Dakota Beacon

For 100 years, parents’ right to determine the education of their children has been protected. But, it comes with a cost. Parents wishing to exercise this right have had to bear the significant financial burden of private school while their tax dollars funded public education. In this article, Dr. Jason Edwards looks at a pivotal event in the history of American public schools. Edwards writes, “The winds of change seem to be finally blowing as a sea change (particularly over the past five years) has taken place in America’s schools’ systems as parents have increasingly demanded choice—religious and otherwise—be not merely tolerated but publicly supported.”

What happened with summer? As if in a rearview mirror, Memorial Day and Independence Day recedes in memory while Summer’s passing accelerates toward autumn.

Summer passed so quickly. Northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere, summers are the same duration. But why does summer seem to pass so quickly? Maybe it’s the busyness we immerse ourselves in that distracts us. So much to do; so little time. Rush, rush, rush.

But within the season lies a perennial contradiction. It is easy to love summer for its warmth and breeze -- yet hate it for its heat and humidity. This, too, distracts us from the passage of time. In the blink of an eye, we soon exchange the heat for the cold.

A political conflagration accelerates when judicial gas is thrown on the fire. Everyone has heard of “lawfare”. And, if you know lawfare you will love the newest version -- “judicial insurrection.”

Lawfare derives from the attempts, through legal means, to thwart and deter the executive branch’s every action. Lawfare refers to the strategic use, or misuse, of legal systems to achieve political aims. More concisely, lawfare uses legal action to cause problems for an opponent. Throughout the two Trump campaigns and administrations lawfare epitomized the “weaponization” of law using investigations, lawsuits, and prosecutions to hobble Donald Trump’s efforts.

“A black man should be killed if he’s messin’ with a white woman.”

Now, ESPN's David Dennis Jr., who sparked great controversy by writing a quite condemnatory article about Hogan while the flamboyant star’s body was almost still warm, was clear on how he feels about the man. “When you are a racist that is your legacy above all else. It’s not complicated,” Dennis unequivocally stated.

I’m glad he said that, too, because, you see, the above-quoted line about killing a white-woman-messin’ black man wasn’t actually uttered by Hogan. No, that remark, which sounds as if it could’ve been disgorged by the murderers of 14-year-old Emmett Till, was instead made by someone else:

Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.

Ed Feulner was President of The Heritage Foundation from 1977 to 2013; and again from 2017 to 2018. From its humble beginning over 50 years ago, Heritage is now considered one of the most effective think tanks in the world. It came into existence through the friendship and cooperative spirit of Edwin J. Feulner, Jr., and Paul M. Weyrich. Paul Weyrich’s goal after attending that random meeting in 1968 had been accomplished.

Self-appointed health police may try to divorce me from my coffee. Fortunately for every coffee lover, new and serious medical research exonerates caffeine in the wake of the anti-caffeine uproar.

The “Journal of the American Medical Association,” “New England Journal of Medicine,” “American Journal of Epidemiology” and many other medical and nutritional publications dispel criticism of caffeine. From the United States and abroad beginning in the 1970s through today extensive research findings continue to report advantages of coffee that relegate attacks on caffeine to the dust bin of urban legends. Research shows coffee and caffeine are not risk factors for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, or stroke. Nor is caffeine a risk to women’s health including osteoporosis, breast disease, and reproductive health. Caffeine can help deter formation of gall stones, cirrhosis of the liver, and cancers in the digestive tract. Coffee has more antioxidants than green tea, is an excellent anti-depressant, and improves energy levels for both mental and physical activity.

It seems as if almost a third of our fellow citizens are afflicted with a self-worship mentality. A diverse arrangement of dis-functional “Values” that bear no resemblance to actual Virtue or Virtuousness.

A lack of belief in something larger than one’s self leaves these misfits with an overly inflated ego and a perverted sense of right and wrong that is an open invitation to either Marxism’s army of useful idiots (DEI, CRT) or a room with bed only in the Perversion Motel.

Why the kerfuffle over autopens? I could blithely pursue life with no awareness of such a device -- until the topic becomes front page news.

On second thought, maybe I could use something like an autopen – especially at Christmastime. Think of all the Christmas cards I could sign and mail! Hold on! Squash that idea. Postage would be exorbitant.

Being the inquisitive type, I started asking questions. One thing led to another and before I knew it, my research produced more information on the topic than I could have imagined. So, I’ll share with you the information overflow.

 This month marks 100 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial. The national media swarmed to a small town in Tennessee to cover the trial—in fact, it was the first American trial to be broadcast by radio. So, what happened during the 11 days in July 1925? Why was the winner of the case perhaps not a winner today? In this article, Dr. Jason Edwards examines the famous trial and the subsequent erosion on the American foundation of morality. He writes, “Though Bryan won the battle, he lost the war, as H.L. Mencken and hordes of media elite used the trial to savage the traditional beliefs of Americans.” 

Does culture influence the language? Or does language influence the culture? One could make the case that, barring ulterior motives by certain actors in society, the relationship between culture and language would be symbiotic, that is, one influences the other and visa versa. But some actors use language as a device to skew cultural outcomes.

“And that’s it on Epstein.”  And with that flourish and a flippant smirk, AG Pam Bondi thought she could dismiss one of the key motivators in the election of Donald Trump.

Ah, no.  That won’t do. 

“History” does not occur in a vacuum. Ideas have consequences and we cannot separate the ideas of the Founding Fathers from the thinking of Reformation Europe. Our Founders understood two kinds of government. External government pertained to civil government (civil control). Throughout history external governments such as monarchies, tyrannies, and dictatorships imposed the will of the few on the many. Rights were granted by government alone.

Internal government pertained to self-government (self-control). It flowed from within each person outward to the family and finally into the community. The idea of internal self-government stressed individual responsibility and self-discipline. Our Founders’ idea of limited civil government rested solidly on the assumption of internal self-government. So, rights were imbued by the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God – not by civil authority.

The fight for Islamic dominance over the past 1300 years has not gone well for Islam. Universal longing kept alive in the hope for a great leader, or caliph, continues in the attempt to avenge perceived historic wrongs. The longed-for resurrection of the glory of Islam can only be achieved in the defeat of Western dominance.

Iran must NOT have a nuclear weapon. Iran with a nuclear weapon threatens not only the US and Europe, but its Islamic (Sunni) neighbors as well. Take note. Other Arab countries may be silent for now. But on the inside, they are standing up and cheering Iran’s nuclear loss.

So the message is this: If Republicans want to win elections, ideological soundness is not enough (though it’s a prerequisite for governing). They also should choose candidates possessing that star quality, that special something, that charisma. If the person couldn’t conceivably carry a podcast, he perhaps can’t carry an election.

This said, I certainly wish the above weren’t so. I wish people would vote based on knowledge and wisdom and not fancies and fandom. But too many don’t. Consequently, nominating a candidate competent but as exciting as watching paint dry just won’t cut it.

Charisma is the one thing Trump, Mamdani and Cortez all have in common. Never underestimate such a person, either. Because in politics, charisma is king.

Transparently obvious to the public, progressives show little sense of humor when it comes to their pet issues. They simply cannot and will not tolerate criticism. Progressives go berserk under the barbs of satire. How dare anyone mock their cherished ideological treasures! Their sacred gems range from climate change to animal rights to DEI to government giveaways and much more.

Enter -- the Babylon Bee (https://babylonbee.com/), a conservative Christian satire website publishing “news” articles on contemporary topics including politics, public figures, and current events. It has been referred to as the conservative version of the left-of-center The Onion (https://www.theonion.com/).

Invaders inevitably seek to change the nature of the place they invade rather than assimilate. The growing Roman empire did so in lands they conquered. When the Romans dominated new people, those people fought and lost. But at least they had enough pride in their culture to fight for it.

Today, across the West in general and the US in particular, millions of invaders from alien cultures have been welcomed with open arms. Segments of the US population labor under the misconception that welcoming these invaders with free amenities of Western life will somehow earn their respect and they will assimilate. Like a Fifth Column, those segments have provoked opposition calling their pro-illegal alien disturbances a “protest.” This violates all common sense.

Meanwhile, Washington fiddles while US cities burn.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, kicking off Pride Month in Washington, D.C., proclaimed the US capital to be the “gayest city in the world.” She made that announcement two years ago. Yet again this year she threw down the gauntlet. “I am proud to be the mayor of the…gayest city in the world.” Other cities since accepted that challenge.

Pride marches across the country began as early as May 18 this year. Turning Point USA reported on West Hollywood’s Pride Weekend where public indecency during the June 1 parade reached shocking levels.

Trump told Putin that he had no idea about the drone strike deep into Russian territory, nor about the railway strike.  This only makes him look weak or a liar.  If he did not know, if U.S. intelligence was employed without his knowledge and these attacks then carried out without his knowledge or permission, then he merely looks weak and irrelevant.  Either that or he is lying, in which case the American government and Trump himself are implicated in making war by stealth (for which we severely punished Japan back in WWII) without so much as announcing it.  At this point, Trump looks like a complete loser.

Citizens in every city in the United States will march at 10:00 AM local time on Saturday June 14, 2025 (Flag Day) from their local City Hall to their nearest public grade school and back… in protest of “Passing On” the $37 Trillion (and growing) national debt to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on. Your local organizing committee will consist of the first (up to one dozen) concerned citizens to arrive at your local City Hall at 10:00 AM local time on June 7^th, 2025.

Aroused by the same sense of curiosity, my latest acquisition, “The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous” by Joseph Henrich, promises to further whet my appetite. For starters, WEIRD people include a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, i.e., WEIRD. In the eyes of the progressive left, such people lend themselves to slurs and branding as “racist” or “bigoted” or “homophobic.” More accurately, they are psychologically peculiar in a non-threatening way. Anthropologist Henrich chairs the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University (yes, THAT Harvard) where his research focuses on evolutionary approaches to psychology, decision-making, and culture.

Racist: a word whose meaning morphed lately from legitimate to dishonest. Overused, misused, and abused, it no longer enjoys veracity. What if one person calls another a racist? Who’s to say they are -- or are not? Who cares? The word lost its potency long ago. Stupidly, race mongers now see Caucasians as automatically racist by virtue of their DNA! Enough!

Ponder this traditional definition of racism. Racism is hatred and animus held by an individual against a race different from their own. A Black can hate Caucasians. A Caucasian can hate Blacks. An Oriental can hate Latinos. And so on. It is that simple.

Knock it off! Enough already!

This past legislative session was business as usual. The North Dakota Legislature decided to take a position of status quo.

There was little change in the way legislators approached spending and the scaling back of state government.

It is apparent Republican leaders in the state don’t understand the Trump phenomena. His election numbers in North Dakota are historic. They all say they support the cuts in Washington, but in North Dakota it’s time to expand. We saw an increase in spending of a billion dollars.

I had to go to show my respect. I felt compelled to watch the motorcade escort this warrior to his true and final resting place. Glenn Herbert Hodak, U.S. Army Air Forces Corporal, of Cambridge Springs, PA, came home this week. As the motorcade passed by me, I was filled with both emotion and overwhelming gratitude. My dad, a Seabee Construction Battalion Navy man, served in Guam in WWII, as did Cpl. Hodak. My dad came back home to his family; Corporal Hodak did not, until now.

Corporal Hodak’s military service exemplifies the sacrifice experienced in the horrific happenings of war.

I wanted to re-visit the book because I wanted to peek inside Trump's head. In this case, his “head” at the time he wrote this book was the “Trump of 1987.” He was 41 years old at that time. Since then, 38 years have passed, and he has honed his skills. Among other things, Trump is known for his speed and decisiveness. He is not a shallow man, and he deserves respect.

Each of us negotiates every day, in one way or another. “I’ll pick up the kids from school if you’ll pick up some groceries.” “Okay, we’ll go to the beach this time if we go to the mountains next time.” Everyone benefits from learning a bit about negotiating, especially from an expert. Trump has written a fascinating insight into the life and success of a multi-billionaire. He gives every sign that he will use skill and ability – “The Art of the Deal” -- to go down in history as an extraordinary President.

…about transgenders being removed from the military?…about transgender bathrooms in schools…about taxes?…about pharmaceutical company advertising?…about “work for welfare”…about district judges handing down decisions applied to those beyond their district…about the $36.9 Trillion US National Debt…about non-citizens in the US through legal temporary permission…about the Alien Enemies Act

One wonders about the mental wellness of a more-or-less respected “political analyst”(here meaning out-right liar), Rick Stengel, who would comment on MSNBC that “only a few” Boers have been killed so far.

A select number of federal district judges have overextended themselves by intruding into areas of presidential authority. Their nationwide orders, or injunctions, toyed unacceptably with our legal system. The term “select” is consistent with “judge shopping,” the allocation of major cases to rogue federal district judges predisposed to blocking President Trump’s policies.

The American people are neither legal experts -- nor are they stupid. They see with eyes wide open. What corrupt progressive judges are doing now to block presidential authority they rehearsed using similar challenges hiding election fraud in recent years. Making up legal reasoning to justify judicial activism with “legalese” mumbo jumbo resulted in “legislating from the bench.” Whatever became of constitutional separation of powers?

Pray for two things: That our beloved Pope Francis experiences a holy and happy death and is welcomed into the Beatific Vision. And pray for the coming of a Trumpian pope.

By curtailing technology theft using high tariffs, the US will certainly restore her upper hand. This, in turn, will rapidly foster the reconstitution of the US’s economic and industrial base while reducing the irksome problem of technological theft.

Yes, the US will bear some temporary discomfort while correcting decades of dalliance. On the other hand, if the US does not use tariffs to her advantage, then, to coin a phrase, “America will continue to feed China until the dragon has grown past the point of taming or slaying.”

Take note of the number “2.1.” That is the fertility rate of live births per woman needed to sustain any nation’s stable population – no growth, no decline, just even. For many developed nations this number became critical decades ago and these nations are ageing fast.

More than a jest, the US has already reached this breakeven point. Other nations have fallen seriously below the number that would otherwise sustain them: US 1.62; Canada 1.48; Europe overall, 1.38; Japan, 1.32; Germany 1.25; Russia, 1.14; and South Korea, which has fallen below 1.0.

Demographers note a correlation between a deterioration in the post-Christian era’s values and a drop in the birthrate in Western civilization. The Apostle Paul spoke of faith, hope, and love as Christian virtues that must endure. Where these qualities have declined in the face of a more secular society, so has the birth rate.