4th of July

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls continues their ‘White Trash 4th’ festivities

UPDATE II: So a friend who used to live in Sioux Falls and still has businesses here sent me a suggestion after reading this post, he now lives in a suburb of Casper, WY;

Hey saw your article. They do something like that with the fireworks here in Glenrock, WY. It’s a $10 minimum donation to the fire department per car and they have two baseball fields where you wait in line and have like 6 stations each where you can shoot your fireworks and all the fire trucks are there. It’s a great event!

UPDATE: From cynicism comes relief. I am reminded, quite often (daily) that my cynicism is a problem, to which I reply, ‘If we lived in a perfect world, I wouldn’t be a cynic.’ So after posting this I have had tons of people reach out privately to me, at first I thot to scold me about not being woke about trashy people, but in fact, quite the opposite. People agree, pick up your trash, they also agree, even poor kids should be able to have fun. The solution? The city should designate a fireworks area for people who don’t have the property (or the legal right) to do it in the city limits. So you have a designated area. There have been tons of suggestions, but I suggested Sanford Sports Complex, because the parking lots and football fields would be well suited in case a fire broke out. You could also get a non-profit involved to raise money by having food trucks at the event, selling sparklers and snaps, etc. and putting out a message about their charity. They could also hand out garbage bags to event goers and afterwards volunteer to clean up. It could be a great community event and everyone would feel included instead doing the duck and run under the Burnside Bridge. Thank You! I love it when my cynicism leads to solutions, but doesn’t it always 🙂 Now if we can just get the knuckleheads at city hall to see the vision . . . nevermind, already feeding the leading mayoral candidate my ideas, because this one is out to lunch.

It doesn’t fail, every year after the 4th I am dodging empty fireworks containers on the bike trail, it has been this way since I can remember. The irony is the penalty for shooting off fireworks is less then littering, oh, and you are doing it all on taxpayer owned property. Skanky, trashy, lazy, pathetic clems. They do it in the same spot every year (right off of Burnside). Not one cop has driven by and witnessed this in 30 years? It’s one thing to use public land to shoot off fireworks illegally, but did you ever think about bringing a garbage bag and cleaning it up? Skanky, trashy, lazy, pathetic clems. This part bothers me the most. I’m okay with some trailer trash kids blowing things up once in awhile, but for Godsakes, why aren’t the parents making them clean this up? Because you know they are present, probably their idea. Skanky, trashy, lazy, pathetic clems. So next year, I want an undercover officer stationed under the Burnside bridge on the bike trail, and start handing out those tickets, mostly for littering. I know it would require an officer to leave their vehicle, and that can be a struggle, but just pretend you are getting a FREE 64 oz Fountain Mt. Dew at the C-Store (probably pissed they don’t have a drive thru.)

Parades, Clowns and Clems

The city claims they are canceling the 4th of July parade due to lack of interest. That’s not what I heard. Anytime an officer works a parade, especially on a national holiday, they have to ‘volunteer’ to work overtime (they don’t pull officers from their regular shifts). I guess the volunteers came up short.

What the Heck is Huether up to?

I was talking to some city employees (management) and they said Mike has been busy ‘reaching out’ to them. He has also assembled a team for his next run. So Governor or Mayor? I’m switching my prediction to mayor. Why on earth would you be contacting city employees if you are running for governor? I also heard Merkouris is out, but no prediction on Beck.

LinClem County Commission

Some seemed surprised a Lincoln County Commissioner made anti-semitic statements then blamed the Queers for his racist remarks. No surprise to me, the LCC is made up of the biggest bunch of Clems I have seen in a long time. It amazes me that the wealthiest county in the state is ran by hillbillies.

Sioux Falls city government has no leadership. None, zip, nada, black hole.

Guest Post, Bruce Danielson

As we consider our declaration of freedom born in July 1776, consider the remarkable citizens who helped us create a government owned by the people. These citizens would later help define a way to grant more and more rights to more and more people. The more amazing thing that followed their courage, was their efforts helped them lose more personal wealth or their lives because they chose to be leaders, not followers.

Authoritarians are not leaders, they are bullies taking away from most of us in the short-run and all of us in the long-run. The reversal or taking away rights whether the initiative, referendum, or personal responsibility rights always makes South Dakotans and the silent majority to the streets and ballot boxes.

The gathering of our fellow citizens last Wednesday evening showed one glaring thing more than anything else, Sioux Falls city government has no leadership. None, zip, nada, black hole. What is leadership? Consider this list:

Qualities of a Great Leader

1. Vision

2. Inspiration

3. Strategic & Critical Thinking

4. Interpersonal Communication

5. Authenticity & Self-Awareness

6. Open-Mindedness & Creativity

7. Flexibility

8. Responsibility & Dependability

9. Patience & Tenacity

10. Continuous Improvement

How many of the qualities on the above list were shown last week or are shown by our officials in Sioux Falls and South Dakota?

We have elected officials who claim to be leaders but in reality they are primarily authoritarians who would rather hide in their suburban fortresses on Whitechurch Lane, in Grand Prairie or Canton.

A real leader would have immediately arrived on the scene and helped calm a situation. A real leader would have followed the April 1968 example of Senator Robert Kennedy on hearing of the murder of Martin Luther King by going into the crowd to announce it and then calm the crowd that would have emotionally grabbed it leading to a riot like what happened many other burning American cities.

Why did the police have to get out the riot gear? Why did the gathering of our fellow citizens have to rise to a heated situation where fearful police decided to put on swat gear? There will always be agitators in any crowd, but a real leader would have been creative enough to calm the noise.

Robert Kennedy showed us all what a positive leader could do, why do we have officials pretending to be leaders but are in fact authoritarian sheeple, hiding until the coast is clear?

This is to be dealt with, Sioux Falls city government has no leadership. We are a rudderless ship where the engine room is running full-bore into the iceberg because the captain is hiding. I compliment the police chief for the honesty shown after the event but where was our mayor? Our elected officials let untrained, inexperienced directors and line employees run the government while the elected officials we the people hire, are stuffing their resumes to make themselves more self-important. Whether you approve or not, riot gear against our mothers, fathers, children and grandparents who just want to express their emotions is a disgusting lack of real leadership from an absentee leader.

What our Founding Fathers said about Religion

An actual campaign slogan in 2022 (she lost, BTW)

There has been a push over the years that our founding fathers based our nation’s creation on theocracy. While many of our FF were Christian, many were not. Our foundation was actually based in Roman and Greek traditions combining democratic and republic ideals;

The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy. – George Washington

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. – Thomas Jefferson

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries. – James Madison

Lighthouses are more helpful than churches. – Benjamin Franklin

Erecting the ‘wall of separation between church and state’… is absolutely essential in a free society. – Thomas Jefferson

I bring you these words NOT to discourage your personal faith. That is one thing that makes this country so wonderful, we have the freedom to practice our faith anyway we want to FREE from the hands of government.

This is why I get increasingly concerned when politicians from the Radical Right start to tell us Americans have lost their way when it comes to religion. Religion, especially Christianity was NEVER a part of the foundation of this country.

In order for this great experiment to move forward, we must cling to original foundation and stomp out any dogma from the radical right that our country was based on religious doctrine.

City of Sioux Falls Requiring $5 registration fee for July 4th fun run

The fee is payable to the Sioux Falls Parks & Rec and you get a free T-Shirt. Not sure why you would have to pre-register and pre-pay for a publicly endorsed run, especially on Independence Day? It is all to gather information on the citizens. This administration has been doing a heckuva of a job over the past 4 years making citizens RSVP and pre-register for public events and meetings, and it is wrong. You should NEVER have to RSVP or pre-pay for a public event. I encourage you to just show up and participate. It’s being held on public property and no one should force you to pay a FEE to walk on a taxpayer owned bike trail.

I have suspected one of the reasons the mayor and his council endorsements were so successful this past election is because the campaigns have been using the data the city has collected by cross referencing it with voter registration and Facebook followers. There was a reason the other candidates got their asses kicked, they didn’t have access to this data.

The crazy part is I don’t even know if this illegal in the State of South Dakota.

Oh, and the FREE lunch is now for only 3,000 people instead of 5,000 and instead of a pork sandwich we get a hot dog. Someone told me it is likely we no longer have a sponsor for the FREE lunch and this money is likely going towards that.