Dakota Beacon

Colombians grow it; Bedouins chew it. Africans hoe it; Americans brew it. Coffee, a third world child adopted by Americans, is without question a favorite American beverage. In my case, coffee and I have had a long love affair.

Imagine the despair a few years ago when some anxious pessimists declared caffeine a health hazard adding it to an ever-growing list of no-no’s.

Coffee isn’t the bugaboo some Chicken Littles made it out to be a few years ago. The only apparent danger posed by coffee is from some dolt who drops a cup of the hot stuff in their lap and then wants to sue.

Relax and enjoy a cup o’ joe!

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Recently our attention has been fixed on the most extreme Muslim reactions against the West, and we may choose to dismiss Islam as a “violent religion.” But this is a sort of optical illusion. We ignore, at our peril, the quiet revulsion felt by ordinary Muslims who don’t express their feelings with beheadings and car bombs. I could name a lot of American Christians and Jews who feel the same way.

“It was a course that within just a few short years was about to change dramatically. The world would face a new president in the White House and a new pope at the Vatican.” In this article that first appeared at Stream.org, Dr. Paul Kengor looks at the summer of 1976 in America. A year where two future world leaders would set the stage for decades to come. Kengor details Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s visit in August and the crisscrossing of the country by Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.

Immigration is good only if it benefits America. We don't owe the world a crash pad!

The gist of the fairness principle as my Dad emphasized it went something like this. “If you cannot find the guilty party,” he stressed, “do not take out your frustration on the whole group. Do not punish the group for the errors of one or two bad apples. And, by all means, do not punish the group in hopes of catching the culprit. It isn’t right.”

A renewal of the principle of fair play is long overdue. Without it, we acquiesce to a general acceptance of institutionalized group punishment. At the hands of the federal government, that becomes worse than unfair.

Group punishment is not the American way.

Digital privacy means different things to different people. But should the federal government legislate privacy? In this article, Dr. Caleb Fuller details the “cobra effect”— government interventions which generate major unintended consequence—and how it may be unwise for the United States to imitate Europe in its comprehensive scheme to regulate digital privacy.

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The state of Pennsylvania has a budget that is estimated to be about $2 billion short of what will be collected in taxes. One of the most talked about revenue solutions is to expand gambling. In this article, Dr. Joseph Horton examines the idea of increased gambling and argues “I do object to a government that seeks fiscal health not by promoting wealth creation, but by creating losers.”

Christopher Manion describes the prophetic encyclical on contraception and the family, Humanae Vitae, published in July 1968, which foresaw the culture of death, the destruction of marriage, and many other phenomena that have come to pass. 

Cancer. This is a powerful word. The very mention of cancer raises concern and alarm. The emotional power of this single word conjures thoughts of deadly malignancies, interminable suffering and death.

Knowledge, too, is powerful. Knowing something about the type of cancer helps us deal with it rationally. This is particularly true of skin cancer. Unlike internal cancers, skin cancer can be touched and seen and, in doing so, the mystery of the unknown diminishes.

I speak from experience. My first bout with skin cancer culminated with surgery in 1977. I wish I knew then what I know now. I wish my physicians knew then what they know now.

Charlie Gard’s fight for life has moved people across the world. Yesterday, the parents of Charlie Gard announced that they will end a legal battle that sought treatment for their son outside of the United Kingdom. In this article, Richard D. Kocur asks, “How did it come to this?” Kocur argues that socialized healthcare and bureaucratic shot calling often remove treatment decisions from family members—in Charlie’s case, his parents. 

Thus the reason we are not securing our borders is simple, and one of the oldest motivations among mankind – GREED. We have greed of Democrats for votes, Republicans for cheap labor and illegals for having what is ours without earning it or fighting for it in their own countries.

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Recently, there has been a lot of discussion in the media (and social media) about gender identity. In this article, Dr. Gary Welton looks at the psychology involved with the cultural concepts of masculinity and femininity and argues that past, as well as current, approaches are wrong. Welton writes, “Instead of physical surgery to attempt to change biological gender, we instead need to adjust our thinking about what it means to be masculine and feminine in our modern world.”

Mysteries of the actual locations of Indian villages prevail.

Could you imagine lightweight boxers complaining they don’t get the money and exposure of the heavyweights, calling the different treatment “staturism”?

This is essentially the situation at the Wimbledon tennis championships this week, with, for example, Hannah Wilks at theGuardian writing, “A new analysis of matches scheduled on Centre and No 1 courts shows that Wimbledon organisers routinely favour male tennis players over their female peers.” She calls this “sexism” and “sex discrimination.”

Actually, it’s called marketing.

Many researchers who study the development of young people have begun to think less about linear stages of child development and have focused more on the holistic context of the child—notably the nature of their relationships. In this article, Dr. Lisa L. Hosack examines what healthy relationships do for children and argues that a significant outcome is that of resiliency. Hosack writes, “While we may actually be unable to eliminate chronic stress in the lives of many children, we may be able to build their resiliency levels through high-quality relationships.”  

In fact, it’s hard to think of anything authentically American the Left doesn’t aim to destroy. Say what we will about President Trump’s style and ideology, he’s not a treasonist. Trump is putting America first.

The Left is trying to put America down.

Trump is accused of “colluding” with an enemy of America.

Our leftists are enemies of America. 

We have lost our way as a nation when we permit any of this. It is time to renew our founders' dedication to civil rights and end this abuse. If we don't, we risk a fatal polarization of our citizens and the police.

CELEBRITIES; THINNING OUT PENNEY STORES; BEST RUN CITIES; BRACE YOURSELF; REVISITING THE DAPL PROTESTS; NOT AGAIN, PLEASE; ROB PORT; BE PREPARED; GRIDLOCK; BEST OPTION; BISON; DAKTOIDS

Back in the 1930s, when white men were preparing for another round of mutual slaughter, few of them paid any attention to the Muslim world. They assumed it to be a backward region that history had long since passed by.

One man saw it differently. The great Catholic polemicist Hilaire Belloc, an Englishman of French ancestry, remembered Islam’s past and predicted, in his book The Great Heresies, that it would one day challenge the West again. As late as 1683 its armies had threatened to conquer Europe, penetrating all the way to Vienna; Belloc believed that a great Islamic revival, even in the twentieth century, was altogether possible.

Last week, President Donald Trump gave a speech in Warsaw that could help re-forge the bond between the United States and Poland. Throughout the speech Trump used stirring words that encouraged preserving Polish identity, culture, and memory. In this article that first appeared at The American Spectator, Dr. Paul Kengor thoroughly analyzes Trump’s speech and writes, “The Donald Trump in Warsaw in July 2017 was so much better than the Trump of July 2016. In fact, I must go further: Trump’s speech in Poland was outstanding.”

Warren wrote his award winning novel “All the King’s Men” in 1946 earning him the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1947. In this classic novel about American politics, Warren deals with the moral dilemmas in the modern world. Set in the 1930s, the theme centers on the rise and fall of a Southern political demagogue -- purportedly the character of former Louisiana Governor Huey Long.

The story, told by former newspaperman Jack Burden, portrays an idealistic back-woods lawyer taken in by the greed for power and lust for control. Willie Stark, the protagonist, endures his comeuppance early in his political career when defeated in his first bid for public office. It is then that he realizes facts, figures, truth and logic do not mean a thing to the general public. What matters is the emotional bond between the people and the office seeker. Stark’s rising popularity with the voters confirms the bond when he sees the purpose of government as a provider of “things.” This principle, among others, sustains Stark in public office. Warren best illustrates this through Stark’s promise to his constituents to build and staff a state hospital, the best money can buy. (Might this envision government health care proposals of future years?)

Today, the United Kingdom’s High Court of Justice will hold a hearing that is expected to determine the fate of 11-month-old Charlie Gard. Charlie is on life support in the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. In this article, Dr. Joseph Horton discusses two current cases where children are fighting for their lives and argues that everyone should support the fight because, “as long as there is life, there is hope.”

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Late last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Missouri could not deny public funds to a church simply because it is a religious organization. In this article, Constitutional scholar Dr. John Sparks reviews the Court’s opinion and discusses possible future implications of the decision. Sparks argues that this important case and ruling “moves in the right direction by regarding those who exercise their religious convictions as no different from other members of their communities when it comes to qualifying for public benefits.”

Realize that some people have an alien sense of virtue (Western leftists are a good example). Some really do believe that slaughtering innocents in Allah’s name is good — that burning people alive, baking them in ovens, drowning them in cages and feeding children into a dough kneader — wins you Paradise.

Remember, our weakness lies in our diversity.