Bear with me as I make some site changes to see if I can finally resolve some of my speed issues on the site.
I seem to be under continual attack (story of my life), so I’m going to see if I can pep things up by filtering out some of the traffic that is bombarding my server with port flooding and root attacks.
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Update: It might be a while before it propagates out to all of you, but that seems much better!
The Brookings City Council met last night, and pushed through a slightly watered down ordinance to tell people what to do and how to behave, or else they would face sanctions. Mainly because they wanted to, and despite a fairly significant show of people telling them no.
This comes a couple of weeks after Barry Dunn, president of SDSU went to the Council and demanded City action because he found he couldn’t control his own students. So of course, the city needed to restrict everyone. (of course)
Brookings City Manager Paul Briseno gathered information from other states and tried to tell people how they were to behave in their own homes, and the Council started to rubber stamp it… until citizens came unglued at the last city meeting, showing up in force.
The City backed off, and regrouped, making the demands of the mandate a little less onerous, and moving the venue of the meeting to be less intimidating, passing them last night after a three hour meeting. People opposing the measure showed up and spoke about rights, they spoke about businesses suffering, and ultimately, it only swayed two councilors that rights are not less important in the face of a crisis.
In fact, the problem is that some of those disagreeing are downright patronizing about it. And what was their justification?
“I respect your right to maintain your own opinion, and to share them this evening and in other meetings,” Councilor Nick Wendell said to the public. “But in the midst of a public health crisis, I believe it’s irresponsible for us to equate those opinions with scientific evidence and fact.”
As quoted in the Argus Leader.
The problem with some councilors dismissive attitudes towards those who have been suffering for months under coronavirus restrictions and coronavirus related economic damage is that they don’t make these decisions to impose restrictions and limit people’s civil liberties in a vacuum, and for every action, there is a reaction.
When it comes to reactions, I can’t help but point out something that caught my attention with the city council in the midst of all these conversations:
(Mayor) Keith W. Corbett’s term is from May 1, 2018 – May 1, 2021 (R)
(Deputy Mayor) Patty Bacon’s term is from May 1, 2018 – May 1, 2021. (D)
(City Council) Nick Wendell’s term is from May 1, 2018 – May 1, 2021. (D)
With hundreds of city residents angry over this issue, and likely not to abate anytime soon, three of the five votes to put tougher restrictions on Brookings residents all find themselves up for election in a few months.
I’ve already heard that recruitment efforts are afoot, so we’ll see if people continue to be unhappy over the course of the coming weeks. A couple of hundred people upset about municipal overreach can be a good motivator for getting people involved in elections.
Governor Noem: Modeling Isn’t Reality
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem issued the following statement on the grossly misleading San Diego State CHEPS study regarding COVID-19 cases following the Sturgis rally:
“This report isn’t science; it’s fiction. Under the guise of academic research, this report is nothing short of an attack on those who exercised their personal freedom to attend Sturgis,” said Governor Noem. “Predictably, some in the media breathlessly report on this non-peer reviewed model, built on incredibly faulty assumptions that do not reflect the actual facts and data here in South Dakota.
“At one point, academic modeling also told us that South Dakota would have 10,000 COVID patients in the hospital at our peak. Today, we have less than 70. I look forward to good journalists, credible academics, and honest citizens repudiating this nonsense.”
For more data on COVID-19 in South Dakota, visit COVID.SD.GOV.
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From the President’s campaign:
In the post below this one (as written yesterday), I had scolded the Argus Leader’s political reporter for her ridiculously uncritical ‘reporting’ about Democrats rebuilding their party, while overlooking some pretty egregious problems the opposition party faces in the impending election.
Problems such as not fielding a Congressional candidate for the first time in decades (despite two people attempting to step up to the challenge). However, that problem of organizational collapse is perpetuated and even more significant for Democrats when it comes to the state legislature.
Earlier this year, Democrats yielded what might be a record low number of candidates for the State Senate to begin with, and after withdrawals and replacements have finally settled on a number of candidates they are fielding for the legislature’s 35 upper chamber seats – 17. Democrats are actually starting with a minority of legislative seats in the Senate, guaranteeing they’re in a bad position to start. But then it gets worse.
Because once you start looking at the head to head matchups, and handicapping them, it’s easy to see they’re going to continue to take it in the shorts.
|
District |
Name |
Party |
Competitive? |
R or D |
|
District 01 |
Susan Wismer |
DEM |
yes |
D |
|
District 06 |
Nancy Kirstein |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 09 |
Suzanne “Suzie” Jones Pranger |
DEM |
unk |
R |
|
District 10 |
Nichole Cauwels |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 11 |
Tom Cool |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 12 |
Jessica Meyers |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 13 |
Elizabeth “Liz” Larson |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 14 |
Timothy Reed |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 15 |
Reynold F. Nesiba |
DEM |
unk |
D |
|
District 17 |
Ailee Johns |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 18 |
Jordan Foos |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 21 |
Dan Kerner Andersson |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 26 |
Troy Heinert |
DEM |
yes |
D |
|
District 27 |
Red Dawn Foster |
DEM |
unk |
D |
|
District 32 |
Michael Calabrese |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 33 |
Ryan A. Ryder |
DEM |
no |
R |
|
District 34 |
George Nelson |
DEM |
no |
R |
Literally, of the 17 remaining races, I count only 4 of them that would likely favor Democrats.
And unlike in previous years, I would not necessarily hand those to Democrats. In most of the races, Democrats are going to get their tails kicked. The seats they hold now are likely the only competitive contests on their side of the aisle, and all of them are being challenged by Republicans.
Susan Wismer is viewed as having worn out her welcome in her district, and vulnerable this year. Reynold Nesiba has a rare challenger, Troy Heinert is facing a second run from Joel Koskan who knows how to build on where he fell short last election, and Red Dawn Foster may find herself dealing with overdue questions about her residency.
Democrats should not consider these races as settled, and will have to work to keep what little they have in the State Senate, except not with anything close to the network they had enjoyed in the last election. They’re going to struggle to hold onto what they have, much less take back ground that they had once ceded to the GOP.
A rebuilding year? If you consider battening down the hatches for the coming storm, sure.
But not one where they’re going to accomplish anything substantive.
In her outgoing love letter to the State Democrat Party, the Argus’ departing political reporter Lisa Kazcke writes a story about the Dem Party not being as bad as everyone really thought…
There’s a sense of commitment and involvement among Democrats going into November, Seiler said. He said they’re “optimistic” about Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s chances at winning the presidency. In South Dakota, the campaigns are going well for Democratic candidates Dan Ahlers for U.S. Senate and Remi Bald Eagle for Public Utilities Commission, he said.
and..
The SDDP was receiving $10,000 per month from the national Democratic Party, but that amount has been coming from the Democratic Grassroots Victory Campaign, a joint fundraising committee with state parties, since January instead. The SDDP has also received nearly a dozen donations of up to $10,000 from wealthy Democrats from out of state via the joint fundraising committee, according to FEC reports.
and..
Cole said they have plans to increase registered Democratic voters in the state and build a “bench” of school, city and county officials who are “true leaders that can make very sound decisions.” But it’s going to take time, she said. The state Legislature and congressional delegation don’t reflect the political makeup of the state, and it’s the party’s job to figure out how to bring it more into alignment, she said.
Read all of what Kazcke was willing to write about here.
If you can hold the eye-rolling to a minimum, Kazcke’s propaganda piece provides space for State Democrat Chair Randy Seiler to gush “The rebuilding is going incredibly well. There’s a sense of determination, there’s a sense of optimism,” Seiler said.
Nevermind reality.
Reality is the fact that the State Democrat organization can’t field enough people to keep a state fair booth open on a 3 day weekend when the area around the building is packed with people.
Even more importantly and a fact completely glossed over if not utterly ignored by Kazcke, reality is also the fact of the colossal candidate recruiting failure by the current South Dakota Democrat Party’s leadership team which left a majority of State Senate seats uncontested by Democrats, including seats representing Watertown, Aberdeen, Huron, Madison, Mitchell, Brookings, and Pierre. I might be remiss if I also didn’t mention all the vacant house seats.
I mean, really. How does it escape the notice of the newspaper’s political reporter that a political party – who’s literal purpose is to help get candidates elected – has fallen so flat on it’s face that their number of candidates for the State Senate is rivaled by the Libertarian Party, which has 153,000 members fewer than the Democrats do? Granted, some of the Libertarian candidates are utterly unelectable goofballs, but they at least their party scared up some people and got them to put their name on the line.
But you don’t read about that in Kaczke’s outgoing piece. In fact, you don’t get any discouraging words. Just forget about all that bad stuff. And not mention the fact the State Democrat Party couldn’t manage to field a Congressional candidate for the first time in modern history.
Because as far as the outgoing reporter is concerned, it’s the Democrat Party, so all is good.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem gave an interview recently to the Christian Broadcasting Network that had some noteworthy points about COVID and the national mood of liberal cancel culture:
“Oh, definitely. It is today,” Noem replied. “At the beginning of this crisis back in March and April, I don’t think it was really politically motivated because these same Democrat governors that are on TV, tearing apart the president today, months ago, were singing his praises. I sat on conference calls where they were thanking him for all he was doing to help them to respond to their people. What I am saying, though, is that what I heard on those conference calls was fear. I was shocked and amazed by how fear controlled people, and how emotional that they were.”
The South Dakota governor said she believes we live in a country that is addicted to being offended but believes that God will find a way to bring Americans together.
Are you ready for another raucous City Council meeting? And this time, be prepared to wear the blue as opponents to the citywide mask mandate are coming back to the city council meeting to voice their opposition to proposals for citywide shutdowns and what people can and can’t do in their own yards.
The Brookings City Council is meeting against this week to talk about masks on Tuesday, September 8th at 6PM, after the overwhelming opposition to the council’s overreaching proposals this past week. And after being somewhat taken off guard, the city is regrouping somewhat and moving the meeting to a larger venue, where people gathering to express their opposition to the proposals being brought are encouraged to wear blue.
I’m also being told that “The pro-mandate people and far left are telling each other to be dressed in green.” If you’re going to be watching at home and wondering who is who.
The change.org petition to encourage “the city council not to adopt ANY NEW Covid restrictions and to stop extending current restrictions” is currently standing at around 2100 signatures, which you can find here.
Concerned about governmental overreach? Make sure you spread the word and share the image!
I had more than one person sharing photos with me yesterday of the South Dakota State Democrat Party State Fair Booth.
Why was it so remarkable that they have to send me images? Because it was one of the saddest sights they’d ever seen:
At 10 AM it had not only not opened, but someone trolled them by sticking a Trump sign on the building.
By 11, it appears that Dan Ahlers was getting around to opening the booth, as he was still clutching the trump sign.
Several hours later, by 6pm, there was still a tremendous lull in the non-action, as there were few Democrats around to even stare at each other, wondering why no one really had any interest.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE..
According to a reader, they were shut down again when he went by at about 5:45 this afternoon. Please note this large crowd of people that they missed.
Staying on Course to Advance Self-Driving Vehicles
By Sen. John Thune
Each year, more than 35,000 people die in automobile accidents on our nation’s roads. Approximately 90 percent of those accidents can be attributed to human error, which is why self-driving or automated vehicles (AVs) present an opportunity to make incredible gains in the safe movement of people and goods on our roads. South Dakotans are already familiar with automation, which has brought several economic, safety, and efficiency benefits to the agriculture sector, and I believe South Dakota also stands to benefit greatly from the deployment of AVs.
These vehicles have the potential to greatly improve mobility and quality of life for all Americans, especially the disabled and the elderly, whose mobility is often limited by a lack of viable transportation options. And this emerging technology will also allow planners to reimagine civic challenges and opportunities like parking and traffic flow, making roads safer and less congested.
Back in 2017, when I chaired the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I introduced the American Vision for Safer Transportation Through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies – or AV START Act – which, if enacted, would provide the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) with new tools to safely test and deploy AVs.
AVs will only be able to operate safely when the companies developing them are certain these vehicles can safely react to driving situations we all encounter each day. That is why AV testing is so critical. It ensures AVs are capable of safely navigating roadways and constantly changing traffic conditions. DOT recently launched the Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing, or AV TEST Initiative, to facilitate greater awareness and engagement by industry, consumers, and the general public as AV testing becomes increasingly prevalent across the nation.
While Congress is often slow to react to new technologies, I remain committed to working in a bipartisan manner to ensure a strong legislative framework is put in place to promote the safe deployment of these vehicles. Any AV legislation should preserve the traditional roles of federal and state regulators, build on DOT’s current efforts to update regulatory requirements that were not written with AVs in mind, and continue to expand AV testing and data collection.
I’m optimistic the AV TEST Initiative will encourage the development of advanced solutions to improve vehicle safety, while providing necessary data to inform safe and nationally consistent rules for AVs. Importantly, this initiative will promote engagement by industry stakeholders and the public in the development of AV testing guidelines at the federal level.
This engagement is critical for acceptance of AVs by the general public and to ensure that we can all feel safe around AVs undergoing roadway testing. I’m glad that DOT launched this important initiative, and I look forward to continuing my efforts to harness the safety, quality of life, and economic benefits of this critical emerging technology.
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