Dakota Beacon

What do readers want to read? Something different? A bit offbeat? Unusual and maybe ever so quirky? Over the years The Passing Scene published many varied topics of interest to a variety of readers.

Last week’s topic, Bitcoin, fit that pattern. Readers certainly have heard of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But how much do they really grasp? Or even want to know? The answer straddles a line between curiosity and no interest at all. Reducing the topic to everyday language might raise interest.

Bitcoin as a topic generated inquisitive comments that gave me the idea for a different approach to cryptocurrency, that is, factors that seldom get discussed.

What’s not to love?  Well, the problem with all of this is that had this been people’s mindset in 1776, we would be singing “God Save the King” today.  A general sense of morality is absolutely fundamental to any kind of free government by the people.  We have to be above this.

We live in fast moving and interesting times. Who would have thought a few decades ago that a challenge to the US dollar as a medium of exchange would arise? The advent of cryptocurrency has done just that. But not many folks grasp the idea of “electronic currency”. Come to think of it, what is the difference between a piece of paper on which is printed “One Dollar” backed by a verbal “promise to pay” and the idea of electrons standing for “one” of anything that people agree has value? As a neophyte in the world of cryptocurrency, what follows is what I have come to understand.

On or about 7:10 pm, Wednesday, September 17^th, a Minnesota mother and two of her children entered an otherwise empty theater and were ambushed by former comedians and assaulted for approximately ninety minutes.

Western civilization slowly slips away, and citizens barely perceive what is happening. It is not as if our civilization were stolen from under our noses but rather, citizens have failed to guard the ramparts.

Culture does not reject nihilism on impulse. Nihilism grows in a cultural Petri dish infecting one generation then another and eventually spanning a civilization. Meanwhile, we conceal from ourselves the unpleasant awareness of our culture decline.

Oswald Spengler wrote “The Decline of the West” in two volumes. Volume I was published in 1918 and volume II in 1922. This work became highly influential in early 20th-century philosophy presenting a cyclical theory of civilizations and arguing that Western civilization was in its final phase of decline.

The problem with electing a populist rather than a committed constitutionalist was illustrated this week with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s reaction to the fallout after the murder of Charlie Kirk.  

How big is “big?” How much is 100? 1,000? I cannot begin to visualize these numbers much less envision a million of anything!

Suppose a couple celebrates 18,262 days of married life. This is a big number, but we usually state it more conveniently as fifty years of marriage – a golden wedding anniversary.

Large numbers stated relative to a recognizable quantity help to clarify. In other words, compare a large number to some recognizable point of reference to aid in comprehension.

It echoed Churchill in a way - they will fight on the streets, the beaches, wherever they are, to protect their island.  One report says there are 110,000 free speech patriots and about 5,000 counter-protesters.

Autumn! My favorite time of year! In my own egocentric way, I can picture Autumn being created just for me! Crisp morning air, the aroma of burning grass and leaves, honking geese overhead -- all of this is a grand introduction to the Holiday season ahead. Stanzas excerpted from a few autumn poems will get you in the mood.

You might have seen a recent video of a young Scottish girl brandishing a knife and a hatchet to ward off a migrant man who had been harassing her and her younger sister. On the clip you can hear the fear in her voice as the man taunts them. “Don’t touch my little sister, she’s only twelve!”

Guess how the story ended? Police arrested the girl for possession of a bladed weapon. They did not detain or even investigate the migrant man.

This incident illustrates a breakdown of the legitimacy of British government. Read on.

George WIll proves once again that he is a vacuous, hopeless old neocon, one of those who have thrived on worldwide conflict and destruction.  He is a parasite, in other words.  He has always been a parasite, but for years under RINO administrations like that of the Bush dynasty, took cover under  the popular perception that these RINOs were better than the “other” party.  They weren’t, of course, only more dishonest.

So ends August, 2025.  It looks more like August, 793 or 1223.

A direct answer to a simple question – one of President Trump’s lawfare nemesis, of course.

Another question. Has the federal judiciary degenerated into an insolent “every judge for himself” scene? Absorbing the daily news, one would think so. From all appearances it’s every judge for himself as district courts and appeals courts serve up radically different verdicts. Decisions, reversals, stays, restraining orders, injunctions, freezes, thaws -- federal courts are in uproar as case after case fighting the Trump administration comes before them. Courts may be in turmoil, but for the most part, Trump continues to win the legal battles. A little research pays big dividends.

On TV news I watched protesters demonstrating against police reinforcements in Washington, DC. Are these people nuts?! Do they really want to keep the high crime rate in their city? Or are they out-of-town paid demonstrators creating political theater hired by Crowds on Demand, RentaCrowd, or CrowdHire? The George Soros Open Society Foundations and their ilk are known to fund such organizations.

Jargon describes the use of paid demonstrators. “Astroturfing” is the practice of creating the illusion of broad grassroots support by hiring people to take part in protests or campaigns. “Guerrilla Marketing” denotes unconventional tactics including staged events or flash mobs.

The Babylon Bee responded with tongue in cheek: “Police are trampling on the rights of hardworking carjackers and muggers. True freedom means never being arrested.”

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.