Dakota Beacon

If we are to bring more refugees into our communities let us make sure that these are not the oppressors, but the oppressed.  

The Left and the students in India are in an uproar over immigration policies.  But India has up-close experience with the social effects of many of the world's religions and understands that if it is not to become Pakistan it must show a willingness to say no.

AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR; TRICKLE-DOWN SUGAR; GRAND FORKS OPTIMISM; PLEAS SHOP LOCALLY; NEW NORTH DAKOTA CHIEF JUSTICE; A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT; BISON FOOTBAL KEPT ROLLING; YES AND NO - NDSU IN FCS; THE GRASS IS NOT GREENER; FOOTBALL CUTS - TIP OF THE ICEBERG?; BOBCAT BOY - CARSON WENTZ: REFUGEE QUESINESS; A "LITTLE" MIDGET PROBLEM; DAKTOIDS

Today I give you a great  classical work by Tchaikovsky - the Nutcracker.  If you are a ballet fan you will enjoy the various takes on this classic, if not, please just enjoy this fabulous music!

It is Saturday but the machinery of government goes relentlessly on, and for just a moment I direct your attention to a crisis overseas and its bearing on the kind of crisis we might be brewing up right here in our hometowns.  Do we really want to do this?  Are we so, so arrogant that we really think this doesn't apply to us?  Sadly, like all other human ills, this does indeed apply to us.  We are not some kind of gods who walk between the raindrops.  We will see exactly what Sweden is battling if we follow Sweden's example.  And numbers are all important.  If you think this is not going to a big deal because it's only a "few", think again.  If those "few" are not more interested in being American than they are in bringing their baggage in with them, we will indeed see Sweden's dilemma played out on our street.  We should accept only non-Muslim immigrants because in this way we can provide relief for persecuted non-Muslims around the world.  Sixty or a hundred families today will be a very large number of disaffected people a few years hence.  Aesop told the story of the squirrel who watched the other animals enter the lion's den and when invited in, wisely said, no.  Why not? he was asked.  Because, he answered, I've seen many go in but none come out.  Keep Sweden in mind as you consider where you stand on immigration in your town.

Today's Saturday escape is to the deep South, Alabama, to be precise, but it's not what you think.  If you would like a moment of peace and reflection you will surely enjoy Culman.  Take a break.  Brexit is going to happen, Andrew Scheer is now consigned to his footnote in history, as soon will the the attempted impeachment, unless I'm mistaken, but there is a tiny world where peace reigns and you should try to visit there.

As our counties and communities deliberate about accepting immigrants, there is far more to the matter than the initial costs involved or the initial perceived gains to a community.  We must be aware that decisions made today will affect us for the rest of time - generations to come will live with these decisions and our laws and way of life are a part of the deal.

The Saudi attack at Pensacola is a test of our moral fibre.  If we allow this incident to be covered up and swept under the rug we will deserve the next one and we can be assured it will come.  There is no need for the United States of America to be doing business with A disreputable country of slaves.  Trump says the king will pay families - "take care of them".  This is not going to cut it unless we are so depraved that we will sell our sons for Saudi custom.  

The beat goes on. Other cities capitulate under Democrat rule. The same record of documented squalor is found in San Francisco, 55 years; New York City, 18 years; Los Angeles, 18 years. It’s the same song, second verse.

Racism and capitalism cannot be blamed for the metropolitan decay. Socialist thinking and corruption of liberal Democrat city councils top the list of causes.

Earlier this year, California Governor Gavin Newsome signed a bill allowing California student athletes to sign endorsements while in college. About a month later, the NCAA board of governors voted unanimously to permit student athletes to benefit financially from the use of their name, image and likeness. Is this in the best interest of the students? Does it help them academically? In this article, Dr. James Thrasher digs deeper into the issue of compensating students who participate in sports. Thrasher writes, “The charade of big-name Division 1 football and basketball athletes being in college first and foremost to receive an education has now been fully exposed.”

While we are watching the insane "process" of impeachment going on in Washington, there is another, equally corrupt and perhaps even more wicked, taking place in Spain.

Congress is dismantling our Constitution and destroying the rule of law.

ANDREW ARMACOST; A YOUNG ROCKET SCIENTIST; HIGH EXPECTATION; A JAMESTOWN FARMER/LEGISLATOR; LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES; CONNECTIONS?; LOW PAY FOR ND ATTORNEYS; SOGGY; A PLAN FOR FRONTIER VILLAGE; LOW HIV RATE; FCS PLAYOFFS; DAKTOIDS

Governor Burgum has advised local jurisdictions that they are free to determine whether they will accept "refugees".  Cass County has decided to extend their acceptance of "refugees" and Burleigh County is weighing its options.  First, one would think, would be to determine just what constitutes a "refugee".  The proper definition of a refugee is one who is fleeing persecution in his homeland, not a person seeking greater opportunity in a more advantageous land.  This is crucial.  So, too, is the ability of an immigrant population to assimilate and to accept the laws and the customs of the host country in the long term, and in the case of massive numbers of them.  Where it is easy to absorb a few dozen immigrants across a state, large numbers pose greater risks to the native law and culture.  Immigrants have been the lifeblood of America but we must remember that the conditions which made immigration successful in 1920 are vastly different from the conditions we have today - both in the nature of the immigrants and in our own point in time.

This might take you back to a time when Christmas meant the family gathered around the fire or at the dinner table celebrating an important time together. It is the perfect antidote to Black Friday.  Personally, I have never shopped on Thanksgiving or Black Friday.  I never will, I don't think.  But sit back and enjoy the warmth of what Christmas ought to be instead.

What more could you ask for in an armchair adventure?  Here we have legends of the gods, Incan ruins, the Gateway to the Sun, Lake Titicaca, with floating islands and the people who made them and live on them!  Sunken temples over a thousand years old and the highest navigable lake in the world the largest lake in South America and possibly even alien beings.  Today we visit the border of Bolivia and Peru, high in the Andes.

Guns aren't allowed, so none of this could really have happened, right?  But all things are possible when we permit foreign nationals into our military bases.  This guy was studying here.  Well, not any more.

A sickness is gripping our institutions of learning.  If we don't stop this we will be setting ourselves up for a terrible future.

Is America entering an age where her children and grandchildren will be much less “under God” than their parents and grandparents? A recent Pew Research Center report suggests that many believe it is a good thing that religion is losing influence in American society. In this article, John P. Warren looks at the recent data and writes, “Secular progressives in government—local, state, and federal—have succeeded in ejecting God from the classroom and the public square. Today, everywhere, God is being removed from our daily lives and from the hearts of many who no longer see a need for the Almighty.”

If you are looking for one more front on the social justice war, go and see Last Christmas!  If you are looking for some light-hearted, joyful entertainment, give it a pass.

Can you trust political polling? Not if your life depended on it. And, it just might.

Why is political polling such big news? It is likely that a constant drumbeat over time of poor polling results for a candidate could have a negative effect for them and, inversely, a positive effect for their opponent(s). In the end, the only important poll is the one held on Election Day.

Beyond a doubt, polling is effective when done correctly. Commercial polling for marketing purposes advanced to a fine art generating billions of dollars in sales of goods and services. Political polling not so much. Too many intangible variables tend to garble the message and skew the results.

Does anyone believe that presidential polls this far out will reflect the outcome of the election? More to the point, will political polling sway the electorate substantially this early in the campaign? Consider previous poll projections. Then, you decide.

The technology available to us today is amazing.  It is also dangerous.

Brownsville, Texas, is in the path of MS-13 and other gangs and jihadis.  These people simply wade across the Rio Grande and freely walk right into the United States.  The resideents and ranchers of the area have tried to raise the money and build a wall to protect themselves on their own.  They have made progress but that progress is being stopped and rendered totally ineffective by a college president.  These problems are very real.  There is a reign of terror in south Texas and none of us is immune to the danger - even as far north as Grand Forks we have had vicious and insane attacks by immigrants, some even legal, who have not been properly vetted.  Immigrants should be required to meet very high standards and pass a thorough background check before they even set foot in the United States.  Instead, we have this . . . 

UND PRESIDENT: PUMMEL; COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE; BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT; WEALTHIEST; POORET; JAMESTOWN SEARCHING; ND'S PRISON SYSTEM; BAD WHEAT; FARMERS' DILEMMA; DAKTOIDS

Senator Elizabeth Warren, one-time Indian and beer drinker, would make a very dangerous president. This isn’t just because of her policies, which include ending the Electoral College, banning fracking everywhere, regulating a naturally occurring gas (CO₂), being radically pro-abortion, decriminalizing illegal border crossing, and free health care for illegal aliens. It’s not only her complete phoniness, which is in one way actually reassuring: It informs that the aforementioned policies are surely as pliable as her family history narrative. No, it’s also because she’s frightfully out of touch with reality in a largely unrecognized way, one common to leftists.

"Brave" in this sense means "splendid, shining with light", "magnificent".  And truly, this tiny country of scarcely more than 5 million has made an outsized contribution to our western culture.  A land of poets, soldiers, inventors, castles and kings, Scotland has always loomed large in our imagination.  The Scottish struggle for independence continued against all odds for centuries, often crushed by English power and wealth.  Yet the Scottish culture stubbornly survives as you can see from the varied videos here.  St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland (as St. Patrick is of Ireland, St. David of Wales and St. George of England).  His feast day was yesterday, November 30, so today we will visit Scotland in his honor.  The Scottish flag is a white saltire on a field of blue.  The saltire, or diagonal cross is emblematic of St. Andrew, who was crucified on a diagonal cross.  Enough now.  Get to the music and enjoy the beauty of the scenery and sounds of Scotland.

Meet the man who was really behind much of our modern world - when you think of radio waves, Marconi comes to mind; when you think of light bulbs, it's Edison.  But these and many, many more of our now-essential devices and to a great extent, the electrical power which makes them possible, including AC current, were the work of a quiet genius named Nikola Tesla.

So you thought the matter of secession was settled in 1865?  Think again.

Today President Trump made it clear that the United States does not stand for the oppression of people who are willing to fight for their freedom.    Apparently China felt empowered to set American policy.  Obviously we can't allow that.

Today, George Washington would be spurned as a bigot, extremist, racist, and partisan for issuing such a Eurocentric proclamation loaded with religious freight and White privilege.

In the recesses of many hearts a waning sense of Christian heritage still lingers like a mist over our culture. As such, a remnant will quietly and resolutely carry on the Spirit of Thanksgivings past.

We can all exhibit grateful hearts. Without an attitude of gratitude, Thanksgiving is just another day of indulgence.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving feast and football. Most of all, give time to reflect on George Washington’s God-inspired words and the Person who made our lives and prosperity possible.