Toby Doeden must not think much of DSU cyber program graduates, as in this video, starting around 1:25, he uses scare-tactics to run down data center development, claiming they are only going to hire California liberals to work in data centers:

I mean *it is DSU* but I say that as an SDSU grad doing some good-natured trash-talking. (I’m sure Matt Paulson, a DSU alum who has done quite well for himself in cyberspace would disagree.)

Here’s another problem besides Toby thinking South Dakotans are too dumb to be hired in data center operations. Toby Doeden’s attack on Data Centers flies in the face of President Trump’s data center action plan to make sure that they’re built in America (one of the things even his detractors should not find fault with):

The Plan identifies over 90 Federal policy actions across three pillars – Accelerating Innovation, Building American AI Infrastructure, and Leading in International Diplomacy and Security – that the Trump Administration will take in the coming weeks and months.

and..

“Winning the AI Race is non-negotiable. America must continue to be the dominant force in artificial intelligence to promote prosperity and protect our economic and national security. President Trump recognized this at the beginning of his administration and took decisive action by commissioning this AI Action Plan. These clear-cut policy goals set expectations for the Federal Government to ensure America sets the technological gold standard worldwide, and that the world continues to run on American technology,” said Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.

Read that all here.

Unless South Dakota has shut our doors for business permanently, we need to welcome data centers AND the jobs and development they’ll bring to our communities.

(Or, we could screw it up like we have with bio-jet fuel and ethanol.)

Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Louis Sebert

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Friday, August 1, 2025, in honor of former state legislator Louis (Lou) Sebert. He served in the South Dakota State House of Representatives from 1999 to 2006.

Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 AM CT on Friday, August 1, 2025, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Graveside services will follow at Calvary Cemetery in Mitchell.

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Rounds Advances Major Housing Wins for South Dakota in Committee Markup

 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today successfully advanced key housing priorities for South Dakota during a bipartisan markup in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. As part of the Road to Housing Act, Rounds secured the inclusion of four of his bills, delivering the first major update to the Rural Housing Service in over a decade, eliminating burdensome red tape that hinders housing development in local communities and empowering communities with greater flexibility to address homelessness through locally driven solutions.

“Access to safe affordable housing is critical to the strength and future of our communities. I’m proud that my legislation became key provisions in this bill, including modernizing rural housing programs, cutting burdensome regulations and giving local communities more tools to address homelessness and housing shortages,” said Rounds. “These are real wins for South Dakota. President Trump and Secretary Scott Turner have made it clear that increasing our housing supply is a national priority and this legislation moves us in the right direction.”

Rounds’ legislation included in the Road to Housing Act:

• Rural Housing Service Reform Act: This bill would to improve federal rural housing programs and strengthen the supply of affordable housing in rural America by modernizing and strengthening several U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural housing programs. The Rural Housing Service Reform Act addresses longstanding challenges with maturing Section 515 properties, aligns income calculations with HUD standards, streamlines foreclosure and loan approval processes, and invests in IT upgrades to improve efficiency. It would also ease access to home repair loans and expand eligibility for USDA loan guarantees to include properties with accessory dwellings and in-home daycares.
• Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act: The bill would modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process for housing projects/services funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act: The legislation would cut federal red tape for homeless service providers by easing burdens on Continuum of Care organizations by moving to a two-year funding application and removing barriers that delay access to housing and services. It also strengthens local responses by improving coordination with healthcare and law enforcement, supporting workforce development, enhancing data use, including AI, and expanding feedback channels to inform HUD policy and improve federal accountability.
• Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act: The bill would modernize the NEPA review process by increasing capacity sharing between HUD and state and local governments, aligning HUD’s standards with other agencies through delegated housing reviews, and granting the agency greater flexibility by allowing it to designate certain housing assistance as “special project funds.”

These bills were incorporated into the Road to Housing Act, sponsored by Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The comprehensive proposal would expand and preserve the housing supply by removing regulatory barriers, promoting innovative construction, addressing blight and supporting disaster recovery, while also improving housing affordability, expanding homeownership, reducing homelessness and increasing access for veterans. The bill advances accountability and oversight by promoting evidence-based policies, strengthening program integrity and improving coordination and transparency across federal housing programs to make efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

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(Editor’s note – still haven’t noticed SDGOP acknowledging President’ Trump’s very LOUD endorsement of Senator Rounds – pp)

South Dakota Democrats are in the media today, complaining about efforts by Governor Larry Rhoden to deport illegal aliens who are in state prison after being convicted of felony crimes.

In a press release from South Dakota Democrats, House Minority leader Erin Healey noted:

“This operation with ICE creates fear and uncertainty for immigrant families. When we turn state troopers and DOC agents into ICE enforcers, we’re not protecting anyone. We’re tearing families apart, hurting our economy, and damaging trust with law enforcement.”

Read that here.

In a story posted by the Dakota Scout, the Governor’s staff provided an example of the families being ‘torn apart’ by deportation:

The governor’s office is defending the initiative as a targeted public safety effort aimed at removing individuals convicted of serious crimes from the state. Rhoden’s press secretary, Josie Harms, cited two recent ICE deportation cases that originated in South Dakota: a Honduran woman convicted of child sexual exploitation who was deported, and an Eritrean man convicted of sexual contact with a child. The latter is still in DOC custody awaiting deportation.

Read that here.

I think the criminal’s families were torn apart by their sex crimes against kids moreso than these people being removed from the country.

Democrats are protesting that illegal aliens or others who came to this country who have been tried, convicted, and sent to prison are being removed from the country for child sexual exploitation, and child molestation?

I don’t think that’s a hill I would die on if I were the Democrats.

Dakota Leadership PAC Mid Year Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

Dusty Johnson can add another $356k to his total of funds ready to be rolled into his vision for what his race will mean for South Dakota.

His Dakota Leadership PAC filed paperwork this morning showing that his mid-year report reflects a balance of $356,582.00 in it’s coffers, which he can add to his previously filed reports reflecting $5,995,554.28 in the Friends of Dusty Johnson Committee, and the $713,074.22 in the Dusty Johnson Victory Committee.

$7,065,210.50 certainly helps provide some seed money when you’re running for Governor.

Gov. Rhoden Announces Operation: Prairie Thunder

Major Public Safety Initiative in Sioux Falls Metro Area

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden announced Operation: Prairie Thunder – a comprehensive, targeted public safety initiative to protect South Dakotans, especially in the Sioux Falls metro area.

“We are keeping South Dakotans strong, safe, and free. When it comes to safety, one of our biggest opportunities to move the needle is right here in Sioux Falls, and that’s where Operation: Prairie Thunder comes in,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “We are taking decisive action to hold criminals accountable and protect our communities.”

Governor Rhoden announced Operation: Prairie Thunder at a press conference at the Sioux Falls Public Safety Campus. Operation: Prairie Thunder has two main components:

• A targeted anti-crime initiative in the Sioux Falls metro to interdict drugs, investigate gang activity, hold parole absconders accountable, and deter lawlessness; and
• A comprehensive effort to support the work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) secure our borders and deport illegal alien criminals.

The targeted anti-crime initiative in the Sioux Falls metro includes:

• Providing 10-15 Highway Patrol troopers for monthly saturation patrols over the next five months;
• Deploying aerial assets including the South Dakota National Guard (SDNG) Lakota helicopters and the South Dakota Highway Patrol airplane to help with drug interdiction and traffic enforcement;
• Utilizing Department of Corrections (DOC) Parole Agents and the Absconder Apprehension Unit to assist with apprehensions and lists of fugitives, absconders, and other intelligence; and
• Coordinating all efforts through the existing local crime task forces in the Sioux Falls area.

The comprehensive effort to support ICE’s work includes:

• Equipping the South Dakota Highway Patrol to assist with ICE’s actions to keep America safe – a partnership that the Governor previously obtained;
• Activating six SDNG soldiers to assist ICE with administrative functions; and
• Enabling DOC to work with ICE to deport offenders and transfer violent offenders for federal incarceration and assist ICE with processing and transportation of illegal alien criminals.

“Our work alongside ICE boils down to this: 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,” continued Governor Rhoden.

To facilitate the DOC component of supporting ICE, Governor Rhoden sent a letter of intent for a 287(g) agreement between DOC and Ice under the Jail Enforcement Model. He sent this letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons. You can find the letter here.

At the announcement, Governor Rhoden was joined by state, federal, city, and county law enforcement leaders including Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken, Lieutenant Governor Tony Venhuizen, and Secretary of Public Safety Bob Perry. You can find a picture here.

Governor Rhoden is committed to working with local leaders to identify additional ways to address these issues to keep South Dakota strong, safe, and free.

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Get the popcorn!  The Hansen/Lemming attacks against Toby Doeden continue as another one of the lemmings is going after the Doeden campaign for calls that Hansen can’t win and should drop out.

Recently, former Turner County GOP Chair Tammy Weis (who kept trying to cut Gov Noem off at their gop-like dinner a few years back) is on social media attacking the Doeden campaign manager. And it appear that she’s attacking Doeden supporters in general for suggesting that Hansen drop out because he isn’t going anywhere:

From Facebook:

Senator Mike Rounds’ WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: July 21-27, 2025

Welcome back to another Weekly Round[s] Up. Here in DC, we continue to work on confirming President Trump’s nominees. Despite facing a historic level of obstruction from the other side of the aisle, the Senate is continuing to confirm nominees at a record pace. As of this past week, the Senate has confirmed 105 of President Trump’s nominees to positions in the executive and judicial branches. This is almost double the number of nominees that had been confirmed this far into President Trump’s first term. In addition, we’ve taken 435 roll call votes, which is more votes than the Senate has taken during some entire years. All this to say that we’re moving at a fast pace to get nominees in place and implement the agenda voted on by the American people. More on the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I met with: Melissa Magstadt, South Dakota’s Secretary of Health; South Dakota representatives from the Oncology Nurse Society; Ryman LeBeau, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; Jim Speirs, Executive Director of Arts South Dakota; Janet Alkire, Chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; Brian Cooper with Maguire Iron; two South Dakota school psychologists in town for a national training; South Dakota’s class of Tomorrow’s Ag Leaders; Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz, founder of the Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota; Ron Heiser with Pivotal Health Solutions; South Dakota representatives of 340B Health; and students representing South Dakota and Boys and Girls Nation.

South Dakota towns represented: Aberdeen, Andover, Brandon, Castlewood, Corsica, Eagle Butte, Groton, Hecla, Irene, Lake Preston, Madison, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Wallace, Watertown and Yankton.

Other meetings: Representatives from Canada’s parliament; Jason Droege, CEO of Scale AI; Eric Jensen, CEO of ICEYE US; Dr. Greg Sorensen with RadNet; leaders from the Coalition for Health AI; and Will Lansing, CEO of FICO. I also attended our Senate Bible Study, where our verse of the week was Proverbs 13:24, and our Senate Prayer Breakfast, where I was our speaker this past week!

Hearings: I attended two hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee. You can watch a clip of one of these hearings here.

Briefings and markups: I attended one classified briefing as part of my work on the Intelligence committee. I also attended a markup in the Appropriations committee to discuss our bills funding Interior and Environment, as well as Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Legislation introduced: I introduced two pieces of legislation to address the critical shortage of housing across the country and create more affordable paths to owning a home for more Americans. Together the Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act and the Better Use of Intergovernmental & Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act would streamline the federal housing environmental review process to responsibly increase housing production and boost overall supply and lower cost. Read more here.

In addition, I introduced the Intelligence Community Property Security Act of 2025, legislation to establish a specific provision prohibiting unauthorized access to U.S. Intelligence Community property and strengthening the penalty for trespassing on property that is under jurisdiction of the United States intelligence community. Read more about this bill here.

Votes taken: 20 – we confirmed nine additional nominees this past week.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Pierre, Redfield, Wall and Winner.

Steps taken: 46,792 steps or 21.14 miles.

Video of the week: I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business this past week to discuss the ongoing conflict in Israel:

An Aberdeen couple who were at the center of the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary battle between then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem and Attorney General Marty Jackley have recently filed for divorce in Brown County.

A petition for divorce has been filed between Laura Zylstra Kaiser and former State Rep. Dan Kaiser.  If you recall, Zylstra, a former DCI agent had won a $1.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit involving the Brown County Sheriff’s office, and was featured in campaign advertising by Kristi Noem during the campaign against Marty Jackley after claims by Zylstra that her settlement was delayed over payment issues, which the AG cited as being handled by the office of Risk Management.

Immediately after Noem’s primary win, Zylstra’s spouse, Rep. Dan Kaiser, was featured in e-mails and a campaign to delegates by State Rep. Liz May to draft him to be nominated for Lt. Governor:

Current conservative legislators join former conservative icons, in advance of the Republican state convention, in endorsing conservative Representative Dan Kaiser (R-Aberdeen) to be the Republican Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

On Saturday, Republican delegates will cast official votes to determine who is on the November general election ballot as the Republican Party candidate for Public Utilities Commission, School & Public Lands Commissioner, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Lieutenant Governor.

and..

Joining Rep. Liz May (R-Kyle) in her support and endorsement of Representative Dan Kaiser are some of South Dakotas most conservative current and past legislators: Rep. Sam Marty (R-Prairie City), Rep. Steve Livermont (R-Martin), Rep. Tim Goodwin (R-Rapid City), Rep. Drew Dennert (R-Aberdeen), Rep. Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids), Rep. Lynne Hix-DiSanto (R-Rapid City), Rep. Julie Frye-Mueller (R-Rapid City), Rep. “Chip” Campbell (R-Rapid City), Senator Phil Jensen (R-Rapid City), Senator Stace Nelson (R-Fulton), Senator Emeritus Betty Olson (R-Prairie City), Senator Emeritus Gordon Howie (R-Rapid City), and Representative Emeritus Don Kopp (R-Rapid City).

Read that here (via the wayback machine).

According to the UJS website, the status of the divorce is currently pending the recusal of the assigned judge.