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.
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.
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.
“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.†– Patrick Henry
“Information is the currency of democracy.†– Thomas Jefferson
“Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” – Ben Franklin
“Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe.†– Abraham Lincoln
“A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.†– James Madison
“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Ben Franklin
“Secrecy is for losers.†– Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant†– Louis D. Brandeis
“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.†– Lord Acton
Noem claims the Biden Administration is making this political? Really? Who is the one suing using taxdollars to spend more taxdollars on something most people don’t give 2-Sh!ts about. Noem has zero grounds to sue. The property is Federal not state, which she admits and she has no control over. As for a memo from Trump, that isn’t worth the paper it is written on. He is no longer the president, so it means nothing.
As for last year’s display, that was simply a taxpayer funded campaign rally for the Orange Menace and little else.
As for the fireworks, most people can’t attend anyway due to the lottery and most people don’t care. When I think of Independence day, I think of the great people in this country, it has little to do with a rock sculpture and Chinese explosives. Noem needs to concentrate on making the lives of working people in this state better and knock off her grandstanding.
All I can say is ‘BRAVO’ to Dusty to have the courage to wear a mask and not be worried about being shamed. Of course he was in the back row and not sitting with Rounds and Thune on the president’s stage. I guess Rounds was wearing a mask to but took it off before the Great Pumpkin showed up.
A lot of people took notice also that the governor must have been hitting the weights, the tanning booth and popping the water pills in preparation for the big night. It’s funny how she had time to get her appearance perfect but couldn’t memorize a couple of minute speech. Oh, that’s right, it’s only about appearance with these folks, substance is for another day.
On July 9, 1776, a rowdy group of American colonists banded together at a political rally in New York City and did something that today would be called “badass.”They had just been treated to a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, which Congress had officially adopted less than a week earlier.
After hearing calls to “dissolve the political bands” of tyranny, they marched to a public park that featured a statue of King George III, Britain’s ruler, and knocked the 4,000-pound statue off its 15-foot pedestal.The head of the statue was then decapitated and perched on top of a spike, and much of the rest was melted down to make 42,000 musket balls for American soldiers.
The historian Erika Doss thought of that scene recently while watching protesters toppling statues of Confederate heroes. Doss, who recounts the 1776 episode in her book, “Memorial Mania,” sees a parallel between the colonists who fought against Great Britain and protesters who rail against Confederate monuments today.
Of course our All-Knowing SD AG has a different take on history (as he reads off of piece of paper – I mean really Jason, you can’t remember 4 minutes worth of commentary? Doubt he wrote the talking points).
I watched most of the event last night and also got a good chuckle out of Noem reading the teleprompter in the podium (why didn’t she use the president’s? Or better yet, have the speech memorized?) Often when have done public input, I either just do it from thoughts I have or 5-10 words I wrote down on a piece of paper. It often amazes me how our supposed leaders who are supposed to be so passionate about their role can’t make a 5 minute speech without reading it. It is because they are not ‘passionate’ about anything except enriching themselves. I hope in November this country has a reckoning where the Senate and White House is turned over to the opposing party so we can go back to progressive ideals in this country like equality, higher education and healthcare for EVERY American. And while our founding fathers where mostly white Christian men they still believed this country was founded for everyone. Let the protests continue this is the only way we will topple this destructive regime that is persistent on burning it to the ground.
Many people have been wondering why you would need to get a permit to protest in Sioux Falls. You do not.
Is it a good idea to meet with the SFPD and give them an idea of what you will be protesting and how many people may show up? Sure it is. It’s a nice gesture but not required.
Remember, the US Constitution and your 1st Amendment right to organize and peacefully protest and assemble trumps any state constitution or city charter. While the city can have such an ordinance, it really wouldn’t stand up in Federal court if challenged.
I may be wrong about this, but I think the ordinance came about to break up the kids hanging out downtown while cruising the loop. It has nothing to do with protesting or your 1st Amendment rights.
I encourage anyone protesting in the future to reach out to the SFPD, but don’t get a permit. Besides the enormous powerful message the BLM movement is sending, our right as citizens to peacefully protest is protected already, with a permit or not, and that message needs to also be sent in these troubling times.
SIOUX FALLS 4TH OF JULY PARADE CANCELLED
Mayor TenHaken announced on FB on Friday that the parade has been cancelled this year and the Falls Park feeding.
While I understand serving food to 5,000 people in Falls Park is not a good way to social distance, I think having a parade outside (where people can distance) would be just fine. In fact in my bike rides downtown over the past couple of weeks, DTSF has been packed with people. The bars and restaurants are at capacity and most people are not social distancing. I really don’t understand why the city is so hesitant to open city buildings, pools and libraries when every other place is full capacity (which they gave permission to do in ordinance). Oh that’s right, it goes back to the hypocrisy thing.
With Independence Day coming up, it is that time of the year to reflect on being American. While many National holidays often focus on the military, guns & flag waving, when I think of July 4th, I think about what makes our country one of the better Republics in the world, it is our ability to dissent our government, I cannot think of a higher level of patriotism.
While the gun chucklers in our country and mostly in our state get all worked up over the 2nd amendment (basically created to protect white landowners from slave uprisings) it’s the 1st Amendment that really makes us unique, and why our founders put it FIRST.
“The pen is mightier then the sword.â€
As I have been watching things unravel over the past couple of weeks with a guy who claims he belongs to a clan (conveniently named after him), I find his case intriguing. Recently his attorney defended his free speech rights by saying it was just ‘hyperbole’ and he was really arrested for reprisal for filing a Federal suit against the city due to the implementation of 5G.
I’m not going to defend ‘The Living Man’ because some of the stuff he is claiming is a little wacky, and I don’t know him personally, but he really was using figures of speech and he is absolutely right about 5G being dangerous. But a good rule of thumb when emailing public officials, don’t use references to guns, bullets or people dying. I hate violence anyway, and I absolutely hate guns because I think it defines us as a violent society (which we are).
I recently talked to a retired high level military officer about what really is ‘classified information’ (I was looking for a definition, not something in particular). In our discussion (BTW, they did not share any with me) they brought up 5G, they told me besides the radiation affects of 5G and other health issues, what concerned them the most was the spyware installed in the 5G antennas made in other countries like China. They basically said that once a nationwide 5G network is implemented, the Chinese or other foreign entities will be able to spy on virtually ALL Americans. Scary crap.
What does concern me though about the arrest of ‘The Living Man’ is this isn’t the first time the city has arrested someone based on their dissent. Several years ago, Cameraman Bruce was arrested on a ‘Penny Bond’ over a stack of shingles in his backyard. Bruce won the case, but what is interesting is he was arrested on the same day he was set to testify to the City Council about the Events Center siding issue. Curiously, it was changed to ‘penny bond’ shortly before he showed up to be booked. So instead of just filling out the necessary paperwork and being on his way in a couple of minutes, he was arrested and placed in custody for several hours, preventing him to testify.
While I still need to see how the Living Man’s case plays out, we must be diligent about resisting reprisal for dissenting our government. I’ve been warning the city for years that a major 1st Amendment case will be boiling to the surface if they continue to try to limit free speech. I’m not sure what that will look like? Just remember celebrating Independence Day is about celebrating freedom, and freedom of speech is one of our greatest gifts in this country.
I spoke at the city council meeting Tuesday night about the importance of the 1st Amendment and FREE SPEECH. It truly is the greatest right we have as Americans to dissent our government, remember this while celebrating our Independence today!
It's setting up to be another hot day in much of KELOLAND. However, we do have a better chance of scattered rain this afternoon across the east. More on the that story in moment. Highs yesterday reached the mid 90s in many areas from Aberdeen to Sioux Falls, a growing sign of the dry weather […]
