Dakota Beacon

There have been many questions regarding the net worth of Donald Trump since he announced that he was seeking the Republican nomination for president. The figures have ranged from $2 billion to $10 billion. In this interesting article, Dr. L. John Van Til examines the fortunes of Trump’s father and grandfather and asks: Is the “Art of Making the Deal” in the Trump genes? 

ND COUNTIES GROWING1; MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL ARE OVER HALF OF MN POPULATION; THE UND HOCKEY TEAM; WILLISTON TUG OF WAR; BLIND LOOYALTY AND THE LINCOLN TOWNCAR; RURAL ND GROCERY STORES; A HOPE AND A PRAYTER; DISSENT; REBUTTLE; MUSLIM POPULATIONS; MINNESOTA MUSLIMS; ND MULIMS; DAKTOIDS

They find a technicality on which to deny both Cruz and Trump the prize, substituting a “fresh face” such as . . . let’s see . . . Paul Ryan?  Is his face fresh enough?    Or revert to Marco Rubio?  John Ka . . . . No!  Don’t!  Please!  I’ll die laughing! 

Looking beyond Easter’s jellybeans, peeps and bunnies portends something far more profound to contemplate. One of the oldest poems in the English language brings out the overwhelming significance of Easter beyond our contemporary one day celebration. “The Dream of the Rood,” author unknown, was written sometime near the end of the 7th century. This poem pre-dates “Beowulf” by at least 100 hundred years and follows Saint Patrick’s visit to Ireland by some 200 years.

ND IS AWASH IN NATURAL GAS; THEN CAME SCHAFER; PARKINSON’S LAW; POOR HEIDI; ANOTHER HEIDI GOES TO CUBA; A BAD WEEK FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES; STATE SEN. JOAN HECKAMAN; ALFONSO RODRIGUEZ JR; THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT; PIZZA CORNER; DAVID BRATON; THE FOUR WINDS--MINNEWAUKAN INDIANS; MORE POVERTY FOR MN BLACKS; THEY’VE SEEN IT BEFORE; EOPLE VOTE WITH THEIR FEET; DAKTOIDS

[Classic: April 5, 2007] -- It's nearly Easter, and the atheists, God bless them, are writing bestselling books to prove the good Lord's nonexistence. Truly, they have their reward.

ONe of the most famous of them, a British professor named Richard Dawkins, says atheists are generally smarter than Christians. I wouldn't doubt it.

After all, St. Paul says God has chosen the foolish people of this world to confound the wise. I don't know how many times some simple soul has put me to shame when I thought I was being clever. Oops! Maybe polished professors never have this experience.

Of course atheists are clever! People who spend a lot of time justifying themselves generally are. If you devote your waking hours to seeking reasons not to believe, you'll find plenty of them. Darwin sold a lot of books to clever people like that.

Confronting the wussifiers requires a stick in the eye to a culture stacked against boys. Parents must challenge boys to handle anything thrown their way. The boys’ challenge is to make things more orderly, more beautiful, more prosperous. Boys must be lifted through their testosterone fog and instilled with a sense of masculine responsibility. Parents must not condone boys acting like Neanderthals but must train them to be mannered gentlemen. Boys are not to abuse, mishandle, abandon, ignore, avoid, mistreat or neglect that for which they are responsible. They must be taught a sense of self-discipline to behave honorably as if there were no government, court, church or school. Parents must teach boys to aspire to be providers and defenders of the family. Boys must not seek to be led by females when their male instincts tell them the opposite.

OUCH!; MARK KENNEDY; ACCOMPLISHMENTS; THE BEST?; MARTIN SABO; SHEILA SCHAFER; GRAND FORKS HOUSING; WILLISTON APARTMENT AND HOTELS; GOT OFF EASY; MINNEAPOLIS SOMALI GRANT TO FIGHT TERRORISTS; STUDENTS BEATING TEACHER IN ST. PAUL; GOV. DAYTON $100 M FOR RACIAL ECONOMIC EQUIALITY; GMO FOODS - SAFE; DAKTOIDS

This is why none of our “solutions” will solve anything. We can talk about Ted Cruz and constitutionalism. But was John Adams a fool when warning in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”? We are now the “other.”

We can echo Donald Trump echoing Ronald Reagan and say “Make America great again!” But as an apocryphal quotation oft repeated by Reagan goes, “America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

I am not arguing that Trump should be compared with Hitler, only that the some of the conditions that existed in the 1930s that led Germans to support Hitler exist in America today and prompt people to back Trump. These prescient books help explain why Trump’s mystique seems to be tarnished so little by his vulgar and outlandish behavior and why his momentum seems so difficult to halt despite the concerted efforts of many Republican leaders.

A common understanding of who the Scots-Irish were has essentially been lost in today’s politically correct society. They are an all-but-invisible ethnic group whose story cries out to be told. “Born Fighting” fills that gap though it may not play well in some ethnic circles. Although Webb is certainly opinionated, that does not detract from his factual accuracy.

“Born Fighting” is a must read for anyone seeking a sober understanding of American history in general and the history of an ethnic group of men and women in particular who shaped it. Because of their great contributions to America, March should be celebrated as Scots-Irish Heritage Month.

LUCK; COULD THERE BE A WILD CARD?; THEY’RE OVERWEIGHT; THE RED RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY PROJECT; THE WIMPY LOONIE ND; DON’T MICROMANAGE; HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT; BAD ANALOGY OF THE WEEK; ARE YOU FEELING A LITTLE WARMER?; UNITED GRAIN CORPORATION; KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN; WHO IS IN CHARGE?; IT’S OK TO SPIT, LURK AND OBSTRUCT; DAKTOIDS

In this heated presidential campaign season much time has been spent debating the ongoing concern of the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Often, the discussions focus on the question: Who lost Iraq? In this interesting article, Dr. Earl Tilford argues that the wrong question is being asked and that by focusing on the Iraq War we are losing sight of what is really happening in the Middle East today: the birth of an Iranian-Russian “axis." 

FROM BISMARCK TO BISON TO BROWNS; THEY MISS THE FIGHTING SIOUX; NO CHEESY BIRDS; NDSU’S PRESIDENT IS SHOCKED; IT COULD BE BETTER; PRODUCTION IS DECLINING; DRONES; TOM DENNIS; 50TH ANNIVERSARY; TEX HALL ATTRACTS TROUBLE; WHO’S THE BIGGEST EMPLOYER IN M.N.?; DAKTOIDS

A serious phenomenon, not unexpected, dominates this presidential campaign season. No, it is not Donald Trump. He is only the symptom of a much deeper problem.

The open rebellion of voters against the Republican Party, and to a different extent against the Democrat Party, prevails. Whether the party bosses are called the “establishment” or “the ruling class” or “the elite,” those who control the levers of power and attempt to manipulate the voters are now being called to account for their behavior. In particular, the elected officials, political consultants, lobbyists and “donor class” are not doing a very good job. Thus, the insurrection.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) put it rather nicely. “There is a reason that GOP voters are in open rebellion. They have come to believe that their party’s elites are…openly hostile to them.”

There is an appropriate term for voters who elected a Republican majority to the US House and Senate in 2010 and 2014 expecting congressmen and senators to straighten out the mess in Washington.

Those voters were swindled.

DEJA VU?; DUELING FORECASTS; WILLISTON; THE EXODUS OF RETIREES; IT’S LIKE AN ATOMIC BOMB; WELL POLICED; MIKE JACOBS; UND’S FIGHTING SIOUX TRAVAILS; BLOGGER ROB PORT; TRUST IN ND STATE GOVERNMENT; HE WAS SHOCKED, SHOCKED!; OVER THE TOP?;  BUSY CRAIG COBB; GO EAST YOUNG NODAK; BELIEVE IT OR NOT; DAKTOIDS

I’m always amazed by the birds at my feeders in February. Only the toughest survive the North Dakota winter.

My father-in-law once pointed out to me the obvious. Birds, like other wildlife and even livestock, will survive the North Dakota winter if they have food and a place to escape the wind. The temperature may fall below zero and the wind-chill drop to minus twenty or thirty degrees, but every morning, as the sun rises, the birds are busy with breakfast at my feeders.

The Common Redpoll, a member of the finch family, typically nests in the tundra of northern Canada. Their idea of flying south for the winter is to migrate to southern Canada and North Dakota where they spend the winter. This gives a whole new meaning to the term “snowbird.”

Joe Sobran "had a capacious, Renaissance mind, as anyone who delves into this brilliant collection of essays will see. There is ample balm for the soul here from his keen moral sense, and wit and entertainment of a high order for the mind, all delivered with impeccable style. One need not agree with all of it - Joe would probably be disappointed if you did - but who would not be better for having read it?"

Is the current path in U.S. foreign policy set to produce a succession of international disasters? In this interesting article, Dr. Earl Tilford examines U.S. foreign policy from Vietnam to Benghazi and argues that the country is at an important crossroad. Tilford suggests that any wrong decision could be very costly and that the “world needs clear, strong leadership only the United States can provide.” 

 Justice Scalia's views on same-sex marriage, were based on his views on how to interpret the American Constitution. He subscribed to originalism, the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution is fixed and that the courts' responsibility is to understand what the Founding Fathers intended. Same-sex marriage was not one of the freedoms that they wished to bequeath to future generations.


Unfortunately, Scalia was on the losing side in the decisions which led to same-sex marriage. However, many of his crisp and acerbic dissents will eventually be seen as prophetic. Here are a few nuggety paragraphs.

ND STANDS OUT; OVERWHELMING SUPPORT; “WHAT HAPPENED TO ND DEMOCRATS?”; THE DICKINSON REGIONAL AIRPORT; GUESS WHO?; WHAT’S THIS?; FORMER SEN. KENT CONRAD; BAILING OUT; SUSPICIONS AT SPIRIT LAKE; ADDICTED BABIES; POOR PROGRESS; DAKTOIDS

Calling the Court a “threat to American democracy,” Justice Scalia wrote in his Obergefell dissent, “[I]t is not of special importance to me what the law says about marriage. It is of overwhelming importance, however, who it is that rules me. Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.” We won’t talk the court out of its power-mad, usurpative bent. Only power negates power. It’s time to stop acting like impotent fools and start showing the Court how impotent it really is. 

Why work? As a society we’ve finally arrived at the glory of a one party system -- the Government Party – replete with the Democrat wing and the Republican wing.

The decision whether or not to work is not a matter of ethics or conscience. It’s a matter of complying with the established norm, a culture built by generations of politicians.

Over the years our politicians created a wonderful “no work” environment of entitlements, grants, giveaways and assorted benefits. In exchange for their largess, voters retained their politicians in office for life. What a deal!

MOOD RESET; “IT’S PRETTY DISMAL”; UND AT A CRITICAL STAGE; OUG BURGUM; MAJOR OBSTACLE?; WEALTH MAKES IT POSSIBLE; EMERGING STORIES; GO FIGURE; ETREADED MAN CAMP; DALE LENNON; QUADRUPLETS; MINNESOTA MUSLIMS; DAKTOIDS

The biochemistry is way over my head, but the complexity is clear. The idea that this came about by accident requires powers of belief beyond mine, and the idea that it functions flawlessly for seventy years is more so. Ask a biochemist whether he can construct this system in the laboratory. Ask him whether he can construct any system of similar complexity that will work, maintaining itself, for seventy years.

From all of which I conclude that we are more puzzled than we believe we are. These thoughts will not be well-received by those more inclined to protect the paradigm than to examine it. Oh well.

Arguably the president of the United States has the toughest job in the world. So, why would anyone want to become president? To help celebrate Presidents’ Day, author and presidential scholar Dr. Gary Scott Smith examines the office of chief executive from George Washington to the 2016 campaign and illustrates how important it is for Americans to “carefully examine the qualifications and character of those who seek the presidency.”

The debt is so large currently that if the entire wealth of the upper 50% of income earners were confiscated and applied to the national debt the debt still could not be paid. The 20th century is littered with the carcasses of nations who tried this approach and failed. It is a shame we don’t have the old Soviet Union around to hold up to millenials as an example of failure. Must the United States become the next botched experiment?

 Soaking the rich in a liberal socialist way is certainly not the solution and it does have unintended consequences.

 A solution becomes less probable as fewer people carry the greater burden. First, with more people receiving federal dollars, there is slim chance anyone will voluntarily relinquish their “take.” Second, it is foolish to think Congress will voluntarily give up the most powerful tool they possess – the power to dole out money to constituents and districts thus giving them the power to influence votes.

 As fewer and fewer people carry more and more of he burden, reality will force a correction. Those few who carry the greatest burden will eventually manage to escape. The rest will have to suffer through the correction. Even now demographics argue that a reality check will come sooner than later.

NEW REALITY; A WEEK OF FUN; HERE WE GO!; HOW WILL THIS WORK?; CIRCUMSPECT; JENNIFER PUHL; SARAH VOGEL; “THAT’S THE DELTA SPIRIT”; TALE OF TWO REFUGEE GROUPS; SOMALI IN ST. CLOUD; DAKTOIDS

There are many admirable analysts commenting on military matters these days. Two individuals are a cut above. One is Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters and the other is Victor Davis Hanson.

If a lay person paid attention to these two men they would gain more than an adequate ability to assess contemporary military policy.