Dakota Beacon

This year, the Fourth of July will be celebrated differently than in the past. Many gatherings and community events have been cancelled or modified due to COVID-19. It may be the perfect time to reflect on what Independence Day means to our nation. To help mark the holiday, Dr. Caleb Verbois looks to President Abraham Lincoln and details Lincoln’s deeply held beliefs on the Declaration of Independence. Verbois writes, “Independence Day was originally more than just a party, and the Fourth ought to be something more to us. It commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our first national statement of beliefs. We need to consider this year, perhaps more than most, if we still believe in its principles.”

As we celebrate our independence and astounding development from a fledging nation to the world’s superpower, we should give attention to the extraordinary opportunities to serve in America—especially fulfilling our civic duty. In this article, Dr. James Thrasher relays a recent example of civic duty. He writes, “The responsibility to respect and uphold the law, protect an individual’s rights, love our neighbor, and ensure equal justice rests on the shoulders of our nation’s citizens, not the government.”

CRYSTAL BALL IS FOGGY; VIRUS FREE; ORPHAN GRAIN TRAIN; GOOD INSECURITY; AMAZON PRIME; END OF AN ERA; LOUIS AGASSIZ; WHAT A RELIEF!; LONG SHOT; SHE HAS 22 HORSES; LADUKE'S; DAKTOIDS

A book review by Lynn Bergman

I read this 2018 paperback shortly after it was released. Some time after reading it, I became aware that an articulate young woman named Candace Owens was making her mark on public dialogue.

Burgess Owens was the third black American to be offered a football scholarship at the University of Miami, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology/Chemistry and national recognition as a First Team All-American. After being drafted 13^th overall in the first round by the New York Jets and selected as the Jets' “Rookie of the Year”, he played for the Jets for 7 years. He was traded to the Oakland Raiders where he was their defensive leader in tackles culminating in their Super Bowl IV win in 1981. He retired after the 1982 season where he led the team in interceptions.

Burgess Owens is the founder of Second Chance 4 Youth, whose mission is: “To Rescue, restore, and rehabilitate youthful offenders and provide them with a true second chance to experience the American Dream.”

It used to be that when someone defaced public property he was arrested and at the very least fined.  When property is damaged and destroyed there must be some kind of accounting.  If our communities' leaders stand by and permit it and order the police to stand down while this vandalism and assault continues undeterred, then it is they who should be held accountable - perhaps they should be fined and assessed for the costs in some kind of proportionate manner.  What is the cost to the taxpayer of a police precinct building?  What is the value of an irreplaceable statue?  How much for every broken plate glass window?  How much for the goods looted?  Is there some reason why taxpayers or businessmen or insurance companies should be paying for this?  These cowards ran for public office on a bunch of empty promises.  We all knew that to begin with.  They didn't count on business that did not hum along as usual while they filled their own wallets through administration of all sorts of public arts grants and good works.  They must feel betrayed right now.  Oh, well.  Too bad.  We should send them a bill and be prepared to collect on it.

One evening about a month ago Fox commentator Tucker Carlson featured a guest named Alex Berenson. Berenson is a former New York Times reporter, the author of several thriller novels, a book on the harmful effects of marijuana, and a book on corporate financial filings. Carlson interviewed Berenson about his views as a Covid contrarian and lockdown critic reflected in his booklet “Unreported Truths about Covid-19.”

During the interview Berenson repeatedly mentioned that Amazon had refused to list his booklet although they had listed all of his several other books. The reason? Berenson’s Covid booklet did not comport with Amazon’s “journalistic standards.” (Take that to mean that Amazon did not like the tact Berenson took in questioning the established Covid narrative.)

I don’t know Gorsuch personally, but he wouldn’t be a very pleasant person to associate with if he were a Timmy the Textualist in everyday life. Would you thus conduct yourself, parsing every friend’s words to seek a loophole and essentially punishing him for not being a seer who speaks like Mr. Spock? You’d have few friends and deserve none.

Interestingly, Gorsuch and his fellow travelers aren’t the first textualists. Two-thousand years ago they were called Pharisees, a group of pseudo-intellectuals whom Jesus excoriated for following the letter of the law, but ignoring its spirit. It’s tragic that we’re back to that, but convenient for today’s Pharisees.

It is ironic, though, that in order to avoid abiding by the intent of laws from a half century ago, some today are resorting to a mistake from two millennia ago.  

BRANDON BOCHENSKI’S WIN; ACTUALLY, IT WAS THE ECONOMY; THE LEGACY FUND; FIRST THE GOOD NEWS; BUSINESS INSIDER; SHRINK THE MENTAL HOSPITAL; WHAT’S THE SCORE ON COVID-19?; SPEEDING IS CHEAPER IN ND; IT WAS ABOUT TIME; LOGO CLOTHING; MICROAGGRESSIONS; DAKTOIDS

Last week, Winston Churchill’s statue in London’s Parliamentary Square was defaced by a protestor who spray-painted “was a racist” across its base. Protestors have called for taking down the statue, which has been boarded up to protect it. In this article, Dr. Gary S. Smith evaluates Churchill through historical contexts and argues “without Churchill, Britain might have capitulated to the Nazis as France did and that world history would be radically different.”

Economist Benjamin A. Rogge referred to the statue Lady Justice: “The blindfolded Goddess of Justice has been encouraged to peek and she now says, ‘First tell me who you are and then I’ll tell you what your rights are.’” So it is with “social justice,” a contemporary oxymoron.

A generation gap denotes more than a mere age difference. It also represents a difference in non-shared values, especially values instilled beyond the home. For parents this means children schooled in ideas leading to behavior not embraced by the parents. For grandparents and grandchildren the disparity may be even greater.

As statues again come down as our culture is further torn up, something goes unsaid and often unnoticed:

Notable Western historical figures are being condemned as immoral — by the most immoral, decadent, degenerate people among us.

As G.K. Chesterton put it, “It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.” Our cultural revolutionaries, with their corruption-catalyzed cocksureness, are the ultimate bigots.

The world many of us grew up in is fast disappearing.  Not the least of what we are losing are the beloved commercial icons which have come to be part of our vocabulary ("anthimeria") like Kleenex or Xerox. This week we have another raft of announcements of famous names that will be consigned to the proverbial dustbin of history.  We are much the poorer for this, just as we are for each statue that was created through incredible skill and artistry and is rendered dust and rubble by those who would "improve" our society.  This week we bury Aunt Jemima.  Sad to see her go - and with her passing, her story will die with her.

MONIQUE AND JOCELYNE LAMOUREUX; GRAND FORKS HAS NEW LEADERSHIP; BURGUM WINS PRIMARY; KIRSTEN BAESLER; UPROAR IN FARGO; OZZY'S NEXT PHASE; ALTRU HEALTH SYSTEM; LOSS OF HIGH PROFILE EVENT; EVIL FROM THE NORTH; HARD TIME FOR COBBERS; MUSICAL CHAIRS; GRAIN BIN ACCIDENTS; CORRECTION; DAKTOIDS

The two destabilizing events recently occurring back-to-back, the response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd rioting, illustrate well how America is now institutionally incapable of making decisions in her own best interests. That is, the overreaction to the disease and under-reaction to the rioting reflect a country long demoralized.

Moreover, if that’s not troubling enough, know that this is a state of being that usually leads to tyranny.

Thus far, 2020 seems to be a madhouse.  Is anyone in charge here?  As a borderline libertarian myself, I have had more than enough of lawlessness and the acceptance of unacceptable "values".  This arrogant contingent of ignorant "revolutionaries" using George Floyd as a mascot, have taken it upon themselves to destroy most of our national monuments and memorials (they are now calling for toppling the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial), in addition to statues of historical figures of whom they know absolutely nothing, and merely vandalizing the rest.  They have undertaken to secede from the Union, which has not happened since 1861, and that ended badly for the whole country.  The soy boys who have taken over Seattle dealing with Mayor Jenny Durkan, and President Donald Trump, however, not President Abraham Lincoln.  You can  just tell.  But wait . . . there's more!

Do black lives really matter to protestors, rioters, and Antifa? Apparently not. Black and minority-owned businesses were looted and burned to the ground in many cities. Black lives don’t matter for the black police officers killed and injured during the riots. Just hyperbole and hypocrisy.

Here’s the conundrum. Make the US Constitution work for all. Or, change America into something unknown with liberal and progressive authoritarians in control.

Dismantling the police, a measure already proposed in Minneapolis, makes about as much sense as eliminating doctors or farmers and would likewise lead to pain and death. But if there is method to the madness, and I suspect there is in some Machiavellian quarters, it’s perhaps this: Certain leftists want to eliminate the police because they want to become the police.

Or, at least, they want their foot soldiers to fill that role.

Oh, there are other motivations, too, ranging from raw, misguided passion to formulaic devotion to a perverse leftist creed to wider efforts to destabilize the country. Remember, though, if you’re a power seeker, you attack those whose power you want for yourself. And upon attaining police power, enforcing a political agenda becomes much easier.

Contact tracing, as a way to battle COVID-19, has been widely discussed in the media, by the medical community, and by politicians. But how does it really work? And what do we do with the information the tests gather? In this article, Dr. Joseph Horton considers how to make use of the information that contacting testing generates. He writes, “To make good decisions we must consider the consequences of wrongly classifying a person either as having COVID-19 when he does not have it or of classifying a person as not having COVID-19 when he does in fact have it.”

The idea on the front burner in Minneapolis now is to seek to model their brave new world on the example of a much smaller citiy, roughly the size of Bismarck (not including Minot).  There are obviously reasons why this is an inappropriate way to address the issues of law enforcement in a city the size of Minneapolis.  There are other forces at work, not very pleasant ones.  

In 1969, the world was full of turmoil but the moon landing on July 20 by the Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins was a wonderful respite. Last Saturday, amid the turmoil of 2020, another historic launch occurred. In this article that first appeared at National Catholic Register, Dr. Paul Kengor reflects on both space launches and what was happening in the world when they occurred. He writes, “The world is on fire in 2020. It was in 1969 as well. It’s easy to focus on the negative. And we should rightly call out injustice. But we should also pause to reflect on what is good.”

TALE OF TWO CITIES; SIGNS OF TAPERING; THEND SMART RESTART; SURPRISING ADMISSION; SOUTH DAKOTA; CREEPING TOWARDS BEING A UNIVERSITY; ALTRU HEALTH SYSTEMS; THE GRAND FORKS AFB; SPARRING JUDGES; WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? JOHNNY ZIP MUST PAY; LEAD LOOPS; WHERE ARE YOU SAFE?; DAKTOIDS

Since the wanton murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day we have been treated to a display of violence which rivals the French Revolution.  Like consumate magicians, the perpetrators of this violence have herded the mindless millions into chanting and marching, calling out President Trump, blaming everything from slavery (which 600,000 Americans died to end here) to fake "fascism", while employing the time-honored fascist tactics.  No one stops to demand the truth from them, everyone seems too eager for these thugs' approval.  But we are missing the truth while we are tuning our ears to the insupportable claims of these hypnotists.  So who really IS to blame?

It's a much-needed Sunday!  We deserve a treat.  I found one.  Her name is Andrea Motis.  I like her kind of jazz - in fact I can't get enough.  I hope you will too - it's just the thing to go with a tall, cool drink of something.  Enjoy somethng very special.

It is Saturday.  A gloomy, dark Saturday in Grand Forks today, but still it's June.  After a disorienting spring season, with everyone in masks and gloves, standing unnaturally apart, cooped up indoors, chided for wanting to get back to life, we now need a break from both virus and violence, as our streets exploded across the nation for the past week-and-a-half.  Before we can process the economic crash from the weird shutdown situation we are hearing rumblings about abolishing police departments as an answer to crime.  Well, it's time for a break.  It seems June is the inspiration for a lot of romantic musing, so I will indulge.  I hope you enjoy poetry.

The past week has been a nightmare for America, with our cities burning and our businesses destroyed - just when people were about to re-open after the shutdown.  Minneapolis was the epicenter or at least the first epicenter of the violence.  Things, we thought, could not get much worse.  News flash.  They might be about to get much, much worse in Minneapolis.  What do you do when you have allowed your police department to become sloppy, corrupt, incompetent and abusive?  Simple.  You just abolish it.

Thirty-one years ago tonight, the world witnessed the massacre of some 10,000 students in Tiananmen Square.  Their parents and loved ones dared not mourn them - after all it was the Chinese government that mowed them down and they are incapable of error, right? Well, at least that is what they impressed upon the people of China.  In most of China that morsel of history has been scrubbed.  But in Hong Kong, with its tradition of freedom and free speech, the Tiananmen Square victims and heroes have been memorialized every year on June 4.  Until this year.  This year the memorial is banned.  Because this year China is rolling into Hong Kong as it did into Tiananmen Square 31 years ago.  The people tearing up our cities have no excuse.  They have the freedom to speak out.

The third book by scholar and China expert Michael Pillsbury offers a very readable and quite insightful book published in 2016 titled “The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower.” Of the three books, Pillsbury’s book was most practical and explicitly written.

Michael Pillsbury’s speaks with authority. He serves as the director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute and has served in eight presidential administrations. Educated at Stanford and Columbia, he served as an analyst with the Rand Corporation. He held senior positions in the Defense Department and on the staff of four US Senate committees. Pillsbury speaks, reads, and writes Mandarin fluently.

“The Hundred-Year Marathon” delves into the critical issue of who is making policy in the Chinese government and what is the basis for their thinking. Hawks within the Chinese government have been advising their leaders as far back as Mao Zedong. They seek to avenge a century of humiliation. Advice to their leaders has been to replace the United States as the economic, military, and political leader of the world by the year 2049 (the one hundredth anniversary of the Communist Revolution). This plan has become known as “the Hundred-Year Marathon,” thus the title of Pillsbury’s book.

COMPARISONS; CASS COUNTY IS THE BAD BOY; NEVER COMPLAIN, NEVER EXPLAIN; MINNEAPOLIS IS IDENTIFIED; MINNESOTA NEW CASES; THE ONCE MIGHTY ARE FALLING; GOV. BURGUM CONTRIBUTED $875,000; A MUDDLE; DOUBLE BENS; NORMA FROM ND; JOHN STRAND; WHAT TO DO FOR A DOOMED INDUSTRY?; OIL WASTE; DAKTOIDS

After a week of violence, during which paid activists whipped up mob violence to terrorize our cities and lay them waste, the president is beginning to make some threats.  While we might applaud someone, somewhere, who is willing to face these terrorists down, his proposal to send the U.S. military in to sort things out is not a good idea.

Most corporations have pro bono publico funds.  They're handy at tax time.  They look good to customers and the rest of the public - great PR.  But the e-corporation Etsy is making a huge mistake.  They are donating a million dollars to two organizations who are deeply connected to the perpetrators of violence we have seen take over our streets and neighborhoods this week.