Pierre sucks while Hot Springs moves forward

It's difficult to imagine a bigger shit hole in South Dakota than Pierre. Sexual predators in the Statehouse have been a feature of South Dakota for its entire history but to Sioux Falls-area legislator, Deb Peters it's no big deal. So in 2018 this blog wondered what prevents interns and other people concerned for their safety from wearing body cams in Pierre’s predatory environment?

Despite a significant influx of people moving to South Dakota, Pierre’s leadership has done little to capitalize on this trend. While the state overall has grown steadily, Pierre continues to decline. [Pierre must reverse population decline to revitalize]

In South Dakota infrastructure suffers to prop up the state's retirement system so, at a price of some $50 million+ (much of it federal dollars) the red moocher state chose an Iowa builder to replace the bridge across the Missouri River between Fort Pierre and the cesspool on the east side.

This scribe delivered supplies by truck twice a week to Pierre in the early 80s but Hot Springs and Edgemont were parts 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 2013 this blogger suggested that the state capital be moved to Hot Springs and in 2014 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 just celebrated its 50th anniversary and is at the focus of scientific research on a 9300-year-old mummified bison uncovered there. 

This interested party has even urged the South Dakota Democratic Party to hold their state convention there despite the Hells Angels lunge to buy Evans Plunge.

Hot Springs agreed to be part of a pilot project called Engage South Dakota, which involves South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota using journalism and community engagement to identify the community's top challenges and potential solutions. Based on interviews conducted by News Watch with leaders and residents of Hot Springs, many in this city of 3,600 people about 50 miles south of Rapid City said the time is right and the will is there to undertake the survey and ultimately implement good ideas that rise to the surface. [Hot Springs takes next steps in push for prosperity]

Former Pierre resident, Donald Pay weighed in on the state's capital at the South Dakotans for Democracy Faceberg page. 

In a related story South Dakota has dropped to the 45th best state for teachers according to WalletHub.

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

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

AZAG: KSA-based Earth haters should be denied new well; Dems probe Kushner

In 2018 the Saudi Ministry of Energy and Agriculture banned the use of groundwater for alfalfa production and in August of 2022 the Democratic candidate for Arizona Attorney General, now AG Kris Mayes called for an investigation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's sweetheart deal to pump Phoenix's reserves for free. So in April, after draining fragile aquifers and lobbying for more water from the Gila River Arizona revoked irrigation permits for KSA.

Fondomonte's new well is permitted to go 1,000-1,500 feet deep and pump water at a rate of 3,000 gallons per minute. To compare, wells that state regulators dub as exempt--which are typical for domestic use, pump up to 35 gallons per minute. The average depth of an exempt well in La Paz County is about 240 feet. A list of permitted wells in Arizona shows this would be Fondomonte's 33rd. [Saudi-backed farm Fondomonte receives approval for new well on its property]

About 3 million acres of irrigated ag land in Western states are planted to alfalfa and it takes 3 to 6 acre-feet every year to water an acre of it — more in hotter, drier climates. An acre foot is about 326,000 gallons.

Mayes said she would rather action be taken immediately than follow Hobbs' plan of first pursuing a fix through the legislature before taking executive action. Arizona law has very limited regulations on wells outside of managed areas, though Mayes says the department's director has a statutory duty to periodically review if an area meets the criteria for management. [AG Mayes wants approval of new well for Saudi-backed alfalfa farm revoked]

There is little doubt in my mind that damning evidence linking the Trump Organization to Russia was destroyed by the House of Saud on 9/11 and it’s impossible the Obama Administration didn’t know Donald Trump was being installed through a vast white wing conspiracy with at least one hostile government. 

Also in 2018 KSA Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi who was investigating the Trump Organization and Jared Kushner's blood money infusions.

While he’s not the first former government official who has sought to cash in, Kushner is one of the few to completely disregard the traditional cooling off period (the other: former Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose investment firm is also backed by Riyadh).  ["It appears to be a payoff": Expert says Kushner's Saudi cash an "egregious" national security worry]

It's entirely likely that South Dakota's Trump-drunk governor will invite Fondomonte to relocate to that failed red state.

Wyoming would cull wapiti, horses clearing invasive grasses

If livestock grazing is the key to preventing wildfires why is ranch country still suffering from near daily extreme grassland fire danger indices? Because Republicans are evil. 

Just a hundred and fifty years ago bison, wapiti, bighorn sheep, pronghorns and deer cleared the grasses driving Wyoming's fire years and if dry fuels remained in the fall tribes burned the rest. But, today wildfires have scorched nearly a million acres in Wyoming and Republican ranchers want to kill the elk and remove the horses that reduce fuel loads even though domestic livestock just can't keep up.

The solution establishes criteria for payment eligibility based on the degree to which a local elk herd is overpopulated and the percentage of grass eaten by that game. Additionally, a ranch must allow some hunters on the property to be eligible. [Wyoming wildlife officials OK rancher payment plan for elk-eaten grass]

The cost of keeping feral horses in holding pens off wild lands costs taxpayers at least $49 million annually. Wyoming has the second-highest feral horse population in the country with at least 7,144 of these critters. So, after threats of violence from Republicans the US Bureau of Land Management wants to remove some 5,000 horses.

The Bearlodge Ranger District of the Black Hills National Forest in northeastern Wyoming is shopping for Earth haters who want to be outfitters and guides for hunting deer, wapiti, cougars, and wild turkeys. Each ranger district has this option but it tends to happen most often where congressional delegations are Republicans and Crook County is a colony of whiny anti-government welfare ranchers. 420 permits are issued for over 24,000 head of cattle to graze the BHNF for pennies a month in June through October and according to some alarmists wapiti can spread brucellosis and wild turkeys can transmit avian flu to fragile livestock.

“It’s hot, dry, and windy, which are prime conditions for a spark to ignite into much more,” Governor Gordon said. “We must be conscientious of the conditions and the impact even an act as small as sighting in your rifle on a dry grassland can have on our neighbors and state. Check for fire bans and follow all local guidance.” [Governor Gordon Extends Executive Order to Aid in Livestock, Feed Transport]

The Anthropocene is now and time to rewild some of the American West eventually becoming part of a Greater Missouri Basin National Wildlife Refuge connecting the CM Russell in Montana along the Missouri River through North Dakota to Oacoma, South Dakota combined with corridors from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon in the north and south to the Pecos River through Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, western Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. 

Clear the eastern red cedar and second growth conifers then restore aspen habitat, prescribe burns, begin extensive Pleistocene rewilding using bison and cervids, empower tribes, lease private land for wildlife corridors, turn feral horses from Bureau of Land Management pastures onto other public land to control exotic grasses and buy out the welfare ranchers Tony Dean warned us about. 

Learn more at Wyoming Public Radio.

1:46am CDT #SPC Day1 #FireWX https://t.co/Sz3kci5V5F pic.twitter.com/q4uw9ebeHY

— NWS Storm Prediction Center (@NWSSPC) September 14, 2024

Paper: nothing left to lose spurs political violence and christian nationalism

Just say it: radical christianic terrorism. 

Using links to the federal storming of Ruby Ridge in Idaho and the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas culminating in the Oklahoma City bombing the extreme white wing of the Republican Party worships manuscripts like the Turner Diaries as prayers. The guy who killed some 60 people in Las Vegas was a white supremacist bent on starting a race war. A loss of everything to gambling helped to motivate both men.

Christian nationalists believe that America presently sits at a critical juncture. A country where Christianity historically provided the dominant political and cultural narrative is now besieged by the forces of pluralism and progressivism. Christian nationalists, therefore, believe that they have a divine mandate to take back America for God. To fail in this mission risks jeopardizing the blessings of God. The gravity of the situation has moved some Christian nationalists to espouse violence as a legitimate tool for restoring the status quo of Christian cultural and political dominance. Indeed, Christian nationalism was on full display during one of the most breath-taking events in modern American history: the 2021 Capitol insurgency. [Christian Nationalism and Violence Against Religious Minorities in the United States: A Quantitative Analysis]

Marjorie Taylor Greene and her Christian Nationalists support Donald Trump because they're convinced he’s the Antichrist who will enable them to conquer the Seven Mountains. The End Times fulfill a prophesy and welcome a supernatural extraterrestrial to create a one-world government. No higher being could be anything but predatory. It's dystopian fantasy run amok. Trump’s people are broke, broken, disaffected, debt-ridden, desperate and determined to destroy civil society to wipe their slates clean so they can string up the bankers who enslaved them.

Stunning new data suggest Christianity in America may finally be toast http://t.co/ka6JKuiqJz pic.twitter.com/1KKcK6CnEA

— Salon.com (@Salon) May 12, 2015

Does having a state filled with Christian nationalists make you safer or more succeptible to gun violence? More likely the latter. The correlation between a state's @PRRIpoll #ChristianNationalism score & gun death is .65 (FYI, a correlation not explained by racial demographics.) pic.twitter.com/vfTXYUsh7S

— Samuel Perry (@profsamperry) September 13, 2024

Moral hazard drives ag pollution in South Dakota

Today's intersection brings the receipts on how socialized agriculture enables the decimation of my home county and its primary waterway, the Big Sioux River. Because of the failures of South Dakota's Republican governors and legislature to control pollution some $172 million has been set aside for pipelines and drinking water improvements including in this interested party’s home town of Elkton where dairies, chicken farms and nitrates have ruined wells.

The problem is “total suspended solids,” including soil that washes into the river. Roughly 73% of that soil comes from farms. Marisa Lubeck, a spokesperson with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 Office (which includes South Dakota), sent a statement explaining states and local governments are responsible for ensuring plans are followed. [New report identifies pollution reductions needed to clean up segment of Big Sioux River]

So today, agriculture is the leading source of pollution in the waters of the United States and the latest round of flooding in farm country has just made it worse. Moral hazard is the flip side of self-reliance and the heavily subsidized industry knows emergency declarations will provide bailouts for those who choose risk because Republican welfare farmers are the real ecoterrorists who hate subsidies unless they benefit from them.

It is likely that a significant number of corn and soybean producers in many areas of the upper Midwest may qualify for crop insurance indemnity payments in 2024. With federal crop insurance, every year is different, and with the multiple options available to producers, there are many variable results from crop insurance coverage at harvest time. [2024 crop insurance payments likely in the upper Midwest]

In red states like South Dakota freedom equals the right to pollute. Kristi Noem's cuckolded husband is an insurance peddler and so is her fellow Earth hater, Mike Rounds. Senator John Thune (Earth hater-SD) is already notorious for encouraging moral hazard and adding layers of government overreach to the farm bill. Yes, the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Fish and Wildlife Service are within the Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief the president could simply order the Army Corps of Engineers and all to stand down. 

But, more than even the defense lobby lavishes on politicians the US Chamber of Commerce, Bayer, American Crystal Sugar, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Koch cabal flood Republicans in congress with cash according to research compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Courtney Briggs, a senior director of government affairs with AFBF and chair of the Waters Advocacy Coalition -- a collection of industry groups -- said agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are largely trying to ignore the 2023 Supreme Court case, Sackett v. EPA. [WOTUS Rules Remain Muddy]

Gaia turns her attention to Kristi Noem's failed red state

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Rapid City SD 221 AM MDT Wed Sep 11 2024

RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY

An area of low pressure will deepen across eastern Montana tonight into Thursday, bringing gusty south winds across the area. The winds, combined with very low relative humidity, will support critical fire weather conditions.

Northern Black Hills-Central Black Hills-Southern Black Hills- Fall River County Area-Northern Foot Hills-Eastern Foot Hills- Custer County Plains-Pine Ridge Area-Butte County Area- Northern Campbell-Southern Campbell-Crook County Plains- Weston County Plains-Wyoming Black Hills- 221 AM MDT Wed Sep 11 2024

Skin care products are sources of phthalates that harm kids

I have been chronicling gender bending chemicals in the environment for three decades and have learned gender dysphoria is linked with toxoplasmosis, chemical giants, medical industry oligopolies, polluted waterways, subsidized agriculture, absence of medical insurance, cancer and Republican legislatures on the dole. 

Aluminum, propylene glycol (steareths), Triclosan, parabens and phthalates are endocrine disruptors that wreak havoc in children and adolescents. Tampons, menstrual pads and even some sunscreens contain gender bending hormone disruptors. Phthalate-laden bottled water alone makes up 1.5 million tons of plastic each year.

We found that reported use of SCPs [skin care products] was associated with specific urinary LMW and HMW phthalate/replacement metabolite concentrations in children and that the associations differed according to race/ethnic identity and sex assigned at birth. The results can also promote discussions among policymakers that regulate manufacture and packaging of SCPs to eliminate endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure disparities among children, eliminate targeted marketing of endocrine-disrupting chemical-containing products toward black and Hispanic children, and underscore the importance of concurrent use of multiple SCPs as a source of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, rather than focus on individual products. Furthermore, these results can help clinicians and advocacy groups to advise parents and guardians on product choices and use to limit children’s exposure to potentially hazardous phthalates/replacements. [Impact of Skin Care Products on Phthalates and Phthalate Replacements in Children: the ECHO-FGS]

Learn more at NPR.

Wyoming congressional delegation now begging feds for bailouts

Irony is just another casualty of Wyoming's wildfires which have also cleared a half million acres of fences, power lines, dry grasses, sagebrush, ponderosa pine and juniper in Republican ranch country even as the Biden administration reaches out to serial ecoterrorists who rely on moral hazard to survive.

The Small Business Administration makes Economic Injury Disaster Loans available when the US Secretary of Agriculture designates an agricultural disaster. Primary Wyoming counties receiving bailouts are Campbell, Converse, Niobrara and Weston but Custer, Fall River, Lawrence and Pennington Counties in South Dakota will also receive federal handouts per the rewards of democratic socialism.

They call her Harry the Hag on Faceberg not just because of her ongoing attacks on the federal government and her hatred of the Earth but because some people wonder whether she's even a woman.

U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis as well as U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman (all R-WY) sent a letter Friday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging approval of a disaster designation request in response to the devastating wildfires across the state. [Wyoming Delegation Urges USDA to Support Local Wildfire Recovery Efforts]

If grazing cattle is the key to preventing wildfires why is Republican ranch country still suffering from near daily high even extreme grassland fire danger indices? 

And because of extreme drought Wyoming Republicans are on full tilt now that anthrax has emerged from overgrazed pastures and killed at least fifty cattle. It was detected in North Dakota in 2023.

More on Gaia's revenge linked here.

ip photo: a moose and her calf browse in Grand Teton National Park.

Whitney catches up to blogger on Noem's plans

Told you so.

Recall that Mike Rounds pledged to raise $9 million to run for Senate but even today he is struggling to fund his war chest lagging far behind the other Earth haters in South Dakota with just $2 million cash on hand. Now, Kamala Harris is destined for coronation and Rounds is facing massive Republican losses in Congress. Donald Trump is driving his political party into the sewer and Kristi Noem has nothing else to do but post pictures on "X" and Faceberg of her looking busy while Rounds spends his days posting pictures of his grandkids. 

Remember when the Earth haters descended on former First Lady Michelle Obama for baring her shoulders? There has been nary a murmur about Kristi Noem doing it let alone calling out Melania Trump for her past as a hooker. Anyone who believes Kristi's never been a victim of sexual harassment or unwanted touching is delusional. 

Mrs. Noem failed on a COVID response and has failed on flood decisions and to bury her past criticisms of Trump she deleted her old twitter feed so if Rounds resigned today she would simply appoint herself to the seat. She has also been fingered for a fling with Trump henchman, Corey Lewandowski so she is compliant, infidelitous, simply jaded or all the above.

Flip-flopper, John Thune, on the other hand, has amassed over $20 million simoleans after going to the US Senate as one of the least wealthy politicians in America. 

And it looks like not yet retired Stu Whitney has finally found the handle.

As one political insider put it, “when the music stops, (Noem) is going to have to find a chair.” The most logical campaign path would be seeking Rounds’ Senate seat in 2026. [South Dakota's top 5 campaign war chests]

Goss: Midwest Trump states still underperforming

Creighton University's Ernie Goss follows the economies of nine midwestern states and says manufacturing sectors in South Dakota, Missouri, and Iowa have been underperforming for at least four months straight. 

WalletHub reports that red states are in deeper financial distress than blue states as North Dakota and Iowa saw big jumps in unemployment claims in states where Republican governors are among the country's least popular. Kristi Noem's popularity hovers at nineteenth just behind Nebraska's Earth hating governor. Iowa's Republican governor is one of the most hated in the United States.

South Dakota also saw an increase in bankruptcy filings while the state is 42nd in credit score ranking and 15th in the number of people in financial distress in large part because of high medical and energy costs. Declining farmland prices and falling commodity prices could mean a recession in the economies of Midwest Trump states. 

"This is the fourth time this year that we've had a reading below growth neutral and with this being the eighth month, of course that means we've had four below and four above," said Goss. Additionally, the survey's employment index for August fell to 45.2 from 49.7 in July. Additionally, almost 18% of supply managers reported a shortage of workers in the August survey. Over 17% of respondents believed tariffs and trade restrictions were the greatest threat to the economy, while over 23.5% stated higher input costs as the biggest threat. [Goss: August BCI numbers continue to chill Midwest economy]

Learn more at the Nebraska Examiner.

White Earth Nation expanding cannabis footprint

As of May, 2024 forty seven Native cannabis retailers are operating fifty seven stores in nine states for a gain of some thirty percent since January, 2023. Nations in Minnesota and New York lead retail growth in those states but in California and Michigan the industry is reaching full flower very quickly, too. 

In Minnesota, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is near completion of a 50,000-square-foot cultivation facility that will dwarf any state-licensed operations which are capped at 30,000 square feet and eleven nations are negotiating compacts with the state.

The White Earth Nation is working toward an agreement to open an adult-use cannabis dispensary in the former JL Beers restaurant building on Moorhead’s east side. The White Earth Nation bought and repurposed a chip factory for indoor [cannabis] production, and it has greenhouses and about 10 acres of land under cultivation for cannabis. [White Earth Nation prepping former JL Beers to become cannabis dispensary]

When former Representative Tim Walz was running for governor in 2017 legal cannabis was a favorite topic in Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary and in 2023 Governor Walz signed legal cannabis into law.

Learn more at Forbes.

Today in red state failure: Nebraska likely buying polluted water from Colorado

The Greater Missouri Basin supplies water to some 100 million Americans but it's at risk to sprawl and the disappearance of the American West.

Today, the Ogallala or High Plains Aquifer is being depleted six and a half times faster than its recharge rate and nearly all the groundwater sampled from it is contaminated with uranium and nitrates from industrial agriculture so Nebraska is buying land to build a Platte River canal to tap into Colorado's water. 

But a burning coal seam that might have contributed to the Marshall Fire in Boulder County evaporated over a thousand homes, caused over two billion dollars in damage and released tons of deadly emissions. Coal Creek and Boulder Creek are tributaries of the Platte River which ultimately flows into the Missouri in Nebraska.

Urban conflagrations consume a mix of synthetic and natural materials, including homes, vehicles, electronics and household chemicals. For humans, contaminated watersheds can compromise drinking water sources by requiring extensive water treatment or even making some water supplies temporarily unusable. By measuring stormwater, we were able to show that these pollutants were conveyed by concrete drainage systems that quickly funneled the water into the creek. Nutrients from burned vegetation are likely stimulating algae growth, while toxic metals from the urban fire debris seem to be negatively affecting sensitive organisms such as mayflies. While Coal Creek isn’t a source of drinking water, it is used for irrigation and recreation. [Urban wildfires disrupt streams and their tiny inhabitants − losing these insects is a warning of bigger water problems]

Learn more at KUNC.