From facebook.. as State Senator Tom Pischke uses attending “public school” in a manner which implies an insult.

Well.

At least it wasn’t a comment about race.

Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 14

“Democrats were against shutdowns when it suited their political purposes, and now that it suits their political purposes – they think – to keep the government closed, now they support shutdowns.”

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

Click here to watch the video.

In a bombshell story that came out on Politico just a couple of hours ago, apparently a group chat among leaders of the national Young Republican organization has been disclosed which paints several of them in an unfavorable light:

Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

and..

The group chat members spoke freely about the pressure to cow to Trump to avoid being called a RINO, the love of Nazis within their party’s right wing and the president’s alleged work to suppress documents related to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes.

and..

Mixed into formal conversations about whipping votes, social media strategy and logistics, the members of the chat slung around an array of slurs — which POLITICO is republishing to show how they spoke. Epithets like “f—-t,” “retarded” and “n–ga” appeared more than 251 times combined.

Read the entire story here.

That’s kind of ironic, considering the earlier post below involving Minnehaha County Commissioner Cole Heisey declaring Native American Day “as a mistake.”

And let’s not forget some of his prior issues, such as taking the stage with the Proud Boys. Among other things:

I note it, because just like the people who are the focus of the Politico article, Cole Heisey is chairman of the South Dakota Young Republicans.  And Vice-chair of the group?  State Representative Logan Manhart, who had his own controversy over racially tinged comments that went national a few months back:

I can’t help but wonder out loud if South Dakota’s Young Republican leadership participated in the sometimes racist chats of the group being cited in the article. Which makes me think that the group has gone downhill quite a bit since my time as Chairman over 2 decades ago.

We were glad to be able to get enough people together for a meeting at the time. Now? I find myself at times repulsed that they think that people like this think they might be the next generation of Republican leaders.

But considering the quality of who is in charge, and the kind of rhetoric which passes as acceptable.. maybe it would be ok for it to go back to being dormant for a while? At least until such a time when adults can be in charge of the group, and it’s more about getting Republicans elected than this kind of trash.

I received the following text blast of recycled buzz phrases yesterday from the Hansen for Governor campaign, and couldn’t help but think “well, that’s kind of needy.”

We are ending woke..  Ending woke what? And we get an image claiming Hansen is the only trusted and proven conservative and will stand firm. Which after his flip/flop on the prison and ultimate vote to keep people and law enforcement employees less safe, I would argue the ad should more correctly point out he’s the least trusted and self-serving.. remembering he was before the prison before he was against it.

The text blast coming on Native American Day seemed just kind of random. It’s like the campaign felt it needed to do something with all the money it collected from their Pizza Ranch fundraisers and show some signs of life by advertising.  And a text blast was the best they could do.

At this point, you have to wonder if they’re in the mode of just throwing things against the wall to try to delay Hansen’s inevitable dropping out of the race. Or at least prevent it from happening before January.

Apparently Toby Doeden campaign worker and Minnehaha County Commissioner Cole Heisey has a big beef with Native American Day, going so far as to call it “a mistake” on Social Media as he proudly displays a banner image for Columbus Day, calling the federal holiday substitution disrespectful to Italian Americans, and a slap in the face to broader American History..

”It was a mistake to replace Columbus Day over three decades ago.” – Minnehaha County Commissioner Cole Heisey

Because South Dakota is an enclave of Italian immigrants? I would wager Cole’s exposure to Italian Americans consists of playing Mario Kart.

What was that campaign promise Cole made when running for Office?

That was pretty short-lived!

If you wish to register your displeasure with how Minnehaha County is being represented by Cole, the Toby Doeden for Governor campaign worker (who is actually no longer working as an insurance agent), his contact information can be found here.

Next session, are we counting on legislators to bring legislation to build our workforce? Probably not. Or to move South Dakota from the bottom in teacher pay? I’m guessing no. Or to bring more value added agriculture processing to South Dakota to reverse the trend of plummeting corn prices? Oh hell no!

Can we count on them to fight against cloud trails left by high altitude jets from warm exhaust?  Of course we can.

As you might have guessed, one of South Dakota’s goofiest legislators is at it again. After signing a pledge earlier this year to have jets shot down if they leave contrails, State Representative Dylan Jordan is on facebook promising to bring a bill to “ban geoengineering flights” at airports:

Heeding the call of facebook (as opposed to his constituents), State Representative Dylan Jordan took to the social media website to declare that “there will be a bill next session” in response to this non-existent crisis.

*sigh*

Just remember. When low voter turnout gives us the lowest common denominator in legislators, this is what they bring to the table.

South Dakota US Sen. Mike Rounds was interviewed tonight on 60 Minutes with regards to Chinese intrusion into our national infrastructure such as airlines, water systems, financial institutions and more:

Mike Rounds thinks he knows why China is doing this.

The Republican senator of South Dakota is chair of the Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee. He believes China intends to deter the U.S. from standing up in a fight by hacking our most sensitive industries

Sen. Mike Rounds: But all it takes is a blip on the financial markets to delay certain trades by just milliseconds, to put the market into an entirely different attitude about the security and the soundness of being able to make those transactions happen.

Scott Pelley: You’re talking about causing chaos on Wall Street.

Sen. Mike Rounds: Threatening to be able to cause chaos on Wall Street would be something that they would love to do.

Scott Pelley: And turning the lights on and off.

Sen. Mike Rounds: Most certainly.

You can read the entire interview here.

If this makes you nervous, it should.

So I’m on my couch watching the sold out Hobo Day game on ESPN with a Bloody Mary.. What a morning! So many people and so many missed connections! Sorry if I missed you at the parade and tailgating as apparently I missed a lot of people, including my own sister. I didn’t get an Erin Tobin koozie (but she is saving me one), and I have lost count of the people who I didn’t get a chance to say “hi” to.

And I missed Toby Doeden? I certainly didn’t see him, but I’m told he was there. As he might have discovered, Hobo Day was not about him. It was not about his stupid bus being in the parade as he was demanding. It was not about him trying to wedge it into tailgating as he was demanding.

The rules were the same for him as they as always have been; you participate as a guest of the College Republicans and that’s it. Period. If he wanted to walk, he could walk.

So, who was there to cheer on the Jacks?

He wasn’t walking, but Governor Larry Rhoden and First Lady Sandy Rhoden were in the parade to support the Jacks!

State Senator Tim Reed was also in the parade throwing koozies out. He got one heading my way, even though I was on the wrong side of the road for that.

Democrats were there early on…

..And that was it for politicians until the trail end of the parade with the College Republican group.

Marty Jackley for Congress had a big crew walking with him, and Casey Crabtree was also represented.  Doeden’s latest lackey Cole Heisey looked rather disengaged as he threw out candy a piece at a time. Must be a tough way to pay the rent.

Supposedly Doeden was there, but we did not see him where I was towards the end of Main Street.

Hansen for Governor had a smattering, but for some reason, he quickly crossed from my side of the street to the other when he approached where I was. Hmph.

Big crew for team Dusty walking with the College Republicans..

And the man himself gave us a shout out as he was working the crowd and stopped for a quick picture with my daughter.

The college Republicans were towards the end of the parade, so about then we tapped out to reset for tailgating.

Left the camera at home (because it was tailgating), and had an quick opportunity to talk with a few friends, but as I noted early on in this post, it was impossible to see everybody.

Who didn’t leave the camera at home? Jon Hansen was walking around tailgating followed by his camera-boy & Doeden’s former PAC lackey Brian Lewis. Because nothing speaks more to authenticity than walking around people’s various tailgating events with your cameraman.

Between Doeden and Hansen, it made me glad I brought the bagful of my test t-shirts to a friend’s tailgating to give away.

Handed them off.. and they were literally gone in 60 seconds. (Sorry BB.. I will fire up my heat press and get you one).

The final for the game had SDSU victorious over UNI, 31-3.  And it appears they beat at least one self-important politician at the same time as well.

If I am reading this correctly, South Dakota State University has already had its first win of the weekend in that Toby Doeden does not feel his bus is welcome coming in at the last minute and demanding space at tailgating.. as he claims he has been refused!

Toby discovers that Hobo Day is not all about him? That’s a win in anyone’s book!

Peace and Protection
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
October 10, 2025

BIG Update

Just days after the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ abhorrent attack on Israel, there was an agreement reached on a peace deal between Israel and Hamas is a great step towards lasting peace in the region. I’m grateful the Trump Administration never gave up in their efforts to end the violence and release the hostages. Leading with peace through strength delivers real results. This is a historic peace deal.

BIG Idea

Monday marks the 35^th Native American Day in South Dakota. The holiday was adopted in 1990 as a sign of reconciliation and to honor the culture and contribution of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people.

In March, I was named the most effective House member on Native American issues by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. The federal government has trust and treaty obligations to assist our nation’s tribes. That’s why I’ve advocated for additional law enforcement funding for tribes, reforms to the Indian Health Service, funding for tribal colleges and universities, and more. I can’t do it all without the leadership and coordination of tribal leaders in South Dakota. I’m grateful for their partnership.

BIG News

The federal government remains shut down and the impact continues to grow. I voted two weeks ago to keep the government open and ensure essential services continue, which includes paying federal employees. Next week, 1.3 million service members will miss their paycheck if the government is not reopened. I’ve completed the necessary paperwork to not receive a paycheck while our men and women in uniform go without. Our troops deserve better—it’s time for liberals in the Senate to reopen the government.

Federal safety nets, like WIC, are already running out of funds. WIC helps the most vulnerable women, infants, and children afford formula and food they need. This shutdown is already impacting these vulnerable populations the hardest.

Shutdowns don’t benefit anybody. I’ve introduced a bill to make sure a shutdown never happens again. The government must be open to work as it should for the American people.

Click here or the image above to watch

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