Author: @SoDakCampaigns

The Choice to Protect and Defend our Country
by Congressman Dusty Johnson

Life is a series of choices. Some of these choices determine the direction of our life from a young age. Eleven brave South Dakotans, who made the decision to attend a service academy and join our nation’s military, are about to begin their military training at the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy, and the United States Naval Academy.

One of Jackson Coberley’s big decisions was to remain in Japan to complete his senior year while his family transferred to Ellsworth Air Force Base. Last year, Maya Lee of Dell Rapids chose to accept a scholarship to attend a military preparatory school, knowing she would likely spend five years at college instead of the common four. Soon, both will enter the Air Force Academy’s community of like-minded people with a shared mission to serve.

Sometimes our choices are informed by childhood dreams, and sometimes our childhood dreams come true. Jhett Waltman of Rapid City was influenced by his father’s and grandfathers’ military service and set his eyes on the service academies when he was in fifth grade. That dream will soon be a reality – he will be attending the Military Academy to study aeronautical engineering. Since middle school, Ryan Fiechtner of Aberdeen has wanted to pursue a career in the nuclear field. He believes the Naval Academy will afford him unique opportunities and he views the mandatory service after commissioning as an officer as an honor, not a requirement. Aleydis Bruening also plans to study nuclear engineering at the Naval Academy, following her father’s lead into the armed forces.

Approximately thirty percent of Naval Academy graduates commission as Marine Corps officers. Nicholas Hanson of Dakota Dunes aspires to do so and will be the fifth generation in his family to be a sailor or Marine.

Each of these students excel academically and athletically, but what really sets them apart is their involvement in school, community, church, and the workforce. Trey Murray from Gregory volunteered in his community, played five sports, and was in band and choir. Nicholas Gray of Fort Pierre played competitive hockey, volunteered, and served as a page for the South Dakota Legislature. Dale Kinyon II from Rapid City was active in school groups, church, and comes from a military family. I’m confident they will continue to grow at the Air Force Academy and Military Academy.

I also want to mention Aubrey Fraasch and Caleb Pitsenberger, who will be attending preparatory schools. They have a great opportunity to prepare for the Academy next year.

I’m confident these young men and women will succeed because their choices so far prove they are incredibly motivated and stand ready to protect and defend our great country.

If you know someone interested in learning more about the service academies, direct them to my website at dustyjohnson.house.gov/services/service-academy-nominations, and check out my video with South Dakotan cadets and midshipmen.

Gov. Kristi Noem Responds to Wrongful Conviction of President Trump

PIERRE, SD – Today, Governor Kristi Noem responded to the wrongful conviction of President Donald J. Trump.

“Massively conflicted, Biden donor and Liberal judge + stacked jury with unconstitutional jury instructions + radical leftist prosecutor = wrongful conviction.

“President Trump did nothing wrong, and even the liberal media knows it.

“The judge violated Trump’s constitutional rights and did everything in his power to get this outcome despite the clear evidence Trump was innocent.

No doubt Trump will be easily vindicated soon as the case will obviously be overturned on appeal.”

Governor Noem’s response was initially posted on X.

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From Facebook:

Sounds like the Board of Elections meeting today was quite the runaway train, with both the hand-counting crackpots, AND the Board of Elections throwing the Secretary of State to the wolves:

“Thank you for making things really clear for America today,” Weible told the board, with Johnson sitting directly across from him. “Today you showed us exactly why we must take back our elections, to do hand counts, and to get rid of the machines.”

and..

(Minnehaha County Auditor) Anderson also pointed out that testing ballots supplied by ES&S weren’t sufficient, so she used a spreadsheet designed by Weible, and that testing didn’t pick up marks made with light-blue ink.

Johnson also came under fire from Jessica Pollema of Tea, who had run for Lincoln County auditor in 2022 and lost. “Monae, we supported you,” Pollema said. “We campaigned for you. We donated money to you. We took you in our homes. We prayed over you, put up signs for you, and we put our necks on the lines for you.”

and..

Johnson tried to speak over Pollard about legislation that Johnson had brought and they opposed. Pollema accused Johnson of inviting “a far left Democrat” to help lead a post-election audit workgroup, and Johnson asked the board for a motion to adjourn the meeting. None of the board members responded.

and..

“Monae, you also promised transparency, but everything you have done has been less than transparent,” Pollema said. That prompted Johnson to again call for a board member to make a motion to adjourn — but again, no one responded.

Read the entire story here.

Takeaways?  Not sure that the Secretary of State ran the meeting as much as had the meeting run her over, as Rick Weible – who we last heard from telling us his life is at risk because of what he knows – wants to get rid of ballot counting machines.

The Board of Elections sat on their hands, and let Secretary Johnson twist in the wind in the face of her former supporters now running her over, and they sat mute as the cock crowed twice..  as twice the Board of Elections ignored the Secretary of State’s plea to stop the bleeding.

And to cap it all off, the Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson told everyone that she’s using outside software on the Minnehaha County’s computers that Rick Weible provides her. Because she thought that sounded like a good idea?

Did I miss anything?

From my mailbox:

PIERRE, S.D. (May 29, 2024) – Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2023 Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, funded by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The rebates will help Tripp-Delmont School District 33-5 in North Dakota to purchase one clean school bus for its students. The Program will help South Dakota accelerate the transition to zero-emission buses from existing diesel-fueled school buses, which have been linked to asthma and other conditions that harm the health of students and surrounding communities.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan will join schoolchildren, district leaders and community members in Jackson, Miss., today to make the announcement and highlight how the program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save schools money, and better protect children’s health. The investment will also drive demand for American-made batteries and vehicles, boost domestic manufacturing, and create good-paying jobs.

“President Biden believes every child deserves the opportunity to lead a healthy life and breathe clean air, and his Investing in America agenda is designed to deliver just that,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With today’s latest round of funding, we are transforming the nation’s school bus fleet to better protect our most precious cargo—our kids–saving school districts money, improving air quality, and bolstering American manufacturing all at the same time.”

Er.. yeah..

I thought this was a good message from one former legislator to another in his pursuit of returning to the State Senate:

6 more days!

Not sure how this got past me earlier in the election. A correspondent sent this over on Travis Ismay, District 28B House Republican candidate, noting one of his favorite cultural observations. White History Month.

Why do we have these awful candidates stinking up the place?

Not sure what the Revolutionary war has to do with skin color. Pretty sure the people we fought against were easily sunburned as well.

Do you think he’ll give up all pretext for this years’ celebration, and wear a pointy white hat around town?

Dear God. Please don’t elect this guy.

Shooting some turkeys sounds relaxing at about this time in the campaign.

Tom Pischke’s minders must be seeing some problems in Tom’s campaign. Because last night, they launched a below-the-belt false attack through the group being run by their buddy, the thick-necked, greasy weasel known as Toby Doeden.

With an attack that wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card, rounds of fake and unsubstantiated text messages fanned out across District 25 claiming Jordan Youngberg “supports the LGBTQ agenda” and “planned parenthood,” and actually claimed Youngberg is “so clearly a covert member of the Democrat Party.”

When attacking, it helps is something is demonstrably provable. But this text message reads like it was authored by someone in middle school. (He’s running in your district as a Republican?!? Yeah right…). More often than not, when attacks are this shrill, there’s a problem.

I have the feeling that Tom & Toby’s attacks might be a sign that they see it slipping away, and it’s an act of desperation.

Less than a week to go, so we’ll have to watch and see what other schoolyard taunts they try to throw out there.