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.