Madeline's Wedding Toast.

I just want to say thank you to everyone or making the trip out to this beautiful black hills. And cheers! 

I'm going to take a minute to tell you guys a little story. About 3 years ago we were gathering in Chamberlain for our annual week long 4th of July celebration. And while we were getting prepared Madeline called and said she wanted to bring Sean for the week. 

Well we had met Sean once before and they'd been dating a few months so we said yeah that's okay. 

So everybody showed up at Grandma's house and Madeline and Sean came pulling up and took Sean's hand and said hi. And two Sean's credit he was very respectful and polite so he had that going for him. 

Well we stayed the week and had our usual great time and when fishing and boating and got together for the big picnic on the 4th of July and it was a great week. 

On that last day when we were packing up and getting ready to return home, is upstairs in grandma's house and Sean came up and said Dave I'd like to have a word with you. I said sure Sean what is it, what's up? So Sean very seriously and earnestly looked me in the eye and said well I have had a great weekend and love this family and had so much fun and I'd like to ask you a question. 

So I said sure go ahead. Sean said well you know how I feel about Madeline and I think she's wonderful and I'd like to ask you permission to marry her. 

Now I didn't respond right away, mostly because I was in total shock. And after about a minute or two I looked at Sean and shaking my head (I think I made a really strange face, something like this) and said well Sean I think I need you need to talk to Mama Terri about this. Kind of reminded me of a saying my dad said my grandpa liked to say " they don't put old heads on young shoulders". 

So I got Terri alone and said wow you're not going to believe this but Sean just asked me permission to marry Madeline. Well then Terri made a face something like this.

We talked, and Terri said one word after making that face -- and that was "No! ".

 So, we had a talk with Sean and Madeline and said, you know you guys, you need to get to know each other a little better and you know you need to see each other in your not just during your happiest days but also on your hardest days and that'll really give you a measure of if you know this other person. 

So, well here we are 3 years later and hey it's crazy isn't it?  It's got me thinking you know, "How do you know that this one is the one?". How do you know, right? 

I had a cellular biology professor that showed us two slides under a microscope. One dead, one alive. He asked: What gives the one that's alive that spark of life. Is it just a chemical reaction? No, he said. Life is proof of a higher being with a plan. That spark of life in that cell he said, "That's God". 

I guess you know after all these years being married 37 I still can't answer that question. Is it physical, metaphysical, chemical or logical? is it emotional? I don't really know.  I do like to think, just like that living cell, God is the spark of life between two people.

And I do know this, somehow you just know!

So I'd like to propose a toast we're going to take a drink and take a few seconds to ponder those mysteries of life. 

And in honor of my grandma Mildetta O'Hara Shogren, I'd like to leave you with a small piece of advice and an old Irish toast:

May the wind always be at your back,

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow

May the soft winds freshen your spirit

May the sunshine brighten your heart

May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you

And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love."

Cheers and welcome to the family Sean and congratulations to both of you!

Spark of Life

  God's plan can also include evolution. 

I had a cellular biology professor that showed us two slides under a microscope. One dead, one alive. He asked: What gives the one that's alive that spark of life. Is it just a chemical reaction? No, he said. Life is proof of a higher being with a plan. That spark of life in that cell he said, that's God. 

The 2nd law of thermodynamics expounds that all things trend toward a state of chaos. But not life. It has evolved not toward chaos, but toward perfection. 

That spark of life in that cell? That's God. 

Did God direct creation? He is the creator of the universe, so of course he can and did! Believe and be humble, and he will reveal this to you as well!

The US - Dakota War of 1862, A Minnesota History

On August 18th 1862, Dakota Sioux murdered more than 600 people (innocent settlers), because the annuity payments were late due to the civil war. The agency traders wouldn't give them food on credit until the payment checks came in. It was called the Dakota Sioux War 1862. Of the 498 trials, 303 men were convicted and sentenced to death. President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 38. It's called history, learn it and learn from it.

Even the tribes chief (Little Crow) and other tribal leaders did not want an uprising. Unfortunately, a small faction were incited by comments the agency traders made, which led to a group of younger members to start the killing. Many people were starving and hungry in those times. Most did not resort to murder of innocents to solve their predicament.

As I mentioned before delayed annuity payments (prescribed in a treaty that was agreed upon by both sides) were the root cause. The central issue was that Congress was arguing about Civil War funding and the annuity payment money was locked up in Congress until the budget could be resolved. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

 I'm well aware of broken treaties. I could recommend to you the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" for reference. It outlines the string of treaties and atrocities on both sides. In this instance though, "due process" was being carried out both by Congress (although slowly) and by the courts afterwards.

So what's the point of this discussion? That the world is full of injustice? That's not what we are discussing here. The Great Sioux War of 1865 has been reported and studied by both sides. The fact remains that 600 settlers were killed over late annuity payments. Yes, people were starving. Many people have gone hungry in the past, yet have resisted committing mass murder.

In fact, they scalped, disemboweled, beheaded, burned and raped many women and children. So the fact remains, justice was served by hanging and due process was upheld. 

So, in this case "due process" (which is now a hot topic concerning deportation), was followed. A few young Sioux murdered more than 600 people, going against the opinion and wishes of the tribal Chief Little Crow and most of the rest of the tribal elders. The due process comes in where, of the 498 trials that were done, 303 men were convicted and sentenced to death. President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 38. None of that can be disputed, or re-written based on opinion or bias, not even argued, because there is nothing to argue. Those are the facts whether you like them or not.

The VA, Trump and Elon: Cost Cutting and Elimination of Waste.

 So far, the VA according to Secretary Doug Collins, has only laid off 2,400 of 480,000 employees. The 80,000 number from a "leaked memo" still would only be 15%. The reality is, restructuring to those 2019 levels are probSo far, the VA according to Secretary Doug Collins, has only laid off 2,400 of 480,000 employees. The 80,000 number from a "leaked memo" still would only be 15%. The reality is, restructuring to those 2019 levels are probably necessary and perhaps overdue. Said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “To be perfectly clear: these moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries.

I will admit, Trump and Elon are a little bit like the rookie manager who, when facing budget cut, decides to " fire a bunch of people", because they don't know any better course of action (like Lean Manufacturing/ Lean Enterprise or Six Sigma Cost reduction). But those programs and culture take time to develop, and they want results now!

Those managers, typically regret it when they realize "people" are their greatest resource and regret losing all that "years in the making" talent. But like the short timer manager, they are not around to survey the carnage or pick up the pieces and get things back to a working state.

Maybe, this will be a wake up call to the Federal Government to adopt and embrace those cost saving programs and culture, just like the private sector has over the last 25 years (W. Edward Demings, Taguchi, etc.).

Mickelson Trail E-Bike a Misdemeanor

Larry Rhoden will never be elected to another pubic office again. Way to go, Larry you're officially an idiot.

The one issue "SD tourism at all costs" now hate you. The AARP crowd now hate you. People with disabilities that can't ride traditional bikes now hate you. Pretty much all bicyclists hate you (except for the "I wear men's bicycling spandex bibs" individuals). Bicycle shops in Deadwood, Custer and along the Trail hate you. In fact, all small business owners in the Black Hills pretty much hate you.

Tourists that planned cycling trips to the Black Hills are canceling in droves.

Way to not understand the issue. Oh and by the way, vote out so-called short-lived Senator Taffy Howard for sponsoring the bill, and Representative Tim [Goodwin In The House] Goodwin as well for supporting it.

Taffy Howard Cite your sources. You are mis-informed, as usual! You need to find the "root cause" of the issue first, then make a judgment based on your years of experience on the subject. You have and did neither. I read that one day you were walking on the Mickelson and were "startled by someone coming up behind you", and that's the basis for your decision to author this bill. Man, you really stepped in it this time. Your obviously in an argument that's "over your pay-grade".

So now that the deed is done, how are you going to "police" the trail now that it will be a misdemeanor to ride a Class 2 or 3 e-bike there? Hire "Bike Cops" to patrol? Oh yeah, taxpayers hate you too.

Edit: E-bikes were my first foray into electric transportation and/or recreation. I've rode nearly the entire the Mick with my pedal bike. Then I tried an e-bike. Rode the entire trail twice.  I also started riding it to work occasionally.  Both are fulfilling, wonderful and good exercise. 

My question is this: If you are a conservationist or activist, and support green initiatives and sustainable transport (and just plain fun!), but just don't like e-bikes on the Mickelson -- then you just stepped in it.

My favorite description of e-biking to traditional cyclists is "I get the same exercise as you do, I just go twice as far!"..

David A. Shogren

AI Analysis of How the New Trump Tarrifs are Afffecting the Koch Brothers and the "Americans for Prosperity Foundation"?

Typed "How are the new Trump tarrifs afffecting the Koch Brothers and the "Americans for Prosperity Foundation"?" into the AI search engines MS Copilot and Grok3 and got some interesting responses.

AI is really dependent on the "rational subgroup" of data they use. Interestingly, many tech companies restrict their AI data set to company internal documents only, figuring that outside internet information is too biased with dot ORG misinformation to the point that it is not reliable.

Looks like some AI search engines quote their sources, some do not.

Note: The Koch Brothers own Flint Hills Resources refinery in Rosemount MN and many other petroleum-based companies. They also created the "Americans For Prosperity" organization, that is often seen at the SD and MN Capitals lobbying their respective Governors (esp. Kristi Noem when she was in office).

Peter Hall

I truly hope the dot ORG "The National Institue of Public Policy" is one of the dot ORG's that the Trump Administration eliminates. Watching the news and then reading "white papers" is okay if you have no historical perspective or opinions of your own based on personal experience. But if that is the case, you need to choose your source of reading materials wisely. People have two very different motivations for arguing on FB. Some are earnestly trying to find some truth and discuss it. I on the other hand, just want to expose "influencer-wanna-bees" that expound their half-baked ideas on the internet for personal gain or notoriety.

Insurance Fraud From the Inside: Using Value360 Estimator Software.

 All of the big insurance companies are in collusion using the valuation software "Value360".  It over inflates the cost of replacing or fixing your home, so they can justify rate increases.  

We had competitive quotes from 4 companies.  They all used Value360.  State Farm, Farm Bureau, Progressive and Farmers.  The quotes were all ridiculously high and within tens of dollars of each other.

I call it "Insurance Fraud From the Inside".

The Black Hills Forest Management

Old growth + new grown mix is good. Ever notice how the forest floor is dead in a completely old growth section?

The "progressive" trend is to want all old growth trees because tourists like big trees. Don't do a search on Google or AI. That info is all generated by a climate.org data set that is skewed to advocating old growth trees exclusively. That way when it does burn, it's catastrophic, proof of climate change. Don't believe it. It's propaganda.

Do real research. Don't believe the bogus hype.

Look at photos of the Black Hills from before the turn of the century. There were far less trees and more native prairie grass. The trees burned in great fires, but the forests were in balance because of it.

I have recently been reading some interesting books by Dan O'Brien a rancher for 30 years near Spearfish SD. The kicker is Dan is also an Author and an Endangered Species Biologist. My opinions lately have admittedly, been heavily influenced by Dan's writing.

Dan expounds on these theories base on 30 years of experimentation and observations on his own ranch in the Black Hills. He also switched from running cattle on his ranch to running native buffalo. The results were dramatic.

Allowing old growth trees to be harvested allows new growth to take it's place. The ensuing growth includes native prairie grasses (big bluestem, indian grass, switchgrass, little bluestem, sideoats grama, and blue grama) and low brush to grown, exposes bordering old growth stand to sunlight and encourages growth underneath those as well.

This undergrowth provides critical habitat for birds, small animals and young of every species. All good things.

I like to think about the fire burn area west of Custer from a fire maybe 20-years ago. That area is one of the only excellent areas to hunt native ruffed grouse in the Black Hills.

It's interesting the Lidar (airborne tree diameter) Study, conducted by the U.S. Forest Service Resource Managment group, collected data from the Black Hills Experimental Forest exclusively, nowhere else. This section of Black Hills National Forest was founded in 1908, and has been had experiments in forestry and silviculture done on it over the last 116 years or so. Not exactly a random sample or an unbiased population selection. Maybe they don't understand rational subgrouping to produced unbiased data?

I believe Dave Mertz of the Norbeck Society was a senior staff member of that Resource group at the time. Metz has a background as an intelligence officer in the US Army, then joined the US Forest Service

Geeze. Dave Mertz has been peddling this story for a few years now, all based on a costly 2012 "Airborne Lidar Survey" done by the US Forest Service, exclusively on a small "experimental" section of the Black Hills called ironically enough "The Black Hills Experimental Forest".  Note:  The 2023 LiDAR study data has not been analyzed yet, and probably won' be now until 2026.

I have personally hiked through that section of the BHNF and believe me, it is not a section of forest land that I would have selected. It's what engineers or statisticians would call a biased rational subgroup, selected to fit a pre-supposed opinion. That small area (just 0.3 % of the entire Black Hills forest region in area), has been experimented on since its inception in 1908. They intentionally selected and area whose mean tree diameter at the 4.5 foot level was less than 9" (the standard minimum for selection by the logging industry).

I believe Dave Mertz of the Norbeck Society was a senior staff member of the US Forest Service Resource group at the time they did the study. A bogus theory based on biased data.

Social Media Is Toxic Prayer

SOCIAL MEDIA IS TOXIC PRAYER

The need to always be right is toxic (probably me). 

The need to be heard can be toxic (me). 

Social media was better when it was just a way to connect with your friends (right?). 

The need to convince 71 million other people is toxic and impossibly ridiculous (me). 

Arguing with people you don't even know on Facebook is toxic (me).

And it's crazy where people are getting their news these days.  Podcasts are fun, but it's like cherry-picking your news that only fits your pre-conceived ideas and beliefs.  It makes sense, though, that people do listen to them.  Because there are no decent, unbiased journalists, reporters or new outlets anymore.  So, where are people (especially young people) supposed to go to get information? (No! Not Social Media, cringe!).

It's better to discuss things with your own little circle of friends (yes!). 

Weigh your own facts,and make up your own mind what the truth is for you.

It's better to sit around with friends discussing stuff, maybe over a cup of coffee or maybe a few beers, because you can just lean back and say "Yeah". You're probably right...". 

It's toxic to want to be an influencer (not me). 

It's toxic to want to be "liked" by everyone (not me). 

It's toxic to take Facebook polls of your friends, to see what they would do, where they would go, what they would buy (not me).

It's toxic to post your feelings on Facebook with a red background and big white capital letters (not me, that's just wrong).

Here's an activist social movement for you:  Delete all your political comments. 

Everyone's truth is based on their own experience and their own environment. Let them have their opinion.

Just my reality, not yours.  Was keeping me up at night.  Hate stuff that messes with my sleep.

I remember my Dad talking about National news on the TV and I said "I don't care about national news, never watch it".  I was like 20 years old.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  I just want to go back to THAT mindset!

David A. Shogren

r opinion.

WW3: Ukraine, Zelensky and NATO

David Shogren

Anybody recall the Lend-Lease Agreement Roosevelt made with Churchill before WW2? Roosevelt was a dyed-in-the-wool Socialist, but he knew that the American public popular opinion did not want to get into a world war. So, he resisted giving England arms or financial aid to fight Germany.   Finally, Roosevelt, in a stroke of genius, came up with the Lend-Lease Agreement. Allowing arms to be shipped to England as a "Lease" agreement. NOT free -- a lease agreement paid by Englund. That was the genius part. Placate the public while providing aid for hire (in the Ukraine case mineral rights). Then wait and see if public opinion changed. That's probably what Zelenskyy was ambiguously referring to by ..."you have a nice ocean and don't feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.". 

Finally, the American public's opinion shifted after Pearl Harbor. A lot of parallels here. Especially if you study history. Make no mistake, Zelensky wants WW3. So ask yourself honestly. do you want to sacrifice another 407,000 American soldiers for the Donbas region of Ukraine?

The question came up: [Marc Morrison] What's your evidence that Zelensky wants a world war?

He (Zelenskyy) wants to join NATO and pull every associated nation into the fight. That's the first step. He knows he doesn't have the resources to fight on his own. If you don't learn from history, you are destined to repeat it. Ironically, when Biden was in the white house, I asked myself if he had the wherewithal to do what Roosevelt did. The intuitive answer was a resounding no. This administration seems to have that wherewithal.

Okay, so suppose we are at the precipice of a world war. We already know China is sending arms to support Russia. Would China make a move to gain world dominance? Another Pearl Harbor? In the words of Yamamoto, "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant". No, they would not. They know, like the Japanese did back then, that there are 330,000,000 American citizens armed to the teeth, who would be ready to die for Democracy and their homeland, if you wake them up.

So then the next question is, "Well what would it take to convince 71,000,000 voting Americans that Ukraine is more important than $12 carton of eggs and $300 weekly grocery bills"? The answer is this.

It is well known that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world (why do you think Biden was doing business there?). It's also probably the money laundering capital of the planet. So, before you are going to convince those 71M people to send money to Ukraine, they're going to need to know the money isn't just going to be laundered back to the DNC national convention server or to a Treasury slush fund then back to the DNC. Or, who knows where? Some Ukrainian oligarch cosplay soldier-presidents' personal bank account?

No more sending pallets of money, like Obama did to Iran so it can end up who knows where? There has to be assurances that our tax money is actually going to the cause. That's what Trump is trying to do. With Ukraine and within our country.

You have to sway public opinion. Biden didn't think he had to. The academic elite always think they know best for the unwashed masses. Remember Hillary Clintons remark "The Basket of Deplorables?. But Roosevelt knew this.  The only way to wake up and galvanize the sleeping giant is direct war on our land, or change public opinion.

Create government transparency and accountability.

If Ukraine actually has skin in the game -- the rights to Ukraine's mineral wealth -- then we're sure it's not going back into someone's pocket. Zelensky refuses.