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Lisa Furlong on behalf of South Dakotan’s for Fair Lending turned in what a source tells me was an incredible 60,287 signatures to place their ballot measure to limit the loan rate for short term loans to 18% in front of South Dakotans.  Slightly more than the number turned in for the Marsy’s law petition this week, it may set a new record for the number of signatures obtained.

It also stacks up against the Hildebrand petition as gathering an incredible 3 times the number.

And hold on to your hats…. There’s more to come on this story!

60k signatures submitted for constitutional amendment ballot question limiting interest rates (18%) pic.twitter.com/0dfR5We206

— Shantel Krebs (@SOSKrebs) November 5, 2015

After Marsy’s Law was filed, a couple more petitions have made their way to the Secretary of State for validation.  Both the Farmer’s Union/Democrat petition for redistricting, and the 36% payday loan initiated measure have been filed.

Senate Democrats Block Defense Funding Bill Again

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today issued the following statement on the Senate Democrats’ filibuster of the Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations bill for the third time this year, following the budget deal of last week:

“Refusing to debate the 12 appropriation bills which provide the necessary funds to keep the government running, simply to create a crisis, is not acceptable,” said Rounds. “Yet again, Senate Democrats blocked an important appropriations bill from being openly debated and amended on the Senate floor, despite receiving overwhelming bipartisan support when it was reported out of committee earlier this year. It will also comply with the funding levels agreed to in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which many Senate Democrats supported and the President signed less than a week ago. But most importantly, this defense appropriations bill will provide our military members and their families with the certainty and stability that they deserve. The United States continues to face new and evolving threats, both at home and abroad. Providing our troops with the tools and support they need to complete their missions is critical.”

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Democrats Block Critical Funding for
Our Men and Women in Uniform

“It’s incredible that Senate Democrats would repeatedly block a bill that funds our troops and their families …”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after Senate Democrats blocked the Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations bill, which includes important funding for our military personnel, their families, weapons, readiness, and infrastructure projects that contribute to our national security:

“It’s incredible that Senate Democrats would repeatedly block a bill that funds our troops and their families, but even more perplexing since this bill meets the spending level Democrats agreed to just last week,” said Thune. “Today’s filibuster proves that Democrats are willing to risk the safety and security of our armed forces for vague reasons they have yet to fully explain. Senate Republicans have worked in good faith with Democrats to keep this bill moving forward. Democrats must now do their part and abandon this cynical strategy immediately.”

This is the third time this year that Democrats have prevented the Senate from considering the DoD appropriations bill, which garnered broad bipartisan support in committee and complies with the two-year budget deal Congress passed just last week.

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Wow. 

We know Democrats are in dire straits when they promote non-partisan elections, advocating for a measure abandoning their party label. 

But today they went all in, and used the occasion of Marty Jackley’s explanation of the status of the westerhuis investigation – where children were tragically murdered – as fodder for a political press release:

During South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley’s November 3, 2015 press conference in Platte, the Attorney General refused to comment on the financial investigation into the scandal ridden $4.3 million annual GEAR UP grant previously administered by Mid Central Educational Cooperative.

Although the Attorney General, in spite of the many unanswered questions, refused to make any statement on the financial investigation into the GEAR UP program, it is apparent from what is already known that South Dakota’s Department of Education—much like the Governor’s Office of Economic Development with EB-5— has failed to properly exercise oversight and prevent the self-dealing and conflict of interest that is enabled by one party Republican rule.

And…

House Minority Leader Spencer Hawley (D- District 07) added,

“South Dakota’s majority party dominance has resulted in a lack of government accountability that would come from a strong two party system. This degree of concentrated and absolute power in any party will create waste and inefficiencies, at best, and corruption and tragedy, at worst. It seems we’ve reached the latter in South Dakota.”

Read it here.

Again, wow. Democrats dancing on children’s graves. How shameless.

From Newsmax:

In the four decades since the Supreme Court discovered a constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, more than 58 million abortions have taken place in the United States. Some call it the “American holocaust.”

and..

Based on a variety of media and pro-life sources, Newsmax has compiled this roster of the nation’s top 100 pro-life icons. These cultural warriors long for the day when the last abortion is conducted in the United States, and they won’t cease their protests until that time.

 

Read it all here

Congratulations to Congresswoman Noem!

From North Dakota’s Say Anything Blog:

The Libertarian Party of North Dakota (LPND) and South Dakota (LPSD) will be holding a joint meeting this Saturday, Nov. 7th at the Baymont Inn and Suites in Mandan from 1-5 p.m.

In addition to general socializing and various speeches, on the agenda for the LPND will be the election of party officers and nomination of candidates for office in 2016.

Read it here.

They must have needed 20 people eating lunch to get the conference room for free.

From MSN:

Clinton proposes $12 federal minimum wage

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham  Clinton said Tuesday the federal minimum wage should be $12 an hour.

Clinton said that figure would roughly match in today’s dollars what the federal minimum wage was in 1968, the time when it was highest in terms of buying power.

“Twelve would give us a good solid increase,” Clinton said.

Read it here.

I’m kind of questioning what kind of hit our economy would take with a $12 an hour increase. Your thoughts?

From KELOLAND Radio:

Former Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin was among those at last night’s meeting urging councilors to reconsider a cell phone ban. She said we should be “indoctrinating” young drivers about the dangers of cell phone use while driving, which I thought was an interesting and significant word choice. Indoctrinate means “to accept a set of beliefs uncritically”.

Read it here.

Rounds Statement on Democrat Filibuster of Bill to Stop WOTUS 

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today issued the following statement after Senate Democrats filibustered S. 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, of which he is an original cosponsor. The Federal Water Quality Protection Act would have prevented the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule from taking effect and would have tasked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers with completely redrafting the rule using specific direction from Congress.

“I am disappointed that Senate Democrats have blocked this commonsense bill to keep our navigable waters safe while also protecting the rights of South Dakota farmers, ranchers and private landowners,” said Rounds. “The overreaching WOTUS rule is one of the largest land grabs in the history of our country and grossly oversteps the intent of the Clean Water Act passed by Congress. Two separate federal courts have blocked its implementation on these grounds, and a bipartisan majority in Congress are working to stop it. I will continue to seek ways to protect South Dakotans from the WOTUS rules’ burdensome new permitting requirements and steep new penalties.”

In June, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a final WOTUS rule that expanded the scope of federal authority over land and water at the expense of states. So far, thirty-one states, including South Dakota, have filed lawsuits against the WOTUS rule and two courts have blocked its implementation.

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