While the Rally has yet to end – the last day is Aug. 15 – the numbers have already shown that we are on pace to far surpass our 2020 attendance. 

This is on the heels of what has been the best tourism season ever for South Dakota. Record numbers of Americans are flocking to the Mount Rushmore state, seeking small towns, state parks and national monuments as their chosen destination. 

 I have chosen to let people take personal responsibility for decisions the government has no authority to make.

Many of the visitors to whom I’ve spoken say they’re coming to South Dakota specifically because it reminds them of the America they grew up in. Free. Independent. Unburdened by the constraints and headaches that big cities and liberal ideology forced upon them.

That’s an easy standard to live and serve under. The rights of individuals are what birthed this nation and that independent spirit is what drove America to become the leader of not just the free world, but the whole world.

STURGIS, SOUTH DAKOTA - AUGUST 09: Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota greets guests at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip campground after riding in the Legends Ride for charity on August 09, 2021 near Sturgis, South Dakota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

And it’s that same spirit that is driving South Dakota tourism and business growth, making us the number one state in the nation for GDP growth. 

At the same time, we currently have some of the lowest COVID case numbers in the country. We have also worked hard with counselors to provide services for substance abusers, leading the nation in decreasing the number of deaths from overdose by 15.9%.

These are all signs that what we are doing in South Dakota is working and helping our citizens. 

And yet, bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and the media cast aspersions on the Sturgis Rally while ignoring concertgoers, lavish birthday parties and the continuing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

thenewstalkers

Exercising their right to ride motorcycles modified to be so loud they set off car alarms.  Bunch of selfish a-holes.

Yep, the wrong kind of unsophisticated people gathering.  Looting and riots ok, big events in Chicago ok, mayors attending big weddings ok, Barack and others having big parties ok.  Covid positive illegal aliens especially welcome.  Church and worship events, popular public events for regular people, Trump and back the blue rallies not ok.  I’m glad that Sturgis is a 700,000 person in your face to Fauci, control freaks, and Biden for not allowing fireworks at Mt. Rushmore. Under God—the people rule!  

Looting and rioting is fine!

Paying respects to a dead officer killed by thugs? Can’t do it.  Covid forbids it

Yep.  Live free or die.

That was blood boiling.  They can’t even properly memorialize a fallen police officer.  

A great motto. One many Americans intend to live by or die trying to live free.  Under God we the people rule!  I wonder how long it will be before big tech social media bans the use of those two state mottos as “misinformation “?

So angry.

Why are you? 

Gov. Kristi Noem is the new star at the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Noem rode both a horse and a motorcycle at the Rally on Monday, helping sell an oil painting of her for $55,000 in a charity auction. Staff says this was Noem's first time at the massive western South Dakota biker bash.

Written By: Christopher Vondracek | 2:00 pm, Aug. 12, 2021

On Monday, Aug. 9, the conservative firebrand auctioned off "True Grit," an oil painting showing the governor on a horse during Custer State Park’s annual Buffalo Roundup.

The charity auction in Deadwood, South Dakota, was in the heart of roaring Harley-Davidsons and the 81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Next, Noem rode 50 miles on a denim blue Indian motorcycle into Vanocker Canyon and eventually out onto the plains of the Buffalo Chip campground.

"South Dakota is getting recognition that it's never got before," said Rod Woodruff, owner of the Chip, seated in a tent next to Noem in her signature baseball cap Monday. "And it's a direct result of the respect this governor has for the freedom and liberties of the citizens."

The governor followed up on her nostalgic vision of Sturgis.

"They can come here and remember what America feels like," Noem said.

Had there been a crowd, they would've revved their hogs.

An oil painting of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (by artist David Uhl) hangs in the Gold Dust Casino in Deadwood on Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. (Christopher Vondracek / Forum News Service)

The Black Hills, the most conservative corner of this red state, wasn't always unabashed Noem's country. In the 2018 primary, Noem blew past then-Attorney General Marty Jackley with a statewide 14 points victory, but Jackley, a Sturgis native, bested Noem in his home, Meade County.

Five months later, in the general election, Noem — who grew up on a crop-and-cattle farm in the far northeast corner of South Dakota, more Minnesota than Custer — squeaked by another West River politician, this one the former rodeo champion, Billie Sutton, a Democrat from Burke.

Even through the first half of her gubernatorial tenure, the former four-term congresswoman's polling was low across the state. But that all changed during COVID-19.

"She's normal South Dakota, and that's what the rest of the world is missing," said R. Victor Alexander, who runs the Three Forks C-store and campground outside Hill City, where a "Trump won" flag waves in the wind.

Alexander says he believes Noem's opposition to mask mandates pressured the local school board to oppose mask requirements, as well, something he approves of. He also supports what he calls her "tourism policy" and "the fact that we did not necessarily shut down."

"I'm supportive of what she's done and what she will do," he concluded.

What's next?

The main drag of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in downtown Sturgis, South Dakota on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. (Christopher Vondracek / Forum News Service)

It's the "will do" that is keeping people guessing. Noem has notched national TV spots, and traveled to fundraisers in Wyoming, Texas, and Florida. She's given speeches in Iowa and Minnesota and campaigned last fall in New Hampshire .

These are the places one would go if they were running for president, not South Dakota governor. But, so far, Noem insists she has her eyes on a 2022 gubernatorial campaign, not the White House.

But if Noem does look to pivot toward a more Trumpian brand, she could do worse than take a trip down Vanocker Canyon or attend a charity auction in Deadwood, where Noem T-shirts now hang in stores.

A Noem staffer said this was Noem's first time participating in the Rally, noting that the governor used to ride a motorcycle prior to starting her family (her three children are now grown), and recently picked up the motorcycle again.

And at least by mid-August, the ride is smooth for Noem. Pierre isn't in session till next year. Democrats still lack a challenger. And the state just purchased the jet Noem requested and legislators approved.

Sure, there have been bumps.

Her Department of Education has come under fire for overriding teacher-drafted social studies standards, removing multiple references to Lakota and Dakota history and culture. A billboard went up in Rapid City sniping at her for opposing a voter-approved recreational marijuana amendment. And health experts anticipate a spike locally in the delta variant, which could draw further scrutiny of her hands-off approach to public health.

But appearing at a motorcycle rally, even one dominated by mostly older white people, where political incorrectness is as popular as riding without a helmet, could be a battleground state in her own backyard.

"It's been a strong rally," said City of Sturgis spokeswoman Christina Steele, though not as much as the 1 million attendees predicted by Woodruff. Still, along with RVs, Harleys, spending money, and maybe a virus, political disenfranchisement has also seeped into the rally's mountain towns.

On Wednesday, Aug. 11, across from a billboard of the presidential wax museum featuring a smiling Joe Biden, Jay Perkins smoked a cigarette outside the store he runs. His T-shirt said, "We the People are pissed."

"That's what I used to think," Perkins said. "But now I blame us."

Perkins said he "quit" news media after this election, and isn't vaccinated, repeating skepticism about the safety of the vaccine. When two masked people walked into his store, he explained that some people who live outside South Dakota "believe all that stuff."

Disinformation about the 2020 presidential election has been ripe at the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota's Black Hills, including at the Three Forks Campground outside Hill City on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. (Christopher Vondracek / Forum News Service)

Health officials are concerned this week the crowds — estimates of 750,000 — could send a spike in the delta variant around the region, with the state sitting just above 50% of its population totally vaccinated. But Perkins thinks the media focuses too much on the "drama."

"What about all the charity events [during the Rally]?" he asks.

Artist David Uhl's painting of Noem, for example, fetched $55,000 for a human trafficking non-\profit based in the Hills. Noem has even offered to fly down to Texas to install the painting in the winning Texas couple's home (the couple did not respond to an interview request, though they told a local paper they "like" Noem).

On Wednesday, the crowds moved west across the Wyoming border into Hulett for a one-day rally.

"Topless Wednesday in Hulett," said Steele, later clarifying the rowdy town's annual "Ham N Jam" event in the shadow of Devil's Tower. "It gets quiet around here, relatively."

Smoke moved in overnight from a wildfire in Montana, and news broke late in the day about a growing wildfire southwest of Sturgis, not far from the road Noem took days earlier.

But at the Gold Dust Casino in Deadwood, a man working painter Uhl's booth — astride another painting of "True Grit," plus a few more that resembled Noem — chatted about people "renting sight unseen" in the Black Hills.

Uhl's usual stuff is biker propaganda. A longhaired rider cruising in front of Bear Butte. A gal bending near her motorcycle with a rattlesnake snarling at her while she points her pistol toward a distant cliff.

And now in the casino's window, there's an array of framed Noem paintings on display, capturing the photogenic governor — or a close look-alike — in heroic poses, buttoning an old-school leather helmet or riding her horse amongst the bison, as tourists from around the country walked past, snapping pictures.

grandforksherald

How are great state mottos angry?  “Under God— the people rule” and “Live free or die” are positive messages of liberty and freedom that we have for now.  

Sturgis is ‘busiest in years’: report

By: Nick Longworth August 11, 2021

After a dip in average attendance during 2020 largely credited to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 81 ^st annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is one of the busiest in recent memory, according to officials at the event.

“There are more people here than in the 31 years I’ve been doing this,” Meade County Sheriff Ron Merwin told the Rapid City Journal on Saturday .

thenewstalkers

Please, read the Constitution, pre-Columbus history, and the Bible, especially the New Testament.

There is no mention that anything was written by GOD. What GOD are you referring?

As I recall, Governor, their were shot-out at Sturgis Motorcycle Rallies between two warring motorcycle gangs.  Additionally, motorcycle gangs wear their colors exchange illegal drugs with each other, are rowdy, breakout in brawls, often have outstanding warrants, and are street thugs.

Reminiscent of the Wild, Gun Totting Murderous gangs of killers, bank robbers and thieves.

Some folks believe that this is there GOD GIVEN RIGHT.

My question is what GOD granted them those privileges:

Evangelical, "Talking-In-Tongues," backwoods Christians?

The GOD of Presbyterians, or the GOD of the 148 denominations of Christianity, that believe each one is the true religion.

The GOD of the Catholic Church that appoints the Pope?

Jehovah, the GOD of varies Jewish sects?

The GOD of Mormons, who is from another planet?

The God of Scientologists, Muslims (Sunni, or the Shiites), Hindus, Buddhists, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Joel Epstein, Pastor Dollar, Pat Robinson, Jim Bakker, Baptists, Southern Baptists, God of the KKK, etc.? 

There is a reason we have a clause in our Constitutions "Separating Church & State."

James Madison, one of the Founding Fathers of our Constitution offered this reason for why it was necessary to insert that clause into the our revered document.

"The purpose of separation and state is to keep forever from our shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." - James Madison, 4th President, hailed as the Father of the Constitution.

Any folk who gather in numbers, whether bikers, christians or protesters of any stripe during a pandemic are fools and deserve to get sick and die.

This is not death-wishing, just reality.

Hopefully they don't kill those of us who mask, social distance and vaccinate.

To hell with all science deniers.

Last year despite at the blue governmental hype, Sturgis was not a super spreader event.  This being an outdoor event is not a big risk at all. 

The remarks came in response to Fauci's comments expressing concern about the upcoming Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Michael Lee 3 days ago

Video

Social media users piled on to Dr. Anthony Fauci for what many felt was a double standard when it comes to what type of gatherings he criticizes.

"No comment from St. Fauci on Obama’s soirée last night with a few hundred of his closest friends - or how about Lollapalooza last week in Chicago ," one social media user said in reaction to Fauci's comments critical of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. "Or, I guess it’s SELECTIVE festivities, because the virus knows, and only attacks those who fit the Dems’ narrative."

The remarks came in response to Fauci's comments expressing concern about South Dakota's upcoming Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on Sunday's "Meet the Press," with host Chuck Todd speculating the rally could become a "super spreader" event.

"I'm very concerned, Chuck, that we're going to see another surge related to that rally," Fauci said. 

Fauci admitted that it was "understandable" that people "want to do the kind of things they want to do," though he called on rallygoers to consider their impact on the spread of COVID-19 .

"There comes a time when you're dealing with a public health crisis, that could involve you, your family, and everyone else that something supersedes that need to do exactly what you want to do," Fauci said.

But many social media users pointed out that Fauci did not share the same type of concerns when it came to other high-profile events.

"I have come to loathe Fauci. I cannot believe I fell for this fraud for even a minute," one user said. "Lollapalooza: Nothing. Obama birthday party: Nothing. Riding a motorcycle in the free air: SATAN'S DEVIL VIRUS WILL GET YA!"

"Love how you can catch covid only at certain events. Did it disappear last weekend at the Lollapalooza in Chicago & yesterday at Obama's birthday party," another user said. "Why do people still believe anything that comes out of Fauci's mouth?!"

Others argued that with a vaccine widely available, it was time for authorities to stop regulating such gatherings.

"There is a universally available, free vaccine that is 99.999% effective at preventing death," said commentary writer Drew Holden. "The pandemic is over. People need to get back to living."

The annual biker bash has been the subject of media scorn for two consecutive years, causing South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to defend one of her state's marquee events.

"The media lied about the event for a year," Noem told "Fox & Friends" in May….

read more: foxnews

Well, most elected politicians are convinced that they know more about everything, than professionals in any field do.

It is difficult for these elected individual to understand that perhaps they do not know what they are talking about, and, are simply SHOW BOATERS, Con Artists, and Flim-Flam Sale persons.

Politicians like to refer to GOD to imply that they are worthy of citizens VOTES, not because of their achievements, policies, or substantive plans to help them.

The more they used the GOD word, the further they are away from any GOD.

It’s great that Americans still recognize that our inalienable rights are God given and that He’s the source of us being governed and ruled by we the people, one nation, under God indivisible, in whom we Trust 

Our Rights are NOT GOD given. They are the result of the Founding Fathers who debated, argued over, and nearly walked out of the creation of our country.

Men like James Madison, and Hamilton played key roles by working to get the Constitution approved by a majority of the colonies by writing the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

Madison was considered the "Father of the Constitution", not GOD!
He served in the Continental Convention and was a leader in the Virginia Assembly. 

In Congress he helped wright the Bill of Rights. He also served as Secretary of State to President Jefferson.

There is no historic documentation that GOD (of any denomination, religion, or country wrote the Constitution.

Madison wrote an essay on the Separation of Church and State that explained the wisdom of such a provision and the dangers of a theocracy.

God inspires but does not write documents, has been my experience.