Dakota Beacon

Right now much of Canada is an inferno.  Forest fires are raging in Alberta, Saskatchewan and in Quebec and the Maritimes.  While forest fires are most often normal in nature, part of the cycle, what is happening now is not.  True, we should all be doing more to keep our forests safe by clearing the kind of dead brush that ignites easily, but that won't save us from arsonists.  What is not normal is half of a large Canadian province bursting into flames overnight - and the government lying to citizens about its efforts to fight the fires.  When we see that, the first thing we should look at is the actual result the government seeks.  It is not implausible to suggest that what they want is another excuse to impose totalitarian protocols, using a fake "climate change" story on which to build.  When the smoke clears, what the government wants is a UN presence, a military presence.  Private property and human life be damned.  If this is happening in Canada (and it is) maybe we should be more vigilant at home, whether it is a fire or another artificially stimulated "natural" disaster.  

A recent survey found that nearly 80% of the workforce are not satisfied with their job. This often causes many unhealthy behaviors and thoughts. In this article, Dr. James Thrasher asks: What’s missing in finding meaning and purpose through work?

The societal lack of understanding of the difference between “tolerance” and “promotion” is unbelievable. Tolerance is the allowance of an amount of deviance accepted by society. Promotion arises from marketers similar to the way in which prostitution results from pimps. The only group that seems to be promoting its ideology with considerable success these days are Marxists that have been in the universities for over a century and have now infiltrated Public K-12 schools and large corporations; they wish to destroy what exists in order to fill the void with their power. Shop on main street and prevent the “indoctrination” of our children. A thousand excellent teachers can be perverted by a single Marxist. We all have a lot of work to do.

Fact. Our rich English language affords nuance and clarity in communication. Yet, we frequently speak obliquely, hinting at what we mean without actually saying it. Too often our speech falls victim to a gratingly vulgar and colloquial discourse. Result? Thoughts and ideas get lost in the message.

When playing with words, I once told my granddaughter, “Clean them off, put them on the shelf, and save them for later.” In other words, grow and preserve your vocabulary.

Building a vocabulary can be enjoyable as well beneficial. You need not advertise or show off. Just do it.

We are far beyond the point where any federal tax increase may improve our national fiscal condition. High-income earners are now filing for unemployment benefits at a record pace. As a minimum, we can ALL request that members of the US House, US Senate, and our President take action to freeze the current debt limit by cutting expenditures.

Well-to-do Americans have already taken action to protect themselves from irrational actions of our legislative and executive branches; you may not have the wealth to protect yourself economically but you do have a telephone with which to call your representatives in Washington DC.

Ah, Summer!  A time to head to the lakeshore or beach, to sit under a tree and read an adventure novel, walk the dog, listen to the songs of the birds, play catch in the back yard or sidewalk games, for little girls to pretend to be butterflies and little boys to drive their matchbox trucks through the sandbox, to hike in the woods or have lunch at a sidewalk cafe.  Nope.  It's not.  These days it's time for amoral, virtue-signaling  parents to exploit their kids in order to proclaim their acceptance of weird, deviant lifestyles, up to and including satanism, by using their kids as sandwich-board salesmen - or at least that is the marketing campaign Target stores have chosen.  We'll see.  There may be far more to this than meets the eye.

Beyond a doubt, and confirmed by experience, America’s Ruling Class (also known as the Davos Class) used control of the executive branch to hurt citizens in their private and public lives. People dared to reject rule by the Davos Class and instead elected Donald Trump. Retribution through the weaponization of Executive Branch departments and agencies was payback.

What follows does not suggest a call to action, but rather a call to vigilance. Be aware of the election reform agenda advocated by many Soros-funded left-of-center organizations. They work to accomplish the following.

I was reminded of something important this week by a quote in a journal, from “The Federalist” #22 it reads...

"The fabric of America ought to rest on the consent of governed.”

It’s one of those foundational truths – one that almost shouldn’t have to be  listed.

Movement into the United States of enormous populations unimpeded across both northern and southern borders constitutes an invasion. Deliberate policies have shaped a bizarre and surreal dream world. One has to laugh to keep from crying. Read on.

Title 42 has expired with the approval of the Biden administration. Explained: “Title 42 expulsions are removals by the US government of persons who have recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present…. Title 42 of the United States Code includes numerous sections dealing with public health, social welfare, and civil rights….”

With the expiration of Title 42, and with no plan to otherwise address and account for the flood of illegal migrants poised to invade, the Biden administration gave a green light on Thursday, May 11, to any foreigner who wishes to reside in the US. Why bother going through a port of entry when you can just walk across the border?

I have a confession to make... I can't understand why conservatives in the North Dakota Republican Party keep getting attacked by their own party members!

In an effort to push back I would encourage all conservatives and Patriots to get involved in NDGOP district reorganization.

Many districts have already reorganized however there are still some opportunities.

In early April, Anheuser-Busch hired transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney to promote a contest during the annual NCAA basketball tournament. A national boycott ensued, and sales of the adult beverage Bud Light plummeted. In this article, Dr. Richard Kocur examines the events from a business perspective and argues that the campaign missed its target audience. He writes, “Business exists to serve its consumers, not to lecture them. Bud Light committed one of the cardinal sins of marketing, failing to keep its consumer at the heart of business decisions.”

Known as big media, mainstream media, legacy media, corporate media, and leftwing media the elitist press goes by many monikers. These apply to CBS, NBC, ABC, CNBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, New York Times, LA Times, and Chicago Times to name a few. With Tucker Carlson leading a list of dismissals, Fox News drifts leftward onto this list.

Corporate media seldom practices journalism as once known and certainly no longer “speaks truth to power.” It may regard itself as the fourth estate but it serves as a fifth column. Big media today defends the Ruling Class along with the administrative state. It regards itself as part of the state, the unelected fourth branch of government. No longer are they suspicious, curious, doubtful, or distrustful of government. They choose to cover the flanks of the powerful because they are the powerful.

If you own or are thinking about investing in AI, buy at considerable risk. If you thought Bitcoin, Solyndra, Enron, Bernie Madoff, Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Cooling, the “Infrastructure” bill, the Unaffordable Care Act (Like your Plan… Keep your Plan), the flying car in the Jetsons, Al Gore’s carbon credits, Vice President Harris’ Border Solutions, Presidents Nixon’s and Biden’s “Peace with Honor in Vietnam and Afghanistan”, Vivek Ramaswamy’s  Inheritance Tax Plan, election rigging Zucker-Bucks, remote voting drop boxes, vote by mail, and thousands of other marketplace scams on American taxpayers foretold  a dicey future, wait until you see how quickly the combination of AI availability and Internet scams reduce Amazon and other online giants to a bankrupt relic of the past. Yes, AI will be the best thing ever for main street small businesses.

The on-going boycott of Bud Light has been having a disastrous effect on Bud's parent company, Anheuser-Busch.  Sales have plummeted as beer drinkers have turned to other brands such as Coors, Sam Adams, Pabst, Miller, etc.   But it really isn't about the beer.  It is really about nothing less than the future of women in the West, their safety and their very freedom to pursue the lifestyles and careers they have chosen.  If America does not hold the line and deny Anheuser Busch and all of its products a market, the lives of American women will change drastically.  

Once upon a time political correctness preceded our contemporary word salad. Over time, however, political correctness morphed into what we now call wokeness. Politically correct perversion of language is neither natural nor complicated. American popular culture resisted the unnatural jargon initially, but it stuck with higher education and administrative government where activists essentially control the institutions. Political correctness, and now wokism, not only masks the reality described by clear language, it also contradicts the underlying meaning of words.

Political correctness, and now wokism, demands commitment to a set of opinions. It contorts language in an attempt to reconstruct reality along leftist lines promising to fundamentally transform America and the world. Accordingly, American culture is accommodating FORCED change by the left.

Some things never get old.  Some never go out of style.  The iconic balladeer, Engelbert Humperdinck is one of those.  He celebrates his 87th birthday today with the release of his newest album.

Vivek Ramaswamy is an example of a slick Ivy League book peddler who is attempting to become president by mixing common sense Conservatism with Marxist ideas in order to garner votes from both sides of the political aisle. He is exactly what America does not need, a potential “Compromiser-In-Chief” who has benefitted from America’s opportunity but learned little of its desire to live free, not just receive “free stuff” from a thieving government. If we wanted thieves in charge of our government, we’d move to Europe.

Population decline has already started in North America, Europe, and east Asia. The decline is occurring at a time where human reproductive technology continues to make advancements. What is happening? In this article, Dr. Jan Dudt looks at the trends and argues that a deeper examination into the culture is required to repair the problem. He asks, “What is a culture to do, if it wants to survive, but is unwilling to address the cultural factors that have caused the population decline?”

The United States has a debt problem. It typically spends far more than the revenue it collects. Nevertheless, in the coming weeks the House of Representatives will vote on a bill to raise the debt ceiling even further. An obvious question would be, “How much debt is too much?” A layman’s understanding follows.

Put numbers to the claim and the picture looks like this. A reasonable measure of a nation’s economic health calculates its debt divided by its gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP reflects the total monetary value of the goods and services sold by the country in a year. This debt-to-GDP ratio (what a country owes divided by what that country produces) ideally should be below 100%. This percentage becomes a sensible measure of a nation’s economic health.

While Russia continues to suffer many defeats in Ukraine—some estimate nearly 250,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives—the country is facing a catastrophic problem: a demographic implosion. In this article that first appeared at The American Spectator, Dr. Paul Kengor chronicles the last 100 years of the country and the culture of death that is controlling Russia. He writes, “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has worsened his nation’s long demographic winter.”

This week many Christians will be reading from the Book of Acts. A few verses in Acts are often taken out of context by social justice proponents to insist that the apostles practiced socialism, and yes, even communism. In this article that first appeared at Crisis Magazine, Dr. Paul Kengor examines the claim and debunks the idea. He writes, “To take a single Marxist exhortation to share wealth and then in turn argue that communism is thus comparable to Christianity is the height of folly. And yet, I shudder to think how many pastors right now are saying just that from the pulpit as they interpret the Book of Acts this Easter season.”

There is nothing new under the sun. An urge to control and direct the lives of others never ceases. Sending kids to public school believing they will receive quality education in their formative years can be very deceptive.

President Jimmy Carter federalized public education in 1979 when he established the Department of Education thereby rewarding the National Education Association’s (NEA) for its help with his election campaign. Of course, he may not have federalized public education in fact – but he certainly did so in effect. Local control of education has since dissipated and local school boards have become vassals of the state. Teachers, parents, and school boards have little to say over federally mandated programs and policies. They can talk until they are blue in the face, but money speaks louder than words. Controlling the distribution of federal funds gives the Department of Education enormous leverage to form the lives of the most impressionable.

Today, April 15, is Jackie Robinson Day. This annual commemoration by Major League Baseball of its first black player, the man who broke the “color barrier,” began on April 15, 2004, when MLB officials celebrated Robinson’s April 15, 1947, debut with the iconic Brooklyn Dodgers. It turned out to be not a one-time thing. MLB now honors the day each April 15, with players and managers alike sporting Robinson’s jersey number, no. 42.

It’s certainly a worthy tribute. The man truly transformed America’s national pastime and America itself. He fully deserves this place in history.

On April 18, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments for Groff v. LeJoy. It is a case where the Civil Rights Act of 1964—as amended in 1972—requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for an employee's religious practices. In this article, constitutional scholar Dr. John Sparks previews the case and argues, “Exercising one’s faith should not be a ticket to unemployment or unfair treatment.”

Prosecutors are the custodians of the criminal justice system. Approximately 2,300 elected district attorneys nationwide have the responsibility to enforce the law and do so fairly. They rise above the distinction between liberal or conservative. Their duty must be to support law and order.

As a rogue prosecutor, Manhattan's progressive-left District Attorney Alvin Bragg designed Donald Trump’s indictment. George Soros said that he and Bragg never met nor had Soros given money directly to Bragg's campaign. Transparency, however, is not a Soros strong point. In 2016, the organization Transparify rated Soros's global network Open Society Foundations (OSF) as the least transparent (rated 0) in the US as well as in 47 countries around the world. So, how did Soros contribute to Bragg's election campaign? He did it the same way he influences other DA elections. Bragg was funded indirectly by large contributions Soros and his OSF gave to other Democrat PACS and not-for-profit organizations which, in turn, funneled money to advance Soros's progressive agendas and candidates, including Manhattan's DA.

Earlier this month, Klaus Teuber died at the age of 70. Teuber was a German board game designer who created the popular game, Catan. In this article, Dr. Jason Edwards pays tribute to Teuber and explores the importance of board games in American culture. He writes, “Years later, we have now spent countless hours enjoying the company of two sons, our extended family, and hosts of college students and new friends around our table, all facilitated by modern board games.”

Is basketball great Charles Barkley a socialist? He certainly talked a bit like one recently, though it wouldn’t really be fair to thus label him.

It’s more accurate to say he’s not very bright.

Complaining Sunday on something called The Bird and Taurasi Show that Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players shouldn’t have to resort to offseason, international-league competition to supplement their incomes, Barkley criticized American business for not recognizing the WNBA’s supposed value.

The country is as polarized as it has been for a long, long time. In most scientific studies of worldwide increases in polarization, the United States ranks at or near the top. How does the nation get out of this? Is it even possible? In this article, Dr. Luke Conway looks at psychology research for a potential solution. He writes, “I say, disagree more. Disagree vigorously. Disagree passionately and with conviction. But, as Jesus admonishes, love those who are your enemies. Disagree respectfully. Disagree fairly. You do not have to pretend your enemies are your friends."

Not long ago, footage surfaced of Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan lecturing kindly instructing parents on how to raise their children. Seeming very cult-member-like passionate, Flanagan insisted that we “listen” to youngsters and “believe them” when they have a fantasy about tell us who they are. So since she’s clearly delusional an expert, I concluded, “Who better to go to for further parenting advice?” and sent her a letter via computer. It follows.