Dakota Beacon

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Are there times when you feel like a stranger in your own country?  

LWVUS claims to be a nonpartisan organization that empowers the American people to take control of their democracy by registering voters, giving them a trusted nonpartisan source for issue, candidate, and ballot information, to ensure a political system that serves the needs of all people, not just special interests. LWVUS sponsors education and outreach programs to communicate their agenda and hold elected officials accountable to LWVUS..

For over six years, the Little Sisters of the Poor has had to defend itself against the federal government, and more recently, two state governments. By a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court last week awarded the nuns a victory. In this article, constitutional scholar Dr. John Sparks reviews the case and cautions, “the Little Sisters have won this round—though it is a qualified victory. A new administration could revamp the contraceptive regulations fashioning them to be narrower, like those of the Obama era.”

It’s time to get over it. No American Black today experiences slavery. No American White today is a slave master. Slavery must not be the catalyst for progressive social justice reforms. Nevertheless, progressives and liberals claim slavery as a “debt that will never be paid.” Intellectuals criticize slavery as the historic evil of “our society” but never acknowledge that Western civilization was the first to turn against slavery. For a century Western civilization destroyed slavery within itself and then around the world through military power in the age of imperialism. America overcame slavery’s stigma to create the freest nation on earth. Today, people flock here, legally and illegally, to experience freedom.

 America must free itself of slave talk and stop chaining itself to the sensitivity of slavery.

It is astounding… unbelievable… but so true... that people who vote Democrat view Socialism as government philanthropy. Philanthropy... the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. This is why I suggest to all conservatives that most Democrats are not “bad people”… they simply want to help those in need.

Grassroots movements in America are seeking to establish socialism through democratic activism. Some of these movements even claim that a Christian is obligated to support socialist economies or else he or she does not truly follow Christ's command to “love your neighbor as yourself”. No wonder that so many Americans are attracted to this ideology!

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Once in a while a remarkable voice comes along.  We are so lucky when that happens.  There are some wonderful singers out there and among the best is Nana Mouskouri.

Have conservatives finally been driven to insanity?  If not, how can we account for this harping on opening up the schools and getting the kids herded back into their indoctrination sessions?  I mean, that was working so well.

Self-loathing and artificual guilt is a very serious mental illness.  We are imposing this sickness on our people in America.  There are plenty of actors who are joining in this imposition of insanity.  It is entirely up to us to resist this and call it out for what it is - bullying and cult indoctrination - brain-washing.  The North Koreans and Chinese have done this for a long time - if you are contemporary with me, you were familiar with the term "brain-washing" when you were in grade school.  It is now being used by local government entities as well as corporations to "tranquilize" or neutralize thinking Americans.  We need to be aware of it and we need to fight back, and we must not wait another day to do so.  Every day we let this go on without challenge, it will be that much more difficult to fight against - and we dare not capitulate to it - it is evil.

This is not a drill.

On June 30, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that gave a substantial victory for religious education and for parents who choose to make use of tax credits, vouchers, and scholarships offered to them by state governments while attending religious schools. In this article, constitutional scholar Dr. John Sparks reviews the decision and argues that, “Roberts’ opinion also effectively ends the ability of state governments to discriminate against religious education.”

Democrats opted for Joe Biden as their nominee. No matter that he holds a weak resume. Biden is linked to Obama and Obama is still popular. Some think a President Biden might be convinced to resign due to age and mental health. His VP would rule the rest of his four-year term.

Or, maybe not. Instead, Biden could occupy the Oval Office for four years with surrogates exercising power. Decisions would be made in his name with his blessing and complicity. The country would be manipulated for the benefit of the Ruling Class, the elite – both Left and Right.

Every day we awake to a new round of cancellations and people prominent in the media, sports, entertainment and basically anyone who is visible, apologizing for just being alive and having ever done anything.  It is stupid and meaningless and very, very destructive for everyone.  It's time to decide to either die or pull up our socks and quit apologizing.

I realize that it is not only a Sunday - a day I try to avoid politics - but part of the Independence Day holiday.  Nevertheless, a few stories came together to create a picture of what is happening.  Trump has promised us a garden of statues of American heroes.  I personally think it should include a few no-so-heroice people with their stories.  Like Benedict Arnold.  But for now what we see is a massive purge of everything - our speech, our texts, our cartoons and art, our statues, our monuments and memorials, and moving on to everything of beauty in America, from fountains to national parks.  When are Americans going to quit their efforts at virtue signalling and wake up to the fact that this is all part of a plan - not to hide from our eyes evidence that not all Americans were perfect, but to remove the very idea of dissent from the American culture.  As Americans we have thrived on dissent - debate created our Constitution, debate and discussion have helped to run our businesses, our cities, our organizations and charities of all kinds.  There is nothing wong with dissent.  In fact, we can absolutely hate somethng and yet learn from those who admire it and learn from errors of our past.  

This is an escape from the present to not-that-long-ago.  It seems an eternity sometimes, but the JFK assassination is one of those puzzles that, as Churchill said of Russia, is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.  One of the most elusive figures in the whole story is one of its central figures - Lee Harvey Oswald.  John Delayne Williams has doggedly pursued the truth in the JFK murder for many years and has often shared his findings at conferences and through his many articles.  Now he has written a definiteive book on Oswald and his part in the complex story of the plot to kill JFK.  I would recommend it to anyone whose interest remains unsatisfied by the often incredible versions put out in the media.  As you will see, there are some reasons for the continued coverup.

Tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of what's left of America.  Some points to ponder.

White Marxists are so close to permanent success they can hear it (media domination), taste it (agricultural dependency on government), smell it (dying of the energy industry), feel it (political correctness), touch it (single-payer government health care), and even breath it (Covid-19). If they could just steal the presidency and both houses of congress, they will have pulled off the “upset of the ages”. After being trounced with the death of the USSR thirty years ago, a new generation of America's “useful idiots” (higher education's newly hatched Utopians) could gain full power in the world's longest lasting “democratic republic”. What would be the shortest tenured fiasco in history, Democratic Socialism, those who can “get along with the Communists”.

America is irremediably divided — if a marriage, she would’ve dissolved long ago — and the above resistance would, of course, make that division more official. This brings me to what I believe will be our fate.

After having my ‘80s insights, I concluded that we’d just continue descending into autocracy, as burgeoning laws, regulations and mandates gradually extinguished freedom, placing us in the iron grip of a central government behemoth. But I long ago changed that view: I now believe our country will dissolve, as the USSR did before us.

Assuming this happens, the question is: Will at least one emerging land be a new shining city on a hill?

Pardon me if I sound a bit gloomy this summer.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Usually I like my grandmother's eternal advice - "It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness."  She was invariably right in her familiar sayings, but I'm out of matches.  I was reminiscing along the lines of my mother's recollections of small-town America in the midwest nearly 100 years ago.  It seems that they struggled against the odds and the elements, but they had something we seem to have lost - a deep love of America and hope and dreams.  It would seem that we have lost far more in the time since then than we have gained.  For them it was backbreaking toil six days a week, church on Sunday and on the Chuly the greatest celebration of the year, food, fireworks, bands playing and flags waving.  But they had a spirit of gratitude and love of country that transformed this into something much, much more, something profound of inestimable value.  What can we do to recover that spirit?  

In the murky world of 2020 politics it is almost impossible to discern what is driving the voters.  Polls appear to show Trump falling from favor . . . but why?  Even if he continues to disappoint his regular followers, the alternative is so grim and the present climate so threatening that it seems that his re-election would be a no-brainer.  He is holding rallies - or at least held one, and that one drew massive television audiences.  But has he lost interest or what?  We are threatened by China, we are struggling to recover from their virus attack, our streets are in turmoil.  And the Democrats promise to reinforce all of the above.  The only alternative is Trump.  What's going on?  I didn't even vote for him the first time around, but even I see no alternative this year.  I will be voting for him - because I don't support mob violence, destruction of public property and art, continuing the madness of the lock-downs or China's aggression.   I don't know . . . what about you?

The rioting, burning, and looting is a strange way to honor the memory of Floyd and Brooks. Mention of their names conjure visions of mayhem, bedlam, and pandemonium tolerated in Democrat-controlled cities. Their deaths were triggers for rioting, burning, and looting. Meanwhile, Democrat mayors, governors, members of the House and Senate remain curiously silent.

By their silence Democrat leaders condone the mayhem. It’s amazing that they would sacrifice their constituents’ safety and wellbeing to gain political ends. For all intents and purposes, BLM and Antifa have inadvertently become the Democrat armed force. Certainly, the Democrats are not interested in fixing any of the social ills that gave rise to the anarchy. They could have done so long ago. Instead, they need voters who are gullible enough to believe their endless, unfulfilled promises.

Cynically, liberals use the mob to create unrest as a means of consolidating power. “Seeking social justice” is not a plan. They are just hollow words to feed the mob, a means to an end

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.”

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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.