Dakota Beacon

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.

Things are not always what they seem. It turns out that Chick-fil-A didn’t knuckle under after all! They have been covertly in the leftist camp for years.

Eventually irresponsible immigration policies will affect all of us individually.  And likely not in a good way.

Clearly, the true enemy of America in this century is socialism, the desire for “free stuff”. There is an entire “sub-economy” of political donors, politicians, bureaucrats, and their so-called “researchers” that are stealing from the wages of those in the real economy of work, courage, and accomplishment in order to reward special interests within both the “landed aristocracy” and the “economically dependent”, those who either have never had to work or do not ever plan to work. Those of us who are self-actualized and became financially independent due to our labors and risk taking realize that such qualities existed within us at birth and were nurtured throughout our lives by our belief in a Creator that loves us and wants us to spread that love to others.

The Army’s answer to Seinfeld’s George Costanza, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, made quite the statement Tuesday when admitting under oath that he was offered the position of Minister of Defense of Ukraine — three times. Vindman and the Ukrainian official extending the offer now both insist it was a joke, which may be true. But it’s irrelevant.

Should professors teach because students need to learn? Or should students construct their own knowledge? In this article, Dr. Earl Tilford looks at a growing trend in higher education and offers a personal story from a tragic day. Tilford writes, “At 8:00 AM on Tuesday morning, September 11, I gave my first quiz in Humanities 101. … As I passed out quizzes I explained, ‘The terrorist did this to make us change how we live. If we do that, they win.’ Then, with a rage barely sufficient to stifle overwhelming emotions, I loudly declared, ‘They are not going to win!’’’

My pre-Thanksgiving-Day-weekend "Sunday Special" - a song of thanks and a few more songs for those who would like them.  I hope you enjoy the remarkable vocie, passion and technique of one of our greatest singers!  Enjoy.

Here is something for you - especially if your kids are coming home from school with "white guilt" over our Thanksgiving Day holiday.  First, I have a presentation for you and your kids from Michael Medved (courtesy of Prager University).  You might hear some things you've never heard before about our first encounter with the Indians.  Next, a completely different and fresh perspective from an Indian.  Here I am absolutely sure you will hear some ideas you have not heard spoken aloud before.  

Chick-fil-A made a fool's bargain in choosing to abandon its principles and decline to donate to the Salvation Army because the LGBTQ lobby ordered them to.  Threats work.  Values?  Not so much.  This is a textbook example of circular hypocrisy.  It was hypocritical of Chick-fil-A to back down on its decision to donate to a charitable organization because of flak from the LGBTQ groups and profoundly hypocritical for those groups to demand that one entity abandon its principles and beliefs to satisfy them - or go out of business.  How tolerant is that?  It has been said here again and again - tolerance is a one-way street today.  These groups demand that you accede to their preferences but they will never allow you to have your own.#mce_temp_url#

Quid pro quo? Uh, uh. No quid. No pro. No quo. Representative Adam Schiff (Democrat) from California’s 28^th District in Los Angeles County chairs the House Intelligence Committee (oxymoron?). He tried repeatedly to sink Trump’s presidency and every attempt comes up short. This Harvard Law School grad comes across as ineffective, thus it is hard to take Schiff seriously.

From his multitude of screwed up endeavors, he looks more like the ludicrously incompetent Brooklyn mob boss from the novel and movie “The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight.” The would-be boss, Kid Sally Palumbo, “couldn’t run a gas station at a profit even if he stole the customer’s cars.”

In less than a year, America will head to the polls to elect the president. Tonight, Democratic hopefuls will take the stage for another debate. Do the American people keep falling for the same extravagant claims every election cycle? In this article, Dr. Caleb Verbois examines the many talking points and argues: “We’re like Charlie Brown and every four years we really, honestly believe that Lucy is going to let us kick the football.”

Surprise, surprise!  A new study says we need green space in our environment for healthy living.  Now go and tell your city planners.   And don't let them tell you they know best.  Ambition and greed are ruining my city - maybe you can stop the destruction of yours.

When you know something and are afraid to say it you are effectively muzzled. If you dare not even think it, you have surrendered your intellectual autonomy and have become little more than a state-operated robot.

USDA APPROVED; HIGHLY UNUSUAL CONDITIONS; AMERICAN CRYSTAL - OUCH!; NO MORE FREE GF HERALD; NEWSPAPERS - WHAT'S UP?; CONTESTED ND SUPREME COURT ELECTION; EXHAUSTIVE OR EXHAUSTING?; RAISE THE VOLUME; MORE PIPELINE FIGHTS; PSC HEARING; HUNTER HANSON; JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED; DAKTOIDS

Personally I have little use for ice, but no one could argue that these guys don't make good use of it!  Some things never get old - these performances are among them.  They are timeless.