Dakota Beacon

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court is underway. What have we learned so far—especially from the procedures on day one? In this article, political science professor Dr. Caleb Verbois reviews the hearing and argues that the “…circus hearings this week are not really about Kavanaugh, or even about Trump. Our judicial hearings have been a spectacle for three decades.”

Today, Judge Brett Kavanaugh will begin his confirmation hearing before the Senate. Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nomination to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy, will face tough questions throughout the week. In this article, Adam V. Nowland ’07 examines the process and offers insight into what expect this week.

Public schools and universities are known for many things, but teaching sound economics is not one of them. Whether this situation is by design or default it is both debatable and a debacle. Little wonder that public discussion of economics, if it takes place at all, is trite and inane. The education system has not prepared young people to form judgments and cast votes on programs of economic consequence.

To be sure, economics and finance are two totally different subjects. Finance focuses on the management of money and assets and emphasizes the maximization of wealth. Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses and focuses on optimizing valued goals. Either way, everything of value has a cost. Nothing is free. Ever.

We should all honor a desire by the family that Mollie Tibbetts be treated with respect by her countrymen and by the press.  But she was not permitted to “die with dignity” by the man who assaulted her. He is the enemy, not those who recognize the relevance of her death to the discussion.  

The real tragedy of the Stupid Media is that, through their combination of profound ignorance and shameless propagandizing, they deceive people on a wide range of issues, some of which are of great import. This begets a civilization that’s out of touch with reality and can’t come to correct conclusions on matters of survival.

That’s the consequence of feeding misinformation into a system. As with a computer, it’s garbage in, garbage out.

It’s personal. Mueller turned the Manafort and Cohen findings over to the New York District Court because he had no evidence of Russian collusion. Now he has given the Trump Organization CFO, Allen Weisselburg, immunity and turned his findings over to the New York State Court in Manhatten. Trump has no pardon authority over state convictions. Defendants have families and the Mueller probe can threaten their families. They threatened Cohen’s wife because she was a cosigner on his tax returns. They can’t find Russian collusion but they still want to destroy Trump in any way possible whether through friends, family, or Trump Organization. The fishing expedition goes on.

ALREADY ANEMIC GRAIN PRICES; NEW WELFARE QUEENS; ARE FARM KIDS BETTER?; NATURAL GAS FLARING; BARGAINS WEST OF THE RED RIVER?; YEA FOR JCS; MIS AMERICA IS UNHAPPY; GRETCHEN CARLSON; MUND GETS SUPPORT; LET BUGS DO IT; DIFFERENT POLICIES; HOBO CRTIMES; CHASE IRON EYES; DREW WRIGLEY; DAKTOIDS

There is one group of voters to be aware of – illegal aliens. This block should not be voting. It is wrong, illegal, and immoral. Only citizens, those who are legitimately franchised, should be allowed to vote. Some of a certain political persuasion warmly welcome illegal voters for their own benefit disregarding the integrity of our democratic system.

There would be no current storm over security clearances if all such access ended the day people leave government service. In that case President Donald Trump lifting former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance would be a non-issue.

In June, President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum against America’s closest neighbors and oldest allies to match those he had already imposed on China and other non-Western countries earlier this year. In this article, economist Dr. Mark Hendrickson offers an update on the president’s tariff strategy and writes, “None of this is close to a done deal, but if the president eventually manages to negotiate overall lower tariff barriers that result in a restoration of jobs recently lost and thousands of additional American jobs to serve newly open foreign markets, it would be a historic achievement, both economically and politically.”

BIG SALES JOB AHEAD; IT'S NOT OVER, UNTIL....; ON THE FENCE; SPEARHEADING; GRAND SKY ON CUTTING EDGE; THE UPPER GREAT PLAINS; THE UPPER GREAT PLAINS; RADISSON HOTELS; CHRISTENSON FARMS; R.D. OFFUTT'S ELKHORN RIVER FARMS; U.S. CITIZENS RELUCTANT TO WORK IN RURAL ND; THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS; THE BISMARCK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT; DAKTOIDS

We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”  Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Red Army is gone. Russia does not have the large military ground force it once did. To sail from St. Petersburg to the Atlantic, the Russian navy must pass within range of 11 NATO nations. The Black Sea’s western and southern shores are now controlled exclusively by NATO.

Russia does not have a robust economy. Her economy has shrunk in size to that of Italy. One thing Russia does have is Vladimir Putin – a former KGB officer with the desire to reassemble the old Soviet Union as it existed during the Cold War. That is a Herculean task.

Now consider Thiessen’s contention that US troops in Poland would better position American forces strategically. It would certainly thwart Russian aspirations to reacquire the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Aside from addressing deadbeat countries like Germany who only pay 1.24 percent of her GDP on defense, it also punishes Germany for blindsiding NATO in reaching an energy agreement with Russia. Germany pays Russia for gas sent by the Nord Stream 2 pipeline but it doesn’t pay her fair share for defense. Furthermore, the pipeline runs through Poland and Slovakia. Russia cannot afford to cut off gas supplies to Eastern Europe without cutting off lucrative deals with Western Europe and Germany. If Russia should accept that risk, the US, as a major energy exporter, could fill the void.

OFFUT THROWING IN THE TOWEL; HARD TO STAY AHEAD OF PETROLEUM FLOW; DAKOTA GASIFICATION CAN NOT COMPETE; LAVISH SPENDING FOR ND'S NEXT US SENATOR; COLUMNIST LLOYD AMDAHL THINKS RUSSIANS TRYING TO HELP KEVIN CRAMER - OFFERS NO EVIDENCE; GOOD TRY! - BUT NO DRUG CONVICTIONS; STEALTH LITTLE MISSOURI BRIDGE; MINNESOTA MUSLIMS BOTH SEEN AND HEARD; ND AG NEEDS FOREIGN WORKERS; SAD FORUM COMMUNICATIONS SUNDAY PAPERS; 

But there’s more to come - the Democrats lost no time in hurriedly nominating someone to take his place in the U.S. House:  Ilhan Omar.  Omar is a Somali-born Muslim woman who is best known for having married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi - presumably for political reasons, and is currently married to two different men, which for the rest of us would mean jail.  Disclaimer: she denies that this Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is the same Ahmed Nur Said Elmi that she is married to, despite the fact that they also share the same birth date.

“Comedians” comprise the spokesmen of the liberal left. They are haters who cannot get over the fact that their candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. This is who they are up close and personal -- hateful, disgusting, despicable, vile (words not yet purged from the English language). They will attack anything and anyone who smacks of Trump, his family, his administration, Christians, conservatives (especially women and Black conservatives), right-of-center – anything imaginable that they perceive threatens the left. There are no barriers. There is no propriety. Nothing is too low.

Sobran’s: The Real News of the Month, 2000 — “I cannot tell a lie,” the mythical little George Washington told his father. Parson Weems seems to have invented this edifying tale, and it summed up the old American assumption that republican rulers should be virtuous men, with honesty chief among their virtues. The apotheosis of Abraham Lincoln included the popular myth of “Honest Abe.”

These myths made a deep impression on generations of Americans. I know, because they made a deep impression on me. I still vividly remember reading children’s biographies of Washington and Lincoln in the second grade in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in a small classroom where the Ten Commandments were also posted on the bulletin board. After reading that Lincoln had walked miles to pay a few pennies to a customer he had (inadvertently) shortchanged, I made a point of admitting my own faults whenever possible. It always made me feel good

THE BAKKEN IS BACK; THE APPLEBEE ROAD; STANDOFF AT THE NDSC; LLOYD OMDAHL; BEWARE OF PARENT DEBT; MAJORITY-MINORITY SCHOOLS; WELCOME TO LITTLE AFRICA; ANOTHER PM VISIT; RETIRED BASKETBALL COACH DALE BROWN; BIG SPENDERS; THE LONG TAIL OF THE DAPL PROTESTS; DAKTOIDS

Records indicate that firearms are used more than 2 million times a year for personal protection as corroborated by the Centers for Disease Control data. The mere presence of a firearm very often prevents crime without a shot being fired.

The following news items gathered from around the United States were reprinted by the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) four different magazines. They substantiate the validity of personal protection claims. The NRA agrees to let anyone reproduce these accounts. I took them up on their offer. Here are a few of the accounts.

THE DAKOTA ACCESS PROTESTS; ND V. US - LONG SHOT; "STANDING ROCK REDUX"; SENATOR'S DILEMMA; WHAT'S A STRONGERWORD THAN NONSENSE?; GOING, GOING GONE; HUH!; JUSTICE LANGE; ANDREW SCHROEDERMEIER ON HIS SUZUKI; ROUNDABOUTS; WARD COUNTY; MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN; DAKTOIDS

A new documentary about the life and career of Fred Rogers is now playing in movie theaters across the nation. In this review, Dr. Mark Hendrickson details how the documentary hits the mark in its depiction of Rogers’ remarkable service to educating America’s children. Hendrickson writes, “I was deeply moved by how beautiful and powerful a loving heart can be. As I left the cinema, I almost felt a sense of culture shock. At a time when Hollywood relies on over-the-top stimulation to entertain us, this low-key documentary about an unpretentious man and his unpretentious show delivered a deeper, more genuine emotional experience.”

“To suppress free speech is a double wrong.  It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”  Frederick Douglass

Doug lived a life of service in which people were paramount. He took care of his own. He fondly recounted a remark made by the Apollo project manager at the project's completion. "There are two products as a result of this mission--the spacecraft and the people. The spacecraft goes into the museum to gather dust; the people are what count."   

As I gaze at the moon on a clear night the memories return. Doug was a brilliant astrophysicist whose inquiring mind raced with the speed of light generating a million questions and seeking the answers. I believe all his questions are answered now. We have Doug, among many others, to thank for the Apollo moon landing and world-class discoveries from Hubble. In my mind's eye I imagine him, with a puckish grin, urging us on to return to space exploration.

God bless you, Doug -- and thanks for everything. You are not forgotten.

Few of us will ever have the opportunity to rescue an individual from a burning building or from drowning, but we can save (or at least significantly enhance) the lives of poor children and adults by paying for wells that supply clean, safe, reliable water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning. Working through numerous organizations including charity (Living Water International, individuals, families, Sunday school classes, congregations, and community organizations) can fund the digging of wells to transform the lives of the poor. Charity: water, for example, helps children in the developed world use their birthday parties as a means to raise money to dig wells rather than receive presents. Working together, we can make a difference and help fulfill the biblical mandate to care for the least of these.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. Cicero

One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good. Edmund Burke

NEW N.D. OIL AND GAS RECORDS; N.D. ECONOMY - "SLOW AND STEADY"; REGS FOR RV PARKS; NOT QUITE THE STATE'S TALLEST; NOT A GIRLY GIRL; GF HERALD SHOCKS; CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY!; UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AS A MULTIPLIER; IF ONLY HE HAD SAVED HIS CAVALRY UNIFORM; MINNESOTA INDIAN LEADER WINONA LADUKE; DAKTOIDS

When we see the importance of this office in Minnesota in shaping public policy in the crucial years ahead, when issues of free speech, taxation and spending and immigration and resettlement will be at the fore, it is obvious that we must settle on one person to go against Ellison for that vital job.  

Often a presidential candidate turns out to be more liberal than they let on before they are elected. In President Trump’s case it may have been the other way around. He may have been more conservative than he let on. In fact, it may well be that Trump intentionally portrayed himself as more of a pragmatist (which he is) than either a conservative or liberal.

One and a half years into his first term Trump has demonstrated himself to be fairly conservative. At least the achievements he has racked up pretty much align with a conservative agenda.

Even so, Never Trumpers still have their collective noses out of joint. Their irrationality persists in spite of Trump’s accomplishments including tax cuts, appointment of good judges and justices, the promotion of deregulation, restraint on military adventurism, and a strong stance against illegal immigration to name a few of the campaign promises he has kept. These are all things conservatives have worked for over decades. Now that they are finally being fulfilled, Never Trumpers are unhappy because a despised outsider is achieving them.

Lawmakers from the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees publicly questioned Peter Strzok last week about FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Was there bias in the 50,000 texts and emails Strzok sent to his extramarital affair and FBI attorney Lisa Page? In this article, Dr. James Thrasher discusses Strzok’s testimony and argues that, “A person cannot isolate and then prevent his political and personal views from being thoroughly integrated in his overall life philosophy.”

FEWER CHURCHES ON THE PRAIRIE; WHILL IT WORK?; A DEAD BABY IN A SLOUGH; DAPLE PROTESTOR SENTENCED; OIL MONEY STIRS INTERES; RECREATIONAL VEHICLES; MARIJUANA; SURPRISING ATTACK ON HOEVEN; REFUGEE TRAVEL BAN; NDFU IS ALARMED; OBAMA IS ON THE SIDELINES; SUPREME COURT NOMINEE; BERNIE HELPS KEITH; DAKTOIDS