Author: @SoDakCampaigns

From ABC News:

Holding Big Tech Accountable
By Sen. John Thune

I was recently part of a Senate panel that held several of the nation’s top big tech leaders accountable for the content moderation practices at each of their respective companies. The American people deserve to know how their information is being used, censored, and potentially exploited online. These companies have an obligation to explain it.

I questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the perceived political bias that exists within the big tech community and how that might affect their companies’ actions when it comes to suppressing or amplifying certain online content. I pressed them on whether or not they believed they were legitimate referees when it comes to political speech on social media platforms. In my opinion, it’s not up to them to make those kinds of decisions, especially when it can have an effect on our democracy.

If you were an early adopter of social media, you’ve seen online platforms come, go, and evolve over the years. At their outset, platforms were comprised of a simple, sequential stream of user-generated content – pictures of your lunch or dinner, a status update on your weekend plans, or an article about a hot new restaurant opening downtown. In many cases, a dial-up internet connection and desktop computer were an integral part of logging on, scrolling, and posting.

Fast forward to today. Things have changed a bit, to say the least. Now you can access social media from nearly every corner of the planet (even from outer space) and from nearly any device with an internet connection: phones, tablets, watches, TVs, computers, and so on. And with the advancement of 5G wireless broadband technology, something I’ve fought hard for in Congress, you can access information faster than ever before.

Access and availability aren’t the only things that have changed. Big tech leaders like Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Pichai are now some of the most powerful people in the world because they, in many ways, shape and control the content that social media users see and consume online. They’ve developed high-powered, opaque algorithms – contained within a black box of sorts – that learn online behavior and deliver customized results based on what we search, see, and share online. How they do it is largely unknown, which is one of the reasons why they recently testified before Congress.

Some platforms have gone a step further – beyond delivering customized results and content – and have appeared to act as the arbiters of truth by moderating and censoring user-generated political content – political speech, essentially. Whether or not these companies believe they’re acting as a referee, suppression of people’s political speech is occurring. This kind of behavior is not what Congress envisioned when it crafted certain laws during the infancy of the internet, like when it created a liability shield that helped these companies grow. So, as social media platforms continue to evolve, so too must the laws that govern them.

As the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the current chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, this issue is very important to me. I’ve held multiple hearings on this topic over the years and have introduced several bipartisan pieces of legislation that would help strengthen online transparency and accountability.

In June, I introduced the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act, or PACT Act. It would require internet platforms like Facebook and Twitter to make quarterly reports to the public outlining material they’ve removed from their sites or chosen to deemphasize. Sites would also be required to provide an easily digestible disclosure of their content moderation practices for users. And, importantly, they would be required to explain their decisions to remove material to consumers. They would need to create an appeals process for users, too.

There’s a growing bipartisan consensus that it’s time to shed greater light on these secretive processes. I will continue to be a tireless advocate for the American people who, again, deserve to know how their information is being treated by big tech. This hearing is not the last you’ve heard from Congress on this issue. In many ways, we’re just getting started.

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Angels in Adoption
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

November is memorable for many things – including Election Day and the start of the holiday season – but it also marks the start of National Adoption Month.

In South Dakota, the average age of a child waiting to be adopted is nine years old. My youngest is eight – it’s heartbreaking knowing there are so many children my son’s age in need of a loving home.

There is hope for these children, though. Each year, I have the opportunity to nominate a family who’s opened their home to adoptive children as “Angels in Adoption.” This year, I nominated Chad and Kari Shields from Sioux Falls.

After having four of their own biological children, the Shields family decided they had room in their hearts for more kids. They adopted Oliver from China, and a year and a half later brought home Lily from China as well. Lily has significant medical needs that require out of state medical care.

The Shields family often opens their home to other families with adopted children – they provide a community and support network for families walking a similar path. The Shieldses are actively involved in the foster care community as well and provide temporary care for foster children and families.

I hold deep admiration for families like the Shieldses who always seem to have more love to give.

Adoption is a blessing for both the children and the families, and I’m honored to highlight the stories of true Angels in Adoption like the Shields family. To learn more about adoption in South Dakota visit https://dss.sd.gov/childprotection/adoption/.

The Shields Family from Sioux Falls

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A Special Thanks to All Our Veterans
By Governor Kristi Noem 

One of the things I appreciate most about those who served is that they didn’t rely on someone else to protect freedom. Veterans didn’t assume someone else would make the sacrifices so our kids could sleep safely in their beds every night. They raised their hand. They said yes to the call.

When I became governor, I told my team that I wanted to be a leader who shows gratitude to our veterans, but I don’t just want to show gratitude in the words that I say. I want to take action to help our veterans. I want to enact policies that make their lives better. I want to say “thank you,” both in word and in deed, to those that sacrifice their life so that we should go on living as a free people, free to choose our own destiny in this great nation.

South Dakota is setting an example for the nation. We’ve taken action to honor our veterans. In fact, a recent study by Smart Asset named South Dakota the “Best State for Veterans.” We expanded the free tuition program for veterans to include technical colleges in addition to regents institutions. We started the Fallen Heroes bridge dedications to honor our heroes killed in combat. To date, seven state bridges have been named after South Dakota’s fallen heroes.

We’ve increased property tax exemptions for veterans with disabilities. We authorized a new tax exemption for paraplegic or amputee veterans. We increased the number of beds at the Hot Springs Veterans Home, so that we can care for more veterans. And we broke ground on the first ever State Veterans Cemetery in Sioux Falls. Now, South Dakota families will have a final resting place for the heroes who have defended our country.

South Dakota has deployed nearly 9,000 soldiers and airmen in support of various operations since 9/11 alone. It’s always such a privilege to welcome home units from deployment and to see moms and dads be reunited with their kids, spouses, and loved-ones. This past June, South Dakota welcomed home 69 soldiers with the 152nd Combat Sustainment Support Brigade (CSSB.) They had been deployed for 11 months in the Middle East as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. And in July, 110 soldiers from Alpha Battery, 1-147th Field Artillery and the 147th Forward Support Company returned to South Dakota from a 10-month deployment in Europe. I cannot express how much gratitude I have for the sacrifices our soldiers are making to be away from their own families in service to our American family.

We also sent some South Dakota-based units out for deployment this year. In August, more than 190 soldiers with the 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade deployed to Djibouti to support Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, and in October, the 114th Fighter Wing began its rotation of up to 110 Airmen for deployments across the globe in support of a Reserve Component Period. The Airmen will deploy to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. One cannot put a price tag on time away from family. There are no makeup days for missed births, first steps, meal time conversations about the day, or the birthdays and holidays that our soldiers won’t be there for during a deployment.

It’s because of the readiness capabilities of our active duty military personnel that our country continues to be a shining beacon of freedom to all people around the world. Just this year, the Pierre-based 152nd CSSB won Gen. Walter T. Kerwin, Jr. Readiness Award for excellence, meaning they are the most outstanding Army National Guard battalion in the nation. They won the award last year as well, and in 2018, South Dakota’s 139th Brigade Support Battalion were the recipients. You read that right; for three years running, South Dakota has had the very best Army National Guard troops in the entire nation.

As a fellow American, I am grateful to live in a nation protected by citizen soldiers who are willing to answer the call to fight terror across the world. I commend our Veterans for their leadership, bravery, and willingness to work toward peace and stability around the globe. This Veterans Day, I encourage you to take a moment and personally thank one of South Dakota’s 65,000 veterans. Thank our active duty servicemen and women. Thank their families, too. And to all the veterans and military personnel reading this, thank you for your service to our state and our country. South Dakota will always honor you. God bless you, and Happy Veterans Day!

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Yesterday, after the new Senate leadership team was elected, I started a multi-part series on some of the intra-party battles that are coming to a head with the selection of the new team of legislative leadership.

in Part 1, I had touched slightly on the aftermath of fratricidal food-fight among Rapid City/Black Hills Republicans, and how it had spilled over into a problem that the Senate will have to deal with after State Senator Julie Frye Mueller teamed up with the independent candidate in D35 to defeat one of her Senate colleagues… after the Senate GOP caucus had supported her in her own race.

As bad as that is..Part 2 is a bit worse. Because now it’s the House’s turn to deal with the headaches.

We have the House members who were involved in the postcard where four sitting Republicans endorsed independent Brian Gentry over the Republican Jessica Castleberry in the General Election District 35 Senate Race. And that portion of the tale gets even wilder.

District 35 State Representatives Tina Mulally & Tony Randolph, and D33 State Senator (now State Rep. Elect) Phil Jensen were also in on the postcard attacking their fellow Republican candidate in the general election. Literally, they are the first two on the card endorsing the non-Republican. And here’s where their attacks on their fellow GOP Legislator get even more eyebrow raising.

The South Dakota Federation of Republican Women is a wonderful group which has been around for more decades than can be counted, and the auxiliary’s mission has always been to help get Republicans elected. 

Why do I bring this up? Tina Mulally is the outgoing State Treasurer for the Statewide Republican Women’s organization, and current member of the group’s state executive board as a “member at large”  Except Tina Mulally doesn’t appear to have gotten that memo about supporting Republicans.

Especially when Tina endorsed independent candidate Brian Gentry in the D35 State Senate race over State Senator & fellow Republican woman Jessica Castleberry.

Oops.

And let’s not forget State Rep. Tony Randolph’s crossing of party lines to support the independent in the race.

Why do we want to remember this going into this weekend’s GOP House Caucus elections?

Because as I understand it, I’m told that after supporting the independent candidate in the election less than a month ago, Tina and Tony are asking to be rewarded for their loyalty and fidelity to the GOP.  The word is that Rep. Randolph is one of the roughly dozen running as a candidate for GOP House Whip. And I’m also told that Rep. Mulally is making noise that she wants to be a legislative committee vice-chair.

We’ll see how that comes out for them.

And then there’s State Rep-elect Phil Jensen.

Phil has done and said a lot of crazy things in his political career (Trust me. Just do a google search on his name and race-based discrimination, and his story on how South Americans allegedly have different skull structures and skin tones from Mexicans), but he’s been on a bit of a tear in the last month or so.

First, we have his appearance on the card attacking one of his fellow Republican Senate colleagues in the general election, which is bad enough.

Odds are that even coming out of the Senate over to the House, GOP leadership was going to have to address it.

But Phil being Phil, OF COURSE he had to go and do something else to throw gasoline on his standing with the incoming class of State Representatives, and burn his reputation down to the ground among his colleagues.

So, here’s the story that I’m hearing that’s been all the buzz among legislators over the course of the last week, which I’ve heard from a number of people by this point.

As the tale has been related to me, I’m told Phil was in attendance at a lunch group in Rapid City, and started relating (I’ve heard either reading a transcript he made or playing a actual recording) of the happenings in the Senate Caucus from this last year.  I’m told he was immediately upbraided by the house members in attendance, with them telling him that it was unethical to record the caucus proceedings, especially without the permission or knowledge of those speaking and in attendance.

If this is what happened, I can’t imagine the legislators who witnessed it are going to advocate that Phil Jensen be a part of House caucus. I mean, would you want to sit next to him and speak honestly about legislative strategy if you knew Phil was going to tape it and use it to his own ends?

At the very least, one of headaches that House Leadership is going to have to deal with is what to do about Tina, Tony & Phil, the sidewinders in their midst.

With the election of the Senate’s new leadership team, and as the House’s caucus elections approach, there’s some inside baseball occurring in the background. And a lot of it has some relation to Rapid City politics – both long running factional goofiness and what took place in this last election.

For the more recent, focus on the postcard where four sitting Republicans endorsed independent Brian Gentry over the Republican Jessica Castleberry in the General Election District 35 Senate Race. For many Republicans, especially legislators, that was particularly egregious.

In the Senate, while they were delivering checks for caucus support for both Julie Frye-Mueller and Jessica Castleberry, JFM turns around and attacks Castleberry by endorsing Jessica’s opponent. That’s a huge no-no.

In the primary, support who you want. There might be some hurt feelings and potential repercussions, but it is generally considered to be “a family dispute.” But in the general, if you’re a Republican candidate, and you’re off supporting Democrats or Independents, or whatever… well, that’s going to come back and bite you in the rear.

Senator-elect Julie Frye Mueller crossed party lines and supported the opponent of one of her now fellow caucus members at the same time she was trying to put out her own fire when people were being encouraged to cross party lines to support her own opponent, Libertarian & former Republican Gideon Oakes.

Julie groused about the possibility of people going over party lines. But the difference is that while Julie crossed the line in D35, people didn’t do it in her race. In other words, it was a whole lot of “do as I say, not as I do.”

Expect that there will be repercussions for Frye-Mueller, because at the least, she’s proven herself to be a quisling. And really, why would Senator Castleberry feel comfortable talking strategy at a table with someone who just finished endorsing her opponent?

But it doesn’t end there. Because there’s three others who crossed party lines in the general election, and they’re in the House. And there’s a whole lot more going on there.

(That’s coming in part 2)

2021-2022 SENATE MAJORITY LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCED

PIERRE – The newly-elected Senate Republican caucus met November 6, 2020, to determine legislative leadership for the 2021-2022 Legislative term.

The following members were elected to majority leadership positions in the Senate:

Majority Leader: Gary Cammack
Assistant Majority Leader: Mike Diedrich
Majority Whip: Jim Bolin
Majority Whip: Casey Crabtree
Majority Whip: Helene Duhamel
Majority Whip: Kyle Schoenfish

Lee Schoenbeck will be the GOP nominee for the position of President Pro Tempore, which will be voted on by the full Senate when it organizes on Tuesday,January 12, 2021.

Joe Sneve at the Argus is writing tonight that the Democrats apparently don’t feel defeated, after a historical shellacking.

When the 96th South Dakota Legislative Session convenes in Pierre this winter, South Dakotans will be represented by the highest number of Republican lawmakers and the fewest Democrats in 66 years.

and..

Having the fewest number of Democratic lawmakers in Pierre in nearly 70 years isn’t what the South Dakota Democratic Party director Pam Cole had wanted to see. But that won’t stop the party from working hard in the next two years to claw back some seats in 2022.

“I don’t feel defeated at all. I feel very determined,” Cole told the Argus Leader Friday morning.

Read it here.

They don’t feel defeated at all?

Ooookay.

South Dakota Republican Senate Caucus elections are taking place this evening, just a couple days after the dust has settled in the general election. This election determines who will be in charge of making committee assignments, and generally running the Senate chamber, so it’s a big deal.

Here’s what I’m hearing is happening for Senate races, in no particular order

President Pro Tempore

• Brock Greenfield
• Lee Schoenbeck

Majority Leader

• John Wiik
• Gary Cammack
• …and maybe Blake Curd

Assistant Majority Leader

• Maggie Sutton
• Mike Diedrich
• Josh Klumb

Majority Whips

• Helene Duhamel
• Jim Bolin
• Casey Crabtree
• Jim Stalzer
• Jack Kolbeck
• Al Novstrup

 

The GOP members of the House of Representatives aren’t meeting for another week, but so far, this is what I’m gleaning from reports in the field:

Speaker of the House

• Dave Anderson
• Spencer Gosch

Speaker Pro Tempore

• Tim Reed
• Chris Karr
• Jon Hansen

Majority Leader

• Kent Peterson
• Sue Peterson
• Steve Haugaard

Assistant Majority Leader

• Roger Chase
• Arch Beal
• Lana Greenfield

And about 16 majority whips.

I’ll try to get more on the House races as we get into next week, but stay tuned for more information as it develops.

Remember the Anti-Gun USD Law School Professor who thought Brett Kavanaugh should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court because he was discourteous to US Senators?

A legislator who was just re-elected and will be returning to Pierre just forwarded me a nugget of wisdom that USD Law School professor Sean Kammer had apparently posted to Facebook yesterday. One where he declares that “whiteness is a disease:”