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199 Early Votes in Brown County; Will Trump-Stained Republicans Stay Home?

When I cast my vote in the Democratic Presidential primary at the Brown County courthouse yesterday during lunch, I was the 199th early voter in Brown County and the 84th Democrat since early voting opened on April 22. Coincidentally, of the 115 early Republican voters, 84 had cast votes in the District 3 House Republican primary.

Trump Kaiser Dennert Kolden
Which of you guys want to be Trump’s ticketmate?

Now that Ted Cruz and John Kasich have surrendered their party to the brownshirts, I wonder if the new irrelevance of the remaining Presidential primaries will depress turnout for District 3’s down-ticket race among Rep. Dan Kaiser, Drew Dennert, and Todd Kolden for the two State House spots available for the Republicans on the general election ballot. Those who would have shown up for the Presidential battle would have been a mix of Trump fascists and Cruz fundamentalists, neither of whom would bode well for moderate school board member Kolden‘s chances. Perhaps with the battle between the crazies settled, the Trumpists and Cruzers will stay home, and Kolden’s green signers will make up a larger chunk of the remaining turnout.

But I would ask Todd, Dan, and Drew: do any of you really want to be on the same ticket as Donald J. Trump? Are you ready to stand on a stage with Nikki Bootz and Brooks Briscoe and explain to voters why anyone should vote for the Trumpist Party for anything?

If Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders comes to Aberdeen and invites me up on stage to endorse my candidacy for State Senate, I will leap at the opportunity. I will stand with and say a few words for my party’s Presidential nominee, and I’ll be able to say a lot more, with integrity, than, “Well, at least Hillary/Bernie isn’t the other guy.” How about you, Todd, Drew, and Dan? And how about you, Al Novstrup, my friendly opponent for the Senate seat? What say you about your party, the party that picks Donald Trump as the best man for President of the United States? Do you have enough confidence left in your party to check “R” on your ballots? Or will you run from the Trumpist brand?

South Dakota Republicans, I still want you to come vote. We have plenty of ballot measures that require everyone’s input. As for candidates, well, maybe you can do some penance, restore some cosmic balance, and vote for members of the party that has not nominated a fascist reality-TV star for President. Here, try on some of these positive South Dakota values as an antidote to your Washington disaster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU4SSf3YCfw

But if voting for Paula Hawks and other good Democrats is just too bitter a medicine to take, here are some other ways you Republican voters can preserve your integrity:

  1. Leave Republican candidate slots blank on your ballot.
  2. Boycott the state and national Republican conventions.
  3. If you have to go to the Republican National Convention, submit your convention votes silently, by paper, then catch a flight out of Cleveland before Donald Trump speaks and accepts your nomination.
  4. Put a Donald Trump sign in your yard, but drape a black sheet over it.
  5. Go to the courthouse today and change your registration to Independent, since the Republican-Trumpist Party clearly no longer stands for your values.
  6. Call your local Libertarian Party and see what you can do for their Presidential candidate.
  7. Turn off cable news and read Dakota Free Press instead.

2016 is an awful year to be a Republican. Don’t give up on democracy, my Republican friends, but look for ways to make democracy work better next time.

69 Comments

  1. bret clanton 2016-05-04 13:59

    Congratulations CAH I believe you just insulted every Republican in the state… But I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I would almost guess you are going to need a few R votes in the fall….

  2. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 14:10

    I very much like that #4 :)
    (Not a Republican, but read it anyway. I live in Brown County, always have, but suddenly, thanks to Republican gerrymandering, I’m represented by three Republicans I never heard of who live down by Lake Norden (how many miles is that from Aberdeen?) Their Republican anti-progressive extremism is something I cannot tolerate. I have grown so disappointed in SD’s all-red/all-the-time legislature, I can’t begin to tell you. Rant over. For now.

  3. Wayne B. 2016-05-04 15:14

    I think I’m in agreement with Mr. Clanton.

    Actually, since we cannot count on Trump to make it to the White House, there’s every reason not to oust our congressional delegation. What Republican in their right mind would try to hand over both the House and Senate while simultaneously losing the White House?

    If we can maintain control of one body of Congress (preferably Senate), we can ensure moderate policies for the next 4 years… or no policy change.

    Either is preferable to me.

    I’m going to be pretty blunt here, but I’m pretty sick of what I’m hearing coming out of HRC’s mouth.

    You liberals seem to think my family is rich and therefore should pay heaps more for all sorts of things, leaving us wondering how the heck we’ll be able to save to pay for college for our kids, save enough for retirement not to rely on Social Security, etc. I’d much rather have that extra $6,700 Trump’s tax plan would put back in our household budget; then we could actually save for college without desperately relying on the stock market not to fail at a critical juncture.

    And to throw insult onto injury, you’re always talking about restricting our freedoms because of your fear of people who don’t think like you.

    I hear a lot about how Republicans are the party of no, but it’s not as if we’re the only side who’s grown more insular (http://b-i.forbesimg.com/ericaswallow/files/2013/11/4kDokyz.jpg).

    I hear a lot about how Republicans are bigots, but then I hear all sorts of hateful intolerance; people being called derogatory names like ammosexuals, brownshirts (Godwyn’s law anyone? It’s not as though every Trump supporter is a Nazi for crying out loud!), etc.

    I don’t think either party has much moral ground on which to stand.

    I’m voting for Cthulhu!

  4. 96Tears 2016-05-04 15:18

    Maybe Jonathan Ellis at Sanford Leader can ask three hard question based on Donald Trump’s expressed campaign promises to these very establishment Republicans of South Dakota, starting with the governor and his wife:

    1. Yes or no, do you support Donald Trump for President of the United States?

    2. Yes or no, do you support Trump’s frequently expressed promise to build a huge wall between the United States and Mexico? Remember, in Donald’s words it’s taller than the arenas where Trump holds his rallies, taller than any ladder and one foot taller than the Great Wall of China. This “artistically beautiful” wall will be constructed out of hardened concrete, rebar and steel, and it will be “the greatest wall that you’ve ever seen” — so great that the nation will likely one day name it “The Trump Wall.”

    3. Yes or no, do you support a temporary ban most foreign Muslims from entering the United States “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on?”

    This won’t hurt a bit. It will tell us once and for all if you are a true Republican or just another yellow belly RINO. Here’s the list. And “maybe” is just a chicksh-t way of saying no. And if the answer is no or maybe or no answer, then maybe the undeserving RINO delegates need to step aside and let some eager brown shirters take their place at the über Convention.

    DELEGATES: Pam Roberts (State Party Chair), Dana Randall (National Committeeman), Sandye Kading (National Committeewoman), Anne Beal, Jim Bolin, Matt Bruner, Char Cornelius, Dennis Daugaard, Linda Daugaard, Lynne DiSanto, Jason Glodt, Bob Gray, Dan Hargreaves, Steve Haugaard, Phil Jensen, Isaac Latterell, John Meyer, Roger Meyer, Nancy Neff, David Omdahl, Lance Russell, John Teupel, Florence Thompson, Judy Trzynka, Allen Unruh, Mike Vehle, Dick Werner, David Wheeler and Hal Wick.

    ALTERNATES: Jason Ravnsborg, Peggy Schoon, Lana Greenfield, Mark Kroontje, Don Greenfield, Peter Burkett, Doug Post, Debra Elliott, William Beal, Joshua Klumb, Karen Mondillo, Marilyn Wiese, Judy Jelbert, Betty Wyatt, Kevin Nelson, Rick Vallery, Linn Hendrickson, Beau Byrd, Wayne Bierman, Karin Mueller, E. Steeves Smith, Eric Stroeder, Ron Schreiner, Kurt Wolf, Wanda Howey-Fox and Dave Gillespie.

    While he’s at it, Ellis can ask the same questions of all three congressional members representing their political party in the U.S. Congress. I wonder if they and Daugaard will stand with their national party’s standard bearer when he holds a rally in South Dakota or run and hide.

  5. 96Tears 2016-05-04 15:29

    Wayne and Bret, sorry for your loss. Having D. Trump on the ticket, a proud fascist and racist, must be hard to swallow.

  6. bret clanton 2016-05-04 15:47

    96 tears I could care less about the Donald… My point is CAH is running for office and he cannot afford to be alienating any voters….

  7. mike from iowa 2016-05-04 15:57

    Congratulations CAH I believe you just insulted every Republican in the state…

    That’s a bad thing? How does one praise corrupt cronies? Give them more guns?

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 16:14

    Bret, Wayne, please clarify: how have I committed an insult against the party that is nominating Donald Trump for President? I’m actually reaching out to rational South Dakota Republicans and offering them positive actions they can take to wash away the shame their party is suffering at Trump’s hostile takeover of the Grand Old Party.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 16:16

    Robin, I understand your gerrymandered angst. We do have a Democrat, John Graham, running in District 2—vote for him, and come knock on doors for me in the rest of town! If you’d like a Heidelberger for Senate t-shirt, let me know. :-)

  10. Roger Cornelius 2016-05-04 16:22

    Bret Clanton seems to believe that it is excusable for Donald Trump to alienate women and minority voters, it is not okay to alienate South Dakota voters.

    With Cruz dropping out of the race last night and Kasich dropping out today, South Dakota Trump supporters don’t matter one bit, the deal is done, Trump is your nominee.

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 16:26

    Wayne, you’re projecting. We liberals aren’t asking for deportation and immigration embargoes against entire classes of people. We aren’t preaching fascism (please, disagreement on policy does not rise to the level of hate and bullying practiced by Trump). We liberals aren’t riding a wave of white supremacist anger. There’s no real comparison between Trump and Clinton in those regards.

    Plus, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both qualified to be President. Donald Trump is not, by temperament, character, or experience. Donald Trump is perhaps the least qualified of all the GOP candidates who took a swing at the nomination with the exception of Ben Carson. Governor Jeb Bush, Governor John Kasich, Senator Lindsey Graham, Governor Chris Christie, Governor Bobby Jindal… there’s plenty to not like about those guys, but they have all won elections and have all demonstrated they can govern. To throw over all of those qualified candidates and others in favor of Donald Trump is a massive failure of the GOP primary process.

    Columnist Cal Thomas this week is trying to blame the rise of Trump on us liberals. Horsehockey. Trumpism is not on us any more than Nazism is on the Kaiser or the Weimar Republic. You are free to dislike liberal policies. You are free to dislike Hillary Clinton. But you still have an obligation to respond to that dislike by nominating an individual fit to be President, not Donald Trump.

  12. mose11 2016-05-04 17:14

    Do you think he will take photo opp for his running mate.

  13. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 17:15

    Yes, 96, it is time for the press to use its access to top Republicans to ask those serious questions. This isn’t just campaign baseball now; it is a valid investigation of Republican support for their Presidential nominee.

  14. mose11 2016-05-04 17:16

    Paula strike harder.

  15. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 17:25

    Bret, you are right: as a candidate, I should try not to alienate voters. But that should not stop me from speaking important truths. If I have a choice between saying “The GOP has committed a grave error in nominating Donald Trump” and hanging onto votes from Republicans who would take umbrage at that statement, I will choose the latter every time.

    Oops—looks like I’ve already made that choice, on the record. So be it.

    Hmmm… in past elections, when South Dakota Republicans coattail-smeared South Dakota Democrats by vilifying Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Franken, did they unwisely insult every Democrat in the state?

  16. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 17:28

    Mose, I’m very curious to see what Republican will be craven or blindly climbing enough to accept Trump’s offer of the VP seat. Isn’t accepting the VP slot political suicide?

  17. mike from iowa 2016-05-04 17:38

    The next time Cal Thomas is right about something will be the first time he has been right about anything. Thomas is another longtime Clinton hater.

  18. 96Tears 2016-05-04 17:47

    Is the presidential nominee required to take a vice president? What happens if Trump says he will not accept a running mate? “If something bad happens while I am in office, I will let the constitution select my replacement as President, which is the Speaker of the House. I want this election to be about whether the nation wants me to run this country and not be distracted with who is running with me.”

    That might be a provocative twist.

  19. 96Tears 2016-05-04 17:55

    Racketeer Mike Rounds supports D. Trump. Don Jorgenson didn’t push hard questions at Rounds, too soft, like whether Rounds supports a wall on our entire southern border that’s one foot taller than the Great Wall of China.

    Rounds said he had met Trump and that Trump had questions about our state’s economy. Hmmmm. The topic must’ve been how to get rich quick grafting from EB-5 investments. Mike’s an expert on that and evading arrest for fraud.

    http://www.keloland.com/news/article/politics/senator-rounds-supports-donald-trump

  20. Kurt Evans 2016-05-04 18:40

    During the very first GOP debate last August, Rand Paul went hard on the attack against Donald Trump and Chris Christie, and the rest of the field left him twisting in the wind.

    The Republican establishment, including John Thune, had already created the impression that Rand’s filibusters in the Senate were just as phony and ego-driven as Cruz’s, which ultimately enabled Cruz to kill off Rand in Iowa, Christie to kill off Rubio in New Hampshire, and Donald Trump to kill off the GOP pretty much everywhere else. The establishment is reaping what it’s sown. Unfortunately the Reagan liberty wing is also reaping what the establishment has sown.

    In this new, upside-down political world, pro-life and pro-liberty evangelical Christians like me have been abandoned to kneel in the wasteland and pray that Hillary Clinton doesn’t get indicted. The Libertarian Party will probably have a good year, but that will be little consolation when five Supreme Court justices think the Constitution means whatever they say it means.

    It seems like God’s infatuation with America has finally worn off.

  21. grudznick 2016-05-04 18:57

    Mr. H, you are righter than right that your opponent Mr. Al Novstrup is a very friendly fellow. Everybody loves Al.

    I have an idea. Whenever you are on a stage or talking in public and you see a Trump sign or even just some Republican sign you should point to it, hold your nose, and laugh and laugh and laugh. People will love it.

  22. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 19:03

    yes, Cory, I looked him up on the web site you recommended and I will be there voting for him. Thank you! I’m usually among the first voting but haven’t made it yet this year. Better go soon–I have this fantasy that I’m going to get there after voting for 50+ years and they’re going to say “who? Oh dear, we don’t seem to have you on our rolls!”

  23. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 19:06

    And yes, I would LOVE a Heidelberger t-shirt!

  24. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 19:16

    Trump will nominate some equally lunatic vp. Maybe Carly Fiorina. I heard she is available now.

  25. Robert McTaggart 2016-05-04 19:19

    No, for vp Trump will nominate…Donald Trump.

  26. mike from iowa 2016-05-04 19:20

    Maybe wingnuts can indict HRC for giving Bill a sponge bath when he was in the WH. I’m pretty sure that passes their threshhold for high crimes and misdemeanors (for Democrats only).

  27. grudznick 2016-05-04 19:22

    Send a medium for Mr. Howie and an XXL for grudznick to 640 E. St. Patrick Street, Rapid City.

  28. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 20:55

    Robin, yay for voting for John! Check your e-mail, and we’ll connect on that shirt. Who’s next?

  29. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 20:58

    (The empty Stampede? Come now, Grudz, try harder… and slim down. XL is the biggest I have.)

  30. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-04 21:15

    96, interesting scenario. Nothing in the Constitution compels a Presidential nominee to select a vice-presidential running mate. But Article 12 says the Electoral College shall cast separate votes for President and Vice-President. The Electoral College has to pick someone. If Trump names no running mate, they look at the other candidates. If no candidate gets a majority, the Senate picks from between the top two VP candidates. Trump could choose not to pick a VP, but if he won, the Electoral College or the Senate would pick one for him.

    But 96’s scenario won’t happen. Trump’s VP selection chair, Ben Carson, will pull a Cheney and select himself, after every other Republican turns him down.

    (I watched a few episodes of The Apprentice. I thought Trump was actually pretty good at evaluating his job candidates on TV. But now he hires Ben Carson?! What gives?)

  31. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 21:24

    Thanks, Cory. I live just southwest of Aberdeen (yes, I said west) and could certainly use someone as my rep. who lives closer to me than Hamlin county, and knows more about farming near Hayti and Estelline and has Aberdeen interests at heart, rather than Watertown’s. :) (Don’t think I’ll ever get over being p.o.-ed about that.

  32. grudznick 2016-05-04 21:26

    Mr. H, that address is Mr. Howie’s community thrift store and the mail get’s re-routed to him at his international headquarters. He will see that I get my shirt.

  33. Robert McTaggart 2016-05-04 21:32

    It would be a hoot if Trump picked Cruz for vp. How would that work?

  34. Robin Friday 2016-05-04 21:58

    Trump will select a vp candidate. He’s too ego-driven to not to be in control. I’m more worried about who he would nominate for SCOTUS. Carson? Seriously? Never have had any confidence in Trump. . .but Carson he trusts to head a project? Really?

  35. Wayne B. 2016-05-04 23:28

    Cory,

    Look, I’m all sorts of saddle sore that I don’t get to cast a vote in this primary that’s worth a damn. My offense from you is a pretty snarky list of things that look pretty darn patronizing, right as I’m reeling from losing all hope of a lesser evil getting to take the nomination.

    Simply put, I’m not a Trump fan.

    Odd as it sounds, I could be content with Sanders as president; he’s made it clear he’s not out to pass more knee-jerk gun control legislation. He’s certainly more presidential than Hillary, who had to lie about being under fire overseas for no good reason, and who apparently can’t figure out or surround herself with anyone smart enough to know it’s a bad idea to have your own private server for emails while acting within a sensitive position of the federal government (and can’t be hassled to have two phones!). If she can’t deal with that, how the heck can she deal with being the leader of our nation?

    Is it worse to vote for someone who came from money and isn’t ashamed of it, or to vote for someone who was “broke” leaving the White House, but now gets paid six figures each time she attends speaking engagements? Honestly, I don’t see either of them improving my lot in life.

    To the broader “projecting”:

    Liberals aren’t preaching fascism or white supremacy, that’s true. And it’s not as though more than a handful of people are saying Hitler was a really nice guy from the conservative side of the aisle, either.

    But liberals are demanding campuses be “safe spaces” from anyone who disagrees with their belief structures. Hell, they even attack liberal professors that don’t perfectly align with their beliefs. They protest conservatives who’ve been invited to speak. They sure as heck want to erode the second amendment. I hear a lot of talk now about anyone who’s ever sought help for any sort of mental illness shouldn’t get to ever own a gun. That doesn’t sit well with me.

    It’s not just policy disagreements; it certainly feels like an attack on a way of life. There’s a whole heckuva lot of intolerance coming from the left, couched in moral superiority. It’s the same garbage I see from MFA’s “wingnuts”. I’m friggin tired of it.

  36. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 07:43

    Patronizing? Wayne, in a normal election year, sure, my suggestions would sound like outlandish jerkery. But Donald Trump is so bad that my suggestions that Republicans boycott their convention and their nominee are actually the most moral course of action.

    If you think Sanders would be more Presidential, I’d welcome your party switch and a vote for Bernie in our primary. Even if he can’t get the nomination, Sanders is in the best position of any Democratic second-placer in recent history to go to convention and demand concessions and positive change from the frontrunner.

    By the way, I’m not demanding “safe spaces.” Does my comment section look like a “safe space”?

  37. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 07:51

    Wane B, care to explain why Clinton’s were broke coming out of the White House? Couldn’t have anything to do with all those false accusations about crimes that did not happen,but had to be defended against,now could it? You remember all those lies about Whitewater,travelgate, Vince Foster’s suicide, filegate and all those made up and paid for affairs Clinton supposedly had. Remember which WINGNUTS filed all those scurrilous charges and which Wingnuts stood behind the scenes financing the effort to destroy the Clintons? Besides earning outrageous speaking fees is capitalism at its finest-according to WINGNUTS!

  38. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 09:34

    No, Steve, I am not a brownshirt fascist, and I resent the false accusation.

  39. Wayne B. 2016-05-05 10:13

    Mike, they weren’t broke… not even close. They still had two very nice homes, speaking gigs lined up, and the whole nine yards. They’re just that out of touch with reality of what it’s like to be a working family. There was absolutely zero chance of them needing to sell their worldly possessions and live under a bridge somewhere. Wise up.

    Cory, I could switch party, but then I’d be a DINO. My brain isn’t a liberal brain.

    It’s pretty well accepted that Hillary and Trump have huge negative favorability ratings. Hillary is a weak candidate. The only saving grace she has is that Trump is so polarizing, he’s got about equal unfavorability.

    You, personally, Cory, may not be demanding safe spaces. But your ilk are. I don’t know if you listen to radiolab and the ted radio hour, but recently there as an illuminating article about how liberals are physiologically different from conservatives (brain wise). What was interesting to me, is conservatives could place themselves in the shoes of liberals pretty well; but liberals just couldn’t return the favor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs41JrnGaxc

  40. Don Coyote 2016-05-05 10:40

    re Trump VP choice:

    Oy! Seriously? This conversation jumps to the electoral college on the chance that Trump won’t pick a running mate? Seems you’ve forgotten the Republican Convention’s say in the matter. While deference is usually given to the Presidential nominee’s pick, the convention could decide on it’s own to select a candidate since the VP is nominated on a separate ballot. Extremely doubtful the convention wouldn’t act.

  41. Steve Sibson 2016-05-05 11:42

    So Cory, what do you base your denial on? Don’t you promote environment is above manhood mantra often?

  42. Bill Dithmer 2016-05-05 12:26

    It will be a Trump Christie ticket.

    The Blindman

  43. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 12:34

    Kurt, is it time for a Rand Paul/John Kasich third-party run?

  44. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 12:40

    Steve, I base my denial on the same basis on which I would reject someone calling me a schnooglefarb. I am not obliged to counter every random and meaningless word salad—or in this case, single word crouton—thrown at me. I am not a fascist. I believe in liberty and justice for all.

  45. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 12:43

    Come on, Wayne-wise up-

    In 2000, the couple had no more than $2 million in assets, but perhaps as much as $10 million in debt, according to Clinton’s financial disclosure documents she filed as a senator, available via the Center for Responsive Politics. That debt was legal fees, accrued over the course of Bill Clinton’s presidency as he battled investigations into the couple’s Whitewater investments and then, of course, Monica Lewinsky.

    Sure Bill pulled in $13 million in speaking fees in 2001,but they were broke coming out of the WH.

  46. Roger Cornelius 2016-05-05 12:43

    Yesterday Trump said he would appoint a political type as vice president. He had pick someone really good since he does not have a record of public service.
    The first name that comes to mind as a political type with a record of public service is the former governor of Alaska.

  47. Robert McTaggart 2016-05-05 12:49

    You mean Sean Parnell ;^) ?

  48. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 13:04

    Prof-you should see the mess Parnell and wingnuts have made of Alaska’s finances because they were in bed with Bug Awl. The state of Alaska is paying oil companies millions more than what they collect in tax revenues. Those poor, broke little unprofitable oil companies.

  49. Steve Sibson 2016-05-05 13:10

    “I believe in liberty and justice for all.”

    You can’t believe if the environment has more rights than all of us humans. Liberties are taking away based on ecological positions. Hitler’s fascism was based on Darwinism, which is a plank from your religion, and also Nietzsche (God is dead) which also fits your worldview. The “blood and soil” doctrine of Hitler also fits your environmental positions. I am not throwing words around. I am throwing stones at those who love in glass houses.

  50. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 13:11

    The Tundra Tart is working on becoming the newest Judge Judy. Apparently she has been hired to adjudicate cases on tv, which seems like a minor stretch for one who couldn’t follow the rules and so quit as guv of Alaska.

  51. Robert McTaggart 2016-05-05 13:32

    I am being facetious with choosing Parnell. Trump probably needs someone with gravitas, but whether he selects somebody like that is anyone’s guess.

    The issue that Alaska is struggling with now is their dependence on income from oil. Just like much of Appalachia is struggling because of the reliance upon coal. And for that matter Russia isn’t producing much of anything except oil. It’s hard to make a transition when you have been focusing on one thing for several decades.

  52. Roger Cornelius 2016-05-05 14:23

    Don’t you just hate it when Sibson learns a new word or phrase?

  53. leslie 2016-05-05 15:49

    SOME TYPICAL HEADLINES:

    1. WASHINGTON — Having Donald Trump lead the Republican ticket next fall is a boon to Democratic chances to retake the Senate, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday, vowing to do everything he could to make sure his party takes advantage.

    Democrats need to net four Senate seats to regain control of the Senate if they win the White House in November.

    Among them were contests for GOP-held seats in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Hampshire that already were expected to be hard-fought, but Reid also added Arizona, Missouri and Iowa to the mix. huffpo today

    2. George Mason’s faculty senate asks for delay on renaming law school for Scalia

    Faculty members raised concerns that $30 million in gifts to the law school this spring came with too many strings attached and undermined independent decision-making at the university.

    2. Justice Dept. Warns North Carolina Over Transgender Bill. By ERIC LICHTBLAU and RICHARD FAUSSET wapo yesterday

    The Justice Department said the measure violates federal law under Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

    3. RED STATE BLOG: Republicans must know that there is absolutely no chance that we will win the White House in 2016 now. They must also know that we are likely to lose the Senate as well. So the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger, and we are in no position to stop it. yesterday

    3. BIG INVESTMENT BANKS suddenly want to work for average people :

    Goldman Sachs a secretive Wall Street dealmaker with the ear of the White House helps big institutions and billionaires bet on the markets and large corporations raise money, suddenly wants to work for average people.

    Now, the elite New York bank is jumping into the world of retail banking, to offer high-yield online savings accounts for those with as little as $1. The account has a 1.05 percent yield, while a one-year certificate of deposit has a 1 percent return. Both are stingy by historical standards but are much higher than what most banks are offering. (A savings account at Bank of America and Wells Fargo, for example, earns about 0.01 percent, according to Bankrate.) The investment bank is also serving up retirement savings accounts. It won’t be long, too, before consumers can ask mighty Goldman Sachs, which requires clients to have at least $10 million for its wealth-management services, for a loan of a few thousand dollars to fix a roof or get rid of high-interest credit cards.

    it will likely have to shake the public perception that it helped cause the financial crisis and shirked distressed homeowners in the process…and has been hit with billions in fines and penalties for alleged misdeeds in the era leading up to the financial crisis.

    Its move into retail banking is in part a response to the 2010 financial reform legislation, known as Dodd-Frank, that is helping to shape a significant — and largely unnoticed — transformation of the U.S. banking sector. The account has a 1.05 percent yield, while a one-year certificate of deposit has a 1 percent return. Both are stingy by historical standards but are much higher than what most banks are offering.

    a personal example: a $5000 CD at Bank of America paid a total $130 after NINE YEARS. $130!!!

    4. When it passed the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress required the CFPB to study the use of forced arbitration clauses and take action if those clauses undermined the public interest. So the CFPB undertook a huge, data driven empirical study, which it released in March of 2015. The study found that, when consumers could go to court as part of a class action, they recovered billions of dollars in relief. Banks had to refund over charges, erase illegal or inflated debts, and correct inaccurate credit reports. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-bland/the-cfpb-just-took-a-huge_b_9847266.html

    that darn Barney Frank was right after all!

  54. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 15:51

    Hold on, Roger and Robert—Trump wants a politician for his running mate? Trump needs insider gravitas?

    Trump has repeatedly stressed that he would pick a running mate with political and government experience — versus a businessman like himself — whose relationships with powerful members of Congress could help him pass his agenda legislatively [Diamond et al., “Trump Begins Weighing VP Options,” CNN, 2016.05.05].

    That position overthrows the outsider narrative on which Trump won over so many primary voters, doesn’t it? Can he select a Dick Cheney (heck, maybe the Dick Cheney and still maintain credibility with those who brought him to the dance? If he turns into just another politician, maybe he puts a little air back in the mainstream GOP balloon, but the yahoo balloon goes pfffffffttt.

    Republicans of good conscience should give up on the Presidency, refuse to offer Trump any running mate, maybe make a game showing with a third party candidate to deliver Trump the personal embarrassment of coming in third (hey, that actually sounds like fun), and focus on holding the House and Senate so they can gridlock Clinton into an ineffectiveness that will make it easier to beat her in 2020.

  55. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-05 15:51

    And Roger, I can’t figure out why Steve keeps wanting to talk about me. He seems obsessed, unhelpfully so.

    Steve, Dakota War College is in its death throes, just like the GOP. Now is the perfect time for you to knock Pat Powers out and claim the title as South Dakota’s leading conservative blog. Cut out the shibboleths, reach for the mainstream GOP audience, give them quality, relevant content every day (you never do press releases, so you already have an advantage), and you can draw that audience to your site. Make your play, be smart about it, and greatness can be yours.

  56. Kurt Evans 2016-05-05 15:53

    Cory asks:
    >”Kurt, is it time for a Rand Paul/John Kasich third-party run?”

    That’s not something I’d encourage. Rand is committed to fighting for his Senate seat, and Kasich doesn’t know the difference between voluntary charity and forced socialism. If Justin Amash decided to seek the Libertarian nomination, that would be interesting.

    In any case, Cory, I almost always appreciate thought-provoking suggestions from outside the box. :)

  57. leslie 2016-05-05 15:54

    wayne b.-citation for the radiolab/ted talk brain data? “you liberals….” love it.

  58. leslie 2016-05-05 16:08

    How did arbitration get to be so unfair? In the past, many state laws were clear that if an arbitration clause that banned class actions would undermine a consumer protection law, then a court should strike it down. But in a pair of 5-4 decisions, Justice Scalia wrote opinions that swept all that law away. As a result, corporations could write fine print contracts that would override actual laws. These decisions – one in 2011 and one in 2013 – were unmitigated disasters for consumers and they transformed the Federal Arbitration Act – in place since 1925 – into a Federal Predatory Lender Immunity Act. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-bland/the-cfpb-just-took-a-huge_b_9847266.html

    RIP scalia

  59. Roger Cornelius 2016-05-05 16:13

    It is true that DWC is in it’s death throes Cory, but Sibson’s blog has died a long pain agonizing death and has already been buried.

    The other big political news today leslie, is that House Speaker Paul Ryan says he can’t support Donald Trump at this time. Obviously Noem didn’t ask Ryan what she should do.

    Anyway, Sibson is a pinko commie.

  60. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 17:00

    Kurt-what if Rand Paul had gotten a Kentucky Thune rule to let him run fir both offices?

  61. mike from iowa 2016-05-05 17:05

    Dickless Cheney could patrol Drump’s golf courses riding in a golf cart and shoot geese and lawyers in the face.

  62. Kurt Evans 2016-05-05 19:38

    “mike from iowa” asks:
    >“Kurt-what if Rand Paul had gotten a Kentucky Thune rule to let him run fir both offices?”

    Among other things, he could have saved the hundreds of thousands of dollars he paid the Kentucky GOP to cover the costs of its presidential caucus.
    http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/campbellcounty/2015/12/14/kentucky-marchcaucus-details-shared/77324558/

    I’m pretty sure Rand could legally run for the Senate as a Republican and seek the Libertarian presidential nomination at the same time, but I’m not sure doing so would bode well for either campaign.

  63. Douglas Wiken 2016-05-05 20:07

    We ignore Wayne B. at our peril. Trump appeal is to all the people fed up with political correct knee-jerk reactions or Fox News recycled tripe. Hillary is always backfilling and amending her statesments. She doesn’t seem to know what her position for the day is until she looks at the polls. Bernie Sanders is the only rational choice for those tired of the same old same old. Hillary just plain aggravates too many people to be a good candidate.

    I really don’t have a clue of what kind of government we would get with Trump or Hillary. Trump might stir up enough crap to actually make some good changes. Especially if Congress is Democratic instead of retrograde Republican. Same of course would be true with Sanders. I really have no confidence in Hillary doing anything which would benefit those of us not already filthy rich.

  64. Nikki Bootz 2016-05-29 22:30

    Cory hits it right on the nose every time.

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