Reich Mike Rounds moves to the middle as Bengs advances

Rotund reprobate rescuer Reich Mike Rounds is rattled.

With Brian Bengs forcing a race to the center career politician Rounds says he and Democratic Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar want to return some cropland to grasslands. In my home state of South Dakota some eight million acres are salt-impacted due to seawater intrusion, fertilizer and other soil amendments, irrigation with saline water and roadway deicer applications. But, Minnesota is struggling with nitrate pollution, too.

Soils are worn out from decades of pesticides, poor farming practices and manufactured fertilizers. Aquifer sources are not considered high quality for irrigation because of their salinity levels and fossil water from limestone contains the minerals that made us human but shallow wells and waterways suffer impairment from nitrate pollution making water less available especially where aquifer levels are dwindling. 

Traditional deep-rooted prairie grasses and diverse small-grain rotations have largely been replaced by heavy corn and soybean rotations allowing the water table to rise and deposit more salt at the surface. Expanding white and brown saline patches force farmers into a loop of spending money on seeds that fail to emerge exposing the trade-off between short-term financial profitability and long-term soil health. 

Farmers would sign 10- to 15-year contracts and establish and maintain perennial grasses or non-woody vegetation like wildflowers, buckwheat or radishes. The program has additional incentives for beginning farmers and ranchers, and would prioritize contracts for poorly performing and highly erodible cropland. It would also pay landowners at a rate based on the land’s cropland value, rather than its pastureland value, which would amount to larger payments. [South Dakota Searchlight]

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, socialized water systems, a socialized internet and socialized infrastructure are all fine with Republicans in South Dakota but then they insist single-payer medical insurance is socialized medicine.

Big Money Mike Rounds has sat by and let the national debt more than DOUBLE in his time as a senator.

He’s rubber stamped runaway spending, tax cuts for Wall Street, and is sticking America’s children with the bill. pic.twitter.com/anqxKftXwV

— Brian Bengs (@BrianBengs) August 19, 2026

White people in South Dakota still too stupid to manage cannabis industry

With tribes in Minnesota, Nebraska and Wyoming showing white people how to cultivate, inspect and market cannabis South Dakota is still dragging behind. Nevertheless, the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s cannabis industry brings in about $700,000 annually through fees and taxes and currently there are 11 dispensaries, 11 processors and nine cultivators across that tribal nation. 

Even as home growing surged a thousand percent in the horrible red state with a reactionary Earth hater as attorney general advocates know South Dakota is leaving money on the table. But if the neanderthal South Dakota Legislature had any integrity or ethics (they don’t) they would empower the tribal nations trapped in South Dakota to be the sole cannabis producers, inspectors and distributors in the state (they won't).

Nicole Ezeh, law and public safety legislative director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, spoke to the state’s [therapeutic] cannabis board Monday. “The recreational states will still be in a bifurcated system where half of the regulatory scheme that deals with [therapeutic] cannabis products will be under schedule three, but adult use products will still be under schedule one still,” Ezeh said. [Bill Janklow's idea of public radio]

Learn more at South Dakota Searchlight.

Earth haters increasingly fearful of Bengs

Morbidly obese Earth hater, Pat Powers is wringing his unctuous little hands over Brian Bengs' appeal to South Dakota voters as short guy Reich Mike Rounds shrinks from his oath of office.

Data centers are making Mike Rounds’ Big Tech donors richer. But you?

Higher utility bills
Water drying up
… and a buzzing sound in your backyard for years to come. pic.twitter.com/w3GkdDPCjC

— Brian Bengs (@BrianBengs) August 13, 2026

I spent 26 years in the armed forces. My job as a JAG was to root out corruption and make sure our government acted ethically. With the corruption rampant, we need more watchdogs in Washington. And fewer lapdogs. pic.twitter.com/UqU6RHhXW8

— Brian Bengs (@BrianBengs) August 15, 2026

I’m uniting South Dakotans from the right, left and center to retire Big Money Mike Rounds, who believes South Dakota’s senate seat should be up at auction to the highest bidder. pic.twitter.com/7r2a1qgPKA

— Brian Bengs (@BrianBengs) August 16, 2026

South Dakota still failing women

In 2018 South Dakota ranked 50th in women's workplace environment and 38th overall in WalletHub's Best & Worst States. The red moocher state climbed to 32nd in 2019 but sank again in 2020 to surf the bottom for women’s equality at 38th and 41st in empowerment. 

In 2022, of the 25 best states for women 22 of them were blue according to rankings from WalletHub. My home state of South Dakota held 51st place for the number of women who own businesses, 49th in percentage of women who voted in 2020 but tied for 1st with North Dakota for lowest unemployment among women. The bottom 8 states for women's well-being were red. 

In 2023 20 of the 25 best states for women were blue but 17 of the worse states for women were red. North and South Dakota were still tied for first place in rates of employed women while New Mexico is still too high in rates of women living in poverty. South Dakota was 50th in women-owned businesses and 41st in women's health care and safety. 

In 2025 South Dakota was 51st in the percentage of women-owned businesses. The best 20 states for women were all blue while the 20 worst states for women were all red. In 2024 South Dakota dropped to 49th in financial literacy and 50th in financial knowledge and education. The state was the 43rd best economy in the US, 51st in percentage of businesses owned by women and 50th in innovation potential. 

Today, South Dakota is 36th in women's equality behind even Mississippi, 35th in political empowerment and 30th in workplace environment, has dropped to 50th in financial literacy is 51st in financial knowledge and education rank, 41st in innovation, 45th in human capital rank, 47th in innovation environment and 50th in share of technology companies. 

Read it all at WalletHub.

Tribes leading as Wyoming hints at loosening cannabis restrictions

A 2020 University of Wyoming survey showed 54% of the state's residents supported legalizing for adults over 21 while 85% supported legalizing therapeutic cannabis.

In 2021 the Northern Arapaho voted to decriminalize and the Eastern Shoshone General Council passed a binding resolution to operate tribally-owned cultivation and extraction facilities for cannabis-based products. Rooted in the tribe's internal legislative authority based on the Fort Bridger Treaties of 1863 and 1868 the body asserted that their exclusive land-use rights, self-governance and immunity bypass the jurisdiction of the state of Wyoming and serve as a major step toward tribal self-reliance and economic diversification. 

With the Wyoming governor's tribal liaison in attendance the Eastern Shoshone Cannabis Commission hosted a public education meeting last December to explore how a majority women and Native-owned industry could be developed on the Wind River Reservation. But just recently the state’s attorney general objected to the Trump Organization’s rescheduling of the herb.

“I think for as long as I’ve been in the legislature, [therapeutic cannabis] has been supported by a majority of Wyomingites,” Senator Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, said. “It’s gotten to the point where general legislation is supported by a majority, and even a majority of republicans support legalization.” Representative Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said the attorney general’s objection seems “out of step” with the people of Wyoming. “I think we should have aligned with federal law on this,” Provenza said. “But also we need to go further than that. We’ve just heard too many benefits from people like veterans who use it for PTSD and people who use it for chronic pain.” [Jackson Hole News & Guide]