Federal Judge Scorches Gov. Kristi Noem Over COVID Response

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast


Tracy Connor
Executive Editor
Published Jan. 01, 2021 9:31AM ET

A federal judge took a rhetorical blowtorch to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, saying in a ruling this week that the state has done “little, if anything” to stop COVID-19 from ravaging the state. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports that U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann ordered a state court to stop using the pandemic as an excuse to delay a defendant’s trial. Then he went after the state’s response to the crisis itself. “South Dakota has done little, if anything, to curtail the spread of the virus,” he wrote. “South Dakota cannot ‘take advantage’ of its own failures to follow scientific facts and safeguards in entering blanket denials of the rights of speedy trials.” Noem has opposed mask mandates and other lockdown measures, even as her state racked up one of the worst per capita infection rates in the country. “Her example significantly encourages south Dakotans to not wear masks, the judge wrote. “South Dakota is now a very dangerous place in which to live due to the spread of COVID-19.”

Read it at Argus Leader

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/federal-judge-scorches-south-dakota-gov-kristi-noem-over-covid-response

[BunnyMcGee]

1. I just skimmed through the Argus-Leader site

and realized they seemed rational in the opinion section and share our beliefs, as far as I can see. There was criticism of many leaders on the right.

[paleotn]

6. My better half has a friend and collegue in SD....

They hate their governor. Lots of sane people do, but the hordes of jebus loving bumpkins keep electing jackasses.

[BunnyMcGee]

11. Thanks

good news is we have some on our side and I read that some of the 'christians' are re-thinking drump allegience

[BobTheSubgenius]

24. Seems to me, there are things about her and her cadre to hate.

[Hip2bSquare]

2. This woman is a complete idiot.

As a woman, I'm girl power all the way, but this chick is a complete disgrace and joke. Hosting Sturgis, not allowing the Native American Nations to control their own lockdown process and who's grandmother died in a nursing home ravaged with covid...

That twit better enjoy her reign in South Dakota, because it'll stop there.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

8. Pretty sure she is going for the Sarah Palin trifecta

Beauty, brainless, and dangerous.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. We'll Know She's Achieved "Palindom" When...

...she up & quits part way through.

[NCjack]

10. She sees her current path as leading to POTUS.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. She Must Have Bumped Her Head, Then

Clinton came from Arkansas. That's a metropolis compared to SD.
Last 11 presidents came from:
NY/FL, IL, TX, AR, TX, CA, GA, MI, CA, TX, MA.
It's been 60 years, and we've had one president from a small state. And that state is 3.4 times the size of SD.
She's delusional.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. The Right has been intentionally dumbed down.

It is something that isn't new. But in the "Information age" has been exploited to the max.

Appealing leaders is all that is needed. They take the reins of the prepped mob. We see that democracy itself is under attack by our own Congress. I think we are seeing the end of the Founders' bold experiment. "Donald the Con-querer" is exactly what we were warned repeatedly about. The disinformation campaign in the information age, following the looting by the upper class, sealed the deal. And all for want of slavery.

What a legacy to a dream turned nightmare.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. Yeah this is what tokenism does.

This is exactly what Repubs do. They can say "Oh yeah we're cool, we nominated a woman!" and they run some woman who is stupid and doing what some rich white man tells her to do. We get Sarah Palin, for one horrible example. Sarah Palin is the kind of woman these guys think is "hot" when they're just idiots. Same with Maria Butina who was an ugly person with an ugly boyfriend. The Feds put her in jail and then shipped her back to Moscow after she was buddying up with NRA members.

I was talking about this way back in 1982 when I was in law school. Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court. People were excited. I told my fellow students, "Just because she's a woman doesn't mean she will make rulings favorable to women". Reagan nominated her while he was busy destroying the country. My rich preppie classmates just stared at me uncomprehendingly.

Then one guy said, "Well, now that we have a woman on the Supreme Court, maybe someday we'll have a black person."

That's when my good Democratic rage showed up and I said, "Uh, yeah, there's already a black guy on the Supreme Court. His name is Thurgood Marshall He was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson."

More uncomprehending stares. Then I said, "And by the way, there is a law school about five miles from here named after him. It's called the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University."

I was attending South Texas College of Law in Downtown Houston. These rich kids know nothing about history or politics.
SMDH.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

22. Good points...

... between, "anyone with an, "R", behind their name and that, "she's purty", is how Noem got elected in South Dakota. Competence be damned, see SD AG Ravnsborg, and the fact that he has no real court experience. And now he is facing manslaughter charges due to some mysterious, "I think I hit a deer", incident.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. Basically, identity politics is a minefield.

That was my point.

[hot2na]

3. She is a Stepford wife for sure

[Tender hopper]

4. No one ever said a politician had to be sane or smart to make bold decisions.

Just look at the stable genius. One, the other, or both are lacking.

[usaf-vet]

5. And there you have it. Getting elected has nothing to due with intelligence or sanity. SADLY!

[BobTheSubgenius]

14. No. That would start treading dangerously close to the idea that...

...elites should lead. Why would you want the smartest person in the room to lead you, when you can elect someone that you'd be happy to have a beer with, or hates all the same people you do?

[VarryOn]

7. Vast majority of pols are average intelligence at best...

Ego and wanting be in charge are the wind the the sail for most.

[erronis]

13. Good point. And usually if you're sane and smart you won't be a politician....

Altho I will applaud the few (usually liberals/progressives) who do try to make this democracy work.

Glad to have you on DU!

[progree]

15. SoDak Daily new cases, 7 day average per capita: 42.3 / 100k (14 states are better, 35 worse)

Last edited Fri Jan 1, 2021, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

===#############################===

Daily new cases, 7 day average: Nov 14 peak: 1458, Dec 31: 374. (Down 74%)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/south-dakota-coronavirus-cases.html

===#############################===

But testing rate and positivity are way out of whack:

Daily Tests: 99.0 per 100k (only 3 states are lower).

Test positivity: 42.7% (only 3 states are higher)

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/tracker/overview

===#############################===

Anyway the local maskholes and bar closing scofflaws in Minnesota argue, when I point out how radically Minnesota's daily new cases have fallen since the governor's severe restrictions (Nov 13) and complete shutdown orders, they point to our neighbors (NoDak, SoDak, Iowa, Wisconsin) case rates also falling way down, "and they haven't closed everything down", they say.

I reply that several Wisconsin cities and counties have put in place sharp restrictions, and that NoDak and Iowa have imposed strong restrictions (with links), but I haven't found any restrictions in SoDak, so I don't have a comeback to that except the low testing rates and high test positivity rates. But that's good enough.

Midwest: Coronavirus-Related Restrictions By State
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/847413697/midwest-coronavirus-related-restrictions-by-state

New York Times, all states:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/states-reopen-map-coronavirus.html

[SleeplessinSoCal]

20. Boy did we need the Summer Olympics last year/yesterday.

It was a time for us to rally around our flag, united in the pursuit of gold (medals). Appreciating athletes of all races and that showed the strength of uniting for common purpose

[raising2moredems]

17. Well her parents weren't smart enough to do estate planning...

hence she and her sibilings "whine" about paying estate taxes. Which caused them to "lose" part of the farm. Boo hoo - you can't fix stupid and it seems to be well bred into her. Money and power meant more to her than her grandmother's health (and others who live in nursing homes). The republican party is not pro-life - pro fetus at best as there is opportunity to make a buck selling, I mean, adopting out, the white baby.

[ShazzieB]

18. If I'm not mistaken, she comes up for reelection in 56d2022.

Here's hoping she goes down in flames when the time comes. From what I know, she's been one of the worst of the worst Republican governors when it comes to covid19, which is saying a lot.

[BHDem53]

21. Barnyard Barbie is definitely an idiot.