Category: Uncategorized

This is interesting. Tonight a fundraiser invitation is going around in Republican circles kicking off the first big event for the Casey Crabtree for Congress campaign on September 3rd at the offices for Marketbeat in Sioux Falls.

A lot of names sponsoring that you might be familiar with in the form of legislative colleagues and old school Republicans.

It’s also a sign that the Crabtree campaign is moving into a more active phase, now that we’ve reached the end of summer and school is kicked off.

Looks like it’s ‘game on’ in the Congressional primary!

Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Richard Vasgaard

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff statewide from sunrise until sunset on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, in honor of former state legislator Richard Vasgaard. He served in the South Dakota State House of Representatives from 2021 to 2022, and again in 2025.

“Representative Vasgaard was an honorable, God-fearing man who served our state with unwavering commitment. Sandy and I are devastated by his loss,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “He left a lasting impact on South Dakota, and his leadership will be deeply missed. We will continue to keep the Vasgaard family in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 am CT on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at Scandia Lutheran Church in Centerville, SD.

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Also, per the family, the details on the visitation and funeral are as follows:

Funeral Arrangements
Wass Funeral Home in Beresford is handling the arrangements. A full obituary will be available here: https://www.wassfuneralhome.com/obituary/richard-vasgaard

The Obituary can be found here:  Richard G. Vasgaard – Wass Funeral Home

Visitation
Monday, September 1, 2025
3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Scandia Lutheran Church
251 Broadway Street
Centerville, SD 57014
Prayer Service at 7:00 PM

Funeral Service
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
10:30 AM
Scandia Lutheran Church
251 Broadway Street
Centerville, SD 57014

If you recall my post from last week, I’d been seeing campaigns putting out the more generic “logo” political buttons (not that there’s anything wrong with that)  But as a collector, I kind of like the stuff that’s …different.  So, I couldn’t help myself and I’d made a couple pins for the 2026 elections.

First off, I’d made a Dusty Johnson for Governor pin:

And today, the next box of pins arrived – the completely unofficial Christine Erickson for Sioux Falls Mayor pin – the “Christine Rocks” button!

Featuring Christine Erickson, the non-boring mayoral candidate in the race for Sioux Falls Mayor coming out on stage with giant eagle wings (it’s a Talledega Nights reference) because these are meant to be fun, if not a little silly.

Again, there is a VERY limited number of them available (about 5-6 dozen). And I’ve just about got the store put together so you can purchase your own for about $7.50 each, which will mainly cover shipping.

Flags at Half-Staff in Honor of the Minnesota Shooting Victims

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff statewide effective immediately until sunset on August 31, 2025, as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless act of violence at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“This violence in Minneapolis took place during mass while the children prayed — that’s horrific,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “Sandy and I are praying for strength and healing for the children victimized and families impacted.”

This announcement is consistent with President Trump’s order, which can be found here.

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Toby Doeden’s favorite renter Brandei Schaefbauer is just the gift that keeps on giving for clickbait. Certainly not anything in terms of leadership or competence, but definitely she provides a lot of clickbait.

Tonight, after South Dakota Searchlight published an opinion piece noting how her talk of civil war was … well, what many would consider conspiracy, Schaefbauer launched a tirade of gibberish on Facebook complete with acronyms, and.. well, read for yourself:

Total and utter rubbish! South Dakota Searchlight receives grants through a bought and paid for NGO through USAID!

I was simply stating the fact that failure to disclose the Epstein client list will cause uproar and social backlash on both sides of the political aisle. Today’s tragic events in Minneapolis involving a “trans” gunman opening fire on a Catholic school during Mass are unfortunate illustration of what I was warning about.

Whaaaat? One of the House Majority Whips is writing that “The Epstein List” is somehow connected to a mentally unbalanced killer? I would wager she’s probably the only member of House leadership who is going to fall on that sword.

Even better, Schaefbauer declared with all the indignity she could cobble together in her Facebook post that “I am considering my legal options for what I consider defamation.”

The problem with her ‘legal options’ is that the parts of all of this that might bring her public ridicule is all of her own making.  These are all her own words.  If she does not like how people react to them, maybe she should not tap them out with her iPhone on Facebook?

That, and I’m quite sure in America we’re still allowed to question what politicians holding office claim.

I’m sure there will be an official press release, but reports are coming in that District 16 Republican State Representative Richard Vasgaard lost his life in a farm accident today.

Please keep his family in your prayers.

In a family dispute that I’ve written about before, where former State Democrat Party official Bret Healy has filed lawsuits against family members, his attorney, Tucker Volesky, appears to be facing discipline by the Supreme Court because of alleged violations of rules of professional conduct, questions about how he handles his trust account, “and asserting issues therein for which there was no good faith basis in law and fact, rendering such actions and filings frivolous.“:

The disciplinary board of the State Bar of South Dakota has recommended that the Supreme Court suspend Volesky’s law license for 30 days as punishment for those actions.

and..

After Judge Lange dismissed the suit against the Supreme Court and ordered sanctions, Volesky then alleged in a second amended complaint that the Supreme Court justices including Judge Sogn had had “knowingly fabricated evidence and used the fabricated evidence deciding cases against the Plaintiffs,” to the detriment of Bret Healy in reaching their decision in the first Healy case.

and..

Volesky acknowledged that Healy faces $240,000 in penalties. Justice Janine Kern said Volesky alleged that the court manufactured evidence. “To me that’s a win at any cost attitude,” Justice Kern said.

Read the entire story here.

If you haven’t been living under a rock, by now you’ve heard that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are now engaged to be married.

Which is a good reminder that back in 2023, now 4% Gubernatorial wannabe Toby Doeden was quite concerned that Kelce and Swift were a plot by the superwealthy to push the COVID vaccine..  Because the wealthy will try to put one over on us.  Despite the fact that Toby himself flies around to campaign events in his jet:

“Reportedly, #traviskelce was paid $20m to push the covid vaccine… And you thought Travis and Taylor Swift dating was organic and cute.  When will ALL Americans wake up and realize that the super wealthy control what you do, what you think, and soon will control even more.” – Toby Doeden 12/30/23

 

Attorney General Jackley Announces a Sioux City, Iowa Man Sentenced To Life in Prison for First-Degree Murder in Union County

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Sioux City, Iowa man has been sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life in prison after earlier being convicted of first-degree murder in a 2023 stabbing death in Dakota Dunes.

Alfredo Castellanos-Rosales, 41, was sentenced Monday. He was found guilty June 25, 2025, by a Union County jury.

Jordan “Jordy” Beardshear, 23, was found deceased at an apartment in Dakota Dunes on April 25, 2023. The defendant was later apprehended in Mexico.

“This life sentence delivers justice for a senseless and brutal murder that robbed Jordan’s family of their loved one,” said Attorney General Jackley. “I am grateful to the prosecutors and law enforcement officers whose tireless work made this verdict and outcome possible.”

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Union County Sheriff’s Office, Sioux City Police Department, South Sioux City Police Department, North Sioux City Police Department and the United States Marshall’s Service investigated the case. The Attorney General’s Office prosecuted.

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Scott Odenbach does not seem as if he’s a happy House Majority Leader in a facebook post yesterday.

The lead Republican in the House was recently quoted in a story from South Dakota News Watch (Lawmaker considers limiting new Black Hills water usage), where he was quoted as wanting to limit new wells into the acquifer. Odenbach took to social media trying to explain his position, and lamenting that he feels his words were taken out of context and being labeled anti-development.  This story followed his efforts this last legislative session where local governments across the Black Hills opposed his efforts to form an interim committee to explore adding more regulations on mining and development in the Black Hills.

Representative Odenbach defended his position, referring to opposition as “Soviet style” and invoking Teddy Roosevelt, etc. But he saved a particular venom for community development organization Elevate Rapid City, and Republican advocacy group South Dakota Strong for objecting to his sustained efforts at new regulations.  Odenbach noted in part:

I don’t have any amendment legislation drafted yet and as I had told the reporter, I think we need to first gather all the facts and make sure we are making smart decisions with any proposed legislation as we pursue more and more growth in Western South Dakota. With that said, there are greedy, shortsighted locusts in organizations like Elevate Rapid City and “South Dakota Strong,” who would happily strip mine us of our water and other raw materials to turn us into the Denver front range if they could make a dollar or earn a campaign contribution – and then move on to feast somewhere else.

and..

Let’s have this debate. As a lifelong Republican, I am certainly for the free market and organic economic growth. I’m tired of hearing that you are not a good Republican who is for growth if you aren’t for big-government spending to promote it. A conservative wants to promote growth by maintaining an environment conducive to business formation and development: via good schools, small & efficient government, safe streets, natural beauty, smart planning and low taxes. But I am not for growth at any cost, government-spending growth that dictates winners and losers with Soviet-style “economic development” plans, nor growth for the sake of growth, without making sure that in the meantime we are protecting our quality of life, including water resources for the people who live here now.

Read Odenbach’s post here.

Scott makes the argument that he’s for “good schools, small & efficient government, etc.”  But do you really get a ‘small and efficient government’ when you try to stifle growth with more government, kill schools by stripping money from them via vouchers & more and more government every single year, and passing as many laws as possible to make society bend to your worldview?

It would be nice if we could get back to that, instead of attacking business and claiming that people who want to foster jobs and growth are “greedy locusts.”