Keeping Washington Out of South Dakota
By Rep. Kristi Noem

It never ceases to amaze me how far Washington wants to reach into our personal lives. I have always believed in a limited federal government – one that defers to the states and individuals to make the vast majority of decisions. But that isn’t the way Washington bureaucrats operate.

Most recently, the federal government attempted to micromanage how South Dakota 4-H formats its rodeo. All three of our kids competed in rodeo growing up, and I volunteered with the program for more than 16 years. When you’re part of rodeo, it’s clear the sport is heavily dependent on the skill of the contestants, but the inherent differences between sexes can have an impact on the winner in many cases. Nonetheless, the federal government sought to force “gender neutral” competition, putting political correctness above the rodeo experience for the kids involved.

After phone calls, texts, and letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Sonny Perdue, the agency finally listened to those actually involved, hit pause, and allowed South Dakota youth rodeo to continue to operate as it has for decades.

But this is just one example. A few years ago, the EPA considered regulating dust to the point that it would have been hard for farmers to dig their fields unless it had rained that week. In response, I introduced the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act, which passed the House and helped force the administration to reverse course.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor handed down a new proposal that would have undermined traditional family agriculture. Many South Dakotans hire their nieces or nephews to help during the summer, but these requirements would have put new and unnecessary limits on what they could do. Safety on farms and ranches is imperative, but we need to have a commonsense approach to how we address the issue. I put pressure on the Department of Labor, and they withdrew their proposal.

A couple years later, OSHA tried to circumvent the law and regulate “post-harvest” activities, such as storage, fumigation, and drying. Once again, I pushed back. Under pressure, the agency revoked its guidance.

Career bureaucrats will always try to push the bounds of their authority, and if they succeed, individual liberty is often the price paid. I do believe the Trump administration understands this, and the willingness of Agriculture Secretary Perdue to listen to South Dakota rodeo families speaks volumes. In total, we’ve repealed more than 1,600 regulations under the Trump administration with more being rolled back each week. I’m hopeful the deregulation, coupled with historic tax cuts, is just the beginning of a shift to a smaller, more limited federal government.

Celebrating South Dakota’s Conservationists
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

In South Dakota, we are fortunate to live on a landscape managed by dedicated farming and ranching families. For generations, they’ve known that their livelihoods depend on being good stewards of soil, water, livestock and wildlife.

As we celebrate the natural resources that we cherish on Earth Day, we should applaud those who care for working lands protecting our land and water.

Each year the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, South Dakota Grassland Coalition and Sand County Foundation bestow the Leopold Conservation Award^® on a farming or ranching family who demonstrates outstanding conservation leadership, and is dedicated to land and wildlife conservation. The award is named for renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold.

This year’s Leopold Conservation Award recipient is Cammack Ranch of Union Center.

Cammack Ranch is owned and operated by State Senator Gary Cammack, and his wife, Amy. They raise beef cattle on 11,000 acres of grazing land in Meade County, where they have implemented rotational grazing practices, constructed windbreaks and planted more than 30,000 trees. Their improvements have resulted in abundant wildlife, and healthy soil, grasslands and cattle.

The Cammacks purchased their first land in 1978 and opened Cammack Ranch Supply in Union Center shortly thereafter. Truly a family operation, their four grown sons all contribute to the operation of the ranch in some way.

This Earth Day we congratulate the Cammacks and all South Dakota landowners who care for the natural resources on which we all depend. Their strong land ethic ensures that our natural resources will be here for future generations.

For information on Cammack Ranch and the many conservation practices used by farmers and ranchers, visit LeopoldConservationAward.org.

-30-

It appears as of this weekend that former US Attorney Randy Seiler is going to be challenged at the Democrat State Party convention by the daughter of Russell Means.

Tatwan Means had been rumored as expressing an interest in the past among a few attorneys. Apparently, she wasn’t kidding and jumped in the race, according to Liberal Dem insider Cory Heidelberger.

Normally, one might view Seiler as the automatic front-runner. But, Randy has a couple things in his background that might cause concern for Democrat purists. Such as his $1000 donation to the campaign of Republican candidate for Governor Marty Jackley in 2016:

As well as his donation to the campaign of Republican candidate Tad Perry in 2014:

Dem delegates are no less purists than those who attend the Republican convention. And they may not like the recent big dollar donations, especially to one of the GOP candidates who could be representing the Republican Party in the fall.

Stay tuned.

Today is one of those rare days where I am escaping from behind my desk and in the middle of hour two of a sign run to Pierre and Rapid City.

Catching a few road signs for the June primary – and while some are okay, some are awful. I’ll try to snap some pictures from the road (or my wingman will) as we go.

Stay tuned!

A couple of more endorsements have come in for Paul TenHaken, the man who many anticipate will be the next mayor of Sioux Falls:

Both the Family Heritage Alliance and the Home Builders Association of the Sioux Empire have offered their endorsement of TenHaken in the runoff election scheduled for May 1st.

From my mailbox yesterday comes another postcard from Congressional hopeful Shantel Krebs to Republican voters:

Came across this on Facebook today:

Lora Hubbel’s friend, Constitution Party Chairwoman Lori Stacey, is apparently claiming that I somehow smeared her by pointing out the article she personally authored which questioned whether colony collapse disorder is because corporations have an evil plan to replace bees with robot bees:

In light of a newly released video put out by the Greenpeace organization, the topic of what will be done if bees become completely extinct begs an answer to this question. Is colony collapse disorder caused by an honest mistake or is it rather the planned destruction of bee populations?

and…

A simple Google search of “robo bees” will show you that this supposedly outlandish and futuristic mock commercial in question is really not as far-fetched as one might think. In fact, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is taking a lead role in a RoboBees project.

and…

So what about the demise of our bee population? Well, the takeover of our nation’s food supply has made some people billions of dollars. It is boldly evident that there is no concerted effort within our government to reign in their ill effects because it is against their own personal interests to do so. Years ago, it would have been seen as far-fetched and grossly futuristic to think that large pesticide corporations could patent our “food”. Now we are left with the prospect that these same products likely are killing off our bees. So are robotic bees the next planned step to replace real bees and thereby create a new dependency on yet another multi-billion dollar industry? It may not be as far-fetched as we currently think it is. As it becomes more and more evident throughout the world that these pesticides and GMOs can be harmful to living things, many countries have now banned the use and importation of such “foods”, yet here in our nation, it is big business as usual.

Read my original robot bee post here.

You have to read it through my post, because she took her original one down once I started questioning it.   Why did I question it? Because one can’t help questioning statements about robot bees when a candidate for statewide office and now chair of a statewide political party is writing columns asking whether there is a “planned step to replace real bees” to “create a new dependency on yet another multi-billion dollar” robot bee industry.

While Lori Stacey is claiming I somehow smeared her by pointing out her own words about an evil corporate plot to kill bees and replace them with robots, LORI STACEY IS STILL TALKING ABOUT CORPORATIONS CREATING ROBOT BEES.  I’m not sure how exactly I’m smearing the Robot Bee theorist/Constitution Party Chair when she keeps bringing the subject of robot bees up.

And since ‘scientist‘ Lora Hubbel is concerned I have no shelf in my brain to contain anything scientific, what about this news source her compatriot is using to corroborate her robot bee claims?  NaturalNews.com IS being talked about in the scientific community. As a collection of crackpot stories. From Forbes:

If you don’t know who Mike “Health Ranger” Adams is, he may be a steadfast presence in your social media newsfeed without your knowledge. Awarded the top slot on Real Clear Science’s “Worst Websites for Science in 2016” list, and with its founder touted by Dr. Oz as “the Renegade Health Ranger,”  Natural News is a thorn in the sides of all who hold legitimate science dear.  But bad science isn’t Adams’ only offense. Natural News is a fake news fixture, with articles on Obama birtherism, HIV/AIDS denialism, and the Sandy Hook tragedy as an elaborate hoax by FEMA to promote gun control. With the current uproar about fake news, the website and its founder should top lists of spurious sources.

and..

Scientist Alison “Mommy, Ph.D” Bernstein explained on her site: “Natural News writes some downright crazy stories, like those about ancient civilizations on Mars, but some stories about Zika or the safety of vaccines harm public health initiatives.”

and…

Though his bio is uniquely fascinating, Mike Adams is nothing short of affront to the truth, and Natural News, with its staff of over twenty writers, is his platform.  He has called for the killing of those who speak out in support of biotechnology. He fabricates and publishes stories about those who dare criticize him. He aims to convince desperate cancer patients to use snake oil rather than proven treatments. He is a leading proponent of chemtrail conspiracy theories.

Read that here.

This quote is particularly telling:

One such blogger, David Gorski of ScienceBlogs, called Natural News “one of the most wretched hives of scum and quackery on the Internet,” and the most “blatant purveyor of the worst kind of quackery and paranoid anti-physician and anti-medicine conspiracy theories anywhere on the Internet”,^[23] and a one-stop-shop for “virtually every quackery known to humankind, all slathered with a heaping, helping of unrelenting hostility to science-based medicine and science in general.”^[12]

Read that here.

So, in other words, to back her Robot Bee claims, South Dakota Constitution Party Chair Lori Stacey is citing a website that promotes chemtrails and ancient civilizations on Mars.

But in her defense, she did read it on Facebook. So it must be true.

The South Dakota Constitution Party State Convention is Saturday, July 14, 2018 at the American Legion Post #15 in Sioux Falls. No word on whether robot bees will be provided by Lori, or if you’ll have to bring your own.

As we just cycle off an advertiser, we’re joined at the SDWC starting tonight by the Neal Tapio for Congress campaign:

As you’re well aware, Senator Tapio is one of the candidates running for the Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman Kristi Noem, who herself is running for Governor in the Republican Primary.  Right of out the gate, Neal’s ad is linked to the recent KELO Radio interview with Todd Epp, news director of KELO Radio:

The KELO interview lays out Neal’s positions on a myriad of issues, including why he’s focusing significant attention on the issue of radical Islamic terrorism in the Congressional race.

Check it out at the link above.  And welcome Senator Tapio to advertiser’s row.

From my e-mail box, There’s a Marty Jackley fundraiser in Rapid City tonight – and we have the invite: