December 31, 2024 • 50 mins
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
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What an amazing place we live, south Dakota.
My mission statement is simpleTo re-energize the true
conservative values of SouthDakota.
You're listening to Toby DodenUnfiltered.
Well, hello again, merryChristmas and Happy New Year.
(00:24):
I am Toby Doden and you arelistening to Toby Doden
Unfiltered.
Today is Episode 7.
And before we get going, I wantto just do a real quick recap
on the prison episode we didlast week with Senate Elect
Kevin Jensen.
We've gotten a ton of peoplereaching out.
(00:45):
A lot of passionate people fromall 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 talkingto folks and probably do a
follow-up report on the newprison proposal episode that we
did.
I think getting a uniqueperspective from people all over
(01:08):
the state and sharing thoseviews with everybody else, I
think would be a good exercise.
So we'll be doing that heresoon.
Today, what we're going to do alittle bit different than what
we've done in the first sixepisodes, excuse me.
Today we are going to do a 2024Best of South Dakota edition,
(01:29):
and so what does that mean?
Okay, so we are going tohighlight about a dozen or so of
the most significant andimpactful events, news stories,
happenings you name it in thestate of South Dakota for the
year 2024.
Know this, I am not rankingthese personally.
(01:51):
I am randomly selecting them inwhat order we're going to do
them in and we want you, thelisteners, to reach out to us.
We're going to put this allover social media.
We want to hear from you folks.
We want to know what you thinkwere the most significant events
of the year in South Dakota.
So listen up, take notes if youwant to, but we want to hear
(02:15):
from you.
We want to know what you thinkwere the most impactful events
in South Dakota this year.
We're going to start with theflooding events that happened
this summer.
Listen, I've lost a home to aflood a couple of decades ago,
but it's very fresh in my memorybecause once you go through a
(02:38):
traumatic event like losing ahome, especially to floods,
water is undefeated, and whenwater wants to get from point A
to point B, it's very, verydifficult, if not impossible, to
stop.
While we had, I guess, what theywould consider probably like a
1,000-year flood event in thestate of South Dakota, the
(03:01):
impact on the residents,especially in the southern part
of the state, was significant.
The events of the floodshappened from around June 16th
through July 8th 2024.
The most severe impacts wereseen in mid-June, I believe,
around the 20th to the 22nd ofJune.
The primary affected areas ofSouth Dakota were Sioux Falls,
(03:27):
canton, north Sioux City, mccookLake and kind of in that whole
area.
What caused these floods?
Well, simply put, massiveamounts of rain in a short
period of time, torrential rainand record-breaking rainfall,
with some areas receivingbetween 10 and 20 inches of rain
over a three-day period.
(03:48):
Sioux Falls and Mitchellrecorded the wettest two-day
period in history, with 6.5 and7.7 inches respectively, and
Canton saw around 15 inches ofrain, and so there was a lot of
people impacted by this flood.
There was a massive amount ofinfrastructure damage.
(04:10):
Roads, bridges were closed.
Significant portions ofInterstate 29, if you recall,
near North Sioux City, wereclosed.
There was a berm constructed tomitigate the flooding.
There was a berm constructed tomitigate the flooding.
The railroad bridge connectingnorth sioux city to south sioux
city collapsed due to the floodwaters.
This was a significant,significant flooding event.
(04:34):
Homes and properties there wasover 50 homes at mccook lake
were damaged, some severely, andsome structures were completely
swept.
Swept Dakota dunes.
There were voluntaryevacuations due to the threat of
flooding from the Big SiouxRiver, and so you know.
Thankfully, events like thismassive flooding in the southern
(04:59):
part of the state in SouthDakota are very rare, but in a
state like South Dakota, wherewe can go from one year to the
next without a lot of excitingthings happening, this certainly
was not an exciting thing.
This was a horrible thing, butI have talked to numerous people
that were involved, some ofwhich lost property in this
(05:22):
flood and much like what Iexperienced years ago when my
family and I went through oursignificant flood where we lost
our home.
The people immediately steppedup.
They had a great attitude, theyattacked it, and that is the
resolve that the people in SouthDakota have been known for.
(05:46):
There's no easy transition folksto begin talking about a
radical abortion bill, amendmentG and the potential
ramifications of Amendment G asone of the most significant
(06:08):
events in the state of SouthDakota in 2024.
Amendment G was an initiatedmeasure or, excuse me, an
initiated constitutionalamendment aimed at establishing
a state constitution right toabortion in South Dakota.
It had a first, second andthird trimester framework.
(06:30):
First trimester, the statecould not regulate abortion at
all.
Second trimester regulationscould be implemented, but only
in ways reasonably related tothe physical health of the
pregnant woman.
And in the third trimester,abortion could be regulated or
prohibited, with exceptions whennecessary to preserve the life
(06:51):
or health, including mentalhealth, of the pregnant woman.
So the proponents of this billwas Decodans for Health, led by
Rick Weiland.
He was the primary grouppushing for the amendment.
They argued for restoringprotections similar to those
(07:13):
under Roe v Wade, emphasizingpersonal freedom and medical
autonomy.
Led, I think, largely by LifeDefense Fund was among the
leading opponents, arguing thatthe amendment was far too
extreme and would lead tounregulated abortions, including
late-term procedures.
(07:33):
Life Defense Fund and othersalso claimed it would strip
parental rights and potentiallyendanger women's health by
removing safety regulations.
Listen, everybody knows thatabortion is a hot topic.
Many people avoid it altogether.
(07:54):
They don't want to talk aboutit because they're afraid, if
they say something just wrong orjust right perhaps, that the
folks on the other side of theissue will, you know, viciously
attack them.
And it's sad that it's gottento that point because it wasn't
that long ago in this countrywhen people, regardless of their
(08:15):
political views, regardless oftheir social views, could sit
down and could have a goodquality, respectful conversation
, oftentimes not agreeing onmuch of the specifics, and
that's okay, because what isimportant and this is a big
(08:38):
reason for the growth in manypeople, myself included and lots
of others that I've met, andmany people, myself included and
lots of others that I've met isyou don't necessarily listen to
the other side's argumentbecause you think or know or
want to change your perspectiveor your mind or your thoughts on
(08:58):
the subject, but it's tore-cement, so to speak, your
views.
And so when I sat down andtalked to people about Amendment
G and they told me why theythought Amendment G was a great
idea for the state of SouthDakota, all it did was
re-solidify my views and myopposition to Amendment G.
(09:22):
And my opposition to AmendmentG largely because this was, by
anybody's standard, the mostradical and extreme abortion
bill ever put forth to a voterin the United States history.
And so South Dakotans saw rightthrough what this bill was
(09:46):
doing.
It was going to allowphysicians, in their sole
discretion, to perform abortionsup to nine months up to the
point of birth.
If the woman felt that herphysical health or her mental
health were somehow significantenough to warrant that action.
(10:09):
And South Dakotans largely sawthrough.
That voted no.
I think it failed 59% to 41%.
The fact that that bill evenmade the November election, in
my opinion, is a black eye onthe state of South Dakota, and
we have to do better to makesure that nonsense like this
(10:29):
doesn't show up on our generalelection ballots.
So Donald Trump was reelectedin November.
Toby, why is this a South Dakotanews story?
This is a news story in all 50states.
All right news story.
This is a news story in all 50states, all right.
I think he got roughly 65% ofthe vote in South Dakota.
(10:50):
Donald Trump is the Americanpresident.
Donald Trump is the presidentof South Dakotans.
This is a South Dakota story.
It's a Minnesota story, it's aWyoming story, it's a Nebraska
story, and so this is one of themost significant events in
South Dakota in 2024.
Of course, donald Trump won thepresidency against massive odds
(11:14):
in 2016, beating crooked HillaryClinton In 2020, many,
including myself, believe helikely won that election fair
and square, but there was amassive conspiracy to cheat,
which we've never got into greatdetail, nor am I going to, but
I will never, ever bring up the2020 election without referring
(11:37):
to the massive amount ofcheating that happened, and if
you're a liberal and you're likebecause I've seen this, I've
seen prominent liberals say thisWell, clearly there was some
cheating that happened, but tothink that the cheating was
enough to flip the election.
Well, no, no, no, no.
If you cheated, the election isrogue.
(11:57):
You can't sit there and tell meyes, there was some cheating
it's been well documented andproven, by the way but there's
no way to know whether thatcheating flipped the election to
Joe Biden.
Doesn't matter.
As soon as you acknowledgecheating, it's a frivolous
election.
(12:18):
Thankfully, I think it workedout the best, perhaps because it
took that event, I think, toreally change the trajectory of
Donald J Trump, his views andhis style and his goals for this
four-year term.
I think if Donald Trump had won, had been announced a winner in
(12:42):
2020, won had been announced awinner in 2020, I don't think we
would have seen nearly aseffective of a Donald Trump in
2020 as we're going to see in2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028.
Donald Trump won the presidency, he's going to be the president
the next four years and he isin the process of amassing one
(13:05):
of the strongest presidentialteams in the history of our
country.
I couldn't be more excited.
He has much work to do.
He needs to close the southernborder, he needs to lower
interest rates, he needs to slowinflation.
He needs to make it easier foryoung Americans to start a
family and to buy a home andhave all of the advantages that
(13:27):
the generation before us had.
The cost of homes haveskyrocketed.
The cost of cars haveskyrocketed.
You know what hasn'tskyrocketed?
Pay?
And so, as it gets moreexpensive to live and your pay
stays relatively the same, itforces young people to be
(13:49):
reliant on the system, which iswhat the globalists want.
So thank you, donald Trump,thank you to everybody that
supported Donald Trump, andlet's make America great again.
Well, let's transition to anissue and a topic that hit way
too close to home for many SouthDakotans in 2024 and the years
(14:14):
leading up to 2024.
I'm talking about the CarbonSummit Solution Pipeline issue.
Listen, I didn't get involvedin the pipeline issue until
early in 2024.
A lot of, or dozens and dozens,if not hundreds and hundreds of
(14:34):
proud South Dakotans had beenbattling this issue for years
leading up to 2024.
But 2024, the carbon pipelineissue, I think, peaked.
We had some significant,significant, newsworthy items
relating to the pipeline in 2024.
Of course, summit CarbonSolutions.
(14:57):
Quick recap.
Iowa-based company originallyproposed an $8 billion carbon
capture and storage pipelineproject.
The pipeline aimed to takecarbon dioxide CO2 emissions
from 57 ethanol plants acrossfive states, including South
Dakota, and transport it forunderground storage in North
(15:19):
Dakota.
The project was intended toleverage billions and billions
of federal tax credits underSection 45Q of the US Tax Code.
The initial permit applicationwas submitted in 2023, and
Subcarbons Solutions filed thatpermit in South Dakota.
(15:43):
The project faced significantopposition from landowners,
primarily due to concern overproperty rights, use of eminent
domain for private gain andlocal control over land use
regulations.
The South Dakota PublicUtilities Commission Utilities
Commission, the PUC, initiallydenied Summit's application in
(16:04):
September 2023.
In 2024, of August of 2024specifically, the South Dakota
Supreme Court reversed a lowercourt ruling that had allowed
Summit to conduct surveys onprivate land.
The court found it premature toconclude that SCS is a common
(16:26):
carrier, particularly due to thelack of evidence that the CO2
was being transported as acommodity for public use rather
than just for undergroundstorage.
The decision was seen as avictory for landowners fighting
against the use of eminentdomain for private gain for the
pipeline.
By October of 2024, southDakota Supreme Court denied
(16:50):
Summit's petition for arehearing, further complicating
the company's path to usingeminent domain.
Well then there was Referred Law21, more commonly known as RL21
, that was on the Novembergeneral election ballot,
(17:11):
originally, senate.
Bill 201 was passed in theSouth Dakota legislature and
signed by Governor Kristi Noemin early 2024.
Sb 201 aimed to regulate CO2pipelines by allowing counties
to impose a $1 per footsurcharge, offering some
protections for landowners andcounties, but also preempting
(17:34):
local regulations in favor ofstate law regarding pipeline
installations.
Yes, they wanted to takecontrol away from the local
counties and they wanted to givecontrol to the state.
Well, the outcome was very,very one-sided.
(17:54):
Voters in South Dakota rejectedRL21 by a margin of roughly 60%
to 40%, indicating a preferencefor maintaining strong local
control over land use andopposing measures seen as
favoring multi-billion dollarpipeline companies like Carbon
(18:15):
Summit Solutions.
Listen, I looked at polling onthe Carbon Summit pipeline over
the last two plus years.
Carbon summit pipeline over thelast two plus years, multiple
polls were done.
I did some polling on my own.
Every single set of pollingthat was done strongly indicated
(18:39):
that an overwhelming majorityof South Dakotans up to 80% in
some cases either strongly ormostly opposed the pipeline.
Not going to get deep into thewoods here.
But our state leaders at thattime in the state legislature
(18:59):
and we'll talk about that alittle later and our governor's
office about that a little laterand our governor's office and,
by their silence, people likeDusty Johnson, mike Rounds and
John Thune, supported thiseminent domain boondoggle of
thievery of multi-generationfarm and ranch land to funnel
(19:25):
billions of dollars in taxcredits to BlackRock and Summit
Carbon Solutions and othermassive globalist companies.
These people should be ashamed.
The great people, thelandowners that opposed RL21,
and that opposed SB201, and thestate legislators that opposed
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SB201 and RL21 should be revered, celebrated.
Thank you.
Thank you to the voters thatonce again, despite massive
amount, millions and millions ofdollars being poured into our
state to try to win the RL21vote still lost by 20 points.
(20:10):
Had the playing field beenequal, had each side been given
the exact same resources, itwould have been 80% to 20%.
No on RL21.
The millions of dollars thatthese hack fraud crooks funneled
into South Dakota bought themsome votes, but they didn't buy
(20:33):
the vote of the traditionalconservative, strong South
Dakotans like you and me.
Big win for the state.
Rl21 beat it.
John Thune has been a politicianin South Dakota, or
representing South Dakota, orallegedly representing South
Dakota, for many, many years,his work with the railroad way
(20:57):
back in the day In 2004, ofcourse, he famously with the
help of the GOP nationally beatthen, I believe Senate Minority
Leader Tom Daschle and iscurrently serving I believe he's
on his fourth term as a senatorwas this year voted as the new
(21:20):
Senate Majority Leader of theUnited States Senate.
This has never happened beforein South Dakota.
South Dakota has never had aSenate Majority Leader.
Tom Daschle was the MinoritySenate leader Big difference.
So now the Republicans have amajority, a fairly slim majority
(21:48):
, in the US Senate and JohnThune is the Senate majority
leader.
He defeated Senators JohnCornyn of Texas and Rick Scott
of Florida in a secret ballot.
By the way, why is that vote asecret?
A hundred senators show up foran official vote on who is going
to run the Senate, the personthat is most responsible to see
(22:15):
that the president, in this caseDonald Trump's appointees are
approved and his policies areenacted Arguably one of the most
powerful positions in theentire world of politics Senate
Majority Leader is voted on in asecret ballot.
I mean, what a cowardly way toselect the leader of the Senate.
(22:43):
But that's how they do it.
Before that, thune had servedas Senate Minority Whip and
number two position in theSenate Republican leadership
behind brain freeze MitchMcConnell.
So listen, I wish John Thunegood luck.
I genuinely do.
I've never met John.
I disagree with much of whathe's done politically the last
(23:05):
10 years.
He sold Donald Trump down theriver, sold him out, hated
Donald Trump, still hates DonaldTrump, despite what he says
publicly.
He's saying all the rightthings as Senate Majority Leader
that he's going to make surethat Trump's appointees are
voted and approved, that Trump'sagenda and policy are going to
(23:28):
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'mnot going to believe anything
you say and I'm going to be veryskeptical of all of the things
you do.
And I hope I'm wrong, because Iwant Donald Trump's vision of
(23:50):
America to be played out,because it's a winning vision,
it's a winning playbook and JohnThune knows it's a winning
playbook and John Thune knowsit's a winning playbook.
So we're going to really findout if Senator John Thune has
the best interests of ourcountry at heart or not, because
if he doesn't, you are going tosee him torpedo Donald Trump's
(24:16):
agenda and vision for thiscountry the next four years.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope John Thune steps up.
I hope he works closely withDonald Trump and his team and I
hope that he has a you knowmoment where he sees the light
(24:38):
and sees a new path forward tostop all of this establishment
backroom dealing.
It's got to end.
There needs to be moretransparency.
There has to be more commonsense approaches, closing the
southern border, all the thingsthat need to happen in this
country.
So I wish John Thune luck.
I would be lying if I told youI was super optimistic that he
(25:03):
is going to stand by what he'sbeen saying recently, but I
genuinely, genuinely hope thathe does so.
When you think of South Dakota,if you just randomly selected
100 people and said what's thefirst thing you think of when
you think of South Dakota, youknow what they would say.
Well, I guess it depends whenyou ask it, but generally
(25:25):
speaking, I think they would sayMount Rushmore or the Black
Hills.
Right, I think that's what alot of people would say.
Well, south Dakota, this is abig story.
I think I haven't really seenit talked about.
I had to actually searchtourism numbers because I had
not seen any of the major newsoutlets covering this, which I
(25:46):
guess that doesn't surprise me,because why would Kettle Land,
why would Dakota News?
Now, why would these hack fakenews organizations cover
anything interesting in thestate of South Dakota that might
actually be positive?
No, they get their stories fedto them by their oligarchic
(26:09):
leadership and they are toldwhat to report.
It's sad because the state ofSouth Dakota had a record year
for tourism in 2024, 14.7million visitors.
It's a brand new record.
More people visited SouthDakota for tourism than ever
(26:32):
before in the past.
This industry tourism helpedsupport nearly 58,000 jobs in
South Dakota, equating to aboutone of 11 jobs in our state, and
this employment generated northof $2 billion in income for
employees and their families.
Tax revenue you ask Well goodquestion.
(26:56):
The industry contributed northof $380 million in state and
local tax revenue, significantlybenefiting South Dakota's
fiscal health.
Here's something I foundinteresting when I dug into the
South Dakota tourism numbersSoutheast versus Black Hills.
(27:16):
When I first saw that, I'm likewhat do you mean Southeast?
Well, the Southeast TourismDistrict of South Dakota
generated more revenue than themore famous Black Hills region
Shocked me, absolutely shockedme.
But then I started thinkingthere's a lot of really cool
(27:39):
stuff in the south and east partof the state right River, lewis
and Clark and Yankton FallsPark, like there's a ton of
stuff that drives out-of-statetourism into South Dakota.
That isn't part of the BlackHills.
But I was shocked to find outthat Southeastern that's how
(28:00):
they labeled it how Southeasterntourism 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 fromoutside of South Dakota or, heck
(28:21):
, from South Dakota if you'venever been to the Black Hills,
it is an absolute mustdestination for your next trip.
Congratulations, south Dakota,big tourism numbers.
I said at the beginning I wasnot going to rank these and I'm
not going to rank these and Ilook forward to each of you
ranking your top three, five,top 10, whatever you want to do,
(28:43):
I can't wait to see what thepublic sentiment is.
For me personally, I believethe most important issue in the
entire state of South Dakota in2024 was Amendment H.
I know it's not sexy, butAmendment H, if passed in
(29:05):
November would have turned SouthDakota into a jungle primary
state, also known as an openprimary state.
Why is this significant?
I'm not going to recap theentire Amendment H issue, but
all I need to tell you is peoplelike Dusty Johnson, us
(29:25):
Congressman Dusty Johnson was100% on board and wanted
Amendment H to pass.
Whether they admit it publiclyor not, privately, and in some
cases, I think Dusty Johnson I'mnot a hundred percent sure on
this I think he actually signeda petition to get amendment H on
(29:46):
the ballot and then flipflopped and said he wasn't for
amendment H.
Well, if you came up to me andsaid, do you want to sign this
amendment that says I can punchyou in the face?
And said, do you want to signthis amendment that says I can
punch you in the face, and Isigned the amendment and then
you punched me in the face andthen I'm mad that you punched me
in the face.
Sorry, dusty, doesn't make anysense, but the fact that people
(30:08):
like Dusty Johnson wanted openprimaries tells you how terrible
of an idea open primaries is.
Why did people like DustyJohnson want open primaries?
Because it would haveguaranteed with 100% certainty
that fake Republican hacks likeDusty Johnson would have been
elected to significant officesin South Dakota for the rest of
(30:34):
time, true conservatives wouldhave 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 forwhoever they wanted to in the
(30:55):
primaries.
They wanted to in the primaries.
So you have left-leaning fakeRepublicans like Dusty Johnson,
who would have gotten someRepublican votes, like from the
establishment rhinos, and hewould have gotten a pile, a
whole bunch of Democrat andindependent votes because
(31:16):
largely they agree on the issues, and so our state would have
lost all of our conservativeprogress.
We would have been destined tohave poor liberal leadership for
decades to come.
Every other issue in the stateof South Dakota pales in
(31:38):
comparison to H, becauseAmendment H would have allowed
them to carry out all of theirliberal agenda.
South Dakota voters are smart.
South Dakota has the smartestblock of conservative voters in
the entire country, bar noneperiod.
We have proven it time and timeand time again.
We have proven it time and timeand time again.
(31:59):
Rl21, beat it.
Amendment G go to hell.
Amendment H not in our state.
I could not be more proud tocall myself a part of the
grassroots conservative movementin the state of South Dakota.
Thank you all.
We're not here today to debatehow well Christy Noem has done
(32:24):
as governor of this great statethe past six years.
Regardless if you love ChristyNoem or you loathe Christy Noem,
it doesn't matter, because inthis list we're just talking
about significant events and I'msorry, the sitting governor of
a state like South Dakota beingappointed by Donald Trump to be
(32:49):
the Secretary of HomelandSecurity is a big damn deal.
Now you can talk about all thestuff leading up to it and how
she got there and all all thestuff she did at the southern
border and activating our southdakota guard troops and all that
stuff, and you know there was alot of legitimate questions
(33:10):
there and a lot of legitimatecriticism.
I think that can be leviedtoward governor christie noem
and that that's fine as a publicofficial.
That's part of the process isto let the voters and let the
citizens and the residents thatyou serve question your
decisions and then to betransparent on how you
(33:33):
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, Idon't care how you twist it.
I don't care how you feel aboutGovernor Noem, it is a positive
for the state of South Dakotathat she is being considered for
(33:58):
this prestigious position.
Homeland Security, that ain't nofooling around.
That's a big-time job.
This isn't some fake, half-witappointment to appease a
friendship.
This is a real serious position, and so I trust Donald Trump.
(34:19):
I trust Donald Trump's visionfor this country.
I trust Donald Trump's abilityto assess talent and assess
character, and so I am going tosit back and I am going to watch
and I'm going to supportGovernor Noem as she becomes the
(34:42):
Secretary of Homeland Security,and I will cheer for her, that
she does well and that she helpsclose up our southern border
and starts taking the necessarysteps to win this country back.
So congratulations to ChristyNoem.
I hope her approval is swiftand quick.
(35:03):
Everything I've read indicatesthat it will be, and I suspect
sometime in the next month orsix weeks or so we will see
Lieutenant Governor Larry Rodensworn in as the next governor of
South Dakota.
Congratulations, governor Noem,on your appointment to the head
of Homeland Security.
(35:25):
Unfortunately, I was at the gameagainst SDSU and NDSU recently
in the Fargo Dome.
I think I'm still a littledepressed.
I really, really wanted to goto Frisco, I canceled my hotel
rooms, canceled my rental car.
Haven't quite recovered yet,but this is a 2024 best of and
(35:52):
last time I checked, theJackrabbits are still national
champions.
They won their secondback-to-back national
championship in January of 2024.
Yes, I know it was the 2023season, but damn it, they won
the title in 2024.
And on my podcast, toby DodenUnfiltered, we are going to
(36:16):
celebrate the JackrabbitsCongratulations.
Some recent news out ofBrookings is very popular coach.
I think the people around thatarea considered him part of
their family and still do.
Jimmy Rogers has accepted thehead coaching position at
(36:38):
Washington State.
Didn't really have any notes toget into this, but
congratulations to Jimmy Rogers.
Listen, he's put, I think, morethan 12 or 15 years into that
community, into that school.
I think he's been with the teamsince 2013 or 2014.
He's been the head coach thepast couple of seasons and he
(37:00):
had a very nice salary of around$300,000.
And I'm sure he gets a littleextra 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 Ibelieve he signed a long-term
deal with Washington Statethat's going to pay him about
(37:22):
$1.6 million per year or so, soroughly a 500% increase.
Good for you, jimmy Rogers, andI am very happy that almost to
a person.
The fans the Jackrabbit fanswho are wonderful, by the way,
some of the best collegefootball fans I've ever been
(37:43):
around have almostoverwhelmingly supported his
decision to move on toWashington State.
I know some other fan basesthat would have attacked Jimmy
Rogers.
They would have attacked hisfamily, they would have attacked
his motives.
All of these things the greatfans in South Dakota, the great
fans in Brookings, theJackrabbit faithful, the alumni
(38:06):
at SDSU they have warmlycelebrated his 500% pay increase
, his new opportunity at FBSWashington State.
So good luck, jimmy Rogers,good luck SDSU on next season
and congratulations on the twonational titles certainly worthy
(38:28):
of our spot, and I look forwardto seeing where each of you
rank SDSU's second nationaltitle in this year's rankings of
most significant events.
We talked about Governor KristiNoem and her being appointed to
the head of Homeland Security byPresident-elect Donald Trump.
(38:49):
Well, governor Noem is on ourlist a second time.
I'm not trying to drudge upnegative things from the past,
but this is a best of 2024 show,and by best of how we defined
it, was the most significanthappenings, the most significant
(39:11):
news, the most significantevents that the people of South
Dakota cared about, because, atthe end of the day, this is a
South Dakota podcast largely,and so we wanted to hit the
topics that happened this yearthat you folks at home cared the
most about.
And so Kristi Noem's book andthe revelations she made in the
(39:35):
publicity leading up to therelease of her book, by
anybody's standard is one of thetop stories in South Dakota of
2024.
Hell, it was one of the largestnational stories.
So if you have a story that ismassive on a national landscape,
it has to make our list inSouth Dakota.
(39:59):
So I'm sure almost every singlehuman being on the planet knows
the backstory.
But Governor Noem described inher book shooting her
14-month-old wire-haired pointerdog named Cricket.
She said that the dog ruined apheasant hunt.
It had killed some chickens andattempted to bite her.
(40:23):
She also mentions killing agoat shortly after.
Well, needless to say, therewas significant backlash.
The revelation led towidespread criticism from animal
rights advocates, the publicand political commentators.
It was seen as particularlyharsh and has been used by
(40:43):
political opponents to questionher judgment.
Listen, I didn't talk aboutthis at the time.
I'm going to talk about itright now, and if you don't like
what I'm about to say, then youare either biased or you just
don't understand things likethis very well.
What Kristi Noem did with herdog and her goat happens all the
(41:10):
time Right here in South Dakota, on family farms all over the
state, all over the Midwest, allover our country, dogs even
dogs as family pets have beenput down with a gun on their
family farm for a host ofreasons.
(41:32):
The dog is old, suffering, hasno quality of life, the dog has,
you know, something not quiteright in its brain function and
it has a propensity to attackother animals or to attack
children or shows aggressivebehavior.
There's a million reasons,right, and while a lot of us
(41:53):
myself included, anybody thatknows my wife and I big
supporters of the aberdeen AreaHumane Society they named the
building after my family.
That's how much we support dogsand the rehoming of dogs.
I've had dozens of dogs.
We have a bunch of rescue dogsat my house, but like you and
(42:15):
like me, our lifespan is finite,and so when it's time for a
loved pet, in this case a dogthat has no quality of life left
.
We take them to a vet and thevet puts them down in a way that
, at least on the surface, makesus feel better about it.
(42:39):
But you've got to understand.
My great-grandparents farmed.
My parents both grew up onfarms.
I spent a lot of time on farmsas a kid.
I have a lot of family thatstill farms.
I have a lot of friends thatfarm.
I know how it works.
(42:59):
I personally have really closefriends.
I know that have had to putdown pets and dogs at their farm
.
This happens all of the time.
So I'm really tired of peoplecriticizing what she did.
Having said that, wherecriticism is deserved and
rightfully so, and count me inon this a hundred percent the
(43:22):
fact that she basically braggedabout it in a book is insane.
(43:42):
To go public and startspreading excerpts from your
book to gain support and tobuild marketing pressure for
this big release, I really haveto question somebody's
intangible judgment that wouldsay let's put out the part where
(44:05):
I shot my dog cricket in agravel pit.
Anybody I mean anybody wouldknow that a large percentage of
the population is going to findthat repulsive.
Again, I explained how thathappens and I explained why it
(44:26):
happens and in many, if not most, cases it is justified.
It's their way of ending theirdog'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.
(44:46):
I have to go to the vet.
But I understand why people doit.
I really do.
But to even include it in thebook is insane.
But then to highlight it beforethe book is even released in my
opinion shows a significantlack of institutional judgment.
I'll be curious to see wherethis ranks on your list.
(45:10):
And our last, but certainly notleast, best of the best 2024
significant happenings, news,events or stories.
We go back to the politicallandscape in South Dakota,
specifically the completechangeover of leadership in the
(45:34):
state house and the state senate.
Going into 2024,.
All of the leaders in the statelegislature were establishment
rhino Republicans that supportedand voted lock, stock and
barrel with Governor Kristi Noemon every single issue.
(45:58):
Internal divisions within theRepublican Party became very
pronounced in 2024.
There was a rising tide ofdiscontent among conservative
grassroots activists who feltthat the existing legislative
leadership was not adequatelyrepresenting their values or was
(46:19):
too moderate, in many casesliberal.
So this group came along calledDakota First Action.
Along with other similarorganizations, we mobilized
around issues like electionintegrity, government overreach
and opposition to what they sawas establishment politics.
(46:41):
And so, dakota First Action, mypolitical action committee and
others, we targeted many of thestate legislators in the June
primary that had gone along withall of this nonsense and we
beat pretty much all of them.
(47:03):
So in November when the statelegislature met to do their
voting of the new leadershipthat will be starting in the
legislative session coming up inJanuary just a couple of weeks
away actually Every single RINOleader in the Senate and the
(47:27):
House gone All replaced withDakota First Action and or
America First conservativeRepublicans.
Much like Noam's book story,that went national.
Her appointment to HomelandSecurity Secretary that was a
(47:47):
national story.
This wasn't as big of anational story.
But South Dakota politics madenoise all over the country.
Politicians, pundits, otherpacks, influential political
minds were all talking aboutwhat happened in south dakota.
They had never seen anythinglike it.
(48:09):
David versus goliath comes tomind.
You could make a strongargument that the odds were even
worse for us.
The amount of money that waspoured into the state of South
Dakota to make sure that theserhino Republicans were
(48:31):
re-elected was massive.
They had the full support ofGovernor Noem's office, whether
it was public or not.
They had the full support ofpeople like Dusty Johnson, mike
Rounds, john Thune and millionsand millions of dollars that
flowed in from out of state, andI'll be damned if we didn't
(48:56):
beat them all.
Didn't beat them all, and thelesson to be learned by South
Dakota politics in 2024 is thisIf you are on the wrong side of
God, if you are on the wrongside of the will of people,
(49:21):
there is no amount of moneythat's going to change the
outcome.
And we proved that we wereundermanned, we were underfunded
, we had a significant lack ofresources and yet we won nearly
every single battle politicallyin 2024 against the liberal
(49:45):
establishment, every single one.
That's impressive and that isworthy of being one of the top
stories in South Dakota in 2024.
In South Dakota in 2024.
Thank you for listening to TobyDoden Unfiltered.
What an amazing place we live, south Dakota.
My mission statement is simpleTo re-energize the true
conservative values of SouthDakota.
You're listening to Toby DodenUnfiltered.
Well, hello again, merryChristmas and Happy New Year.
(00:24):
I am Toby Doden and you arelistening to Toby Doden
Unfiltered.
Today is Episode 7.
And before we get going, I wantto just do a real quick recap
on the prison episode we didlast week with Senate Elect
Kevin Jensen.
We've gotten a ton of peoplereaching out.
(00:45):
A lot of passionate people fromall 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 talkingto folks and probably do a
follow-up report on the newprison proposal episode that we
did.
I think getting a uniqueperspective from people all over
(01:08):
the state and sharing thoseviews with everybody else, I
think would be a good exercise.
So we'll be doing that heresoon.
Today, what we're going to do alittle bit different than what
we've done in the first sixepisodes, excuse me.
Today we are going to do a 2024Best of South Dakota edition,
(01:29):
and so what does that mean?
Okay, so we are going tohighlight about a dozen or so of
the most significant andimpactful events, news stories,
happenings you name it in thestate of South Dakota for the
year 2024.
Know this, I am not rankingthese personally.
(01:51):
I am randomly selecting them inwhat order we're going to do
them in and we want you, thelisteners, to reach out to us.
We're going to put this allover social media.
We want to hear from you folks.
We want to know what you thinkwere the most significant events
of the year in South Dakota.
So listen up, take notes if youwant to, but we want to hear
(02:15):
from you.
We want to know what you thinkwere the most impactful events
in South Dakota this year.
We're going to start with theflooding events that happened
this summer.
Listen, I've lost a home to aflood a couple of decades ago,
but it's very fresh in my memorybecause once you go through a
(02:38):
traumatic event like losing ahome, especially to floods,
water is undefeated, and whenwater wants to get from point A
to point B, it's very, verydifficult, if not impossible, to
stop.
While we had, I guess, what theywould consider probably like a
1,000-year flood event in thestate of South Dakota, the
(03:01):
impact on the residents,especially in the southern part
of the state, was significant.
The events of the floodshappened from around June 16th
through July 8th 2024.
The most severe impacts wereseen in mid-June, I believe,
around the 20th to the 22nd ofJune.
The primary affected areas ofSouth Dakota were Sioux Falls,
(03:27):
canton, north Sioux City, mccookLake and kind of in that whole
area.
What caused these floods?
Well, simply put, massiveamounts of rain in a short
period of time, torrential rainand record-breaking rainfall,
with some areas receivingbetween 10 and 20 inches of rain
over a three-day period.
(03:48):
Sioux Falls and Mitchellrecorded the wettest two-day
period in history, with 6.5 and7.7 inches respectively, and
Canton saw around 15 inches ofrain, and so there was a lot of
people impacted by this flood.
There was a massive amount ofinfrastructure damage.
(04:10):
Roads, bridges were closed.
Significant portions ofInterstate 29, if you recall,
near North Sioux City, wereclosed.
There was a berm constructed tomitigate the flooding.
There was a berm constructed tomitigate the flooding.
The railroad bridge connectingnorth sioux city to south sioux
city collapsed due to the floodwaters.
This was a significant,significant flooding event.
(04:34):
Homes and properties there wasover 50 homes at mccook lake
were damaged, some severely, andsome structures were completely
swept.
Swept Dakota dunes.
There were voluntaryevacuations due to the threat of
flooding from the Big SiouxRiver, and so you know.
Thankfully, events like thismassive flooding in the southern
(04:59):
part of the state in SouthDakota are very rare, but in a
state like South Dakota, wherewe can go from one year to the
next without a lot of excitingthings happening, this certainly
was not an exciting thing.
This was a horrible thing, butI have talked to numerous people
that were involved, some ofwhich lost property in this
(05:22):
flood and much like what Iexperienced years ago when my
family and I went through oursignificant flood where we lost
our home.
The people immediately steppedup.
They had a great attitude, theyattacked it, and that is the
resolve that the people in SouthDakota have been known for.
(05:46):
There's no easy transition folksto begin talking about a
radical abortion bill, amendmentG and the potential
ramifications of Amendment G asone of the most significant
(06:08):
events in the state of SouthDakota in 2024.
Amendment G was an initiatedmeasure or, excuse me, an
initiated constitutionalamendment aimed at establishing
a state constitution right toabortion in South Dakota.
It had a first, second andthird trimester framework.
(06:30):
First trimester, the statecould not regulate abortion at
all.
Second trimester regulationscould be implemented, but only
in ways reasonably related tothe physical health of the
pregnant woman.
And in the third trimester,abortion could be regulated or
prohibited, with exceptions whennecessary to preserve the life
(06:51):
or health, including mentalhealth, of the pregnant woman.
So the proponents of this billwas Decodans for Health, led by
Rick Weiland.
He was the primary grouppushing for the amendment.
They argued for restoringprotections similar to those
(07:13):
under Roe v Wade, emphasizingpersonal freedom and medical
autonomy.
Led, I think, largely by LifeDefense Fund was among the
leading opponents, arguing thatthe amendment was far too
extreme and would lead tounregulated abortions, including
late-term procedures.
(07:33):
Life Defense Fund and othersalso claimed it would strip
parental rights and potentiallyendanger women's health by
removing safety regulations.
Listen, everybody knows thatabortion is a hot topic.
Many people avoid it altogether.
(07:54):
They don't want to talk aboutit because they're afraid, if
they say something just wrong orjust right perhaps, that the
folks on the other side of theissue will, you know, viciously
attack them.
And it's sad that it's gottento that point because it wasn't
that long ago in this countrywhen people, regardless of their
(08:15):
political views, regardless oftheir social views, could sit
down and could have a goodquality, respectful conversation
, oftentimes not agreeing onmuch of the specifics, and
that's okay, because what isimportant and this is a big
(08:38):
reason for the growth in manypeople, myself included and lots
of others that I've met, andmany people, myself included and
lots of others that I've met isyou don't necessarily listen to
the other side's argumentbecause you think or know or
want to change your perspectiveor your mind or your thoughts on
(08:58):
the subject, but it's tore-cement, so to speak, your
views.
And so when I sat down andtalked to people about Amendment
G and they told me why theythought Amendment G was a great
idea for the state of SouthDakota, all it did was
re-solidify my views and myopposition to Amendment G.
(09:22):
And my opposition to AmendmentG largely because this was, by
anybody's standard, the mostradical and extreme abortion
bill ever put forth to a voterin the United States history.
And so South Dakotans saw rightthrough what this bill was
(09:46):
doing.
It was going to allowphysicians, in their sole
discretion, to perform abortionsup to nine months up to the
point of birth.
If the woman felt that herphysical health or her mental
health were somehow significantenough to warrant that action.
(10:09):
And South Dakotans largely sawthrough.
That voted no.
I think it failed 59% to 41%.
The fact that that bill evenmade the November election, in
my opinion, is a black eye onthe state of South Dakota, and
we have to do better to makesure that nonsense like this
(10:29):
doesn't show up on our generalelection ballots.
So Donald Trump was reelectedin November.
Toby, why is this a South Dakotanews story?
This is a news story in all 50states.
All right news story.
This is a news story in all 50states, all right.
I think he got roughly 65% ofthe vote in South Dakota.
(10:50):
Donald Trump is the Americanpresident.
Donald Trump is the presidentof South Dakotans.
This is a South Dakota story.
It's a Minnesota story, it's aWyoming story, it's a Nebraska
story, and so this is one of themost significant events in
South Dakota in 2024.
Of course, donald Trump won thepresidency against massive odds
(11:14):
in 2016, beating crooked HillaryClinton In 2020, many,
including myself, believe helikely won that election fair
and square, but there was amassive conspiracy to cheat,
which we've never got into greatdetail, nor am I going to, but
I will never, ever bring up the2020 election without referring
(11:37):
to the massive amount ofcheating that happened, and if
you're a liberal and you're likebecause I've seen this, I've
seen prominent liberals say thisWell, clearly there was some
cheating that happened, but tothink that the cheating was
enough to flip the election.
Well, no, no, no, no.
If you cheated, the election isrogue.
(11:57):
You can't sit there and tell meyes, there was some cheating
it's been well documented andproven, by the way but there's
no way to know whether thatcheating flipped the election to
Joe Biden.
Doesn't matter.
As soon as you acknowledgecheating, it's a frivolous
election.
(12:18):
Thankfully, I think it workedout the best, perhaps because it
took that event, I think, toreally change the trajectory of
Donald J Trump, his views andhis style and his goals for this
four-year term.
I think if Donald Trump had won, had been announced a winner in
(12:42):
2020, won had been announced awinner in 2020, I don't think we
would have seen nearly aseffective of a Donald Trump in
2020 as we're going to see in2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028.
Donald Trump won the presidency, he's going to be the president
the next four years and he isin the process of amassing one
(13:05):
of the strongest presidentialteams in the history of our
country.
I couldn't be more excited.
He has much work to do.
He needs to close the southernborder, he needs to lower
interest rates, he needs to slowinflation.
He needs to make it easier foryoung Americans to start a
family and to buy a home andhave all of the advantages that
(13:27):
the generation before us had.
The cost of homes haveskyrocketed.
The cost of cars haveskyrocketed.
You know what hasn'tskyrocketed?
Pay?
And so, as it gets moreexpensive to live and your pay
stays relatively the same, itforces young people to be
(13:49):
reliant on the system, which iswhat the globalists want.
So thank you, donald Trump,thank you to everybody that
supported Donald Trump, andlet's make America great again.
Well, let's transition to anissue and a topic that hit way
too close to home for many SouthDakotans in 2024 and the years
(14:14):
leading up to 2024.
I'm talking about the CarbonSummit Solution Pipeline issue.
Listen, I didn't get involvedin the pipeline issue until
early in 2024.
A lot of, or dozens and dozens,if not hundreds and hundreds of
(14:34):
proud South Dakotans had beenbattling this issue for years
leading up to 2024.
But 2024, the carbon pipelineissue, I think, peaked.
We had some significant,significant, newsworthy items
relating to the pipeline in 2024.
Of course, summit CarbonSolutions.
(14:57):
Quick recap.
Iowa-based company originallyproposed an $8 billion carbon
capture and storage pipelineproject.
The pipeline aimed to takecarbon dioxide CO2 emissions
from 57 ethanol plants acrossfive states, including South
Dakota, and transport it forunderground storage in North
(15:19):
Dakota.
The project was intended toleverage billions and billions
of federal tax credits underSection 45Q of the US Tax Code.
The initial permit applicationwas submitted in 2023, and
Subcarbons Solutions filed thatpermit in South Dakota.
(15:43):
The project faced significantopposition from landowners,
primarily due to concern overproperty rights, use of eminent
domain for private gain andlocal control over land use
regulations.
The South Dakota PublicUtilities Commission Utilities
Commission, the PUC, initiallydenied Summit's application in
(16:04):
September 2023.
In 2024, of August of 2024specifically, the South Dakota
Supreme Court reversed a lowercourt ruling that had allowed
Summit to conduct surveys onprivate land.
The court found it premature toconclude that SCS is a common
(16:26):
carrier, particularly due to thelack of evidence that the CO2
was being transported as acommodity for public use rather
than just for undergroundstorage.
The decision was seen as avictory for landowners fighting
against the use of eminentdomain for private gain for the
pipeline.
By October of 2024, southDakota Supreme Court denied
(16:50):
Summit's petition for arehearing, further complicating
the company's path to usingeminent domain.
Well then there was Referred Law21, more commonly known as RL21
, that was on the Novembergeneral election ballot,
(17:11):
originally, senate.
Bill 201 was passed in theSouth Dakota legislature and
signed by Governor Kristi Noemin early 2024.
Sb 201 aimed to regulate CO2pipelines by allowing counties
to impose a $1 per footsurcharge, offering some
protections for landowners andcounties, but also preempting
(17:34):
local regulations in favor ofstate law regarding pipeline
installations.
Yes, they wanted to takecontrol away from the local
counties and they wanted to givecontrol to the state.
Well, the outcome was very,very one-sided.
(17:54):
Voters in South Dakota rejectedRL21 by a margin of roughly 60%
to 40%, indicating a preferencefor maintaining strong local
control over land use andopposing measures seen as
favoring multi-billion dollarpipeline companies like Carbon
(18:15):
Summit Solutions.
Listen, I looked at polling onthe Carbon Summit pipeline over
the last two plus years.
Carbon summit pipeline over thelast two plus years, multiple
polls were done.
I did some polling on my own.
Every single set of pollingthat was done strongly indicated
(18:39):
that an overwhelming majorityof South Dakotans up to 80% in
some cases either strongly ormostly opposed the pipeline.
Not going to get deep into thewoods here.
But our state leaders at thattime in the state legislature
(18:59):
and we'll talk about that alittle later and our governor's
office about that a little laterand our governor's office and,
by their silence, people likeDusty Johnson, mike Rounds and
John Thune, supported thiseminent domain boondoggle of
thievery of multi-generationfarm and ranch land to funnel
(19:25):
billions of dollars in taxcredits to BlackRock and Summit
Carbon Solutions and othermassive globalist companies.
These people should be ashamed.
The great people, thelandowners that opposed RL21,
and that opposed SB201, and thestate legislators that opposed
(19:46):
SB201 and RL21 should be revered, celebrated.
Thank you.
Thank you to the voters thatonce again, despite massive
amount, millions and millions ofdollars being poured into our
state to try to win the RL21vote still lost by 20 points.
(20:10):
Had the playing field beenequal, had each side been given
the exact same resources, itwould have been 80% to 20%.
No on RL21.
The millions of dollars thatthese hack fraud crooks funneled
into South Dakota bought themsome votes, but they didn't buy
(20:33):
the vote of the traditionalconservative, strong South
Dakotans like you and me.
Big win for the state.
Rl21 beat it.
John Thune has been a politicianin South Dakota, or
representing South Dakota, orallegedly representing South
Dakota, for many, many years,his work with the railroad way
(20:57):
back in the day In 2004, ofcourse, he famously with the
help of the GOP nationally beatthen, I believe Senate Minority
Leader Tom Daschle and iscurrently serving I believe he's
on his fourth term as a senatorwas this year voted as the new
(21:20):
Senate Majority Leader of theUnited States Senate.
This has never happened beforein South Dakota.
South Dakota has never had aSenate Majority Leader.
Tom Daschle was the MinoritySenate leader Big difference.
So now the Republicans have amajority, a fairly slim majority
(21:48):
, in the US Senate and JohnThune is the Senate majority
leader.
He defeated Senators JohnCornyn of Texas and Rick Scott
of Florida in a secret ballot.
By the way, why is that vote asecret?
A hundred senators show up foran official vote on who is going
to run the Senate, the personthat is most responsible to see
(22:15):
that the president, in this caseDonald Trump's appointees are
approved and his policies areenacted Arguably one of the most
powerful positions in theentire world of politics Senate
Majority Leader is voted on in asecret ballot.
I mean, what a cowardly way toselect the leader of the Senate.
(22:43):
But that's how they do it.
Before that, thune had servedas Senate Minority Whip and
number two position in theSenate Republican leadership
behind brain freeze MitchMcConnell.
So listen, I wish John Thunegood luck.
I genuinely do.
I've never met John.
I disagree with much of whathe's done politically the last
(23:05):
10 years.
He sold Donald Trump down theriver, sold him out, hated
Donald Trump, still hates DonaldTrump, despite what he says
publicly.
He's saying all the rightthings as Senate Majority Leader
that he's going to make surethat Trump's appointees are
voted and approved, that Trump'sagenda and policy are going to
(23:28):
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'mnot going to believe anything
you say and I'm going to be veryskeptical of all of the things
you do.
And I hope I'm wrong, because Iwant Donald Trump's vision of
(23:50):
America to be played out,because it's a winning vision,
it's a winning playbook and JohnThune knows it's a winning
playbook and John Thune knowsit's a winning playbook.
So we're going to really findout if Senator John Thune has
the best interests of ourcountry at heart or not, because
if he doesn't, you are going tosee him torpedo Donald Trump's
(24:16):
agenda and vision for thiscountry the next four years.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope John Thune steps up.
I hope he works closely withDonald Trump and his team and I
hope that he has a you knowmoment where he sees the light
(24:38):
and sees a new path forward tostop all of this establishment
backroom dealing.
It's got to end.
There needs to be moretransparency.
There has to be more commonsense approaches, closing the
southern border, all the thingsthat need to happen in this
country.
So I wish John Thune luck.
I would be lying if I told youI was super optimistic that he
(25:03):
is going to stand by what he'sbeen saying recently, but I
genuinely, genuinely hope thathe does so.
When you think of South Dakota,if you just randomly selected
100 people and said what's thefirst thing you think of when
you think of South Dakota, youknow what they would say.
Well, I guess it depends whenyou ask it, but generally
(25:25):
speaking, I think they would sayMount Rushmore or the Black
Hills.
Right, I think that's what alot of people would say.
Well, south Dakota, this is abig story.
I think I haven't really seenit talked about.
I had to actually searchtourism numbers because I had
not seen any of the major newsoutlets covering this, which I
(25:46):
guess that doesn't surprise me,because why would Kettle Land,
why would Dakota News?
Now, why would these hack fakenews organizations cover
anything interesting in thestate of South Dakota that might
actually be positive?
No, they get their stories fedto them by their oligarchic
(26:09):
leadership and they are toldwhat to report.
It's sad because the state ofSouth Dakota had a record year
for tourism in 2024, 14.7million visitors.
It's a brand new record.
More people visited SouthDakota for tourism than ever
(26:32):
before in the past.
This industry tourism helpedsupport nearly 58,000 jobs in
South Dakota, equating to aboutone of 11 jobs in our state, and
this employment generated northof $2 billion in income for
employees and their families.
Tax revenue you ask Well goodquestion.
(26:56):
The industry contributed northof $380 million in state and
local tax revenue, significantlybenefiting South Dakota's
fiscal health.
Here's something I foundinteresting when I dug into the
South Dakota tourism numbersSoutheast versus Black Hills.
(27:16):
When I first saw that, I'm likewhat do you mean Southeast?
Well, the Southeast TourismDistrict of South Dakota
generated more revenue than themore famous Black Hills region
Shocked me, absolutely shockedme.
But then I started thinkingthere's a lot of really cool
(27:39):
stuff in the south and east partof the state right River, lewis
and Clark and Yankton FallsPark, like there's a ton of
stuff that drives out-of-statetourism into South Dakota.
That isn't part of the BlackHills.
But I was shocked to find outthat Southeastern that's how
(28:00):
they labeled it how Southeasterntourism 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 fromoutside of South Dakota or, heck
(28:21):
, from South Dakota if you'venever been to the Black Hills,
it is an absolute mustdestination for your next trip.
Congratulations, south Dakota,big tourism numbers.
I said at the beginning I wasnot going to rank these and I'm
not going to rank these and Ilook forward to each of you
ranking your top three, five,top 10, whatever you want to do,
(28:43):
I can't wait to see what thepublic sentiment is.
For me personally, I believethe most important issue in the
entire state of South Dakota in2024 was Amendment H.
I know it's not sexy, butAmendment H, if passed in
(29:05):
November would have turned SouthDakota into a jungle primary
state, also known as an openprimary state.
Why is this significant?
I'm not going to recap theentire Amendment H issue, but
all I need to tell you is peoplelike Dusty Johnson, us
(29:25):
Congressman Dusty Johnson was100% on board and wanted
Amendment H to pass.
Whether they admit it publiclyor not, privately, and in some
cases, I think Dusty Johnson I'mnot a hundred percent sure on
this I think he actually signeda petition to get amendment H on
(29:46):
the ballot and then flipflopped and said he wasn't for
amendment H.
Well, if you came up to me andsaid, do you want to sign this
amendment that says I can punchyou in the face?
And said, do you want to signthis amendment that says I can
punch you in the face, and Isigned the amendment and then
you punched me in the face andthen I'm mad that you punched me
in the face.
Sorry, dusty, doesn't make anysense, but the fact that people
(30:08):
like Dusty Johnson wanted openprimaries tells you how terrible
of an idea open primaries is.
Why did people like DustyJohnson want open primaries?
Because it would haveguaranteed with 100% certainty
that fake Republican hacks likeDusty Johnson would have been
elected to significant officesin South Dakota for the rest of
(30:34):
time, true conservatives wouldhave 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 forwhoever they wanted to in the
(30:55):
primaries.
They wanted to in the primaries.
So you have left-leaning fakeRepublicans like Dusty Johnson,
who would have gotten someRepublican votes, like from the
establishment rhinos, and hewould have gotten a pile, a
whole bunch of Democrat andindependent votes because
(31:16):
largely they agree on the issues, and so our state would have
lost all of our conservativeprogress.
We would have been destined tohave poor liberal leadership for
decades to come.
Every other issue in the stateof South Dakota pales in
(31:38):
comparison to H, becauseAmendment H would have allowed
them to carry out all of theirliberal agenda.
South Dakota voters are smart.
South Dakota has the smartestblock of conservative voters in
the entire country, bar noneperiod.
We have proven it time and timeand time again.
We have proven it time and timeand time again.
(31:59):
Rl21, beat it.
Amendment G go to hell.
Amendment H not in our state.
I could not be more proud tocall myself a part of the
grassroots conservative movementin the state of South Dakota.
Thank you all.
We're not here today to debatehow well Christy Noem has done
(32:24):
as governor of this great statethe past six years.
Regardless if you love ChristyNoem or you loathe Christy Noem,
it doesn't matter, because inthis list we're just talking
about significant events and I'msorry, the sitting governor of
a state like South Dakota beingappointed by Donald Trump to be
(32:49):
the Secretary of HomelandSecurity is a big damn deal.
Now you can talk about all thestuff leading up to it and how
she got there and all all thestuff she did at the southern
border and activating our southdakota guard troops and all that
stuff, and you know there was alot of legitimate questions
(33:10):
there and a lot of legitimatecriticism.
I think that can be leviedtoward governor christie noem
and that that's fine as a publicofficial.
That's part of the process isto let the voters and let the
citizens and the residents thatyou serve question your
decisions and then to betransparent on how you
(33:33):
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, Idon't care how you twist it.
I don't care how you feel aboutGovernor Noem, it is a positive
for the state of South Dakotathat she is being considered for
(33:58):
this prestigious position.
Homeland Security, that ain't nofooling around.
That's a big-time job.
This isn't some fake, half-witappointment to appease a
friendship.
This is a real serious position, and so I trust Donald Trump.
(34:19):
I trust Donald Trump's visionfor this country.
I trust Donald Trump's abilityto assess talent and assess
character, and so I am going tosit back and I am going to watch
and I'm going to supportGovernor Noem as she becomes the
(34:42):
Secretary of Homeland Security,and I will cheer for her, that
she does well and that she helpsclose up our southern border
and starts taking the necessarysteps to win this country back.
So congratulations to ChristyNoem.
I hope her approval is swiftand quick.
(35:03):
Everything I've read indicatesthat it will be, and I suspect
sometime in the next month orsix weeks or so we will see
Lieutenant Governor Larry Rodensworn in as the next governor of
South Dakota.
Congratulations, governor Noem,on your appointment to the head
of Homeland Security.
(35:25):
Unfortunately, I was at the gameagainst SDSU and NDSU recently
in the Fargo Dome.
I think I'm still a littledepressed.
I really, really wanted to goto Frisco, I canceled my hotel
rooms, canceled my rental car.
Haven't quite recovered yet,but this is a 2024 best of and
(35:52):
last time I checked, theJackrabbits are still national
champions.
They won their secondback-to-back national
championship in January of 2024.
Yes, I know it was the 2023season, but damn it, they won
the title in 2024.
And on my podcast, toby DodenUnfiltered, we are going to
(36:16):
celebrate the JackrabbitsCongratulations.
Some recent news out ofBrookings is very popular coach.
I think the people around thatarea considered him part of
their family and still do.
Jimmy Rogers has accepted thehead coaching position at
(36:38):
Washington State.
Didn't really have any notes toget into this, but
congratulations to Jimmy Rogers.
Listen, he's put, I think, morethan 12 or 15 years into that
community, into that school.
I think he's been with the teamsince 2013 or 2014.
He's been the head coach thepast couple of seasons and he
(37:00):
had a very nice salary of around$300,000.
And I'm sure he gets a littleextra 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 Ibelieve he signed a long-term
deal with Washington Statethat's going to pay him about
(37:22):
$1.6 million per year or so, soroughly a 500% increase.
Good for you, jimmy Rogers, andI am very happy that almost to
a person.
The fans the Jackrabbit fanswho are wonderful, by the way,
some of the best collegefootball fans I've ever been
(37:43):
around have almostoverwhelmingly supported his
decision to move on toWashington State.
I know some other fan basesthat would have attacked Jimmy
Rogers.
They would have attacked hisfamily, they would have attacked
his motives.
All of these things the greatfans in South Dakota, the great
fans in Brookings, theJackrabbit faithful, the alumni
(38:06):
at SDSU they have warmlycelebrated his 500% pay increase
, his new opportunity at FBSWashington State.
So good luck, jimmy Rogers,good luck SDSU on next season
and congratulations on the twonational titles certainly worthy
(38:28):
of our spot, and I look forwardto seeing where each of you
rank SDSU's second nationaltitle in this year's rankings of
most significant events.
We talked about Governor KristiNoem and her being appointed to
the head of Homeland Security byPresident-elect Donald Trump.
(38:49):
Well, governor Noem is on ourlist a second time.
I'm not trying to drudge upnegative things from the past,
but this is a best of 2024 show,and by best of how we defined
it, was the most significanthappenings, the most significant
(39:11):
news, the most significantevents that the people of South
Dakota cared about, because, atthe end of the day, this is a
South Dakota podcast largely,and so we wanted to hit the
topics that happened this yearthat you folks at home cared the
most about.
And so Kristi Noem's book andthe revelations she made in the
(39:35):
publicity leading up to therelease of her book, by
anybody's standard is one of thetop stories in South Dakota of
2024.
Hell, it was one of the largestnational stories.
So if you have a story that ismassive on a national landscape,
it has to make our list inSouth Dakota.
(39:59):
So I'm sure almost every singlehuman being on the planet knows
the backstory.
But Governor Noem described inher book shooting her
14-month-old wire-haired pointerdog named Cricket.
She said that the dog ruined apheasant hunt.
It had killed some chickens andattempted to bite her.
(40:23):
She also mentions killing agoat shortly after.
Well, needless to say, therewas significant backlash.
The revelation led towidespread criticism from animal
rights advocates, the publicand political commentators.
It was seen as particularlyharsh and has been used by
(40:43):
political opponents to questionher judgment.
Listen, I didn't talk aboutthis at the time.
I'm going to talk about itright now, and if you don't like
what I'm about to say, then youare either biased or you just
don't understand things likethis very well.
What Kristi Noem did with herdog and her goat happens all the
(41:10):
time Right here in South Dakota, on family farms all over the
state, all over the Midwest, allover our country, dogs even
dogs as family pets have beenput down with a gun on their
family farm for a host ofreasons.
(41:32):
The dog is old, suffering, hasno quality of life, the dog has,
you know, something not quiteright in its brain function and
it has a propensity to attackother animals or to attack
children or shows aggressivebehavior.
There's a million reasons,right, and while a lot of us
(41:53):
myself included, anybody thatknows my wife and I big
supporters of the aberdeen AreaHumane Society they named the
building after my family.
That's how much we support dogsand the rehoming of dogs.
I've had dozens of dogs.
We have a bunch of rescue dogsat my house, but like you and
(42:15):
like me, our lifespan is finite,and so when it's time for a
loved pet, in this case a dogthat has no quality of life left
.
We take them to a vet and thevet puts them down in a way that
, at least on the surface, makesus feel better about it.
(42:39):
But you've got to understand.
My great-grandparents farmed.
My parents both grew up onfarms.
I spent a lot of time on farmsas a kid.
I have a lot of family thatstill farms.
I have a lot of friends thatfarm.
I know how it works.
(42:59):
I personally have really closefriends.
I know that have had to putdown pets and dogs at their farm
.
This happens all of the time.
So I'm really tired of peoplecriticizing what she did.
Having said that, wherecriticism is deserved and
rightfully so, and count me inon this a hundred percent the
(43:22):
fact that she basically braggedabout it in a book is insane.
(43:42):
To go public and startspreading excerpts from your
book to gain support and tobuild marketing pressure for
this big release, I really haveto question somebody's
intangible judgment that wouldsay let's put out the part where
(44:05):
I shot my dog cricket in agravel pit.
Anybody I mean anybody wouldknow that a large percentage of
the population is going to findthat repulsive.
Again, I explained how thathappens and I explained why it
(44:26):
happens and in many, if not most, cases it is justified.
It's their way of ending theirdog'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.
(44:46):
I have to go to the vet.
But I understand why people doit.
I really do.
But to even include it in thebook is insane.
But then to highlight it beforethe book is even released in my
opinion shows a significantlack of institutional judgment.
I'll be curious to see wherethis ranks on your list.
(45:10):
And our last, but certainly notleast, best of the best 2024
significant happenings, news,events or stories.
We go back to the politicallandscape in South Dakota,
specifically the completechangeover of leadership in the
(45:34):
state house and the state senate.
Going into 2024,.
All of the leaders in the statelegislature were establishment
rhino Republicans that supportedand voted lock, stock and
barrel with Governor Kristi Noemon every single issue.
(45:58):
Internal divisions within theRepublican Party became very
pronounced in 2024.
There was a rising tide ofdiscontent among conservative
grassroots activists who feltthat the existing legislative
leadership was not adequatelyrepresenting their values or was
(46:19):
too moderate, in many casesliberal.
So this group came along calledDakota First Action.
Along with other similarorganizations, we mobilized
around issues like electionintegrity, government overreach
and opposition to what they sawas establishment politics.
(46:41):
And so, dakota First Action, mypolitical action committee and
others, we targeted many of thestate legislators in the June
primary that had gone along withall of this nonsense and we
beat pretty much all of them.
(47:03):
So in November when the statelegislature met to do their
voting of the new leadershipthat will be starting in the
legislative session coming up inJanuary just a couple of weeks
away actually Every single RINOleader in the Senate and the
(47:27):
House gone All replaced withDakota First Action and or
America First conservativeRepublicans.
Much like Noam's book story,that went national.
Her appointment to HomelandSecurity Secretary that was a
(47:47):
national story.
This wasn't as big of anational story.
But South Dakota politics madenoise all over the country.
Politicians, pundits, otherpacks, influential political
minds were all talking aboutwhat happened in south dakota.
They had never seen anythinglike it.
(48:09):
David versus goliath comes tomind.
You could make a strongargument that the odds were even
worse for us.
The amount of money that waspoured into the state of South
Dakota to make sure that theserhino Republicans were
(48:31):
re-elected was massive.
They had the full support ofGovernor Noem's office, whether
it was public or not.
They had the full support ofpeople like Dusty Johnson, mike
Rounds, john Thune and millionsand millions of dollars that
flowed in from out of state, andI'll be damned if we didn't
(48:56):
beat them all.
Didn't beat them all, and thelesson to be learned by South
Dakota politics in 2024 is thisIf you are on the wrong side of
God, if you are on the wrongside of the will of people,
(49:21):
there is no amount of moneythat's going to change the
outcome.
And we proved that we wereundermanned, we were underfunded
, we had a significant lack ofresources and yet we won nearly
every single battle politicallyin 2024 against the liberal
(49:45):
establishment, every single one.
That's impressive and that isworthy of being one of the top
stories in South Dakota in 2024.
In South Dakota in 2024.
Thank you for listening to TobyDoden Unfiltered.
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