Dakota Beacon

Like many of you, the days between Christmas and New Years are for me days spent in rehearsal and reflection. Rehearsal as I think about what’s to come in 2024 and reflection as I think of what has passed in 2023.

Both are part of an exercise I’ve developed from the thoughts and musings of others much more intellectual than I.

One is a quote from Adlai Stevenson: “We can chart our course for the future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.”

Human interest stories always sell. Often, at the transition of the year, local newspapers carry stories recounting events from times past. Retrieved from dusty archives are scraps and tidbits of inconsequential happenings. They might read something like this. “Ten years ago today the Little Town football team beat the City Slickers in an overtime game.” Or “Twenty-five years ago today the old shed near the corner of 5th and Elm burned down. Cause was unknown.”

With the old year spent and the new year pending, it is like that around our house. “Subdued” would be a good word to describe the changing of the years. We keep it simple. A quiet atmosphere prevails after the Holiday hubbub. Inevitably the conversation evolves to events of the past year. The good times, the bad, and the ugly all qualify for review.

“Why is Harvard giving Claudine Gay ‘plagiarism privilege’?” asked the New York Post editorial board Saturday.

It must be a rhetorical question. Professor Carol Swain, who was ripped off by Gay and complains “I feel like her whole research agenda, her whole career, was based on my work,” has some idea.

“A white male would probably already be gone,” Swain, a black woman herself, told journalist Christopher Rufo recently.

Instead, Gay, who assumed Harvard’s presidency just this July, is being retained and defended by her Ivy League school. Never mind that investigation has thus far “left four of her 11 peer-reviewed papers flagged for possible plagiarism, plus her thesis,” relates the Post. Never mind that Swain isn’t the only academic upset about Gay’s appropriation of their writings. Never mind that Harvard has frequently expelled students for plagiarism. The accountability Gay must endure is that she’s being allowed to  “correct” her work so she can continue enjoying a position obtained via academic fraud.

In the very tiresome battles over whether one religious element can be in the public realm without being accompanied by other “religious” elements that someone, somewhere claims to value, a simple point is missed:

We do have the right to freedom of religion.

But this does not equate to the right to equal government showcasing of religion.

The issue at hand is that cultural devolutionaries have for years now applied a religion-focused Cloward-Piven strategy, through which they seek to eliminate all public-square religious expression by inundating the system with equal-time requests for “religious” expression ranging from the evil to the asinine.

At the closing of the year families and friends tie together the loose ends of time in a spirit of camaraderie. Many people around the world bid farewell to the old year by singing “Auld Lang Syne”. This traditional celebration acknowledges the past, buries the hatchet, and anticipates a better future. What is done is done. One cannot unscramble scrambled eggs. Let bygones be bygones and turn over a new leaf with the New Year.

Most people know, or are familiar with, the tune to “Auld Lang Syne.” Some may even be familiar with the verses in their entirety. But only a fraction would know the verses in the Scottish laced with Celtic words. The original words are attributed to Robert Burns (1759-1796). However, he did not write the melody.

Literal translation: “auld lang syne” means “old long since” or “old long ago.” Idiomatically, the words could be rendered “long ago” or “days gone by.”

As we wind down 2023, we wanted to share a remarkable achievement that occurred on the campus of Grove City College. This fall, the College football team accomplished something it had never done before: it reached the NCAA National Championship Sweet 16. In this article, Dr. James Thrasher chronicles the journey from a 33-game losing streak to the feats of this season.

Democrats have no intention of losing the presidency in 2024.  They have a plan and it is well-orgnized.  It has many components:  courts, juries tilted toward conviction of Trump, managed polls and an over-arching game plan which will incorporate a large number of Republicans and populists, most especially the followers of Donald Trump.  And it will almost certainly succeed.

A book report on “Lost in Trans Nation - A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness” by Miriam Grossman, MD

If you have children up to age 21, you need to read every single sentence and paragraph of this book. To do otherwise I would call child neglect.

Are you hopeful? Have you lost all hope? What is the source of the hope you live on?

A pastor I know in Scottsdale says, “You can live 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, 11 days without sleep, but not a single minute without hope.” I happen to agree with him!

Especially since Christmas is upon us, I’d like to elaborate on what brings me hope. My hope lies not in religion, ideology, or deliverance from evil forces. My hope lies in a person and his work. “In Him was life and His life was the light of men.”

Christmas! The season marches on with an unrelenting cadence. Please, back away from the hubbub and take time, make time, to reflect on the Life of the celebration. A story, a poem, a song will inspire the Christmas spirit.

In our post-modern era, as Christianity slowly wanes, a Biblical meaning of Christmas pleads to be told. One old Christmas sermon caught my eye expressing a time past when people embraced their Christianity far more seriously than they do today. Or so it seems. A volume (1903) titled “Holy-days and Holidays” contained a succinct sermon written in the late 1800s by David Gregg, DD.

His quest? Where was Christ before Christmas? My interpretation? Well, read on.

“What is truth?,” Pilate asked of Jesus. That question has haunted mankind for thousands of years. In this age of exponential knowledge, accelerating at a breakneck pace, it becomes difficult to discern what’s true and what is fake.

It seems in wake of this increase of knowledge coupled with the internet connecting people to so much information, we are approaching overload. We may already be there.

Alcohol consumption during the Holiday Season climbs precipitously from Thanksgiving through New Years. Office parties, house parties, bars, and lounges afford ample opportunity to imbibe. At the risk of being a stodgy old curmudgeon, allow me to speak from experience.

Consequently, Christmas and New Years bring the best of times -- and the worst of times. Family and friends gather for fun and to socialize -- and drink. People visit and exchange gifts -- and drink. Folks ring out the old year and ring in the new -- and drink. Throughout mankind’s history, consuming alcohol became integral to social and religious celebrations. If a substance could be fermented it has probably been distilled and consumed for its exhilarating effect.

Whether celebrating events, enhancing the warmth of fellowship, or just escaping the daily routine, the net effect is the same. A drink or two instills euphoria and release, a sense of soft giddiness and exhilaration. More alcohol eventually gives way to lowered inhibitions which, in turn, affect good judgment and prudent behavior.

The historical norm has been to keep balkanization-breeding, often unassimilable foreign elements out of your lands, not invite them in. This attitude, still the norm in Japan and elsewhere, must be resurrected in the West. Immigrationism must be discredited and stigmatized, become viscerally distasteful and be completely and unsparingly eradicated as a political force.

The alternative is perpetuating the double standard with regard to foreign inundation. That is, were it visited on a primitive tribe, anthropologists would warn, “This is demographic and cultural genocide!” But when it happens to the West? That’s “diversity.”

 For the West to live, immigrationism must die.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently suggested that threats of terrorist attacks in the United States have been raised to a new high.

Wray spoke before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Tuesday, October 31. He said, "The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level." He added, "The greatest terrorism threat to our homeland is posed by lone actors or small cells of individuals who typically radicalize violence online."

Startling news, of course. Yet, I hold today’s FBI in low esteem as I do other departments of the Executive Branch. These departments’ idea of protecting America resides in prosecuting Donald Trump and defending Biden’s alleged criminal activities. Again, my opinion.

Good parents do everything in their power to protect their children. But what happens when the government takes that power away?

Once again, the United Kingdom has given us the answer.

Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, a British couple from the Derbyshire region, are grieving the death of their infant daughter Indi, who passed away on Nov. 13 after suffering from a mitochondrial disease. But baby Indi’s illness isn’t what killed her. The blames lies at the feet of the U.K. government.

An offering from the past reflects the challenge of today.

Thanksgiving proposes a time to reflect with a heart full of gratitude on the blessings given by the Almighty. A time of gathering embraces conviviality, warmth, and memory-making. “Thanksgiving Day,” a poem by Lydia Maria Child, invokes a spirit of happy memories. A few stanzas follow.

The year 2024 is coming fast and that means one thing. A presidential election is on the horizon, and it promises to be like none other. 

The Democrats have a dilemma on their hands. Do they tempt fate with another Biden/Trump match-up or do they pull the plug on Biden and take a risk on Newsom or someone else? 

The Republicans are held hostage by Trump and his massive lead over any other candidate from a shrinking number of contenders for the nomination.

North Dakotas own Doug Burgum, born and raised in a small town, jumping through all the hoops to appeal to his constituents in the state, has managed to secure only a third-place status behind DeSantis and Trump.

Which begs the question, “What’s up with that?”

Want to hear about the next cultural fiasco in-the-making? Read on.

Spoiler alert! Save this page for future reference.

Activists have advocated for adoption of ranked choice voting (RCV), a process that allows voters to rank all candidates in order of preference with votes reallocated on subsequent tabulations until one candidate receives a majority. What could possibly go wrong?

On previous Veterans Days, I have remarked that the unseen scars borne by some of our veterans are more traumatic than visible scars. That tragic truth has an added poignancy to me this year. Let me tell you the story of Tom (not his real name).

Tom and I were elementary school classmates. He was a shy kid with a ready smile – a gentle soul. After sixth grade, I went away to boarding school while Tom and most of my former classmates went to the local junior high and high school.

By the strange workings of fate, Tom was the first of my classmates to be mentioned in the national press. It was not a happy report. Tom was one of the American GIs at the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam

Leaked results of medical tests performed years ago informed that while Semenya apparently has external female genitalia, the runner has no womb or ovaries; moreover, Semenya does have an XY (male) genotype, internal testes and, consequently, male-range testosterone levels. 

Thus is it clear to me that Semenya is a male who underwent abnormal intrauterine sexual development. Years ago, such a person was typically called a hermaphrodite.

So when claiming womanhood, Semenya probably isn’t trying to fool others (though the runner is likely being self-delusive; i.e., rationalizing). The larger issue, however, is that the controversy surrounding the athlete reflects how our society is fooling itself.

Veterans I’ve met, especially from the draft era (from 1940 to 1973 ten million men were drafted), almost without exception remember with bittersweet nostalgia their days of military service. Many were drafted reluctantly, although a few joined voluntarily and some even stayed in the military for a career. That speaks volumes in affirming their generally positive experience.

Veterans, especially those who served as youngsters, found the military to be a type of finishing school as they transitioned from adolescence into adulthood. Many who wished to elude the draft were motivated to enlist in other services to avoid the rigors of Army field duty. Many people were never aware that the draft also populated the other services though not to the extent as with the Army. Either way, the vast majority served honorably much to their credit.

After reading the Wall Street Journal article “Where’s Socrates When You Need Him?,” my mind went immediately to what has transpired in the ongoing series of letters, blogs and columns in local publications concerning the NDGOP.

What should be a healthy dialogue, i.e., in its traditional meaning referred to people with divergent viewpoints coming together in hope of discovering different, more complex, and perhaps higher truth, has become something that is hardly recognizable as any kind of a search for “truth.”

Instead it bears an uncanny resemblance to the way my grandmother used to describe her monthly church ladies’ meetings: “Tit for tat.”

In many small towns around the USA people feel safe and secure. Often, they do not lock their cars and doors. Nowadays they might think twice. No. Not because of an increase in crime. This time of the year friends and neighbors are well advised to especially keep their car doors locked. The idea is not to keep things locked in, but to keep things locked out. With harvest long past, friends and neighbors make anonymous donations of zucchini.

Zucchini! Everywhere you glance you may see zucchini. Supermarkets, farmers’ markets, flea markets, and yard sales -- all extend their offer of zucchini. It’s given away at farm festivals and church bazaars. Unnamed parties leave bags of the stuff in church foyers hoping some needy person will quietly take it. Bags of zucchini and boxes of zucchini adorn the byways. So much zucchini; so little time!

Much is being said or suggested as to what America should do about the most recent and horrific Hamas attack on Israel.  It is ironic, indeed, inasmuch as America could be said to have largely funded this attack.  While you are clutching your pearls, think about this:  we have sent untraceable cash by the billions of dollars during Obama’s administration, to Iran, which is supporting and helping to organize Hamas to do just what they have done.  Iran is the world’s greatest exporter of terror.  Then we “unfroze” Iranian assets - another $6B.  To add to this, our feckless leaders - and we must include highly vocal Republicans in this - have been on the team bus for Ukraine in a war instigated by the U.S.   We have supplied deadly ammunition and weaponry to Ukraine without any accounting for it.  Now we find it in the hands of Hamas.  The picture is very clear.  We are funding Hamas.  And by the way, we are also letting Hamas into our own country.  This will not end well.

The religious basis for All Hallowed Eve and All Saints Day, like other church-inspired celebrations, becomes more irrelevant each year. Like Christmas and Easter, and to some extent Thanksgiving, the religious significance for the holiday has evolved into an all-inclusive secular festival.

Regardless, we can all enjoy the season, each in our own way. Whether with friends, neighbors, kids, or pets we can all partake in the fun. We would certainly feel better, I am sure.

A quote attributed to Mark Twain in a New York Journal about his death, (which hadn’t happened) said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”.  This quote applies to the current perception of the NDGOP.   

While some of the establishment are crying that the party is falling apart, I believe Republicans are poised to sweep all seats in the 2024 election cycle.   Some would also have you believe that a small group of conservatives have taken control of the state GOP and don’t represent the majority of Republicans.  

I believe that is a false narrative, because Donald Trump will likely be the GOP nominee and will carry North Dakota with a 60% majority.  Why is this an important data point?  Because the majority of North Dakotans are fed up with the way Washington is operating and concerned the Republicans won’t speak or stand up.

No matter which prominent side wins in our immigration debates, the U.S. loses for a simple reason: The contest pits people who hate the point against people who miss the point.

On one side are the large-I Immigrationists, individuals who behave as if immigration is always good, always necessary, must never be questioned and must be the one constant in an otherwise ever-changing universe of policy; they’re usually identified as “leftists.” On the other are small-i immigrationists, people who believe immigration is generally good, generally necessary, should never be questioned in principle and must in some form be the one constant in an otherwise ever-changing universe of policy; they’re usually identified as “conservatives.”

The debate between the two sides often goes like this: Leftists welcome inundation with even uneducated, unskilled foreigners (as long as the aliens aren’t sent to their neighborhood; see Martha’s Vineyard et al.) with the argument “Our strength lies in our diversity!” Conservatives counter this by reassuring all and sundry “I’m all for immigration!” “But,” they add, “it should be done legally and be merit based, with possession of economically valuable skills a prerequisite for entry.”

The problem with this is that it’s the battling of a nonsensical argument with a one-dimensional argument. After all, there’s a name for entities defined merely by the job-related role they can perform: robots. There’s also a name for thus characterizing people: a Marxist mistake.

Here we go again. Middle East turmoil never ceases.

Set the scene by asking questions. Does anyone know who the players are? Who are the Israelis, who are the Palestinians, and why do they fight? How do you tell the difference between a Hamas terrorist and a Palestinian? Hezbollah and Palestinian? Do Hamas (Sunni Muslims) and Hezbollah (Shia Muslims) get along? Why do Palestinians in Gaza aid, abet, tolerate, and support Hamas terrorists? Many questions; much confusion.

Perusing three books may offer clarity to the casual observer.

America was no happy place in the Summer of ’23. Count the ways: immigrant invasion, inflation, rising crime, weak economy, billions of dollars for an unwelcome war in Ukraine, depleted US military forces, and all this capped by lousy political leadership.

Illegal immigrants flow incessantly across America’s borders. Since Biden became president 3.8 million illegals have entered the US. That includes 1.5 million so-called “gotaways,” i.e., people for which there is no accounting. They just disappeared into the interior.

Many Americans feel as though they are losing their country, or worse still, that it’s being given away by an elected elite. Citizens tried to register their frustrations at the ballot box, but the remedy has not worked. Our federal government allowed the influx to continue unabated and even curtailing any effort by border states to stop the invasion. Here is a brief summary.

There are many ways things slip into law undetected by citizens without proper discussion and hearings by lawmakers. This can result in a slow erosion of liberties if not carefully subjected to the scrutiny of fundamental truths. The lawsuit put forth regarding the Public Employee Retirement System against the state of North Dakota challenged the breach of the “one subject rule” for legislation and I believe brings to light the discussion of the nature of tyranny.

To finish Thomas Paine’s earlier quote, “yet we have this consolation the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”