Free Republic

Treasurers and state financial officers representing 14 states sent letters Monday to Costco, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, and McKesson calling on C-suite leaders to resist political pressure to begin selling the chemical abortion drug mifepristone at their pharmacies. The letters were signed by state financial officers of Texas, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The letters follow similar outreach in August from firms, financial advisors, and thousands of Costco members representing more than $100 billion in assets under management, including more than $172 million in ownership of the five retailers. “We...

Ranchers across the U.S. have expressed outrage over the Forest Service prosecuting a South Dakota ranch couple for allegedly stealing public land. The feds, who showed up armed and in tactical gear, say a fence that’s been on the owners' land for 75 years crosses a boundary with federal grasslands. A South Dakota ranch couple is fighting federal indictments served to them by a U.S. Forest Service agent who allegedly showed up unannounced on their front steps — armed and in tactical gear. The agent was there to serve them with indictments in a modern-day range war between the ranchers...

the woke DEI disease has claimed yet another victim—this time, it’s the all-American motorcycle company Harley-Davidson. They’ve gone from easy riders to progressive pukes faster than you can say “born to ride,” all thanks to their uber-woke German CEO, Jochen Zeitz. He’s now admitting that he took the job at this legendary American brand in order to turn an iconic symbol into a DEI wasteland. Think Bud Light on wheels .… CEO Jochen Zeitz admits that he took the Harley job because it was an opportunity to transform an American icon into embracing wokeness and DEI. ... He said this...

STURGIS, South Dakota — A growing online political movement is trying to enlist Sturgis Motorcycle Rally attendees into pressuring Harley-Davidson to fire its chief executive for supporting climate change policies and diversity and inclusive programs. The movement is led by Robby Starbuck, a popular online conservative activist who targets companies over policies and practices he considers part of a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) progressive agenda. “Bikers @SturgisRally are going to be spreading the word about this,” Starbuck posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. “Harley is hoping this all blows over. Are y’all ready to give up or make...

A B-1B Lancer valued at more than $450 million that crashed in South Dakota at the start of this year missed the runway by 100 feet, a mistake accident investigators attributed to the aircrew's shortcomings as well as the poor training culture within units at Ellsworth Air Force Base. The scathing crash investigation report shared with Military.com pointed to "failure to perform standard crew resource management," along with adverse weather conditions, ineffective flying operations supervision, lack of awareness, and "an unhealthy organizational culture that permitted degradation of airmanship skills" as contributing factors in the Jan. 4 crash. (Snip) The report...

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has directed the Defense Department to review the Medals of Honor awarded to approximately 20 soldiers for their actions during the December 1890 engagement at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, to ensure no awardees were recognized for conduct inconsistent with the nation's highest military honor. DOD's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness will convene a special review panel to conduct an individualized assessment based on standards in effect during that period. The scope of the panel's review is limited to examining each Medal of Honor awardee' s individual actions...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The Sioux Falls School District quickly fired an employee Monday who wrote a controversial Facebook post about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. In a statement to KELOLAND News, the SFSD said officials became aware of a social media post by a “district staff member” and “the District’s Code of Conduct Policy (GBEB) clearly outlines the high standards to which we hold all staff members.” “The staff member’s statement does not align with the School District’s values and was not condoned in any way. The individual is no longer employed by the Sioux...

A federal judge has decided not to rule on a South Dakota lawsuit challenging a pro-abortion ballot measure initiative — for now. The ballot measure would enshrine the “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution, and Judge Karen Schreier said she wants to hear from a state court before she rules. In June, the pro-life organization Life Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit against the ballot measure, alleging that the group behind the measure, Dakotans for Health, broke election laws in its process of gathering petition signatures, and misled people as to what they were signing. In her Friday ruling,...

Longstanding official social media accounts belonging to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem appear to have been deleted without explanation. The accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X, the site formerly known as Twitter, had reached hundreds of thousands of followers. As of Monday, links to them on the governor's official website led to pages that said the accounts were no longer active. A fourth link from the governor's website to her official YouTube page remained active, as did Noem's personal accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X. A new X account for the governor's office was created this month and had just...

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, states have been allowed to pass their own abortion laws. As certain states began to pass stronger protections for preborn human beings, other states began to eliminate protections — and ‘abortion travel’ became a hot-button issue. Some companies began funding abortion travel as a “benefit” to employees, and abortion funds began to pay for airfare, hotels, and the like in order to assist women living in pro-life states to obtain abortions in states where abortion was more available. Since that time, the Guttmacher Institute...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland acknowledged Tuesday that the Biden administration’s climate agenda, which is reliant on global critical mineral supply chains, is strengthening China. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on her agency’s proposed 2024 budget, Haaland was repeatedly grilled about the administration’s environmental policies blocking further domestic production of critical minerals and opening the door to further reliance on Chinese-sourced minerals. In one exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., Haaland affirmed that green energy sources “deepen” reliance on Chinese imports. “I’m telling you right now that 63% of rare earth mining [occurs in China],” Reschenthaler stated. “By deductive reasoning,...

CV NEWS FEED // A South Dakota pro-life organization has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to take a proposed pro-abortion constitutional amendment off the state’s November ballot. CBS News reported that Life Defense Fund’s lawsuit claims that the circulators of the proposed amendment, known as Amendment G, failed to properly follow election law requirements when gathering signatures on the petition. According to CBS News, Life Defense Fund claimed that the amendment’s sponsors, Dakotans for Health, didn’t file a required affidavit for petition circulators’ residency. The lawsuit also alleges that the petitioners misled people as to the nature of the...

Since McConnell announced his retirement, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have announced they are running to be the next GOP Senate Leader. Two of those three, along with several other notable Republican senators, told the Caller they support term limits for the next leader. (RELATED: Mitch McConnell Will Step Down As Senate Republican Leader In November)

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) has been banned from all nine of South Dakota’s tribal nations. On Tuesday, the final tribe that had not yet banned her, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, voted in favor of banning Noem from its reservation. Flandreau President Tony Reider called an emergency meeting in response to some of the governor’s comments. “President Reider informed the governor that a ban from our territories is imminent and requested that the Governor refrain from making future blanket statements that offend the tribes within the boundaries of the State of South Dakota, some of which depend on state services...

Officials in South Dakota and Colorado certified proposed amendments that would enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions. Republican South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson released a statement on Thursday announcing that her office had approved the abortion measure after certifying that it had the required number of signatures to appear on the November ballot, NBC News reported.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who has been under the microscope this week for an anecdote about killing her dog, defended her actions Wednesday, saying she shot the “dangerous” pup in order to protect her children. “It was a dog that was extremely dangerous,” Noem said Wednesday on Fox News’s “Hannity.” “It had come to us from a family who had found her way too aggressive.” “We were her second chance. And she was — the day she was put down was a day that she massacred livestock that were part of our neighbors,” she continued. “She attacked me....

I have been an admirer of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem ever since she first showed up on my radar after her election in 2019. She has established a solid record as a conservative with ambitious policy goals that have served her state very well and she's an excellent communicator. She's been well up on my list of potential Trump veepstakes picks because she brings a lot to the table. But all of that came crashing down for me yesterday evening when The Guardian published a review of her upcoming book, "No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with...

President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline has released more than 950,000 foreign nationals into the United States since its inception in January 2023 — exceeding the entire population of South Dakota. Late last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released figures for March, showing Biden’s parole pipeline is continuing to release tens of thousands of foreign nationals into the United States interior via the southern border and commercial flights. From January 2023 through March 2024, more than 950,000 foreign nationals have been released into American communities thanks to Biden’s parole pipeline. The pipeline brings foreign nationals to the U.S. through...

Jade Simon, a professor at Laramie County Community College, was a critical part of a paleontologist team that discovered a new species of meat-eating dinosaur that’s best described as a giant 170-pound chicken from hell. A new prehistoric avian dinosaur, similar to this one, has been discovered. A Wyoming paleontologist helped verify it. (Cowboy State Daily Illustration) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When paleontologists found a drumstick from what can best be described as a 68-million-year-old chicken from hell, they needed expert on prehistoric hell chickens to confirm it as a new species. And they found her in Wyoming at Laramie County Community College....

Gov. Kristi Noem is facing legal action after her latest endorsement caused an online furor that now risks taking a bite out of her standing in South Dakota at a time when she’s rumored to be among the front-runners on Donald Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.