More tribes join lawsuit to stop Pe'Sla encroachment

Earth haters, Pete Lien & Sons is part of Summit Materials, which was acquired by Quikrete Holdings, Inc. in 2025.

Regime change imminent

In January, 2027 after the Democrats retake the US House and Senate we will elect Hakeem Jeffries Speaker of the House, impeach and remove Trump and JD Vance then Jeffries will become President of the United States. After that, Democrats will impeach Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas then annul the Zionist stain smeared on Turtle Island by the Trump Organization. 

Regime change is coming to Congress in November.

— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social) April 25, 2026 at 11:39 AM

Landback gains momentum

Project 2025 and the extreme white wing of the Republican Party want a not so civil war over critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI because oligarchs fear an admission of guilt implies liability and they will be compelled to pay reparations to Indigenous and to the descendants of enslaved people.

"Landback isn’t a slogan; it's the solution to some of the biggest challenges we face as a society, from climate to racial justice to food sovereignty. Landback means reclaiming our power collectively to build the future that our great-grandchildren can thrive in."

There are Indigenous Nations who can afford to buy much of the land in the public domain if it indeed goes up for sale and after a 23-year effort and $56 million about 47,000 acres in the Klamath Basin have been returned to the Yurok Tribe after studies showed how conservation goals are more effectively met when Indigenous peoples manage their own territories. There is at least a $billion in the fund for the Black Hills Claim just for instance so some day tribes will buy some of their own land from the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in occupied South Dakota and Wyoming. 

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 were returned to tribal trust ownership including in New Mexico.

While the program operated nationwide across more than 50 tribal locations, specific outcomes for 

Kewa Pueblo

 (Santo Domingo) in New Mexico include: 

• Land Consolidation: The program aimed to address "checkerboarding" and fractionated land ownership—where a single tract might have hundreds of individual owners—by purchasing interests from willing sellers at fair market value and transferring them to tribal governments.
• National Context: Across New Mexico and other states, the program paid out approximately $1.69 billion to over 123,000 individuals over its 10-year lifespan.
• Related Land Efforts: In addition to the Buy-Back Program, other recent land transfers in New Mexico include bipartisan legislation to transfer land from a former boarding school to the state's 19 Pueblos (including Kewa) for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

Doeden, Crabtree rocking affordability concerns

What are Trump/GOP even doing?!? Americans are in a stinking affordability crisis due to Trump/GOP’s illegal tariffs (taxes on consumers) increasing costs; a war of choice in Iran causing soaring gas prices that we’re paying for; inflation pushed from the high costs; & healthcare subsidies gutted!!!

[image or embed]

— Analisa Swan (she/her) (@analisaswan.bsky.social) April 17, 2026 at 9:11 AM

As far back as 2015 a company representative told WNAX radio that the state's attractions, road conditions, nightlife options, scenic byways, tourist attractions, cost of traveling, hotel affordability, gas prices and camping all suck. 

Today, a state that calls itself conservative depends on federal Social Security benefits to pay the property taxes that currently bankroll South Dakota's red state failure while video lootery drives poor residents even deeper into despair. 

And, as the Trump Organization touts deregulation and tax cuts as keys to making life affordable critics and recent economic data suggest that because of the war on Iran costs for essentials like housing, gas, and groceries remain high. Just recently while apparently thumbing their noses at Herr Trump, Toby Doeden mentioned affordability at least three times during the Earth haters' gubernatorial debate and in a Dakota Town Hall discussion State Senator Casey Crabtree did, too. Crabtree cited the dysfunction in his own party as as part of his decision to end a run for congress.

“I think without a doubt, the number one issue across the state is affordability. It is strengthening the economy,” Crabtree said during the episode. He added that the candidate who best explains how to put “more money back in people’s pockets” will likely gain the edge in the final stretch before Election Day. For western South Dakota listeners, the affordability conversation may resonate especially strongly as Rapid City continues balancing growth, housing pressure and infrastructure demands, all of which tie directly into the larger statewide tax and economic development debate now taking shape ahead of November. [Affordability Dominates Dakota Town Hall Debate]

A Clinton era housing bill is awarding funds for tribal communities so there is that.

As of post time Doeden is leading Trump lover, Dusty Johnson at Polymarket.

Learn more at South DaCola.

AI on the Black Hills

The historical landscape of He Sapa (the Black Hills) was significantly different from its present-day appearance, with quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) playing a much more dominant role in the ecosystem, particularly in mesic (moist) areas, prior to European settlement. 

• Pre-Settlement Landscape: The area was characterized by a mosaic of diverse habitats, including open ponderosa pine parks, grass prairies, and dense stands of hardwoods, of which aspen was a significant component in moister, sheltered areas and lower valleys.
• Role of Fire: Quaking aspen is a pioneer species that thrives following disturbances like fire. Historically, natural and indigenous-led fires maintained a diverse landscape that favored the regeneration of aspen.
• Settlement and Environmental Change: Following settlement, fire suppression and changes in land management allowed conifers, particularly ponderosa pine, to encroach upon areas previously dominated by aspen and other hardwoods.
• Ecological Significance: Before these landscape shifts, these mesic aspen habitats served as crucial biodiversity hotspots. 

Today, the prevalence of aspen has been heavily influenced by logging and fire suppression, which have, in many parts of the region, increased the overall acreage of aspen but altered its historical distribution and competitive relationship with other tree species.

Public comment sought

Canada-based Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation wants to drill through the water-bearing Inyan Kara Group on School and Public Lands property in Fall River County. The project is less than a mile from Craven Canyon where pictographs and rock art of the Lakota, Cheyenne, Mandan, Hidatsa, Ponca, eastern Dakota, and other Native American cultures are protected on the Black Hills National Forest.

The postponed Chord Project hearing is intended to determine the fate of a permit application by the subsidiary of Nexus Uranium Corp and was moved from Pierre to Hot Springs after requests from local commissioners and tribal organizers.

Learn more at EE News.

Trump Organization strips protections from Pecos watershed

The Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming are hardly the only public lands plundered by foreign companies under cover of the General Mining Law of 1872 enacted to settle Civil War debt and rob Indigenous peoples of their homes and human rights. 

Until it closed in 1939 the Tererro Mine in the headwaters of the Pecos River took gold, lead and other metals then left piles of toxic waste rock in their place. After major flooding in 1991 when sulfuric acid, aluminum and zinc swept into the river miner Freeport-McMoRan was held responsible for the deaths of some 100,000 Rio Grande cutthroat trout and for the subsequent decades of acid mine drainage. 

Despite opposition from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Senator Martin Heinrich during the first Trump term in 2019 an American subsidiary of Australian company New World Cobalt, was granted twenty federal permits to drill test holes into the Sangre de Cristo mountain range on the Santa Fe National Forest in the Jones Hill area north of Pecos, New Mexico.

Federal officials announced the Upper Pecos Watershed, thousands of acres of forest service and public lands, will reopen next month for potential mining and geothermal extraction projects. “The Trump administration is putting foreign mining corporations and oil and gas interests ahead of New Mexico families, our water, our public lands, and our sacred tribal sites,” said U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández during a press conference. [Feds quash lawmakers’ effort to prevent new mining operations in Upper Pecos Watershed]

Today's intersection: grasslands disappearing as grazing expands

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.

Habitat loss from factors such as agricultural conversion and invasive species, compounded by climate change, threaten the health of grasslands. Agricultural cultivation, development, and invasive species have led to a loss of at least 80% of these grasslands, including a loss of 99% of tallgrass prairie. Of the 20% of Great Plains grasslands that remain undisturbed, 93% of it is unprotected and at risk of conversion. Conversion of grasslands to agriculture and forests is reducing biodiversity, and invasive grass species, which account for 13-30% of the grass species in the Great Plains, further influence biodiversity loss. When native grasslands disappear, so do the benefits they provide. [Grasslands are being lost at a far faster pace than they are being conserved.]

South Dakota's governor is a committed Earth hater and the legislature is dominated by Republicans who ignore the effects of the Anthropocene so lobbyists like the American Farm Bureau Federation and Americans for Prosperity are lining up again to stuff their pockets with cash.

Geoffrey Gray-Lobe is a county commissioner and board member with the Clay County Park, a few hundred acres along the Missouri River where South Dakotans can camp, boat, picnic and hike. He has led the effort to convert about 30 acres of the park into native prairie. The site is part of 125 acres the park has been renting to farmers for years. Gray-Lobe said he did some research and found the park could more than double the rent it charges on the land. [Most American prairies are gone. These people are working to bring them back]

The reasoning is hardly mysterious: it's all about the money hunting and subsidized grazing bring to the South Dakota Republican Party depleting watersheds and smothering habitat under single-party rule. South Dakota's experiment introducing an exotic species has just not been able to keep up breeding a bird unable to adapt to the state's brutal weather and climate science-denying legislature. 

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.

Leaders from several government agencies and organizations joined together to discuss working together for improving cattle grazing opportunities, as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to launch the Grazing Action Plan. [MOU Signed to Expand Federal Grazing]

Instead, the United States should rewild the high plains by connecting the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge in Montana along the Missouri River to Oacoma, South Dakota combined with corridors from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon in the north and south to the Canadian River through Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Yes, the grassland fire danger index will reach the very high category again on Wednesday for most of the horrible red state of South Dakota.

Black Hills coalition sues for peace

Preservation is a weak spot in the Republican agenda and if enough people believe forest and rangeland resilience is a bankable position the South Dakota Democratic Party needs to exploit it by fielding candidates who can convince voters to reject politicians like John Thune, Marty Jackley, Mike Rounds and Dusty Johnson who work for the grazing, mining and logging profiteers at the expense of public lands.

Dems, Natives poking Earth haters in Rapid City elections

Rapid City's population is about 11% Native, Indigenous people account for nearly 60% of arrests there and South Dakota's jails and prisons are overwhelmingly warehousing American Indians. 

From the days of card tables and stock pots filled with steaming soups every Sunday on the banks of Rapid Creek Deirdre Monahan, Pat Zent and their intrepid group of Food not Bombs volunteers provided an alternative for up to seventy people otherwise subjected to persecution at the hands of the christianic religionists who operate the Cornerstone Mission. 

Laura Armstrong is a local speech language pathologist who served on the Rapid City Common Council from 2017-2023, twice as Council President and in December this interested party asked her to enter the Democratic gubernatorial primary so elderly spoiler Rick Knobe would stay out of the race. Today, Armstrong a shoo-in for Ward 5 as Rod Pettigrew is not running again.

Murray Lee from NDN Collective is challenging Ward One incumbent Josh Biberdorf. Christopher Vanderhoof is challenging incumbent Lindsey Seachris’ seat in Ward Two. Ward Three incumbent Keven Maher is being challenged by Andrea (ANNDREA) Schaefer. John Roberts, the incumbent for Ward Four, being challenged by Valeriah Big Eagle and Ardin Jay Cychosz (SEE-KOSH). Laura Armstrong and Pat Roseland, both former Council members, are running for Pettigrew’s seat in Ward Five. 

Some of the council candidates appeared at a recent Pennington County Democrats candidate forum at The Dahl in Rapid City, where party organizers emphasized candidate support, petition drives, and fundraising to help local campaigns get on the ballot and meet their goals. 

The evening highlighted the growing presence of Native candidates and women seeking local office. Big Eagle who is the director of He Sapa Initiatives at NDN Collective and Yankton Sioux and Crow Creek Sioux, spoke about working with youth, confronting high Native student dropout rates, and coaching basketball as a way to keep young people in school and “off the streets.” She tied her city council bid to long-running work on affordable housing, clean water, and opposition to mining projects that threaten the Black Hills and local water supplies. 

Read it all at Native Sun News Today. 

Tribes take giant step to regain He Sapa

The Black Hills have been broken since at least 2002. 

The white race stole the ground, plundered the resources, continue to pollute waterways and deplete watersheds, and have encouraged ponderosa pine to infest lands once dominated by aspen and sage. But, the de facto repatriation of one tiny parcel to an Indigenous community is hardly monumentizing gone wrong. In fact, it could be a giant leap toward reconciliation.

Today, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz and the Great Sioux Nation tribal representatives signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-stewardship of the Black Elk Wilderness on the Black Hills National Forest in Mystic, South Dakota.

“Establishing this agreement will enhance consultation, collaboration and co-stewardship of the Black Elk Wilderness with the Great Sioux Nation Tribes,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “This agreement focuses on active management for recreation, habitat improvement, wildlife benefit, invasive species mitigation and wilderness management.”

The agreement enhances opportunities for tribal guidance, knowledge, and consultation regarding wilderness management, resource protection, recreation, and cultural interpretation, at the discretion of the tribe and as applicable and permitted under federal law. It also ensures tribal interests of preservation, site protection, wilderness integrity, and cultural practice and access are heeded.

“These MOUs are important because our Lakota children are our most important resource for the future of our Nation, and we want our kids to have a chance to visit our sacred lands, plant trees and enjoy Mother Earth, where our ancestors once roamed free,” said Boyd Gourneau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

“Our most sacred lands are the Black Hills, and Black Elk Peak is tied to Black Elk, our Holy Man and it is an honor for us to care for these lands at Black Elk Wilderness,” said Wayne Boyd, treasurer for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  “We welcome the jobs and opportunity for our kids and the chance to teach our culture and history to our neighbors.”

Tribes represented in the agreement include: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe.

The Black Elk Wilderness was congressionally designated in 1980 and spans 13,534 acres in the center of the Black Hills National Forest in western South Dakota. This historic partnership serves as a model for future co-stewardship agreements. The U.S. Forest Service and the Great Sioux Nation will continue to work closely together to implement the agreement, with upcoming joint initiatives. [press release]

Liz May: SD Earth haters are a wreck

After the Soviet Union fell Republicans became Earth haters and began their war on the environment substituting a new Green Scare for the old Red Scare. 

Today, Liz May is a white christianic Earth hater who clearly ignores historical trauma and institutional racism but represents District 27 in South Dakota's demented legislature anyway and blames the victims of Manifest Destiny for being part of the Fourth World. At any rate, it sounds like Earth haters aren't getting along and in Watertown there was a big blowup at Friday’s SDGOP women's meeting.

This Isn’t About Republicans. It’s About How We Govern.

By Rep. Liz May

Before I get into the substance of this session, I want to share, I missed the first week of session this year due to a brain injury. The following week, I was only able to make it through a couple of days before needing to step back again. It wasn’t until after that I was able to push through and finish most of the session—though I ultimately missed the final week as well. It made for one of the hardest sessions I’ve experienced.

At the same time, it was also one of the most contentious. The infighting within our caucus made it even more challenging to stay focused and do the job I was sent there to do. I’ll be honest—I had moments where I had to work hard to keep my emotions in check. That’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s something I’ve learned over the years. Once words are said, you don’t get them back. And if I’m being real, my ancestral background reminds me I’ve got a little fire in me—I’ve had my share of moments. You either learn to manage it, or it manages you.

Through all of that, I never lost sight of one thing: it is an honor to serve the people of District 27. The folks back home didn’t elect me to be perfect—they elected me to be honest, to stay grounded, and to do the work, even when it’s hard.

When people look at the South Dakota Legislature today, they see something they’re not used to—Republicans disagreeing with each other, sometimes sharply. To some, it looks like division. To others, dysfunction. But what we’re actually seeing is something much deeper—and much more honest. The truth is, this isn’t a fight about personalities or even about conservatism itself. It’s a debate about what government is supposed to be.

The Republican Party is a political label. But what’s happening inside the legislature has very little to do with party—and everything to do with how each of us views the role of government. There are three primary governing philosophies at play, and understanding them is the key to understanding everything else.

The first is populism, often closely aligned with libertarian thinking. This group is driven by a deep skepticism of government. Their focus is on limiting it, resisting it, and questioning whether it should be involved at all. Their first question is simple: should government be doing this in the first place?

The second is conservatism. Historically, conservatism has included both limiting government and responsibly governing the institutions that exist. A true conservative does not reject government but believes it should be structured, stable, and accountable. Conservatism is about managing government responsibly—ensuring it functions properly, maintaining order, and improving systems where needed without tearing them down.

The third is what can best be described as expansion or growth-oriented thinking. This group views government as a tool. They are focused on using it to drive economic development, build infrastructure, expand services, and create outcomes.

All three of these philosophies exist within the same political party—and that’s why the conflict feels so sharp. These are not disagreements about being Republican. They are disagreements about what government should do.

You can see this divide in nearly every major issue. Taking money from one fund and redirecting it to another—some see that as economic growth, others see it as misuse. Regulating behavior in schools—some see it as protection, others see it as overreach. Funding nonprofits—some see it as meeting real needs, others see it as expanding government. These are not partisan disagreements. They are philosophical ones.

That same divide exists in how people interpret the South Dakota Republican Party platform. The platform emphasizes individual liberty, limited government, and personal responsibility—principles that strongly reflect populist and libertarian thinking. At the same time, it recognizes that government has essential functions that must be carried out—something rooted in conservatism. One philosophy reads the platform as a call to limit government wherever possible. Another reads it as a responsibility to govern effectively within defined limits. Both claim the platform—but they are not operating from the same understanding.

And right now, that tension is playing out in a very visible way. The populist wing—supported and amplified by outside voices, advocacy groups, and social media commentary—has had a significant influence on the tone and direction of the party. That influence is not always about governing. Often, it is about messaging, pressure, and defining who is or isn’t considered “conservative.”

Strong disagreement is expected in a legislative body, and no group is without fault. But when disagreement turns personal, it undermines the work for everyone. That shift in tone was evident this past session, where debate too often moved away from policy and toward confrontation.

I also want to share a personal perspective on the Freedom Caucus, because I had the opportunity to see it up close when it was first being formed in South Dakota. I was invited to attend an early meeting to consider joining. I listened carefully, and when I left that night, I asked that the national leadership reach out so I could better understand how the group operated. A few days later, I received that call. Toward the end of the conversation, I asked a simple question: would I be expected to vote the way the group directed? The answer I received was yes—that membership required voting with the group. That told me everything I needed to know. 

I’m a ranch girl, and I wasn’t elected to take orders—I was elected to use my judgment. The people I represent expect me to be honest, to think for myself, and to make decisions grounded in logic and common sense. We’re not going to get every vote right, but we won’t get any of them right if we’re just following someone else’s instructions.

That’s not how I believe this job should work. In my view, the Freedom Caucus—both in South Dakota and across the country—operates from a libertarian philosophy that prioritizes limiting government above all else. That approach helps explain much of the disruption and tone we saw this last session. It may work for some, but it’s not how I believe governing should be done.

The divide becomes even clearer when you look at the budget. Every year, we hear concerns about the size of government. But the legislature is only in session for about 40 days, while the executive branch operates year-round, building and administering the base budget long before we ever step into the appropriations room. By the time most legislators are reviewing the budget, much of it is already built. Limiting government is part of governing—but governing also requires deciding what must exist and making it function responsibly.

If the true concern is the size and growth of the general appropriations bill, then the focus has to be where that bill is actually built. That means spending less time bringing policy bills that add mandates and more time in the appropriations room—where budgets are reviewed line by line, questions are asked, and real changes can be made. That’s where outcomes are shaped. Raising objections on the final day may sound strong, but it doesn’t change the result. At that point, the work has already been done. If anything, it highlights a lack of engagement in the process itself. Governing requires more than commentary at the end—it requires showing up early, doing the work, and taking responsibility for the outcome.

When you look at the bills that were brought forward this session, many of the same voices calling for smaller government were also introducing legislation that expanded it. Bills like HB 1243 required schools to take on new mandates and even exposed the state to additional legal costs. Others, like HB 1241, added procedural requirements that increase administrative burden. Even when framed around rights or values, these bills still require enforcement, oversight, or compliance. Government doesn’t grow only through spending—it also grows through mandates, enforcement, and administrative requirements. You cannot say you are limiting government while consistently adding mandates to it.

Citizen engagement is important and necessary—but it is different from carrying the responsibility of governing. There is a growing trend of voices who follow the process from the outside and speak with certainty about how it should be done, without ever having to carry the responsibility of doing it. They reduce complex decisions to simple narratives and labels. Anyone can criticize a vote. Governing requires owning the outcome.

At the end of the day, this isn’t about factions in Pierre. It’s about the people back home. They’re not asking us to win arguments. They’re asking us to get it right.

We don’t need to eliminate disagreement. But we do need to be honest about it—and responsible in how we handle it. Because the future of this state won’t be decided by who is the loudest. It will be decided by who is willing to do the work.

Trump wants to disenfranchise Native voters

Donald Trump hates Indigenous Americans so here are more reasons Democrats and American Indians need to vote in midterm elections. 

Fueled by Trump's racism US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents have wrongfully stopped, detained, and interrogated Native Americans during raids even though they are US citizens and because of the unlawful treatment of Indians activists are calling for documentation to be carried for protection.

Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), is voicing opposition to the SAVE America Act, legislation being aggressively pushed by the Trump administration. For Indigenous voters, she said, several provisions in the SAVE Act would pose significant challenges. While tribal identification cards may be accepted for voting, she noted they would not qualify for voter registration. She also cited the long distances to travel to register to vote would prevent some to do so. The law, which requires proof of citizenship for federal registration, invalidates many Tribal IDs, creating severe burdens for rural Alaskans, say advocates, noting that only six election offices exist in the state. [Native News Online]

The SAVE Act would require Americans to drive, fly, or even take a ferry to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Alaskan Senator Murkowski explains:

[image or embed]

— Center for American Progress (@americanprogress.bsky.social) March 20, 2026 at 1:44 PM

Earth haters were granted categorical exclusion to drill near Pe'Sla

ip image.

Over twenty years ago Congress passed the Tribal Forest Protection Act when this columnist was still living in the Black Hills. It authorized tribal nations to enter agreements with the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to protect public resources bordering or adjacent to reservations and trust lands that have biological, archaeological, historical, or cultural connections. 

Then in 2012 the Sicangu Lakota Oyate or Rosebud Sioux Tribe raised some $10 million combined with contributions from the other members of the Oceti Sakowin the People of the Seven Council Fires purchased Pe'Sla, the property formerly called Reynold's Prairie by the descendants of white settlers. In 2014 the Nations acquired the final 437 acres of the Heart of Everything That Is and in 2015 the Oyates began moving bison to the meadow with hopes to add many more after winning federal trust status but in 2020 the herd of sixty five was removed after whining from welfare ranchers who lease Forest Service land for domestic cattle grazing for pennies per head.

But on Feb. 27, the U.S. Forest Service approved an exploratory drilling project directly adjacent to Pe’ Sla and on the Rapid Creek Watershed, putting the land’s ecosystem, water and Native ceremonial sites at risk. The plan approved by the U.S. Forest Service Mystic Ranger District in February says the company will drill up to 18 holes, 3 inches in diameter and 1,000 feet deep, vertically or at an angle up to 45 degrees. The project is estimated to last less than a year. On this condition, the Forest Service granted Pete Lien & Sons a categorical exclusion. This waived the requirement of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, which would identify any environmental effects the proposed project could have and extend the public and tribal consultation period. [Drilling project moves forward in the heart of the Black Hills]

Preservation is a weak spot in the Republican agenda and if enough people believe forest and rangeland resilience is a bankable position the South Dakota Democratic Party needs to exploit it by fielding candidates who can convince voters to reject politicians like John Thune, Marty Jackley, Mike Rounds and Dusty Johnson who work for the grazing, mining and logging profiteers at the expense of public lands.

Wildfires in the Black Hills continue to test local fire departments and the Central Hills are under a red flag warning for Thursday and Friday.

Mormons will build McTemple in occupied Black Hills

Mormonism is not so much a religion as it is a social contract which is probably why there is so much suspicion from Calvinists since it just seems like another pyramid scheme exacting pounds of flesh while employing tax-exempt status. 

Cody, Wyoming's evangelical christians and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or LDS quarreled over the erection of a pantheon there that one Cody Enterprise story respondent called a McTemple where the only thing missing is a sign out front saying "Billions Extorted." But seriously, what is the LDS church if not a white supremacist cult? Mormons are, of course, not christians at all so it's been front page news in Wyoming for years.

In 2023 LDS distributed 435 boxes of food to families on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and just recently, they bribed Feeding South Dakota in Rapid City with 40,000 pounds of food which offered some relief to hundreds of families hit hard by the Trump Organization's tariffs. Now, they're building a McTemple on a 4.86-acre lot located at the northeast corner of Mount Rushmore Road and Moon Meadows Drive south of town. The sect boasts a membership of some 12,000 souls in that failed red state. 

According to one source the real owner of the former FLDS compound near Pringle is Paul Elden Kingston, a polygamist believed to have some 40 wives, over 300 kids and preaches "bleeding the beast." Kingston is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination and part of the Latter Day Church of Christ with assets in the $150 million range.

The good news? The grassland fire danger index will reach the high and very high categories for that part of Pennington County on Thursday and Friday.

Miners threaten sacred lands on purpose: part n

It’s not really South nor even really Dakota. 

Over twenty years ago Congress passed the Tribal Forest Protection Act when this columnist was still living in the Black Hills. It authorized tribal nations to enter agreements with the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to protect public resources bordering or adjacent to reservations and trust lands that have biological, archaeological, historical, or cultural connections. 

Then in 2012 the Sicangu Lakota Oyate or Rosebud Sioux Tribe raised some $10 million combined with contributions from the other members of the Oceti Sakowin the People of the Seven Council Fires purchased Pe'Sla, the property formerly called Reynold's Prairie by the descendants of white settlers. In 2014 the Nations acquired the final 437 acres of the Heart of Everything That Is and in 2015 the Oyates began moving bison to the meadow with hopes to add many more after winning federal trust status but in 2020 the herd of sixty five was removed after whining from welfare ranchers who lease Forest Service land for domestic cattle grazing for pennies per head.

Wyoming Earth haters ignoring cheatgrass fix

Cheatgrass can produce more than 10,000 plants per square yard and is a major fire risk because it dries out more quickly than native vegetation. In 2021, the Forest Service, the US Department of Agriculture and the Wyoming Game & Fish Department sprayed the herbicide Rejuvra® with a helicopter on cheatgrass in a 9,200 acre area within the Mullen fire perimeter with the hopes of reducing, maybe even eradicating its presence. People recreating on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest were warned to avoid the kill zone and the compound is persistent in soil posing long-term risks to aquatic habitats through rain-induced runoff particularly on sloped or compacted earth.

In 2025 the Red Canyon Fire scorched 195 square miles of land plagued by a cheatgrass infestation so county weed and pest people argue that "without costly chemical intervention in the near future, the fire scar could convert to an unproductive monoculture of invasive grasses." But, those in the extreme white wing of Wyoming's party of Earth haters are pushing back on the cost of spraying Rejuvra®, at about $1,150 a gallon, on at least 340,000 acres in just one county.

Buffalo eat young, green cheatgrass in the spring and dormant plants but they mostly avoid it during the mid-summer seed stage when the awns are sharp and unpalatable. Wapiti or elk, mule deer and pronghorn travel from Grand Teton National Park to winter ranges throughout the region and into the Wind River Reservation eating cheatgrass along the way. But disease, urban sprawl and oil and gas development have altered historic migration routes in wonderful Wyoming.

So, irony is just another casualty of Wyoming's wildfires which have also cleared millions of acres of fences, power lines, dry grasses, sagebrush, ponderosa pine and juniper in Republican ranch country even as the Biden administration reached out to those serial ecoterrorists who rely on moral hazard to survive. But, if grazing cattle is the key to preventing wildfires why do red states suffer from near daily high even extreme grassland fire danger indices even in February? Because they're in denial about how manifest destiny is destroying the West.

ip image.

May: white privilege will save Native kids from their cultures

George Washington was a warlord because enslaved people afforded him cannon, muskets, powder and ball. And, if they were alive today he and President Jefferson would be horrified to learn the US is operating on a manual written in the Eighteenth Century. But, blurring one line between church and state America's founders extolled the virtue of education as local schools were run both by christian sects and by local municipalities under the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution. 

But it was not until 1867 and Reconstruction made public education a federal prerogative when President Andrew Johnson created a Department of Education as a proxy for race politics. Missionaries were hired then dispatched to the Deep South to provide schooling for whites and Negroes alike and Roman Catholics were enabled in the American West to assimilate Indigenous youth. Congress was incensed then demoted the Education Department after a year making it part of the Interior Department yet abuses continued. 

The concept of a charter school began in 1971 as a progressive movement but especially in red states has since been hijacked by the far white wing of the Republican Party to advance the New Apostolic Reformation. Dominion theology supposes christians must control the seven “mountains” of government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family, and business in order to establish a global christianic theocracy and prepare the world for Jesus’ return. Many catholic schools are in the Hillsdale bubble because the curriculum ignores the church’s role in the Native American Genocide.

Today, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt would be putting American Indigenous in concentration camps arguing it’s for their own protection, the United States has become the Hamiltonian Empire Thomas Jefferson warned us about and resistance is futile. 

Liz May is a white christianic Earth hater who clearly ignores historical trauma and institutional racism but represents District 27 in South Dakota's demented legislature anyway. She blames the victims of Manifest Destiny for being part of the Fourth World.

We Protected the System. The Children Are Still Waiting. By Rep. Liz May, District 27 

SB 218 was not about policy theory. It was about children like the ones a teacher recently described to me — children most of us will never see inside our comfortable circles. “Almost every home is broken,” she said. “Nearly all have at least one addict parent. Some came to us suicidal.” 

These are kids who walk into classrooms carrying trauma most adults would struggle to survive. They are not worried about test scores. They are worried about whether there will be food at home, whether a parent will be sober, whether they are safe. 

I don’t read about this in reports. I live it. In many rural communities and on or near our reservations, geography alone limits opportunity. There are no specialized campuses down the road. No statewide autism centers within driving distance. No dyslexia intervention programs readily available. Families raising children with autism, dyslexia, or other learning disorders often face hours of travel for services — if services exist at all. In some areas, there is simply nothing beyond the traditional model. When your child needs specialized support and your zip code determines whether that help exists, “choice” is not theoretical — it is nonexistent. 

I grow weary of hearing that the problem is simply parenting. Yes, family instability is real. Addiction is real. Trauma is real. Poverty is real. But if we stop there, we are not diagnosing the problem — we are excusing ourselves from trying to break the cycle. Children do not choose the homes they are born into. They do not choose addiction. They do not choose instability. If anything, those realities make the role of education more urgent, not less. 

If generational cycles are the challenge, then education must be part of the solution. Otherwise, we are simply describing a cycle we have no intention of breaking. Every single session, we admit the system is not reaching every student. We file bills to carve out behavioral health exceptions. We create pilot programs for one county. We authorize limited alternative placements. We stand on the floor and acknowledge — again — that something is not working. But instead of confronting the structure itself, we patch around the edges. We build carve-outs because we are unwilling to question the foundation. If the model were truly working for all children, we would not need a steady stream of exceptions to keep it standing. 

This was not the first attempt at reform. Over several legislative sessions, proposals for expanding educational flexibility have been introduced. Each time, the response has followed the same pattern: narrow carve-outs are acceptable, but structural change is not. When reform begins to alter governance or funding authority, the establishment pushes back. Not because the need disappears — but because the structure is threatened. 

SB 218 would not have dismantled public education. It would have created structural flexibility. It would have allowed communities to design schools that fit their students — not force students to fit a single governance model. It would have made many of those yearly carve-outs unnecessary. 

The South Dakota Education Association, aligned with the national NEA, advocates for a district-centered system. Its affiliated political action committee, EPIC, supports candidates who share that priority. That is legal. That is transparent. And it is effective. When elections consistently reinforce protection of the existing structure, reform becomes harder — even when reform is aimed at the children who are struggling most. 

That is not conspiracy. It is politics. 

But politics does not sit in a classroom with a child who is suicidal. Politics does not walk into a home where addiction has hollowed out stability. Politics does not look into the eyes of a teacher who says, “Almost every home is broken.” 

That teacher was not asking to protect a governance model. She was asking for flexibility to save kids. 

Since SB 218 failed, I have not been able to shake it. We are a legislative body of 105 elected representatives and senators — one hundred and five adults entrusted with shaping the future of this state. And yet, year after year, we struggle to find either the courage or the consensus to create meaningful change for the children who need it most. 

Last night I went to bed thinking about our failure. I woke up this morning thinking about how much time we spend debating bills that will barely move the needle — while the hard conversations about structural change are delayed, diluted, or dismissed. We argue over technicalities. We protect turf. We preserve comfort. And in doing so, we avoid the deeper question: why can’t we figure out how to help the underserved children we all acknowledge are struggling? 

I do not feel better today about the state of education than I did before this vote. If anything, I feel a heavier responsibility. Because if we — as 105 elected officials — cannot summon the will to address structural limitations in a system we openly admit is not reaching every child, then what message are we sending to the families who are waiting for something different? Institutions naturally defend themselves. That is human nature. But legislatures are not elected to protect institutions — they are elected to protect children. Especially the ones with the least voice. Especially the ones who cannot move districts or write tuition checks. 

We just set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for a new prison. We call it planning for the future. But if we continue protecting a system that we admit — year after year — requires carve-outs to compensate for its limitations, then we are planning for failure long before we are planning for safety. 

SB 218 did not threaten children. It threatened control. 

When forced to choose between preserving a governance model and opening doors for underserved communities, we chose preservation. 

The system survived. 

But somewhere tonight, a child who needed a different door to open is still walking into the same one — carrying the same weight— because we chose to protect structure over courage. 

We protected the system. 

The children are still waiting.

Trump Organization ending environment protection because eugenics

In a new @newsweek.com, leaders from the @sierraclub.org, @nrdc.org, Environmental Defense Fund, and @earthjustice.org warn that the Trump administration’s latest Environmental Protection Agency pollution policy puts corporate profits ahead of public health.

[image or embed]

— Sierra Club (@sierraclub.org) February 15, 2026 at 8:30 AM

In past years the Trump Organization used the federal courts to punish tribal nations who built casinos Trump said were competition but in 2020 the White House deployed COVID-19 as a biological weapon in Indian Country. 

Star Trek canon describes how the Eugenics Wars cause WW3 so an episode of ST: Deep Space 9 written in 1994 and broadcast in 1995 but set in 2024 is unfolding today in Minneapolis, Chicago and in other blue cities. That war against people of color was resurrected in ST: Picard. 

Michigan ophthalmologist, John Tanton held white nationalist beliefs and wrote that to maintain American culture, “a European-American majority” is required. Today the extreme white wing of the Republican Party is driving the abolition of women’s rights because they’re wedded to the Great Replacement hypothesis.

Emails recently unearthed from the 

Jeffrey Epstein files have sparked intense controversy by linking his views on climate change to a radical solution for overpopulation. 

Epstein’s Views: Climate Change as "Culling"

New documents reveal that Epstein viewed environmental destruction as a potential remedy for a growing global population. 

• "Earth's Forest Fire": In a 2016 email exchange with AI researcher Joscha Bach, Epstein referred to climate change as the "earth's forest fire" and suggested it could be a "good thing for the species" by eliminating the "elderly and infirm".
• Eugenics Connections: These emails have been characterized by critics and scientists, such as climatologist Michael Mann, as part of a disturbing "eugenicist" ideology where mass death under climate stress is seen as "existential optimization". 

Trump Administration Actions (Feb 2026)

Simultaneously, President Donald Trump has significantly shifted U.S. climate policy, which critics connect to the broader "Epstein class" of indifferent elites. 

• Revoking the Endangerment Finding: In February 2026, the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin revoked the 2009 "endangerment finding," which legally established greenhouse gases as a threat to public health.
• "Scam" Rhetoric: Trump has labeled climate change a "giant scam" and a "con job," arguing that federal regulations based on it were "overreach" without a basis in fact.
• Focus on Fossil Fuels: The administration maintains that fossil fuels have lifted billions out of poverty and that environmental regulations are "hidden taxes" on American families. 

The Intersection of Overpopulation and Climate 

The debate over overpopulation is increasingly viewed as a "third rail" issue: 

• Wealth as an Insulator: Critics argue that ultra-wealthy individuals may welcome climate impacts because their wealth insulates them from the consequences while the poor suffer most.
• Shifting Blame: Some experts suggest that blaming "overpopulation" for climate change is a tactic to shift responsibility away from high-consumption nations and fossil fuel companies toward the global poor.