Why Leave South Dakota #9

South Dakota not among states taking action against Russia

Two prominent Republican governors, Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, who are widely seen as angling for a White House bid, mostly took aim at President Joe Biden rather than issuing executive orders targeting Russia. They criticized his energy policies and said that had made it difficult to slap sanctions on Russia's exports of oil and gas. Noem made her comments last weekend at the CPAC convention in Orlando, Florida.

Of course the report comes from yet another out of state trip on our state airplane promoting her national political prospects.

In contrast, even TEXAS recognizes that at least symbolic action is warranted:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, posted on Twitter over the weekend that he has asked restaurants and retailers “ to voluntarily remove all Russian products from their shelves.”

Of course South Dakota's massive secret trust industry may have a lot of Russian oligarch trust money, so maybe that's part of reason for the lack of action.

Why leave South Dakota #8

Wouldn't it be nice to have a state government that isn't so incompetent that they spend a huge amount of money for an absolutely pathetic digital assistant for the state's web page. Think of the actual web content $1.6 M could have bought to get what we need from the state. Digital assistants are a 1990s idea that has never worked - remember Clippy?

Don’t Shoot Fez, the 1.6-Million-Dollar Robot Pheasant—He’s from the Government, and He’s Here to Help  (Dakota Free Press 2022-02-20)

Of course like the nationally mocked Meth-We're On It campaign, this work was done by an out of state operation whose owners no doubt are being courted for a hefty Noem 2024 contribution. They certainly weren't picked for their superior technology ideas.

Searching for another state where the government operates with more ... minimal competence.

(graphic captured from sd.gov from Dakota Free Press)

Why leave South Dakota #7

It's not so much Noem herself, amhorrent as she is, but the strong support she enjoys in our state. So much hate in this state.

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who just signed the first anti-trans bill of 2022 into law, is asked why she thinks 90% of LGBTQ+ youth in South Dakota are diagnosed with anxiety or depression:

“I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.” pic.twitter.com/WbKr2Tlujs

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 17, 2022

Why leave South Dakota? #6

On Monday, the Governor again displayed her LGBTQ+ hate, on Equality Day in Pierre. 

My dear spouse and I were involved in the formation of Equality South Dakota after the same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment (barely) passed in 2006. After years of activism and hard work, there is a lot more support in the community (now even Pierre, Watertown has an active equality support group now, it's not just Sioux Falls and Rapid City). However, it seems the anti-equality rhetoric in South Dakota even worse (as if it could be) since we started.

If you are still here, please support Equality South Dakota, Black Hills Center for Equality, Sioux Falls Pride, and other groups that continue to fight this fight.

Why leave South Dakota? #5

Florence Thompson (and her friends in the Legislature).  Another stupid piece of legislation that has no meaning outside of the right-wing echo chamber.  Again, let's threaten teachers and continue to pay them 50th in the Nation, giving them reason to leave South Dakota.

Why leave South Dakota? #4

 

On the docket today in House Education today.  It's looking like both these outrageously stupid bills are headed to the floor on party line votes (13 R, 2 D):

From today's testimony:

Apparently our new Rapid City neighbor Carolyn has come here so she can get personal veto power over school library books she doesn't like.  Or convince the Legislature to outlaw them!

People like Carolyn exist elsewhere, but it seems these days that in South Dakota they are the people running things.  

With many more Carolyns are coming here, perhaps it is a good time to leave.

Carolyn Heffler (sp?) from Rapid City says she moved here from California. Points to a BLM book "Anger is a Gift" that promoted cop-bashing, social Marxism, etc she says. Librarian recommends the book & books on LGBTQ+ topics. Numerous books show cops as racist murderers.

— Morgan Matzen (@bymorganmatzen) February 9, 2022

Why leave South Dakota? #3

CNN article (Omicron may be on the decline, but this South Dakota hospital is still feeling its peak) - the pandemic of the unvaccinated is in full speed ahead here. Two reasons: 1) lower vax rate and 2) no COVID safety policies, anywhere (to be fair, there are recommendations, but they are largely ignored).

I looked up a county in western Washington State for comparison and these were the vaccination numbers as of 2/8, which for sure is translating into less illness and death, since the hospital cases are more than 95% unvaccinated people.  The 10-15% differences are quite significant. And, let's not forget, here in South Dakota (unlike there) people are acting like there is no pandemic. I am usually one of a few (2 or 3) people masked in my college classroom or in the grocery store.

(Data from the COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker)

Why leave South Dakota? #2

In 2020, the South Dakota Legislature killed my right to be represented by SDEA (COHE). This means low pay, and no representation when pay, benefits, and policies are set. Also, if something goes bad, each University has appointed an "ombudsman" to represent us, so the state will represent me against the state. That would go my way for sure!

And now, they are going after the K-12 SDEA with HB1216, which was withdrawn, but no guarantee it wont' be smoked out again this session.

My position is current being flown at my university and we have only five (yes five) applications for a nationwide search. (For an academic position, that's pretty paltry!)  Wonder why.

Why Leave South Dakota? #1

I live an an urban Rapid City district but starting Nov 2022 I will most likely be represented by the Family Heritage Alliance favorite Phil Jensen in the new District 33.

Over the years I have (sometimes successfully) lobbied my reps on various issues, but I can be certain my engagement with my new state reps will be about as useful as my recent one-way discussions with my school board representative. (She has never responded to me, even once.)

Another letter to my school board member, Deb Baker

Subject: Anti-health resolution

Dear Ms. Baker,

I strongly urge you to vote down the resolution reported on by the RCJ today that is proposed to disallow any COVID testing or vaccination on school grounds. It's bad for our community's health, bad for our teachers, bad for our community in general as it promotes false information, scaring people away from a life saving vaccine, in apparently another attempt to shout "let's go Brandon" to make more cheap political points. NOT the job of our school board.

Even the contention that health care and family health support should not happen our schools is ludicrous. Public health has always been one of reasons we have public schools serving our community in the first place, and to think otherwise is, well, basically ignorant.

It's not a good look and this school board continues to disappoint this community, frankly, it makes us look like a bunch of yahoos.

Curtis Price
Rapid City (Area 1)

Letter to my school board member, Deb Baker

Subject: Grandview closing

Dear Ms. Baker,

The need to close Grandview is directly related to the RCAS Board's refusal to implement basic safety measures in our schools. Yes, children are generally safer from negative effects from this infection, but our school teachers, admins and staff, and the student's families have been put at great risk. Many of those parents are now in quarantine and cannot earn a living, thanks to the Board's irresponsible actions.

The entire medical establishment of Rapid City pleaded with you and you ignored them for political reasons. This is the result of the Board's actions -- this is on your watch.

Please change course, and do your job instead of pushing the political agendas dictated from others.

Curtis Price (Area 1 resident)

Rapid City, SD

A letter to my school board members

Subject: Dear Ms Baker and other RCAS board members,

I am disheartened to read the proposed changes to RCAS board by-laws to remove first and second requirements for RCAS board action. These changes would eliminate public comment and discussion with the board before substantive board action is taken.

This change would reduce transparency and accountability of our school board -- the opposite of what the current majority ran on. This move would be a bad example for our students and for our community in general. Elections have consequences, but they are not a license to govern by fiat.

These existing rules limit government bodies from making hasty (and bad) decisions. without public accountability.  I would think limiting the board's power would be the conservative position! 

Please do not approve these changes. If anything, in the future you may deeply regret it when a school board with opinions you disagree with is elected.

Thank you for your service to Rapid City.

Curtis Price
Rapid City Area 1 

Letter to my school board member, Deb Baker

Dear Ms Baker and other RCAS board members,

Cases are rising, many of our staff are out sick and covid-isolated in numbers that never happened in the worst of last winter. We need mask mandates and we need them now. This is not a political issue, it's about our kids' ability to be educated and for their families to stay healthy and safe this year.

The time for politics on this is over, medical people that study these things (ie not sports medicine doctors), and my lived experience at Mines last winter tell us that mask mandates work to slow down this disease. Please we are begging you, please respond to the facts on the ground and support a mask mandate for a few weeks, before things get even worse.

Thank you for your service to Rapid City.

Curtis Price

Rapid City Area 1

Yes it is hard. But, you are not the only one noticing.

A dear friend who I so miss, used to have a bumper sticker on her wheelchair:

If you aren't outraged you are not paying attention.

Someone on facebook in a private group I belong to just posted today:

Terrified they will steal the election. Outraged at the complicity of our MOC’s. Enraged at the idiocy of our governor. Feels like I am drowning. I just want to breathe again.

Yes these are hard times. But people of good will are doing things. I have hope.

Speaking of outrage, seeing the post office back away from removing neighborhood post offices and the outrage at the Great Mail Slowdown this week has been encouraging. This is something almost all Americans agree on, and this weekend is a GREAT time to call your Reps and Senators and absolutely FLOOD them with our outrage about the US Mail situation. We depend on the mail for business, medicine, and of course democracy (which is why it is in the Constitution!). 

Call your reps:  (202) 224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard), flood their local offices with phone calls and messages. Make noise about this.

And of course get set up to vote, and vote early.

Suit up!

In God We Trust, Not So Much the South Dakota Legislature

I am just furious with our provincial, back-woods prairie Legislature forcing "In God We Trust" to be posted in our our schools, for no purpose except to make smug "christians" feel good about their "serving" in Pierre.

One of the proponents of this nonsense said on Facebook today (it's so stupid I chose not to insert his name here, too embarrassing to his wife):

As a country that was founded on Christian values, I do not find a problem with putting “ In God We Trust” in public schools.
That to me is a long way from the state sanctioning a religion.
In my conservative[sic] opinion

Mrs. Radical responded, reminding me why I decided to cast my lot with her with no reservations almost twenty years ago. 

Wow . What you don't know about history is a lot. Depending on who you ask, there were 7-10 founding fathers. For the sake of argument, let's say there were 10. Of those 10: 

1. George Washington. In his letter to the Touro Synagogue, he assured American Jews that their religious liberty was as important as anyone else's, and outlined a vision of a multi-faith society.

2. John Adams rejected belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, core concepts of Christianity. In his famous Treaty of Tripoli, he states, "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion….”

3. Thomas Jefferson did not believe in the Trinity, the virgin birth, the divinity of Jesus, the resurrection, original sin and other core Christian doctrines. He refused to issue proclamations calling for days of prayer and fasting, saying that such religious duties were no part of the chief executive’s job. His assertion that the First Amendment erects a “wall of separation between church and state” still rankles the Religious Right today.

4. James Madison was perhaps the strictest church-state separationist among the founders. One of the authors of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, also opposed government-issued prayer proclamations.

5. Thomas Paine was a radical deist who attacked institutionalized religion and all of the major tenets of Christianity. He rejected prophecies and miracles and called on readers of his work, the Age of Reason, to embrace, well, reason.

So, tell me again how our country was founded on Christian values?

And yes, the "in God we trust" and "under God" baloney was added in the mid 1900s in direct response to the United States freaking out over Communism. Had NOTHING to do with the founding of this country.

Voter Guide Fall 2018

Robbinsdale Radical Voter Guide Fall 2018

Hi everyone, time to push the needle away from disaster. The ballots are posted, early voting has started and we're off the races. So let's start.

Register to Vote

Don't assume anything here, who knows what's been happening to our registration records. Here are the links that you should check right now:

• Register To Vote (details) (form)
• Check existing registration using the SD SOS VIP 
• Once the site identifies you, it tells you where to vote and gives you a link to download a sample ballot (Know Before You Go!) AWESOME

Vote Party Line

That's right. More than 30 years of Republican control has led to the formation of a Pierre Political Class that has absolutely no accountability (or, apparently, shame). Do you want to do something about back room deals, sexual harassment, and a commitment to closed caucuses, political grandstanding, and gerrymandering? IM22 did you no good. The solution is to vote Democratic and cut into the one-party stranglehold on our state government!

(And, about our US House vote, even if you have issues with Tim Bjorkman's forced-birth beliefs, we need a Dem-led House Oversight committee to stop the madness. Now.

Here's the Dem slate for Robbinsdale voters:

US House: Tim Bjorkman
Governor: Billie Sutton, Michell Lavalee
Sec of State: Alexandra Frederick
Attorney General: Randy Seiler
State Auditor: Tom Cool
State Treasurer: Aaron Matson
Comm of School & Public Lands: Woody Houser
Public Util Commission: Wayne Frederick
State Senate 32: Ayla Rodriguez
State House 32: Susan Kelts, Bill Knight (Sue is my awesome neighbor!)

Honestly I am tempted to vote for my friend Scyller Borglum who is running for 32 House, if I wasn't so disgusted with the closed caucuses and insider trading that goes on in Pierre. (Sorry Scyller, it's definitely not you, it's your Republican colleagues. Every seat taken away from the Pierre Permanent Majority makes South Dakota air that much cleaner.)

Vote for the Good Guys

There are a few non partisan elections.

• This is my favorite, my neighbor Dan Driscoll is running for West River Water Dev District board against the Wingnut caucus - his opponent is one of the people that ran for this board just so they could torch it, their main reason for being there is so they can brag about how much they hate government while sitting in a government-paid chair. Very funny. Please vote for Dan Driscoll to stop this craziness.
• Supreme Court Judge Janine Kern is up for voter confirmation. As much as I hate voting for judges I have heard many good things about Justice Kern over the years so I will vote yes.

Avoid messing up our Constitution Yet Again

• Amendment W is just a mess. Although it means well, trying to limit the damage political contributions, it doesn't address the root of the problem in South Dakota: lack of transparency. Also in a post-Citizens United world, it (like its sibling IM 24) will never be enforced because of constitutional issues, since money is speech these days. No
• Amendment X is yet another paternalistic attempt by the Legislature to make it harder for the voters to change the constitution, for no good reason. Let the people vote. Just No
• Amendment Z is another vague attempt to disenfranchise us by opening future amendments to legal challenges on what ground that will boil down to parsing of sentences to see what qualifies as a single issue.  Complex amendments should be evaluated on their merits by the voters, not the SOS's sentence diagramming skills. (Or in the case of Amendment W, their lack of merit!) Hell No.
• Initiated Measure 24 is an attempt to stop out of state interests from pouring money into South Dakota elections. The only solution here is at the Federal level, overturning Citizen's United (like that's gonna happen).  IM 24 is blatantly unconstitutional and will cost us a bundle defending a law that will never be enforceable. No No No.
• Initiated Measure 25 is an addition cigarette tax and yet another tax on the disenfranchised low income residents of South Dakota. Just put it out.

Go vote!

• Just do it, the sooner the better. Voting is open now at the County Courthouse weekdays.

We have a race for District 32 House!

Here we are! Be sure you register to vote by May 15!

How big is that Alex Johnson Starbucks sign anyway?

Okay, first, here is the artist rendition the Historical Society approved (thanks RCJ):


I took a picture today and cropped the above picture for easy comparison:

Scaling these pictures above:

AJ sign on left : ~65 pixels

AJ sign on right:  ~70 pixels

Starbucks sign as advertised to commission: ~18 pixels

As build after approval: ~37 pixels

Width difference = 70/65 * 18  / 37 =  1.91

Area difference ( pi * (1.91 / 2)^2  /  pi * (1 / 2)^2  = 3.65

I think area is the more important quantity here as it defaces the historical building that much.

So the AJ lied to the historical society more than 350%. Clearly they don't believe they need to follow the rules like everyone else.

And it's REALLY ugly.

Which way on Initiated Measure 17?

I've been pondering Initiated Measure 17, (see Ballotpedia.org summary) which we have to vote on in a few weeks.

The law asks the question whether we want to continue to allow insurance companies to charge more for "out-of-network" care than "in-network" care. I finally found an article that helped me think about it. This article talks about how it is done in New York. In that state, like here, they leave it up to the insurance companies.

Surprisingly, they insurance companies have shown that they prefer closed networks. Why?

The Medical Society’s Mo Auster said that the idea that insurance companies and individual doctors engage in a genuine negotiation — whether concerning fees or medical decisions — is a fiction. Since the insurer’s terms are “pretty much ‘take it or leave it,’” he said, a doctor’s only influence over the process was his or her ability to run a practice without signing up with a network. “The extent to which that ability is minimized,” Auster said, “further enhances the negotiating leverage of the health insurance company to basically take the clinical control away form the doctor.” (Out-of-network coverage in New York? We left it up to the insurers, Remapping The Debate (10/30/2013)  (emphasis mine)

This argument is pretty strong:

If you want medical decisions to be just a little more tilted toward insurance company's bottom line instead of the best care for you and your kid, vote no on IM17.

I know there's balance, if the business end of healthcare doesn't work, everyone's care suffers. But I've been reading both sides on this one, and have been a participant in our health-care "system"... and my research and my experience lead me to believe that patients and doctors both are getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop on this one.

And insurers and big hospitals seem to be doing overt well on Main Street and Wall Street.

This isn't as radical an idea as it sounds. If IM17 passes, insurers won't be required to include everyone in their network, the insurers just can't deny providers the opportunity to join the network as long as they agree to meet the insurer's requirements. Today, it's invitation only, like joining a fraternity - I think it make sense to open up the process just a little bit.

I'm voting yes on IM17.

Government Shutdown Day Three

Today begins the third (full) day of lockout for me; with a nasty blizzard to match my mood.

I am one of the more than 8,500 proud Federal public servants who live and work in our fine state.

My office in Rapid City, which hosts some 35 Federal scientists and support staff that study and protect natural resources across the State is shuttered. I am not allowed to visit my desk, or even power up my GFE ("government-furnished equipment"), that is, my work laptop, until a continuing resolution is passed and signed.

It was encouraging to see even the South Dakota liberal media see this "defiance" from Republicans in Congress for what it is: a tantrum held in opposition to the legislative process.

To make things worse, given the current appetite for austerity (despite that the deficit is dramatically dropping every year), it seems unlikely we will be paid for our forced unemployment.

Hey, I'm a smart guy, why can't I just get a real job?

• I do have a real job. The Speaker of the U.S. House is keeping me from it by not allowing an up or down vote on a clean continuing resolution. Is this that complicated?
• It's not our fault our income has been taken away.
• We are left with very limited ways to replace that income during a shutdown.
  • We are prevented by ethics rules from taking outside employment related to our Federal jobs. There are exceptions, but they have to be approved by our supervisors and the agency Ethics Office, which, you guessed it, are locked of their offices as well.
  • Even if it were allowed, who is going to hire me for said skilled job when I could be called back at any time, when the moment finally comes when the Speaker of the US House of Representatives decides to, uh, allow an up or down vote on a clean continuing resolution?
• The cumulative economic hit from about one percent of South Dakota's population having their income (and spending) is big. It's even worse in other states.
• Lastly, I have been fortunate to be able to do some side work (unrelated to my Fed job of course), but of course at a small fraction of my regular pay. It's not enough to meet my expenses.

Whether our pay is docked or not, this shutdown is very bad for America, South Dakota, and Robbinsdale. You can bet this level of uncertainty is docking my household spending and that of the many other Feds in our fair city -- the ripple effects in our local South Dakota economies are going to hit Main Street hard here.

Oh, but it will be the President's fault because uh, freedom.

What happened to Republicans that promised simple up or down votes? They seem to have checked their brains, and their sense of fairness, at the door.

Yesterday, in the aftermath of the Mall security scare, the WaPo editorial board really laid it out well:

“We all owe the Capitol Police a debt of gratitude for their work every day; no finer examples of professionalism & bravery,” tweeted House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). That’s true. But Mr. Boehner owes them, and the rest of the federal workforce, more than a 140-character message of thanks. He owes them a paycheck; he owes them a budget; he owes them an apology.