Why are we wasting time talking about fireworks at Mount Rushmore when our government is being taken over by Elon Musk, a man who has not been elected and who has no authority to stop appropriations passed by Congress. Totally illegal. The silence of Congress is astounding.
This year looks to be very dry due to the lack of snowfall. More likely the fire danger in the Black Hills could be extremely high, ruling out the fireworks show.
Surely, the state and federal resources required to host another fireworks party at Mt. Rushmore could be put to better use to serve more important missions, like feeding and housing the poor. Republicans in government—let's be honest, this is a Republican Party party— should consider having their monied supporters underwrite all costs, proving themselves to be true "patriots." Finally, South Dakota's elected officials know that Mt. Rushmore is not the state's property; it belongs to all 50 of the united states. South Dakota really has no rightful claim to be the permanent host. The only silver lining is that South Dakota taxpayers will not have to pay a boatload of money to a D.C. law firm to undertake frivolous federal litigation to indulge Kristi Noem's whim, as we did in 2021. Until we're sure the Trump administration won't wind up burning down the Black Hills, I would encourage Trump and Noem to keep FEMA around.
Does this seriously need to come up every year? As beautiful as a firework display is, we cannot afford to risk a fire in our beautiful Black Hills. a beautiful drone show would seem more appropriate from here on. Our country cannot afford to risk one more forest burning up due to carelessness. Maybe fireworks could be done at Kristi's firing range. Also a waste of taxpayers money.
In a previous comment I wrote "The only silver lining is that South Dakota taxpayers will not have to pay a boatload of money to a D.C. law firm to undertake frivolous federal litigation to indulge Kristi Noem's whim, as we did in 2021." The initial contract called for $150,000 cap, but when Noem insisted on pushing on with a frivolous appeal to the 8th Circuit, Consovoy McCarthy, the D.C. firm—mouthpiece for conservative causes—managed to add $79,874 to South Dakota's total. They should have advised Noem not to waste a dime on a meritless lawsuit. Instead they took us for $229,874, thanks to Noem's dogged pursuit of her very personal political interests.
Why are we wasting time talking about fireworks at Mount Rushmore when our government is being taken over by Elon Musk, a man who has not been elected and who has no authority to stop appropriations passed by Congress. Totally illegal. The silence of Congress is astounding.
Have huge celebration in 2026 only to cause the largest forest fire in SD history.
Better pray for an awful lot of rain and snow in the next year and a half. Not looking good so far in 2025.
This year looks to be very dry due to the lack of snowfall. More likely the fire danger in the Black Hills could be extremely high, ruling out the fireworks show.
Surely, the state and federal resources required to host another fireworks party at Mt. Rushmore could be put to better use to serve more important missions, like feeding and housing the poor. Republicans in government—let's be honest, this is a Republican Party party— should consider having their monied supporters underwrite all costs, proving themselves to be true "patriots." Finally, South Dakota's elected officials know that Mt. Rushmore is not the state's property; it belongs to all 50 of the united states. South Dakota really has no rightful claim to be the permanent host. The only silver lining is that South Dakota taxpayers will not have to pay a boatload of money to a D.C. law firm to undertake frivolous federal litigation to indulge Kristi Noem's whim, as we did in 2021. Until we're sure the Trump administration won't wind up burning down the Black Hills, I would encourage Trump and Noem to keep FEMA around.
With everything Trump is doing to erode democracy, Rep. Johnson's priority is fireworks?
I'm ok with fireworks as long as the Black Hills is not too dry. It's not worth burning down the Black Hills.
How much money is this going to cost the SD taxpayer? You know Chinese fireworks will be a lot more expensive now due to Trumps misguided tariffs.
Does this seriously need to come up every year? As beautiful as a firework display is, we cannot afford to risk a fire in our beautiful Black Hills. a beautiful drone show would seem more appropriate from here on. Our country cannot afford to risk one more forest burning up due to carelessness. Maybe fireworks could be done at Kristi's firing range. Also a waste of taxpayers money.
Never mind the unelected billionaire seizing control of the US Treasury, we might get to have fireworks over Mount Rushmore!
In a previous comment I wrote "The only silver lining is that South Dakota taxpayers will not have to pay a boatload of money to a D.C. law firm to undertake frivolous federal litigation to indulge Kristi Noem's whim, as we did in 2021." The initial contract called for $150,000 cap, but when Noem insisted on pushing on with a frivolous appeal to the 8th Circuit, Consovoy McCarthy, the D.C. firm—mouthpiece for conservative causes—managed to add $79,874 to South Dakota's total. They should have advised Noem not to waste a dime on a meritless lawsuit. Instead they took us for $229,874, thanks to Noem's dogged pursuit of her very personal political interests.