Author: @SoDakCampaigns

“CRT” in Our Schools
by State Rep. Trish Ladner

As a legislator, I’ve been concerned for quite a while about what our children are being taught and that they are not being taught “history” as it actually occurred, but a rewritten fabrication of our history that reflects a political/social economic agenda that is not factually true nor accurate. Because of the pandemic lockdowns, parents have taken the opportunity to look at what their children are being taught. As a result, parents of all social economic backgrounds and races are standing up against Critical Race Theory. I decided to take a look for myself and got a hold of a “new” revised history book and read the account of the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. My Uncle Paul was one of the only surviving servicemen from that battle. We spent many hours at family gatherings recalling war stories from uncles, relatives and family friends who fought in WWII in both the European and Pacific Theatres. Their stories transported us to the battle. We were like sponges soaking up the challenges, hardships and the victories. Unfortunately, after reading the “new” version of our history, my greatest fears were realized. The recount of the Battle of the Bulge was nothing like I learned from my uncle.

Critical Race Theory seeks to teach American history in a way that elevates the role of racism in the nation’s history, and the impact they claim racism still has on the nation today. CRT is referred to as “project-based civics,” or “action civics.” We can draw a comparison between CRT and Hilter’s indoctrination of the German youth. According to ushmm.org, “Education in the Third Reich served to indoctrinate students with the National Socialist world view.” Hitler’s plan was aimed to indoctrinate the younger population through reforming the education system.  His plan went undetected and succeeded. Children were turning against parents and families in order to support the goals they were taught in school.

Xi Van Fleet, a Virginia mom who immigrated to the US after enduring Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution recently came against CRT stating, “We are teaching our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history.” She added: “Growing up in China, all of this sounds very familiar. The Communist regime uses the same critical theory to divide people. The only difference is that they used class instead of race. This is indeed the American version of the Chinese cultural revolution.”

A number of state officials, including Governor Noem, have indicated that they would like to ban “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) at the next possible opportunity and I support that. The debate over the curriculum is not just happening in South Dakota, but in several states across the country. A number of Republican controlled states have already committed to banning Critical Race Theory and it is likely that South Dakota will be addressing this during the upcoming 2022 state legislative session. I’m proud to note that during the 2021 legislative session, Governor Noem signed a bill into law that allotted $900,000 to additional civics instruction in the state.

At this point, we can’t afford to be complacent. We need to be proactive which isn’t always easy in this “Woke” culture of correctness; a culture that makes it unacceptable to discuss our country’s freedom or the amazing opportunities America offers to every citizen (if they choose). Heaven forbid we teach our children about them or stand up against radical movements that put our children, our freedoms, and our safety in jeopardy. I am unapologetically proud to be an America, proud of the men and women who have fought for our freedom and who continue that fight and I am committed to fight alongside you to the best of my ability.

Representative Trish Ladner
District 30

The Washington Post interviewed South Dakota US Senator Mike Rounds on a variety of issues today, including voting rights, infrastructure, and the cattle market.  You can watch it all here, courtesy of the Washington Post:

South Dakotan Joins Thune at Hearing to Highlight Need to Build Strong and Resilient Broadband

“This Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications policy, has a real opportunity to support efforts to close the digital divide and if we work together in a bipartisan manner, we can ensure Americans have access to these important services.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, today helped lead a subcommittee hearing on building resilient broadband networks. Denny Law, CEO of Golden West Telecommunications, testified at the hearing and discussed the challenges of deploying strong and resilient broadband in rural areas.

In his opening statement, Thune highlighted multiple bills he has introduced, including the Rural Connectivity Advancement Program Act, Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, and STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act, to help improve internet connectivity in communities across South Dakota by strengthening broadband and investing in 5G deployment. Reliable, fast internet is an essential element of our nation’s infrastructure. Like roads and bridges, strong internet networks keep our economy going.

From Twitter:

Can you tell I’m a little excited I got to wave the green flag to start the races tonight? Thank you to everyone at @HusetsSD for inviting me! Great crowd for the @WorldofOutlaws pic.twitter.com/W8wsRoV550

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) June 22, 2021

Had someone send me a screen shot this AM.

Apparently, 3-time.. 4-time… (I’ve lost track) multi-party candidate for Governor Lora Hubbel is playing true confessions over in the comment section of Democrat website Dakota Free Press, as she tells people who she supported for Governor in the last election after she broke the spine of her political party at the time, the Constitution Party:

So, in case you’re trying to keep track, Lora first ran in the Republican primary against Gov Daugaard. Then she was running for Lieutenant Governor against Republicans as an Independent. In the following election, she was running again as a Republican until she couldn’t/didn’t go out and get enough signatures, and then switched again to run for Governor under the Constitution Party – a group so radically conservative they call Republicans liberal.  And after breaking the back of THAT party with intra-party fighting, Hubbel supported the candidate who once declared he “liked the policies of Bernie, but I’m going to be voting for HIllary.”

Of course Lora – who claims to be conservative, despite her now known voting bias – is declaring she’s going to be running for Governor again.

We’ll have to wait to see what she decides to believe in for the 2022 election.

Ballot Committee Formed in Support of Taxpayer Protection Amendment

SIOUX FALLS, SD – South Dakotans Against Higher Taxes today announced its recent formation of a ballot committee to support the passage of the Taxpayer Protection Amendment that South Dakotans will vote on in June 2022. The Taxpayer Protection Amendment, if passed, will protect South Dakotans against higher taxes by requiring future ballot measures that raise taxes to have a 60% voter approval. The Constitutional Amendment will also require any spending that exceeds $10 million annually to receive the same benchmark for approval.

State Representative and House Speaker Pro Tem Jon Hansen will serve of Chairman of the ballot committee. Rep. Hansen issued the following statement regarding the committee’s formation: 

“We are excited today to share the formation of South Dakotans Against Higher Taxes. Our central goal with this effort is to protect South Dakota families and their check books against major tax increases or bloated government spending that works against their best interests and their families’ bottom line. We hope you’ll join us in saying ‘yes’ to taxpayer protections next June.” 

For any questions about the committee or to request an interview, please contact Jon Hansen.

Background:

The Taxpayer Protection Amendment protects South Dakotans against higher taxes by requiring future ballot measures that raise taxes to have a 60% voter approval. Under the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, any ballot measure with a tax increase or spending that would require more than $10 million annually in the first five years would have to receive 60% at the ballot to pass.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment will make it harder for your taxes to be raised and for ballot measures to commit South Dakota to huge increases in government spending without a way to pay for it.

State Senator Lee Schoenbeck and State Representative Job Hansen are in the news today, as they’ve apparently formed a ballot measure committee to support the notion that ballot measures that are going to cost taxpayers more than 10 million should be subject to a 3/5 vote – the same as any legislative measure would:

Sen. Lee Schoenbeck and Rep. Jon Hansen have formally filed with the Secretary of State a committee to financially back the passage of Constitutional Amendment C, a proposal to require three-fifths approval for ballot measures that would raise taxes or force state government to spend $10 million or more within five years.

Read it here.

Predictably, Rick Weiland, who makes money running ballot measures for out of state organizations in South Dakota was crying about the Republican’s efforts.

This just popped up in my in-box.

In a recent straw poll, Governor Kristi Noem is increasing her standing among potential GOP Nominees for President, and finds herself in the middle of the pack, as she’s tied with US Senator Tom Cotton, and out-polls Rand Paul, and former Vice President Mike Pence:

On Saturday, the Centennial Institute surveyed respondents at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver and asked them to vote for all the candidates they approve of for president in 2024.

In a field of both conservative and liberal candidates, Haley fell to the back of the pack of right-wing personalities, with 19.14 percent approving of her running.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former President Donald Trump overwhelmingly garnered the most support among respondents — 74.12 percent and 71.43 percent, respectively. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) garnered the third greatest amount of support (42.86 percent), followed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (39.35 percent), Sen. Tim Scott (35.58 percent), Gov. Kristi Noem (29.92 percent), Sen. Tom Cotton (29.92 percent), Sen. Rand Paul (27.76 percent), Donald Trump Jr. (24.80 percent), former Vice President Mike Pence (21.56 percent), Sen. Josh Hawley (20.22 percent), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (20.22 percent), and Haley, with remaining candidates — nearly all of which are Democrats, garnering less than three percent.

Read the entire story here.

Just narrowly missing the top 5, that just goes to show you that conservatives in the rest of the country are seeking the kind of freedom we enjoy under Governor Kristi Noem’s administration.

 

My Message to South Dakota Cattle Producers: I’m Listening, and I’m Taking Action
By Sen. John Thune

South Dakota producers are some of the hardest-working people I know. The life of a producer may not be easy to imagine for folks who’ve never woken with the sun, tilled the land, mended a fence, or prayed for a rainy forecast. And, for many Americans, the idea of farming and ranching may seem abstract and far away. But, in South Dakota, we see firsthand the important role our farmers and ranchers play in our economy and our way of life.

We have more than 42 million acres of crop and pasture lands across our state. We also have – as we’re sometimes teased about – more than four times as many cattle as people. I’ve always been proud to be from an agriculture state, and I’ve made it a priority in Congress to fight for our farmers and ranchers and the issues that are important to them.

For quite a while now, our producers have faced significant hardships, and the last few years have been especially difficult for cattle producers in South Dakota and across the country. They have faced market uncertainty through the pandemic, disruptions in a highly concentrated meatpacking industry, and now a drought.

This spring, South Dakota experienced higher-than-normal temperatures and a lack of significant rainfall. That may have been ideal for those who love to spend more time in the sun, but for our agriculture producers, it has meant rapidly deteriorating ground conditions.

The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that nearly every acre of land in South Dakota is experiencing drought conditions. These dangerous conditions may quickly result in short hay supplies across the state. Without an adequate forage supply, cattle producers could be forced to cut down their herds. This would be devastating to producers whose operations would likely take years to recover from forced downsizing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can help provide some relief to producers through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). As of March 2021, South Dakota had nearly 1.4 million acres enrolled in the program. In previous drought years, emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres has helped alleviate forage shortages for livestock producers.

I fought for changes in the 2018 farm bill to give USDA more authority to allow emergency CRP haying and grazing, and now I am pushing the USDA to use its authority to help our producers who are in desperate need. I recently urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and USDA Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh to release as many additional CRP acres as possible, as soon as possible.

As I mentioned, the current drought is only the latest obstacle for our producers. They are still facing challenges with the low price of livestock. It may come as a surprise to consumers who have seen the price of beef increase at the local grocery store, but the higher price on the shelf doesn’t mean our cattle producers are seeing a fair cut of that profit. The sad truth is, while the cost of meat is going up, most of those profits are being captured by the meatpackers.

The meatpacking industry is highly concentrated – with only four companies controlling more than 80 percent of the U.S. beef processing capacity. That means that our cattle producers have very little power to negotiate a fair price for their cattle. I have a bill that would help reduce producers’ reliance on the major meatpackers by providing resources to establish and expand small meat processing capacity.

There have also been strong concerns from producers and agriculture experts about the possibility of purposeful market manipulation by meatpackers. I share these concerns and have twice asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the issue. I have also called on both the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee, of which I’m a member, to hold hearings and get to the bottom of this.

Thankfully, the Agriculture Committee recently agreed to my request and announced it would hold a hearing this month. I look forward to questioning the witnesses and advocating for increased transparency for ranchers and consumers. I will also continue to press Justice Department and Judiciary Committee leaders to get the answers that our producers deserve.

Our farmers and ranchers work early mornings and long days in the blistering heat and freezing cold to do their part to feed the world and keep South Dakota’s economic engine running. I’m constantly impressed by their strong work ethic, and it inspires me to fight on their behalf in Washington.

###