From Beth Warden at Dakota News Now:
Main floor: seats 112 people, more space in the balcony. #MikeLindell @dakotanews_now folks are chatting & eating breakfast at the Cyber Symposium in #SiouxFalls #SouthDakota pic.twitter.com/cEmZ7j9Bu6
— Beth Warden (@bethwarden) August 10, 2021
After the media debacle from this past weekend with the Citizens for Liberty out in Rapid City, you would think that former Trump Lawyer Sidney Powell would be looking for some good press at the motorcycle ride event she was being featured at. Like I said, you would think:
After the motorcade made its way to the hotel, Powell’s team set up her merchandise table where she met rally goers, took pictures with them and signed books and shirts for donations to her PAC, Defending the Republic. All the proceeds from the barbecue ticket sales went toward the PAC.
and..
Powell met and spoke to attendees but was closely guarded for the entire event. Reverend Scott, from Rapid City, represented the South Dakota Proud Boys chapter to provide security detail for Powell. He said he was in town for the Sturgis rally and was asked by his chapter’s leadership to join the ride and help out for the day.
It must be quite the barbecue if it requires a security detail.
The auction announced earlier today is over, and the painting of Governor Noem atop her horse has raised an eye-popping $55,000 for Treasured Lives, a group helping victims of human trafficking.
Wow!
Governor Noem Appoints Jennifer Mammenga to 2ndCircuit Court
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will appoint Jennifer Mammenga to serve on the South Dakota 2nd Circuit Court.
“Jennifer has worked hard to build an impactful career, both as an Assistant US Attorney in the federal courts and in the state Attorney General’s office,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “She understands that the role of a judge is to interpret the law as written, and I know she will make an excellent addition to the bench.”
Jennifer has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota United States Attorney’s Office since 2016, where she serves as the district’s Opioid Coordinator. Prior to that role, she served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and Assistant Attorney General for the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office.
“I am honored to accept Governor Noem’s appointment and I look forward to serving the people of South Dakota in this role,” saidJennifer Mammenga.
Jennifer is a native of Sioux Falls. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with bachelor’s degrees in English and journalism. She received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2010.
Jennifer was named the Midwest High Intensity Drug Task Force Outstanding Prosecutor in 2015. She lives in Sioux Falls with her husband and two children. A photo of Jennifer can be found here.
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Well, that’s not a headline I expected to write today. As we tick off the hours until Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium kicks off, it’s sounding crazier and crazier. From the Raw Story:
“And also have the American people come in and they can watch it like a gladiator fight,” Bannon said. “This is like Gladiator 2. This is the sequel we always wanted. Mike Lindell and his cyber gladiators.”
“Well, yeah,” Lindell agreed.
Bannon also asked Lindell if Chinese Communist Party officials would be invited to the event since he has accused the Chinese government of conspiring to hack U.S. voting machines.
“Absolutely,” Lindell replied. “They can sit right next to [Georgia Gov.] Brian Kemp and [Arizona Gov.] Doug Ducey in the front row.”
Is anyone taking bets as to whether any Congressional or statewide officeholders from any state are going to actually show up?
From the Washington Times. MyPillow’s Mike Lindell is claiming that he has people from over 45 states converging in Sioux Falls for his conference to prove there was election fraud:
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said delegates from 45 states have registered to attend a three-day event in South Dakota that the outspoken ally of former President Donald Trump insists will result in a unanimous Supreme Court ruling to overturn the November election.
Mr. Lindell claims to have 37 terabytes of “irrefutable” evidence that hackers, backed by China, broke into election systems and switched votes in favor of Joseph R. Biden. He plans to present the evidence at a “cyber symposium” beginning Tuesday.
In the story Lindell claims there are nearly 500 people registered for the event, “including politicians or their delegates.”
This should be interesting.
State Representative Taffy Howard is in the news this weekend chirping up that we need a statewide mandate on private businesses.
From KOTA News:
State Representative Taffy Howard announced her plans to introduce legislation that would limit private businesses from making vaccination mandatory for employees.
And..
She’s called on Johnson to bring forth legislation at the national level to ban certain private businesses from instituting their own vaccine mandates for employees.
So, if I have a business installing and delivering oxygen tanks or providing respiratory therapists in homes for people who have trouble breathing, Taffy opposes having the employees going into the homes of sick and old people being vaccinated against COVID or other diseases?
So, the first issue out of the gate in the Congressional campaign is the challenger being on an anti-vaxxer kick. Nevermind she’s openly using her office as a soapbox for her congressional race.
I don’t particularly want a government so intrusive that they can tell me who I can hire and who I can fire. But Taffy is going to legislate this?
It’s going to be one of those campaigns, isn’t it?
Critical Race Theory is not the basis for instruction at South Dakota’s universities, and it is not going to be
by Tony Venhuizen, South Dakota Board of Regents
Earlier this week, the South Dakota Board of Regents adopted an “Opportunity for All” plan that included a statement of values, framed around four tenants: (1) offering opportunity for all students; (2) proudly supporting the United States of America; (3) safeguarding the rich tradition of American universities; and (4) offering curriculum based upon widely held and accepted knowledge and thought.
As a Regent, I offered my thoughts about this action during our meeting, because I think we need to be very clear: Critical Race Theory is not the basis for instruction at South Dakota’s universities, and it is not going to be.
But our action is not simply banning a label, because if you follow this issue, you know that the label means different things to different people – it’s a shifting definition. (We have seen that again in the responses from the governor’s critics to her statement in support of the Regents action.) What the Board passed is a statement of the positive values that will guide us going forward.
I want to take a step back, though, and look back to the 1950s, and the early years of the Cold War.
Higher Education played an important role in winning the Cold War. Why? Because it was a place that taught American ideals, that encouraged academic freedom and discovery, and that encouraged breakthroughs in technology. That’s how we won the Cold War. Our ideology, our economy, our technology, and our system of individual liberty were superior to the Soviet system. Universities were not neutral observers. They were part of the effort to defeat Soviet Communism in the world.
Although America and our allies won the Cold War, though, we have not reached the end of history. The United States has a new rival: China. President Biden described in a May 28, 2021 speech the challenge that our nation faces. Here is what the President said:
[W]e’re in a battle between democracies and autocracies. The more complicated the world becomes, the more difficult it is for democracies to come together and reach consensus… [President Xi of China] firmly believes that China, before the year [2030 or 2035], is going to own America because autocracies can make quick decisions.
But America is unique. From all nations in the world, we’re the only nation organized based on an idea. Every other nation you can define by their ethnicity, their geography, their religion, except America. America is born out of an idea: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal… endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, [including] Life, Liberty, [and the pursuit of happiness].
None of you get your rights from your government; you get your rights merely because you’re a child of God. The government is there to protect those God-given rights. No other government has been based on that notion. No one can defeat us except us.
I share that statement from the President because, if you are in a university in China today, you’re not going to learn about any of that. You are not going to learn about the Maoist purges. You are not going to learn about Tiananmen Square. You are not going to learn about the current genocide being undertaken against the Uyghur people – both the Trump and Biden administrations have called it a genocide. You are not going to learn any of it.
In an American university, you are going to learn about all of that, and you are also going to learn about our own country’s history and our failures and mistakes. Keep in mind, though: the Uyghur genocide is not in the past. It is happening in China, today. The crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong is happening, today. And the President of the United States is telling us that our nation that the next ten or fifteen years will decide which system is going to win in the world, the American system or the Chinese system.
Our university students need to know that, and they need to learn why it matters. They need to learn that it makes a big difference which system wins. They need to understand that we cannot be neutral observers in this conflict. America needs to win. That is why I supported the passage of the Regents statement.
—
Tony Venhuizen, Sioux Falls, holds a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University and a law degree from the University of South Dakota. He previously served as the Board of Regents’ student member in 2003-2008, appointed three times by Gov. Mike Rounds. Prior to his current employment with Standard Trust Company, Venhuizen served as chief of staff in the administrations of Gov. Kristi Noem and Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
In a bizarre move in Rapid City this past week, the Citizens for Liberty group was trolling for a reporter to show up at an event they were holding, reaching out and calling for them to cover an event with former President Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.
…that is, they wanted a reporter to cover their event until they demanded to know who. And then refused to let the reporter cover the event. But it might be ok if they had approval over what they wrote.
Frye reached out to the Journal on Monday to request that a reporter cover the event. Journal editor Kent Bush agreed to send a reporter and photographer. On Wednesday, Frye asked Bush for the names of the reporter and photographer attending, which Bush obliged although that is not usual protocol.
“The only response I got to that was OK, thanks, and so we thought everything was fine, that we were set to cover it, and then when we showed up to cover the event, the organizers of the event told us we weren’t welcome there as media,” Bush said. “I don’t know how else to categorize it, but we were forbidden, banned from covering the event.”
and…
Powell’s public relations manager told a Journal reporter and photographer they would not be allowed to cover the event unless they submitted the article for approval before publication.