state had about 1,100 homeless; property taxes in Minnesota have roughly doubled; “upscale entertaining”; Something else is sizzling; UND has gone overboard; Angela Davis (68), a nationally recognized activist; Native American healers; the slavery of their own expectations; CariDee is in Hollywood; Forget about Rhino Snot; cracking down on “habitual drunkards”; In 2013, the TAT expect to be debt free; DAKTOIDS . . . .

Let me suggest, however, that these results (properly understood) can produce better health outcomes. By focusing on thinness rather than fitness many people become discouraged. They become discouraged because try as they might, they cannot stay thin. People will not persist with healthful behaviors if they are measuring success with a standard they cannot attain. If we want people to engage in healthful behaviors we must give people achievable goals.

But sometimes innocents do get shot. Such was the case with an 11-year-old Palmview boy in 2010. At home with his mother, he got his hands on a .22-caliber rifle. And after the two armed and masked illegal aliens who had broken into their home shot through their bedroom door after the mother refused to open it, hitting the boy in the hip, he returned fire. He struck one of the criminals in the neck, causing them both to flee. They were apprehended when the wounded miscreant showed up at a local hospital.

The tragedy is the harm, grief, and suffering these megalomaniacs will impose on those over whom they claim superiority and governing authority. What we are seeing is the unprecedented rise of unlimited government worldwide and cooperation among these governmental bodies to repress, tax, and control their citizens.

And his point in addressing race is that our leftist mis-educators’ tolerance of low-information black teachers puts the lie to their claim that they care about blacks. After all, as he writes in his closing line, “If they [the teachers] manage to get through the mockery of teacher certification, at what schools do you think they will teach?”

One is not supposed to compare Obama to Hitler, so permit me to quote Stalin, another hero of the Left: "One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic." Well, one Oval Office crime is a national disgrace requiring impeachment, but a million crimes quickly become business as usual.

I support a company’s right to refuse to do business with whomever it pleases (freedom of association); although rejecting firearms manufacturers would make a bank boycott-worthy. But to accept someone’s business and then persecute him for political reasons — as appears the case here — is reprehensible. The funds will be released when the bank has a “chance to review and clear them”? As per my experience, your money is supposed to be cleared as soon as you inform the institution that anomalous charges aren’t the result of criminal activity.

Is this the partnership we want? Do we want the Planned Parenthood model educating our teenagers, and then asking them to educate their peers?

It goes without saying that history proved Wilson wrong while vindicating Churchill's assessment. Germany was indeed unable to pay for the war reparations and its economy eventually collapsed in a hyper-inflationary spiral. In 1924 the victors began reducing Germany's payments and in 1932 the debt was forgiven in its entirety. But according to Ivan Castro, it was too late by then: “The national political, economic and social stability had been destroyed and extremist parties such as the Communists and the Nazis were gathering followers. The insecurity felt by the German people was one of the main causes that led to Adolf Hitler taking power in 1933.”

I could explain why, Dave — very clearly. But I don’t use the kind of language you do. So I’ll just say, my good man, that you’re what they now call a “low-information voter.” And you and your comrades have given us a low-information president.

To hack the jargon and sling the lingo, the armed citizen is true empowerment, especially for the women. Go for it girls! Another “women’s studies” program just doesn’t empower the way a .38 Special does.

. . . collective boost of self-esteem; Each Forum paper chose top 2012 stories; The Forum ended 2012 in a snit; a tribute to the retiring Conrad; you need to be in the right state; Gilmore died last week at age 108; Cheerful person of the week; Betting warns about the horrors; thieves making methamphetamine; legislative proposals are heavily focused on western ND; The state had 168 traffic deaths in 2012; longest-serving chief justice in state history; “War of the Colossal Beast”. . . .

And when a child violates the above, action must be taken — for his own good. As for the Maryland Finger Maniac, if we administer enough Ritalin, he may one day start acting like a girl.

“We’re doomed,” Bork assured my student. America was on the road to Gomorrah.

Unfortunately, I think Robert Bork was exactly right.

People dressed up more often and generally were more polite. They used less profanity in public. Movies depended on good acting instead of special effects to tell engaging stories, and depictions of intimacy and violence left the details to one's imagination. If you hurt yourself doing something careless, you never thought of suing the company that made the thing with which you hurt yourself. Most of us went to Sunday school or synagogue every weekend, learning right from wrong and that we are accountable to a higher power.

Let him propose whatever insane thing strikes his perverse fancy.  There is no reason on earth or under our law why Congress should even hear him out.

After all, a business is built through work; money derived from a business is made through work. And work is something you do with your body. Thus, if the government tells a business owner what he must provide through his business and money, isn’t it, in a sense, telling him what he must do with his body?

And how would he improve the Good Book? Said he, “Both the Bible and the Constitution were well intentioned, but they are basically, inherently flawed. Hence the need to amend it. My point to you [Warren] about gay rights, for example; it’s time for an amendment to the Bible.”

. . . a city that’s humming with business; a Legacy Fund expected to reach $1 billion next year; six men in a crew cab pickup were killed on icy I-94; they don’t take reckless actions on their own; the Native Mob terrorizes reservations; his snowmobile hit a mailbox; Two views of development; enough about the bridesmaid dresses! . . . “Well, lad-di-da.  I beg to differ"; the proposal “isn’t fiscally responsible; Dickinson State is not out of the woods; 17th busiest in the nation; DAKTOIDS . . . .  

Depardieu was allowed to retain only 15 percent of his property.

Set aside your political correctness for just a minute.  We’re serious here, because this could be your kid’s life or your wife’s or husband’s.  These deaths are real and they happen in towns just like yours.  Do you really want to play the game?  Or do you want to prevent this from ever happening to someone you love?  Because unless you want to sacrifice them to the PC god, you have no business coming down on the side of these empty suit politicians and media hacks who are using – yes, using – the deaths of these little children in their soulless pursuit of totalitarianism.  If you want to save precious lives, here is how you do it.

Conservatives should never expect to win on identity politics, but on principle and on the reality of cause and effect.  History supplies us with ample evidence of what works long-term and what doesn’t

The recent story about the homeowners in the exclusive neighborhood of Arlington, TX, who refused to permit the Salvation Army to set up a donation kettle across the street from their elegant Christmas light display just about says it all.  What is it these people are celebrating?  “Light Day”?

. . . “The Legislature Today”; Bakken Beacon; If rural America wants to remain relevant; some Bison athletes act more like criminal gang members; loose rocks from the fiscal cliff; applications for concealed carry permits soared; The Defense Department  built the anti-missile complex in 1975; Newcomers stiff Williston; Somalis with Minnesota backgrounds; Fargo: Chipper People; Fargo is amazed, envious and wary; Keystone Cop episodes in New Town; DAKTOIDS . . . .

It’s ironic, too, because while it’s possible (anything is) that you’ll die in a Friday apocalyptic event, it’s far more likely that on that day you’ll succumb to a heart attack, aneurysm, or stroke, or be killed in a car accident. Or it could happen the next day, next week, or next month. Should you worry about it? Better than focusing on when you’ll die is straightening how you live. Live right — the dying takes care of itself.   

This year, the Christmas holiday has taken on a somber tone due to the unspeakable crime against children and loving educators in Newtown, Connecticut. Dozens of parents will experience Christmas without a loving, beautiful child—a light of their lives—at their side. Millions of Christians pray that they draw comfort from cherishing the miracle of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago.

But consider what that implies. If semi-automatic handguns are too deadly to be in circulation, and most all guns in the US are semi-automatic and, presumably, equally deadly, then….

So what are we left with? The possible exception of small-caliber, low-power firearms? Maybe not. Sirhan Sirhan murdered Robert F. Kennedy with a .22 revolver