Author: @SoDakCampaigns

What was that the Democrats were mewling? That they would have an opponent for Senator John Thune?

Good luck with that one, as who ever they can press into service, they’re going to be facing a very, very popular US Senator. John Thune was just named as tying for #9 in approval ratings (via their constituents) for Senators in the entire country:

Vermont	Bernie Sanders	I	83	13	230	+/- 6.5
Maine	Susan Collins	R	78	16	654	+/- 3.8
Wyoming	John Barrasso	R	73	15	198	+/- 7
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	D	71	22	230	+/- 6.5
North Dakota	John Hoeven	R	69	15	326	+/- 5.4
Minnesota	Amy Klobuchar	D	67	20	1,172	+/- 2.9
Wyoming	Mike Enzi	R	67	19	198	+/- 7
West Virginia	Joe Manchin	D	66	24	619	+/- 3.9
Maine	Angus King	I	65	25	654	+/- 3.8
South Dakota	John Thune	R	65	23	299	+/- 5.7

Read it all here.

Gov. Daugaard Orders State Capitol Flags Half-Staff For Former State Sen. Wilbur Foss

PIERRE, S.D. – Former state Sen. Wilbur Foss of Scotland passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has ordered flags to fly half-staff at the State Capitol on Saturday, Nov. 28, the date of Foss’ funeral.

Foss was appointed to the State Senate by Gov. Archie Gubbrud in 1961 to replace Joe Lehmann, who had resigned. Foss served as a state senator until 1963.

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Former Employee of South Dakota Secretary of State Office Pleads Guilty and Sentenced to Theft in Original State Flag Case

PIERRE, S.D – Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that Garrett Darwin Devries, 26, Washington D.C., has pled guilty to one count of theft of the “Original State Flag”, having a value in excess of four hundred dollars, class one misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 30 days in the county jail with 30 days suspended upon the condition that he commits no law violations for a period of one year. In addition, Devries was sentenced to pay court costs and in lieu of a fine, he was ordered to pay the costs to assist in the future preservation and protection of the “Original State Flag’ in the amount of $1,500 by December 4, 2015. Devries was also ordered to submit a letter of apology to the employees of the Secretary of State’s Office and the citizens of the State of South Dakota.

“South Dakota’s original State Flag is an important part of our history, and its recovery without damage or further incident was an important consideration in the resolution of this case. Mr. Devries has accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his co-workers as well as the citizens of South Dakota. This resolution further serves to assist in the preservation of our State Flag for future generations,” said Jackley.

This charge stems from Devries employment at the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office during the time between December 2012-November 2013 and the theft of an ‘Original State Flag’ from his place of employment.

This case was investigated by the Division of Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

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Check it out – The Augustana College Republicans are almost at 1/2 way to their goal to send 18 of their members to CPAC in March of 2016, as they currently sit at 44%.

Click here, and donate, and let’s see if we can get them to 50% today!

Just when you thought it was safe to drink the water again.

Larry Kurtz, who has been banned from this and other web sites for profanity, hate speech, etc., had taken himself off the internet after some controversial posts with clearly false and defamatory information that would likely get him sued into oblivion, taking down about two months of his “work.”

Larry claimed at the time is was because Democrats wouldn’t pay him for his work, which consisted of such gems as policemen all being fat, drunken wife-beaters, and that exposure to plastic was a leading cause of homosexuality.

Unfortunately, Larry also lied about going away, and is back making more goofy claims in a sad attempt for attention.

Today, this voice of SD Democrats is claiming that George Bush was a conspirator in the assassination of JFK, and Jeb Bush was “directly responsible for the events of 11 September, 2001.” Seriously? Who in their right mind considers such ridiculousness even remotely credible?

It’s kind of too bad that this is the image that people see of Democrats in South Dakota.  I know there are some decent ones, but the party seems to have been taken over by hard-left liberals who not only sit silent in the face of this kind of crazy, but endorse it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to complain too hard, as it’s what allows Republicans to maintain impossibly high numbers of elected officials in the state. But there comes a point when you look at the vomit covered person lying in the gutter, continuing to swill Old Crow, and say “What happened to your self-respect?”

From today’s KCCR, South Dakota’s US Senator John Thune isn’t going to give his nod yet to any of the candidates running. Probably because it’s still ridiculously early:

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds has endorsed Mike Huckabee. Representative Kristi Noem has endorsed Marco Rubio.

and…

Thune says he is not endorsing any candidate at this time. He believes that the candidate field will narrow down soon…

and…

Thune is considered to be a highly sought after endorsement by the candidates in the Republican primary race.

 

Read (and listen to) it all here.

Speaking of twitter, and the previous post mentioning the contenders in the congressional race, what was I saying about Paula Hawks and twitter a while back?

I’m wondering, because so far this month the Hawks for House twitter account has been holding steady at 2 tweets, with one on the 7th, and one on the 14th.

and…

Seriously, the thing with her twitter account seems to be plaguing her entire campaign.  It was amateur hour at her campaign rollout, which was the most botched thing I’ve seen in over 25 years in politics. As a supposed political insider for Democrats, her first quarter fundraising only beat the gal who moved here, and only managed about 2/3 of what a junior staffer for Tim Johnson managed to draw in a comparable time period.

In a limited time period to try to gain attention, she’s managed to be almost invisible.

Read it here.

Yeah… the invisible campaign has hit twitter three times this month, and holding.  And still remains invisible, and apparently inactive, except when she’s out campaigning on state level issues for Democrats.

I’m kind of questioning whether she’s given up on running a serious race at this point.

ISIS Must Be Stopped  
By Sen. John Thune

Our continued thoughts and prayers are with the victims of last week’s senseless attacks in Paris. Our admiration goes out to the law enforcement and military personnel who so bravely rushed toward danger to protect the innocent and weak. While the Paris attacks have dominated the headlines, we cannot forget the people of Beirut, Lebanon, who just days before the attacks in Paris also suffered great loss at the hands of ISIS terrorists. It is oftentimes hard to be strong when faced with such adversity – the American people know it all too well – but despite the hardship, France and Lebanon have stood strong, and the American people stand with them.

ISIS has proven to be one of the most brutal instruments of evil the world has ever known. They kill and maim the innocent with no regard for humanity. ISIS’ campaign of violence is not limited to certain regions, nationalities, or religions. Faced with these dangers, we cannot be naïve to think that if given the opportunity, ISIS would not try to perpetrate an attack on U.S. soil. ISIS represents a clear and present danger to the world, and it must be stopped.

Unfortunately, I don’t think President Obama is willing to take the necessary steps to ensure ISIS’ reign of terror is stopped. When asked about ISIS the day before the Paris attacks, the president said, “I don’t think [ISIS is] gaining strength … From the start, our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them.” Less than 24 hours after the president’s comments, nearly 130 people were massacred in the streets of Paris by the very people he said were “contained.” Following the attacks, the president described this enormous loss of life as a “setback” and said, “We have the right strategy and we’re going to see it through.”

This is much more than a “setback,” and unfortunately it is the president’s failed leadership and foreign policy that have escalated this situation. It was the president’s politically motivated decision to withdraw troops from Iraq that ultimately allowed ISIS to expand into northern Iraq. By controlling territory in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is able to train and recruit, as well as launch attacks through proxies in other countries.

In ISIS’ quest for further death and destruction, there are now fears it is trying to infiltrate the population of peaceful Syrian refugees trying to flee the civil war caused by the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Sadly, because of this threat, I believe the United States should hit the pause button with respect to accepting more Syrian refugees at this time. Should the president try to act unilaterally, Congress should cut off funding to prevent him from taking any action that would put Americans at risk.

Real problems demand real leadership. Without it, America and our allies are increasingly vulnerable to future attacks. The president needs to stop talking about containment and start acting on a strategy that will root out and defeat ISIS wherever it can be found.

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Standing with our French Allies
by Senator Mike Rounds

South Dakotans – and all Americans – stand united with France after last week’s terror attacks in Paris. With 129 murdered and more than 350 wounded, they were the deadliest terror attacks in Europe in more than a decade. We continue to pray for those we lost and stand united with our friends in France as they recover from this terrible tragedy.

The attacks in Paris are a sobering reminder that we are at war with radical jihadists who seek to harm Americans and invoke terror throughout the world. These extremists, who propagate brutal violence and reject peace, must be destroyed. This starts with a coherent plan to completely defeat ISIS, the vicious terrorist group behind the November 13 Paris attacks.

The administration has been lackluster in its response to ISIS, with the President and Secretary of State downplaying its growing influence in the Middle East and our need to fully counter them, placing tight constraints on our military’s campaign against them. Meanwhile, ISIS has spread from Iraq and Syria to Northern Africa and Afghanistan and now to the restaurants and concert halls of Paris. It is clear that ISIS is not “contained,” as President Obama claimed just hours before the Paris attacks, nor is it merely a regional threat in the Middle East. We must act now to defeat them or risk a Paris-like attack on U.S. soil in the near future. I believe the best way to achieve this is to direct our military, the Department of Homeland Security and our nation’s intelligence leaders to put forth a clear and coherent plan to completely obliterate ISIS.

Because of ongoing war in Syria, as well as ISIS’s continued terror in the region, millions of Syrians are fleeing their homeland seeking refuge elsewhere in the world. While most are being relocated in Europe, many South Dakotans, including myself, are concerned about the prospect of a terrorist slipping into the United States, taking advantage of the refugee program. Refugees have been coming to America for generations seeking safety from war-torn regions of the world. I support efforts to help others seek shelter from persecution. However, we must not do so at the expense of our own national security.

I have joined a growing number of my colleagues – on both sides of the aisle – calling for the administration to put a pause on those coming to the U.S. from Syria until we are able to take a second look at the security of our current vetting processes. We need to remember that it only took 8 people to commit the carnage in Paris. While we continue to press the administration for answers as to our ability to protect Americans from these threats, we must not accelerate the Syrian refugee program as the President has requested.

As we continue to seek answers regarding last week’s horrific attacks in Paris, we must remember that we are at war with Islamic jihadists. Clearly defining a plan to defeat ISIS and keep Americans safe must be our primary goal. We have the best armed forces and intelligence agencies in the world. With resolve and determination, we can and will defeat ISIS and Islamic extremists, but this still requires leadership and a plan.

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A Thankful Nation
By Rep. Kristi Noem

I am finding it tough to get into the right mindset to write this column.  In recent days, we’ve had to have some difficult conversations about how we’re going to keep the American people safe and away from terrorism’s deadly fist.  I’ve traveled to Pine Ridge to talk to young people and tribal leaders about a tragic suicide epidemic afflicting Indian Country.  My team and I have received hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls from South Dakotans who are concerned about how the federal government is caring for veterans, supporting our seniors, and digging out of debt.

Our world can be such an ugly place.  But in the midst of it all, most of us will sit down with family or friends on Thursday and give thanks for our many blessings.  What an incredible national tradition that is.

Especially when times are tough, we need to take the time to reset – to step back and take an account of what we do have.  For me, I’m grateful for my family, for the partner I have in my husband Bryon, for the time I get to spend hunting with my oldest daughter Kassidy, for the laughter that seems to follow our second oldest daughter Kennedy wherever she goes, and for the tender heart of our son Booker.

I’m grateful for my mom and the incredible grandma she is to my kids and their cousins.  I’m grateful for the time I had with my dad and all the lessons he taught me.  I’m grateful for my mother-in-law and father-in-law who have been there to support us at so many turns along the way.  I’m grateful for my siblings and their spouses and my nieces and nephews; they have made our family of five so much bigger (and so much louder!)

I’m so incredibly grateful to live in South Dakota.  I’ve always loved our state and after spending a week or so in Washington, D.C., I become even more appreciative.  I call coming home my detox.

I’m grateful for the people of our state – for those who offer words of encouragement, those who challenge me, those who pray for me, and those who ask questions and offer solutions.

I’m grateful to live in a nation that has made freedom the first tenant of our Bill of Rights; a nation that promises opportunity and strives to better itself and the world around us; a nation that takes the time every year to give thanks.

From my family to yours, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

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