Ah, South Dakota, land of Trumpism writ large. We want to build a wall…
New security barriers are in the works for the state’s Capitol building.
The commission that oversees the Capitol complex gave approval Tuesday to the concept.
A wall with a stone or concrete base would be installed around the north side between the semi-circular parking area and the four triangles of lawn [Bob Mercer, “State Capitol Could Get a Security Wall,” Pierre Capital Journal, 2016.11.22].
…and have someone else pay for it:
[Leah] Svendsen said the Bureau of Administration doesn’t have funding yet for the wall and is looking into applying for a federal Homeland Security grant.
If Homeland Security funding isn’t obtained, a wrought iron fence could be installed instead, she said [Mercer, 2016.11.22].
Trump is scaling his wall down to a fence, too. Better go with the fence: protestors can stand on top of a wall.
Adding an aesthetically appropriate security barrier on the north side of the capital building makes sense to me. It also makes sense to limit public entrance to the building to the north doors and add a metal detector to that location.
The federal government should not be paying expenses like these that clearly should be state expenses. If the state can’t come up with dollars to pay for these expenses it ought to just declare bankruptcy, rebate all of the stockpiled trust fund money to taxpayers, and send all of the legislators home in January.
What a waste of tax dollars! Who is the genius who thunk up that idea? Here’s my idea:. scrap that plan and fire the people who are behind it.
The 35 people on the GOED devised this plan for jobs damnit. No legitimate company wants anything to do with the sales pitch so you must devise ways to keep your job, while not providing any. The name of this wall will be the FEMA beautification project with the razor wire on top hand made by mother Russia’s top steel manufacturer. The same state run company that provides the steel for the DAPL. We are only 16% down in our state tax revenue so Comrade Daugaard has an idea, a two fold one. This catch pen will also house the real deplorable’s. Mr. Daugaard, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!
Another Republican “solution” in search of a “problem”!
Nice hyperbole folks! A 3 foot high poured concrete wall faced in stone or brick with steel posts at the entrance to the sidewalk to block large vehicles from entering the sidewalk should work just fine and look just fine.
One positive thing is that once the foundation is in, and the 3 foot high poured concrete complete, you can add the necessary 5 plus feet more without issue. As this is such a priority, why not just do it without federal funding? Are we broke or what? If we had Medicaid Expansion, we would have the money to make this happen.
They are taking a very common business approach, always try to stick it on the biggest pockets. In this case, it is the federal government. Another day in South “We don’t pay our fair share” Dakota.
Old guys can leap over that 3 foot wall so they better get a new plan. Your going to need a taller wall. http://www.mcknights.com/news/pelosi-democrats-will-fight-against-any-ryan-plans-to-privatize-medicare/article/574771/
Republicans are going after gramps and grams and that ain’t no joke. All citizens should be united on this with Democrats leading the charge. Obamacare if off limits, but not Medicare or Social Security.
Rohrschach … (your phraseology looks very similar to Schoenbecks) Are you saying there’s a door into the capital with no metal detector?
It’s going to be tough to ward off the bad guys now with legislators only carrying pistols. They will need AR-15’s to reach the parking lot.
Is this to keep Stace Nelson out or in?
Porter, there is no metal detector in the capital. There is not even a checkpoint. Anybody could walk right into the governor’s office, or the Secretary of State’s Office, or the Public Utilities Commission, or the legislative chambers and open fire. Anybody could drive a truck loaded with a bomb right through the capital’s double doors on the north side. Security is minimal, far less than you would find at the larger county courthouses in the state.
Porter, come to think of it, each time I went to the capitol I never passed through a metal detector. I have seen farmers and ranchers roaming the halls with pliers and spurs.
The north entrance is the most vulnerable to a truck bomb as there is very little to get in the way from South Dakota Blvd. Starting at Church Street they could get some speed up before they make the north entrance a drive through.
The downside is those concrete barriers are, well, ugly no matter what you do to them.
New York City is on the hook for a million bucks in taxpayer’s dinero to protect Drumpf’s spawn. Drumpf can pay his own security out of petty cash he picked up gouging Uncle Sam for stashing SS detail in overpriced Drumpf Hotel rooms.
Have wingnuts totally ticked off Muslims or are they planning on it soon?
Leo, I doubt very seriously if a concrete barrier would be able to stop Mr. Nelson. Slow him down a bit, however he won’t be stopped.
they’d hit those geese first
They could make the barrier into a memorial–two birds with one stone and it wouldn’t look so fortress-like.
It will be a memorial to the good old days when security wasn’t such a concern.
Is your level one phraseology telling you that I’m Lee Schoenbeck, Porter? Tell me more.
Good chance you are. Tell us who you are then R-Shack.
What is it with republican wall building?
Next thing you know they’ll be whining because they boxed themselves and can’t get out.
If a terrorist or somebody wanted to do real damage to South Dakota they will just stay away, the Republicans running the show here will do much more damage to this state and the people living here than any terrorist could.
Well said, Tim. So goes for the nation.
When I was a kid, the boat ramp into the capital lake seemed to be a formidable enough defense as I was playing on the ramp and slipped into the lake ruining my fun day at the capital.
Maybe instead of a iron or concrete fence, a moat is in order. It would help to demonstrate the disconnect between those in the capital and the people of the kingdom.
I reject metal detectors at the Capitol. Let’s not give in to fear.
But if we do get metal detectors, I want to sit there and watch every Legislator go through, so we can get a tally of how many are breaking the law and their faith in the Constitution and civil society by carrying a firearm into our sacred Hall of Democracy.
Truck bombs? Good grief—we fret about this, but we aren’t building asteroid detectors and repellers?
Nothing says freedom like a wall. Israel has them and now we get word of travel dangers there. We could talk among ourselves while we vacation here in South Dakota all by ourselves. Yes, how many Wall Drug items do we have room for on the shelf, hire someone to build and extension is the tea phony reply. Go to Trout Haven to catch some fish as the Missouri will be polluted to the point of a name change, The Wide Love Canal. Our future is bright here and we can advertise the wall in Pierre as where the commies go to destroy law along with the will of the people.
Wait—I totally embrace the wall concept. Let’s get 170,000 Democrats and other decent people to build a human wall around the Capitol. We decent citizens will stand as human shields between our Legislators and all the deadly threats targeting the South Dakota State Capitol, without regard to our alarm at their political positions. In return, we will ask for nothing more and nothing less than the Republican majority’s equal dedication to protecting every South Dakotan’s civil rights, without regard to our genitals, skin color, religion, or nation of origin.
Smarter activists can come up with more creative materials for walls around the Capitol. Science textbooks? Copies of the Constitution… or Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale? Boxes of letters and résumés of young South Dakotans who’ve moved away to find better wages and attitudes?
Walls are built primarily to convince the naive that they are safer as a result. Unseen trenches to stop vehicles are more effective, but can’t be seen by concerned citizens easily convinced by irrelevant expenditures.
Build MD’s moat. Stock it with walleye. Let legislators fish for their lunch instead of getting free meals from the business lobbyists.
Mr. H, I love your idea for stacking books in a wall around the Capitol. If you cajoled enough disgruntled teachers who did not get the raises they wanted, and that might be all teachers, to bring old common core books to your gathering you could really stack up a big wall and prevent the legislatures from even meeting! And there is no law that says stacking books is illegal. It could even be art.
There is a hedge around the outside perimeter of the lawn on the north side of the capital building. Put a 3 foot tall poured concrete wall where the hedge is and regrow the hedge on both sides of it and around it. You wouldn’t even know it’s there. All you would notice would be the steel posts at the entrance to the sidewalk to keep large vehicles from entering the sidewalk. And yes, there should be a security checkpoint at the capital building just like there is at county courthouses. I reject your rejection of prudent security measures.
Mr. Rorschach, are there other roads and sidewalks that should also have such hedges grown? And if there is already a hedge I suggest drilling big sharp posts at odd angles into that existing hedge to really surprise and hurt the bejeezus out of any potential miscreants.
Free meals on top of $123 per diem? Sweet for the crooks, innit?
I’m guessing the lobbyists get to deduct bribes to legislators from their taxes.
This proposed wall is all part of the post 9-11 security theater. Congress decides to provide funds to help secure vulnerable locations and then rather than developing criteria to determine which sites in the US are most in need of protection, they divvy up the cash on the basis of some formula that doesn’t take vulnerability into account. Truly vulnerable locations are ignored and because of disproportionate rural influence in the US Senate money is pumped into backwaters with little or nothing worth protecting, under the use it or lose mentality locations no self respecting terrorist would ever consider attacking are hardened. Nothing more than welfare.
Risk analysis: when’s the last time any violent attack (other than by lawmakers on our constitutional rights) took place in the Capitol? How much will a Capitol wall cost? How much practical good could that same amount of money do in solving actual problems taking place every day?
And if there really is a concrete risk, why are we willing to skimp on a solution if we can’t get someone else to pay for it?
As Nick says, the wall is security theater, sucking up taxpayer dollars that wouldn’t otherwise be spent if we weren’t pretending we’re all living in mortal danger.
Well, Fidel is dead, here come the Cubans to take over South Dakota. And remember Cubans are exceptional people. All a refugee has to do is set foot on American soil and promise to vote for wingnuts and they are home free.
The wall just got 10 feet taller, Nick. Keep talking (or writing).
If the intent is to secure the building, why not be reasonable. You don’t need a goddam wall on the least likely part of the building to be attacked. The north side, if I recall, doesn’t have most of the important offices. Close the drive on the south of the building and put up a few strategically placed concrete or marble-like flower planters on the north side. And don’t take federal funds for s— like this when you won’t provide decent health care to your most needy people.
And that’s the problem Rorschach, someone points out that the king has no clothes on and true believers will argue that to the contrary his clothes are the most beautiful and effective clothing ever worn by any potentate.