Republicans

The Dakota Scout plays into the Republican Party rhetoric

Since the Dakota Scout has launched I have had a subscription. I have also read hundreds of stories over the years of both of the journalists running the media organization. They are good reporters.

But the the resounding criticism I hear from readers (especially ones that are independents and left leaning) is they tend to lean a little right. I would argue they are more Libertarian then outright Republican Right, and if you have a conversation about their political leanings they will admit it.

What I did not expect was for them to play into the Republican Party rhetoric. As I was reading this story on District 15 candidates I noticed they called the Republican Candidates as members of the ‘Republican’ party and Democrats the members of the ‘Democrat’ party. This is the same rhetoric the Republican party members have been pushing for decades;

However, some Republican leaders have made a habit of referring to their opposition incorrectly and discourteously as the “Democrat Party.” The reason isn’t entirely clear; it may be meant to imply that the party isn’t sufficiently “democratic” in the general sense, or may just be meant as a petty insult. 

That is all it is, a petty insult, and I expected more from the team at the Dakota Scout.

I get it, it is hard to start a media organization without catering to the Republican leaning business acumen in our state. Yes, there are many fine companies in SD that are run by moderate indies and Democrats but I’m not sure the capital is out there to support a more left leaning or even moderate news organization in South Dakota. I have caught the media time and time again in this city who just blatantly ignores the bad deeds of Republican lawmakers. Just look at the city election. Not one single news organization even bothered to check the voting records of those running. Why?

District 30 Candidate posts snarky video about what Republicans think of Liberals

When I went to Bret Swanson’s website and saw he had an introduction video. I was expecting the same old boring kids, family, Noem’s plane crap, instead Bret took the opportunity to be a little sarcastic about the BS state Repugs spread about progressives;

My name is Bret Swanson, I am the radical left, here to takeaway your freedoms, every one of them. Please leave them on the table on the way out. I am pro-death and I want your guns, please leave them on the table on your way out.

If I lived in District 30 (Rapid City) this independent progressive would vote for Swanson twice (because you know, that’s what us liberals do best 🙂

Is the SD GOP turning into the Party of Domestic Terrorism?

Nothing should surprise us anymore in the world of Trumplicanism. Just look reich here in Sioux Falls where we have city funded theocracy in our government, anywhere from snowplows to Sunday school classes (youth council).

But this past week we had a few eye openers when we found out members of our legislature were members of the Anti-Government group called the Oath Keepers, a right wing, militia, white nationalist, anti-government group. State legislators, Phil Jensen and Jim Stalzer have said very little about their involvement. But I will. Not only should they be removed from the legislature immediately, they should be sitting in Federal Prison for treason. It’s one thing to be upset that our tax dollars went to these obvious jackasses, it’s another thing to commit treason. Their membership was a violation of their oath they took while serving in the legislature. That is called treason, it doesn’t have any other definition.

Then there is the case of the AG Rumblestrips getting away with killing a man while playing with his phone, or the governor abusing her power when it comes to using state airplanes and helping her daughter pass a quiz (heard she flunked numerous times).

Oh, then we had this fantastic event at the SD State Fair where the opposing party, Fair security, the local police and the sheriff’s office refused to intervene on these terrorist like acts;

This year, pro-Trump idiots repeatedly invaded the South Dakota Democratic Party Building. They harassed and swore at volunteers, destroyed campaign material and tried to record and harass Democrats who were simply seeking to communicate with fellow South Dakotans.

I think we are beyond the ‘Basket of Deplorables’ at this point. Let’s call a spade a spade. This is an act of domestic terrorism being disguised as partisan politics and enabled by the kook bird krazies called the SD Republican Party.

Why aren’t party leaders denouncing this? Maybe because the party leader Iowa Dan is too busy trying to help his Iowan business buddies run a muck pipeline through our state.

How can we stop this madness? Stop electing these clowns would be the first step. But with the ones that still remain, we need to bring charges, arrest them and prosecute them. This is not just political bullying, these acts violate local, state and federal laws, punishable by fines, resignation and jail time.

While I tend to be a turn the other cheek when it comes to the violent nature of these ass clowns, we can fight them with FREE speech. Talk to your friends about how the SD GOP has become the party of domestic terrorism, and be genuine and very vocal about it. Let’s stop treating this like a partisan FB and Twitter fight and call it what it really is. Maybe voters who actually believe in peace and justice will step up and throw them to the curb. We can’t sustain 50 more years of this Authoritarian Fascist state in South Dakota. Something has got to give.

Is SD GOP Chair Dan Lederman pushing for a Carbon Pipeline across South Dakota?

Besides the fact that he seems to be lobbying for the State of Iowa at the detriment of South Dakotans, why is he presenting this to the Minnehaha CC?

REGULAR BUSINESS:
10) Briefing on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline – Dan Lederman

A MC Commissioner I talked with has NO idea what Iowa Dan will be presenting, but he has a pretty good guess;

Summit Carbon Solutions, the Alden company owned by Bruce Rastetter’s Summit Agricultural Group, proposes building a 710-mile underground pipeline that would extend into or through 30 of the state’s 99 counties.

Summit plans to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol and other industrial agricultural plants before they’re released into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The company will compress the emissions into a liquid so it can be transported to North Dakota, where it will be injected in underground rock formations for permanent storage.

So how do you get this crud to North Dakota? Well, you would most likely have to build a pipeline from Iowa through South Dakota. Bring in Iowa Dan.

The company says it has agreements to sequester carbon emissions from 31 Midwestern ethanol plants. In addition to Iowa â€” the nation’s largest producer of ethanol â€” Summit Carbon plans to run the pipeline into Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

While some would argue this is a great idea I have an even better one, stop using fossil fuels and ethanol and invest in clean energy. The technology already exists where you could run most if not all autos, trucks, semis and trains on electric and they are working on the technology for airplanes also. The electricity could come from investing in wind, solar, hydro and even nuclear energy. We don’t need to make more bio fuels which I have argued takes food out of hungry mouths and doesn’t produce enough return on energy. Ethanol is a big scam, always has been.

But I still wonder why the Chair of the SD GOP is promoting an Iowa business that is interested in running a hazardous waste pipeline through our state. I have argued for a long time that South Dakota Republican lawmakers are consistently working against the interests of hard working residents and baffled why they keep getting elected and now the leader of that party in South Dakota is proving that once again.