Toby Doeden - Unfiltered

Episode 7

• Toby Doeden - Unfiltered • Episode 7

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Top Stories of 2024 in SD!

0:01 - Introduction

2:21 - South Dakota Flooding - 1,000-Year Flood Ravished Parts of South Dakota

5:46 - 'Amendment G' Didn't Pass - Attack on the Unborn

10:32 - Trump Wins 2024 Election 

14:00 - SB201 / RL21 - South Dakota is NOT For Sale. Shutting Down the Pipeline

20:44 - Thune Elected as Majority Leader

25:29 - South Dakota Breaks All-Time Tourism Record

28:50 - 'Amendment H' Didn't Pass - Don't California Our South Dakota

32:17 - Kristi Noem Appointed Homeland Security Secretary

35:24 - SDSU Back-to-Back FCS Champions

38:34 - Governor Noem's Controversial Book

45:05 - Conservative Battle to Take Back Our State

Speaker 1:

What an amazing place we live, south Dakota. My mission statement is simple To re-energize the true conservative values of South Dakota. You're listening to Toby Doden Unfiltered. Well, hello again, merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am Toby Doden and you are listening to Toby Doden Unfiltered.

Speaker 1:

Today is Episode 7. And before we get going, I want to just do a real quick recap on the prison episode we did last week with Senate Elect Kevin Jensen. We've gotten a ton of people reaching out. A lot of passionate people from all over the state have reached out directly to me and our team, and so we're going to analyze those. We're going to continue talking to folks and probably do a follow-up report on the new prison proposal episode that we did. I think getting a unique perspective from people all over the state and sharing those views with everybody else, I think would be a good exercise. So we'll be doing that here soon.

Speaker 1:

Today, what we're going to do a little bit different than what we've done in the first six episodes, excuse me. Today we are going to do a 2024 Best of South Dakota edition, and so what does that mean? Okay, so we are going to highlight about a dozen or so of the most significant and impactful events, news stories, happenings you name it in the state of South Dakota for the year 2024. Know this, I am not ranking these personally. I am randomly selecting them in what order we're going to do them in and we want you, the listeners, to reach out to us. We're going to put this all over social media. We want to hear from you folks. We want to know what you think were the most significant events of the year in South Dakota. So listen up, take notes if you want to, but we want to hear from you. We want to know what you think were the most impactful events in South Dakota this year. We're going to start with the flooding events that happened this summer. Listen, I've lost a home to a flood a couple of decades ago, but it's very fresh in my memory because once you go through a traumatic event like losing a home, especially to floods, water is undefeated, and when water wants to get from point A to point B, it's very, very difficult, if not impossible, to stop.

Speaker 1:

While we had, I guess, what they would consider probably like a 1,000-year flood event in the state of South Dakota, the impact on the residents, especially in the southern part of the state, was significant. The events of the floods happened from around June 16th through July 8th 2024. The most severe impacts were seen in mid-June, I believe, around the 20th to the 22nd of June. The primary affected areas of South Dakota were Sioux Falls, canton, north Sioux City, mccook Lake and kind of in that whole area. What caused these floods? Well, simply put, massive amounts of rain in a short period of time, torrential rain and record-breaking rainfall, with some areas receiving between 10 and 20 inches of rain over a three-day period. Sioux Falls and Mitchell recorded the wettest two-day period in history, with 6.5 and 7.7 inches respectively, and Canton saw around 15 inches of rain, and so there was a lot of people impacted by this flood.

Speaker 1:

There was a massive amount of infrastructure damage. Roads, bridges were closed. Significant portions of Interstate 29, if you recall, near North Sioux City, were closed. There was a berm constructed to mitigate the flooding. There was a berm constructed to mitigate the flooding. The railroad bridge connecting north sioux city to south sioux city collapsed due to the flood waters.

Speaker 1:

This was a significant, significant flooding event. Homes and properties there was over 50 homes at mccook lake were damaged, some severely, and some structures were completely swept. Swept Dakota dunes. There were voluntary evacuations due to the threat of flooding from the Big Sioux River, and so you know. Thankfully, events like this massive flooding in the southern part of the state in South Dakota are very rare, but in a state like South Dakota, where we can go from one year to the next without a lot of exciting things happening, this certainly was not an exciting thing. This was a horrible thing, but I have talked to numerous people that were involved, some of which lost property in this flood and much like what I experienced years ago when my family and I went through our significant flood where we lost our home. The people immediately stepped up. They had a great attitude, they attacked it, and that is the resolve that the people in South Dakota have been known for.

Speaker 1:

There's no easy transition folks to begin talking about a radical abortion bill, amendment G and the potential ramifications of Amendment G as one of the most significant events in the state of South Dakota in 2024. Amendment G was an initiated measure or, excuse me, an initiated constitutional amendment aimed at establishing a state constitution right to abortion in South Dakota. It had a first, second and third trimester framework. First trimester, the state could not regulate abortion at all. Second trimester regulations could be implemented, but only in ways reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman. And in the third trimester, abortion could be regulated or prohibited, with exceptions when necessary to preserve the life or health, including mental health, of the pregnant woman. So the proponents of this bill was Decodans for Health, led by Rick Weiland. He was the primary group pushing for the amendment. They argued for restoring protections similar to those under Roe v Wade, emphasizing personal freedom and medical autonomy. Led, I think, largely by Life Defense Fund was among the leading opponents, arguing that the amendment was far too extreme and would lead to unregulated abortions, including late-term procedures. Life Defense Fund and others also claimed it would strip parental rights and potentially endanger women's health by removing safety regulations.

Speaker 1:

Listen, everybody knows that abortion is a hot topic. Many people avoid it altogether. They don't want to talk about it because they're afraid, if they say something just wrong or just right perhaps, that the folks on the other side of the issue will, you know, viciously attack them. And it's sad that it's gotten to that point because it wasn't that long ago in this country when people, regardless of their political views, regardless of their social views, could sit down and could have a good quality, respectful conversation, oftentimes not agreeing on much of the specifics, and that's okay, because what is important and this is a big reason for the growth in many people, myself included and lots of others that I've met, and many people, myself included and lots of others that I've met is you don't necessarily listen to the other side's argument because you think or know or want to change your perspective or your mind or your thoughts on the subject, but it's to re-cement, so to speak, your views.

Speaker 1:

And so when I sat down and talked to people about Amendment G and they told me why they thought Amendment G was a great idea for the state of South Dakota, all it did was re-solidify my views and my opposition to Amendment G. And my opposition to Amendment G largely because this was, by anybody's standard, the most radical and extreme abortion bill ever put forth to a voter in the United States history. And so South Dakotans saw right through what this bill was doing. It was going to allow physicians, in their sole discretion, to perform abortions up to nine months up to the point of birth. If the woman felt that her physical health or her mental health were somehow significant enough to warrant that action. And South Dakotans largely saw through. That voted no. I think it failed 59% to 41%. The fact that that bill even made the November election, in my opinion, is a black eye on the state of South Dakota, and we have to do better to make sure that nonsense like this doesn't show up on our general election ballots. So Donald Trump was reelected in November.

Speaker 1:

Toby, why is this a South Dakota news story? This is a news story in all 50 states. All right news story. This is a news story in all 50 states, all right. I think he got roughly 65% of the vote in South Dakota. Donald Trump is the American president. Donald Trump is the president of South Dakotans. This is a South Dakota story. It's a Minnesota story, it's a Wyoming story, it's a Nebraska story, and so this is one of the most significant events in South Dakota in 2024.

Speaker 1:

Of course, donald Trump won the presidency against massive odds in 2016, beating crooked Hillary Clinton In 2020, many, including myself, believe he likely won that election fair and square, but there was a massive conspiracy to cheat, which we've never got into great detail, nor am I going to, but I will never, ever bring up the 2020 election without referring to the massive amount of cheating that happened, and if you're a liberal and you're like because I've seen this, I've seen prominent liberals say this Well, clearly there was some cheating that happened, but to think that the cheating was enough to flip the election. Well, no, no, no, no. If you cheated, the election is rogue. You can't sit there and tell me yes, there was some cheating it's been well documented and proven, by the way but there's no way to know whether that cheating flipped the election to Joe Biden. Doesn't matter. As soon as you acknowledge cheating, it's a frivolous election.

Speaker 1:

Thankfully, I think it worked out the best, perhaps because it took that event, I think, to really change the trajectory of Donald J Trump, his views and his style and his goals for this four-year term. I think if Donald Trump had won, had been announced a winner in 2020, won had been announced a winner in 2020, I don't think we would have seen nearly as effective of a Donald Trump in 2020 as we're going to see in 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. Donald Trump won the presidency, he's going to be the president the next four years and he is in the process of amassing one of the strongest presidential teams in the history of our country. I couldn't be more excited. He has much work to do. He needs to close the southern border, he needs to lower interest rates, he needs to slow inflation. He needs to make it easier for young Americans to start a family and to buy a home and have all of the advantages that the generation before us had. The cost of homes have skyrocketed. The cost of cars have skyrocketed. You know what hasn't skyrocketed? Pay? And so, as it gets more expensive to live and your pay stays relatively the same, it forces young people to be reliant on the system, which is what the globalists want. So thank you, donald Trump, thank you to everybody that supported Donald Trump, and let's make America great again.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's transition to an issue and a topic that hit way too close to home for many South Dakotans in 2024 and the years leading up to 2024. I'm talking about the Carbon Summit Solution Pipeline issue. Listen, I didn't get involved in the pipeline issue until early in 2024. A lot of, or dozens and dozens, if not hundreds and hundreds of proud South Dakotans had been battling this issue for years leading up to 2024. But 2024, the carbon pipeline issue, I think, peaked. We had some significant, significant, newsworthy items relating to the pipeline in 2024. Of course, summit Carbon Solutions. Quick recap.

Speaker 1:

Iowa-based company originally proposed an $8 billion carbon capture and storage pipeline project. The pipeline aimed to take carbon dioxide CO2 emissions from 57 ethanol plants across five states, including South Dakota, and transport it for underground storage in North Dakota. The project was intended to leverage billions and billions of federal tax credits under Section 45Q of the US Tax Code. The initial permit application was submitted in 2023, and Subcarbons Solutions filed that permit in South Dakota. The project faced significant opposition from landowners, primarily due to concern over property rights, use of eminent domain for private gain and local control over land use regulations. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Utilities Commission, the PUC, initially denied Summit's application in September 2023. In 2024, of August of 2024 specifically, the South Dakota Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that had allowed Summit to conduct surveys on private land. The court found it premature to conclude that SCS is a common carrier, particularly due to the lack of evidence that the CO2 was being transported as a commodity for public use rather than just for underground storage. The decision was seen as a victory for landowners fighting against the use of eminent domain for private gain for the pipeline. By October of 2024, south Dakota Supreme Court denied Summit's petition for a rehearing, further complicating the company's path to using eminent domain.

Speaker 1:

Well then there was Referred Law 21, more commonly known as RL21, that was on the November general election ballot, originally, senate. Bill 201 was passed in the South Dakota legislature and signed by Governor Kristi Noem in early 2024. Sb 201 aimed to regulate CO2 pipelines by allowing counties to impose a $1 per foot surcharge, offering some protections for landowners and counties, but also preempting local regulations in favor of state law regarding pipeline installations. Yes, they wanted to take control away from the local counties and they wanted to give control to the state. Well, the outcome was very, very one-sided. Voters in South Dakota rejected RL21 by a margin of roughly 60% to 40%, indicating a preference for maintaining strong local control over land use and opposing measures seen as favoring multi-billion dollar pipeline companies like Carbon Summit Solutions.

Speaker 1:

Listen, I looked at polling on the Carbon Summit pipeline over the last two plus years. Carbon summit pipeline over the last two plus years, multiple polls were done. I did some polling on my own. Every single set of polling that was done strongly indicated that an overwhelming majority of South Dakotans up to 80% in some cases either strongly or mostly opposed the pipeline. Not going to get deep into the woods here.

Speaker 1:

But our state leaders at that time in the state legislature and we'll talk about that a little later and our governor's office about that a little later and our governor's office and, by their silence, people like Dusty Johnson, mike Rounds and John Thune, supported this eminent domain boondoggle of thievery of multi-generation farm and ranch land to funnel billions of dollars in tax credits to BlackRock and Summit Carbon Solutions and other massive globalist companies. These people should be ashamed. The great people, the landowners that opposed RL21, and that opposed SB201, and the state legislators that opposed SB201 and RL21 should be revered, celebrated. Thank you. Thank you to the voters that once again, despite massive amount, millions and millions of dollars being poured into our state to try to win the RL21 vote still lost by 20 points. Had the playing field been equal, had each side been given the exact same resources, it would have been 80% to 20%. No on RL21. The millions of dollars that these hack fraud crooks funneled into South Dakota bought them some votes, but they didn't buy the vote of the traditional conservative, strong South Dakotans like you and me. Big win for the state. Rl21 beat it.

Speaker 1:

John Thune has been a politician in South Dakota, or representing South Dakota, or allegedly representing South Dakota, for many, many years, his work with the railroad way back in the day In 2004, of course, he famously with the help of the GOP nationally beat then, I believe Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and is currently serving I believe he's on his fourth term as a senator was this year voted as the new Senate Majority Leader of the United States Senate. This has never happened before in South Dakota. South Dakota has never had a Senate Majority Leader. Tom Daschle was the Minority Senate leader Big difference. So now the Republicans have a majority, a fairly slim majority, in the US Senate and John Thune is the Senate majority leader. He defeated Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida in a secret ballot. By the way, why is that vote a secret? A hundred senators show up for an official vote on who is going to run the Senate, the person that is most responsible to see that the president, in this case Donald Trump's appointees are approved and his policies are enacted Arguably one of the most powerful positions in the entire world of politics Senate Majority Leader is voted on in a secret ballot. I mean, what a cowardly way to select the leader of the Senate. But that's how they do it. Before that, thune had served as Senate Minority Whip and number two position in the Senate Republican leadership behind brain freeze Mitch McConnell.

Speaker 1:

So listen, I wish John Thune good luck. I genuinely do. I've never met John. I disagree with much of what he's done politically the last 10 years. He sold Donald Trump down the river, sold him out, hated Donald Trump, still hates Donald Trump, despite what he says publicly. He's saying all the right things as Senate Majority Leader that he's going to make sure that Trump's appointees are voted and approved, that Trump's agenda and policy are going to see the light of day. I have to see it to believe it. As my dad used to say, toby, don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see. So I'm sorry, john Thune, I'm not going to believe anything you say and I'm going to be very skeptical of all of the things you do. And I hope I'm wrong, because I want Donald Trump's vision of America to be played out, because it's a winning vision, it's a winning playbook and John Thune knows it's a winning playbook and John Thune knows it's a winning playbook. So we're going to really find out if Senator John Thune has the best interests of our country at heart or not, because if he doesn't, you are going to see him torpedo Donald Trump's agenda and vision for this country the next four years. I hope I'm wrong. I hope John Thune steps up. I hope he works closely with Donald Trump and his team and I hope that he has a you know moment where he sees the light and sees a new path forward to stop all of this establishment backroom dealing. It's got to end. There needs to be more transparency. There has to be more common sense approaches, closing the southern border, all the things that need to happen in this country. So I wish John Thune luck. I would be lying if I told you I was super optimistic that he is going to stand by what he's been saying recently, but I genuinely, genuinely hope that he does so.

Speaker 1:

When you think of South Dakota, if you just randomly selected 100 people and said what's the first thing you think of when you think of South Dakota, you know what they would say. Well, I guess it depends when you ask it, but generally speaking, I think they would say Mount Rushmore or the Black Hills. Right, I think that's what a lot of people would say. Well, south Dakota, this is a big story. I think I haven't really seen it talked about. I had to actually search tourism numbers because I had not seen any of the major news outlets covering this, which I guess that doesn't surprise me, because why would Kettle Land, why would Dakota News? Now, why would these hack fake news organizations cover anything interesting in the state of South Dakota that might actually be positive? No, they get their stories fed to them by their oligarchic leadership and they are told what to report.

Speaker 1:

It's sad because the state of South Dakota had a record year for tourism in 2024, 14.7 million visitors. It's a brand new record. More people visited South Dakota for tourism than ever before in the past. This industry tourism helped support nearly 58,000 jobs in South Dakota, equating to about one of 11 jobs in our state, and this employment generated north of $2 billion in income for employees and their families. Tax revenue you ask Well good question. The industry contributed north of $380 million in state and local tax revenue, significantly benefiting South Dakota's fiscal health.

Speaker 1:

Here's something I found interesting when I dug into the South Dakota tourism numbers Southeast versus Black Hills. When I first saw that, I'm like what do you mean Southeast? Well, the Southeast Tourism District of South Dakota generated more revenue than the more famous Black Hills region Shocked me, absolutely shocked me. But then I started thinking there's a lot of really cool stuff in the south and east part of the state right River, lewis and Clark and Yankton Falls Park, like there's a ton of stuff that drives out-of-state tourism into South Dakota. That isn't part of the Black Hills. But I was shocked to find out that Southeastern that's how they labeled it how Southeastern tourism generated more revenue than Black Hills tourism. Shocking to me Either way. Great for South Dakota. We've got a lot to offer. The Black Hills is wonderful. If you happen to be from outside of South Dakota or, heck, from South Dakota if you've never been to the Black Hills, it is an absolute must destination for your next trip. Congratulations, south Dakota, big tourism numbers.

Speaker 1:

I said at the beginning I was not going to rank these and I'm not going to rank these and I look forward to each of you ranking your top three, five, top 10, whatever you want to do, I can't wait to see what the public sentiment is. For me personally, I believe the most important issue in the entire state of South Dakota in 2024 was Amendment H. I know it's not sexy, but Amendment H, if passed in November would have turned South Dakota into a jungle primary state, also known as an open primary state. Why is this significant? I'm not going to recap the entire Amendment H issue, but all I need to tell you is people like Dusty Johnson, us Congressman Dusty Johnson was 100% on board and wanted Amendment H to pass. Whether they admit it publicly or not, privately, and in some cases, I think Dusty Johnson I'm not a hundred percent sure on this I think he actually signed a petition to get amendment H on the ballot and then flip flopped and said he wasn't for amendment H. Well, if you came up to me and said, do you want to sign this amendment that says I can punch you in the face? And said, do you want to sign this amendment that says I can punch you in the face, and I signed the amendment and then you punched me in the face and then I'm mad that you punched me in the face.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, dusty, doesn't make any sense, but the fact that people like Dusty Johnson wanted open primaries tells you how terrible of an idea open primaries is. Why did people like Dusty Johnson want open primaries? Because it would have guaranteed with 100% certainty that fake Republican hacks like Dusty Johnson would have been elected to significant offices in South Dakota for the rest of time, true conservatives would have been boxed out of the entire political landscape. It's true why? Because every voter Democrat, independent, libertarian, republican doesn't matter. They all could have voted for whoever they wanted to in the primaries. They wanted to in the primaries. So you have left-leaning fake Republicans like Dusty Johnson, who would have gotten some Republican votes, like from the establishment rhinos, and he would have gotten a pile, a whole bunch of Democrat and independent votes because largely they agree on the issues, and so our state would have lost all of our conservative progress. We would have been destined to have poor liberal leadership for decades to come. Every other issue in the state of South Dakota pales in comparison to H, because Amendment H would have allowed them to carry out all of their liberal agenda. South Dakota voters are smart. South Dakota has the smartest block of conservative voters in the entire country, bar none period. We have proven it time and time and time again. We have proven it time and time and time again. Rl21, beat it. Amendment G go to hell. Amendment H not in our state. I could not be more proud to call myself a part of the grassroots conservative movement in the state of South Dakota. Thank you all.

Speaker 1:

We're not here today to debate how well Christy Noem has done as governor of this great state the past six years. Regardless if you love Christy Noem or you loathe Christy Noem, it doesn't matter, because in this list we're just talking about significant events and I'm sorry, the sitting governor of a state like South Dakota being appointed by Donald Trump to be the Secretary of Homeland Security is a big damn deal. Now you can talk about all the stuff leading up to it and how she got there and all all the stuff she did at the southern border and activating our south dakota guard troops and all that stuff, and you know there was a lot of legitimate questions there and a lot of legitimate criticism. I think that can be levied toward governor christie noem and that that's fine as a public official. That's part of the process is to let the voters and let the citizens and the residents that you serve question your decisions and then to be transparent on how you reciprocate that information. That's for another conversation. I've got some questions myself, but it does not underscore the value and how cool it is, I don't care how you twist it. I don't care how you feel about Governor Noem, it is a positive for the state of South Dakota that she is being considered for this prestigious position.

Speaker 1:

Homeland Security, that ain't no fooling around. That's a big-time job. This isn't some fake, half-wit appointment to appease a friendship. This is a real serious position, and so I trust Donald Trump. I trust Donald Trump's vision for this country. I trust Donald Trump's ability to assess talent and assess character, and so I am going to sit back and I am going to watch and I'm going to support Governor Noem as she becomes the Secretary of Homeland Security, and I will cheer for her, that she does well and that she helps close up our southern border and starts taking the necessary steps to win this country back. So congratulations to Christy Noem. I hope her approval is swift and quick. Everything I've read indicates that it will be, and I suspect sometime in the next month or six weeks or so we will see Lieutenant Governor Larry Roden sworn in as the next governor of South Dakota. Congratulations, governor Noem, on your appointment to the head of Homeland Security.

Speaker 1:

Unfortunately, I was at the game against SDSU and NDSU recently in the Fargo Dome. I think I'm still a little depressed. I really, really wanted to go to Frisco, I canceled my hotel rooms, canceled my rental car. Haven't quite recovered yet, but this is a 2024 best of and last time I checked, the Jackrabbits are still national champions. They won their second back-to-back national championship in January of 2024. Yes, I know it was the 2023 season, but damn it, they won the title in 2024. And on my podcast, toby Doden Unfiltered, we are going to celebrate the Jackrabbits Congratulations.

Speaker 1:

Some recent news out of Brookings is very popular coach. I think the people around that area considered him part of their family and still do. Jimmy Rogers has accepted the head coaching position at Washington State. Didn't really have any notes to get into this, but congratulations to Jimmy Rogers. Listen, he's put, I think, more than 12 or 15 years into that community, into that school. I think he's been with the team since 2013 or 2014. He's been the head coach the past couple of seasons and he had a very nice salary of around $300,000. And I'm sure he gets a little extra money from camps and this, that and the other thing. But at the end of the day, sdsu, ndsu, usd they can only pay their coaches so much and I believe he signed a long-term deal with Washington State that's going to pay him about $1.6 million per year or so, so roughly a 500% increase. Good for you, jimmy Rogers, and I am very happy that almost to a person. The fans the Jackrabbit fans who are wonderful, by the way, some of the best college football fans I've ever been around have almost overwhelmingly supported his decision to move on to Washington State. I know some other fan bases that would have attacked Jimmy Rogers. They would have attacked his family, they would have attacked his motives. All of these things the great fans in South Dakota, the great fans in Brookings, the Jackrabbit faithful, the alumni at SDSU they have warmly celebrated his 500% pay increase, his new opportunity at FBS Washington State. So good luck, jimmy Rogers, good luck SDSU on next season and congratulations on the two national titles certainly worthy of our spot, and I look forward to seeing where each of you rank SDSU's second national title in this year's rankings of most significant events.

Speaker 1:

We talked about Governor Kristi Noem and her being appointed to the head of Homeland Security by President-elect Donald Trump. Well, governor Noem is on our list a second time. I'm not trying to drudge up negative things from the past, but this is a best of 2024 show, and by best of how we defined it, was the most significant happenings, the most significant news, the most significant events that the people of South Dakota cared about, because, at the end of the day, this is a South Dakota podcast largely, and so we wanted to hit the topics that happened this year that you folks at home cared the most about. And so Kristi Noem's book and the revelations she made in the publicity leading up to the release of her book, by anybody's standard is one of the top stories in South Dakota of 2024. Hell, it was one of the largest national stories. So if you have a story that is massive on a national landscape, it has to make our list in South Dakota. So I'm sure almost every single human being on the planet knows the backstory.

Speaker 1:

But Governor Noem described in her book shooting her 14-month-old wire-haired pointer dog named Cricket. She said that the dog ruined a pheasant hunt. It had killed some chickens and attempted to bite her. She also mentions killing a goat shortly after. Well, needless to say, there was significant backlash. The revelation led to widespread criticism from animal rights advocates, the public and political commentators. It was seen as particularly harsh and has been used by political opponents to question her judgment. Listen, I didn't talk about this at the time. I'm going to talk about it right now, and if you don't like what I'm about to say, then you are either biased or you just don't understand things like this very well. What Kristi Noem did with her dog and her goat happens all the time Right here in South Dakota, on family farms all over the state, all over the Midwest, all over our country, dogs even dogs as family pets have been put down with a gun on their family farm for a host of reasons.

Speaker 1:

The dog is old, suffering, has no quality of life, the dog has, you know, something not quite right in its brain function and it has a propensity to attack other animals or to attack children or shows aggressive behavior. There's a million reasons, right, and while a lot of us myself included, anybody that knows my wife and I big supporters of the aberdeen Area Humane Society they named the building after my family. That's how much we support dogs and the rehoming of dogs. I've had dozens of dogs. We have a bunch of rescue dogs at my house, but like you and like me, our lifespan is finite, and so when it's time for a loved pet, in this case a dog that has no quality of life left. We take them to a vet and the vet puts them down in a way that, at least on the surface, makes us feel better about it. But you've got to understand.

Speaker 1:

My great-grandparents farmed. My parents both grew up on farms. I spent a lot of time on farms as a kid. I have a lot of family that still farms. I have a lot of friends that farm. I know how it works. I personally have really close friends. I know that have had to put down pets and dogs at their farm. This happens all of the time.

Speaker 1:

So I'm really tired of people criticizing what she did. Having said that, where criticism is deserved and rightfully so, and count me in on this a hundred percent the fact that she basically bragged about it in a book is insane. To go public and start spreading excerpts from your book to gain support and to build marketing pressure for this big release, I really have to question somebody's intangible judgment that would say let's put out the part where I shot my dog cricket in a gravel pit. Anybody I mean anybody would know that a large percentage of the population is going to find that repulsive. Again, I explained how that happens and I explained why it happens and in many, if not most, cases it is justified. It's their way of ending their dog's life with dignity on their property where that dog grew up. I understand all that. I do. I'm not critical of that at all. I get it. I couldn't do it. I have to go to the vet. But I understand why people do it. I really do. But to even include it in the book is insane. But then to highlight it before the book is even released in my opinion shows a significant lack of institutional judgment. I'll be curious to see where this ranks on your list.

Speaker 1:

And our last, but certainly not least, best of the best 2024 significant happenings, news, events or stories. We go back to the political landscape in South Dakota, specifically the complete changeover of leadership in the state house and the state senate. Going into 2024,. All of the leaders in the state legislature were establishment rhino Republicans that supported and voted lock, stock and barrel with Governor Kristi Noem on every single issue. Internal divisions within the Republican Party became very pronounced in 2024. There was a rising tide of discontent among conservative grassroots activists who felt that the existing legislative leadership was not adequately representing their values or was too moderate, in many cases liberal. So this group came along called Dakota First Action. Along with other similar organizations, we mobilized around issues like election integrity, government overreach and opposition to what they saw as establishment politics. And so, dakota First Action, my political action committee and others, we targeted many of the state legislators in the June primary that had gone along with all of this nonsense and we beat pretty much all of them. So in November when the state legislature met to do their voting of the new leadership that will be starting in the legislative session coming up in January just a couple of weeks away actually Every single RINO leader in the Senate and the House gone All replaced with Dakota First Action and or America First conservative Republicans.

Speaker 1:

Much like Noam's book story, that went national. Her appointment to Homeland Security Secretary that was a national story. This wasn't as big of a national story. But South Dakota politics made noise all over the country. Politicians, pundits, other packs, influential political minds were all talking about what happened in south dakota. They had never seen anything like it. David versus goliath comes to mind. You could make a strong argument that the odds were even worse for us.

Speaker 1:

The amount of money that was poured into the state of South Dakota to make sure that these rhino Republicans were re-elected was massive. They had the full support of Governor Noem's office, whether it was public or not. They had the full support of people like Dusty Johnson, mike Rounds, john Thune and millions and millions of dollars that flowed in from out of state, and I'll be damned if we didn't beat them all. Didn't beat them all, and the lesson to be learned by South Dakota politics in 2024 is this If you are on the wrong side of God, if you are on the wrong side of the will of people, there is no amount of money that's going to change the outcome. And we proved that we were undermanned, we were underfunded, we had a significant lack of resources and yet we won nearly every single battle politically in 2024 against the liberal establishment, every single one. That's impressive and that is worthy of being one of the top stories in South Dakota in 2024. In South Dakota in 2024. Thank you for listening to Toby Doden Unfiltered.