Category: Uncategorized

Rounds, Ernst Call for Strengthened Support of
Kurdish Peshmerga Forces in Iraq

WASHINGTON— Following a recent Congressional delegation trip to the Middle East, U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) today sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter raising serious concerns voiced by foreign leaders in the region. The senators echoed concerns that the coalition effort to defeat ISIL is not achieving the desired outcome – including U.S. support for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and their Peshmerga Forces. They also called on Secretary Carter in their letter to strengthen support to the KRG. The letter comes on the heels of the Obama Administration’s recent decision to deploy U.S. personnel to Kurdish territory in Syria.

“Unfortunately, the picture provided to us in theater is starkly different from that which is provided to the American people, and to us as elected officials in the Senate and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the senators wrote. “Specifically, it does not appear that coalition efforts are having the Administration’s desired ‘degrade and destroy’ effects against ISIL.”

The senators continued, “While visiting Iraq, our meeting with foreign officials painted a grim picture of the U.S. and coalition effort against ISIL. In particular, our time on the ground did not alleviate our long-standing concerns about inadequate U.S. support to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and their Peshmerga forces.”

“In conclusion, we ask the Department to strengthen its support to the KRG based on the troubling operational situation in large portions of Iraq, the dedication of the Kurdish Peshmerga in their fight against ISIL, and KRG support provided to the over 1.6 million displaced persons within their territory.”

Full text of the letter:

November 2, 2015

The Honorable Ashton Carter
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Carter:

We write to you today to raise concern regarding our coalition effort to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and support to our Iraqi Kurdish partners.

We recently returned from meeting with U.S. servicemembers and foreign leaders throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the picture provided to us in theater is starkly different from that which is provided to the American people, and to us as elected officials in the Senate and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Specifically, it does not appear that coalition efforts are having the Administration’s desired “degrade and destroy” effects against ISIL.

While visiting Iraq, our meeting with foreign officials painted a grim picture of the U.S. and coalition effort against ISIL. In particular, our time on the ground did not alleviate our long-standing concerns about inadequate U.S. support to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and their Peshmerga forces.

While meeting with our KRG allies in Erbil, we were again informed the military support promised to them from Baghdad is far from being provided, and the level of support, such as adequate stocks of small arms ammunition, is not enough to effectively defend their territory against ISIL. Furthermore, the coalition’s piecemeal supply of various Russian and NATO weapons and ammunition makes resupply extremely difficult for Peshmerga forces—as it would for U.S. forces if faced with a similar logistical situation. The KRG also informed us that they require heavier weapons, more equipment in general, and protective gear—as already provided to ISF units for a number of years—to more effectively defend their territory. As this is something we specifically worked to achieve via the NDAA, we have heightened concerns for the needs of our allies on the front lines against ISIL.

In conclusion, we ask the Department to strengthen its support to the KRG based on the troubling operational situation in large portions of Iraq, the dedication of the Kurdish Peshmerga in their fight against ISIL, and KRG support provided to the over 1.6 million displaced persons within their territory. Specifically we ask your views on what additional measures the United States can take to support our Kurdish allies.

Sincerely,

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Former Employee of South Dakota Secretary of State Office
Charged with Theft in Original State Flag Case

PIERRE, S.D – Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that Garrett Darwin Devries, 26, Washington D.C., has been charged with one count of theft having a value in excess of four hundred dollars, class one misdemeanor.

“As with any charging decision and potential resolution, I am balancing the nature of the crime with the level of cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. Our ‘Original State Flag’ is an important part of our history, and its recovery without damage or further incident is an important consideration,” said Jackley.

This charge stems from Devries employment at the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office during the time between December 2012-November 2013 and the theft of an ‘Original State Flag’from his place of employment.

A tentative plea hearing is anticipated for November 23, 2015, in Hughes County.

-30-

If you were listening to the chatter this last week… recall the three devices that were lost from the Secretary of State’s office….

Three of 30 iPad minis also were reported lost before Jan. 2, 2015.

Gant said that the 30 iPads were among about 100 devices his office purchased when it was testing and revamping an overseas military balloting system. The devices were used across the state to test the system.

Read it here.

And now, read what Bob Mercer related about the story:

The audit work questioned a variety of practices and identified problems such as three missing laptops that were purchased for the iOASIS system.

Read it here.

So, three mini-ipads have been inflated and exaggerated by Mercer to become three laptop computers.  Yeah. No bias there..

And if Bob ever asks to sell you a laptop, make sure you look at it first.

Update – Bob responds. And Bob claims….. well, you read it.

I referred to three missing iPad minis as three missing laptops. I stand accused by a blogger that was bias on my part. No bias meant. 1/2

— Bob Mercer (@pierremercer) November 2, 2015

I confess I never held an iPad or iPad mini or priced them or looked at them. To me iPads, tablets and laptops are like grades of SUVs. — Bob Mercer (@pierremercer) November 2, 2015

And Bob’s excuse? He claims he called them laptops….. because he didn’t know what an iPad is.  Yes, really.

We might not celebrate Columbus Day in South Dakota anymore, but I didn’t think there were any prejudices held against Italian Americans.  But then I read Democrat Rep. Shawn Bordeaux’s comments coming from a State-tribal committee hearing:

Bordeaux also drew a parallel with casinos on Indian lands. When they first came, people feared the worst.

“When gaming first came out, they said there’s going to be mafia, and all the Indians are going to have all this crime. It’s going to be all over the reservations,” he said. “I ain’t seen one Guido yet … those folks who are supposed to be the mafia folks haven’t showed up.”

Read it here.

“Guido?”  Yeah, that’s not a compliment. It’s an ethnic slur.

I question whether it was done in ignorance, which would seem to be underlined by his statement.  “I ain’t seen one Guido yet?”  – yeah…. I’m not hearing anything but ignorance when that uttered forth from his mouth.

The Pot Legalization effort is going no farther this year as petition sponsor Ryan Gaddy confirms to KCCR Radio that they’re not going to make the required number of signatures for the ballot:

South Dakotans Against Prohibition Founder Ryan Gaddy says although they won’t see their issue on the ballot in 2016, they did see an uptick in registered voters thanks to their push.

Gaddy adds that the reason why they were not successful this year strictly had to do with dollars…

As the date nears on South Dakotans with the opening of the Flandrea Santee Sioux Tribe’s Marijuana Lounge on New Year’s Eve, Gaddy says the decriminalization law might not die as early as some think. He says that with all the issues surrounding the enforcement of marijuana possession amongst non-natives, state lawmakers will have to pass some type of decriminalization law.

Read (and Listen) to it all here.

Apparently last night, it was good to be the king.

People who look a lot like @MattLG & Karen Michels are greeting trick-or-treaters at the Govs Mansion @SDGovDaugaard pic.twitter.com/NtxFPdFCKM

— Tony Venhuizen (@Tony_Venhuizen) October 31, 2015

I posted a similar photo 2 years ago, and noticed it got a bit of chatter, so I grabbed this from facebook  when I saw Ted Cruz is back in Iowa hunting with Dan Lederman again this year.

Culture Change Needed at the IRS
By Sen. John Thune

There are few, if any, federal agencies that elicit a more visceral reaction from the American people than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS wields an enormous amount of power – enough to topple businesses or crush families. When that power is used improperly or outside the scope of the law, it can have a devastating impact on everyone left in its wake. As a result of its egregious abuse of power, including the unfair targeting of conservative groups, the IRS is in desperate need of a top-to-bottom culture change that would help restore its credibility to a level that the American people both expect and deserve.

As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS, I recently had the opportunity to raise some of these concerns directly with IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. My primary recommendation to the commissioner was to fully implement the provisions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act, a bill that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and I introduced earlier this year.

Our bill would create new protections for taxpayers, strengthen and update safeguards against abuse that are already on the books, and punish bad actors at the IRS. Specifically, the bill would significantly increase civil damages and criminal penalties for improperly using or accessing taxpayer information. Americans should not have to fear that politics could play a role in their confidential tax information being disclosed to an unauthorized third party, that they will be targeted based on their political beliefs, or that the IRS will not retain its employees’ emails, like we saw with Lois Lerner.

I also believe that IRS employees should be held to a higher standard, which is why I co-sponsored the No Bonuses for Tax Cheats Act, which says to hard-working Americans that the federal bureaucrats who collect their taxes have the same responsibility they do in fulfilling tax obligations. The bill would withhold bonuses and pay increases from IRS employees who are willfully cheating on their taxes or otherwise engaged in misconduct.

According to a 2014 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, the IRS doled out nearly $3 million in bonuses and paid leave time to tax-delinquent IRS employees or employees who had documented cases of improper behavior. Rewarding such behavior defies logic, and I’m hopeful this common-sense legislation will become law.

The American people have every right to be skeptical of federal government agencies like the IRS because they haven’t given the American people any reason to think differently. That’s one of the biggest problems facing the federal government today – a lack of trust and credibility. We can do better. The American people deserve better. Passing common-sense bills like the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act and the No Bonuses for Tax Cheats Act would be a big step in the right direction.

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Perpetual Conservation Easements: Forever Is a Long Time
By Senator Mike Rounds
October 30, 2015

In South Dakota, we take great pride in our land. We rely on our vast natural resources for nearly every aspect of our lives: to provide clean water, maximize ag production, provide recreation, attract tourism and more. As such, we are good stewards of our land and are willing to work with state, federal and local governments to keep it in tact for future generations. However, when it comes to permanent conservation easements, I have never been a fan. I am in favor of giving landowners the option to enter into shorter-term, renewable contracts with the federal government. Termed easements are more likely to keep the landowner and the grantee on equal footing and would result in greater public access to these lands.

A permanent conservation easement is a legally-binding agreement between a land owner and the government or in some cases, a non-profit group. The landowner is the grantee that places restrictions on the land and typically opens it up to public access in exchange for landowner tax benefits.  Today, these conservation easement contracts are forever, they pass down through the generations or from seller to buyer.

I understand that – in some cases – permanent easements have their place.  If a family is fully informed as to the effects, or if we’re talking about public utilities or infrastructure – permanent easements can serve the greater good.

There have been plenty of passionate debates over property rights in South Dakota over the years – in the State Capitol while I worked as a state senator and governor and even around my own dinner table.  My family comes from a long line of hunters and conservationists. We’re also landowners and staunch supporters of property rights. We’ve developed our own working farm into a pheasant hunting paradise, through sound management and conservation. My family, like many South Dakota families, is a reflection of South Dakota’s rural and urban population. That diverse blend of South Dakota perspective makes me believe there’s a better way to protect our land, conserve habitat and honor individual property rights.

An important point that gets lost in the discussion surrounding permanent conservation easements is that perpetual means forever. The legally-binding contract with the federal government continues even when land is passed down within the family or sold to a new owner. The economic and ecological changes that we’ll see over the coming years cannot be predetermined, and yet the government or the grantee essentially bans certain enhancement without regard to those inevitable changes – thus locking the landowner and their heirs into a contract that is unlikely to ever be revisited.

For example, thinning efforts within forests can help deter the threat of forest fires in the Black Hills and elsewhere.  But, if the land is locked in to a permanent conservation easement and the federal government chooses to strictly abide by the terms of the contract, a permanent easement may not allow for necessary logging or underbrush thinning which increases the risk of a damaging forest fire.  Another example is that farming practices will continue to evolve over time.  A piece of valuable habitat today may not be as valuable 100 years from now, so it seems rash to put limitations on the location of certain public access points.

I’ve suggested that greater optionality for landowners would benefit everyone. Landowners have told me that they’d be more inclined to enter into an agreement with the government if they also had the option of a short-term, renewable contract as opposed to a permanent contract. Those shorter term contracts – 10 or 20 years, for example –should have the same tax benefits as a permanent easement.  And, termed conservation easements may be a better fit for someone who isn’t interested in tying up their property forever. A termed conservation easement is more likely to keep the landowner and the grantee on equal footing.  The government would have to treat the landowner fairly in order to have the easement renewed. They could not arbitrarily impose heavy-handed fines for minor, often mistaken, violations of the easement contract.  I believe more landowner options would result in greater public access.

If our goal is to increase habitat development and provide greater public access, more options seems like a good compromise. Forever is a long time and I’d rather we be stewards of the land, not stewards of the government.

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Heritage and Hope
By Rep. Kristi Noem
October 30, 2015

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit with a number of young people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  Their stories about the epidemic of suicide by young people in the community were absolutely heartbreaking.  They spoke about how they felt they had no hope.  In their eyes, you could see an overwhelming sadness and grief.  They told me stories about friends and loved ones who had taken their own lives – and some explained they had tried to do the same.  It was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Lakota Instructions for Living teaches that “the hurt of one is the hurt of all.  And the honor of one is the honor of all.”  I felt the hurt of these young people that day.  I felt the hurt of a community whose spirit has been bent, although not broken.

I recognize there are no words to wipe away the pain these kids have had to experience, but I’m committed to working with these young people and tribal leaders to pave a more hopeful future for them.

In the coming months, I will be closely collaborating with tribal leaders to make sure the programs and grants in use today are working.  If we find there are ways to improve them, I’m dedicated to doing that.  If there are better options out there, I’m devoted to pursuing them.

I will also be looking at opportunities to make more after-school and job-training programs available to Native American youth.  Shortly after visiting Pine Ridge, I spent time at the Rosebud Boys and Girls Club in Mission.  The after-school program they had implemented impressed me.  It gave the kids access to tutors and had activities to keep them busy.  It was an incredible sight to see and you could tell instantly what the club meant to these young people.  We need more programs like that.

As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November, I will be very focused on helping Native American young people find continued inspiration from their heritage and a new hope for the future. I am truly honored to be a part of this effort and I look forward to watching these young men and women live out their proud heritage here in South Dakota.

PHOTO: Noem reads to class at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge (October 2015)