There’s a message in the Rapid City Journal and on the website for State Senator Jessica Castleberry asking voters to consider who they put on our school boards, noting that stalkers and beraters are not needed:

It would be highly detrimental to have people at the helm of our school system who stalk, berate, and belittle people they don’t agree with. And- while I firmly believe in free speech- it may be unwise to have school board representatives who have repeatedly stated how much they hate our community, our country, and the people who live in Rapid City. We need people who can see the flaws in the system but fundamentally love and respect our hometown. Just as our teachers should look at our children who are struggling and say, “How can I help?” so should our school board ask our school system. People (even politicians) will show you exactly who they are; all you have to do is look, just a little. Choose carefully, and please do not skip an election of this magnitude.

Read here editorial here.

I missed the accusations of stalking in the school board race.

But it’s Rapid City. So I’m not entirely shocked.

South Dakota News Watch, VIA KELOland, has a story on-line which in the title claims “dissatisfaction with democratic institutions,” but if you look at some of the numbers they were polling, candidates had probably not admit that they’re socialists:

Respondents showed great dissatisfaction with how democracy is working in America right now, and political party division and distrust of competing parties is high. Almost 65% of respondents were very or somewhat dissatisfied with how democracy is working, and nearly a third thought members of the opposing political party posed a “very serious threat” to America and its people…

and.. (and maybe I should note, BUT)..

Democracy is always preferable.
Strongly Disagree — 3.1%
Disagree — 6.0%
Neither Disagree nor Agree — 9.5%
Agree — 38.9%
Strongly Agree — 42.6%

Non-democracies can be preferable.
Strongly Disagree — 37.2%
Disagree — 29.2%
Neither Disagree nor Agree — 16.0%
Agree — 15.3%
Strongly Agree — 2.4%

Read the entire story here.

Of the 500 South Dakotans polled, 81.5% agree Democracy is always preferable, and 66.4% disagree that non-democracies can be preferable?  The big takeaway is that it is important to keep that 33.6% who are apparently open to socialism, communism, or a theocracy at bay, because in there we have 15.1% who dropped democracy between the first and second question.

As Winston Churchill noted, “..it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Defending South Dakota’s Cattle Producers
By Sen. John Thune

There is a high demand for high quality U.S.-raised beef in this country. If there was any doubt, the bare supermarket shelves throughout parts of 2020 proved it. I believe the South Dakota producers who work day in and day out to raise this livestock should be the ones benefitting from this high market demand, but that’s not exactly what’s happening these days.

Just four meatpackers control over 80 percent of the beef processing capacity in this country. These companies are buying beef at low prices and selling it for a much higher margin. Something isn’t adding up, and both cattle producers and consumers deserve answers about this potential market manipulation.

I want the market to operate freely and with as little government intervention as possible, but producers in our state are feeling the pinch. There are consumer protections and oversight mechanisms in place for a reason, and, using those tools, we must get to the bottom of this.

The last few years have been especially difficult for cattle producers in South Dakota and across the country. In 2019, a fire at a meat processing plant in Kansas caused significant market disruptions. Last year, COVID outbreaks caused temporary plant closures. This year, meatpackers are again running at reduced capacity because workers aren’t showing up for work, in part because of the enhanced unemployment benefits the Biden administration is providing. Regardless, the meatpackers have seen substantial profit margins while producers struggle to make ends meet.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the meatpacking industry – again, four companies control more than 80 percent of the market. With such concentrated control, there’s opportunity for manipulation. And while it’s been one year since the DOJ Antitrust Division sent civil investigative demands to these companies, no results from the investigation have been released to the public.

Because of the lack of transparency, and due to the change in leadership at DOJ, I recently led several of my Senate and House colleagues, including Rep. Dusty Johnson, in urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ to continue investigating the beef sector to determine if improper and anticompetitive activity has occurred. This is one of the most important ways we can hold the highly concentrated meatpacker industry accountable to the producers and the consumers who depend on them.

In addition to conducting this investigation, another way to reduce cattle producers’ dependence on the big four meatpackers would be to expand smaller processing capacity, which is why I reintroduced my Strengthening Local Processing Act in February. My bill would provide resources to establish and expand small meat processing capacity. It would also provide meat processors more access to information that is critical to food safety planning, allow more inspector-approved meat products to be sold across state lines, and funnel federal dollars toward training, education, and technical assistance grants. South Dakota’s producers work hard to raise high-quality livestock, and we need to invest in expanded processing capacity to help create more market opportunities for producers and meet consumer demand for their products.

Last month, I requested the Senate Agriculture Committee hold a hearing to consider the challenges facing the livestock industry as well as the bills that have been introduced this year that seek to improve the situation. I recognize that there are contrasting views among the organizations that represent cattle producers on the best path forward to improve the cattle market, but I am hopeful that a hearing would help lead to the passage of meaningful legislation that would create positive results for cattle producers in South Dakota.

It’s critically important that producers have fair and transparent markets for the commodities they produce. I will keep pushing the administration and my colleagues in Congress as we work to meet those goals.

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Triumphs and Mistakes: Learning from Our History
By: Governor Kristi Noem
May 21, 2021

The United States of America has a truly unique and wonderful history. Our nation was the first to be founded on an ideal: that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In pursuit of this ideal, our nation has seen many triumphs. Along the way, we’ve also made some terrible mistakes. Our triumphs have occurred when we lived up to this ideal. Our mistakes have come when we fell short.

As our children and grandchildren grow and learn, they should be taught the full picture of our nation’s history – our fundamental values, our greatest achievements, and the long struggles to overcome injustice as well. Our young people must understand the mistakes as well as the triumphs, of course. But those mistakes must be put in proper context, and right now I am concerned that this is not the case nationally.

Across the nation, we’ve seen a different, misinformed version of American history take root. The so-called 1619 Project (a creation of the New York Times) is being promoted by the Biden Administration as a recommended resource for their K-12 American History and Civics Education programs. The 1619 Project claims that America was founded on racism and slavery, not on an ideal of equality. It seeks to incorrectly re-frame the nation as a story of “us versus them” rather than “We the People.” Moreover, the 1619 Project relies upon the concept of Critical Race Theory to further divide students based on the color of their skin.

This is inappropriate and un-American. It has no place in South Dakota, and it certainly has no place in South Dakota classrooms. According to many historians, this 1619 Project’s version of American history is full of errors and misstatements that should be avoided, not embraced. That is why this week, South Dakota’s Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson and State Historian Dr. Ben Jones pushed back on the Biden Administration’s support for the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory in our schools.

Similarly, a few weeks ago I signed the “1776 Pledge to Save Our Schools” as a commitment that I will work to make patriotic education a priority in South Dakota classrooms. I will be working with the South Dakota Board of Regents to ensure honest, patriotic education in our institutions of higher education. And my Department of Education will not apply for any federal civics or history grants that are tied to Critical Race Theory or the 1619 Project.

This past legislative session, I worked with the legislature to pass funding for robust civics education that helps our students to learn America’s history and everything that makes our country special. As part of that education, they’ll learn about the history of our state. They’ll learn the history of our tribes as well. And they will learn about America’s mistakes – the times that we fell short of our ideal of equality – so that we can learn from those mistakes. But they’ll learn of our triumphs as well. They’ll learn about the leaders who made those triumphs possible. As a result, I’m hopeful that our students will better be able to emulate those triumphs into the future.

Our nation’s history shouldn’t be political. “All men are created equal” shouldn’t be controversial. I look forward to continuing to promote a patriotic education throughout South Dakota that cultivates in our next generation a profound love for our country.

###

 

Thune: Biden Picks Russia’s Energy Monopoly Over South Dakota’s Energy Independence

“I find it particularly fascinating – or, more accurately, troubling – that the president cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline and its 11,000 American jobs yet is now conceding to Russia on the construction of a Russian pipeline – Nord Stream 2 – by waiving sanctions against the Russian company constructing the pipeline.”

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

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the United States’ progress toward energy independence and the importance of all-of-the-above energy policies that invest in oil and natural gas, ethanol and other biofuels, solar, wind, and hydropower. Thune noted that President Biden’s hostility toward affordable and reliable energy security in the United States, his decision to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, and his apparent preference for Russia’s energy monopoly could be detrimental to our national security.

From Facebook:

From Facebook, US Senator Mike Rounds posts a video regarding a bipartisan review of beef packers:

Just received the latest for my collection today, and as opposed to being a South Dakota item, it pre-dates our state by nearly 30 years. And it’s pretty darned cool. This is the centerfold from the May 12, 1860 edition of Harper’s Weekly:

(I hope I look this good at 161 years old)

Noting how each of the portraits are featured for the “Prominent Candidates for the Republican Presidential Nomination at Chicago,” it clearly favors Seward.  But, in the writeups for each candidate (on the reverse) it does note Lincoln as a man “acquainted with the industrial classes, and now they claim him as one of their number – ‘The Flatboatman!‘”

I’m watching in the aftermath of the Sioux Falls School Board election, and seeing that a former educator (Marc Murren) and incumbent (Kate Parker) won the evening.  And I’m not surprised.

Of the winning candidates, Murrren seemed to have broad based community support and consistent branding.

Kate Parker seemed to have phoned it in, but as the incumbent you can do that.  But, it also showed with how close Anthony Pizer came to her vote total, with Parker coming in second at 2322, and Pizer at 2120, just 202 votes shy.

Pizer seems to have had a clear message, as well as fairly good support. But I think I would have made that logo bigger on the sign. Subtlety has no place in a political campaign.

Looking at materials from others in the race, I saw awful yard signs, inconsistent logo use, and a few other missteps which did not help them.

Paulette Ludens had an ok and readable logo, and seemed to use them consistently.

But then from her facebook, I can see she also had nice 3-inch buttons. Which for what she spent on them, she could have bought door hangers.  In fact, if you look at the news story on what candidates spent – at $1320 in campaign spending, you can see one reason things did not gel for her at all.

In addition to being underfunded, and possibly under-advertised (at $2185 in expenditures) Cory Begley’s campaign might have been hurt by the fact he kept shifting his branding.  Because his design work just seems to have been a hot mess, with at least THREE different logos..

with the campaign choosing the worst one for their yard sign..

Sorry guys, but is someone supposed to be able to read any of that while going by at 25 m.p.h?  Because all they’re seeing is a star, a name with an odd & stretched font that’s challenging to read, and some other stuff they can’t make out.

Design sins aside, it’s pretty apparent that to be serious in a Sioux Falls School Board race, just to meet the basics to fully cover the land area and to cut through the competing chatter, they need to plan on raising/spending $15-20,000.