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I’ve been hearing all day, and especially from people attending the Codington County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner this evening that State Senator Neal Tapio, who is about 3 months or so into his term of office, may announce his intention to run for Congress this evening.

While Neal himself has publicly pooh-poohed it a bit, I’ve had people relate to me that at the same time, “He’s telling people tonight is the night.”

If you recall, after winning the GOP primary for State Senate last June, Tapio did not face a fall opponent, and served as the chairman of the Donald Trump for President campaign in South Dakota.

Hie entrance would add an interesting dimension into the Congressional race, to say the least, but it would be a tough row to hoe.  Maybe we should take his dismissals of running seriously?

Or maybe not.

And there’s also this story from yesterday…

Update – My people on location are telling me that in fact, Tapio did not announce tonight. But given the WNAX story and the Domain name… I’d watch for it to happen in the near future. Or else it may be too late.

The story on the man who showed up at the Sioux Falls Christian Rally brandishing weapons, and going out to his vehicle and making a threatening video telling people to “be scared” is making national news, as noted by this story on CBS-Los Angeles:

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – As the national manhunt for alleged Facebook killer Steve Stephens comes to a close, another disturbing Facebook Live video has surfaced showing a self-described Muslim man making apparent threats toward attendees at a Christian conference.

A video posted April 9 by Ehab Jaber shows a man believed to be Jaber filming a copy of the Koran before scanning the crowd with his camera during a portion of the Worldview Weekend rally in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Read it here.

When someone waves guns, and tells people to “be scared,” it just adds fuel to the fire when people express concerns about radicalized muslims within the country’s borders. And the CBS Report comes on the same day as a story on the “FBI Investigating Radical Terrorists in All 50 States:”

Federal authorities have open investigations into radical Islamic terrorists in all 50 states, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which is warning that the threat of terrorism in the United States has reached an all time high with radicalized individuals in the country plotting to strike “each and every single day.”

The FBI has “open terrorist investigations in all 50 states,” according to DHS Secretary John Kelly, who disclosed on Tuesday that there have been at least 37 “ISIS-linked plots to attack our country” since 2013, a number that shows no signs of diminishing.

Read that here.

What was the video makers side of the story? As related on KSFY News last night, he admitted he was armed. But claimed it was “against stupidity:”

Jaber also said that he wasn’t threatening anyone in particular.

“I’m not armed against the regular citizen,” he said. “I’m not armed against Christians or Jews or against women or children. I’m just armed against stupidity and oppression.”

Despite all of the negative attention, criticism and even death threats, he said he’s received …

“I did it, I’ll do it again and again just like any American,” he said. “I didn’t go to a conference, I went to an anti-Muslim rally.”

and…

Jaber said the FBI visited him later that week to talk to him about the video.

Hadian said in the next city he and Howse visited, the FBI was waiting for them at their event location to make sure the pair knew about the video and “forced” them to hire off-duty police officers at their event, in addition to the security and police who were already going to be there.

Read that here.

So, Jaber he claims he was acting “against stupidity”  when he waved several guns around, using profanity, and telling us to be scared. No, I think what he was doing was the actual definition of stupidity.

If Mr. Jaber wanted to communicate that we shouldn’t be afraid of Islam, as he tried to explain on KSFY news last night, he did an awful job in doing so.

From the Argus, it looks like meandered lakes will be the hot topic this summer in legislative studies:

South Dakota lawmakers will take the summer to study the impact of a Supreme Court decision on the use of non-meandered waters.

The Executive Board on Tuesday voted to approve the creation and appointment of a 15-member task force that will delve into previous legislation on the subject and understand how the court’s decision has affected the rights of private landowners and outdoorsmen.

and…

The panel also approved a summer study that will look into the state’s shortages in workforce housing. Members were not appointed to that committee on Tuesday. They’ll also consider the state’s campaign finance laws and the initiative and referendum process in separate summer studies.

Read it here.

Did the legislature miss the ball? Or are they on top of what they need to be doing?

Er.. yeah. I just did my taxes, and I’m a little tight for the next 18 to 24 months…

But, I’ll still make a point to shake the change out of the couch cushions and attend one of the fundraisers this week for GOP Congressional hopeful Dusty Johnson, which are being held in conjunction with the series of Lincoln Day Dinners in the area:

and…

Governor Seeking Interns For Fall Term

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard is currently seeking applications for two fall 2017 Governor’s Office internships in Pierre. The positions will be paid and run from early September through December 2017.

Governor’s Office interns have the opportunity to work at the highest level of state government. Interns’ duties will depend on interests and strengths. Typical duties will include aiding the Governor’s general counsel and communications director, conducting policy research, preparing policy briefings, and staffing the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and First Lady.

The positions are open to all undergraduate or graduate-level students. Preference will be given to South Dakota residents attending South Dakota colleges or universities.

Students who are interested in receiving credit should also apply. The Governor’s staff is open to working with individual universities and professors to secure credit for the internship program.

Interested students should submit a resume, cover letter and a letter of recommendation by April 28, via email, to Grace.Beck@state.sd.us.

For more information on duties or logistics, please contact Grace Beck at Grace.Beck@state.sd.us or 605-773-3661.

  -30-

If you noticed some recent mewling from Cory Heidelberger, he criticized a Republican event as “lacking respect” and “being provocative”, because it is at the same time a Democrat one is.

It was an interesting choice of words, since Cory had proven in the past election against Al Novstrup that he’s a sore loser who has no respect for anyone.

This morning in the Aberdeen American News, a letter appeared that underlined the fact that his newfound call for respect in politics was yet another example in his unending string of “Do as I say – not as I do” examples:

Fresh out of my mailbox, South Dakota Republican Party hopeful Jason Ravnsborg sent out an update this morning on his activities, and how things are going on the campaign trail:

Predictably, the Argus is soft-selling this story

Man who carried weapon at anti-Islam event won’t face charges

A man who was asked to leave an anti-Islam speaking event last week after he held up the Quran and was believed to have weapons on his person will not face charges in connection with the incident, a Sioux Falls Police Department spokesman said Monday.

Read it here.

….but it seems to come off as far more serious when you actually view the video that’s flying around the Internet from PamelaGellar.com

Maybe the Argus’ headline should be “Agitated Muslim man who carried 8 weapons to Christian event won’t face charges.”

I don’t think it really matters what religion one is. Because if this gentleman wanted to reassure people that they shouldn’t be scared of his… he managed to do exactly the opposite.

The South Dakota chapter of the RepresentUs group who championed the unconstitutional Initiated Measure 22 (which was replaced with reforms that were actually legal by the legislature this pas session), has filed a ballot committee in anticipation of promoting a ballot measure for the 2018 election.

And curiously, the former legislator/lobbyist they hired to represent the group during the past legislative session, Mitch Richter, was named as the ballot committee’s co-chair in a filing made on April 7th:

Richter, a former Republican State legislator was the lobbyist who represented the following clients during the past session…

… represents an unusual choice for the group, who as part of their reforms went after alleged problems with lobbyist gifts as part of the measure:

Which begs the question of whether or not Richter will respond to questions of whether as a legislator he received “secret unlimited gifts” as the proponents of IM22 claimed, or how many “secret unlimited gifts” he made to legislators as a lobbyist… as the pro-IM22 proponents claimed.

Before it’s language is even presented to the people, the Represent South Dakota Ballot Measure Committee may have created a conundrum for itself right out of the gate.