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Noem Breaking Law by Spending Emergency Funds Intended for State Use to Deploy Guard to Texas

When Governor Kristi Noem announced her latest waste of National Guard resources Thursday, her spokesboy Ian Fury quickly gas-tweeted that this deployment would be paid for from the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, just like the 2021 deployment:

Ian Fury, tweet, 2023.06.02.
Ian Fury, gas-tweet, 2023.06.02.

…which is a lie, as we all know that Noem paid for the 2021 Guard/border stunt with a million dollars from Trumpist Tennessee junk-car billionaire Willis Johnson. Johnson’s million covered only two-thirds of the total cost of sending 48 South Dakota National Guards to play flashlight tag and pose for campaign pictures with Noem in Texas.

Of course, Noem can’t rent out our soldiers to rich ideologues any more, because Congress banned such misuse of military resources within months of Noem’s last stunt. So now in addition to trying to wipe from our memory Noem’s past pimpage of the National Guard, Fury is assuring us that this stunt will be entirely on the taxpayers’ tab.

But the money pot Fury and Noem picked this time is also off-limits for border patrol, says Senator Lee Schoenbeck:

Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, did not provide a cost estimate for the deployment, but told South Dakota Searchlight via text message Thursday evening, “All costs will be paid out of the Emergency & Disaster Fund.”

Lee Schoenbeck, a Watertown Republican and president pro tempore of the state Senate, said securing the border is a federal responsibility. He said Noem is acting on a “political agenda unrelated to South Dakota issues” and violating the trust placed in the executive branch to spend the state’s money as intended.

“She cannot use those funds for that,” Schoenbeck said Thursday night. “She needs to follow the law” [Seth Tupper, “Noem Plans to Use Emergency and Disaster Money to Pay for Border Troop Deployment,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2023.06.02].

Tupper does a great job of pointing us toward the law and the Legislative testimony that shows Schoenbeck is right and Noem is misappropriating funds:

  • SDCL 34-48A-28 authorizes the Special Emergency and Disaster Special Revenue (SEDSR) Fund for expenditures “to meet special emergency requirements of the Division of Emergency Management, not included in the general and special appropriations which provide for the ordinary operation and maintenance of functions of this department, and for carrying into effect the objectives and provisions of this chapter.”
  • SDCL 34-48A-33 and the entire rules structure of SDAR 50:02:01 for administering the SEDSR Fund envision that such emergency assistance goes to county governments in South Dakota.
  • SDCL 34-48A-1 defines disasters and emergencies as any grave “catastrophe producing phenomena in any part of the state…”. The statute does not mention grave catastrophes happening in other states.

Now maybe Fury means to parse SDCL 34-48A-1 to mean that the catastrophes may be happening outside the state but producing phenomena in South Dakota that justify a response funded via SEDSR. Fury could point to SDCL 34-48A-2(2), which recognizes the need “to provide for the rendering of mutual aid among the political subdivisions of the state and with other states…,” SDCL 34-48A-19, which authorizes the Secretary of Public Safety, with the Governor’s approval, to “enter into mutual aid agreements with other states…,” and SDCL 34-48A-21, which permits the Secretary of Public Safety to dispatch emergency management workers to “perform their functions in any part of the state or without the state in compliance with mutual aid agreements” [emphases mine].

But Tupper points to testimony and Legislative statements concerning 2023 House Bill 1027 which indicate the SEDSR Fund is meant for in-state use only:

Angela Lemieux, of the Department of Public Safety, testified during the bill’s first public hearing later that month.

“The fund covers costs for emergencies and disasters that occur in the state,” Lemieux told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Appropriations.

She said the money is used to help communities recover from natural disasters, and for grants that help communities prepare for future disasters.

After the Joint Appropriations Committee, the bill’s next stop was the House of Representatives, where Republican Lance Koth of Mitchell delivered the only comments.

“It’s a special appropriation for the Emergency and Disaster Fund to cover costs of emergencies and disasters that have already occurred in our state,” Koth said.

In the Senate, the only remarks came from Dean Wink, R-Howes, who offered a detailed example to illustrate the fund’s purpose.

“We’ve had a very dry two years out in the Black Hills, and so we’ve had some wildfires that the locals, it got too big for them,” Wink said. “We have a reciprocal agreement with neighboring states that if we need help, they send their crews and their equipment, and vice versa. And next year, they may need our help. So they send us a bill after going back home, the Department of Public Safety pays it, and now they request us to refill their fund to bring it back up to zero.”

The bill received unanimous support at each level of the Legislature, and Noem signed it into law on Feb. 9.

None of the testimony, nor any of the language in the bill, mentioned out-of-state National Guard deployments [Tupper, 2023.06.02].

Uh oh—did comms director Ian Fury just reveal that his boss is breaking the law by dipping into the Emergency and Disaster Fund? Dang, maybe the Governor should have let her press secretary Amelia Joy handle this matter. Joy has a master’s degree in political communication from American University, unlike Fury’s measly bachelor’s in political economy from conservative-crank mill Hillsdale College. Joy would never have made that mistake.

Senate boss Schoenbeck suggests to Tupper the 2024 Legislature might be a little tighter with its purse strings when the Governor comes asking for money. I would suggest that, if the Governor is illegally diverting state money meant to remedy disasters here at home to prop up her own rather disastrous bid for national political celebrity, the Legislature could pull its impeachment strings. Malfeasance in office is grounds for impeachment, and misuse of public resources for personal gain was among the malfeasance cited as grounds for the impeachment and conviction of killer Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg and is among the articles of impeachment pending against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Senator Schoenbeck has written the book—or at least the legal journal article—on impeachment in South Dakota; he could put that knowledge and experience to use again next year to hold Governor Kristi Noem accountable for her misuse of the Special Emergency and Disaster Special Revenue Fund.

41 Comments

  1. e platypus onion 2023-06-04 11:05

    Didn’t No Shoem just declare declare flood disasters in 10 counties? They could probably use the funds and the guard at home. A-Butt,from Texas, has hoodwinked 24 states into violating immigtation laws because magats don’t care about the rule of law.

  2. DaveFN 2023-06-04 11:12

    “…if the Governor is illegally diverting state money meant to remedy disasters here at home to prop up her own rather disastrous bid for national political celebrity…”

    Nah, she just wants an excuse for another junket to What-a-Burger.

    Impeachment no less is in order.

  3. Bob Newland 2023-06-04 11:47

    Lock’er up.

  4. John 2023-06-04 11:48

    Of course Noem’s stunt proposes to break the law. It would be worthwhile for the South Dakota uninquizative media to get out in front of a crime scheme.
    Noem has richly earned impeachment.

  5. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 11:51

    Mrs. Noem just declared another disaster in a bunch of counties so she’s sending the people trained to respond to catastrophes in her own state because she knows politics and acts of god are where the money comes from.

  6. 96Tears 2023-06-04 11:56

    If this is a crisis in South Dakota, then extreme measures are needed. Like shutting down immigrant attractants … Taco John’s and any restaurant featuring Central and South American cuisine. Shut down the Olive Gardens and any Italian and Greek restaurants and fer sure those Mediterranean joints (think bombvests right here in SoDak!). Got restaurants with German, French, Irish and western European fare? Shut them down. Shut ’em all down! Stop hungry immigrants from crossing South Dakota’s borders, especially them Canadians! Stop the immigrant attractants! Stop the woke agenda! Right here in South Dakota!

    Speakin’ of food attractants, Whataburger is a woke hell hole. What the hay is Kristi Noep doin’ gettin’ glam shots at a Whataburger??? She endorsing gun control. I did my research!

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/whataburger-takes-stand-texas-open-carry-law#:~:text=Despite%20a%20recently%20passed%20law,of%20guns%20on%20its%20properties.

    Whataburger’s CEO won’t let us cowpokes stroll in with our AR-15s and sidearms in his Whataburger grease pits. That don’t seem to bug Kristi Noep and her prissy lapdog Mr. Furry.

    Call Kristi Noep today. Tell her to stop promoting job-killing, anti-gun Whataburgers and their woke agenda. Freedumb©!

  7. Bonnie B Fairbank 2023-06-04 12:57

    As if Schoenbeck or any other SD Reptilian will make Noem obey ANY SD law. The whole legislature is as worthless and principled as teats on a boar hog.

  8. Arlo Blundt 2023-06-04 13:21

    Sending South Dakota Guardsmen to stand out in the 100 degree heat scanning for women and children attempting to wade the Rio Grande and to then, radio the Border Patrol as to their whereabouts, doesn’t seem to be covered by South Dakota law. I haven’t read that the Border Patrol is requesting any assistance from South Dakota. We should turn our attention to the northern border much closer to home. There, we might stop a truckload of illegal hogs being snuck across the border for sale in our sale barns.

  9. Mike Lee Zitterich 2023-06-04 14:12

    THE GOVERNOR IS THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA STATE GUARD OR MILITIA
    The 2nd Amendment of the U.S Constitution Protects Your Right to Bear Arms to Form a State Militia

    As we live in the modern age where the Federal Government seemingly wishes to strip the American People of their second amendment protected rights, thus attempting to take away the right of every American from purchasing, owning, and defending themselves by arming themselves with any such form of firearm necessarily to protect themselves.

    Whereas a year ago, Governor Kristi Noem made headlines by accepting private donations from an American Citizen to help fund and support State military affairs, by utilizing the South Dakota State Guard (or militia) by committing troops to the State of Texas in defense of its southern border. Some called into question whether or not she had authority to accept the funds, let alone utilize the military in such a manner.

    In order to discuss both of those leading topics, let’s take a look closer at both the United States Constitution, as well as the State Constitution as they relate to your right to bear arms, let alone protect your life, your property, and your pursuit to happiness, let alone the State itself.

    Let’s first begin by defining what the “State” is and what is not – The word “State” is defined as a body of persons constituting a special class in a society, a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory, especially one of whom is a sovereign in itself totally separate from other groups of people. Within the United States, the country itself is made up of fifty individual, and independent groups of people who have formed their own state republics all of which collectively make up the United States of America.

    The State of South Dakota is defined as a “free and independent” Republic of free people, all of which have the right to collectively meet as one group to discuss the public policies of the “State” itself, of we which we adopted the following statement of which became known as our preamble to our own state constitution:

    We, the people of South Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties, in order to form a more perfect and independent government, establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and preserve to ourselves and to our posterity the blessings of liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the state of South Dakota.

    As a group of sovereign people, we have, by means of the second amendment to the United States Constitution, the right to bear arms, not only to protect ourselves, but to secure the borders of our free and independent state, and that amendment reads as follows, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

    This means, in simple terms, “We the People” making up the State of South Dakota, of which we have already defined as a body of persons constituting a special class in a society, a republic of free, and independent people who get together to commonly regulate, manage, and to protect both our private and public properties, have the right to bear arms, in order to safeguard that right to life, property, liberty, and prosperity.

    By means of our own state constitution as per Article 6 Section 24 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be denied. And pursuant to Article 15 adopted by the people of the state, we have agreed to establish our State Militia, as per Article 15, Section 1 which reads as follows:

    The militia of the state of South Dakota shall consist of all able-bodied male persons residing in the state, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the United States or of this state.

    The article itself goes on to read as, in order to form and regulate that militia, sections 2 thru 7 proclaim:

    The Legislature shall provide by law for the enrollment, uniforming, equipment and discipline of the militia and the establishment of volunteer and such other organizations or both, as may be deemed necessary for the protection of the state, the preservation of order and the efficiency and good of the service; whereas the Legislature in providing for the organization of the militia shall conform, as nearly as practicable, to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States, whereas all militia officers shall be commissioned by the Governor, and may hold their commissions for such period of time as the Legislature may provide, subject to removal by the Governor for cause, to be first ascertained by a court-martial pursuant to law, that militia shall in cases except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at muster and elections and in going to and returning from the same; while all military records, banners and relics of the state, except when in lawful use, shall be preserved in the office of the adjutant general as an enduring memorial of the patriotism and valor of South Dakota; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide by law for the safekeeping of the same, of which no person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be compelled to do military duty in time of peace.

    Article 15 of the South Dakota Constitution strictly honors and establishes the fact that the South Dakota Guard is to be totally separate from the National Guard today, however, it does allow for the State and Federal Government’s to adopt common codes in order to commonly work together in order to establish a uniformed national policy in order to establish a federal army of which can be utilized serve and protect all fifty of the States making up the United States of America, where practical.

    So you can see, the wording of the Second Amendment, which was drafted, agreed to, and first established by the State’s themselves, prior to any one of them accepting to adopt the United States Constitution itself. You see, in order to agree to create a central government, the State’s acting as each a sovereign entity, wanted to safeguard their sovereignty, by ensuring that the people making up such state(s) were allowed to protect not only themselves, but their fellow citizens of the state, and all private and public matters of their state(s). Without the second amendment, the State of South Dakota could not remotely by any means, protect itself from a corrupted centralized government, let alone arm itself against any of the other states, territories, across the total land mass, let alone other foreign countries on this planet.

    Did Kristi Noem as our “governor” act out in an unlawful manner the day she accepted private donations from an American Citizen, let alone committing the State Guard (or militia) to lend its services to the State of Texas in its quest to help defend that state’s border? For that, we must turn to South Dakota codified law in order to learn more of how “we the people” have enacted public policy of governing our militia itself.

    Article 15 is the adopted statute established by the people, and their legislature in order to not only establish, but to govern the State Guard (or militia), which today also utilizes the call letters – South Dakota National Guard at the same time. Remember, ‘we’ agreed to when at all times practicable, to establish common, uniform codes along with the federal government itself to also help establish a federal guard side by side.

    As per SDCL 32-2-1 The Governor is the commander in chief of the militia of the state, the organized portion of which is known as the South Dakota National Guard, of which as pursuant to SDCL 1-32-3 the Governor with the consent of the Senate and shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor pursuant to S.D. Const., Art. IV, § 9 which reads as follows – Appointment and removal power. Each principal department shall be under the supervision of the Governor and, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution or by law, shall be headed by a single executive. Such a single executive, unless provided otherwise by the Constitution, shall be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the Governor and shall hold office for a term to expire at the end of the term for which the Governor was elected, unless sooner removed by the Governor. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, whenever a board, commission or other body shall head a principal department of the state government, the members thereof shall be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the Governor. The term of office and removal of such members shall be as prescribed by law. The Governor shall have power to nominate and make interim appointments requiring senate confirmation during recess of the Legislature except that such nominations and interim appointments shall extend only to the end of the Governor’s term or until acted upon by the Legislature.

    Therefore, the Head of the South Dakota Military shall be the Adjutant General, and this person shall be a federally recognized commissioned officer of the South Dakota National Guard, with not less than ten years military service in the armed forces of this state or of the United States. Therefore, the “military general” of the South Dakota Guard (or militia) must be fully recognized by the federal government as someone who has earned the respect of both the State and the Federal Government respectively, and has served within the military itself for a period of a minimum of ten years within the State or Federal Guard systems combined.

    The militia of the state consists of all able-bodied qualified residents of the state, and those nonresidents who are accepted into service, who are within the age limits currently authorized by the Department of Defense for enlisted personnel in the active components of the United States armed forces. The militia is divided into two classes: the National Guard and the unorganized militia.

    As for the South Dakota State Guard (or militia) itself, the Governor is ‘The” leading officer of the the State Guard, and can direct, manage, and utilize it in any which way he or she can, so long as the people have allowed the governor to do so as established by public law, in addition to the appropriated funds which have been deposited into the military itself.

    The Governor may organize and maintain within this state such military forces as the Governor deems necessary to protect life and property in this state. Such forces are additional to and distinct from the National Guard and are known as the South Dakota State Guard. SDCL 33-14-1; whereas No civil organization, society, club, post, order, fraternity, association, brotherhood, body, union, league, or other combination of persons or civil group may be enlisted in the South Dakota State Guard as an organization or unit, no person may be commissioned or enlisted in the South Dakota State Guard who is not a citizen of the United States or who has been expelled or dishonorably discharged from any military or naval organization of this state, or of another state, or of the United States. The officers and men of the South Dakota State Guard shall serve without pay, except when called out for active duty by the Governor. Members called out for service shall receive the same pay and allowances for the time spent on active duty as would be received by members of the national guard performing like service. The South Dakota State Guard shall, in so far as practicable be governed by and subject to the laws of the state pertaining to the national guard. Nothing in this chapter authorizes any part of the South Dakota State Guard to be called, ordered, or in any manner drafted as such into the military service of the United States. However, no person by reason of the person’s enlistment or commission in any such forces may be exempted from military service under any law of the United States.

    There shall be both a General Militia Fund and a Special Militia Fund established by the Legislature, allowing for the legislature to appropriate general tax dollars to both the services of the State Guard, as well as the National Guard in order to manage military affairs.

    General militia fund–Expenditure procedure – Funds appropriated by the Legislature for the maintenance of the National Guard shall be known as the general militia fund. Expenditures from the general militia fund may be made only upon vouchers certified by the adjutant general and approved by the Governor, upon warrants drawn by the state auditor against the state treasury in the manner required by law. (These Funds consist of both Federal Tax Dollars, as well as State Tax Dollars)

    Special militia fund–Sources of funds – All funds derived from the sale of property belonging to the military department, as provided in this title, and all other funds accruing to the national guard of the state from any source whatsoever other than the general fund appropriated by the Legislature shall be deposited with the state treasurer and by him credited to a fund designated “the special militia fund.” The special militia fund is available for National Guard purposes only and is accumulated from year to year. Expenditures from this fund shall be made in the usual manner upon vouchers approved by the Governor, after proper certification by the adjutant general, by warrant drawn by the state auditor against the state treasury as provided by law. However, such expenditures do not come within any restrictions governing payment of expenses incurred in a previous year. The special militia fund may be used to discharge any just or lawful debt properly contracted for National Guard purposes, whether of the ensuing or previous fiscal years, the special militia fund, and funds accumulating therein, are hereby appropriated for the construction of facilities and the maintenance of the South Dakota National Guard.

    34-48A-36. Authority to accept federal moneys, services, or equipment–Conditions -If the federal government, or any agency or officer thereof, or any person, firm, or corporation offers to the state or to any political subdivision thereof, services, equipment, supplies, materials, or funds by way of gift, grant, or loan, for emergency management, the Governor or the political subdivision, acting through the Governor, or such political subdivision, acting through its executive officer or governing body, may accept such offer. Upon acceptance the Governor or executive officer or governing body of such political subdivision may authorize any officer of the state or of the political subdivision, as the case may be, to receive such services, equipment, supplies, materials, or funds on behalf of the state or political subdivision, and subject to the terms of the offer and the rules and regulations, if any, of the agency making the offer.

    Upon Gifting the “State” services, or funds directed to a specific State Department, Agency, or Political Subdivision, the funds shall then be earmarked for that specific purpose. This would allow citizens” to direct private funds to the General or Special Militia Funds allowing the Governor by law to utilize the funds as he or she wishes, so long as they follow State law already established.

    So, did Kristi Noem commit any wrongdoing by accepting private funds by an American Citizen of the State of Tennessee? No – any American Citizen, whether a resident of the State or non-resident of the State shall participate within the State Guard (or militia) who meet and fall within the criteria established by not only the constitution itself, and Article 15 as defined by state laws, adopted by the people of the state or their legislature.

    The Governor already has the authority given to him or her to direct, manage, and utilize the State Guard, in any way possible to protect your life, your property, your liberty, your pursuit to happiness, yet alone the commercial interests of the State itself, our collective public property, let alone upon request from another State, to help defend its borders. All American Citizens whether residents of the State, or Non-residents of the State have the same equal opportunity to participate in the State Guard, in order to defend the interest of the state itself, and that alone honors and upholds the Second Amendment Right to Secure the liberties of a Free State.

    “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela.

  10. leslie 2023-06-04 14:22

    Noep—funny!

    “Calling immigrants an invasion is extremely dangerous” Guardian (link below)

    The guards weren’t personally too happy to be used as her political pawns last year (bought for a “Border”Billionaire’s $1,000,000 in 2015 or 16). Texas Summer-time border deployment 2023 should be especially valued experience for our state part-time rent-a-soldiers this time too.

    Or how about when lined up like goons in Keystone the summer when Daddy Warbucks Trump blazed into RC and US Marines attack-helicoptered him into the Mt Rushmore Amphitheater with his posse of unmasked deplorables to the delight of the thumbs-down 7,000 unmasked, unwashed, red-neck lotto mob, the SDNG troops that stood-off against the Lakota protesters hoping to send Trump back where he came from and keeping the dry hills surrounding the national memorial from again becoming another Paha Sapa National wild Forest fire, and just so Nick Tilson could be politically arrested again for Trumped-up felony charges?

    What a SDNG resume, eh? “Seventh Calvary” saves the day yet again. It is a tired old story of political corruption. It deserves a rant.

    “We have seen so many shootings and more rise in hate crimes [against migrants.] This is all connected to this rhetoric of associating people who are trying to seek safety with being like a literal attack on the United States. That is just giving a lot of fire and energy to militia groups and people who are filled with hate.”

    See that Ian? Racist as well as dangerous. How does that fit? Welcome to South Dakota!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/29/texas-invasion-clause-migrants-racist-dangerous

    Both cartels, the foreign drug cartel(s), and the GOP’s Republican cartel (also known as the HFCartel*) and El Chapo etc have seized on border traffic as Cartel pawns — the endangered crowds seeking asylum— as a means to smuggle contraband thru ports of entry and elsewhere along the southern border.

    This is what “Flame-Thrower” Kristi thinks is a war zone.

    *“hard-line conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus — such as Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — to a first-term member who was a top recruit for Republican leadership in the 2022 election cycle, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas).” https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4026487-here-are-the-house-republicans-who-said-they-will-vote-against-debt-ceiling-bill/

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/17/military-vets-say-border-war-zone/

    Another commenter here mentioned HFCartel ringleader — MTG’s shouts at Biden in SOTU that he lied about their threat and intention to defund Social Security funds all we American workers have paid into for for decades.

    Nope.

    https://www.salon.com/2023/06/01/this-isnt-the-end-mccarthy-takes-aim-at-social-security-medicare-after-debt-ceiling-deal_partner/

    And “The GOP itself is split over how to proceed, something Biden could take advantage of. The party tried to quickly pass a border bill with their new majority that would allow the Homeland Security Secretary to turn away migrants at the border. But, GOP moderates opposed it and the caucus couldn’t come to an agreement. While GOP lawmakers try again on immigration legislation, they will likely keep up the rhetoric that the opioid crisis is an issue the Biden administration has worsened.”

    https://thehill.com/homenews/3915010-biden-using-southern-border-budget-to-combat-key-weak-spot/

  11. 96Tears 2023-06-04 14:57

    Clocking in with more than 2,800 words, Kristi Noep’s apologist appears to be paid by the word. Almost as lucrative as an afternoon’s work of cutting tails off raccoons and badgers to collect on Noep’s varmint bounty program. And about as useful.

    I really hope Kristi Noep selects Mr. Z to lead the defense team. The insomniacs in the legislature will appreciate the long snooze.

  12. Donald Pay 2023-06-04 15:41

    Lock her up, pronto!!!

  13. e platypus onion 2023-06-04 15:50

    A year’s worth of 2nd A tripe from the troll. If only NoShow Noem could get an audition on her Fake Noize direct line from the basement, the troll op would be gainfully employed in an environment that is as real as his version of America.

  14. ABC 2023-06-04 17:35

    Misuse public funds? Impeach! Are the Denocrats asking for Impeachment? If not, they should stop their Republican Lite charade and ask for Impeachment now!

    If we had 1 or 2 Libertarians in the senate or house, we would be hearing about Impeachment now!

  15. WHO Knows 2023-06-04 18:04

    South Dakotans overwhelmingly voted for the brainless Barbie. They get what they deserve. Trump’s own SD puppet, whose dumber than Palin, will never make it on the big political screen. No matter how much Botox, filled lips and extra horsehair she produces.

  16. sx123 2023-06-04 19:21

    A couple of possible world recored size postings above. TLDR;

  17. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 19:57

    If Mrs. Noem were truly serious about stopping meth and fentanyl smuggling she’d have the Guard patrolling the streets of Sturgis during the Rally.

  18. LaurenSD1 2023-06-04 20:26

    Couldn’t Noem use her gorgeous head of hair extensions to assign those boys to something more productive in SD? Like raking the forests in the Black Hills?

    After all, the 4th is coming and tRUmp may drop out of the sky again at Mt. Rushmore.

  19. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 20:32

    Mercenaries and National Guard troops brutalized many of the thousands of demonstrators camped on federal land near Cannon Ball in occupied North Dakota where some 761 people were arrested between early August, 2016 and late February, 2017. Trump apparatchiks even referred to the American Indians and their compatriots as jihadists and insurgents — for a private contractor taking liberties with Indian trust land.

    But to Republicans ethnic cleansing and genocide solves all of that.

  20. grudznick 2023-06-04 20:39

    You can’t rake the whole forest, Mr. LaurenSD1. You cannot, for grudznick has tried. And mostly succeeded. But you would not succeed at raking the forest.

  21. Mark B 2023-06-04 20:44

    Again, remember the recent federal fining of a Jesus Trust domiciled in friendly Panama..er South Dakota for paying no attention as its client laundered Millions in drug cartel money, yet flashlight tag at the border and whataburger photo ops are ‘all we can do’ to protect SD from Drug Cartels.. never mind we do all their banking

  22. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 20:46

    We all know Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem (KLAN) is a racist so now she is exploiting ethnic cleansing to advance her national aspirations. It’s just that simple.

  23. grudznick 2023-06-04 20:50

    Bah. Trusts are just fine. It is other people’s money that some fellows are just jealous about. But any Jesus-based operations need to be crushed like a grape at Sunday school brunch.

  24. Mark B 2023-06-04 20:50

    I guess its more fun to put on armor and brandish machine guns and play army than to actually try to understand the trust industry do the work to keep drug money out of SD banks. Magats.

  25. grudznick 2023-06-04 20:53

    Machine guns are great, and terribly fun. You don’t have to be trumper or one of those insaner fellows who all own their own machine gun, you can be a quasi-libbie like grudznick and still really enjoy whaling away with a good old machine gun session after breakfast.

  26. grudznick 2023-06-04 21:04

    Mr. Zitterich. Tighten it up. Nobody read your screed. grudznick has fellows coming to Sioux Falls who need a car fixed up. Can you help?

  27. Mark B 2023-06-04 21:07

    Agree that machine guns are fun for libs too, grudz

  28. Mark B 2023-06-04 21:19

    Also to mr Z. If you are an ‘Originalist’, lets be honest, the ‘States’ referenced in the constitution means the original 13, just like ‘all men’ means ‘all white men’. States added after that are mostly the concoction of federal powers with various federal political interests, Texas and California as exceptions.. ‘Dakota’ as anyone ‘SHOULD*’ know was split into 2 for fedetal political gain.

    I’m not saying South Dakota isnt a state, but if you are going to fill the comments with an apparent history lesson, just thought context helpful. For States not created by the Union, sure, be ‘Original’ but if the Union was the Daddy, maybe ease up on the ‘federal’ criticism.

  29. Bob Newland 2023-06-04 21:46

    Mike Z: nobody read your legal opinion. We already knew it was BS.

  30. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 21:53

    Watching the SDGOP eat its own with barbecue sauce is a dish best served with goat.

  31. larry kurtz 2023-06-04 22:00

    Mr. Zitterich, if you run for the SD House or Senate in from your district as an unaffiliated candidate I will send you some money.

  32. DaveFN 2023-06-05 00:11

    Zitterich

    Your elucubrations are nothing but neurotic. Keep telling yourself what you want you hear!

  33. leslie 2023-06-05 01:50

    Sending SD military weapons to Texasfor a summer.

    “with Trump, we experienced a whole new, never seen before level of fear, racism, hatred and conspiracy that culminated in 2020. In that year, you had George Floyd, COVID lockdowns, Black Lives Matter, Antifa protests and Kyle Rittenhouse. I mean, it’s the most tumultuous year any of us can remember with the most hatred and conspiracy and nastiness. None of us can remember a year like that. In that year, the United States consumers bought almost 23 million guns in a single year, more than three times as much as before Barack Obama took office.

    …this culture, on the right, that tells young men that to be real young men, they must purchase an AR-15 and go out and solve their problems. The industry 15 years ago would not even allow the AR-15 to be used or displayed at its own trade shows.

    The Buffalo shooter [outfitted himself] with tactical gear — some of the most egregiously advertised items in the firearms industry right now, bulletproof vests, helmets, gloves, all things that weren’t marketed at all 20 years ago—studied very carefully bulletproof vest to wear, what tactical gear to wear, he used the exact same gun that was used in Sandy Hook, the Bushmaster XM-15, the same gun that was advertised in [Remington Arms’] ‘man card campaign’ that told young men: “You don’t have a man card if you don’t have one of these rifles. And you do have a man card if you do have one of them.” Former gun industry insider https://www.propublica.org/article/ryan-busse-explains-roots-of-us-gun-violence

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/02/the-myth-of-the-responsible-gun-owner-an-american-nightmare-part-i/

    A hair-trigger response to a perceived threat?

    “In Kansas City, Missouri, Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old, was going to pick up his younger twin siblings from a playdate when he went to the wrong address and was greeted by 85-year-old Andrew Lester, who shot him in the head. Yarl is Black, and Lester is white. Around the same time, across the country in New York State, Kaylin Gillis was heading to a friend’s house when her boyfriend mistakenly turned into the wrong driveway. Its owner, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, fired at the car, killing 20-year-old Gillis. (He’s been charged with murder.) In Texas, two high school cheerleaders were shot in a supermarket parking lot after one of them mistakenly entered a car she thought was her own. Police say that 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez, Jr. fired multiple shots. Payton Washington, 18, dressed in her cheerleader outfit, was shot in the back and nearly died. These were not criminals with a history of mental illness but legal gun owners who chose to pull the trigger.”

    In its ruling, written by Thomas, J., the SCOTUS 6-3 majority repeatedly referred to the rights of “law-abiding” and “responsible” citizens. Most importantly, more than 230 years after the ratification of the Second Amendment, the Court discovered a right for these “law-abiding, responsible citizens” to carry handguns in public for their self-defense.

    In two weeks this spring, the country experienced at least 25 mass shootings. In addition, two seven-year-old Virginia twins and a woman were shot after a dispute over a bicycle. Two Maryland men were shot in a road rage incident after they inadvertently cut off a motorcyclist. In a San Antonio, Texas, road rage incident, a man fired into a car, injuring a six-year-old child. Also in San Antonio, a 21-year-old mother and her 20-year-old husband argued over possessing a handgun when it went off, killing an eight-month-old infant. In Fort Worth, Texas, a 14-year-old girl was shot and killed by her older sister after they found a gun in a closet. In Arlington, Texas, a two-year-old boy fatally shot himself with a gun left lying around his home. In Virginia, a three-year-old boy shot and killed himself with a gun he found in a teenage sibling’s room. In Ohio, a four-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the abdomen after finding his brother’s .9mm pistol in the back seat of his SUV. A 14-year-old boy playing with a gun on a North Carolina school bus accidentally shot a 16-year-old student in the buttocks. A Tennessee woman shot her one-year-old grandson sitting in her lap when she reached into her purse and accidentally pulled the trigger of her gun.

    Noem bought her grandchildren guns as toddlers. Hiw many traffic citations did she run up? Rounds threatened Biden with his shotgun—and dog. Are these two even educated? No wonder Noem abuses the SDNG.

  34. John 2023-06-05 07:31

    I fNoem understood the SD and US labor shortage . . . and immigration – then she ought to be sending buses to the border to bring immigrants to Sioux Falls, Rapid City,, and to communities that are depopulating.
    But she doesn’t understand.

  35. Paintstorm33 2023-06-05 07:58

    Although I don’t disagree with the article’s point, I think it is the most poorly written article I have ever read by Newsbreak. It looks like it was written by a pissed off teenager. Do better next time.

  36. leslie 2023-06-05 08:11

    Kristie Kushner/Trump Noem’s ties to Gov Abbot (R.,TX) is leading to weaponization of voting right restrictions to attempt to subversively keep the demographically-changing Texas, a Radical Rightwinger-RED (you might say communistic-red) which Republican power grabbing now looks like. (Putin changed the rules so he is Russia’s President fir how many more years? 14 more years (to 2036.[8][9] wiki)

    “one of two bills specifically targeting election administration in Harris County that passed the GOP-dominated legislature and are now heading to Governor Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign them.

    The second bill, SB 1933, grants the secretary of state’s office new powers to investigate complaints of “irregularities” in Harris County elections, and ultimately to petition to remove the local officials overseeing elections.

    The two bills are an escalation in GOP attacks on election administration in Texas’ largest county, which has become an increasingly reliable Democratic bulwark against a deep-red state government. During the last session, in 2021, the legislature passed a sweeping set of restrictions aimed at some of the boldest initiatives that Harris County elections officials implemented to expand safe voting options during the pandemic, like drive-thru and around-the-clock voting, which are now banned under state law.

    The bills that passed this session, however, differ from the last in that they explicitly target Harris County:…. While neither bill specifically names Harris County, SB 1750 and SB 1933 were tailored to only apply to counties of more than 3.5 million and 4 million residents, respectively, a threshold that only Harris County meets.
    ***
    Republicans have also targeted election administrators in other parts of the state, most notably by ramping up policing around elections in Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth and the Texas GOP’s last urban stronghold; their actions led the county’s election administrator to resign in April.” https://boltsmag.org/texas-republicans-escalate-attacks-on-election-administration-in-harris-county/

  37. Jake 2023-06-05 09:46

    So ‘self-called’ historian Zitterich; nowhere in your lengthy pablum of B.S. is there ANY description of the most forgotten words of the 2nd amendment, to wit; “A well-regulated militia” brought out, only what you want to hear from the 2nd-your personal rights matter. If any of you 2nd fascists could ever with a straight face claim what we have now (with anyone with an anger building, fear-wracked by arms companies) , can call this “well-regulated” I’ll kiss your as-!

  38. All Mammal 2023-06-05 11:50

    Gun-Toting poosies can’t fight. Scared of a little arse-whooping, which, yes, many are screaming for. The problem is when these crybabies are rude and inconsiderate as youngsters, their schoolmates don’t throttle them anymore. Get away with it long enough, they just buy a gun so they always get their way when they throw a tantrum.

    Being a threatened woman and using your firearm in your own bedroom is one thing. And it sucks to have to do. But being a big, strong man and needing your security blankie/gun everywhere is the decay of man.
    Buying a ton of ammo for a quick-firing rifle to protect your store during the Rodney King riots is one thing. But buying an AR15 and body armor while still living with your grandma to prepare to kill large groups of people minding their own business is the decay of society.

  39. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2023-06-06 04:50

    Good to know we agree that Noem is breaking the law and thwarting the will of the Legislature to stage a political stunt. I’d hate for anyone to distract the public from this gross abuse power with a drive-by insult to the author. After all, I’m not news: the Governor’s illegal and impeachable misuse of public resources is.

    But “Newsbreak”? Do better—know which website you are reading! This is Dakota Free Press.

    And “P.O.’ed teenager”? Sounds like I’m actually writing really well: the commenter hears exactly the passionate tone, not to mention the well-researched and hyperlinked text, that I would like any well-informed young activist to adopt in advocating for the impeachment of a lawbreaking governor.

  40. M 2023-06-06 06:25

    Governors can not be impeached in this state.

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