Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Well, that’s not a headline I expected to write today.  As we tick off the hours until Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium kicks off, it’s sounding crazier and crazier. From the Raw Story:

“And also have the American people come in and they can watch it like a gladiator fight,” Bannon said. “This is like Gladiator 2. This is the sequel we always wanted. Mike Lindell and his cyber gladiators.”

“Well, yeah,” Lindell agreed.

Bannon also asked Lindell if Chinese Communist Party officials would be invited to the event since he has accused the Chinese government of conspiring to hack U.S. voting machines.

“Absolutely,” Lindell replied. “They can sit right next to [Georgia Gov.] Brian Kemp and [Arizona Gov.] Doug Ducey in the front row.”

Read it all here.

Is anyone taking bets as to whether any Congressional or statewide officeholders from any state are going to actually show up?

From the Washington Times. MyPillow’s Mike Lindell is claiming that he has people from over 45 states converging in Sioux Falls for his conference to prove there was election fraud:

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said delegates from 45 states have registered to attend a three-day event in South Dakota that the outspoken ally of former President Donald Trump insists will result in a unanimous Supreme Court ruling to overturn the November election.

Mr. Lindell claims to have 37 terabytes of “irrefutable” evidence that hackers, backed by China, broke into election systems and switched votes in favor of Joseph R. Biden. He plans to present the evidence at a “cyber symposium” beginning Tuesday.

Read the entire story here.

In the story Lindell claims there are nearly 500 people registered for the event, “including politicians or their delegates.”

This should be interesting.

State Representative Taffy Howard is in the news this weekend chirping up that we need a statewide mandate on private businesses.

From KOTA News:

State Representative Taffy Howard announced her plans to introduce legislation that would limit private businesses from making vaccination mandatory for employees.

And..

She’s called on Johnson to bring forth legislation at the national level to ban certain private businesses from instituting their own vaccine mandates for employees.

Read it here.

So, if I have a business installing and delivering oxygen tanks or providing respiratory therapists in homes for people who have trouble breathing, Taffy opposes having the employees going into the homes of sick and old people being vaccinated against COVID or other diseases?

So, the first issue out of the gate in the Congressional campaign is the challenger being on an anti-vaxxer kick.  Nevermind she’s openly using her office as a soapbox for her congressional race.

I don’t particularly want a government so intrusive that they can tell me who I can hire and who I can fire. But Taffy is going to legislate this?

It’s going to be one of those campaigns, isn’t it?

Critical Race Theory is not the basis for instruction at South Dakota’s universities, and it is not going to be
by Tony Venhuizen, South Dakota Board of Regents

Earlier this week, the South Dakota Board of Regents adopted an “Opportunity for All” plan that included a statement of values, framed around four tenants: (1) offering opportunity for all students; (2) proudly supporting the United States of America; (3) safeguarding the rich tradition of American universities; and (4) offering curriculum based upon widely held and accepted knowledge and thought.

As a Regent, I offered my thoughts about this action during our meeting, because I think we need to be very clear:  Critical Race Theory is not the basis for instruction at South Dakota’s universities, and it is not going to be.

But our action is not simply banning a label, because if you follow this issue, you know that the label means different things to different people – it’s a shifting definition. (We have seen that again in the responses from the governor’s critics to her statement in support of the Regents action.) What the Board passed is a statement of the positive values that will guide us going forward.

I want to take a step back, though, and look back to the 1950s, and the early years of the Cold War.

Higher Education played an important role in winning the Cold War. Why? Because it was a place that taught American ideals, that encouraged academic freedom and discovery, and that encouraged breakthroughs in technology.  That’s how we won the Cold War.  Our ideology, our economy, our technology, and our system of individual liberty were superior to the Soviet system.  Universities were not neutral observers.  They were part of the effort to defeat Soviet Communism in the world.

Although America and our allies won the Cold War, though, we have not reached the end of history. The United States has a new rival: China. President Biden described in a May 28, 2021 speech the challenge that our nation faces.  Here is what the President said:

[W]e’re in a battle between democracies and autocracies.  The more complicated the world becomes, the more difficult it is for democracies to come together and reach consensus…  [President Xi of China] firmly believes that China, before the year [2030 or 2035], is going to own America because autocracies can make quick decisions.

But America is unique.  From all nations in the world, we’re the only nation organized based on an idea.  Every other nation you can define by their ethnicity, their geography, their religion, except America.  America is born out of an idea: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal… endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, [including] Life, Liberty, [and the pursuit of happiness].

None of you get your rights from your government; you get your rights merely because you’re a child of God.  The government is there to protect those God-given rights.  No other government has been based on that notion.  No one can defeat us except us.

I share that statement from the President because, if you are in a university in China today, you’re not going to learn about any of that.  You are not going to learn about the Maoist purges.  You are not going to learn about Tiananmen Square. You are not going to learn about the current genocide being undertaken against the Uyghur people – both the Trump and Biden administrations have called it a genocide. You are not going to learn any of it.

In an American university, you are going to learn about all of that, and you are also going to learn about our own country’s history and our failures and mistakes. Keep in mind, though: the Uyghur genocide is not in the past. It is happening in China, today. The crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong is happening, today.  And the President of the United States is telling us that our nation that the next ten or fifteen years will decide which system is going to win in the world, the American system or the Chinese system.

Our university students need to know that, and they need to learn why it matters.  They need to learn that it makes a big difference which system wins.  They need to understand that we cannot be neutral observers in this conflict.  America needs to win.  That is why I supported the passage of the Regents statement.

—

Tony Venhuizen, Sioux Falls, holds a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University and a law degree from the University of South Dakota. He previously served as the Board of Regents’ student member in 2003-2008, appointed three times by Gov. Mike Rounds. Prior to his current employment with Standard Trust Company, Venhuizen served as chief of staff in the administrations of Gov. Kristi Noem and Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

In a bizarre move in Rapid City this past week, the Citizens for Liberty group was trolling for a reporter to show up at an event they were holding, reaching out and calling for them to cover an event with former President Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

…that is, they wanted a reporter to cover their event until they demanded to know who. And then refused to let the reporter cover the event.  But it might be ok if they had approval over what they wrote.

Frye reached out to the Journal on Monday to request that a reporter cover the event. Journal editor Kent Bush agreed to send a reporter and photographer. On Wednesday, Frye asked Bush for the names of the reporter and photographer attending, which Bush obliged although that is not usual protocol.

“The only response I got to that was OK, thanks, and so we thought everything was fine, that we were set to cover it, and then when we showed up to cover the event, the organizers of the event told us we weren’t welcome there as media,” Bush said. “I don’t know how else to categorize it, but we were forbidden, banned from covering the event.”

and…

Powell’s public relations manager told a Journal reporter and photographer they would not be allowed to cover the event unless they submitted the article for approval before publication.

Read the entire bizarre story here.

Neil Fulton, Dean of the state’s Law School at the University of South Dakota is noting today in the Rapid City Journal that the court’s decision on the legality.. or illegality of Amendment A to legalize recreational pot might be many months in coming:

State Selects CGL Group to Review Department of Corrections
Governor Noem Takes Additional Personnel Action

PIERRE, S.D. – The State of South Dakota has selected CGL Companies of Sacramento, CA to conduct a comprehensive review of Department of Corrections (DOC) operations.

The review will focus on safety and security, organizational climate, and policy content and compliance, including the agency organizational structure, staffing, equipment protocols, ancillary operations in education and prison industry, and training procedures.

“The Bureau of Human Resources’ internal review is making steady progress. We’re hearing the concerns of DOC staff and are taking action. Safety of staff and inmates at our correctional facilities remains my top priority,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “CGL has the necessary experience and expertise in correctional system management and operations to provide the review that we need.”

Governor Noem had previously instructed Interim DOC Secretary Reisch, BHR Commissioner Darin Seeley, and Department of Social Services Secretary Laurie Gill to commission an independent third party to review the prison system and offer additional recommendations.

CGL has conducted system-wide assessments of a dozen state prison systems. They have worked with more than 900 counties and municipalities, all 50 states, and 20 countries to provide system planning, operational reviews, program evaluations, facility design, and maintenance solutions.

The estimated cost of the review is $166,410. CGL staff will commence initial project activity and data gathering as early as late August, with on-site reviews beginning in September. The review is expected to require four months from commencement to completion.

Additionally, Director of Pheasantland Industries Stefany Bawek has been terminated, and two other DOC employees have been relieved of their duties.  Three other DOC employees have been reassigned to other roles following additional review by the Bureau of Human Resources (BHR).

Further updates will come from the Department of Corrections.

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South Dakota Democrats are apparently going to have to cough up some cash after their 2019 financial debacle, as first reported by Dave Levinthal, Deputy Washington Bureau chief of Business Insider:

Following a settlement with the @FEC, the @SoDakDems are coughing up some cash. pic.twitter.com/0CObu5IviB

— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) August 6, 2021

If you recall their deep financial problems which resulted in the departure of their long-time treasurer, along with Chair Paula Hawks and her Executive Director abandoning ship, it appears that Democrats are going to be allowed to write off their fiscal mismanagement with a relative slap on the wrist, a $7200 fine.

 

(I notice we haven’t heard anything about this from South Dakota media as of yet.)