Category: Uncategorized

Augustana University to require masks this fall for all students

@SoDakCampaigns

Hope the Augustana U kids all kept their masks after last Spring. Because they’re going to need them again according to the e-mail that went out today from AU president Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin to the University’s students:

“Based on CDC’s updated guidance, as Minnehaha and Lincoln counties are currently experiencing high community spread of the virus based on test positivity rates, Augustana will require everyone to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. This indoor masking protocol is effective August 16 until further notice.”

I have this strange sense of deja-vu..

It might just be a very long school year.

Pillow Guy’s Cyber Symposium has his biggest promoter, Steve Bannon, “unconvinced.”

@SoDakCampaigns

I was surprised to see this, as Mike Lindell has been promoting his Cyber Symposium via Steve Bannon for some time now. But even Bannon appears to be left flat so far from the event being held in Sioux Falls.

Conservative broadcaster Steve Bannon criticized MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Wednesday for failing to prove the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

As Lindell was kicking off the second day of his “cyber symposium,” Bannon said that the MyPillow CEO had not provided his followers with “receipts” proving the election was fraudulent.

Read it here.

Pillow guy cyber symposium has few South Dakotans in attendance *Updated*

@SoDakCampaigns

Right now Dakota News Now’s Beth Warden seems to be winning at the local coverage for Pillow Guy Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium, as she’s keeping a blow by blow twitter feed of the event.

But.. I’m not sure you could call it winning. Because winning assumes a prize at the end. When the only prize might be going home. If anything noteworthy comes up, I’ll pass it on. The event started about an hour late because of technical difficulties, noted as ‘hacking’ by event sponsors.

So far representing South Dakota officials, it only appears that State Senators Larry Zikmund & Jim Stalzer are attending.. and I thought I saw Julie Frye-Mueller.  So, there you go.

Otherwise, you can watch it at xyz.frankspeech.com yourself.

Update..  Looks like South Dakota State Rep. Kevin Jensen is also there.    But honestly, I had to turn it off when Mike Lindell started a bizarre version of “mean tweets,” reading off media stories, and yelling at the media in attendance that they were scum.

And another update.. Did I just see State Rep. Tina Mulally walk across the screen?

Thune: Democrats Take First Steps to Raise Taxes and Permanently Expand Government

@SoDakCampaigns

Thune: Democrats Take First Steps to Raise Taxes and Permanently Expand Government

“From the way Democrats have been governing, you would think that voters had given them a resounding mandate to permanently expand government and implement the socialist fantasies of the far-left.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.  

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today vowed that Republicans will do everything in their power to defeat the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spending spree as he spoke on the Senate floor against the Democrats’ budget resolution. Thune warned that the Democrats’ push to raise taxes and permanently expand the federal government will harm the economy and severely increase the rate of inflation.

Legislative candidate calls to defund South Dakota Public Broadcasting. This is not the first time it’s been brought up

@SoDakCampaigns

Former, and likely future State Legislative Candidate Joel Koskan is in the news with a topic that hasn’t been mentioned in a couple of years, but has certainly come up before with a call to defund South Dakota Public Broadcasting:

Joel Koskan of Wood used Twitter to criticize talk-show host Lori Walsh for her Thursday segment with Ibram X. Kendi, author of several books on black history including “How to Be an Anti-Racist.”

Koskan tweeted on Saturday, August 7, “I’m thinking that @MomentSDPB is forgetting who pays her salary. #SDleg needs to defund these radical loving liberals in our media. @govkristinoem@IanTFury@SDPBNews“

Koskan, who’s made several runs for the state Senate in recent years, didn’t give any ground when another SDPB commentator subsequently engaged him on Twitter. Kevin Woster tweeted, “Did you listen to the interview with Kendi? Nothing radical at all. Measured and thoughtful. And he went out of his way to not be critical of the governor, saying if there were were errors in his book, as the governor says there are, he would welcome the chance to correct them.”

Read the entire story here.

That’s throwing down a big gauntlet, as defunding or privatizing South Dakota Public Broadcasting has definitely come up over the past 20-30 years.

Larry Pressler loudly called for it in the US Senate back in 1995, which saw Governor Janklow defending SDPB in the legislature in 1996, after the legislature cut $100,000 of their budget, noting that..

(Argus Leader, Sept 12, 1996) 

Governor Janklow also noted that “In a Democracy, what could be better than a well informed public?”

Defunding Public Broadcasting also came back in 2005 in Congress, so it’s one of those issues that never seems to go away.

Should SDPB fend for themselves, or are they a vital part of communicating in a rural state? What are your thoughts?

Thune Statement on Senate Infrastructure Bill

@SoDakCampaigns

Thune Statement on Senate Infrastructure Bill

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today released the following statement after voting against H.R. 3684, the infrastructure proposal considered by the Senate:

“For months, senators from both sides of the aisle engaged in good-faith negotiations to produce an infrastructure bill for the Senate to consider, and I applaud them for their tireless efforts,” said Thune. “I have said from the very beginning that this bill should be fully paid for, and unfortunately, that is not the case. While I support investments in our nation’s infrastructure, I could not support this final product that will further increase the national debt and financially burden future generations.”

###