The “blow back” from reploganmanhart.com. Threats from “quite a few lawmakers.”

The blowback from reploganmanhart.com apparently began before the website. According to one critic’s comments to the author on instagram, allegedly there are “quite a few lawmakers in South Dakota” regarding the website that was put up pointing out Representative Logan Manhart’s pale-oriented social media.

Yet, the author isn’t much intimidated by the threats against him from “the many.”

I wonder who the “quite a few lawmakers” are? Logan? Dylan “Dj Jazzy” Jordan? …. I’m quickly running out of people in the bro-faction of the SDGOP who might care about this.  Unless this correspondent is referring to the entire free-dumb caucus?

The website author must be immune to “quite a few lawmakers.” Or at least someone throwing out the “they” pronoun at him.

(This was painful to watch before this silliness began.)

Press Release: South Dakota Ends Fiscal Year with $63 Million Operating Surplus

South Dakota Ends Fiscal Year with $63 Million Operating Surplus

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden announced South Dakota closed the state fiscal year 2025 budget year with an operating surplus of $63 million.

“South Dakota is a leader in our nation – especially when it comes to disciplined financial management,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “We will continue to be careful stewards of taxpayer dollars by making wise long-term investments, maintaining conservative fiscal policies, and only spending within our means.”

The surplus included $41 million in excess revenues and $22 million in spending below what was budgeted.

The Bureau of Finance and Management (BFM) also published “South Dakota: A Model of Fiscal Strength,” a document highlighting South Dakota’s accomplishments as one of the best financially managed states.

“South Dakota’s disciplined financial management, low debt levels, conservative budgeting practices, AAA credit rating, and fully funded pension system helped achieve our distinction as a leader in fiscal strength,” said BFM Commissioner Jim Terwilliger. “This document puts all these accomplishments and more in one convenient place.”

Unforeseen unclaimed property receipts were the biggest driver of excess revenues; the state received more than $47 million in unexpected unclaimed property receipts since the 2025 legislative session. Beginning in FY2026, such windfalls will be dedicated to a trust fund via SB 155, which Governor Rhoden signed into law.

South Dakota’s largest revenue source, the state sales tax, finished the year $3.7 million lower than recent estimates and 0.6% lower than collections from the previous year.

During the 2025 legislative session, Governor Rhoden and legislative leadership agreed to keep $106 million left unspent on the bottom line to help cover the costs of a future prison. Between the $63 million surplus and the $106 million left unspent by the Legislature, $169 million will flow to the state’s two primary reserve funds under state law.

The state’s reserve funds now total $492 million or 19.9% of the FY2026 budget.

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Logan Manhart critic puts up website at RepLoganManhart.com declaring “A White Boy Life is Within Reach”

Toby Morton, a former South Park writer and voice talent for one of the characters, has a second calling, according to his Instagram profile. Morton is also the creator of what he deems to be anti-fascist websites, taking on such groups as Moms for Liberty.

Recently, after District 1 State Representative Logan Manhart’s post to Instagram declaring that it’s “White Boy Summer,” Manhart found himself as the newest subject of Morton’s satire.

A new website was born in the last couple of days featuring South Dakota’s summertime representative at RepLoganManhart.com with a headline blaring “A White Boy Life is Within Reach,” attributing it to Logan Manhart, and making note of many items on the Manhart record. Several of which you’ve read here before, such as the Manhart pledge to take military action against airplanes someone thinks are leaving chemtrails:

Hi there! I’m Logan Manhart.
South Dakota Rep, and full-time white grievance cosplayer.

Welcome to my little corner of the internet, a great place to learn about how I:

  • Violated state residency rules and ran for office anyway

  • Promoted white nationalist talking points while claiming it’s just “heritage vibes”

  • Shared a “White Boy Summer” meme then cried in a Bass Pro parking lot when people got mad

  • Quoted Martin Luther King Jr. to justify banning gender-affirming healthcare for kids

  • Joined a Facebook group that casually floated shooting down planes they think are dropping chemtrails

  • And introduced a bill that would force schools to out trans kids to their parents, because nothing says “limited government” like surveillance in the nurse’s office​

So yeah, I’m not just here to legislate. I’m here to whiten the vibe of American politics, one overpriced protein shake and paranoid Facebook group at a time.

Feel free to click around, just don’t ask where I actually live.

 – Logan “Vibe First, Constitution Later” Manhart

Read that here.

The website also features tidbits from Manahart’s social media… tweets and posts that I would guess Logan didn’t think would ever see the light of a more public platform. Because what other State Rep says this stuff?:

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The website author also provides a link for visitors to donate via venmo or paypal for the purposes of buying billboards and advertising, which I would guess would come in several months during the election cycle.

Again, you can review for yourself at reploganmnahart.com.

As SDGOP flounders in fundraising, SDDP hosts event with nearly 1000 people in Sioux Falls this past weekend

After taking over, “Jim Eschenbaum’s new establishment SDGOP” can’t seem to get their act together, and goes a month at a time with only the treasurer making a donation. Let’s not even get into their big “golf event.” I couldn’t help but notice that even one of his former constituent groups, the hopelessly goofy election truthers seem to have abandoned him, with at least one declaring they will cease to support the Eschenbaum party as evidenced by this recent facebook post:

Backstabbing, betrayal, gossip, duplicity, cliques, chaos and division all seem to be what’s taken over the SD GOP.

and..

I’ll be here waiting in hopes that some day the SD GOP and the republican party in general will get back their identity, their courage, and putting the people first as I’ve always fought for.

Read that here.

Why do I bring up this ever-expanding divide in the Republican Party?  Because despite an overwhelming advantage in party registration, Republicans in South Dakota seem to have exchanged their fortunes with State Democrats when it comes to the enthusiasm factor:

As the SDGOP boasts this on social media for their latest fundraising event debacle..

Democrats are able to draw this kind of crowd for their fundraising event..

As a Republican, if this doesn’t get your attention, it should.  Is there any Republican able to recall the last time we were able to put these kind of numbers together for a GOP dinner? It has been a long, long time.

Not counting John Wiik’s GOP Trump event in Rapid City, I think you’d have to go back a decade or more to see anything bordering 1000 dinner attendees.  I think the last time I saw something even close to this was at the Minnehaha GOP Dinner when it was on top of the Kermit Staggers v Mike Huether for Sioux Falls Mayor race.

Not good as we go into the most important election year in literally a generation.

Sad news. Ret. State Senator Mike Diedrich has passed away

Terribly sad news. I am informed that Mike Diedrich passed away last night, surrounded by his family.  In 2024, Mike stepped down from serving in the Senate due to cancer.

Mike served in the South Dakota Legislature over 13 years during three separate stints; from 1987-1990 in the Senate, 1993-1994 in the Senate, from 2018-2020 in the House, moving to the Senate from 2021-2024.

Mike was in the legislature during my earliest years of working for the party, and he has always been just an absolute gentleman and statesman of the highest caliber.  We are richer for his time with us and his service to the State of South Dakota.

Please keep his family in your prayers.

Guest Column: It’s Time to Defund the Propaganda and Empower South Dakota By Dan Schneider, Media Research Center (MRC)

About Dan Schneider: Dan Schneider is a fierce free speech advocate, leading MRC Free Speech America as Vice President. A Columbia Law grad, he spent over a decade in D.C., advising Rep. Mike Pence, Sen. Ted Cruz, and White House teams.

It’s Time to Defund the Propaganda and Empower South Dakota
By Dan Schneider, Media Research Center (MRC)

For decades, the Media Research Center has been on the front lines, exposing the pervasive and insidious bias that saturates our national media. Among the most biased of news outlets are NPR and PBS. The taxpayer-funded propaganda they produce is a clear and present danger to the common-sense policies that benefit all Americans, and to leaders like Senator Mike Rounds, who champion pro-growth policies for their constituents.

That’s why it is critical for Rounds to vote in favor of H.R. 4, President Donald Trump’s request to rescind the $1.1 billion that Joe Biden secured for NPR and PBS over the next two years.

If you examine Rounds’s priorities, you’ll see how NPR and PBS consistently work against his agenda while simultaneously lining their own pockets with taxes from South Dakotas. To add insult to injury, these broadcasters also attack the jobs of the very people who are forced to subsidize “public broadcasting.”

If your income is connected to production agriculture, transportation, or oil and gas development, or if you hold traditional values or believe in the Second Amendment, why should you be forced to turn over your taxes to those who seek your demise?

Rounds has consistently fought for agriculture and rural economic vitality, the beating heart of South Dakota’s economy.  His support for crucial initiatives such as the USA Beef Act and Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (M-COOL), his efforts to crack down on anti-competitive practices, and his proactive emergency plans for bird flu outbreaks all demonstrate a commitment to the state’s foundational industry. Rounds has also made tribal communities a priority, pushing for better transportation funding and a much-needed tribal law enforcement training center.

Yet NPR churns out stories at odds with these priorities.They obsess over the environmental “sins” of the beef industry with endless talk of carbon and methane and cast the USA Beef Act as some backward, industry-pandering move. PBS NewsHour is no better, often complaining that M-COOL might “ruffle feathers” in global trade deals or “jack up prices” for consumers. They conveniently gloss over the tangible benefits these policies bring to rural and tribal communities, framing these common-sense priorities as mere trifles compared to their globalist, green dogma. It’s a classic media dodge: undermine the heartland to push their progressive pet projects.

 

These left-wing news outlets also strike directly at one of Round’s legislative priorities, ending Federal control over our children’s education. Rounds’ legislation “Returning Education to Our States Act,”  would dismantle the bloated U.S. Department of Education and hand decision-making power back to states via block grants, a concept that, to most South Dakotans, is simply common sense.

But NPR and PBS  trot out union bosses and so-called “experts” to cry about “equity” and “access,” as if states can’t be trusted to run their own schools. NPR’s biased stories invariably focus on how federal cuts might “hurt underserved kids,” conveniently ignoring how federal red tape often stifles genuine innovation. PBS NewsHour plays the same game, framing the proposal as a dangerous gamble that could “undo” decades of progress. Of course, both outlets fail to show that the so-called “progress” is actually ever-declining performance by students across America.

The continued subsidization of NPR and PBS, to the tune of more than half-a-billion dollars annually, is an undeniable anachronism in today’s media environment. Their tired arguments for taxpayer dollars are as hollow as the “news” coverage they provide. They claim farmers need them for weather reports? This is an insult to the ingenuity and technological savvy of South Dakota’s agricultural community, who are already equipped with cell phones, computers, and sophisticated weather apps that provide real-time, localized data far more efficiently.

They perpetuate the myth of unique emergency alert services, despite the undeniable fact that every broadcaster in America is legally mandated to provide the same alerts. Furthermore, with 98% of Americans now owning cell phones, these critical notifications are delivered directly to nearly every pocket, rendering traditional broadcast-dependent systems largely obsolete. Importantly, H.R. 4 does not touch the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), which is instead funded by FEMA.

Rounds is laser-focused on keeping America strong by modernizing our military and  integrating AI to our national defense systems. Yet, NPR and PBS wring their hands over the “ethics” of AI in defense, while PBS trots out talking heads who seem to prefer playing nice with China rather than building up our defenses. They paint the push for military readiness as reckless saber-rattling, willfully ignoring the very real threats we face in a complex world. PBS and NPR bias represents a deliberate attempt to kneecap leaders who prioritize strength over feelings.

The evidence is clear: NPR and PBS are not providing a unique, unbiased public service that justifies billions in taxpayer subsidies. Instead, they are actively undermining the very policies that directly benefit the hardworking people of South Dakota. It’s time to cut off the flow of taxpayer dollars to these purveyors of partisan narratives.

Rounds should stand with South Dakota’s farmers, ranchers, and taxpayers and vote to defund NPR and PBS.

Dan Schneider is Vice President of the  Media Research Center.

Governor Larry Rhoden’s Weekly Column: Leading on 2nd Amendment Rights 

Leading on 2nd Amendment Rights
By: Gov. Larry Rhoden
July 11, 2025

South Dakota is the freest state in America, and that holds extra true for our 2nd Amendment rights. We have a long history of recognizing the 2nd Amendment dating all the way back to our early homesteaders – in fact, I just saw a mock shootout in 1880 Town! Early homesteaders used their personal firearms to protect themselves from Wild West outlaws, and South Dakotans deserve the same ability to defend their families today.

South Dakota provides stronger 2nd Amendment protections than any other state. Several recent changes to both state and federal law have extended new protections for the right to keep and bear arms – and I am honored to have been part of making those changes happen.

On my very first stop on my Open for Opportunity tour, I visited a South Dakota company that is the largest silencer retailer in North America. They told me about federal regulations that were placing an arbitrary seven-day waiting period on their ability to ship products, so I immediately reached out the Trump Administration to fix that issue. Not long after, we received word that the issue had been addressed!

With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the $200 tax stamp on suppressors and certain types of firearms has also been eliminated. By taxing silencers, the federal government was trying to stop law-abiding gun owners from buying them. That’s not the government’s job, and I’m glad that provision went away. The federal government should continue to take steps to deregulate the firearms industry.

We’re taking action here at home, as well. On July 1, several new protections for the 2nd Amendment became law in South Dakota. I was very proud to sign those into law. These bills advanced on changes that began under the Noem-Rhoden Administration.

The first bill that Former Governor Noem signed into law was Constitutional Carry. At the time, there was some consternation about her decision to sign that bill, but I was confident that we were making the right move. Six years later, that’s proven to be true! So when I signed several pro-2nd Amendment bills into law this legislative session, I didn’t pay much mind to the critics. After all, our communities are safer when law-abiding gun owners have the right to defend themselves.

I signed SB 100, which provided greater freedom to exercise the 2nd Amendment on college campuses. I actually carried this bill in the legislature years ago when I served as a state legislator. Our college students are adults, and they should have just as much freedom to keep and bear arms as any other South Dakotan.

I also signed legislation clarifying the rules for guns on school property. If parents come on school property and still have a gun on them, they can lawfully leave it in their car with an enhanced concealed carry permit. And now, city and county employees are free to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights on the job, as well.

The bad guys don’t follow the law, much less our gun laws. So when the government restricts the right to keep and bear arms, all that does is take away the ability of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves. That’s not how we do things in South Dakota.

Freedom will continue to be our calling card as long as I am governor, and I will continue to do everything in my power to protect our Second Amendment rights. After all, it’s the right that allows us to defend all of our other rights.

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Hansen Lems’ 2% campaign also having event with no hosts. At Pizza Ranch because the room is free.

The Doeden campaign isn’t the only campaign for Governor where we’re seeing few, if any hosts on the invite. If you pay attention to this sort of thing, you might have caught that the Hansen Lemmings are having a few events at Pizza Ranches around the state as of late.

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You know, nothing against Pizza Ranch, (aside from the co-founder sexually abusing teenage boys) but it seems like they’re running a gubernatorial race with local elected official level events.

When I asked about it, one observer did note that you can usually use the meeting room for free if you’re getting pizza. The operative word being free. And obviously, there’s no room charge if you’re getting friends to come in & pay for themselves to eat pizza, and are taking tips for bussing tables.

Of course, you might be raising money a few hundred at a time. And given the gas that motorhome is going to guzzle, I’m not sure whether they’re breaking even.

But then again, when you’re down at 2%, there’s no way to go but up.