From the Argus Leader:

Brown, who had already endorsed Trump, was asked by the Boston Herald about whether he wanted to be Trump’s running mate. Brown volunteered Thune.

“I feel very strongly that John would be fantastic,” Brown said. “John’s from a smaller state but I don’t think states matter anymore. What John provides is he will carry the entire central part of this country, the left coast and the right coast, and he is that bridge to the establishment where he is so deeply respected on the left and the right, inside and out.”

and…

For what it’s worth, Thune didn’t endorse a candidate in the race for the GOP nomination.

And last year, GOP lawmakers in the Legislature did this to allow Thune to run for his U.S. Senate seat this year and be on a presidential ticket as well.

Read it here.

“Respected by the left and the right” sums up our senior US Senator, although the liberal extremists in the state Democrat party may disagree. We’d be well served to have him as our nation’s VP, although we’d hate to lose him here in SD.

Attorney General’s Response to Recommendation to Significantly Reduce or Decriminalize Controlled Substance Use in South Dakota

PIERRE, S.D.- Attorney General Marty Jackley responds to the Urban Institute recommendation that South Dakota reduce possession and ingestion of a controlled substance to a misdemeanor.

“As South Dakota’s Attorney General, I have and will continue to strongly support crime prevention efforts and opportunities to avoid incarceration when it does not place the public at risk, which includes drug and DUI courts and our state’s 24/7 Sobriety Program. I joined with our States Attorneys, Sheriffs, and Chiefs of Police to support Senate Bill 70 reforms, because it presented the opportunity with proper implementation to improve our justice system. However, any attempt to decriminalize or turn serious felony drug possession or ingestion into a low level misdemeanor would unnecessarily place the public’s health and safety at risk. The public would be better served by strengthening our prevention, enforcement and treatment efforts including focusing on a strong anti-meth and heroin campaign,” said Jackley.

“The further attempt to extend presumption probation to the more serious felony crimes in the wake of EB-5 and GEAR UP financial misconduct is similarly out of touch with what South Dakota must do to improve the public’s trust on conflicts-of-interest and government programs,” Jackley further stated.

“The vast majority of serious crimes committed in South Dakota are chemically propelled. Homicides, robberies, burglaries and numerous other felony offenses are driven by illicit drug use and addiction. Individuals that buy, sell, and use these drugs are dangerous. One can’t possess illegal drugs internally, without having previously possessed them externally. Individuals that have ingested these dangerous poisons are proven to be more of a danger to society than non-using individuals. Watering down our drug laws any further would have serious consequences to public safety and the quality of life in South Dakota.

I am adamantly opposed to decriminalizing drug use in the name of reducing prison populations and saving money. To do so, would lead to more serious felony offenses and be counterproductive,” stated Minnehaha County States Attorney Aaron McGowan.
South Dakota law enforcement continues to see an increase in drug activity in marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and other controlled substances in our state that are often tied to violent crime. High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDT) numbers indicate that in 2015 9.023 grams of heroin was seized compared to the 30.89 grams seized in the first three months of 2016. Methamphetamine pounds seized has more than doubled since 2003 from 14 pounds to 31 pounds in 2015.

Violence associated with drug use affects public safety and extends to officer involved shootings. Since becoming Attorney General in 2009, Attorney General Jackley has investigated 24 officer involved shootings and of those, 12 subjects tested positive for either marijuana and/ or a controlled substance.

From Fox News:

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cleared the path Tuesday night for Donald Trump to claim the Republican presidential nomination, suspending his underdog campaign following a crushing defeat in the Indiana primary – allowing the billionaire businessman to effectively leave the raucous primary behind and turn his attention squarely to the general election.

Read it here.

Thoughts?

You are invited to attend the

SD Conservatives Lunch – Madison
Thursday, May 5^th, 2016, 12:15 PM
Second Street Diner

Initial monthly meeting to discuss place and time, to get this meeting going locally.  Meet fellow conservatives, and learn about the efforts and events of various conservative organizations in South Dakota.

Lunch including Chicken Spaghetti entree, drink, tax, and tip is $9.00, pay in room,|
or order off menu, pay at cash register.  For more information, please contact
Ray Hedman at (605) 270-2991 or Mathew Wollmann at (605) 480-3038.

An attendee at last weeks’ South Dakota Newspaper Association’s convention snapped this for me, and passed it on. Apparently members (around 130) were informally polled and asked who they thought the GOP nominee for Governor was going to be in 2018:

47% picked Marty Jackley, 23% picked Mark Micklelson, 9% picked Kristi Noem, and 5% picked Matt Michels. 17% went for “other,” assuming someone else is going to emerge.

The Argus Leader has a nice article today about Congresswoman Kristi Noem’s influence and ability to make sure South Dakota issues are valued in the Republican Congress:

“The choice of her on this committee says something about her, that she is somebody they have come to value her opinion and value her ability to work with others in the House,” Blanchard said. “The speaker of the House is a very powerful position and so nobody is going to be on that committee that he hasn’t picked.”

Ryan said he chose Noem because of her keen ability to see how policies in Congress impact constituents outside Washington.

“Kristi may be South Dakota’s lone representative in the House, but she has given the state a prominent voice, building the relationships and coalitions she needs to get things done,” Ryan said in an email. “It’s why I asked her to serve on my advisory council, and one of the many areas where I look to her for insight.”

and…

Noem came into office in 2011 with a challenge common among the seven members who are their state’s only representative: how to make an impact without the opportunity to join forces and gain support from other members in their state. As a result, Noem has focused heavily on reaching out to other members, depending on the issue. This has enabled her to develop relationships with a wide swath of members.

“That education process during that year-long, gutting-it-out-battle to get the farm bill done, I think, had a big impact on Paul,” Noem said. “He recognized that I knew policy and was willing to work with people and would spend time to try to educate other members.”

Read it all here.

It’s kind of funny, as lately I’ve been trying to figure out a path for growth for my various business dabblings, when I caught this on twitter this morning, and re-tweeted it. It should serve as a clarion call for anyone who believes in the basic concept of America as a country where you can achieve nearly any goal if you work hard enough and set your mind to it.

(Please don’t include the goal of a grown man wanting to be a 6 year old girl. That’s Canada.)

Poll finds 51% of young adults don’t support #capitalism, versus just 42% who say they do. https://t.co/mMEA0sIKhr pic.twitter.com/R2iiVmagjD

— AEI (@AEI) April 29, 2016

Wow. If that statistic does not scare you, it should.  And we should start to seriously question what young adults are being taught. Because if they’re not embracing the culture which drove our country to become the most powerful nation our world has ever seen, then we’re in a lot of trouble.  It introduces the specter of  – hopefully not within my lifetime – there will be a point down the line where the US is reduced to basically becoming yet another European-like welfare state.

When did we stop teaching that capitalism is a force for national prosperity and the common good?  It’s as if there’s a movement towards abandoning common sense and moving towards arbitrary and unsustainable economics, such as “everyone should be paid $15 an hour.”

When you see a majority of young adults literally abandoning capitalism, you have to wonder how they came to such a horrendous world view; that somehow the general welfare promised in the preamble of the Constitution is not general welfare, but a common welfare, where we as a society are responsible for everyone, regardless of the personal cost, and the individual’s input.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know many of us were taught at an early age that if we wanted something, that we should work for it. Whether that meant extra chores, or going to get a part time job, depended on our age.  In early years for me, that meant slogging through my downtown paper route for the Capital Journal, come rain, shine, or slush. And not that long thereafter it meant working for the local auction company on Thursday nights moving furniture, or holding up items.  I got paid based on how long and how hard I worked.

But beyond my own youthful ambitions of earning spending money, I learned at the knee of my mother’s own entrepreneurial drive to participate in capitalism.  She started several businesses; including an antique shop & furniture restoration business for which I was often drafted for manual labor, and later an auction company which also pressed me into service.

For her, it was a way to provide extra income into our family of eight; to supplement her income as a school nurse and my father’s as a special agent for the FBI.  She worked hard, and exceptionally long hours once she was home from school for the day. It wasn’t unusual for her to finally finish working around 10 PM or later, after which she’d finally take some “me” time for herself, and watch tv for an hour or so before going to bed.

The point is she openly embraced, and taught her children that nobody is going to hand you anything. If you want to earn a higher income, you’re going to have to put effort into it. You can make a good income off of an idea if you want, but if you start a business, you must take “ownership” of it’s success or failure. You’re going to have to work at it, and put long hours into it. In other words, If you want to make more, you start by putting in more to get more out.

Two weeks before she died from cancer, she was giving her all at her auction business with back to back Saturday/Sunday sales, because she believed in our system of capitalism. She was doing it because she loved her business, and she wanted it to produce a profit.

To read that a majority of young people reject capitalism just flies in the face of that. I know it’s not personal, but it is just offensive as a concept.  It means that these young people rejecting capitalism have some odd pollyanish view of the world in that they should have an income, but it’s up to someone else to figure all the details out.

If it means they should have a job, it’s someone else’s responsibility to create it, and in some cities, they have to create it, and pay them at least $15 an hour, whether that’s shuffling papers, pouring coffee, or shoveling manure, regardless of the true value of the work to the employer.  Or worse, if they can’t find one, or are unwilling to find one, then it’s up to society to furnish them with food & shelter on an indefinite basis.

It’s been used so often it’s seems to be patronizing, but Margaret Thatcher was quite accurate when she noted that “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Our system of capitalism might not be perfect, but it is far more of a sustainable model for growth than relying on taking from others because there comes a point where you can’t confiscate enough from the public to sustain a workable system.

The fact that an avowed socialist such as Bernie Sanders has proceeded as far as he has in this years’ presidential elections should give us all pause, and make us reassess what we teach our children in terms of life, our system of economics, and who is ultimately responsible for their status in this world.

We need them to understand that it’s up to each of us as individuals to take responsibility for ourselves, and for our success. Not someone else. And definitely not government.

And maybe we can start to change course on what seems to be a sure path to the decline of our nation.

“Capitalism has worked very well. Anyone who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.”
– Bill Gates

Celebrating the Moms in Our Lives
By Sen. John Thune

One of the most noteworthy qualities about President Reagan was his unmatched ability to capture the feelings of the American people when he communicated with them. He connected with his audience in the moment, and the messages he delivered were often so timeless they will transcend generations. Of mothers, President Reagan once said, “They’re the main communicators of the values by which our nation has flourished for more than 200 years – the values of honesty, responsibility, decency, and personal effort. By imparting these and other values to our children, the mothers of America quite literally shape the future.” His message is as true today as it was 30 years ago.

I know everyone says it about his or her own mom, but mine really was the best. Although she’s gone, I still find myself applying the lessons she taught me to my life and family today. My mom was the most positive person I ever met. She brought joy and happiness with her wherever she went and never said an ill word about anyone.

As a lot of parents are, my mom and dad were a perfect balance for one another. My dad has always loved sports. He was a star basketball player and is a member of the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. He has an entire gymnasium named after him in our hometown. Naturally, my siblings and I had an early – and at times intense – interest in sports. If we could, we probably would have spent every minute of daylight playing with friends in the field or on the court.

My mom recognized our love for sports, but always tried to create some balance in our lives. Every day during the summer, my mom required me and my siblings to come inside and spend one hour doing things like reading a book or playing the piano. If you grew up in a small town like me, you know how painful it was to sit inside and watch your friends run around outside and have fun without you. Mom made us read all of the classic pieces of literature, and to this day, I’m still able to read sheet music and sing a tune from time to time. She exposed us to things that we had no idea how much we’d appreciate later in life. It’s a part of her that still lives with me today.

Like my mom was for me and my brothers and sister, my wife Kimberley is the glue that holds our family together. Moms do a lot of things, and Kimberley has done them all. When I was first elected to Congress, my girls were young, and I traveled a lot. It’s no understatement to say Kimberley took parenting to another level while I was away. I always appreciated the hard and time-consuming work she did for our family, but I especially appreciated it during the times when I was home alone with the girls. One example, I remember trying (and failing) a number of times to braid Brittany’s and Larissa’s hair. I’d send them off to school, and based on the results, I’m sure their teachers could always tell when Kimberley was out of town.

My job provides me with opportunities to meet great moms too. There are a lot of hard-working, talented moms on my staff throughout South Dakota and in Washington, D.C., and many more come through our offices each year. I recently met with South Dakota’s 2015 and 2016 Mothers of the Year Award recipients – two amazing women, Lynn Starzl and Laurie Visser, both from Yankton. Earlier this year, I spent some time with Tami Fite and her family, winners of this year’s Angels in Adoption Award. Tami and her family have defied many odds over the years, and she’s a shining example of what every good mom strives to be.

President Reagan was right when he said “It’s no accident that America chose to honor all mothers with a special holiday.” As you celebrate this special day with the special women in your life, reflect on everything they do for our families and our society, and wish them a very happy Mother’s Day.

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