Dakota Beacon

Yesterday, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company appeared before a House committee to answer questions about price increases on a product—the EpiPen, an auto-injection device used to treat potentially fatal allergic reactions. In Congress, a recent bill seeks to force drug manufactures to rationalize any price increase over 10 percent to the federal government. But is legislation the best solution? Is this a bill that could bring the entire industry dangerously close to government price controls? In this article, Dr. Richard D. Kocur argues that there is an easier fix. He writes, “As any businessperson knows, if you price a product too far above the cost of production you’re inviting competition to enter the market, thereby offering consumers a potentially lower-priced alternative.” 

“Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.” So reads a line in Coleridge’s poem “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner who shot an albatross (a symbol of good fortune) brought misfortune to his ship and crew.

            A contemporary Chicken Little version might be, “Fossil fuels; man-made global warming.”

            Not so fast. What might be other rational explanations for climate variations?

            One well-established weather cycle is the El Nino - La Nina pattern.

One of the characteristics of our declining civilization is that, more and more, reality seems like satire. A good example is a recent New York Times article titled “From He to She in First Grade.” Yeah, you guessed it, this is about another boy allowed to masquerade as a girl, aided and abetted by parents and teachers who belong in rubber rooms. 

“Transgenderism” is not a scientifically determined designation but an ideologically determined one, as I explain in-depth here. It is the Lysenkoism of our time, and it will likely be discarded in two or three decades. Until then, sadly, children will continue to be irreparably scarred by what is nothing but a severe form of child abuse. 

Something other than common sense or public interest is driving development of Arbor Park in Grand Forks.

. . . Except he’s a Democrat.  That means that he doesn’t believe in any of the things that has made us an economic powerhouse over the years.  He likes the big government that has been an albatross around the neck of industry.  He’d like it even bigger.

A recently released literature review has created a buzz. Among the issues attracting attention in the paper is the claim that genetics is not the sole determinant of sexual orientation. Does this make the “born that way” hypothesis false? In this article, Dr. Joseph J. Horton details the study and examines how the “born that way hypothesis is important to people on all sides.” 

In the baseball world, Ty Cobb is perhaps the most controversial player in history. On the field he was a tenacious player and fierce competitor. Cobb’s actions off the field, however, have been reported as less than admirable. But are all of the tales about his antics true? In this book review that first appeared at the Claremont Review of Books, Dr. Mark Hendrickson dives into the new book by Charles Leerhsen (“Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty”)—a book that possibly rehabilitates the reputation of a baseball icon. Hendrickson argues that Leerhsen’s book, “may be the most important baseball book in decades

The rapidly increasing power of bureaucrats controlling our lives should scare the dickens out of Americans. The good news is that more people are coming to recognize the assault by government on their liberty. The bad news is that some of these same people keep looking to government to solve their problems. They keep electing the same congressmen, senators and president that perpetuate the abuse. Apparently some voters don’t have a problem with expansive government programs. Nor do they have a problem with government confiscating wealth for bureaucrats to redistribute.

WHO HAS A TEST CENTER?; THE BEST LAID PLANS OF . . .; VIKING FANS ARE ABOAR; BIG IRON NEEDS YOU; STANDOFF; IT’S NOT PEACEFUL; THE ND PETROLEUM COUNCIL; PROTESTS ATTRACT POLITICAL FIGURES; PROCESS IS NOT ENOUGH; THE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX; LITTLE SOMALIA; TIME OUT; ARNOLD ANDERSON; FRIEDA NEUMILLER WATSON; DAKTOIDS

In the current issue of Time magazine an essay highlights the individual story of a transgender male who recently gave birth to a child. Should Time magazine depict the birthing and nursing experience of a transgender male as a new normal for American families? In this article, Dr. David J. Ayers argues that Time left out many important questions readers may have and subsequently framed the discussion inaccurately. He writes, “Journalists are supposed to ask the questions we cannot or are afraid to. The ones we know reasonable people think about. Can’t we do better than this fawning essay in Time magazine when we are dealing with something of this much consequence to so many people?” 

Formation of America’s future national security policies begs an answer to a very important question. Is it in our national interest to deter aggression and maintain a stable global order?

If the answer is “yes” then a 4 to 5 percent investment of our Gross Domestic Product, as we have seen for the last 70 years, is acceptable.

If the answer is “no,” then America can no longer meet its responsibilities as a leader in the free world. The world will change, and not for the better. America and the many nations that work together with us will certainly be less safe. Radical cuts in defense spending means America must sit on the sidelines and observe the world growing more dangerous until that danger washes over our shores.

The road to military disaster is paved with good intentions. For voters on November 8 a new administration proposing a well-funded national security becomes a critical judgment call.

Voters take note!

The Conseil d’Etat failed to take into account the fact that at present a silent conquest of Western Europe is underway. This conquest finds its source in the Qur’an where one can read that Allah has promised to give to the Muslims as the spoils of war the lands of the Infidels. That’s how sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi, one of the leaders of the UOIE (Union of Muslim Organizations in Europe), the French branch of which is the UOIF (Union of Muslim Organizations in France) put it: “With your democratic laws, we will colonize you. With our Koranic laws, we will dominate you.”

THE NDSU FOOTBALL PROGRAM; THE NORTH DAKOTA LEGACY FUND; ASSET RICH, CASH POOR; JUST A SELECT FEW; DID YOU EXPECT THIS?; FLYING FINGERS; CRIME FLOUISHES; TEDDY ROOSEVELT WOULD NOT BE WELCOME; IS IT WISE? IS 110 THE NEW 100?; DEVILS LAKE; WHERE'S THE LARD?; HOUSE PRICES IN GRAND FORKS; TITAN MACHINERY

You just can't have it both ways, Mark!

Schlafly, like her comrade-in-arms, William F. Buckley, Jr., became a respected icon of conservative thought. 

This is not just a news story to read and forget about by tomorrow.  This is evidence of a serious illness in our society and our government.

LBJ: “Lyndon Johnson said the word ‘n***er’ a lot. In Senate cloakrooms and staff meetings, Johnson was practically a connoisseur of the word… Discussing civil rights legislation with men like Mississippi Democrat James Eastland, who committed most of his life to defending white supremacy, he’d simply call it ‘the n***er bill.’” Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 4/12/12

“I’ll have those n***ers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One as told in Ronald Kessler’s 1995 book “Inside the White House.”

Is a national debt default of some form inevitable? If so, why aren’t we talking about it more? In this article that first appeared at Forbes.com, Dr. Mark Hendrickson observes recent action (or lack thereof) from the Federal Reserve and suggests that a realignment of federal policies “could be even more jarring than the Brexit vote.” 

A STATE OF EMERGENCY; ESCALATION GF; ND LT GOV DREW WRIGLEY;  THE UAS DEGREE PROGRAM AT UND; THE F-M FLOOD DIVERSION PROJECT; WEATHER CHALLENGES; WHAT’S THAT IN THE DISTANCE?; WHERE RVs GO TO DIE; ACT SCORES IN MINNESOTA; SURPRISE!; KICKBACK; ACT SCORES IN ND SNIPING; A SOMALI COMMUNITY ORGANIZER; CLEAR AS MUD; DAKTOIDS

[SOBRAN’S THE REAL NEWS OF THE MONTH, February 1999] — I grew up in a theocracy. I didn’t realize it as a boy; in fact I never heard it described that way. The only reason I now know it was a theocracy is that people who want to restore the America of the Fifties — anti-abortion Catholics, the “Christian Right” — are accused of wanting to establish a theocracy.

The “separation of church and state” has been twisted to mean total secularization: whenever the state claims authority over an area of activity, such as education, religion must depart from it. If the federal government decides that the humanity of a human fetus is a “religious” or “theological” question, it forces the states to withdraw their protection from the unborn child.

The godless states of the twentieth century have been notable in their common contempt for human life, deeming millions of deaths a small price to pay for utopia and human “liberation” - which is really the liberation of rulers from higher law. One of these godless states is the current regime of the United States of America, which has effectively repudiated the principles of the Declaration and the Constitution while pretending to honor both.

An old adage explains a lot when determining the ultimate objective in social and political events.

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Several news items make it quite easy to follow the money. Let the reader decide.

The Clintons said they would close down the foundation if Hillary became president to avoid a conflict of interest. Why wasn’t there a conflict of interest when she was Secretary of State?

Expert at hiding information with decades of experience, the Clintons are masters of deceit. The above citations are only a small fraction of the available information from open sources. The FBI continues a far-ranging investigation but without conclusion before November. Vote wisely!

WIND AND GRASS; HOT POTATO; FARM MISERY; HARD TIMES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL; IN CASE THEY WEREN’T PAYING ATTENTION; YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP; SLUGGISH MINNESOTA ECONOMY; MONEY IS LEAVING MINNESOTA; RACE AND CRIME; DAKTOIDS

My, my, there those feminists go, complaining again. This time the whining concerns supposedly “sexist” Olympics coverage. Their problem?

Many journalists are, we’re told, using different language when talking about female athletes than when speaking of male ones. Oh, the humanity! 

Isn’t it a little odd, though, complaining about unequal treatment while supporting a system that’s inherently unequal; namely, having separate and protected tours, leagues and teams for women? It’s a bit like forming a basketball league exclusively for short Jewish guys and then bellyaching that they don’t command the salaries of the NBA stars. 

take note of the wide difference in percentage points between two candidates in a given state. A ten to fifteen point spread is suspicious. Not all polls seek the truth and push polling leads the way.

Let there be no doubt that the mainstream media is campaigning for their presidential candidate. Gone are the days of so-called objective reporting. The New York Times admitted as much in a front page article last week. The media objective today is to suppress voter turnout for the opposition.

Let the voter beware.

In 1996, Hillary Clinton backed her husband—President Bill Clinton—when he signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Twenty years later her position on the traditional family has changed. What else has changed? In this article that first appeared at Crisis Magazine, Dr. Paul Kengor examines Hillary’s shifting positions and addresses the issues that he believes “are the most revealing faith-related matters for Mrs. Clinton as she makes her bid for the White House.” 

It is unlikely that anyone can become President this year other than Hillary.  It would amount to an heroic sacrifice fly, but it would be an act of patriotism if someone were to step in.

By all means Khizr Khan is a Gold Star father. His son, US Army Ordinance Corps Captain Humayun Khan, was killed in action in Iraq in 2004 by a suicide bomber. It was Captain Khan’s choices that turned Khizr and his wife into Gold Star parents. Isn’t it curious that Khan never blamed the Muslim jihadists who killed his son? Instead, he tore into Trump’s position on immigration.

But there is more to Khizr Khan than meets the eye. Khan is a Pakistani immigrant and a US attorney who worked for many years for Hogan Lovells, LLP, a large Washington DC multinational law firm representing Saudi Arabia together with other Middle Eastern countries. He also endorses the Muslim Brotherhood from his days living in Saudi Arabia.

To be used by Clinton and the DNC as a shill and then hide behind the Gold Star of his fallen son is truly despicable. Shame on Khan, shame on Clinton and shame on the DNC for colluding to deceive the American people.

So what of the curious case of Caster? With a vagina but no womb or ovaries and undescended testicles (they normally descend into a boy’s scrotal sac during intrauterine development), CS could be an abnormally developed male. After all, CS certainly is in the male category in at least one respect: the runner is attracted to women and has a “wife.” And while knowing whether CS has an XY chromosome configuration would be instructive, political correctness prevents thorough examination of such matters; thus, a genetic test either hasn’t been conducted or its results haven’t been revealed. Then there’s the fashionable view that, as NY’s Daily News put it, “Caster Semenya…is a woman ...and a man”; or, as the activists may say, is “intersex.” But this admission alone should close the case: it’s “women’s sports,” not “women’s and people in-between’s sports.” Definitions define — and limit. And if having internal testes doesn’t disqualify you from women’s athletics, what does? 

Yet as abnormal as conditions such as CS’s are, they now won’t be so rare in Rio, where, says IAAF consultant Harper, there may be “an all-intersex podium in the 800 [meter].” “Women’s” sports?

And that’s the irony: in a sense, liberalism gave us women’s sports. Now liberalism is taking them away. 

Across the country college students will soon return to campus. Many will deservedly receive scholarships. Unfortunately not all scholarships are created equal—in fact, many scholarships are frequently funded unwittingly by one student to another student. It’s called tuition discounting. We sat down with higher education scholar Dr. P. Jesse Rine to learn more about tuition discounting and the consequences this practice has on students, debt, and higher education.