Return of our Sisseton-Wahpeton Children, an item in the Oyate News, caught our attention. It was just an image and a link but worth readers time if they want to learn about the legacy of the boarding school system on families and communities.
Tamara St. John's discussion of the way in which the removal of the children of tribal leaders from their families and communities--along with her sharing of what has been learned about the boys at home and at the schools--illustrates why the children and this history should never be forgotten.
The unflinching questioning of the representatives of the Department of the Army by Sisseton Wahpeton by SWO citizens, along with their insistence that traditional cultural practices and family values be honored, is bracing.
Here's a YouTube of part of the event. It begins with St. John talking about the children:
If a YouTube of the complete event becomes available, we'll add it to this post.
The records indicate that Amos LaFramboise was originally buried in Ashland Cemetery, a burial ground located in the town of Carlisle. In December 1879, the body was relocated to the Carlisle Indian School Cemetery due to racial restrictions on the deed for plots at Ashland.
Excerpt from Jacqueline Fear-Segal, White Man’s Club: Schools, Race, and the Struggle of Indian Acculturation (University of Nebraska Press, 2007), pages 235-237: “The day after [Amos LaFramboise] was laid to rest in Ashland Cemetery, Pratt wrote to the War Department requesting ‘to be informed whether the Burial Ground at that place is available for the interment of Indian youth who may die while attending that school.’ … The judge advocate general was called on to make the final decision, and he informed the War Department that ‘The deed in this case conveys to the United States the ‘exclusive and entire right of interment and sepulture’ in a certain burial lot in Ashland Cemetery in said Carlisle ‘to have and to hold’ – and it is added – ‘for the burial of such White persons’ as the grantee may admit to be buried there: In my judgement these last words constitute a condition annexed to the grant, that the premises shall be used for the burial of White persons only; and I have therefore to express the opinion that the interment therein of an Indian would not be legally authorized.’”
Years later, in an 1892 speech, Pratt infamously said that the goal of boarding school education was to "kill the Indian and save the man." St. John skillfully wove this information into her discussions.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
The hearing is definitely worth a watch, for both the information in the scheduled presentations, passionate appeals to agency staff by Minnesota deer (and deer hunter) champion state representative Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, and public testimony by outdoors group members.
Much of the news isn't promising for Minnesota's wild deer herd and those who hunt and eat them. No votes were taken by the committee in the informational hearing.
Here's the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube of the hearing:
Documents on the agenda that will help understand the scheduled testimony and public comments:
The fence around public land in Beltrami County cost MN taxpayers $195k. “Farmer” who dumped the #CWD carcasses hasn’t paid a penny. #mnlegpic.twitter.com/pyaC7X9GuH
Advice to hunters from U of M prion expert @peter_a_larsen : wear gloves when gutting & butchering, use stainless steel equipment & then disinfect with 40-50%(!) bleach solution #mnleg#CWD
Home butchers: is your garage set-up full stainless steel?
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
The South Dakota Department of Education announced Tuesday night a five-week delay and a move to a larger venue in Aberdeen for the first public hearing on controversial proposed content standards for social studies.
The hearing before the state Board of Education Standards was supposed to be Monday, September 20, at Holgate Middle School theater. The new plan sets it for October 25 at the Ramkota Convention Center in Aberdeen.
A state law requires at least four public hearings over the course of six months on changes to content standards. The law, first passed in 2012 and amended in 2014 and 2017, requires hearings in Aberdeen, Pierre, Rapid City, and Sioux Falls.
An accompanying law passed in 2014 requires at least 30 days of public notice for a hearing on content standards.
The changes for the social studies standards came one day after a protest march in Pierre against the department’s removal of dozens of references to Native American culture from a draft version that a team of teachers, historians and others had assembled at the department’s invitation. . . . [end update]
Now, South Dakota's Lakota high school students are organizing against the erasure of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate [Seven Council Fires] from the state's teaching standards--and marched yesterday in the rain to voice their objections.
As the South Dakota Department of Education prepares to make a decision on public school social studies standards, people across South Dakota raised their voices, hoping to express their opinion on the potential removal of Native American history from schools.
Students of all races gathered outside of Central High School, voicing their opinion on the South Dakota Department of Education’s proposed removal of Native American history from social studies standards.
“It’s important that we know where we come from and it’s especially important for the students who don’t necessarily have a traditional background, don’t have a traditional household that they can turn to and ask questions to so at school that’s really all that they get,” said student and member of Lakota Empowerment Club, Adriana Young.
“Our school is very diverse and I think to take away one part of that diversity is crazy,” said students and club members Keera Taylor and Star Sharp Fish. “We all want to learn about each other. I want to know everything about my peers. So if a part of that was taken from me, it doesn’t make sense to me at all. The option just being gone is unthinkable.”
“When I heard about what they were doing to basically what happened to us, all the genocide, the residential schools, and everything they’ve done, it hurt my hear to hear it because it’s part of who we are, it goes back generations and whenever they said we were going to get together, and do something, I was all for it,” added Niyah Dukes, CHS student and Lakota Empowerment Club member.
Lakota Empowerment Club, a new group at CHS, staged the walkout with the help of NDN Collective, who were in Pierre speaking out as well.
Young said it’s important to stand up for what you believe in and Dejarae Little Bull agreed.
“Don’t be afraid to use your voice,” continued Young. “Don’t be scared of what other people think. When you do something that may seem small to you, it can mean a lot to a lot of people. Stand up for what you believe in.”
“I remember, Kristi Noem said she wanted to broaden what we learn in history and I just think that removing the standards in contradictory to what she said because we have a large and plentiful culture here in South Dakota,” said Dejarae Little Bull, CHS student and club member. “We have all of our tribes and the reservations and learning about that, not just to Native kids, kids of other ethnicities, it’s important for them to learn that.”
Rapid City Area Schools superintendent Dr. Lori Simon put out a statement saying, in part, “I have concerns about the recent revisions to the social studies content standards.”
And about the group that took part in and drafting the standards for review, Dr. Simon said, “In discussions with some of the educators on the committee, I have heard that many felt their expertise and work was discounted. Perhaps most importantly, the group felt key references and facts about Native American history were omitted.”
Here's the NDN Collective's livestream of the march and rally, narrated by Sarah Sunshine Manning:
On a day in which the heavy rain caused our satellite to blink off and on here in Summit, we're impressed by the resolve of these young people and their "allies and accomplices."
The South Dakota Education Equity Coalition is calling on Gov. Kristi Noem, South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson and other government officials to resign after the DOE removed more than a dozen references to the Oceti Sakowin before releasing proposed social studies standards a month ago.
More than 200 marchers walked, drummed and rode horses Monday across Pierre as part of the Oceti Sakowin March for our Children, demanding Indigenous history education for all ahead of multiple public hearings expected for the proposed standards, which start next week in Aberdeen, before they're finalized.
Sarah White, the coalition's director, said the demands are listed as follows:
Make Oceti Sakowin Essential Understanding standards mandatory
Move the office of Indian Education back to the DOE
Honor laws with tribal consultation on education
Study session to enable opportunities for school choice
Demand for resignation of Noem; Sanderson; Secretary David Flute, from Department of Tribal Relations; and Fred Osborn, the director of the Office of Indian Education
Several students also spoke during the protest, including Ochankowin Chasing Hawk from Dupree High School. She said she had to teach her own classmates about the Dakota 38, the 38 men who hanged in the nation's largest mass execution in 1862 as part of convictions tied to the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. It wasn’t taught in her school, she said. . . .
After the Pierre Police Department escort and mounted horse riders passed by, at least 100 marchers on foot made their way through Pierre on Monday. They let the children lead the way.
The march winding its way from Steamboat Park to Hilger’s Gulch was led by the children of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate, otherwise known as the People of Seven Council Fires or the Sioux Nation.
The children at the head of Monday’s march carried a banner that read “Oceti Sakowin Past. Present. Future.” They also waved signs that called on South Dakota’s leadership to “Honor Indigenous Leadership In State Decision Making,” something many Native Americans in South Dakota have voiced as lacking in 2021.
Afternoon rain dampened the route for Monday’s protesters, who marched down Dakota Avenue and up Highland Avenue across Pierre’s main stretch of Sioux Avenue to Hilger’s Gulch, not far from the South Dakota Department of Education building on Governors Drive.
The march, organized by Rapid City-based groups South Dakota Education Equity Coalition and NDN Collective, protested the South Dakota Department of Education’s draft social studies content standards published for public feedback on Aug. 6, which removed almost all mentions of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate included in the July 26 draft. . . .
There's more at the Capital Journal.
Let's hope all South Dakota children gain the opportunity to learn a robust version of South Dakota social studies, rather than the thin gruel the Department of Education drained out of the working group's rich stew.
Photo: NDN Collective leads the march through the rainy streets of Pierre, South Dakota. Erin Bormett/Argus Leader.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Readers interested in learning the latest information about Chronic Wasting Disease and its detection in Minnesota should tune in to watch a Zoom live on Tuesday, September 14 at 10 a.m.
The agenda and documents are posted on the committee's webpage. Here's the agenda:
Update on Chronic Wasting Disease Efforts • Dr. Peter Larsen, Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach • Michelle Carstensen, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources • David Benke, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency • Christian Balzer, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources • Dr. Beth Thompson, Board of Animal Health • Dr. Linda Glaser, Board of Animal Health Public Testimony • Patrick Boyle, Commissioner, St. Louis County • Keith Nelson, Commissioner, St. Louis County • Kevin Dupuis, Chairman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa • Brad Gausman, Minnesota Conservation Federation and CWD Action Coalition • Matt Lee, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
We'll be processing our garden harvest tomorrow and thinking about concocting the perfect sauce for venison while we tune in. My grandmother couldn't tune in Zoom meetings years ago when she taught me how to can vegetables in southern Minnesota years ago, but then, she didn't have to worry about the wild deer herd sickening.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Gov. Kristi Noem says she opposes a bill eliminating the vaccination requirement for students.
"Vaccinations have literally saved millions of lives over the years. That is not something that I can support," she said during her weekly press conference.
The House Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on House Bill 1235 at 7:45 a.m. CT on Tuesday at the Capitol. Noem said her office will oppose the bill during the hearing.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, R-Platte, is the prime sponsor of the bill, and 13 legislators have signed on as co-sponsors.
The bill proposes that no student entering a public or nonpublic early education program, school or post-secondary school is required to have immunizations or medical procedures prior to entering school. It also states that no one can be discriminated against if they aren't immunized.
Any school, medical provider or person who forces someone to be immunized could be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which comes with a maximum sentence of one year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
On February 25, 2020, House Bill 1235 crashed in the Health and Human Services committee on a 2-10 vote, then was deferred on a 10-2 vote to the 41st legislative day, which is South Dakotan for "killing a bill." Opponents included representatives of the South Dakota Department of Health, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce, the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, the South Dakota Medical Association, The South Dakota Nurses Association and other miscreants.
Sad to read that Tamara St John, one of my state representatives and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribal archivist, favored the failed measure. Nearly a year later, St. John tested positive for COVID-19, but fortunately experienced no severe symptoms.
The list of vaccines mandated for South Dakota school kids and Noem's new opposition to mandates is catching national attention.
CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront commented on the inventory of those vaccines, but didn't note Noem's 2020 defense of vaccine mandates for school kids in this clip:
Governor slams Biden's vaccine mandate. Here are the vaccines required in her state https://t.co/8RgddJcA0i
It's worth your time clicking through to watch the CNN clip.
There's more of course. Noem tweeted on July 31:
Workers whose employers are mandating a vaccine for continued employment have the power to say no. Our robust economy and job market gives them the option to find a new employer that values personal choice and responsibility, and doesn’t force mandates on their employees.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, already on thin ice over her battles with state Republicans over a bill to ban biological males from women’s sports, is once again facing intense heat, this time for refusing to ban vaccine mandates.
On Saturday, she posted a tweet ostensibly designed to cheer up private business employees who’re being forced to choose between either complying with their employer’s vaccine mandate or looking for a new job.
“Workers whose employers are mandating a vaccine for continued employment have the power to say no. Our robust economy and job market gives them the option to find a new employer that values personal choice and responsibility, and doesn’t force mandates on their employees,” the governor wrote. . . .
The tweet provoked massive backlash from … conservatives.
It sounded to conservatives as if she was tacitly condoning those private businesses that have chosen to force a vaccine mandate on their employees.
Technically, her position is the correct one from a free market perspective. Businesses should be allowed to run their operations as they choose.
However, since the arrival of former President Donald Trump, the contemporary Republican Party has slowly been becoming more populist, and the populist position on this issue is that businesses DON’T have the right to force vaccines on employees.
And so for Noem to choose the free market position over the populist one — and for her to do so while in the middle of a pre-2024 election feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — was perhaps not the wisest move.
After all, DeSantis has taken the populist position and banned vaccine passports and mandates in Florida, making him extremely popular among the base.
Noem meanwhile is having her “Marie Antoinette” moment, according to Newsmax’s Jessie Jane Duff and others. . . .
Photo: Governor Kristi Noem riding her horse. To give her credit, she was vaccinated back in April, according to Associated Press coverage at the time.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Between running errands, harvesting garden vegetables, and processing them, today we read dozens of news articles about the legacy of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well as friends' remembrances of what they were were doing when the planes hit. Some wrote of the friends and colleagues they had lost.
If some worry that America and the world have forgotten September 11, 2001, we come away on this Patriot Day knowing that's not the case.
We'll have posts tomorrow about South Dakota governor Noem's latest backflip, Minnesota politics, and our usual schtick.
Photo: Bobby McIlvaine's wallet (Danna Singer for The Atlantic). Consider subscribing to The Atlantic.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Is symbolic justice coming for Joseph Boever, the man South Dakota Attorney General hit and killed in a moment of distracted driving a year ago this coming Sunday?
A bi-partisan group of leadership members in the South Dakota House of Representatives are calling for a special legislative session to consider whether to pursue impeachment of the state's attorney general.
House Majority Leader Kent Peterson, R-Salem, in a news release Thursday announced he is formally requesting lawmakers return to the capital in November to "evaluate the matter of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg," convicted of a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges last month stemming from his role in a vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian a year earlier.
"Before we concluded the session in March, the House of Representatives voted on a resolution that stated we may evaluate the matter pertaining to the Attorney General when the judicial process was completed," Peterson said. "Since that process has finished, I am asking that the legislature convene to start the formal process of investigating the matter surrounding Attorney General Ravnsborg."
Ravnsborg struck and killed Joe Boever while he was driving from a political event the night of Sept. 12, 2020, and was convicted of a misdemeanor traffic charges relating to the crash on Aug. 26.
Despite calls for his resignation from various law enforcement groups, Gov. Kristi Noem and several lawmakers, Ravnsborg remains in office as the state's top law enforcement officer and prosecutor. Following the resolution of the criminal charges he'd faced, he said he would continue to serve and had no intention of relinquishing the attorney general position.
House Republican leader Kent Peterson said Thursday he wants the South Dakota Legislature to call itself into special session to consider whether to impeach state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
The House considered a resolution in the regular session that was deferred by House Speaker Spencer Gosch because Ravnsborg was still facing three second-class misdemeanor charges for a September 12 crash at the west edge of Highmore. That night, the car Ravnsborg was driving struck and killed pedestrian Joe Boever, who was walking on the north shoulder of US 14.
Ravnsborg, a Republican, pleaded no-contest last month to improper lane change and using an electronic device while driving. Retired Circuit Judge John Brown sentenced Ravnsborg to the maximum fine of $500 on each charge. A third misdemeanor for careless driving was dropped as part of a deal.
Peterson’s Thursday announcement came on Gosch’s letterhead. The Legislature needs two-thirds of its senators and two-thirds of its representatives to sign a petition for a special session. . .
Gosch received the investigation file from Governor Kristi Noem after Ravnsborg’s pleas. The Republican governor has repeatedly called for Ravnsborg’s resignation and said he should be impeached if he doesn’t step down. . . .
. . .November 9 is the day after the scheduled November 8 Special Session called for redistricting. If the House does convene that Tuesday and impeach the Attorney General, South Dakota Constitution Article 16 Section 5 immediately suspends the Attorney General from his office. Article 16 Section 7 requires the Senate to wait at least 20 days before trying the Attorney General. The Senate would thus have to call itself back into another Special Session on November 29 at the earliest. If the House votes to impeach Ravnsborg within a week of its convening, the Senate could save itself a little travel and hold a Special Session trial in conjunction with the planned December 7 budget address from the Governor.
If Peterson, Gosch, and their associates are planning to consider impeachment in November, that’s all the more reason for Speaker Gosch and other legislators who have received the Ravnsborg investigation file to release that file to the public now, so the public may review the same information legislators have and weigh whether they want their legislators to revoke the public’s 2018 vote and remove their elected Attorney General from office.
We suspect our neighbors would welcome the ability to read the files; across the political spectrum, they feel that if they had struck and killed someone walking on the side of the road, they'd be in prison by now. It's nonpartisan.
Photo: Ravnsborg's Taurus, via Rapid City Journal. From the New York Times' transcription:"“We know that his face came through your windshield,” one investigator said. The vehicle also had an imprint from at least part of the man’s body on the hood, an investigator said, adding that “at some point he rolls off and slides into the ditch.”
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
After a long day of harvesting vegetables and mowing lawns on my romantic partner's place on the Lake Traverse Reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Dakota, I was delighted to read in the Mankato Free Press article MSU's Westerman named Minnesota poet laureate by Tim Krohn:
Gwen Westerman, an English professor at Minnesota State University, is the first Native American to be appointed as Minnesota’s poet laureate.
Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan made the announcement Thursday.
“It is an honor to serve as the poet laureate and help elevate poetry across the state,” Westerman said in a statement. “I am excited for the opportunity to share the beauty of poetry and to engage and celebrate the voices of all Minnesotans.”
She is co-author of “Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota,” which won two Minnesota Book Awards and an AASLH Leadership in History Award. Her poetry collection “Follow the Blackbirds” is written in English and Dakota, one of her heritage languages.
Her poems and essays can be found in POETRY, Yellow Medicine Review, Water-Stone Review, Natural Bridge and at poetryfoundation.org
Westerman has long been involved in efforts to increase the knowledge about Native Americans, particularly the Dakota. . . .
Westerman told The Free Press in April that most people don’t think about the impact Lincoln had on the people who were not hanged. The rest of the men and their families were expelled from Mankato and sent to a prison in Davenport, Iowa.
“I’m not minimizing the hanging of the 38,” Westerman said. “But we also need to take into consideration the descendants of the men who were spared and how that impacted generations of people.”
She's right. While I learned about the 1862 War and the hangings in high school, I knew little about what happened to the people who were forced out of Minnesota after the war.
We met Westerman several years ago at a book signing for "Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota," at a book store in Granite Falls that was sponsored by CURE, the rural environmental and clean energy organization based in Montevideo.
. . . She has written about Dakota history and language and has won two Minnesota Book Awards for her work about Dakota people, "Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota." Her poetry collection, "Follow the Blackbirds," was written in English and Dakota.
Also a fiber artist, Westerman with works in the permanent collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, the Great Plains Art Museum, the University Art Galleries at the University of South Dakota and the Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota.
Her website also says she's worked as a proofreader, a waitress, an editor, a sandwich delivery driver, a technical writer and a teacher.
Westerman will be the state's third poet laureate since the post was officially created in 2007. The previous poet laureates were Robert Bly and Joyce Sutphen.
The poet laureate is expected to promote and encourage appreciation and engagement with poetry and elevate the state's poets and authors. The post comes with a $3,500 annual stipend.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
In Minnesota, the Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio are reporting that the House Ethics Committee is looking into spending by the office of First District representative Jim Hagedorn.
The House Ethics Committee announced on Tuesday it is investigating four members: Democrat Tom Malinowski of New Jersey and Republicans Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota and Alex X. Mooney of West Virginia.
The cases were investigated by the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics, which concluded that in each case there was a substantial reason to believe that a violation had occurred. The OCE is a fact-finding office and, unlike the Ethics Committee, cannot discipline members or issue subpoenas. . . .
“Congressman Hagedorn personally self-reported this matter to the Ethics Committee last year and will continue working with it to bring it to an appropriate conclusion,” Elliot Berke, managing partner of Berke Farah LLP, said in a statement on behalf of Hagedorn. “The fact that the OCE, which provides non-binding recommendations to the Ethics Committee, decided to investigate something that was already under review was a waste of taxpayer funds and House resources.”
Photo: Congressman Hagedorn, front left, red shirt) at a campaign event in Rochester.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Who are these people? Bishofsky tells about his thinking in an August 22 post on the website, Why I did this...:
. . . I tried advocate for my patients by suggesting the doctors try vitamin D, HCQ and Ivermectin. I even mentioned quercetin and zinc. They refused, and since then, they treat me like I am just a crazy conspiracy theorist. Imagine being on your death bed, on 100% oxygen and barely maintaining life. Now imagine asking the doctor if they could just please give you some Ivermectin and that your are not concerned about any risks or side effects. If you imagined that they’d give it a try, you are wrong. They say no and walk out of the room. The patient-doctor relationship is dead. The decision making for treatment comes from a bureaucratic agenda, not a critically thinking doctor at the bedside. It sickens me.
I held many dying hands. I tried to give my patients some sense of peace in their last moments. I spent dozens of hours at the bedside, risking my life with inadequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and no vaccine, so that human beings would not have to die alone. It was heartbreaking. There are no words. I shed way too may tears and lost countless hours of sleep. I remember every single one of my patients and I tear up now thinking of them. Their deaths were tragedies that did not need to occur.
Since my employer’s mandate was released a couple weeks ago, it has been a whirlwind of emotions…fear, anxiety, anger, exasperation and exhaustion. I wondered what I could sell my house for. I wondered what would happen to my beautiful children. I crawled into a desperate hole and waited for the public…the men and women of this great country to stand the hell up and fight for what’s right. Nobody was doing it. I approached my administrators, who actually do not believe in the mandate, and asked them why they would not stand up. I asked them when their morals would trump their paycheck and all I get is political spin. I decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
On August 10th, I was at work, in distress and all of a sudden it hit me. Enough trying to convince the sheep! I decided I was going find every single freedom loving patriot and I was going to make some change. I gave my phone number to one person and asked that they give it out to those in the same position, and text “vaccine” to the number. Within 20 minutes, my phone was rattling. I gave it to a few more people and it spread like wildfire. Then, I made a sign and some flyers and picketed outside of a hospital. I got more and more texts…hundreds. The momentum was incredible. I didn’t even know where exactly it was going, but I knew I was sick and tired of bitching and wondering. It was time to take charge. I held a rally with 600 people and was able to connect with gubernatorial candidates and other high profile individuals. I even got to talk to Stew Peters. It has been a hell of a ride and I AM ONLY GETTING STARTED.
I had this website created to bring like-minded people together. There are, no doubt, plenty of us patriots who know the scam and my intention is to find every single one of them in Minnesota. We cannot win this with a couple hundred people standing outside a hospital. We need thousands, and not just hospital workers. This is so much bigger than just one job and one jab. This is about freedom…freedom to work…freedom of mobility…freedom to eat at restaurants and much more. More importantly, this is about our children and their future freedoms. So YES, I intend to find every single Minnesotan to unite and arrive as ONE! We must gather, organize and demand that this ends, or ‘it’ is over. Freedom will be dead.
Please stand with me. Please be proud of your ability to question authority and see through the bullcrap. Please help me stop this. I am just one person and if I can accomplish this much in 10 days, I cannot even imagine what we could do if we all got angry and energized. Please join the fight! . . .
On the other end of celebrity, Del BigTree showed up at Alexandria MN's yearly anti-vax conference in 2019, according to a report in the Echo Press. The paper noted:
Bigtree created "Vaxxed" with Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor who led a now-discredited study that vaccines cause autism. "Vaxxed," according to its website, is about an alleged coverup of a vaccine/autism link by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016 but debuted at a lesser-known festival that same year. Bigtree also hosts a YouTube channel about vaccines that has 45,000 subscribers.
In a recent tweet, he wrote: "The rushed EXPERIMENTAL COVID VACCINE ROLLOUT could be the greatest scientific blunder in the history of mankind. Those who trust blindly will be remembered for their DARWIN AWARD. "
Facebook removed the page for the online anti-vaccination show The HighWire this month for violating policies on "misinformation that could cause physical harm," the company said. YouTube had removed the show’s channel in July after reports that host Del Bigtree was downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic on his show and suggesting viewers intentionally expose themselves to Covid-19.
Yep: go out and catch you some COVID, gentle readers.
The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) is one of the main anti-vaccination groups in the United States. Founded in 2016 by Del Bigtree, it spreads misinformation about the risks of vaccines and contributes to vaccine hesitancy,[1][2][3] which has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019.[4][5] Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.[6][7][8][9]
Not bad for a non-doctor guy who produced a handful of episodes of Dr. Phil and worked for The Doctors for five years.
Bluestem suspects StoptheMandateMN.org is simply trying to ramp anti-mandate politics up from the last medical freedom rally at the state capitol last month. State representative Mary Franson, R-Alexandria and senator Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, weren't burdened with have to raise lawyers retainers from the from the gathered throngs. Perhaps celebrity will do the trick.
Image: The event image we're seeing shared on Facebook.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
Recent Comments