Author: @SoDakCampaigns

A Border in Crisis Needs Solutions and Action
By: Governor Kristi Noem
July 30, 2021 

America is the land of opportunity. We’re a nation where anyone can make anything of themselves if they work hard and play by the rules. But when those rules are abandoned – when we lose respect for our Constitution and the rule of law – that’s when the system breaks. And that’s exactly what is taking place at our Southern border. Rule of law has collapsed, putting our border in crisis and risking our national security.

I recently sent 48 South Dakota National Guard troops – all volunteers – to support Texas in its efforts to secure our Southern border. This past week, I visited those troops and surveyed their observation posts. I got a briefing from them and from Border Patrol. I saw what they’re seeing, and they told me what they need. And I gained a greater understanding of how unsustainable the situation is at the US-Mexico border.

Coyotes are smuggling people into our country. They know that if their group has a child under 7, they will be let into this country, turned over to a non-governmental organization, and relocated to someplace within our nation. They’re smuggling people into our nation – and they’re using these migrants as pawns to distract from the cartel’s aggressive drug smuggling operation. That is fundamentally contrary to everything for which this nation stands.

Here are some alarming numbers from the Border Patrol’s most recent dispatches:

• More than 20,000 immigrants were stopped in a single week just in the Rio Grande Valley zone where our National Guard is deployed;
• Fentanyl seizures are up 455% compared to last year; and
• Meth seizures are up 85%.

And that’s just what Border Patrol is catching; imagine how much more is slipping through.

Those drugs don’t stop at the border. They’re being sent to our communities throughout the country. In South Dakota, the cartels bring these drugs to our cities, towns, and to some of our tribal reservations.

South Dakota has worked diligently to fight the drug epidemic in our state, and as a result, we were one of only two states in America to reduce the number of deaths from drug overdose last year. New Hampshire saw a small decline; South Dakota’s overdose deaths decreased by almost 16 percent. I’m not going to let the tremendous progress we’ve made collapse because the Biden Administration refuses to secure our border.

What’s worse is the bureaucracy of DC politics is stalled while more and more of these migrants die while attempting to cross the border. We can and should do better. Unfortunately, the reports I received this week indicate the politics of DC are likely to make this border crisis worse.

If President Biden won’t step up and do his job, then Republican governors will continue to do what they can to address the border crisis. We’re evaluating options to extend the deployment of the troops already at the border and asking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to fund those extended engagements. We’ll be sending an additional 125 troops there later this year as part of a 9-12 month federal deployment. And we will continue to evaluate how else we can help in this important effort.

Our nation is one of opportunity. We welcome people to come into our country, but they have to do it legally. We are a nation of laws. If we lose respect for those laws, we lose the foundation of our country. And I refuse to let that happen.

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Governor Noem Joins Amicus Brief in SCOTUS Abortion Case  

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and 240 women scholars, professionals, and pro-life feminist organizations filed an amicus brief in the most important pro-life case to be argued at the Supreme Court of the United States in at least a generation.

“For my entire life, women have been told that pregnancy is a barrier to a successful career. This lie has led to millions of abortions, despite women like me and countless others proving that successful careers and motherhood are not mutually exclusive,” Governor Kristi Noem said. “I was born a little over a year before the U.S. Supreme Court decided that abortion is necessary for women to succeed. I was eight months pregnant when I first took over our family ranch following my father’s tragic death. Today, as a former state legislator, congresswoman, and South Dakota’s first female governor, I stand in defiance of the lies perpetrated by the Roe decision.”

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of prohibiting abortion before the “viability” of the unborn child outside the womb. The Court has the opportunity to go further and recognize that the Constitution does not protect the so-called right to terminate unborn life, which would overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey altogether. 

The friend-of-the-court brief rejects the notion, set out in the Roe and Casey decisions, that the ability of women to achieve economic and social equality depends on abortion. For that reason and others, the High Court should overturn Roe and Casey.

The amicus brief cites empirical evidence pointing to the sustained economic and social achievements of American women regardless of abortion access. The brief notes that American women continued to make progress towards economic equality in the 90’s and 2000’s, even as abortion rates plummeted across the country.

“As a mother, I have led by example to show my daughters a life that balances family, education, and career. As a new grandmother, I want to ensure the next generation is reared in a country that cherishes life and an equal pursuit of happiness for all Americans,” continued Governor Noem. 

The Women Scholars and Professionals amicus brief is supported by hundreds of pro-life women, along with pro-life feminist organizations including Feminists Choosing Life of New York, Feminists for Nonviolent Choices, New Wave Feminists, Pro-Life San Francisco, Secular Pro-Life, Siena Symposium, and Women Affirming Life. The brief is co-authored by Professors Helen Alvaré of Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Virginia and Teresa Collett of University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota, the Director of that school’s Pro-Life Center.

A copy of the amicus brief may be downloaded here.

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As a collector, I can tell you that the official Noem pins in the past have been kind of tough to come by, as they’ve traditionally handed them out to Volunteers almost exclusively.

This year however, the Noem campaign has an on-line store where you can purchase them.  They’re offering three pins at the moment, and the ones I ordered for my collection arrived today.

Governor Noem Signs Executive Order Banning Federal Grants Tied to Critical Race Theory

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2021-11, which directs the South Dakota Department of Education to refrain from applying for any federal grants tied to critical race theory.

“Critical race theory has no place in South Dakota schools. These ideas are un-American. We are ‘one nation, under God, indivisible,’ yet critical race theory seeks to divide us based on inaccurate revisions to our nation’s history,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “Our students should learn America’s true history by studying both our triumphs and our mistakes. Only then will students learn that America remains the shining example of exceptionalism throughout the history of the world.”

At the urging of South Dakota Secretary of Education Tiffany Sanderson, South Dakota State Historian Ben Jones, and others, the US Department of Education removed all references to the 1619 Project and Ibram Kendi from their American History and Civics-National Activities Grants. However, the grants’ priorities continue to allude to this divisive revisionist history.

“The revised proposals from the US Department of Education still advocate critical race theory in all but name,” continued Governor Noem. “We are the Mount Rushmore State, home to our nation’s greatest monument to our history. And we take the study of American history seriously. Our classrooms are meant for education, not indoctrination, and that is how we will continue to operate in South Dakota.”

Under the Executive Order, the South Dakota Department of Education is barred from applying for any federal grants in history or civics. The Board of Education Standards continues to work on revisions to South Dakota state history and civics standards. These revisions will be consistent with the civics initiative proposed by Governor Noem and passed by the legislature this past legislative session.  Governor Noem had also earlier requested a review of policies by the South Dakota Board of Regents to ensure the state’s higher education system remains focused on honest, patriotic education.

The executive order can be downloaded here.

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Getting excited! By this time tomorrow, I’ll be in Nashville.  I’m not going to check the kind of music they have in that town (country and western), I’m going because this year Nashville is hosting the 2021 American Political Items Collectors National Convention!

The 2021 APIC Convention will feature vendors and collectors, with what I believe will be around 200 tables of people buying and selling. This is my first year going, so I skipped setting up a table to simply go watch and learn.  There are over 1500 active members of the organization who collect political memorabilia to help preserve and expand interest in our nation’s political history.

There will be everything from pins for a dollar or less to items selling up into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Most of what will be at the convention are pinback buttons – which actually are not the first type of political memorabilia.  Early on in our nation’s history saw political clothing buttons (Including for George Washington), and cloth ribbons. Buttons didn’t come on to the scene until later.  In the time of Lincoln, buttons were created by using a tintype or ferrotype photo process and were not terribly common.

The traditional pinback that we still use today was invented around 1892, and became wildly popular starting in 1896 with the campaign of McKinley against Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Here’s where you start seeing colorful designs, pictures of both candidates and slogans that you still see today.

Just like many other events that fell victim to COVID last year, the convention was forced into hiatus, but is now back and set to be the largest gathering of people who collect political buttons and other items in the country.

I’m skipping many of the events this week, which started Monday/Tuesday, but I’ll be there for the big show starting tomorrow through Sunday afternoon before I return home poorer, but richer for my experiences. I do have a few items to take with me to do some horse trading with, but I’m going mainly to look, learn, and see if there are some South Dakota items that I don’t have that I need in my collection.

If you’re interested in the hobby and the history of political advertising, check out the APIC organization’s website here, or the APIC Facebook group.

(Update. Maybe I’m going. Allegiant is starting to cancel flights left and right. Ugh. I should have known better than to use them.)

The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations is posting on their website tonight a few notes for healthcare employers on why the organization believes overall that employers are well within their legal rights to mandate vaccination for employees as a condition of employment, subject to a few rules:

Providers, as private employers, have no prohibition on vaccine mandates under federal law so they really need to stay attuned to what is happening on the state level as mentioned above.

Two recent court decisions have addressed whether a hospital or public university can mandate a COVID-19 vaccine for employees and students. Both of these cases upheld the vaccine mandate, even while the current vaccines are only under Emergency Use Authorization. Based on these decisions we will likely see more public and private employers implement mandates before we see full FDA approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Finally, if providers implement a policy requiring a COVID-19 vaccine (or other vaccine) as a condition of employment, federal and state law allows employees to request an exemption based on a disability/medical condition or religious objections. Providers should carefully review the EEOC guidance as well as any corollary state law guidance on how to implement such a program within their organization. There is a process in how to address any exemptions to a vaccine mandate and those with flu vaccine mandates should be familiar with this accommodations process already.

Read the entire article here.

People trying to get government to intervene and tell businesses what qualifications they can or cannot put on their employees is a very troubling type of government intervention.  Especially since the right to be infectious is not a protected class under federal law.

If an organization such as Sanford (who is in the news recently for such a mandate) does not wish to employ the unvaccinated in a health care setting, that’s their right, as much as it is for those who don’t like it to take their business elsewhere.

Last time I checked, we still operate under the free enterprise system.

At least for the moment.

Why Senator Rounds Should Support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal
by Will Thomssen, IUOE Local 49

As a member of the Executive Board for Local 49, I represent skilled workers from across the construction industry. Speaking for myself and our organization, we support the proposed bipartisan infrastructure package, which will be a historic investment in American infrastructure. A deal of this magnitude is a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity that our country is long overdue for. In addition to fixing America’s roads and bridges, it will deliver clean water to communities across the nation and finally connect rural America to high-speed internet. Our workers and businesses stand to benefit from the hundreds of billions pumped into the American economy if Republicans and Democrats can compromise. Funded by $1.2 trillion over 8 years, the bill utilizes several funding mechanisms including the redirection of excess emergency relief funds from the covid-19 pandemic response.

If the bipartisan infrastructure framework is passed by Congress, American communities and workers will enjoy substantial, long awaited benefits. The bill provides for the modernization and expansion of federal investment in a variety of physical infrastructure projects, most notably broadband and clean energy. Helping ensure all Americans are connected to broadband is critical for their economic future. And the deal provides new investment into clean water and wastewater systems to replace their faulty predecessors. It finances the removal of lead pipes that have poisoned Americans for generations and expands access to clean drinking water for rural and underserved communities.

More traditional infrastructure projects, which are just as necessary, are also included in the proposed framework. The repair and rebuilding of our roads and bridges will finally be fully funded. The American public will also benefit from upgrades to run-down mass transit systems and airports. Old school and transit buses will be replaced by electric alternatives, significantly reducing emissions from our transportation sector. On that front, the bill also funds the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations, which are quickly becoming a necessity.

The bill increases our resilience against foreign cyber-attacks and extreme weather events caused by climate change. Both of those threats to our infrastructure have become more frequent in recent years and must be addressed. This bipartisan framework enables the modernization and enhancement of security for our entire electric power grid, while also establishing a new Infrastructure Financing Authority to complement existing funding mechanisms.

Congress has the opportunity to pass this infrastructure bill into law, but for that to happen, they need the full support of leaders such as Senator Rounds. By publicly voicing his support for this bipartisan infrastructure framework, Senator Rounds can play a crucial role in repairing America’s infrastructure. This historic deal is a rare opportunity that must not be passed up.

 

Thune: Democrats’ New Death Tax Would Crush Family Farms, Businesses

“Americans’ bank accounts should not be regarded as a bottomless barrel of money to pay for Democrats’ preferred government programs.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video. 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spending spree and the cost that would ultimately fall on the backs of hardworking middle-income families. Thune noted that the Democrats’ new death tax would force Americans to pay more money in taxes on assets passed on from generation to generation. Last week, Thune led the entire Senate Republican caucus inurging President Biden to abandon his effort to impose a capital gains tax increase on family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches.