Rapid City celebrates genocide, obesity, addiction

Tomi Lahren is just one graduate who fled Rapid City the first chance she got.

44 presidential statues already sit or stand on corners downtown Rapid City and the City of Presidents Foundation leaders want to focus on the message the Barack Obama sculpture will send to visitors without invoking the town's long history of bigotry. Fact is: most of the downtown statues depict slave owners, war criminals, figures in history that ordered the murders of American Indians and at least one child raper.

The 8-foot-wide statue sits atop a 9-foot granite base inscribed with the phrase “hot and deliciously juicy” in Latin. The statue is topped with “sesame seeds” 20 times the size of actual seeds sprinkled on Quarter Pounder burger buns. The monument sits outside the McDonald’s at 3919 Cheyenne Blvd., within view of Interstate 90. [Rapid City welcomes a monument to the Quarter Pounder]

Study: no justification for killing cougars

Sure looks like a cougar in frame 21!

Kill off apex predators like wolves and cougars; spray neonicotinoids, glyphosate and atrazine on everything then wonder why deer and wapiti contract a prion contagion like Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

In sum, our analysis of the records obtained from state and federal wildlife agencies found no evidence that sport hunting of pumas has produced the management outcomes sought by wildlife managers aside from providing a sport hunting opportunity. Consequently, and particularly because other research suggests that sport hunting actually exacerbate conflicts between pumas and humans, we recommend that state agencies re-assess the use of sport hunting as a management tool for pumas. [PLOS ONE]

During one season in the Black Hills a white christian trophy hunter illegally slew a three-month old, fourteen pound cougar kitten. The idiot was cited for a class one misdemeanor improper tagging, which carries a penalty of fines to $1,000, one year in jail and loss of hunting privileges for a year. That particular incident is par for the course in Lawrence County where firearms and alcohol mixed with meth chasers are as common as sibling marriages.

Not wolves, cougars or even coyotes: golden eagles levied a 53% mortality rate on domestic sheep on one ranch in Wyoming.

Catholics buy off South Dakota Legislature — again

Catholicism is hope like gonorrhea is charity.

In South Dakota at least thirty two members of the Church of the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers have been credibly accused of preying on children and vulnerable adults but don't expect suspected incel Jason Ravnsborg, Attorney General and former altar boy to take on both South Dakota Dioceses. Don DeGrood has just been installed to lord over the slush fund that buys South Dakota's corrupt legislature.

Both South Dakota dioceses are up to their areolae in debt to the white christianic ruling class for covering up crimes against Native Americans committed by pederastic priests where catholic congregations and the state's legislature have engaged in obstruction of justice for decades. Bernie v. Blue Cloud Abbey was one of several cases that ended up before the South Dakota Supreme Court alleging church officials at the time covered up serial sexual abuse taking place at the compound. After helping to broker the sale of the abbey Watertown member of the criminal cult, Lee Schoenbeck, aided by fellow cultist and lobbyist Jeremiah Murphy, forced the South Dakota Legislature to pass laws covering up countless crimes committed by their sect by enacting statutes of limitations.

Former Rapid City cleric Bob Gruss is settling into the Saginaw, Michigan diocese, itself wracked with abuses committed by predator priests.

Think about what's happening here: Avera Health is a federally-subsidized catholic hospital operating as an oligopoly, funneling money to parishes paying settlements or hush money for the sins of predatory priests paid for by insurers and patients.

Two veteran South Dakota reporters, Bob Mercer and Kevin Woster are members of this international crime syndicate. Neither one has ever covered the sins being committed by their cult.

An effort to change a South Dakota law that protects groups such as the Catholic Church from sexual abuse lawsuits was defeated in committee Monday in Pierre. The issue has come up almost every year since 2010, when a last-minute proposal changed South Dakota’s statute of limitations and unraveled claims from dozens of people who alleged they were abused across a span of decades at St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, St. Paul’s Indian Mission School in Marty and Tekakwitha Indian Mission in Sisseton. But South Dakota's 2010 law change blocked anyone 40 or older from recovering damages from any entity “other than the person who perpetrated the actual act of sexual abuse.” [South Dakota legislators vote down bill involving sex abuse lawsuits]

Image lifted from the Santa Fe Reporter.

Native women confronted lawmakers in South Dakota with their description of how in the 1950s and 1960s priests and nuns perpetrated systematic rape, abuse and forced abortions. Lawmakers killed a bill that would allow them to sue the church.https://t.co/On0Qsw9J2M

— Stephen Groves (@stephengroves) February 24, 2020

Air Force, Ellsworth scramble to contain personnel suicides

South Dakota Republicans love the foetus but hate actual non-white, non-christian children discarding them as collateral damage. US imperialism created the Somali refugee crisis where ISIL chickens are coming home to roost in Minnesota now Syrians are fleeing another Israeli/American war of aggression taking its toll on American airmen in South Dakota and other remote locations.

Suicides in the US Air Force increased by one third in 2019 that's according to an official Air Force report. The report shows there were 136 total suicides with 84 of those people on active duty in 2019 compared to 103 total suicides during 2018 with 60 people on active duty. Some of those challenges are separation anxiety, unsureness, and even mental challenges because of physical injuries... [KOTA teevee]

America has brought this on itself since radical christianity has murdered millions but you know what scares me?

Donald Trump has escalated his war on civilians and someone from Iran, Yemen, Somalia or some other shit hole country seeking retaliation could simply roll a truck bomb into Rapid City Central or Sioux Falls Lincoln High School after an Ellsworth-based B-1 bomber, drone pilot or some jock from the 114th Fighter Wing targets a wedding party or religious service.

"We're seeing problems in the MQ-1/9 community at both the major command and base levels that can be solved quickly," said U.S. Air Force Col. Troy Jackson, C2ISR Operations division chief and CPIP officer in charge. "Airmen in this career field are being exhausted with no end in sight; we want to fix this." [Rapid City Journal]

For fear of retailiation the Air Force hasn't released the name of the base that assassinated Qassim Suleimani.

The drone used is the same type piloted by airmen stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base. KOTA was granted special access by the 89th squadron commander to tour the facility back in 2018. "The squadron is comprised of roughly 200-250 people," said Lt. Col. Mike back in 2018, "We have both officers and enlisted and then we are also supported by a series of contractors and government personnel." [KOTA teevee]

Veterans are killing themselves because of America's imperialist endless wars.

Chris Cooper is Mission22’s South Dakota State Ambassador Leader. He is also an Air Force veteran, and knows personally how important is it to raise awareness about the military suicide rates and provide resources for services members in pain. [KNBN teevee]

It's just a matter of time until Hell comes to breakfast. Just say it: radical christianic terrorism.

Cannabis ablaze in North Dakota

In 2016 North Dakota voters passed Measure 5 then the legislature drafted rules and a Republican governor signed it into law. Gov. Doug Burgum supports cannabis law reform and last May the red state quietly decriminalized possession of small amounts.

More than 2,200 people are enrolled in North Dakota’s medical marijuana program. Medical Marijuana Division Director Jason Wahl says the growth rate has been much faster than anticipated. Wahl says there were 2,000 patients enrolled in the program by the end of 2019. He says that threshold wasn’t expected to be reached until June, 30, 2020. There are currently eight medical marijuana dispensaries across the state. [KFGO]

To legalize for all adults advocates for the Freedom of Cannabis Act have 18,000 signatures of 32,000 needed to get on the general election ballot and petitioners for Legalize ND need to get at least 13,452 qualified signatures.

South Dakota committed to dumping death camp

Brady Folkens of Brookings died in state custody after a botched diagnosis at the former State Treatment and Rehabilitation (STAR) Academy in a county named for a war criminal on December 21, 2013 then the State of South Dakota's Office of Risk Management helped to bury the evidence of negligent homicide. After a public outcry the death camp was shuttered and the sprawling property south of town sold at auction for the minimum bid of $2.34 million. The buyers were a group of investors represented at the sale by real estate agent and former mayor Jared Carson but have since defaulted on their commitment.

South Dakota's school to prison pipeline began in 1983 when Republican Governor Bill Janklow concocted a plan to convert the University of South Dakota at Springfield into a prison. Then the state killed Gina Score in a boot camp, ended environmental protection and accelerated the red moocher state's descent into the hellish chemical toilet it is today.

STAR Academy's predecessors, South Dakota Tuberculosis Sanatorium and Custer State Hospital at Sanator have macabre histories of their own.

Sen. Jeff Partridge, R-Rapid City, said the campus is a drain on the state’s finances. “This is a facility that was getting old, getting tired and getting aged, and frankly not going in the direction of even being able to move forward with it,” Partridge said. “The folks that were working there when we toured it when it was still open said this thing is really hard to stay up with code and to stay current.” The state spent $550,000 to maintain the multiple buildings on the 173-acre campus last year, according to testimony offered during the Senate debate. The governor’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to SDPB questions about the future of the campus.

Read or listen to the rest at Bill Janklow's idea of public radio

Fire danger in central and southern Black Hills could be explosive today

Yes, that red splotch on the 10 hour fuel moisture map is the Black Hills. Because of poor ranching practices on the plains and public lands failures on the Black Hills National Forest the grassland fire danger will reach the high category today for parts of the permanent disaster area that is South Dakota.

The absence of snow cover West River is obvious in the image below. Darren Clabo is South Dakota State Fire Meteorologist & Research Scientist based at the School of Mines and Technology. The dark images are part of a burn scar where winds blew off the snow cover.

Anyone know of why there are "dark spots" in the snow just east-southeast of Faith (note the arrow)? No big stands of trees there. Unpicked crops? #sdwx pic.twitter.com/mD9PUzcdge

— Darren Clabo (@SDFireWeather) February 21, 2020

Noem, Ravnsborg continue their crusade against women's rights

Republican Governor Kristi Noem's anti-civil rights actions are no accident. She's is a graduate of the Koch Brothers' American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, an anti-think tank think tank that teaches how wedge issues raise campaign dollars for the extreme white wing of the Republican Party. South Dakota's GOP legislators and candidates enjoy millions in lobbyist benefits from ALEC. Noem is a former Snow Queen who convinced her own daughters to compete in beauty contests.

South Dakota was ranked 50th in 'workplace environment‘ and 38th overall in the 2018 WalletHub Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality.

Ultimately, to be pro-woman is to embrace women as equals, valuing human dignity, bodily autonomy and self-determination. However, the extreme anti-abortion policies plaguing the United States are doing the exact opposite, putting women’s lives at risk. No woman is free until she controls her own body, life and destiny. Being pro-woman means trusting women to make their own personal and private decisions about their lives. It means providing access to affordable contraception and birth control, comprehensive sexual education and pregnancy resources. Being pro-woman means recognizing the political, economic and social injustices that still oppress women and fighting for equal pay, maternal/parental leave and reproductive healthcare. [No, the “Pro-Life” Movement is Not Pro-Woman]

It's really hard not to slut-shame someone who's gone all out to be one. Noem has never supported the Violence Against Women Act and if her #metoo abusers were Democrats she'd be singing like a cardinal. Kristi Noem is a MILF. Is she compliant, infidelitous, or simply a jaded career politician who's used to trading her favors for advancement?

Five Republican-led states are seeking to block an effort by three Democratic-led states to see the Equal Rights Amendment is adopted into the U.S. Constitution. The five states — Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska and South Dakota — filed a motion on Thursday to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Virginia, Nevada and Illinois. [Associated Press]

South Dakota's crusade against equal rights for women is being propelled by incel Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg — an obese, extraordinarily homely confirmed bachelor and a member of the Church of the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers with little hope of attracting a mate himself. But he's just so creepy.

Therapeutic cannabis ablaze in North Dakota

In 2016 North Dakota voters passed Measure 5 then the legislature drafted rules and a Republican governor signed it into law. Gov. Doug Burgum supports cannabis law reform and last May the red state quietly decriminalized possession of small amounts.

More than 2,200 people are enrolled in North Dakota’s medical marijuana program. Medical Marijuana Division Director Jason Wahl says the growth rate has been much faster than anticipated. Wahl says there were 2,000 patients enrolled in the program by the end of 2019. He says that threshold wasn’t expected to be reached until June, 30, 2020. There are currently eight medical marijuana dispensaries across the state.

Read the rest here.

Fire could reignite downtown Hot Springs

@larry_kurtz Thanks for sharing! I've passed this along to the Chamber director & city leaders!

— Hot Springs, SD (@hotspringssd) December 29, 2014

Hot Springs was part of my marketing territory for eight years when I was with Twin City Fruit in Deadwood and for another year after Sysco bought us in 1990.

In 2014 this interested party passed a Black Hills State University article on community organizing to a Hot Springs official. The town then expanded its social media platform and the Mammoth Site is at the focus of scientific research on a 9300-year-old mummified bison uncovered there. In 2015 Hot Springs hosted a visiting New Mexico couple to breakfast, walks through the historic downtown, the Veterans Administration complex, the Pioneer Museum and the Mammoth Site: a test of cannabis possession in several jurisdictions. Nearby Wind Cave National Park is a perennial favorite destination for ecotourists and is within biking distance of the Mickelson Trail. Real estate is affordable and historic properties abound.

In 1921 my maternal grandparents rode the train from Humphrey, Nebraska and honeymooned in Hot Springs where Evans Plunge became the Black Hills' first commercial tourist attraction and if passenger rail ever happens again nearby Maverick Junction will no doubt be a stop. After the 1987 fire that burned Deadwood's Syndicate Building to the ground Democrats rallied to bring legal gambling to the Gulch. Hot Springs could be something someday, too.

Kurtz venue vandalized

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 including Cousin Cliff's son, Jason.

Full Circle Book Co-op co-owner Jason Kurtz said an employee came in at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and discovered about two dozen eggs had been thrown at the business. "It appeared to be targeted at our transgender flag," Kurtz said, adding that the co-op had begun flying the pink-and-blue flag the week before in light of three transgender-related bills introduced in the South Dakota legislature that drew national criticism. Although disheartened by the vandalism, Kurtz said he was encouraged by the number of people who have supported the business, and hopes that this will be the end of the attacks. "We've had a huge outpouring of support," he said. "We're hoping it doesn't escalate." [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

Rachel Headley is Jason's sister.

Graying of South Dakota nearing crisis levels

Rick Holm is the Prairie Doc. His program airs on KBRK radio in Brookings, on Bill Janklow's idea of public teevee and his column appears in my hometown paper the Elkton Record, in the Brookings Register and about sixty other rural South Dakota newspapers.

Mr. A belongs to the working-poor segment of our society, just above official levels of poverty and yet he cannot afford health insurance and primary care, let alone the private cost of an assisted living center or nursing home. If Medicaid was expanded in South Dakota, more than two billion dollars of federal health care funding would come into the state, helping healthcare coverage to 55,000 South Dakotans, in turn, helping to prevent rural nursing homes from closing. This would help Mr. A, and people like him, get comfort care during their dying days. [column, Dr. Rick Holm]

By not expanding Medicaid under Obamacare South Dakota Republicans are decimating rural health care. Representative Ryan Cwach is a District 18 Democrat from Yankton.

Let’s be frank and honest about our nursing home insurance system in South Dakota. A person seeking to insure against the cost of long term care has two options: (1) get private long-term care insurance; or (2) be rich — like, really rich. If option 1 and 2 above are not available to you, your only other option is to “spend down” your resources in order to qualify for Medicaid. “Spend down” means selling your house, draining your retirement accounts, or cashing in the CDs. Medicaid resource guidelines only allow a person to have approximately $2,000 to their name in order to qualify for coverage. HB 1141 is necessary to move our state to a fairer long-term care system that recognizes that long-term care should not be free, but it also should not bankrupt a person either. [Study Needed Into Long-Term Care]

The South Dakota Republican Party is a death panel. South Dakota's medical industry triopoly operates without scrutiny but at least one Sanford Health executive believes it's time to expand Medicaid in the state.

Little wonder young people and Democrats are fleeing South Dakota.

South Dakota Democrats not holding their breath on legal cannabis

South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws submitted to a Republican secretary of state over 50,000 signatures in support of a ballot measure that would allow adults 21 and older to possess and distribute up to one ounce and cultivate up to three plants for personal use. If passed the measure would direct South Dakota's whack job legislature to establish therapeutic and industrial cannabis (hemp) programs. Another group was able to submit petitions, too.

Republican Governor Kristi Noem dropped her opposition to hemp to give voters fewer reasons to support Amendment A and if blue state legislatures like New Mexico's and Minnesota's can't legalize for all adults it's virtually impossible to see South Dakota's legislature doing it.

“I think those two ballot initiatives probably have a chance,” said Senate Minority Leader Troy Heinert, Mission, of initiatives to legalize the use of recreational marijuana and medical marijuana. How the Legislature handles the possible passage of those initiatives concerns Heinert, who doesn’t want lawmakers to overturn the will of the people the way they did after the passage of Initiated Measure 22 in 2016. IM 22 revised the state’s campaign finance and lobbying laws. House Minority Leader Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls said all legislators are working to find extra funding for what’s known as the Big Three: education, Medicaid providers and state employee salaries.

Read the rest here.

South Dakota among drunkest in US

DC isn't a state — at least not yet. Read it all here.

MO basin bracin' for Spring inundation

Yes, tornadoes, habitat destruction, wildfire potential, another eight month winter now flooding has become year round in the chemical toilet, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area that is South Dakota. The James River has been out of its banks for a year.

According to the US Army Corps of Engineers even though all of 2019's floodwater has passed through the dam system on the Missouri River 2020's deluge is just beginning.

The aquifer and the soil saturation levels are at a record high, said Terry Albers, emergency management director for Moody County. The Big Sioux River still is high from last September’s heavy rains and flooding, and the snowpack is heavy in counties north of here. Albers was briefed by the National Weather Service. “It depends on how fast the snowpack melts,” he said. In addition, the Big Sioux is open in some places and flowing, which helps move water downstream. Charts and graphs provided by the weather service shows an extremely high soil moisture as of Jan. 21. Snow depth to the north, particularly north of Brookings, is somewhere between 12 and 18 inches, with 3 to 6 inches of water in it. [Moody County Enterprise]

Lake Kampeska, Lake Poinsett, Lake Mitchell, Lake Thompson and other non-meandered bodies of water will continue to suffer the effects of human-caused climate distortions but disaster declarations are how Republicans who preach small gubmint fund crumbling infrastructure in red states. Recall Rep. Kristi Noem repeatedly voted against disaster aid after Hurricane Sandy and other climate related catastrophes but she doesn’t respect self-reliance because she’s wedded to moral hazard.

The law is not like a snowplow on a truck. The snowplow on the highway department truck is supposed to be proactive and in front of a problem trying to make things right. The law is an after-the-fact remedy which sometimes fixes the issue at hand. Water law is like the Missouri River before the dams were put in. It meanders all over the place over time. [David Ganje, Tri-State Livestock News]

The next flooding potential update from the National Weather Service is due 27 February. As ice floes bash moorings and flooding causes the scouring of fill from river bottoms the disasters befalling the Missouri basin should be a stern warning to erstwhile pipeline operators: it's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

#MissouriRiver Update 2/11
Gavins Point rls sched https://t.co/1Eczgz9nEj
Mtn snow https://t.co/3V8f75pj7A
River Ice https://t.co/wk9BGwUFO1
3-wk f-cast https://t.co/PLe5nxGgNS
OFFICIAL @NWSMBRFC river f-cast https://t.co/HTLie9wiSQ
Web App: https://t.co/fLRvKBxh4y pic.twitter.com/ptcAYEZvoB

— USACE NWD (@NWDUSACE) February 12, 2020

Principled conservatives splintering from SDGOP establishment

Establishment South Dakota Republicans are apoplectic as they attempt to keep principled conservatives from abandoning incumbents in search of redder pastures. Longtime Republican stalwarts like Phil Jensen, Charlie Hoffman, Betty Olson and at least fifteen others have thrown up their hands in frustration with first term Representative Howdy Doody Dusty Johnson and are backing Elizabeth Marty May.

Liz Marty May is a staunch conservative with a love of community and country. She is a proud fourth generation South Dakotan, a successful small business owner and a trusted rancher from Kyle, South Dakota. As a respected leader and relentless fighter, she has a track record of making hard decisions, and has solved real problems for South Dakotans. Liz Marty May sticks to her guns. [Black Hills Pioneer]

It's not just for South Dakota's lone US House seat. In her bid to drive Senator Reich Mike Rounds onto the ash heap of history upstart Scyller Borglum just appeared with Governor Kristi Noem to raise awareness of youth art in South Dakota.

Rounds just played the cancer card as he released a video pimping his stricken wife and pleading with doubtful supporters to continue funding his crusade toward a second term. Rounds, who bragged he could build a $9 million war chest in 2014, has less than $2 million in the bank today. That makes him a bald-faced liar.

Recall Saudi-funded SDGOP chair Dan Lederman paid Gordon Howie a five figure sum to abandon his third party insurgency.

Liz May has little chance of winning a primary stacked against her but if she ran in the general election as an unaffiliated candidate it would not only be revolutionary she might even unstring a puppet.

Film industry loves New Mexico

A billion dollar boost from the film industry has area economies enthusiastic about the future in New Mexico.

A recent spike in film productions and industry inquiries comes as New Mexico is set to more than double its annual state spending cap on film incentives, and as Hollywood targets both Georgia and Louisiana over recently passed restrictive abortion laws. “It’s an exciting time for film and television in Albuquerque, and we have been seeing an increase in interest from productions as a result of the political topics in Georgia and Louisiana,” said Amber Dodson, city of Albuquerque film liaison. “Our doors are open; we are an inclusive city who welcomes everyone.” [Abortion politics help fuel NM film boom]

The production company for a series that stars Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley has been shooting in our neighborhood on the Santo Domingo Pueblo's portion of the Galisteo Dam Road, the Cochiti Pueblo's portion of the Tetilla Peak Road and at the Bonanza Creek Ranch. The soundtrack includes work from The Deep South who performed at the Santa Fe Brewing Company last July. Sam Peckinpah shot a bunch of scenes for his 1978 film Convoy out here, too.

Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and now after buying Albuquerque Studios Netflix is building industry presence in the Land of Enchantment.

“Deadline Hollywood is thrilled to debut our new Hot Spots conference series in Albuquerque,” said Stacey Farish, general manager of Deadline Hollywood. “Hot Spots is all about shining a light on Hollywood filming locations outside of Hollywood. And we think there is no better place to launch this exciting new event than New Mexico.” The conference targets film and TV producers, directors, location scouts, heads of production and business affairs and production coordinators. It will highlight what Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces have to offer in the film industry. [Deadline Hollywood debuts conference in ABQ]

New Mexico's flag has been named the coolest in America. The above image was captured at Mount Rushmore National Monument in the occupied Black Hills.

Noem, SDGOP turn to prior restraint as Indigenous insurgency stiffens

Republicans in South Dakota's Reichstag hope to crop turnout for off-reservation Indigenous voters.

The Republicans in charge in Pierre cited concern that information on the IDs could not be independently verified by the secretary of state's office and could lead to fraud, since the cards are not state-issued and often do not include a mailing address. The Democrats who made the proposal said it would boost civic engagement in tribal communities, which have some of the most anemic turnout in the state. They also noted tribal IDs are used in dealings with the federal government, including at airport security checkpoints. [South Dakota rejects tribal IDs for voter registration]

It's not just disenfranchisement; Natives are also resisting Governor Kristi Noem's shock troops from massacring freedom of speech.

Christianic Sioux Falls mayor tricked into supporting Mayor Pete

Paul TenHaken of Sioux Falls is a homophobic, christianic Republican mayor of a small city in a red flyover state who wouldn’t even vote for Jesus Himself if He ran as a Democrat. Elitism in South Dakota is Denny Sanford and Dana Dykhouse and careers in usury get your names on public buildings and a football stadium. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a gay Democratic also-ran competing for a seat in President Amy Klobuchar's Cabinet. More nuttery from the extreme white wing of the Republican Party is simply another way to own the libs. In South Dakota local control is Republican control. That any Democrats still live in my home state remains a mystery.

This Spring Sioux Falls could be wiped off the map by the toxic Big Sioux River as precipitation runoff is at 142% of normal.

This tone deaf ad reeks of elitism and mocks the expansive work we as mayors do to keep our cities running.

America’s biggest problems AND solutions live in our cities. To my fellow mayors out at 5Ks, ribbon cuttings, grocery store sidebars, and more today — keep grinding. https://t.co/jvFh8kZeOH

— Paul TenHaken (@paultenhaken) February 8, 2020

SDGOP admits they're all nuts

If the South Dakota Legislature had a Homeliest Man on Campus contest Jim Bolin would probably win.

They're not even trying to hide their insanity anymore.

State Republican leaders said social issue bills are far from the only proposed legislation getting attention this year at the State Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer admits those bills do grab headlines. House Majority Leader Lee Qualm agrees. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Jim Bolin says while social issue bills may be distracting at times they highlight the open ability of the South Dakota legislature to let anyone with any idea bring proposed legislation. [KXLG radio]

Last week in Vermillion frustration with Fred Deutsch's insanity reached a fever pitch.

Nicole Clade, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Vermillion, posed a two part question to District 17 legislators early Saturday morning. “I work with a lot of LGBT youth, specifically trans youth and their families, and I would like to know how you would like me to respond, specifically you Rep. Rasmussen, about what to say when they ask me why our state government doesn’t trust them to make the best medical decisions on behalf of their family,” she said. “My second question is how we you all respond when the suicide attempts and rates and successes go up in our state this next year, specifically among our trans youth?” [Vermillion Plain Talk]

Anyone who believes Fred's never groped a teenager is delusional; but, applaud the nutball Republican efforts diverting attention from the party’s culture of corruption where murders and their covers up are commonplace by clogging the legislative session with christianic religionist argle-bargle. More nuttery from the extreme white wing of the Republican Party is simply another way to own the libs. In South Dakota local control is Republican control. That any Democrats still live in my home state remains a mystery.

South Dakota would socialize gas well cleanup

Since the Republican-owned South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment is far more about minerals than about the environment the state Department of Ecocide and Natural Ruination (DENR) covers for polluters but the $30,000 they have squirreled away isn't nearly enough to repair gas well damage.

Forty gas wells in northwestern South Dakota their owner abandoned would be reclaimed by state government under a three-part plan lawmakers considered Wednesday. The state board wants to also use a $130,000 bond that was forfeited by an oil well project near Wasta. The third piece of Governor Kristi Noem’s package, SB 17, would appropriate up to $727,700 from the state treasury to complete the Spyglass cleanup. DENR officials have estimated the total cost at about $877,000. “We have a bankrupt company and responsibility falls to the state (government),” Representative Thomas Brunner, a Nisland Republican, said during the House discussion of HB 1025. Representative Oren Lesmeister, a Parade Democrat, explained why he was the only committee member to vote against the bill. He said he wanted the bond amounts raised even higher. [KELO teevee]

Gold prices are heading higher as coronavirus fears drive panic buying so South Dakota School of Mines President Jim Rankin believes there's no time like the present to rape Native cultural sites in He Sapa, The Heart of Everything That Is. Imagine these projects going through cemeteries where people of European descent are buried.

Yes, socialized agriculture, socialized dairies, socialized cheese, socialized livestock production, a socialized timber industry, socialized air service, socialized freight rail, a socialized nursing home industry, a socialized internet and now socialized gas well remediation are all fine with Republicans in South Dakota but then they insist single-payer medical insurance is socialized medicine.

This time, protestors should know what they might be up against. https://t.co/WI2oboznLh

— ACLU of Montana (@ACLUMT) February 6, 2020

Sundance Republican would restrict deployment of Wyoming mercenaries

False flags, disaster capitalism, endless war: anyone who believes America is safer because of a military filled with mercenaries is delusional.

Wyoming’s guardsmen have long been tapped by the federal government to serve wherever they are needed, no matter if the country they were deployed to was at peace or at war. A bill introduced this week by Rep. Tyler Lindholm, R-Sundance, however, seeks to end that practice. Counting a group of 15 bipartisan co-sponsors, Lindholm’s “Defend The Guard Act” would prevent members of Wyoming’s guard from being deployed by their government to serve overseas without the signing of a formal declaration of war by Congress — a hard-line approach to protesting a number of “forever wars” that have long kept the U.S. engaged in the Middle East. [Casper Star-Tribune]

In 2013 Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, an important figure in national security and commander of the 20th Air Force based at FE Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming was fired. Overall, Carey was responsible for three wings of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles: 9,600 people and 450 missiles. FE Warren AFB has been a participant in the now-suspended Combat Raider exercises in the Powder River Training Complex.

Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico. The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand “on alert” 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains. [Security troops at Wyoming's F.E. Warren nuclear missile base used LSD]

i drove by this incident on CO71 caused by the 320th Missile Squadron of the 90th Missile Wing based at FE Warren.

The accident happened May 17, 2014, but the Air Force only explained the consequences on Friday after repeated inquiries by the AP starting in January 2015. The Air Force said the accident caused no injuries and did not risk public safety. The damaged missile was removed from its silo. The launch site is operated by the 320th Missile Squadron of the 90th Missile Wing in a remote area of northeastern Colorado. [Air Force: Human Error Damaged Nuclear-Armed Missile in Silo]

Energy Transfer Partners is an earth hater based in Texas. It's infamous for hiring mercenaries from South Dakota to brutalize water protectors near Cannon Ball, North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.

Israel should be a county in Utah or Nevada but the Israeli model of compelling military service and universal gun tolerance should be the future for the United States, too. Compulsory service might even reduce cowboy diplomacy. Thomas Jefferson wrote that a standing army would lead to military adventurism and ultimately turn on its own citizens but now America has become the Hamiltonian empire Jefferson warned us about.

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger. Just say it: radical christianic terrorism.

Airmen from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne participated in the exercise. https://t.co/YfMZ3eaFQk

— Casper Star-Tribune (@CSTribune) February 5, 2020

Industrial Cannabis a Trojan Horse

For the record, this blog can't support widespread growing of industrial cannabis (hemp), especially on tribal lands because it's an invasive species capable of overgrowing native grasses. Even in Canada using home grown seed is illegal. Why anyone would want to buy genetically engineered seed from Bayer Crop Science/Monsanto or some other earth hater every year remains a mystery. This crop is not the benign introduced species it’s cracked up to be and stray pollen from the hemp industry can wreak havoc on growers of therapeutic and “recreational” cannabis.

Pollen from hemp farms can travel for miles, reaching and pollinating marijuana farms. Cross-pollination can drastically lower a marijuana crop’s THC content. That’s the psychoactive compound that hemp plants are bred to keep low. Male plants are the pollinators. Socorro County passed an ordinance banning male hemp plants and non-feminized seeds. [Hemp Pollen Poses Risk To Outdoor Marijuana Crops]

Hemp is open range on meth. Medicine and a potential revenue source are being put at risk by an experiment that makes Jerusalem artichokes and Belgian endive look like safe investments.

Late primary states mostly irrelevant

Tuesday, June 2 is mostly a dead letter day in some states during the Democratic presidential primary where voters usually just go through the motions after the nominee has already been selected. Iowa should end her early caucus then join New Mexico and South Dakota in moving their primaries to Super Tuesday.

New Mexico can and should be first in the nation in Presidential nominating contests. We are the true bellwether. #nmleg #primary #Firstinthenation https://t.co/dhnnp11ycb

— Rep. Javier Martínez (@JavierForNM) February 5, 2020

Former professor affirms kurtz

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Marie Schwab Miller

We have some real problems in South Dakota. This is not an exhaustive list, but from it, you’ll get the idea of the sorts of things we’re facing: Nursing homes are closing, leaving ill elderly and disabled folks with nowhere to go. People are going without medical care. Medical marijuana is not available to chronic pain sufferers and other sick people. Farm income is in free fall, and we can't grow a new crop because of the Reefer Madness bogeyman (i.e., the governor doesn’t want us to grow industrial hemp because DRUGS!!). Teacher pay sucks. Young people are leaving the state. We have serious substance abuse problems (remember, meth). Three of the nation's ten poorest counties are all in our state. Natives suffer continuing discrimination and unrelenting poverty. For starters.
Fortunately, the Legislature is in session every January and it is now January, so they can begin to address some of these problems. So what’s on their agenda?
(1) A bill to stop Daylight Saving Time in South Dakota (HB1085)
(2) A bill to remove irreconcilable differences from the list of grounds for divorce. That leaves the only permissible grounds as adultery, extreme cruelty, willful desertion, willful neglect, habitual intemperance, and criminal conviction resulting in incarceration. (Guess you'll have to badmouth Daddy to the kids before you can get a divorce in these here parts.) (HB1158)
(3) A bill to prohibit all of these: the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples, class protections for gay people, the recognition that trans people exist, the change of gender classification on birth certificates, bans on conversion therapy, and drag queen story time in public schools and libraries (which is actually quite quaint in this particular litany of horrors). (HB1215)
(4) A resolution to invite Virginia gun owners to move to South Dakota. (Not making this up.) (SCR602)
(5) A bill making it illegal to provide any gender-affirming medical treatment to transgender children 16 or under, even with parental permission, and making doctors who provide such treatment subject to imprisonment. (The sponsor compared such treatments to Nazi medical experiments. Still not kidding. Started out with the age at 18 and the offence a felony, so there has been some modest progress, if you want to call it that. We should also note that in this state so fearful of "out of state" influence that we tried to ban it--until a court said, "No, you don't"--all but one person speaking in committee hearings in favor of this bill were from--you guessed it--out of state. Turns out it's OK when the foreigners are on your side.) (HB1057)
(6) A bill permitting parents to refuse consent for medical, psychiatric, psychological, or counseling care to a minor child "if the parent reasonably believes that the service would induce, confirm, or promote the child's belief that the child's gender is different from that which it was at birth or that the gender with which the child identifies is different from that which it was at birth." (SB93)
(7) A bill requiring school counselors, psychologists, and social workers to out a trans kid to the parents. (SB88)
(8) A bill banning surrogacy. (HB1096)
(9) A bill preventing cities from banning plastic bags and straws. (SB54)
(10) A bill to remove sales tax from guns and ammunition. (We do tax nonessentials like food and clothing.) (HB1078)
To the best of my knowledge, they are not currently entertaining bills dealing with most of the problems listed above. Can’t blame them, can you? I mean, with all this important stuff on their plate, who really has the time?
I wonder why so many of our kids leave and don't come back. Anyone???

Trump scrambles to keep farmers from the shitter

As the Trump Organization ends environmental protection ag bankers continue to enslave landowners and more farms are headed for bankruptcy. The number of farms filing Chapter 12 bankruptcy increased in 2019 from the previous year according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

It is the largest increase in filings since 2010 when Chapter 12 filings increased by 33% coming off the recession of 2009. There were 595 Chapter 12 filings in 2019, according to AFBF's review of court data, or about 100 more than in 2018. The rate of filings was much higher in 1987, the year after the Chapter 12 provision was created. [More Farms Turn to Bankruptcy in 2019]

On Feb. 3 Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the final pool of cash in the 2019 Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments aimed at buying off welfare farmers will begin to show up in bank accounts by the end of this week even as Trump continues his war on the poor.

Payments will be made by FSA under the authority of CCC Charter Act to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton, and wheat. MFP payments will also be made to producers of almonds, cranberries, cultivated ginseng, fresh grapes, fresh sweet cherries, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Each specialty crop will receive a payment based on 2019 acres of fruit or nut bearing plants, or in the case of ginseng, based on harvested acres in 2019. [USDA issues third tranche of 2019 MFP payments]

Yes, socialized agriculture, socialized dairies, socialized cheese, socialized livestock production, a socialized timber industry, socialized air service, socialized freight rail, a socialized nursing home industry and now a socialized internet are all fine with Republicans in South Dakota but then they insist single-payer medical insurance is socialized medicine.

Black Hills logging picks up as Trump upends NEPA

The Black Hills National Forest is currently seeking candidates for 2 permanent, full-time NEPA Planners at the GS-0401-09/11 level. https://t.co/aNeMFXynpX

— Black Hills NF (@BlackHillsNF) February 3, 2020

After a century of fire suppression, a decades-long moratorium on prescribed burns, a lack of environmental litigators and GOP retrenchment the Black Hills National Forest and Grasslands have been broken for decades but the Black Hills Resilient Landscapes (BHRL) project could fix some of that. The first project to receive a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exclusion in the Black Hills National Forest is the Tepee Canyon project approved July, 2018. The BHNF is in Region 2, based in Colorado.

The Trump administration is trying to undermine NEPA by exempting many government-approved and funded projects from the review process and excluding consideration of the cumulative impacts, which is especially important when considering how projects will influence and be influenced by climate change. [National Resources Defense Council]

Pinus ponderosa is not native to the Black Hills and only reached the region less than four thousand years ago. When the Custer Expedition came through the Black Hills bringing invasive cheatgrass for their horses stands of ponderosa pine were sparsely scattered but a century and a half of poor ranching and land management practices have created an unnatural overstory best controlled by the mountain pine beetle, prescribed fires, periodic wildfires, yes even mechanical treatments as long as no new roads are built and burns applied to stimulate hardwood release. Restoring and rewilding American ecosystems are parts of the Green New Deal.

Today, the Trump Organization and Neiman Enterprises are logging and slashing some 2,669 acres of forest on public land between Jewel Cave National Monument and the Custer Highlands residential area. Fuel treatments will include clearcuts or in silviculture parlance: overstory removal. Hulett, Wyoming's Jim Neiman is a member of the GOP American Nazi Party and Neiman Enterprises is pretty much the last logger standing in the Black Hills.

As Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson prepares to head east for a temporary assignment, officials in the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service will work to fill in behind him. Last month, acting Rocky Mountain Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien announced Johnson will serve as the acting Black Hills National Forest supervisor. Johnson will start his new role, which is a temporary promotion due to the higher complexity of the forest, Monday. Johnson said he expects the job in the Black Hills to be similar to his current position, but each forest has different projects in the works. For example, the Black Hills has a much larger timber production program than the Bighorn National Forest and its staff is monitoring gold exploration as well. [USFS details allow for experience, coverage]

Note that in the 'timber harvest' section of the maps for BHRL the Moskee portion of the Wyoming Black Hills isn't being logged.

Conservative calls out Lederman

The chasm separating the establishment Republicans from the principled conservatives in South Dakota is widening. Calling him a globalist at her Faceberg Facebook page Republican former legislator Liz May is excoriating current NAZI US Congress member Howdy Doody Dusty Johnson for folding on Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling or MCOOL to help salvage the Trump Organization's trade bill. Included in May's video of her announcement for the US House primary against Johnson are SDGOP stalwarts Betty Olson and Charlie Hoffman.

Gordon Howie got a five figure sum from SDGOP chair Dan Lederman for renouncing his third party insurgency but Liz May doesn't need Dan's money so maybe this time self-reliance might actually trump moral hazard.

Welcome to Dancing with Dan’s Dollars Wild West Show! Liz Marty May, former SD House of Representative District 27 has officially thrown her hat and spurs into the arena and she is willing to spend her own money. If the State GOP didn’t plan to do their usual “impartiality” role in the primary she would have a chance. That is how the Dancing with Dan Dollars Lederman gang operates. There’s no fairness here. They don’t even try to hide it. As an example the Rapid City Journal states that none other than Dan Lederman has announced the District 34 “team.” Stay tuned to see how political rivals or threats to Dancing with the Dan’s Dollars gang have been eliminated from past rodeos. [Janette McIntyre, DUDLEY DO-RIGHT vs ANNIE OAKLEY for South Dakota’s lone US House Seat?]

The House of Saud is buying up land all over the United States and it looks like they have a Jewish broker so now we know how Dan Lederman gets the cash to buy off flakes like Gordon Howie. Howie admitted to a source he still has wolves at his door and he's upside-down with Fannie Mae. $20 says Lederman is on the phone every day trying to bribe Scyller Borglum to abandon her run against Reich Mike Rounds in the Republican US Senate primary.

Liz May can't succeed in a primary fixed against her but if she can mount an unaffiliated run for Congress in tHe general election it would not only be historic she might even win.

Thune gets campaign dollars from Trump defense team

Senator John Thune (NAZI-SD) has some $13 million in the bank but this year has dropped in popularity among his constituents from eighth to tenth place. Thune can't ever seek any higher office than he has now and unless he's indicted his term doesn't end until 2023. There are no media in his home state that aren't beholden to the Republican Party and although he went to DC with little more than the shirt on his back he had over $14 million in the bank last year. Wondering where he spent $1.4 million since he's not up for reelection until 2022? Lawyers and hush money, my guess.

31 May, 2016: John Thune backs Trump.

8 October, 2016: Thune condemns Trump.

12 October, 2016: Thune flips again and backs Trump.

23 October, 2019:

U.S. Sen. John Thune said the picture emerging of President Donald Trump's interactions with Ukraine is "not a good one." "The picture coming out of it based on the reporting we've seen is, yeah, I would say it's not a good one," Thune said. [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

The images of John Thune just get darker and creepier. Not just the Dan Nelson scandal, Thune had a long-time affair with Nancy Naeve formerly of KSFY teevee but who knows who he's hooked with up now. He's a sleaze who was handpicked by his fellow sleazes for "public life."

The paper trail is clear: John Thune made Congress look the other way as Russia infiltrated Facebook. He already knew Donald Trump was a sleaze from his basketball buddy Jim Comey. That's right: the vast white wing of the Republican Party was going to beat Hillary Clinton at any cost even if it meant conspiring with a sworn enemy of the United States, destroying the presidency and taking down the republic.

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal attorneys, gave financial support to several Republican senators over the last two decades, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Thune (R-S.D.). Like others on Trump’s team including Ray, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin, Sekulow gave thousands to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Read the rest here.

#sdsen John Thune being drubbed in @pressanddakotan readers' poll https://t.co/J32v97b7Qy

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) January 27, 2020