Betty Olson 'too dumb to be offended'

Tornado(e)s, tribal relations, Kristie Fiegen's drain circling, the Confederate flag, politically correct stupid jokes: it's all in batty Betty Olson's installment of the Grand River Roundup.

The Washington Redskins are fighting to save the Redskin name and the University of North Dakota was forced to drop its athletic logo The Fighting Sioux because both terms were considered offensive to Native Americans, although no one has tried to remove the nickname “The Fighting Irish” from the University of Notre Dame. With my large dose of Irish blood, I’ve always taken that as a compliment, but I guess I’m too dumb to be offended.

Read it here.

Olson, a GOP state legislator who calls human influence on climate "mythical," defends the Bundyists in Nevada. Writing in the Black Hills Pioneer she says:

The federal government shouldn’t be allowed to own any land within a state’s boundaries unless it is granted permission by the legislature of that state, and so far, no state has given that permission to the federal government.

There are eight grazing allotments on the Northern Hills district that can no longer support livestock.

Cliven Bundy believes “the Negro” was better off under slavery -- something Betty supports wholeheartedly.

As a member of the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council Ms. Olson is toeing the line for her benefactors and for the radical right wing of her political party.

Trump: “the Hispanics love me.” In great tradition of Cliven Bundy, “let me tell you one thing about the Negro.” http://t.co/yNodjsilTB

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) July 16, 2015

Kroger named civil rights warrior

A brave South Dakotan is attending the Kurtz family reunion in Brookings County. Susan Kroger has been named executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota. Yes, we follow each other on twitter.

Much to my surprise there are several Democrats among the 35 grandkids of Gus and Iva Kurtz. Even more of the great-grandkids have abandoned the party of Janklow.

Cory Heidelberger's name even came up.

In a surprise to no one South Dakota hates women's rights the most. It's a gulag where women seeking certain medical procedures face higher hurtles than in any other state.

The state does not require insurers to cover infertility treatments, nor does it mandate sex education in schools. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research says those reasons and more are why it considers South Dakota the worst state in the nation for reproductive rights, according to a recently released ranking. Included in the organization’s analysis was South Dakota’s decision not to adopt the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which would have increased the number of women eligible to receive family-planning services.

Read it here.

During the 2015 session Tea teabagger, Isaac Latterell introduced legislation that would endanger the lives of women with ectopic pregnancies.

Nutcase quack legislator, Fred Deutsch wants to end civil rights protection for all women of South Dakota.

Rich women have full reproductive freedom while women at middle and lower income levels experience chilling effects on their rights. South Dakota's repeated attempts to restrict access to medical care is not only mean-spirited, it's discriminatory anti-choice extremism.

SD ranked 51st and receives an F in reproductive rights. Check out other state rankings here:http://t.co/eDxTFkqMXW

— NARAL Pro-Choice SD (@NARALSD) July 23, 2015

Study: bug kill doesn't increase wildfire chances; bighorns ready to kill bikers

The southern Black Hills are greener and vistas more spectacular after the mountain pine beetle opened view sheds and increased water supplies. Wind Cave National Park is greenest in its history after a prescribed burn took even more invasive grasses than was planned.

However, after the 2012 White Draw Fire cheatgrass under pine between Hot Springs and Pringle looks like hell and appears ready to erupt in flames at any second.

But, researchers are saying insect activity doesn't make wildfire potential more likely at least in the Pacific Northwest where fires and bugs have been clearing overgrowth.

Although there is acute concern that insect-caused tree mortality increases the likelihood or severity of subsequent wildfire, previous studies have been mixed, with findings typically based on stand-scale simulations or individual events.

Read more here.

From Custer-based Wildfire Today:

These results are consistent with other studies that have investigated the likelihood of fire across the West. For example, a 2015 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by University of Colorado scientists found that despite extensive outbreaks of mountain pine beetles in the Rockies and the Cascades, fires in recent years were no more likely to occur in beetle-killed forests than in forests not affected by the insects. [Wildfire Today]

As South Dakota's wildlife management bureaupublicans release disease-prone bighorn sheep onto federal lands, ostensibly to knock down a cheatgrass infestation created by the failure of Black Hills forest policy, the GOP-owned agency wants to kill more mountain goats.

“By our estimates (the population) was well below 100 animals,” said John Kanta, regional wildlife manager for the GF&P. “We were down around 60-70 mountain goats just prior to closing the [2007] season.” The cause of population decline was and remains largely unknown; however, there are some suspected causes. The first comes from a loss of habitat. “Up until we transplanted goats from Colorado, our goats came from six that came from Alberta, Canada in the early 1920s,” he said. “They escaped a zoo-type facility in Custer State Park, so all the goats we had originated from those six.

Bighorn sheep seem to doing well in the 2002 Grizzly Gulch burn near Deadwood. The animals are proliferating and waiting to jump in front of a million drunken bikers set to attend the Sturgis Rally.

Kanta said that in 2007 the rapid increase in pine beetle infestation killed thousands of acres of trees leading to a more open canopy and better habitat for the animals. The GF&P Commission’s proposal calls for two hunting licenses to be issued and areas would include the portions of Pennington and Custer counties west of Highway 79; excluding Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Jewel Cave National Monument and the fenced portions of Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park. [Mark Watson]

Let's see: beetles bad but beetles good. Got it.

The reasoning is hardly mysterious: it's all about the money hunting and logging funnel into a region smothering under single-party rule.

Climate no concern for GOP SDPUC

Greetings from He Sapa!

Though tribes and other opponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline have been granted intervenor status in a series of hearings before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), several tribal and climate-expert witnesses were excluded on July 22 from testifying at the evidentiary hearings that begin next week. Among them: Renowned climate scientist James Hansen, lead author in a new study claiming that temperature-increase targets of two degrees Celsius are too high to avoid climate catastrophe. This is the latest dismissal of tribal interests by the PUC. Last month, and also in May, the utilities commission turned down requests from four tribes and other Keystone XL opponents to testify on the grounds that their concerns did not relate directly to the conditions outlined in the permit.

Read it all here.

Kristie Fiegen's health is not the only problem with her tenure on South Dakota's public utilities cartel.

PUC Commissioner Kristie Fiegen cited a conflict of interest in the matter because her extended family owns land in Spink County where the pipeline is proposed. In her place, Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed State Treasurer Rich Sattgast to be an acting commissioner in the matter. [Dickinson Press]

South Dakotans are concerned that out of state pipeline companies are abandoning environmental protection for profits.

Republicans are evil.

Petition: urge Gettysburg cops to remove racist badges

To: The Chief of Police, Bill Wainman, the Mayor, Bill Wuttke, and the City Council of Gettysburg, South Dakota. We demand that you remove the Confederate Flag from your police badges and police vehicles.

Read and sign here.

KENT: Civil War finally comes to an end.

The Potter County city of Gettysburg will not be removing the Confederate Flag from patches of the police department. ["...Without the war, and without the Battle of Gettysburg, we would not be the same City that we are. The Chief of Police, Bill Wainman, the Mayor, Bill Wuttke, and the City Council have no intentions of changing the police patch."]

Read that here.

Jim Kent has an outline of Gettysburg's history linked here.

Reading comments under some of the Rapid City Journal's articles can be horrifying and cringeworthy. Such is the case under one of Kent's most recent columns.

There “may” be some tensions between Native Americans and white folks. Still, at least we’re not fighting over the Confederate flag. The only symbol on the table here is the proposed re-designation of Harney Peak to Hinhan Kaga — with one of two primary objections from state legislators being that the new name would be too hard to pronounce. Guess that leaves racism conveniently out of our lexicon. [KENT: Racism beat drives on across country]

The Journal has censored Kent, also a free-lance producer for South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Expect many more symbols of white supremacy at the Sturgis Rally.

"Custer never was that fine a person." The West, like Dixie, has its own icons of racism http://t.co/UmBGLNc8T8 via @ABQJournal

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) July 20, 2015

Xcel slow-walking solar promise

Xcel Energy uses South Dakota as a tax shelter and is responsible for part of the methane bubble over the Four Corners area. The firm is deflecting charges of intentionally delaying the hookup of a solar generating station for a Minnesota company.

The connection will allow Louis Industries to feed electricity back to Xcel, such as when the factory isn’t running on weekends and holidays. Solar advocates have long accused the utility industry of resisting customer-generated solar power with fees, restrictive policies and delays. But Xcel insists that’s not what has happened with the solar array in Paynesville, a community 85 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. [Star-Tribune]

Sioux Falls-based Xcel Energy just enjoyed a 4 percent rate hike from the South Dakota Public Utility Cartel (SDPUC) but reduced its request in Colorado.

The latest Xcel Energy data show cannabis grow facilities statewide, the bulk in Denver, used as much as 200 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2014, utility officials said. City officials said 354 grow facilities in Denver used about 121 million kwh in 2013, up from 86 million kwh at 351 facilities in 2012. Lighting companies are working with pot companies to test the potential for LED lamps to reduce electricity use without hurting plants, Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said. Xcel is advising companies on how much electricity different lights use, he said. [The Cannabist]

In 2014, Xcel gave $10,000 to Mike Rounds, $2,500 to John Thune and $4,250 to Kristi Noem.

Why are Xcel and other utilities based in South Dakota? No taxes, a compliant regulator and cheap labor.

Now we know why South Dakota's GOP congressional delegation wants cheap dirty coal.

Quack Deutsch pledges to end civil rights for women

It'd be scary if it weren't so Stoogesque, Marxistic or Mouseketeerian.

Several SDGOP legislators, including quack, Fred Deutsch, are learning from delegates that a state income tax is the best way to fund education in a state last among neighboring states in teachers' salaries.

RT @FredDeutsch WI 15th state to ban abortions after 20 weeks. I will bring legislation for SD to become the 16th. #sdleg

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) July 21, 2015

Fred Deutsch: "I asked to serve on the task force – I bring a background of serving on school board – but my request wasn’t granted." Fred is a sectarian who just attended an anti-civil rights conference featuring one of the Duck Dynasty philosophers.

The nut wing of SDGOP is denying the Anthropocene, the American Genocide, and the legacy of slavery while losers scramble to cover up the crimes being committed against South Dakota's workforce.

South Dakota deserves the legislature it suffers.

Rich women have full reproductive freedom while women at middle and lower income levels experience chilling effects on their rights. South Dakota's repeated attempts to restrict access to medical care is not only mean-spirited, it's discriminatory anti-choice extremism.

Weiland to speak with Fall River Dems

As Mike Rounds scrambles to pay off campaign debts to Larry Pressler, Annette Bosworth and others South Dakota Democrats are regrouping.

The Fall River Democrats will gather for their monthly potluck and meeting at the home of Catherine Radcliff in Hot Springs, at 5:30 p.m., on Tuesday, July 28. The event will feature special guest Rick Weiland, the 2014 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate seat. [Hot Springs Star]

Pressler was recruited for the 2014 US Senate race by Republican strategists to run as a liberal siphoning resources and votes from Democrat Weiland.

South Dakota's senior senator, ethically compromised Republican John Thune, is considered vulnerable to defeat in 2016. Thune is South Dakota's Bob Menendez.

Fleming done with South Dakota Democratic Party

Pull numbers out of your rectum and distribute them to fellow inmates at your own peril.

I’ve given up on the Democratic Party in South Dakota, Larry. It has become (at least for now) irrelevant and in my opinion counter-productive. [comment, Bill Fleming]

Whatever perceived evils surrounding cannabis already exist and continuing to reward a black market is neither conservative nor sustainable. Unrestrained capitalism has killed millions during the war on drugs with zero results: self-reliance or moral hazard?

But go to SDDP's website, Facebook page and twitter feed and see evidence of a lack of leadership, even lifelessness.

This blog is with Bill: if the South Dakota Democratic Party is too gutless to embrace legal cannabis enlist South Dakota Progress to lead.

The South Dakota Democratic Party has twelve hours to show signs of life or this forum will reject its agenda and support the Libertarian Party's efforts through the 2016 election.

A New Hope: 3 Reasons Why Decriminalizing Cannabis Will Help Fight the Encroaching Police State http://t.co/97HSmBWtt3 via @FreeTheDakotaz

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) July 18, 2015

Gender dysphoria linked to environmental contaminants

I am not convinced that a person's sexual preference is determined at conception or at birth. I have lived with or near more LGBTQ people than many have and every story is different: from hatred of a parent to exposure to hormone-producing environmental contaminants and lack of circumcision. Women bullied or abused by men for most of their lives or men growing up with a cold or absent father have been reasons given for personal choices.

I began life left-handed but my father switched me because of his experience the military is geared for the right-handed and although I've never had sexual contact with another man in 61 years and a day there was a time when androgyny seemed right for me.

No serious discussion of issues associated with gender identity can be undertaken without the studying the effects of phthalates and other plasticizers on human genetics.

And there are a great many chemicals to which such women may be exposed environmentally with the potential to affect thyroid hormones, among them PBDEs, PCBs, BPA, various pesticides, perfluorinated compounds and certain phthalates. [What are we doing to our children's brains?]

Packaging, packaging, packaging! Phthalate-laden bottled water alone makes up 1.5 million tons of plastic each year.

This blog has been chronicling gender bending chemicals in the environment from its beginning.

Here are twenty ways to just say no to plastic.

Noem: tackle diabetes but promote less healthy food

South Dakota's junk food-addicted GOP blogger is touting Rep. Kristi Noem's political fight against diabetes.

77 percent of foods purchased by US schools are purchased from distributors like Sysco or Reinhart and only 11 percent come from local sources. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are served by some schools but not in South Dakota.

According to USDA’s Farm to School Census, 36 percent of the U.S. public school districts that completed the questionnaire reported serving at least some locally produced foods in school lunches or breakfasts during school years 2011-12 or 2012-13. While fruits and vegetables topped the list of local foods served in schools in 2011-12, 45 percent of the school districts that used local foods reported serving locally produced milk, and 27 percent reported serving locally produced baked goods. [United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service]

South Dakota's GOP At-large US Representative wants even more business to go to corporate sources developing genetically engineered sugar beets.

Marshall, Minnesota-based pizza peddler Schwan's gives Republicans including South Dakota's At-large Representative Kristi Noem campaign cash. So do other industrial ag companies like Crystal Sugar selling salted fat to schools. Now she is paying them back.

Rep. Kristi Noem on Tuesday announced plans for legislation that reduces federal mandates on school meal standards, including the more stringent whole grain requirements that went into effect in July 2014 and the Target 2 sodium requirements set to be implemented in the coming years. [Mitchell Daily Republic]

Mother Jones tells readers why:

But opponents of the act argue that the requirements leave students with unappetizing choices that result in tons of waste. This notion was supported in a spring 2014 report from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found that nearly 75 percent of vegetables and 40 percent of fruit being served in school cafeterias were ending up in trash cans. But critics have pointed out that helping "struggling schools" is not the sole agenda of the SNA—its sponsors include Domino's Pizza, General Mills Foodservice, PepsiCo Foodservice, and Tyson Foods, Inc.—all of whom contract with school cafeterias and would benefit from less stringent nutritional regulations. [Allie Gross]

Most South Dakota schools could be feeding food waste to chickens and hogs maybe composting for community gardens. Hot Springs, Philip and Midland enjoy geothermal water to heat greenhouses.

Progress has been made under current school lunch rules but as industrial agriculture lines Republican pockets South Dakota's children will continue to suffer from elevated risks to obesity.

Tax junk food and slow diabetes.

Rainbow Gathering small but colorful

Update, 19 July, 0652 MDT: the Rapid City Journal editorial board must read this blog:

While concerns that the Rainbow Family would trash their Black Hills campsite led to law enforcement putting a magnifying glass on their gathering, significant damage was occurring on remote trails and roads. [OURS: Damage to forest roads a problem for all]

............

A visitor to the Black Hills during the annual Gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light has posted images and commentary from the event.

In addition to creation stories, we had a number of workshops after dinner, some of which including information sessions on Leonard Peltier, conversations on how to further a Rainbow-Lakota alliance, stopping the Keystone Pipeline, and much more. Chase Ironeyes [sic], a treaty council member, led some of these and he was joined by some of the young tocala warriors.

Read it here.

While visitors from outside South Dakota left their site pristine locals continue to trash the place.

Spearfish hatchery destined for local control

South Dakota's Republican congressional delegation has been obstructing attempts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to streamline the agency weaning support from a hatchery known for introducing invasive species in Black Hills watersheds and into the waters of the United States.

Congress has since passed a bill protecting the DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery – but the facility's future is still in doubt. But, the Booth Society, an advocacy group for the hatchery, says part of the Fish and Wildlife Service has plans to shut down the operation and has already cut the staff from six federal employees down to one. We reached out to the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Denver Office to see if they have plans to shut down the hatchery, but there was no response. [KEVN teevee]

Trout are not native to South Dakota yet the state's sitting At-large US Representative is staking her seat on infesting the waters of the United States.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service should block releases of these fish into any part of the system.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced a project meant to eliminate the non-native brook trout population in a stream near Yellowstone National Park and restore native Yellowstone cutthroats.

In the past decade, crews from the NPS (along with workers from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S Forest Service and Turner Enterprises) have been striving in partnership to create a secure refuge in the Grayling Creek watershed: 35 miles of stream habitat. The brunt of the work involved removing nonnative trout populations—brown and rainbow trout—from the area. [Yellowstone Insider]

Native fish like pallid sturgeon are in danger of extirpation in the dam-choked Missouri River.

Daugaard lawyer twitter account hacked

You'd think a former JAG and counsel to a "great statesman" would catch this stuff:

Doctors reveal a rapid weight loss secret: ✓Flat stomach ✓Toned thighs ✓Tight waist ↑, 👉 http://t.co/F7aJN5PoNC 👈

— Jim D. Seward (@jimdseward) July 17, 2015

Marion's Gardens in Fort Pierre held a contest of lights and cash prizes awarded in various categories:

*** Brightest: First Place, Jim Seward residence.

Seward the brightest bulb in the Reichstag chandelier? Probably not.

Rounds minion believes no insurance better than ObamaCare

Hard to imagine a stupider response than John Thune's dysfunctional ObamaCare tweets but one Republican is trying.

A spokesperson for South Dakota's junior senator is tweeting that Mike Rounds thinks no insurance is better than affordable medical care.

Today in #ObamacareFails: Exchanges have, on average, 34% fewer hospitals and doctors in their networks. http://t.co/8KBlh6ayiI #LessChoice

— Natalie Krings (@kringsnatalie) July 17, 2015

South Dakota's governor is a liar, too.

"Thirty-four states, including South Dakota, have chosen to participate in the federal exchange," Dennis Daugaard said in an op/ed in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

No, Denny: you chose to be the death panel, not South Dakota.

South Dakota:

Number of People Losing Tax Credits 51,000
Total Value of Tax Credits & Cost Sharing Reductions
Lost (Millions $) 147.1
Increase in the Number of People Uninsured 42,000

I swear.

Daugaard is defending his decision to appoint Republicans, a move resembling expecting hogs to plant gardens, to an education task force.

Meanwhile, another governor in a red state embraces ObamaCare.

Access to health insurance is abt to improve for Alaskans w/Medicaid Expansion http://t.co/nWOxumvHLo There's hope yet to #closethegap in SD

— Zach Crago (@zachcrago) July 16, 2015

Study: tax sugary drinks, junk food

Autism is caused by faulty gut/brain connections even in nanny states like South Dakota. Genetically engineered sugar beet seed contributes to the spectrum disorder in kids.

A new study published in Social Science & Medicine suggests that taxation that depends on the number of calories or amount of sugar per liter may be the best approach and could even encourage manufacturers to produce and promote healthier alternatives. Last year, Mexico became the first country to implement a nationwide sugar-sweetened drink tax when it introduced a tax of one peso (around $0.07) per liter – about 10 percent of the price. As well as being a possible approach for sugar-sweetened drinks, this dose approach to taxation could also be effective at controlling unhealthy food consumption, and even fuel consumption.

Read it here.

77 percent of foods purchased by US schools are purchased from distributors like Sysco or Reinhart and only 11 percent come from local sources. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are served by some schools but not in South Dakota.

According to USDA’s Farm to School Census, 36 percent of the U.S. public school districts that completed the questionnaire reported serving at least some locally produced foods in school lunches or breakfasts during school years 2011-12 or 2012-13. While fruits and vegetables topped the list of local foods served in schools in 2011-12, 45 percent of the school districts that used local foods reported serving locally produced milk, and 27 percent reported serving locally produced baked goods. [United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service]

South Dakota's GOP At-large US Representative wants even more business to go to corporate sources.

Marshall, Minnesota-based pizza peddler Schwan's gives Republicans including South Dakota's At-large Representative Kristi Noem campaign cash. So do other industrial ag companies like Crystal Sugar selling salted fat to schools. Now she is paying them back.

Rep. Kristi Noem on Tuesday announced plans for legislation that reduces federal mandates on school meal standards, including the more stringent whole grain requirements that went into effect in July 2014 and the Target 2 sodium requirements set to be implemented in the coming years. [Mitchell Daily Republic]

Mother Jones tells readers why:

But opponents of the act argue that the requirements leave students with unappetizing choices that result in tons of waste. This notion was supported in a spring 2014 report from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found that nearly 75 percent of vegetables and 40 percent of fruit being served in school cafeterias were ending up in trash cans. But critics have pointed out that helping "struggling schools" is not the sole agenda of the SNA—its sponsors include Domino's Pizza, General Mills Foodservice, PepsiCo Foodservice, and Tyson Foods, Inc.—all of whom contract with school cafeterias and would benefit from less stringent nutritional regulations. [Allie Gross]

Most South Dakota schools could be feeding food waste to chickens and hogs maybe composting for community gardens. Hot Springs, Philip and Midland enjoy geothermal water to heat greenhouses.

Progress has been made under current school lunch rules but as industrial agriculture lines Republican pockets South Dakota's children will continue to suffer from elevated risks to obesity.

Boehner calls for criminal justice reform; legal cannabis destined for Congress

As the spit-slinging from Brookings slimes South Dakota's blog space Speaker of the nutcase GOP House sees the handwriting on the bong.

During a weekly news briefing on July 16, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said there are people in U.S. prisons for "flimsy reasons," and voiced support for recommendations from the House Judiciary Committee. [AP]

President Obama's bold move to use executive clemency to send a strong signal to Congress comes as cannabis moves to the front of the docket.

In the Senate, Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are leading an effort for a broader medical marijuana bill that would help make the drug available for a range of conditions, including cancer, glaucoma and for children via the CBD extract. Their legislation would block the federal government from halting state medical marijuana laws; permit doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs to prescribe the drug to military veterans; allow banks to do business with medical marijuana dispensaries and let states import the CBD oils for treatments. The senators also want to change how marijuana is classified under the Controlled Substances Act – moving it from the most restrictive Schedule 1 category that limits its use for research and defines it as having no accepted medical benefits into the Schedule 2 category that comes with fewer requirements before it can be studied. [POLITICO]

South Dakota's Legislative Research Council estimates there would be 3,174 fewer convictions annually and a reduction of prison and jail costs totaling $731,742 each year if voters adopt an initiated measure aimed at reforming the state's medieval cannabis laws.

Drive down nearly any other road in Moody, Minnehaha, Union or Lincoln Counties and you can see the volunteer cannabis growing wild in the ditches and pastures: remnants of South Dakota's history. In 1970 we picked it, dried it, rolled it and, during the Vietnam nightly news reality show, we dreamed about the future.

Now the chickens come home unloosed.

The situation continues to evolve day to day, which has people wondering what comes next.

Read it here.

We could eliminate tuition at every public college and university in America with the $80 billion we spend each year on incarcerations.

— President Obama (@POTUS) July 14, 2015

If you support the end of cannabis prohibition, please SHOW UP at our annual mtg this Sat, 7/18/15. @MNNORML #Freedom pic.twitter.com/hRVkAWSSOP

— Marcus H. Harcus (@MarcusHarcusUSA) July 16, 2015

Iran deal will bring back $2 gas if Bibi doesn't bomb Tehran

No Middle East leader is more unstable than Benjamin Netanyahu and there is no greater state sponsor of terrorism than Israel.

"Once we get past Labor Day, we should see gas falling by 10 to 15 cents a month," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service. "By December a lot of places are going to see gasoline at $2 or less." Iran could add as much as 500,000 barrels of oil per day to worldwide markets by the end of this year, according to experts at a recent Credit Suisse conference on Iranian sanctions and oil.

Read that here.

It's no secret that this interested party would like to see Israel rolled back to 1947 borders then moved to Utah.

Netanyahu is now waging a losing battle. The Americans will not walk away from the agreement, because then the partnership of the six great powers will disintegrate, and there can be no agreement in the UN Security Council to reimpose sanctions against Iran. [Haaretz]

Before this historic achievement President Obama took his case to enter a pact with Iran directly to an American Jewish audience.

The president's remarks come during a period of deep tension in an already prickly relationship with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly over Obama's bid to strike a nuclear deal with Iran. Obama's appearance coincided with Solidarity Shabbat, devoted to showing unity by political leaders in Europe and North America against anti-Semitism. [Associated Press]

How We Know AIPAC Wrote The GOP's "Treason" Letter To Iran

According to CBS on whether there are enough votes to override an Israel a Republican bill to block President Obama's Iran initiative U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he intends to go through the agreement “with a fine-tooth comb."

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is the Benjamin Franklin of our time.

The world will know if Iran tries to build a nuclear bomb. Hiding that activity isn't like washing dishes→ http://t.co/iqlHZ366Ys #IranDeal

— Ernest Moniz (@ErnestMoniz) July 16, 2015

Netanyahu threatens to 'kill himself' in order to stop Iran deal http://t.co/p2Fj5b5SYI

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 16, 2015

I keep seeing a lot of assertions saying Iran now has a path to build a bomb without saying precisely how they would go about doing it.

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 14, 2015

Kulturkampf: former Rapid City cleric praises sacking of married Lesbian

Charlie Chaput is one Roman Catholic archbishop leading the assault on the White House. He is a short guy (not to mention a Two-Spirit of the first order) who entered seminary to dodge the draft, avoided service in Vietnam, and served as bishop of Rapid City from 1988 to 1997.

Margie Winters had taught at Waldron Mercy Academy for eight years. She was fired from the Catholic private elementary school in Merion Station after a parent wrote a letter complaining about her marriage to Andrea Vittori. Chaput told the National Catholic Register in 2013 that members of “the right wing of the church” have generally “not been really happy about” about Pope Francis.

Read it here.

Chaput is a professed Capuchin and has a reputation as an outspoken conservative. A member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe, he is the second Native American to be ordained a bishop in the United States, and the first Native American archbishop.

Bill Blankenship of The Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal:

Chaput didn’t grow up in the Potawatomi culture, but he told The Topeka Capital-Journal in 1998 when it named him a Kansan of Distinction that in the Diocese of Rapid City where more than 40 percent of Catholics are American Indians, he discovered his own native roots.

Being six feet under makes Chaput a crusader for kulturkampf and an unlikely defender of marriage equality.

Today @NNNnativenews Two Spirit discussion held #UNITYDC2015 @LayhaS http://t.co/ZusIur9bCU pic.twitter.com/5l4JOKCJM6

— Antonia Gonzales (@antoniajen14) July 16, 2015

Cannabis effective for autistic kids, PTSD but not in South Dakota

Exposure to genetically engineered organisms is believed to be a vector for the development of autism in afflicted foetuses but while some parents of autistic kids want politics to treat symptoms, some want results.

“Let’s say a new patient is an 11-year-old boy, weighs 75 pounds and suffers with severe non-verbal autism. The ACT Now software allows us to track patient-driven data in a HIPAA-compliant, cloud-based platform, so the physician or consultant can compare cannabinoid sequencing charts from a global database of matching patient conditions. “To make the medicine available to a wider population, we needed to take the project out of Colorado, because we couldn’t transport medication across state lines. That’s why we’re here in Ukiah,” says Chad Ruby, COO of United Cannabis. [Ukiah Daily Journal]

But in South Dakota quibbling over whom is qualified to treat patients is overrunning the discussion.

A task force spawned by a bill from the 2015 legislative session that mandates certain insurance plans cover a costly but effective treatment for children with autism is meeting in Pierre. The new law requires certain insurance plans to pay for applied behavior analysis therapy. [KSFY teevee]

In Republican households feeding junk food to kids alters the gut-brain connection: a leading cause of autism.

We won’t know for a while whether South Dakota voters will face a ballot measure that would change the criminal penalties for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia. The LRC estimated there would be 3,174 fewer convictions annually, with an estimated reduction of prison and jail costs totaling $731,742 each year. [Bob Mercer]

Governments don't create autistic kids, Republicans and parents exposed to environmental contaminants do.

#MountRushmoreState: Could #DecriminalizedMarijuana be the new reality for South Dakota. https://t.co/jEerXxbuS5 pic.twitter.com/YoiOc4M0df

— Monterey Bud (@MontereyBud) July 13, 2015

Evans: "It is our brothers and sisters who are committing suicide every day out there, and we know cannabis can help." Crowd applauds

— Kristen Wyatt (@APkristenwyatt) July 15, 2015

Trahant: Daines/Noem bill just another dig at ObamaCare

Mark Trahant believes as this blog does and federal agencies do that tribes are already the 51st State.

For a few special interests Senator John Thune and Representative Kristi Noem have formed an unholy alliance with Montana's congressional Republicans to mug ObamaCare.

Representative Kristi Noem: “The employer mandate within the President’s health care law is unaffordable for South Dakota tribes. Moreover, it is unnecessary, given the federal government already has the responsibility of providing healthcare for tribal members. Without the relief granted by the Tribal Employment and Jobs Protection Act, tribal governments could be required to cut important services while tribally-owned businesses could be forced to cut jobs. I’m hopeful this burden created by an ill-constructed law can soon be lifted.” [press release, Sen. Steve Daines]

So, the Republican Party is ganging up on America's 51st State because the GOP lost on ObamaCare: how conservative.

John Thune has already disqualified himself from the ObamaCare discussion after sticking his foot into his pie hole.

Like the 'Save American Workers Act of 2015' this Daines/Noem boondoggle is headed for President Obama's round file.

The Indian Health Service and Veterans Administration should be merged.

@larry_kurtz Yet another attack on the ACA. My quick response: If that's the GOP direction, shouldn't full funding of IHS be in there too?

— Mark Trahant (@TrahantReports) July 15, 2015

Obama promises veto of 'Save American Workers Act of 2015'

In an effort to chip away at ObamaCare the slash and burn wing of the Republican Party including South Dakota's congressional delegation are shoving the mal-named Save American Workers Act of 2015 (HR30) into the nether regions of Americans.

[...This week, the Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would prompt 1 million people to be dropped from employer coverage, pushing from 500,000 to 1 million people onto government insurance and increasing the number with no insurance by hundreds of thousands. That would raise federal spending by $53.2 billion over the next decade. Democrats called the measure a misguided effort to undermine a health care law that has steeply lowered the number of uninsured in the country and has helped slow the growth of health care costs.

Read it all here.

If Montana's Ryan Zinke has anything to do with this bill you know it sucks.

To paraphrase Barry Goldwater: extremism in the defense of Koch Industries is no vice.

Noem went to DC for the money and the sex

No, Aaron Schock is not gay.

Despite her contention that she represents a majority of South Dakotans Kristi Noem is raking in the dough from corporations and Political Action Committees leaving women and average voters behind.

Her contributors run the gamut from Republicans in the earth raping sector, the anti-affordable medical industry, and from the 20 GOP donors who would reap windfalls from repeal of the estate tax.

She slept her way into the South Dakota legislature and into Congress with all the gusto of a Mardi Gras doxy.

After abandoning her TEApublican base while embracing a tiny clique of courtiers she has jettisoned her fake ideals for the glitz and romp of DC even as one of her consorts is facing disgrace.

Photo: Rep. Aaron Schock and Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) at the Great Wall of China last April.

What no one realized until the past few months was that Schock, now 33, was apparently mooching off donors and taxpayers all along. [The Fix]

From the Associated Press:

In resigning abruptly on Tuesday, Schock cited a "heavy heart," following six weeks of revelations about his business deals. He said in a statement that the constant questions about his spending and business dealings had made it impossible to serve effectively as congressman.

South Dakota's current At-large representative, Republican Kristi Noem, met with donors in Rapid City recently. Her political party's stonewalling on immigration is preventing some Black Hills businesses to hire summer help.

She tossed bones to her campaign contributors by railing against the protection of endangered species like the northern long-eared bat and for more money for the Neiman family to log the old growth ponderosa pine essential to preserving Black Hills habitat.

South Dakota's GOP-dominated legislature is also pandering to the logging industry by voting to give them more cash.

Noem voted for an amendment that would have ended federal funding for Amtrak. A bill investing $8 billion in Amtrak's future was ultimately passed.

A new staff report by Republicans on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee criticized [IRS] spending priorities; one member, South Dakota GOP Rep. Kristi Noem declared it looks like IRS was “purposely harming taxpayers” by not having more customer service reps to answer filers’ calls. This from a member of the party that’s worked so hard to gut the ACA by whatever means possible, including starving involved agencies? If helping average taxpayers was the GOP’s goal it would make sure the agency that deals with them most has the resources to do the job right. [editorial, Lockport Union-Sun and Journal]

Noem voted against protections for women and to protect white stalkers. She was the only woman to vote against both Senate and House versions reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

The League of Conservation Voters has released their 2014 environment scorecard. It doesn't look good for South Dakota's GOP congressional delegation.

Johnson, Tim P. D-SD 2014: 100%  lifetime: 73%
Thune, John R. R-SD   2014: 20%    lifetime: 13%
Noem, Kristi R-SD       2014: 3%     lifetime: 7%

Noem's family exploits immigrant workers.

Helping middle class families take advantage of the benefits of the health care law, like ensuring millions of seniors and people with disabilities have access to more affordable prescription medications and free preventive services through Medicare, should be a top priority for lawmakers in Washington. Yet instead of working to fix the law, Congresswoman Noem and her tea party friends have voted to repeal the health care law more than 40 times. They even shut down the government to prevent new benefits, like saving seniors money on prescription drugs and preventative services, from taking effect. [South Dakota Democratic Party]

One of her own Republican colleagues ratted her out for having at least one extramarital affair while Kristi was trying to get into the South Dakota legislature.

Others, even from her own party are frustrated with Noem's duplicity.

I'm sure tired of being stabbed in the back by the people we send to congress. U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, despite her conservative campaign rhetoric, has again inflicted another wound on her constituents by voting "yes" on Fast Track Authority for TPP, Obamatrade. I trusted you Kristi, but after researching your voting record since you've been in office (44 percent conservative) I have come to realize that you say one thing and do another. I'm feeling used. [LTE, Roger Thompson]

Kristi pimped her family in campaign adverts and ignored issues important to South Dakota voters.

Noem has withdrawn support from #HR2722 -- the bill that would have funded women's medical care and breast cancer treatment even as she feigns compassion for women with breast cancer.

Kristi Noem is one of those lying liars Al Franken warned us about.

Democrats: let's work to fire her.

Save Medicare! Fire Noem. Get Your Free Sticker Today!

Mercer calling the kettle black

The South Dakota Farmers Union is driving an initiative that would create a commission to redraw districts in a state with 66 counties: 40 more than there should be.

Veteran South Dakota reporter, Bob Mercer is blaming Democrats for not being able to get their acts together but he's glossing over the facts to protect his church and his political party from scrutiny for decades of collusion in covering up clergy crimes committed against children.

But, Mercer is caught between a boulder and and a hard-on: if he exposes the very criminals he covers he will lose access to them, jeopardize the meager salary that supports his own family or put his personal safety at risk.

Ya know, Bob: you have direct knowledge of infidelitous behaviors among members of South Dakota’s GOP congressional delegation, a culture of corruption by SDGOP in Pierre, prostitution among GOP legislators and other stories you have refused to cover to keep the Republican Party scum at the top of the pond. That you blame us for dropping the ball is hypocrisy of the highest order.

Meanwhile, the SDGOP propaganda machine awaits with bated breath and runs out the clock.

Read Mercer's schlock linked here, Cory's analysis linked here and KDLT's story on the initiative linked here.

Over $100 mill into SD reserves the last 4 years. 9500 teachers X $10k=$95 mill. What could have been? #responsible http://t.co/0Q1UY2XzE7

— Billie H. Sutton (@Billie_Sutton) July 14, 2015

Lentsch wants to sell South Dakota to Cuba

Now that President Obama has opened the doorways to Iran and Cuba South Dakota's Republican Party is rushing in to reap the profits.

GOP SD Secretary of Agriculture Lucas Lentsch ranted about the challenges facing South Dakota’s agriculture industry at a conference in Deadwood.

As much as there have been policies out of Washington presenting challenges, there are others presenting great opportunity, including two big U.S. trade agreements, currently in the works: the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, the countries which comprise, receiving 73 percent of South Dakota’s exports, and the possibility of opening up Cuba, which imports 80 percent of its food, for trade. [Black Hills Pioneer]

Lentsch has been talking about getting genetically engineered food-like substances into Cuba for some time.

2015 holds numerous opportunities to grow international trade opportunities for South Dakota producers. Currently, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is negotiating two vital trade agreements with many of South Dakota’s top trading partners around the world. South Dakota also faces new market opportunities with the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba. While the trade embargo is still in effect, officials from both countries have begun talks about lifting the embargo. Open trade with Cuba would open new markets both for South Dakota agricultural products and technology. [Lucas Lentsch, AgWeek]

Professor Benno Wymar moderated the University of South Dakota’s international forum “Cuba: A New Start,” held last January.

President Barack Obama recently declared an end to the U.S. and Cuban diplomatic and economic isolation that had lasted more than 50 years. Citizens of the U.S. will finally be able to travel legally to the small Caribbean nation. Wymar said that he didn’t see how such a small island that couldn’t be a threat to the U.S. could be treated so differently. The lifting on the embargo will also benefit local businesses. The forum was sponsored by the USD Beacom School of Business. Co-sponsors were the Modern Language, Linguistic Department and the Multicultural Student Center at USD. [Jordynn Hart, Cuba: A New Start? USD Forum Ponders The Future]

South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke applauded President Obama's initiatives in Cuba.

Cuba is Earth's second most literate country; the US is tied for 20th. President Jimmy Carter tried to save the world during his Presidency but nobody cared.

Deal with #Iran, diplomatic relations with #Cuba -- maybe #obama deserved that Nobel Peace prize after all? Only if we ignore #Syria I guess

— Lulu Garcia-Navarro (@lourdesgnavarro) July 14, 2015

Ernest Hemingway in the bar Floridita in Havana. pic.twitter.com/8R5zLHjX88

— History In Pictures (@historyepics) July 14, 2015

South Dakota town intransigent on flag of racism

Update, 16 July, 0925 MDT, KENT: Civil War finally comes to an end.

The Potter County city of Gettysburg will not be removing the Confederate Flag from patches of the police department. ["...Without the war, and without the Battle of Gettysburg, we would not be the same City that we are. The Chief of Police, Bill Wainman, the Mayor, Bill Wuttke, and the City Council have no intentions of changing the police patch."]

Read it here.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), who introduced one of the original amendments to remove the Confederate flag from National Parks, suggested Thursday that Republicans' late-night move Wednesday to reverse the effort was a last ditch attempt to save the larger Interior appropriations bill. Republican leadership was struggling to gain support for the Interior bill among the most conservative members of the GOP conference right, McCollum said. [Talking Points Memo]

Speaker of the House John Boehner and Rep. Kristi Noem are holding up work on appropriations.

Boehner reportedly told Republicans during their weekly closed-door meeting there was a hold on all spending bills until they could work something out on the Confederate flag. Republicans delayed consideration of the Financial Services appropriations bill for this week, and they pulled the Interior-Environment spending bill in an attempt to avoid a politically divisive vote on a Confederate flag amendment. [Matt Fuller, Roll Call]

Confederate flags are flying in Rapid City showing support for white supremacists in neighboring states, South Carolina and Mississippi. Expect many more for the Sturgis Rally.

Jim Kent has an outline of Gettysburg's history linked here.

Reading comments under some of the Rapid City Journal's articles can be horrifying and cringeworthy. Such is the case under one of Kent's most recent columns.

There “may” be some tensions between Native Americans and white folks. Still, at least we’re not fighting over the Confederate flag. The only symbol on the table here is the proposed re-designation of Harney Peak to Hinhan Kaga — with one of two primary objections from state legislators being that the new name would be too hard to pronounce. Guess that leaves racism conveniently out of our lexicon. [KENT: Racism beat drives on across country]

The Journal has censored Kent, also a free-lance producer for South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Update, 15 July, 0745 MDT:

Huntsville NAACP calls for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from state troopers' uniforms, patrol cars. pic.twitter.com/kdgOGXuZ8C

— Alabama Public Radio (@ALPublicRadio) July 15, 2015

Union blows whistle on pipeline contractor

The US Department of Transportation is swatting ExxonMobil with a million dollar penalty after the Environmental Protection Agency released an overview of cleanup efforts in the aftermath of the 2011 breach of the Silvertip pipeline that spilled 63,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River upstream of Billings, Montana.

The Laborers International Union of North America plans to urge North Dakota regulators to reject a pipeline from Bridger Pipeline LLC, the same company responsible for an oil spill in the Yellowstone River this year. The same union organization recently showed support for a different crude oil pipeline proposed by Dakota Access LLC. Black Hills Trucking has been fined by North Dakota regulators for improperly dumping produced water and for operating without a permit. [Casper Star-Tribune, link added]

Pipeline accidents involving crude oil grew 87 percent from 2009 to 2014.

At least 73 incidents occurred last year, including the Bridger Pipeline LLC failure at Poplar. Almost half the incidents in the past five years involved pipelines installed more than 40 years ago. [Rob Chaney, The Missoulian]

Water crossings where ice floes bash moorings and flooding causes scouring of fill from river bottoms are particularly vulnerable to failures.

Eight months before the spill, the Army Corps of Engineers seemed the most likely agency to help repair the eroding riverbanks. "Their response back to us was that should there be an imminent danger then (they) would respond," said Olson, "unfortunately, when you have a flood, imminent danger signs are too late." [Laurel Voiced Pipeline Concerns Well Before Spill]

The corps has been very quiet about a breach under its purview. Wouldn't Exxon have had to consult with the corps before restarting the pipeline and how could they not have known the potential for scouring on a flooding Yellowstone River?

A Minnehaha County judge ordered nearly two dozen landowners who oppose the Dakota Access pipeline project to stand aside and allow developers to case their properties for condemnation.

Metal pin flags used to mark the pipelines so excavators can safely work in the area are often left behind, creating hazards for cattle when the metal winds up in hay bales. Currently, the law says excavators need to remove pipeline flags or other markings “when possible,” but after Aug. 1 the requirement will be to remove the markings “upon completion of the excavation.”

Read it here.

Indigenous Environmental Action (IEN), an international non-profit based in Minnesota also is intervening against the Dakota Access Pipeline in South Dakota. IEN opposes the proposals for Keystone XL, Enbridge Line 13, and Albert Clipper pipelines. [Talli Nauman, Native Sun News]

TransCanada has spent well over $100,000 getting its KeystoneXL ecocide into the veins of teevee users.

SD [Public Utilities Cartel] Commissioner Kristie Fiegen cited a conflict of interest in the matter because her extended family owns land in Spink County where the pipeline is proposed. In her place, Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed State Treasurer Rich Sattgast to be an acting commissioner in the matter. [Dickinson Press]

South Dakotans are concerned that out of state pipeline companies are abandoning environmental protection for profits.

TransCanada staff began visiting landowners four years ago, trying to strike deals and avoid court battles. That didn’t work with John Harter in Winner, S.D. The rancher says TransCanada offered him a one-time payment of $13,300 to snake the line across a half-mile of his 280-acre cattle pasture. Harter demanded an additional $70,000 annually to compensate for the fact that he wouldn’t be able to graze his herd on the land for several years. The company refused his request and instead filed a lawsuit to seize the land through eminent domain, arguing the access to Harter’s land is worth just over $6,000. “They’re doing it with no regard to human life, let alone the earth,” complains Harter, whose case will be heard by a state court in June. [Ranchers Tell Keystone: Not Under My Backyard]

Less than 3 percent of 8,000 acres in Iowa affected by a proposed pipeline has been surveyed by a professional archaeologist. The US Army Corps of Engineers are just required to perform archaeological surveys on 16 of the 17 major river and stream crossings.

Energy Transfer Partners spokesman Chuck Frey told North Dakota's Public Service Commission Thursday that 56 percent of the easements needed along the North Dakota route have been obtained. The company wants to build the 1,100-mile pipeline to move 450,000 barrels of North Dakota crude daily to Illinois. The $3.8 billion pipeline also would pass through South Dakota and Iowa.

Read it here.

Iowa’s state archaeologist contends the proposed Bakken Pipeline carrying crude from North Dakota to Illinois should face the same scrutiny as a state project with potential to disrupt archaeological sites. A public agency, such as the Iowa Department of Natural Resources or the Iowa Department of Transportation, would be required in such a project to test land for archaeological significance, wrote John Doershuk, director of the Office of the State Archaeologist, in a May 22 letter to the Iowa Utilities Board. “If this were an Iowa DOT or DNR project, the entire area of potential effect would be included in requirements for archaeological compliance and (the Bakken Pipeline) should be subject to the same level of scrutiny to which we hold Iowa agencies,” he wrote. Dallas-based Energy Transfer requested a permit from the Iowa Utilities Board for its subsidiary Dakota Access LLC to build the Bakken Pipeline for crude oil, which would cut diagonally across 343 miles in Iowa. [The Dickinson Press]

Meade County in South Dakota is facing charges of desecrating burial sites when excavators besmirched sacred lands adjacent to Mato Paha (Bear Butte) for another road through Indian Country.

Every time a pipe leaks or explodes, I sure wish more TV and papers would cover the story http://t.co/fQqX2TyQGb happens about once a day

— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) July 13, 2015

South Dakota ratepayers suffering GOP-owned PUC

Energy consumers in South Dakota will continue to suffer rate hikes to pay for utility consolidation while monopolies enjoy the cozy shelter of the state's regressive tax structure. WNAX is reporting that the South Dakota Public Utilities Cartel (SDPUC) is seeing an increase in hike requests.

Black Hills Energy continues to gobble up competitors and frac in sensitive cultural lands while Xcel is raking in Colorado cannabis green.

GOP/Koch-owned SDPUC is expected to shoo in TransCanada as they will with Montana-Dakota Utilities request for a rate increase.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is staffed by Republicans so they're pushovers for rate increases by companies who bankroll their elections to the posts they hold.

NorthWestern Energy has its base of operations in South Dakota because of the state's regressive corporate tax law, so do several other monopolies utilities.

After approval by the PUC, NorthWestern’s request will mean an average increase of $16.76 per month for the typical electric customer, or about 56 cents per day.

According to information provided to the Huron Daily Plainsman, the rate case has nothing to do with carbon rules proposed by the Obama administration for coal-fired plants; but, 96 percent of the $26.5 million being requested involves the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated pollution controls at the Big Stone/Neal Unit 4 generating plants, Aberdeen peaking plant and the Yankton substation.

Behind the paywall at the Aberdeen American News the paper is hosting a propaganda piece written by NWE's CEO who lives in Helena, Montana: a place where his personal income is taxed by the state. He wants the SDPUC to allow the company to raise its rates because of a decision to buy dams that generate power from public waterways in Montana and to build a new complex in Butte.

Every time a pipe leaks or explodes, I sure wish more TV and papers would cover the story http://t.co/fQqX2TyQGb happens about once a day

— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) July 13, 2015

Custer State Park trolling for Caucasians

The State of South Dakota is spending half a million bucks to say welcome to the Black Hills, white people!

The ad requests auditions for a "Family Camping" under "Looking For:," and includes the following parameters: "Caucasian Male ages 35-40, Caucasian Female ages 35-40, Caucasian Girl ages 10-12, Caucasian Boy ages 7-9." Craig Pugsley, visitor services coordinator for Custer State Park, said the majority of visitors to the park are Caucasian, but he didn't have specific numbers. Rapid City Journal.

In the park named after a war criminal, a Custer State Park resort was fined in 2012 for abusing workers in the US under the H-2B immigrant worker program.

The cop who managed 'a bunch of racists' was sworn in as Rapid City's mayor.

In the end, our new mayor, Steve Allender, received 8,538 votes, or 54 percent of the vote, while his opponent, former Mayor Sam Kooiker, received 7,312, or 46 percent. More interesting is that without the votes from Kooiker’s home precinct and those precincts in Ward 1 susceptible to the dishonest suggestion of racism, Allender received 59 percent of the vote — 7,163 votes to 5,078 for Kooiker. The former mayor’s continued false attacks on Councilmember Charity Doyle are not only dishonest but deliberately malicious. No one in Rapid City believes that the choice of the chief of police had the vaguest element of racism. The support by nearly 60 percent of Rapid City's population bodes well for a more productive, less confrontational and economical growth-oriented future for our town. [LTE, Stan Adelstein]

Uh, grud?

“I would be eating lunch and Steve would say, ‘What’s on the menu today, a bowl of guts?’ Or if I was eating a sandwich he would say, ‘What you eating, a slab of lab?’ You know Labrador, a dog,” he said. “Then it rubbed off on the secretaries. I was right out in the squad room and I’d be sitting there eating a sandwich and the secretaries would say, ‘What you having today Glen, a slab of lab?’”

Read that here.

A GOP advertising company holding a no-bid contract with the state has been producing adverts that to many show a complete lack of taste and display sophomoric, even offensive content.

Confederate flags are flying in Rapid City showing support for white supremacists in neighboring states, South Carolina and Mississippi. Expect many more for the Sturgis Rally.

Tim Rounds strokes

South Dakota's GOP governor could have an entirely hand-picked legislature.

State Rep. Tim Rounds is hospitalized after suffering what was apparently a stroke, sources said Sunday. An aide to Gov. Dennis Daugaard said, "The governor heard about Rep. Rounds' hospitalization on Friday and wishes him well." [Pierre Capital Journal]

Yeah, right.

Tim Rounds is a career bureaupublican.

From the Wikipedia entry:

His father, Don Rounds, worked at various times as state director of highway safety, a staffer for Rural Electrification Administration and executive director of the South Dakota Petroleum Council. Rounds' brother, Tim Rounds, is a member of the South Dakota State Legislature representing District 24, which includes Pierre. During the 2006 legislative session, Governor Rounds signed House Bill 1233, entitled “An Act to provide for the establishment and operation of artisan distillers and to revise certain provisions concerning farm wineries.”[6] This bill, proposed by Jamison Rounds (another of Gov. Rounds' brothers), changed state law to allow for operation of small-scale (50,000 gallons/year/facility) liquor distilleries in the state.[7] At the time, Jamison Rounds testified before the legislature and explained that he was advocating the change so that he could open a distillery in the state.[8] The bill passed the state house 60-5 and the state senate 33-2; among those voting in favor was another Rounds brother, Representative Tim Rounds.

Charges of nepotism are nothing new in the chemical toilet.

Brian Rounds is the son of former Gov. Mike Rounds.

The junior Rounds' plan accepted by the South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission, where he is an analyst, forcing NorthWestern Energy to buy power from a local wind farm, where the elder Rounds sits on the board, did not immediately feel like a conflict of interest to Argus Leader reporter, David Montgomery in response to a question submitted at today's 100 Eyes webcast.

Steve Rounds enjoys an unusual 30-year lease on land managed by a state agency.

Jamie Rounds was appointed to lead economic development by his brother, former governor Mike Rounds, one of many moves that the Sioux Falls Argus Leader called, "ethically confused."

I attended SDSU with Rounds brother-in-law, Randy Brich, in fact: we have shared bongs on more occasions than can be recalled.

Steve Hickey, the only GOP legislator with any brains at all just resigned now Tim Rounds is a crispy critter.

Daugaard has already appointed more lawgivers than any other governor in South Dakota history.

Remember when SDGOP called for Senator Tim Johnson's resignation after a brain bleed?

The iron curtain descends over the Reichstag.

Deutsch, Jones, Hoffman, Schoenbeck: horsemen of South Dakota's education apocalypse

It'd be scary if it weren't so Stoogesque, Marxistic or Mouseketeerian.

Fred Deutsch: "I asked to serve on the task force – I bring a background of serving on school board – but my request wasn’t granted." Fred is a sectarian who just attended an anti-civil rights conference featuring one of the Duck Dynasty philosophers.

Troy Jones: "If someone has a different read with facts and knowledge, I’ll defer to them." Jones is an SDGOP squish and Roman Catholic apologizing for his cult's atrocities committed in the name of colonialism still trying to find the handle after fifty-something years of life.

Charlie Hoffman: "And that; [sic] Fred, is the proper class of intellect every person thinking about a Leadership position should write with publicly." Charlie is a rancher living in a farmer's body eclipsed by his wife's shadow.

Lee Schoenbeck: "Jones, that was too easy to bag." Schoenbeck is merely a crook for hire.

Yep. These are South Dakota's mansplainin' Republican thinkers.

Few things bring these old bones greater joy than to watch GOP on GOP cluelessness.

The nut wing of SDGOP is denying the Anthropocene, the American Genocide, and the legacy of slavery while those four losers scramble to cover up the crimes being committed against South Dakota's workforce.

South Dakota deserves the legislature it suffers.

Pass a corporate income tax, reduce the number of South Dakota counties to 25, turn DSU into a community college, and legalize cannabis: the kurtz solution painted on a thumbnail.

Daugaard leadership lapses force USDA to protect kids, FEMA to pick up climate pieces

South Dakota's GOP governor doesn't care one whit about the state's kids but he sure likes handouts.

The US Department of Agriculture's National Hunger Hotline provides information about meal sites where children 18 years old and under can get free, nutritious meals through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.

The participating location nearest to Madison is the Boys and Girls Club of Moody County, which is offering noon meals, Monday through Friday, through August 19. Pastor Constanze Hagmaier said a summer meal program is "much needed," as she sees and hears about a rise in need during the summer, when children are at home and parents need to feed them, but have no means to do so.

Read it all here.

For the umpteenth time this year climate denier, Gov. Denny Daugaard is begging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to survey the effects of climate disruptions on his red moocher state.

Candidate Daugaard drew gasps from a State Fair audience in 2010 when he said: “I am skeptical about the science that suggests global warming is man-caused or can be corrected by man-made efforts."

The state's Department of Ecocide and Natural Ruination has failed to protect wetlands and watersheds forcing the US Environmental Protection Agency to step in to guard children from GOP donors while South Dakota Game, Fish and Parking Lot Construction plots to end the lives of endangered species.