Dakota Beacon

DEVELOP AN AUTHENTIC ND BRAND; FORUM ENDORSEMENTS; HEARTLAND REGIONAL STUDY; SURPRISE BLUNDER; THE U.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWED ND VOTER ID LAW; AG COMMISSIONER RACE; HAPPY BIRTHDAY FARGODOME; DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE LITIGATION; A THREAT; LATEST WORD ON ASHBY COOP; DAKTOIDS

It’s that time of year when pumpkins metamorphose into jack-o-lanterns and little imps provoke adults to give them candy. Halloween is here again.

Is this really a time for celebrating evil, death and debauchery?

Many parents harbor misgivings about exposing their children to the horrific and macabre. Some rightly fear for the safety of their children. To celebrate or not to celebrate?

In light of today's "multicultural" environment, Halloween demands a fair hearing. In perspective, Halloween extends back more than one and a half millennium but few people associate Halloween with observances of the ancient Christian church.

On Saturday morning, 11 innocent people lost their lives at the hand of a gunman during a worship service at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. In this article, Dr. Paul Kengor details a personal account of the tragedy that left a community and nation asking: Why? Kengor reflects, “This world, unlike the heavenly paradise we seek, is full of sin and rot. Trees in this world decay and die. Like people, they face mortality in this realm. Eternal life and perfect bliss is not reachable in this world. It comes in the next.”

A reasonable case for term limits can be made when reviewing the lack of accomplishments of the permanent political class. Where is their leadership when it counts? On many of the following items, especially military legislation, they seldom co-sponsor legislation much less lead on the national issues. They remain part of the inert establishment enjoying their perks. As part of the majority of their respective houses they have accomplished zero on illegal immigration, the devastating sequestration, the fight against terrorism, correcting America’s disastrous health care policy, reversing the upward trend of the ever-increasing national debt, thwarting the monstrous spread of federal regulations – the list goes on. They are part of the establishment. Very little changed in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Not until 2016 and Trump’s outsider style of leadership did things begin to change.

Why not make the offer and put Mexico on the spot and unmask their corrupt government and reveal their real agenda?  

With perhaps the most significant midterm election in decades nigh, big tech’s censorship of conservatives has kicked into high gear. And while Facebook’s recent purge of right-leaning pages is obvious and has made news, perhaps just as destructive is the stealth censorship. A good example may be the report of WordPress’ “statistics shadowbanning” of Whatfinger News.

WAS CRAMER-HEITKAMP DEBATE A DRAW?; WHY DO THEY CARE?; REMEDY; POOR LLOYD'S (OMDAHL) ALMANAC; REMARKABLE MOMENT; FORUM AGAINST MEASURES; AN NPR/HARVARD/STUDY; THE ACT TEST; "THERE'S WAY TOO MANY MOOSE"; ND COLLEGE STUDENTS; DRONE FALCONS; SUNNYSIDE UP; HUB CITIES; DAKTOIDS

Our Founding Fathers collectively possessed incredible wisdom: Ben Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and so many more.

Where did they acquire such knowledge and wisdom to create the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and the Constitution? None had “public education” to their credit but were taught at home by parents and tutors. All were well-read and otherwise self-educated. Several attended private universities in their late teens and early twenties.

In particular, the wit and wisdom of Thomas Jefferson remains an inspiration to all who read him. As with others, he was essentially self-taught surrounded by books. Jefferson is so often cited and embraced both by liberals and assorted progressives as well as conservatives and libertarians.

What we know of Jefferson’s thinking comes principally from his letters. He never wrote a book but, at the age of thirty-three, he drafted the Declaration of Independence.

A NEW ROUGH RIDER; COLUMNIST MIKE JACOBS; SKEPITCISM; HEIDI HEITKAMP; SOCIAL MOBILITY; ONE MEANING OF "SALTING"; HIGHER ED REPORT; STOPPING BAD GUYS; PIPELINE PROTESTORS; SMILE, YOU'RE ON TELEDENTIRISTY; PAYBACK; DAKTOIDS

Many factors are involved when a young adult begins to choose a college: cost, campus life, location, employment after graduation, and others. But is the most important factor the one that is often overlooked? In this article, Lee S. Wishing argues: “Joy, real meaningful joy, should be the most important consideration when choosing a college.”

The people will have to decide what they want for themselves and their children - mob rule, where hysterical people can accuse without proof and destroy others’ lives or the rule of law, where the accused has the right to a presumption of innocence, specificity of charges against him, a fair hearing, the right to his defence.  That is the question to consider this November.

The grotesque excesses of feminism will never be stopped as long as men behave like meek Jewish professionals in Nazi Germany who hope that a low profile will protect them or behave like the broad smiles of terrorized black men in the South living in fear of the Ku Klux Klan.  Moreover, an Anti-Defamation League for Men could recruit not only men from across the spectrum but also women who are quietly disgusted by the manifest injustice of modern feminism.

This is a vital battle and it is worth fighting, indeed, it is one of those battles which will have to be fought if our society is going to survive.

If you’re a conned-servative who gets sand thrown in your eyes, your kneecaps kicked off and slashed with a broken bottle and then still fights the next time by Queensberry rules, this article isn’t for you. But if you’re disturbed by the Left’s behavior these last years and want to know how to handle these people whose “mask has been dropping,” understand this: Behind that mask is the Devil.

If you’re not a person of faith, view this as a thought exercise. But it’s one connedservatives — those nice guys who always finish last — had better embrace fast. Because the behavior of what we call today’s “Left” and what Satan would prescribe are virtually identical.

Why are results of political polling such big news? Does anyone really believe that the polls this far out reflect the outcome of the elections? More to the point, will polling sway the electorate substantially this early in the campaign? It is likely that a constant drumbeat over time of lousy polling could influence a candidate’s defeat. Or, it could simply result in a lack of public confidence in polls. In the end, the only important poll is the one held on Election Day.

People may not recognize the term “push polling” but they do realize that polls can be used to generate news. Interest groups and campaigns are not above structuring polls so that biased results will be carried by a sycophant media to fit their own biased narrative. This is a form of surrogate negative campaigning on behalf of a candidate of the media’s choice

Returning to the metaphor of the first paragraph, President Obama was the lightning, and Congress (especially retiring “Republicrat” Senator Jeff Fleck and entrenched RINO Senators Murkowski and Collins and including all Democrat Senators seeking re-election in this cycle) is the dense underbrush. President Trump is the lightning-caused fire and the voters have a choice to be the controlled-burn that insures gradual renewal… or the Democrat fire truck that insures that a future fire (ignited by one of the lunatics of the left) will be CATASTROPHIC.

In today’s world, loud voices claim that free inquiry and open discussion are no longer part of the solution to society’s ills—this is especially so in higher education. On campuses across the country, humanities have been subject to ruthless politicization and concomitant trivialization over the years. In this article that first appeared at First Things, Grove City College professor Dr. Carl Trueman discusses his broad educational philosophy that includes the foundation: “I want to teach my students to think, which means the classroom must be a place where I challenge them and where they are free to challenge me. That is the only way true learning can be achieved in an ethical manner.”

APPLAUSE FOR THE TRADE DEAL; WILL ND BE A TECHNOLOGY LEADER?; SENATE RACE; MARIJUANA; MONEY STRUGGLE; HE WON’T GO FAR; SURPRISING MIDWEST CITIES; WHAT DRIVES THE GROWTH?; FISH STORY; GOING, GOING, GONE; SUPPORT IN SPIRIT; TRIBAL MEMBERS GET LEFTOVERS; DAKTOIDS

Consider a few of the many recent news stories. “Membership in the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA), which has been around since 1982, has grown from about 5,000 to 35,000 since November 2016, and dozens of DSA candidates are running for office around the country. In June, one of them, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, upset Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary, knocking off a ten-term incumbent and one of the most powerful Democrats in the House.” – “The Socialist Network,” Washington Monthly, July-August 2018.

       “She represents the future of our Party.” – Tom Perez, DNC co-chair, discussing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on “The Bill Press Show,” 7/3/2018.

There was something curiously missing from Professor Christine Blasey Ford’s Thursday Senate testimony, something quite relevant to her basic claims. Please consider the following segment from her testimony about the alleged (circa) 1982 sexual assault by SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh:

Both Brett and Mark [Judge] were drunkenly laughing during the attack. …During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. And the last time that he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room.

Now please read the corresponding segment from her original letter, sent months ago to Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.):

Kavanaugh was on top of me while laughing with Judge. …At one point when Judge jumped onto the bed, the weight on me was substantial. The pile toppled, and the two scrapped with each other.

After a few attempts to get away, I was able to take this opportune moment to get up and run across to a hallway bathroom.

“We all ought to be burdened about the stories coming out about our public figures. We are now living in a culture with a broad consensus of worshipping hedonism,” writes Dr. Gary Welton. In this article, Welton looks at recent research that suggests there are strategies for changing the “hedonistic environment.”

LUCKY NODAKS; COULD GO EITHER WAY; MIKE JACOBS; NOTIFY ALL TROLLS; "THE UNIVERSITY'S MOST FAMOUS ALUMNUS"; THE JACKS ARE COMING; WENTZ IS BACK; IT'S A TOTAL MESS; OPPORTUNITY OR MYTH?; IN THE REAL WORLD; HARD TO FIND A MATERNITY WARD; REFUGEES; DAKTOIES

How will the Kavanaugh hearings impact the 2018 midterm elections? Pollsters predict doom for Republicans. But then, the pollsters were dreadfully inaccurate with a failure record in an attempt to forecast the outcome of several recent elections. Bad performance does not give them much credibility this time around.

Is Kavanaugh so vile, so ill-equipped, so devoid of character that his life and family must be destroyed and he not seated on the Supreme Court? Or, are the Democrats overwhelmed with a spirit of vindictiveness?

Leave it to the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party, the mainstream media, to run with speculative stories and commentary emphasizing the negative to shape the anti-Kavanaugh sentiment.

The confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court could assure us that we are championing liberty for the next generation. We have frequently been disappointed by justices who appeared to be greater champions of life, liberty, and property when nominated than they proved to be once they were on the Court. Some of this is due to the decline in American jurisprudence over the past century, some is due to the unpredictability of the future decisions of justices, and some is due to the poor selections of nominees. In general, Judge Kavanaugh seems to be a friend of religious liberty, although some of his statements may disclose hints of positivist

SALES TAX COLLECTIONS IN ND; WHEN WILL THE BAKKEN RETURN?; NEED TO DIVERSIFY; TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?; FUTURE OF GFAFB; AMTRAK; FARGO'S BLOCK 9 HIGH-RISE; J.R. SIMPLOT; ONLY IN ND; “YA GOT TROUBLE, RIGHT HERE IN NORTH DAKOTA” ; EDINA; DAKTOIDS

Have Republicans killed the pro-life movement on Capitol Hill? In this article that first appeared at American Greatness, Rachel Bovard, senior director of policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute, argues that Republicans have turned their backs on the pro-life movement. Bovard writes, “45 years after Roe v. Wade, after millions of dollars have been spent on advocacy, when more Americans than ever are pro-life, while thousands continue to march every year, after hundreds of members are elected to Congress on a singular promise to protect life, in only the second unified Republican government in 60 years, congressional leaders will have done . . . nothing.”

Major media outlets build on the story of Hurricane Florence as an entertainment piece at the expense of the unfortunate. CNN shows Anderson Cooper standing in a ditch of water for effect as his cameraman films the affair. The Weather Channel shows a reporter playacting leaning markedly into the wind while a couple of casual teens stroll effortlessly behind him. All for the entertainment value.

Much of this silliness is on display as a blame game based on the poorly informed, the hopelessly sentimental, or the ideologically hard core. At the far left environmental wackos capitalize on the weather to fabricate the climate change myth.

In truth, the US Energy Information Administration’s latest energy report states that from 2005 through 2017 US energy related CO2 emissions plunged by 14%. In the same period the rest of the world’s output rose by 21%. The US will neither choke, bake, nor flood the planet. Not only is the US the only major country cutting CO2 emissions, it is providing leadership showing others how to do it.

Over the past year, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson has gained notoriety for his forthright statements on our current cultural climate. In fact, a YouTube video with a UK journalist went viral over the summer. What is Peterson saying that has so many outraged? In this article that first appeared at the WhiteHorseInn.org, Dr. Carl Trueman looks at the premise of Peterson’s new book and argues that his ideas are not revolutionary and should not be as controversial as some proclaim. Trueman writes, “That this has proved so controversial is paradoxically both surprising and entirely predictable. Surprising because we live in an age where the individual is supposed to be sovereign over their own identity; entirely predictable because our contemporary individualism always assumes that our failure to fulfill personal potential is always somebody else’s fault. We live in a culture of sovereign individual victims.”

EYES ON ND; HEALTHCARE COMPETITION; WALLET HUB RANKS HAPPIEST STATES; HE DIDN'T MEAN IT; WAS IT WORTH THE HUMILIATION?; LOCAL PRIDE IN ND; THINK CRITICALLY; ENDDANGERED SPECIES ACT; KENT CONRAD; A RUGGED LIFE; THE PARADOX OF JOSEPH BRUCE SR.; DAKTOIDS 

Nearly every week media outlets discuss impeachment of President Donald Trump. This week is no exception—especially after the president’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort’s guilty plea and decision to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation. In this article, Dr. Justin P. DePlato and Mr. Matthew M. Markulin examine the history of impeachment in America and argue that the best place to find answers is the Constitution. They write, “Now that impeachment is again the subject of headlines, it’s necessary and prudent to understand what impeachment meant to the Founders, as well as the historical usage of congressional impeachment power—rather than rely on the casual observations of journalists and D.C. pundits about the meaning of constitutional impeachment.”

Stop and think. Does it stand to reason that the continued resistance and over-the-top attacks on Trump will peel off voters to support radical Leftists to retake the House, much less the Senate? The Democrats lost the 2016 election because they followed the costal liberal elites who lost touch with the ordinary people of Middle America. Childish behavior by Democrats and the media merely confirms to the majority of voters and Trump’s base that Democrats still don’t get Trump and the people who support him. The Left’s contempt of Trump is the best thing that ever happened to the GOP.

Only if Republicans avoid voting in November will the Democrats win.