Dakota Beacon

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.”

Times are changing in oh so many ways -- technologically, economically, educationally. Change imposes itself so fast that keeping up with the changes becomes impossible. One of the most evident changes is the cultural breakdown we see daily as evidenced by violence and incivility across cities and states. Consuming snippets of news may be entertaining or distracting, but crime statistics paint a realistic and comprehensive picture of who we have become.

America has not been this fragile since the War Between the States.  The legitimacy of our elections has come under attack for the last several election cycles, first by Democrats who claimed that Hillary Clinton was the "real winner" in 2016,  with Russia manipulating the vote, and by Republicans who claim evidence of election fraud since then.   A free republic is only as valid as its election process.  That said, we are in a lot of trouble.  If we cannot believe in our eletions, if they are open to manipulation through our vote-counting process or even if we just no longer believe they are legitimate, our leadership, our government, can no longer be deemed to be "of the people".  America is needlessly vulnerable to falling as a free country.  Only the people can do anything about it.  In North Dakota this effort is already taking shape.  

What is a police state? Wikipedia describes it as “a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive… Deployment of internal security and police forces play a heightened role in governance. A police state is characteristic of authoritarian, totalitarian, and illiberal regimes… police-state-level of control may emerge in multi-party systems as well.”

What is a conspiracy theory? Call upon Wikipedia again. “A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy by powerful and sinister groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable… The appeal of a conspiracy theory is based in prejudice, emotional conviction, or insufficient evidence.”

So be it. Take these two definitions at face value and evaluate America’s drift from the 1930s onward. Take into consideration the following:

So what are America’s actual COVID numbers? Can ME’s one-to-two-percent estimate be extrapolated to our whole country? We don’t know. What’s for certain is that COVID has been grossly mismanaged and mischaracterized by people who would sententiously scold “Follow the science!” but were themselves following money and politics. In the process, this medical/scientific establishment has perhaps permanently discredited itself — and never was reputational destruction more richly deserved.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gained the authority to negotiate the price the government pays for prescription drugs. Recently, the CMS released a target list of 10 drugs that will be subject to the first round of government-mandated price negotiation. The list includes drugs to treat chronic conditions like diabetes, arthritis, and heart failure and accounts for nearly 20 percent of total spending in the Medicare prescription-drug program, according to CMS data. This process isn’t a negotiation, however, but an arbitrary, one-sided effort at price controls.

When John Adams made the statement, “The Constitution was written for a moral and religious people and is unfit to govern any other,” one must ask, “What did he mean?”

He may have been referring to the difficulty of interpreting the Constitution and its application to the lives of the people it was originally crafted to govern.

As conservatives, we understand this to include the “laws of nature and of nature’s God” as the stopping off place for such an endeavor. This principle is not only championed by pastors or ministers, but even the more secular enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Charles de Montesquieu, who adhered to the value for civil law of the universal moral law to love others found in the Bible.

Dear Student,

With summer over, a new school year begins. Blessings to you and your studies in this new adventure. As many of you may be aware, “education” is one thing, but learning is quite another.

Evidence abounds indicating that the US student population overall lags far behind many second and third world countries in the mastery of mathematics. In fact, many students studying advanced mathematics in US graduate schools are foreign students. That said, I offer a suggestion.

Should you be so inclined, expand your math knowledge beyond institutional learning. Engage in a wee bit of extracurricular reading in the field of mathematics. Dipping into the following recommended books will make this challenge easier than you think.

We hear from certain quarters within the Republican Party that Trump is our last best hope of recovering our republic. But the case can be made that he is not the savior, but the Terminator of our republic.  And like so many other villains, he lies.  A lot.

For an obvious leftist to even right about what he believes is going on in a party that he doesn’t support is as moronic as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. But I guess Rob Port is doing what he is good at, printing opinion and non-truth. So, I guess kudos to him.

Some hard-hitting and candid words about the state of our society through the lens of popular culture.  And art.  Or something like that.

Problem solving need not be difficult. Some people refer to a deliberate way of thinking as “thinking ahead.” My mom called it “thinking past the end of your nose.” I always thought “thinking ahead” was the norm for everyone and not merely an exception for the few. I have since discovered otherwise. The larger world does not think this way. Lack of application in the arena of government policymaking is so striking as to be bizarre. Too many people do not think past the end of their noses.

Think of a problem. Then, think of a solution to that problem. Pause. By way of consequence, now ask, “What happens next?” The answer to that question may determine the viability of your solution. In other words, what are the further implications of your choice?

So far most of the accusationos of election fraud and rigging of the process have come fdrom Republicans and especially those who believe that Trump won a majority of votes ins 2020.  Now, the accusation - and it is more than just an accusation - comes from one of the Democrat Party's most iconic scions - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  Well, we are all pretty well aware that this party eats its own for breakfast.  We saw what they did twice in a row with Bernie Sanders.  We would have to be marooned on a desert isle not to be aware of the blatant shenanigans where are part and parcel of every single Democrat campaign.  It is even arguable that they attempt to participate in the Republican processes as well.  We know they contrive to manage news.  So, what is in store for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?  How will this end?

For the last 22 years, Sept. 11 has become a somber day to memorialize the thousands of victims killed that day in 2001 by the homicidal bombers of Osama Bin Laden. The total dead numbered nearly 3,000.

More recently, the anniversary of Sept. 11 brought still more bad news, as the Taliban that the U.S. ousted after Sept. 11, 2001, somehow managed to return to power courtesy of the Biden administration’s disastrously managed pullout of U.S. troops in August 2021.

For purely political reasons, what began a splendid process of peace that continues to bear fruit has not gotten the attention it deserves.

George Orwell’s novel "1984" has caused many to consider what is happening in today’s world as a fulfilled prophecy. Others would call it mere science fiction.

Originally written as a warning about the dangers of a totalitarianism, government surveillance and the abuse of power, it should be a wake-up call for those on either side. Though perhaps not intentional, we find ourselves on one side or the other and there seems to be no room for middle ground. It’s time we openly discuss what is happening in this country and not be hypersensitive to someone with a difference of opinion.

The emergence of existentialism as a philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries attempted to accommodate advances in science, technology, and man’s power over the material world. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment uprooted traditional religious beliefs and replaced them with science, rationalism, and materialism. Existential philosophy grew up within the void left by the decline of Christianity. With this decline, people lost contact with a transcendent realm of being. They were set free to confront the material world in all its fierce objectivity.

Existentialism, the “Johnny-come-lately” of the philosophical world, comes burdened with baggage because of its nebulous nature. It has always been difficult to define due to its diverse reaction to the challenges emerging in history. Existentialism has been viewed by the philosophical establishment as illegitimate and unworthy of being called philosophy. It was thus not a true heir to the philosophical tradition.

On a recent visit to the Reagan Presidential Library in California, I took a step back in time and experienced a reacquaintance with the man and his message. As I came face to face with him casually leaning on a column in the portico the White House, I remembered his words about being a “here today and gone tomorrow” servant of the people of America. The presidency for him was about the people; America the only place on earth where the Constitution reads: “We the people…” The following Reagan quote stopped me in my tracks as I considered the path we’ve taken since then.

If there is such a thing as “good ol’ days” then there must have been some point of reference. Surely there must be more to a perception of change than mere nostalgia. To my old eyes we have morphed culturally into something unrecognizable. When wrong becomes right and evil becomes good; when standards evaporate and everyone does that which is right in their own eyes; we have degenerated into a moral vacuum.

A clarion call was sounded many decades ago by the likes of Schaeffer, Whitehead, and others. Many people heeded but the generations that followed did not. As a result we are experiencing today a cultural rot of our own making.

When Lorie Smith, owner of a Colorado website design business, thought about expanding her business to include websites for those planning traditional weddings (one man and one woman), she was understandably concerned that such a business expansion could put her in legal jeopardy under Colorado’s “public accommodations” law. The law called for penalties to be imposed upon any business open to the general public which refused to provide goods or services to persons based on, among other things, their sexual orientation.