Republican ranchers are pushing back on Trump Organization well drilling in southern NM

Under provisions of the 1906 Antiquities Act President Joe Biden's America the Beautiful initiative includes protecting some 245,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert and Florida Mountains in Luna County, New Mexico. Most of the proposed Mimbres Peaks National Monument is on US Bureau of Land Management ground and could provide nearly $12 million in new economic activity, support over eighty new jobs and generate thousands of dollars in new state, county, and local revenues. 

But of course Republicans like Yvette Herrell and the Earth hating American Farm Bureau Federation are leading opposition to the plan. AFBF is notorious for conflicts of interest and denying the human effects on a warming climate while lobbying extensively for crop insurance in the federal farm bill and against Waters of the United States or WOTUS rules. 

However, public land designations face heavy scrutiny under the current administration, which has prioritized rolling back federal protections and downsizing monuments. While supported by a collaborative local coalition of business owners, conservationists, and a Luna County Commissioner, the proposal faces opposition from neighboring conservative county boards (such as Roosevelt and Lea counties) that view the Antiquities Act as an overreach.

The Roosevelt Act of 1907 provided for reservation of a 60-mile-wide tract along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent smuggling and enforce immigration laws. It came at the tail end of the 1906 Antiquities Act. Unhappy with one aspect of the Trump administration’s implementation of that law, a group of concerned ranchers and farmers met Thursday to voice their opposition to what they called “illegal drilling” along the border. “They’re drilling on my land right now,” said Bill Johnson, a multi-generational farmer and rancher along the border who said water is key to his family’s livelihood — and has been for more than a century of farming and ranching in Luna County. “If my well dries up, my land will be worth nothing, and my cattle and crops won’t have water.” 

New Mexico law requires a drilling permit for such projects. The Office of the State Engineer became aware of the drilling, and attempted to stop the company which began work near Hachita and is now drilling in Luna County. Catron County rancher Tom Paterson, the president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, urged citizens to reach out to state and federal lawmakers to voice their concerns about the well drilling along the border. [Border ranchers raise concerns about federal well drilling]

Trump's reckless behavior is exactly what Democrats hope will keep Republicans away from the polls in November.

Anderson cartoon implicates SD governor

Larry Rhoden is a criminal.

ICE Shootings Follow my cartoons and accompanying written commentary on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com

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— Nick Anderson - political cartoonist (@andertoon.bsky.social) July 16, 2026 at 12:48 PM

Erase Denny Sanford, too

New Mexico is erasing Cesar Chavez' name because of his predatory past so South Dakota should do the right thing, too.

Blogger's home town to host solar farm as wind power blows out

The cost of subsidizing, manufacturing, transporting, erecting, maintaining then removing and disposing of just one wind turbine eyesore bat and bird killer would take about six hundred subscribers to energy self-reliance. Microgrid technologies are destined to enhance tribal sovereignty, free communities from electric monopolies and net-metering only gives control back to utilities enabled by moral hazard. 

No corporate taxes, a compliant regulator, a dearth of environmental protection and cheap labor make South Dakota the perfect dumping ground for Earth killers like coal and eyesores like wind farms. 

Nevertheless, according to Earth hating Public Utilities Cartel Commissioner Chris Nelson the amount of wind power generation may have reached its plateau. In a 2019 interview with WNAX Radio Nelson said he believes there will be rapid development of solar power production facilities instead. But, the predicted shift toward solar, wind energy didn't stop entirely; major projects like the $400 million Crowned Ridge Wind Farm still moved forward around that timeframe. However, his prediction accurately foreshadowed a broader regional and national trend of diversifying renewable portfolios with rapid solar deployment to balance out the grid. 

Walworth County has a population of about 5,300 souls; it's rural, backwards and overwhelmingly Republican so Doral Renewables targeted slightly less primitive Brookings County for a solar farm instead.

Doral Renewables has much of the land it needs for a proposed 1,000-megawatt solar farm near Elkton in Richland and Elkton townships. “We’re at an endpoint regarding acquiring enough acreage to host the construction of the entire project,” Curtis Nordick, a senior development manager with Doral, told The Brookings Register in a recent interview. The proposed project has a lot of hoops to jump through at the state and local levels, including permitting processes, before it can even hope to break ground. But if it does, it’ll provide jobs for 200 to 300 workers during its multi-year construction phase that would start in early 2029 and continue into at least 2031. “We’re not taking the land out of production, necessarily; we’re just changing the use to be kind of an accommodation regarding the solar project,” Nordick said. [Proposed solar farm near Elkton reaches land milestone]

Utilities are not your friends so don’t tie your photovoltaic system to the grid but if you use it as a backup keep your own electricity completely separate from the utility that reads your meter.

South Dakota still hemorrhaging talent

In 2025 WalletHub's surveys revealed South Dakota was 40th in innovation but 50th in its share of technology companies and 48th in R&D spending per capita. Today, the horrible red state is 41st in innovation, 45th in human capital rank, 47th in innovation environment and 50th in share of technology companies.

White pastors preach spiritual genocide on Wind River Reservation

In the US where sovereignty rights are leading culture and language resurgence, growing capital resources from cannabis and casinos are building alternatives to historical trauma, hopelessness, suicide, and repression in Indian Country. 

So, in 2018, the Wind River Food Sovereignty Project began to address more broadly the food insecurity and high rates of diet-related disease in the community. With help from the Nature Conservancy, Wind Cave National Park in occupied South Dakota contributed to the reintroduction of bison to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho on the Wind River Reservation sending fifty to Wyoming in 2021. Today the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative is part of a program that teaches members traditional methods of drying meat and even modern canning techniques. 

Jason and Sarah Lucas say they felt their god leading them to start a ministry on the Wind River Reservation so they moved their family to Wyoming to birth what they call "Foundations For Nations."

On Sunday, as the Northern Arapaho Sundance ceremony was in its final day, Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas stood before her congregation on the Wind River Reservation and suggested Native people should turn away from their traditional ways, calling them a false “idol.” As the video began circulating on social media on Wednesday, several hundred Native community members moved swiftly to protest, to demand that Foundations For Nations leave the reservation. The Lucas family fled, citing death threats. The church’s related food shelf closed its doors. But the backlash has continued, with calls for the tribes to invoke the “bad man” clause in their treaty with the U.S. government, which empowers the tribes to ban people from reservation land. [Sermon faces backlash] 

The Bad Man Clause has been applied in other actions.

The "bad man" legal argument was successfully used by Lavetta Elk, another Oglala Sioux, in a lawsuit alleging that a U.S. Army recruiter had violated the "bad man" clause when he sexually molested her while transporting her to a military recruiting appointment. Elk recently won a $650,000 settlement that left intact a federal judge's ruling that said the treaty language requires the government to reimburse Sioux tribe members who are injured by "any wrong" done by "bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States."

Tribal nations are recognized by the federal government as political sovereigns, not a racial group. Ahead of the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit and as part of the Cobell settlement the Interior Department's Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, some three million acres in fifteen states are being returned to Tribal trust ownership. So, a plan by the US Bureau of Reclamation to remand some 60,000 acres on the Wind River Reservation to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes is long overdue.

Trump Organization racing to lock out tribes, public from public lands

An increasing number of scientists believe the US Fish and Wildlife Service isn't doing enough to crack down on red states that flout or simply ignore protections for vulnerable species so now some 80% of original grassland ecosystems are gone. 

Ag producers have destroyed shelter belts to plant industrial crops that deplete aquifers and now drought is blowing toxin-laden topsoil into downwind states. Another early spring wildfire season has begun in Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma, Texas and other Republican-held areas where moral hazard and poor ranching practices routinely decimate the high plains. In the last 10 years alone, we have lost more than 50 million acres of grasslands. 

 In January Earth hater Doug Burgum pulled the Bureau of Land Management leases from American Prairie. In February BLM and Forest Service bumped the Animal Unit Month or AUM lease to $1.69 from $1.35 for one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. 

Now, BLM and Forest Service have an app that locates unused grazing allotments so ranchers can even claim livestock act as wildland fuel reduction.

Even though rangeland management experts say overgrazing has degraded public lands, the new rules being drafted by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management — the first overhaul since 1995 — would instead expand the practice. The proposed rules would also ratchet back public participation in the agency’s decisions to allow grazing on federal public lands. The BLM’s proposed updates would strictly limit who has a say and when they can object, eliminating many steps where the public has been able to observe and comment on decisions to issue or renew permits. Other groups working on rangeland management say the regulations go too far in the opposite direction, tipping the scales toward ranchers. They point to proposals allowing ranchers to continue business as usual if they appeal agency decisions limiting grazing, threatening Native American tribes’ ability to graze bison and enshrining highly subsidized grazing fees. [First major overhaul of public lands grazing rule in a generation looks to cut out the public]

Devil finally takes Lindsay Graham; McConnell and Trump next?

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016

 

Cities, states grappling with cannabis dispensary oversaturation

Deeply blue cities Santa Fe, New Mexico and Missoula, Montana are about the same population. 

New Mexico's capital city ranks exceptionally high for cannabis retail density, with roughly 43 to 45 active licensed dispensaries serving a population of about 89,000 residents. This translates to an estimated 48 to 50 dispensaries per 100,000 residents, or roughly 1 shop for every 2,000 people. A year ago the NM cannabis excise tax reached 13% and will increase 1% each year until July 2030 when it will hit 18% as set in state statute. On Tuesday an interested party paid $65 in Santa Fe for an ounce of flower containing almost 31% THC as competition weeds out the weak. 

Missoula also maintains one of the highest concentrations of cannabis dispensaries per capita in the United States, peaking at a reported 30.7 dispensaries per 50,000 residents. State statistics confirm there are 54 active dispensaries operating within Missoula city limits so in February the city council mandated that any new dispensary be at least 1,000 feet away from another dispensary keeping additional location restrictions in place but assured existing dispensaries are grandfathered in under the new rules. Just recently, Missoula enacted a prohibition on new cannabis licenses to address a range of concerns while public health officials suggest the city should have no more than twelve dispensaries based on current population.

They've taken over former sandwich shops, coffee shops and other small retail outlets in nearly all corners of Missoula. [Missoula Current]

Signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek in March, 2024 after lawmakers passed House Bill 4121 Oregon established a strict, permanent population-based cap on new cannabis licenses or a maximum of one license per 7,500 residents.

Washington State has a 37% excise tax on cannabis sales so it is struggling to compete with a burgeoning black market.

Hegseth pastor says the LDS are non-christian polytheists

Pastor Doug Wilson, a christianic evangelical theologian who leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, explicitly states that he does not see members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as Christians. Wilson and his close ministry associates describe LDS doctrine as an unsound hybridization of "new age mythology" and Christianity. Under Wilson's proposed Christian nationalist model for America, the LDS Church would be categorized as a minority religion. In his ideal societal framework, the state would not permit the LDS Church to publicly promote its faith, build new religious structures, or convert others. Members would only be allowed to practice their beliefs privately. 

During public and political controversies regarding his ties to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Wilson directly asserted that Mormonism is a "polytheistic" belief system. Wilson’s rhetoric and his presence as a spiritual adviser to high-ranking officials sparked heavy scrutiny, especially after the Department of Defense initially released simplified military faith codes that separated the LDS Church from mainstream Christian categories. This classification drew sharp condemnation from Latter-day Saint members of Congress before being revised by the Pentagon.

Wilson was interviewed Tuesday by Morning Edition's Leila Fadel, herself a Muslim.

Unaffiliated voters hate Trump, too

Trump's net approval of -25 also is lower than Joe Biden's net approval at this stage of his presidency (-14) , and lower than Biden ever reached (-23, on several occasions in his final year in office). Majorities of Americans object to how Trump is handling important issues including the economy (-31 net approval) and inflation (-40). Many also have concerns about Trump's personal behavior. 60% of Americans say Trump is using his office for personal gain and only 27% say he isn't. [David Montgomery]

NEW Economist/YouGov Jul 3-6 % who approve | disapprove of Donald Trump U.S. adult citizens 35% | 61% (-25) Last week 38% | 58% (-20) Start of term 49% | 43% (+6) Dem 3% | 96% Ind 21% | 71% Rep 83% | 15% 18-29: 25% | 67% 65+: 40% | 56% yougov.com/en-us/articl...

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— YouGov America (@today.yougov.com) July 7, 2026 at 7:12 AM

NEW Economist/YouGov % of U.S. adult citizens who approve | disapprove of Donald Trump's job performance This week 35% | 61% (-25) Last week 38% | 58% (-20) Start of term 49% | 43% (+6) yougov.com/en-us/articl...

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— YouGov America (@today.yougov.com) July 7, 2026 at 7:15 AM

NEW Economist/YouGov Net job approval for Donald Trump [at the start of his second term | now] among... U.S. adult citizens +6 | -25 Men +17 | -16 Women -5 | -34* *New second-term low d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/ec... d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/ec...

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— YouGov America (@today.yougov.com) July 7, 2026 at 7:18 AM

South Dakota's Republicans are horrible people

It's not just South Dakota Earth haters Pat Powers, Lance Russell, Kristi Noem and her husband who are horrible pieces of shit.

State Senator Tom Pischke of Dell Rapids is charged with two counts of Offering a False or Forged Instrument for Filing, according to the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office. The charges relate to potentially fraudulent election forms submitted to the Minnehaha County Auditor’s office. Pischke is also a Republican precinct committeeman, and would typically be eligible to vote at the Republican party’s state convention later this week. Jim Eschenbaum is the Chair of the South Dakota Republican Party. He said Pischke told him he wouldn’t be attending the convention Monday evening, but Eschenbaum didn’t learn about the charges until Tuesday. [Bill Janklow's idea of public radio]

Happy Declaration Day!

Dr. Robert “Bob” V. Burns is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Dean Emeritus of the Honors College at South Dakota State University (SDSU).

There are 1,320 words in the document and it takes five to ten minutes to read. The document is not our nation’s legal instrument for governance, that is the US Constitution, but the Declaration of Independence is our spiritual ethos. It may be as important to assert the spiritual ethos of the Declaration of Independent today as it was in 1776 if voting rights for all citizens are to be secured. The quest for equality needs renewed energy and it is up to us to provide that energy through a level of political activism that would make our revolutionary patriots proud. [Bob Burns, Declaration worth reading, reflecting]

🇺🇸🇺🇸

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 8:22 AM

Guest post: keep US85 historic

Editor's note: After Missoula I returned to Deadwood in 1981 and was hired as a foodservice delivery truck driver by Paul Miller, a mad genius, who ran the transportation for Twin City Fruit. Paul's dad Dave told stories about beating checks back to Deadwood driving rickety old trucks on gravel roads and US85 since the 1940s from Deadwood to Denver's Denargo Market peddling produce from Scottsbluff, Nebraska back to the Gulch. They owned the Scottsbluff market back-hauling beet sugar and Rockyford melons from the area. 

Paul's brother David, Jr., now a local historian, ran the staff and warehouse until selling his share to Paul while their father, Dave, Sr. ran purchasing. David, Jr. also owned Pop's Grabit N Growl on Deadwood's Main Street until gambling came to the Gulch. Paul bought the Fish and Hunter warehouse then built a freezer that featured an impressive 40-foot roof-mounted ammonia refrigeration system to sustain the large-scale walk-ins that sustained Paul's $22 million market share. The property footprint sat directly along the US 85/Highway 14A and Whitewood Creek boundary, which serves as the primary gateway into Deadwood. 

Let me just say that you haven't lived until you've driven a refrigerated truck from Deadwood to Newcastle, Wyoming and back again twice a week for a year and a half on US85 sometimes over ice and snow covered roads.

Denver-based competitor Nobel also distributed in the Black Hills market then it was absorbed by Houston-based Sysco but was the division that ultimately bought Paul's client list. Following corporate transitions later in its history, local lore and historical employee forums note that operations abruptly ceased, with remaining inventory packed up overnight. Paul died in 2014 but not before giving the Fish and Hunter property back to the City.

Today, I can see US85 from my house in New Mexico, drive it nearly every day and my dreams still feature deadlines to meet.

From my inbox.

Hello Larry, 

My name is Mike Miller. I worked with you at TCF in Deadwood. I left in 1987 to work for American Airlines in Tulsa, retired in 2021, and moved to Olympia, WA. I’m sending you this in case you would be able to help my Dad out. He’s 85 and still fighting for the Black Hills at every opportunity. What we are trying to do is get as many people as we can to submit comments to Mark Malone of the SDDOT. Their plan is to widen and straighten highway 85 from Cheyenne Crossing to the Wyoming border. We know what that means. We recently got an extension on the comment period to September 4th. If you, or anyone you know could send a message to Mark, it would help a lot. A comment from you would carry a lot of weight. 

Thank you Larry. 

Sincerely, Mike Miller