Category: Uncategorized

While ex-Senator Julie Frye Mueller and her false-tax prophets are holding dark mass across the state and directing the highest tax increase in South Dakota history towards those with the lowest income, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden is calling it “worse than the tax on groceries” in a story this morning from Dakota Scout:

During a telephone town hall hosted by Americans for Prosperity on Tuesday, the Republican governor panned a plan to overhaul the state’s tax system by imposing a flat fee on purchases, calling it regressive and out of step with South Dakota values. He also used the public forum to pitch his own property tax relief plan, which would give counties the option to levy a local sales tax to ease the burden on homeowners.

and..

The $1.50 flat transaction fee was floated earlier this month by former state Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller during a July 16 meeting of the Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force in Rapid City, according to media reports.

Though Rhoden said he hadn’t fully reviewed the plan, he likened it to the state’s tax on groceries — which he described as “the most regressive tax (impacting low-income people the most) in the area” — and argued the transaction tax would be worse.

and..

“I’m not going to support something that I don’t think is well thought out,” Rhoden said.

Read that here.

South Dakota College Democrats are apparently doubling down and manufacturing their own outrage over my my prior post pointing out how they referred to Taffy Howard, and apparently other legislators, including a few women, as a “slut” & “bitch.”

And in their explanation as they pound their chests and say “we’re the democrats, F’ers,” they feel justified in doing so because they copied something from a movie, which is something we all knew:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by College Democrats of South Dakota (@collegedemssd)

I have to ask – how many votes exactly do they think they’re going to sway by referring to women and sluts and bitches? I mean, maybe it fires up their friend group on social media.. but in the real world where people vote, it’s the same problem when goofballs are out there on the right.

Most South Dakotans whether they are registered R, I or D are not going to be motivated by such fringe behavior to cast a vote their way, as much as they’re going to wonder if their parents are seeing this.

And really, isn’t the end game about actually winning elections?

Operation: Prairie Thunder
By: Gov. Larry Rhoden
August 1, 2025

Strong, Safe, and Free. Our state is all three of those things, and it’s my mission as your Governor to keep it that way. When it comes to safety, one of our biggest opportunities to move the needle is in Sioux Falls – and that’s what my administration will accomplish with Operation: Prairie Thunder.

Sioux Falls has seen impressive growth, especially in the last few years. Our strong economy and focus on freedom opened the door for that opportunity, and the city has managed that growth well. But there are challenges associated with that growth, and any growing city is going to have to work harder to keep crime under control.

Operation: Prairie Thunder has two main initiatives:

• Enhanced anti-crime and drug enforcement operations in the Sioux Falls metro area; and
• Support for ICE in their deportation efforts across several state agencies statewide.

The targeted anti-crime initiative will focus on drug interdiction, investigating gang activity, holding parole absconders accountable, and deterring lawlessness like the street racing issue  in our biggest metro area.

This will be accomplished through saturation patrols over the next five months. Twice a month, we will dedicate 10 to 15 additional Highway Patrol troopers to the Sioux Falls metro and leverage aerial assets like the Highway Patrol plane and our National Guard’s Lakota helicopters, which specialize in drug interdiction. I recently had the opportunity to take a ride in one of those Lakotas, and I was blown away!

These efforts will be coordinated with existing local crime task forces. We won’t be reinventing the wheel. The law enforcement folks in Sioux Falls are doing great work – Operation: Prairie Thunder just gives them some extra juice to get the job done. If this initiative is successful, it’ll give us a good model to apply to other communities, as well. I’ve already had discussions along those lines with the Mayor of Rapid City.

The second initiative of Operation: Prairie Thunder is support for ICE across my administration. The South Dakota Highway Patrol is already working alongside ICE to arrest criminal illegal aliens and hand them over to custody. Shortly after I made that announcement, I had a conversation with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and we came up with a couple ideas to go further.

I am deploying six South Dakota National Guard soldiers to support ICE – three in Sioux Falls and three in Rapid City. They will provide administrative support in both ICE offices for the next six months.

The South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) will also support ICE with transport needs to and from immigration court in the Twin Cities, as well as identifying potential criminal illegal aliens in our prisons. We’re already working to parole several criminal illegal aliens to ICE custody to be deported out of our country.

There’s a lot of moving parts, but it’s very simple: Highway Patrol will support ICE with arrests; the National Guard will support ICE with processing and administrative functions; and DOC will support ICE with transportation, identifying illegal immigrants in our prisons, and getting them paroled to ICE custody.

Over the last six months, I’ve had the distinct honor leading the greatest, freest state in America. As long as I am your Governor, we will keep it that way. And Operation: Prairie Thunder will be a crucial part of keeping our state safe for the future.

###

Fred Deutsch announces Candidacy for SD House

FLORENCE, S.D. (August 1, 2025) – Former South Dakota Representative Fred Deutsch announced today his intention to run for the SD House for District 4 in the June, 2026 primary election. District 4 is Grant, Hamlin, Deuel, Clark, rural Codington, and southern Roberts Counties.

In announcing his candidacy, Deutsch said “I am running because I love South Dakota and feel passionate about giving back to make it a better place to live, work and raise a family. I am extraordinarily grateful to not only live in the greatest country in the world but the greatest state in the nation.”

Deutsch cites his upbringing as the son of a Holocaust survivor who came to America with a sixth-grade education and spent his life working as a laborer as what has influenced his love of public service and education.

Says Deutsch, “This campaign is about listening to every constituent in District 4. If re-elected, I will support lower taxes and limited government, support ag and our rural communities, support our small-town public schools, and of course protect life and support traditional family values.”

Deutsch and his wife Kathleen are both retired chiropractors. They have been married for 43 years and have four daughters. He is a former president of the Watertown school board, former president of Watertown Boys and Girls Club, and former president of South Dakota Right to Life. He currently serves on the National Right to Life Board.

Protecting Your Privacy
by Representative Kevin Van Diepen

South Dakota voters treasure the right to political participation, but that right shouldn’t come with mandatory exposure of their personal addresses and sensitive date to the entire world. House Bill 1062, which narrowly passed the Legislature this winter, attempts to require publication of the entire voter registration file including names, home addresses, absentee ballot requests, recent voting history, and more to everyone on the internet, whether in South Dakota or Serbia.

Under this bill, anyone, be it a political actor, date miner, commercial marketer, or worse, could access and download bulk voter data weekly.

Under HB 1062, spammers and scammers will have a feast on South Dakotans’ personal data. With street addresses tied directly to individual names and past behavior, it becomes all-to-easy for harassers to figure out patterns or for telemarketers to blast tiresome calls and emails.

Privacy isn’t political, it’s personal. Opposition to this bill isn’t about hiding anyone’s vote, it’s about safeguarding basic privacy. Even though surface-level data (e.g. dates of birth, SSNs) remain redacted, addresses plus voting habits are more revealing than you might think. They invite targeted political advertisements, tailored with eerie precision, identity thieves, mapping out personal information for phishing and stalkers and harassers who track domestic violence victims and other vulnerable populations.

Transparency in elections matters. We should let journalists, watchdogs, and policymakers confirm who is registered, turnout trends, and demographic patterns. But this can and should be balanced with privacy.

We need common sense. HB 1062 is not just bureaucratic housekeeping; it attempts to mass-publicize intimate personal information of every South Dakota voter. Next year, we need to repeal this bill and start respecting our citizens’ privacy again. Transparency and democracy should go hand in hand- but not at the expense of our homes, our safety, and our trust.

—

Kevin Van Diepen is a retired Law Law enforcement officer, and State Representative for District 22

State Representative Logan Manhart took a hard hit today in the State-Tribal Relations Committee today over his earlier remarks on social media about it being “white boy summer” when Tribal Chairman Garrett Renville called him out:

“I typically don’t lend weight to inflammatory or racially charged remarks. Often, I know they are intended to distract or appeal to the lowest instincts in politics, and history has taught us that those strategies rarely produce progress,” Renville said, reading from prepared remarks. “It certainly doesn’t reflect the kind of leadership that we needed here.”

Renville then thanked Sen. Mike Rohl, R-Aberdeen, who represents part of the reservation and sits on the committee, for “his willingness to communicate and stay engaged” in spite of disagreements on policy.

“Despite these disappointments and comments made by one of the district reps, I still believe in the promise of public service,” Renville said. “I believe there’s always hope, hope that other leaders, such as yourselves, will continue to lead by example.”

Read the entire story here.

Interestingly, I heard that for the open legislative seat in that district, there were in the neighborhood of ten applicants who wanted to be appointed to the South Dakota Legislature.

Why is that a big deal? That is a huge bank of potential opponents to run in a primary against Manhart after his comments that many viewed as racist.

If today’s committee meeting was any indication, the constituents of District 1 are not going to forget those comments anytime soon.

Thune, Klobuchar, Moran, Smith Introduce Legislation to Bolster Conservation Reserve Program 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today introduced the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Improvement and Flexibility Act. The legislation would bolster CRP by improving access to grazing, maximizing enrollment options for producers, and expediting emergency haying in response to drought and other weather-related disaster events.

“Ensuring that CRP continues to be an effective option for producers and landowners is critical to South Dakota’s agriculture industry,” said Thune. “As a longtime supporter of CRP, I’m proud to lead this commonsense legislation that would help advance the multiple-use benefits of this conservation program, including wildlife habitat and livestock forage potential.”

“The Conservation Reserve Program helps equip our farmers with the tools to conserve and improve soil, water quality, and wildlife habitat,” said Klobuchar. “This bipartisan legislation makes commonsense improvements to CRP that will strengthen conservation practices and landowner enrollment in this vital program.”

“When land sits idle, it doesn’t just go unused, it declines, and so do the small towns and rural communities that depend on active land management,” said Warren Symens, president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association (SDCA). “Cattle are key to grassland health – enhancing habitat, improving water infiltration, and supporting carbon sequestration through grazing. Investing in fence and water infrastructure needed to graze CRP acres strengthens soil and gives producers a lifeline during drought, helping them keep their herds instead of selling off herds. SDCA thanks Senators Thune and Klobuchar for leading the charge on this important issue.”

“The Conservation Reserve Program is an important, incentive-based program that provides flexibility for farmers and ranchers to implement voluntary conservation practices on their land,” said Tom Landmark, state chairman of South Dakota Ducks Unlimited. “We thank Senators Thune and Klobuchar for their leadership in enhancing CRP to ensure landowners can continue to get the most out of this historically successful program in South Dakota, Minnesota, and across the U.S.”

“The Conservation Reserve Program is one of our nation’s most effective tools for improving wildlife habitat, water quality, and soil health on private lands, and is a vital part of the farm safety net,” said Andrew Schmidt, director of government affairs for Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF). “The CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act will make this critical program work better for farmers, ranchers, rural communities, and wildlife. PF and QF are grateful to Majority Leader Thune and Ranking Member Klobuchar for their continued leadership in strengthening CRP and ensuring it remains a cornerstone of private lands conservation.”

The CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act would:

• Make CRP grazing a more attractive option by providing cost-share for the establishment of grazing infrastructure – including fencing and water distribution – on all CRP practices and contracts if grazing is included in the approved conservation plan;
• Increase the CRP annual payment limitation from $50,000, which was established in 1985, to $125,000 to account for inflation and rising land values and provide landowners with more CRP enrollment options to ensure resources are appropriately conserved;
• Reinstate mid-contract management cost-share payments for activities that are not related to haying or grazing;
• Permanently establish the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement practice under Continuous CRP; and
• Create flexibility for producers by allowing emergency haying on CRP acres when certain conditions are met and in consultation with state technical committees.

###

Rounds Introduces Legislation to Modernize Veteran Burial Scheduling System, Provide Clarity to Families

 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today introduced legislation to modernize the Veterans’ Administration’s National Cemetery Administration’s (NCA) burial scheduling system and provide further clarity for grieving families. The Honest Operations for National Cemetery Reporting (HONOR) Act would require NCA to create and maintain an online portal for families to monitor cemetery wait times.

“Our veterans put their lives on the line so that we can maintain the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States. A burial ceremony in a cemetery with their fellow veterans is a part of how we honor their sacrifice,” said Rounds. “Unfortunately, families across the nation are left in the dark about burial availability. Some families have experienced delays in scheduling burial ceremonies, waiting over a week or more at many cemeteries and up to 30 days at one cemetery. Here in South Dakota, the Black Hills National Cemetery maintains an average burial availability of two days. This should be standard across the nation. However, if a family must wait to hold a ceremony for their loved ones, knowing how long it will be and having the ability to request the earliest possible date brings added comfort during a difficult time.”

“Ensuring veterans receive the burial ceremony they deserve at a veterans’ cemetery is an important part of honoring their legacy and service to our nation,” said Blumenthal. “Our bill will make sure veterans’ families and loved ones have improved access to information about how long it will take for their loved one to receive a burial ceremony during an already difficult time.”

Specifically, this legislation directs NCA to begin building the data infrastructure necessary to support improved tracking and transparency standards. By requiring improved transparency on burial availability and developing systems to track and analyze wait times, the VA can fulfill its promise of dignity, timeliness and respect to every veteran and their family, no matter their faith, location or circumstances.

BACKGROUND

The NCA provides a deeply meaningful set of burial benefits to honor those who have served our nation. At no cost to the family, eligible individuals are entitled to a gravesite in any national cemetery with available space; the opening and closing of the grave; perpetual care; a government-provided headstone, marker or medallion; a burial flag; and a Presidential Memorial Certificate. In fiscal year 2023 alone, nearly 138,000 individuals were laid to rest in national cemeteries operated by the NCA, final honors reflecting the gratitude of a nation.

Click HERE to read full bill text.

###

Thune: Democrats Are Wasting Time and Losing Ground

“I hope that my Democrat colleagues will come to the table. Otherwise we’re going to be spending a whole lot more time here on the Senate floor.”

Click here to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor.

I’ll give you a little insider baseball here.

A few years back, when I was doing the party newsletter during session, there was a week – that week – when most of what got accomplished was all impeachment related regarding moving forward articles of impeachment to the Senate. It literally was one of the only things that got done. How do you mention the 800lb gorilla in the room? It was kind of challenging to write, and I attempted to handle it factually and tactfully.  That was a mistake.

But I get it. It was the only time I bumped up against a line, and got negative feedback (1 bad article in close to 6 years of writing/editing the newsletter), because this was a Republican party publication, and bringing that topic up was too close to breaking the golden rule that the party did not speak ill of other Republicans.

So, when putting together future issues, the newsletter did not address that topic. That wasn’t a party function.

Of course, that golden rule that the party shall not speak ill of other Republicans seems to have been thrown out the window nowadays.  Recently, we have the SDGOP promoting an attack on Senator Rounds (and holding that grudge a bit), And now, we have one of the House Majority Whips taking to social media to attack all of our state’s Republican delegation to DC, and claiming some Republicans should have a D behind their name:

“The 3 we sent to DC are not representing our SD Values” – House Majority Whip Brandei Schiefbauer

Since when did this functional illiterate become the arbiter of “SD values” as she declares there’s “righteous litmus tests” for “our Governor’s race,” as she goes on about “Republicans who should have a D behind their name?’

I’d ask how dysfunctional GOP House Leadership in the State Legislature is when you have one of the House Majority Whips attacking the Republicans who are literally on the masthead for the Republican party on a statewide basis… except the State GOP in their mess kind of tossed that standard out the door.

You know, the last House Whip I remember who tended to go on like this, similarly declaring who was more or less Republican or a RINO was Lynne DiSanto.  Remember her? No? That was about 8 years ago, and already she’s fading from the collective memory, because there is little to remember except the drama.

The point being that we get a few of these people who run for office who come down with legislatoritis, and seem more concerned with self-importance and their own sense of ideological purity than just doing their jobs. Maybe it’s social media that amplifies it, especially the people who lack an appropriate filter. But the job of being a legislator is not about the politics, it never has been.

It’s about representing your community and constituents. It’s about action and accomplishment, not crazy talk. How do you solve basic problems that people in your community face every day?

No amount of self-righteousness changes that.