Senator John Thune and Representative Kristi Noem visited Pine Ridge last week and heard about the “spikes in suicide rates, including some children, and ongoing drug and alcohol problems.” Thune’s response: send more cops!
Thune says increased law enforcement presence and effectiveness will benefit all areas of life on the reservation.
“I think its starts there,” he said. “People can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. People can’t work if they don’t feel safe. And certainly elderly in a lot of those communities can’t go about their lives if they don’t feel safe.”
…Thune likes the idea of a surge in police officers on the Pine Ridge Reservation to reduce lawless behavior. He worked on a surge that added 20 officers to the Standing Rock Reservation in 2008, resulting in a thousand arrests and reducing violent crime there [Kevin Woster, “Thune Seeks Beefed-up Law Enforcement for Pine Ridge Needs,” KELO-TV, 2015.10.19].
You know, I hear South Dakota is short on teachers. Maybe Senator Thune will press for more cops to arrest the kids who don’t get a good education.
South Dakota has surging STD rates. Maybe Senator Thune would like to send cops to arrest all the kids parking out by the slough.
South Dakota faces lower ag prices if the Trans-Pacific Partnership passes. Maybe Senator Thune will ask for more cops to arrest the farmers who drink and drive after losing their farms.
Who knows what thoughts Rep. Noem has on solving Pine Ridge’s social problems: she tweeted more last weekend about her kids hunting pheasant than about her Pine Ridge visit, which she mentioned just once, to share the photo of herself receiving a tribal star quilt.
Kristi received a star quilt? To be presented a star quilt is quite an honor. I was just wondering what Kristi did to receive this honor. Maybe her work in addressing violence against women?
With more than 6000 federal prisoners scheduled to be released, John’s answer to fill those empty beds is to put more boots on the ground.
His logic being “more cops more convictions”.
John has to keep the “for profit” prison lobby happy and watch the backs of taxpayers.
If the occupancy rate of beds in the federal “for profit” prisons falls below 90%, then the US government has to pay for those empty beds.
One should not underestimate this powerful lobby who ranks right up there with the NRA, Big Oil, Pharmaceutical. Private prisons take in $3.3 billion annually and a lot of that finds its way back into the coffers for lobbying and election efforts.
More Law enforcement is only part of the answer. The tribe is going to have to address these issues. While the United States Government can help, the tribe is going to have to take the lead.
Michael Clark wants to turn all of Cuba into a prison: his opinion is meaningless.
What would more law enforcement on the Rez do? They gonna beat kids back to life once they have committed suicide. Maybe they will arrest them after the fact. I fully suspect they have plenty of guns there,as well.
Just guessing,I’d say job opportunities would do more good than more cops.
Of Course, they need job opportunities, and schools with teachers, and medical facilities, and good roads, and infrastructure, the list goes on and on.
The tribe is going to have to deal with these issues, Not the United States Government, not the State of South Dakota, but the Tribe. We can help them, but we can’t fix it for them.
Who is ‘we’ Clark?
South Dakota: enter a cannabis compact with the tribal nations trapped in the state’s borders, pay them for the Black Hills and put the BHNF and grasslands into Interior, make it a national monument then give them management responsibilities.
Safety is a very important issue of course, but not the only answer in my opinion. There is also extreme poverty that is difficult for a republican to understand and how to combat it. Isolation is also huge in such large spaces as well, with dependable and frequent transportation limited at best. Recognizing the partnership between the United States government and the Native Nation makes for a more trusting relationship on how to address all issues.
Investment is the answer. Investment for opportunity the goal. We had devoted over 300 well intentioned responses to the post regarding the EB-5. The kind of investment needed on the reservations, but would not be to pollute the beautiful lands, but to engage in the existing culture. If we can find ways to fund programs that target illegal immigration for employment in our state, why can’t we find ways to fund and target the young lives of our greatest asset, our young. Our state cannot even find the way to fund educators for the education of our young throughout the state, more proof of what a failed state we have. The country, as a whole needs to rethink itself to find more social programs rather than less social programs to benefit us all. That starts with our young on the reservations to show we all have a stake in their future.
Blow the Arabs to bits and lock the Native Americans in cages, Senator Thune, just like the Constitution says. Then stack the bills on the suffocating U.S. economy so our children and grandchildren can pay for it. It’s what Jesus would do.
DISCLAIMER: The above sentences are intended as irony.
Kurt, don’t forget the conservative idea of some in Thune’s group of rounding up 11 million Hispanic immigrants, forcing them to wear identifying labels, and then put them on trains to get rid of them. That might also help calm the nerves of people who fear Arabs, Natives and Hispanic immigrants – modern conservatives very own “Final Solution.”
“Bearcreekbat” wrote:
>“Kurt, don’t forget the conservative idea of some in Thune’s group of rounding up 11 million Hispanic immigrants, forcing them to wear identifying labels, and then put them on trains to get rid of them. That might also help calm the nerves of people who fear Arabs, Natives and Hispanic immigrants – modern conservatives very own ‘Final Solution.’”
That so-called solution is ridiculous, and Thune knows it, but don’t hold your breath waiting for him to say so. He has approval ratings to think about.
Was there a basketball game out there and a photo op; for Tune
Paul, I’d have said what the honor was if Kristi had mentioned it, but she missed that Twitter PR opportunity, just Oh boy! A quilt!
A group of police and prosecutors are in Washington D.C. today saying we can reduce crime by reducing incarceration. One of the leaders of that group, Chicago police chief Garry McCarthy, says we would do better to spend less time chasing drug users and more time chasing illegal gun owners.
WARNING !
SARCASM AHEAD!
READ WITH CAUTION.
Bearcreekbat; Why stop there? Let’s round up every immigrant, anyone whose ancestor came from somewhere else, load them on a boat or train, and send them ( us ) back?
Umm? Could it be because we are the misfits, the outcasts, the nonconformists and the rebels? No other country will have anything to do with us. You know what we did? We took that attitude and made our own! Ha! We forged our country out the strength of our back and the sweat of our brow and our faith in our God!
Yeah! We made a few, okay, more than a few, mistakes along the way, we built a nation that rivals all others, and now some other folks think they can just waltz on in and take advantage our hospitality and generosity. We have a limit with how much we’ll put up with. If they want what we have? Great! we’ll show them how we did it then they can build their own nation.
You forgot one wee word in your statement Bearcreekbat, Illegal. We didn’t ask them, They just showed up. We have know idea if they are here to slit our throats, or help us rebuild.
I have no problem with immigrants, just the ones who thumb there nose at our laws, and do want they want, and our government turns a blind eye.
SARCASM ENDING!
CONTINUE READING NORMALLY
But none of that has to deal with the issue at hand.
We can show the tribes what we did to become successful. We can show them how we dealt with our problems. We can provide them with training, we can provide them with materials. In the end, the tribes (not just their leadership) are going to step up and be responsible for themselves.
Clark says America is broken on twitter and at Pat’s Privy. We enslaved and exterminated 52 million indigenous people: it’s time we pay reparations.
So MC, you are suggesting that Natives start by exterminating you as a sign of understanding how the West was won. The problems you mention of being dealt with would be to put you on a reservation for starters. Maybe that would not be a bad idea, sort of trading places to see how you would walk that mile in moccasins. Please go on as to providing necessary materials that you speak of.
Umm? Could it be because we are the misfits, the outcasts, the nonconformists and the rebels?
No, MC your plate is full enough being the corrupted party in charge of this cluster #### called South Dakota.
MC, I am not sure if you thought much about your post, especially the comment
“. . . we built a nation that rivals all others, and now some other folks think they can just waltz on in and take advantage our hospitality and generosity. . . .
You forgot one wee word in your statement Bearcreekbat, Illegal. We didn’t ask them, They just showed up. . . .”
Isn’t that what the European Pilgrims did in North America – “just showed up.” I know of no claim that Natives ever asked our European ancestors to come here.
When you label other human beings as “illegal” you show an unfortunate weakness – an irrational fear of people who simply want to work and take care of their families. Indeed, at least half of these folks have not committed any crime, rather, they may have simply overstayed their work visa, which is not a criminal offense.
And most of the people who crossed the border without waiting for their kids to be killed or go hungry as they waited years for visas pose absolutely no threat to anyone here. They simply were looking for an opportunity to work and provide for their loved ones. And crossing the border without papers is normally only a misdemeanor unless it is done after a deportation.
I simply cannot understand a mindset that demonizes millions of people that you have never met and know virtually nothing about, yet that seems to be the conservative mindset these days.
And although a few conservative loudmouths constantly berate immigrants to sell books or get on Fox TV, most rational people mind their own business and try to be a positive force in the lives of their friends, family and co-workers without worrying whether they have the appropriate “papers.”
Ann Coulter, Laura Ingrahm and other screaming heads have made a fortune demonizing good people, with no care about who might get hurt by their garbage. But why would any normal person buy into such trash talk and dehumanizing behavior about our friends, neighbors and co-workers?
Cory wrote:
>“A group of police and prosecutors are in Washington D.C. today saying we can reduce crime by reducing incarceration.”
Nice find, Cory. This is from the column at that link:
“Our criminal justice system has grown into a massive enterprise. The United States has just under 5% of the world’s population yet nearly 25% of its prisoners — all at a disturbing cost to taxpayers of $80 billion per year and especially felt by communities of color…
“Prison often turns first-time offenders into repeat criminals and, thus, can actually harm public safety… Of course, there are people who deserve to be behind bars. We need dangerous and violent offenders off our streets. But we should stop using incarceration as our default response, especially for non-violent crimes.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/10/21/incarceration-crime-prison-criminal-justice-sentencing-column/74298736/
BCB, good post. It’s also perhaps worth mentioning that the people who founded Texas were also “illegals.”
So ironic, isn’t it?
http://www.texastribune.org/2012/12/14/back-when-americans-were-illegals/
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Excerpt:
Col. Jose de las Piedras, writing a letter (in Spanish) to Stephen F. Austin, the “father of Texas,” reported that he had encountered the immigrants east of the Trinity River heading west in what was then Mexico toward Austin’s colony, not far from modern-day Houston. He checked them for passports, but they had none, so he ordered them to leave Mexico pursuant to the new immigration law. They talked the colonel into letting them tend to some business in the colony, though, by promising to return and then exit the country within 20 days.
“But in contempt of the laws of the country and of its authorities and a total disregard to my orders which they promised to obey, availing themselves of the obscurity of the night and unfrequented roads, they took off [with] their families and are now on their way to your town, as I am informed by Col. Bean, who met them on that side of the Trinity” River, Piedras wrote in the letter, which now resides at the Texas General Land Office.
“As they have come into this country contrary to law and have disrespected the authorities,” he continued, “I think they ought not to be admitted.”
It is hard to know for sure what happened to these immigrants, though some of their names match those of families who got land in an independent Texas. What is known is that thousands of immigrants defied Mexican laws in coming to what is now Texas before the Anglo settlers declared independence from Mexico and formed their own nation, which later became the 28th state.
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goddess, i love twitter:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/10/20/new-chapter-trust-historic-186-million-settlement-reaffirms-sovereignty-tribes-say-162157
Bill, Thanks! I initially was going to include the Mexican/Texas history and the historical analysis of President Polk’s choice to attack Mexico in my response, but I decided it made it a bit too long. The reality is that Mexicans are much more indigenous to Texas, California, and the southwest than Europeans, a fact that appears to elude MC from his posts here.
The term “illegal” alien is a joke. I suppose that MC believes that all the immigrants that came from Europe some hundred years ago all came legally through Ellis island. Well it is a popular myth. Many many came “illegally” and then built the greatest nation on Earth. My own Great grandfather was one of those “illegals” as were probably some of MCs ancestors. We are a nation of immigrants who all came uninvited and it is time to stop with the “illegal” BullS***.
Good info Mr. Kurtz.
Kurt, your comment about prisons is dead on. Conservatives seem to oppose funding higher education unless it is the education that prisons can provide for the newly incarcerated. That seems to be the best place to learn the ins and outs of successful criminal activities. Is that what we what our young people to learn? Wouldn’t Bernie’s idea of providing a publicly funded college education be a more economically productive choice to educate our country’s future?
Kurt, you drop out of the Senate race, then offer piercing commentary like that? You’re killing me! Are you sure you want to stay out?
MC, your proposal for learning from us sounds nice on face, but Jerry’s response helps point out the flaw: we European invaders have never faced the problems of invasion, genocide, forced assimilation, and reservations. What does our Euro experience have to teach others about overcoming those problems?
Thanks Barry! I believe most South Dakotans and Americans share your viewpoint – I appreciate your sharing it.
Private prisons… militarization of police… Thune’s suggestion smells of fat government contracts.
Cory asks:
>“Kurt, you drop out of the Senate race, then offer piercing commentary like that? You’re killing me! Are you sure you want to stay out?”
Thanks for the compliment, Cory. I’m pretty sure.
Kurt, I am with Cory – your posts advocate for much more reasonable public policies than most of our current SD politicians.
it takes a village idiot like me, jerry.
As a cat owner I know that when I buy cat food I need to also acquire kitty litter. You can’t have one without the other.
My experience in Minnehaha County is that when we get federal grants to hire more police in Sioux Falls we get more arrests. When we get more money for sobriety checkpoints we get more arrests. The result is more input to the jail, you need a bigger jail, more need for prosecutors, more defense lawyers.
More cops is like more cat food. The jail cells, the prosecutors and the defense attorneys are the kitty litter. You can’t have one without the other.
Don’t buy that soft runny cat food, Mr. Barth. You will have more puking and hairballs and the grease makes the pate’ run right through those tiny tummies. Get the big nibblets and crunchies.
The other side of your analogy is that if you just don’t buy any cat food the poop will run wild in Sioux Falls.
I will be ringing the bell in the village Mr. Kurtz
The marijuana folks would argue that if we just downsize the cat – say from a cougar to a domestic – we can feed it less and it will need less kitty litter. Mr. Barth and grudznick might agree with that point even if they may disagree with the marijuana folks.
Conversely, the Republicans running SD have already decreed that fat cats, being fat, don’t need any food or any kitty litter. Nothing to see here. Move along. Those who are paying attention would point out that this doesn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t. Following the analogy of Mr. Barth and grudznick, fat cats aren’t really cats. They’re poop.
Mr. Barth, this is for you http://lawenforcementleaders.org/ I think you are saying what the smart money is saying, time to decriminalize to reduce the costs of prison stays. Police have a job to do and this is to serve, not incarcerate at their leisure. Time to serve without entrapment that brings in the money they need to keep the jail game going.
MCs attitude reminds me of the uninvited guest that shows up to a party early and helps himself to the beer and shrimp, then three hours later starts bellyaching when some one else crashes the party and helps themselves to the feast. We of European descent are all where we are today because of sacrifices made by our own immigrant ancestors, who would have much more in common with the so called “illegals” than they would with any of us.
Sorry about being off topic Cory, but MCs “illegal” blather just got under my craw.
larry, now OST NEEDS TO sue for return of 1200 acres in west Rapid CITY that the churches, the guard, developers and the schools got for free when the boarding school was closed in 1933.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/tribes-seek-to-take-last-of-indian-boarding-school-lands/article_7c7a1be3-06a2-512e-af15-0cbb51215c91.html
leslie, as Roger said: the Rapid City Journal is almost always last to the story then dilutes it for a white audience so as not to offend the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers who prop up their earth hater agenda.
haha. 1200-165=1,035 acres with reversionary clause in the title back to the Indians in trust for their welfare. congress changed that with no indian input after rapid city lobby in 1955. $100,000 an acre plus minerals and water. hmm? lets see steve allender handle this taking!
Barth would also serve the voters well as an articulate and informative opponent to Thune.
Understood, Barry—though in mentioning “illegal” immigrants, MC does touch on one of the few areas in which he could argue that Native Americans and we Euros have a similar historical experience… although the Euro approach to immigration now doesn’t really help us understand or redress the current problems our Indian neighbors face due to our own uninvited immigration to their lands in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
This Just In … Denver chief joins call to cut incarcerations.
Denver Police Chief Robert White joined 130 of the nation’s top cops Wednesday in calling for a reduction in mass imprisonment.
Calling themselves Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, the group announced plans Wednesday during a news conference in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama will meet with coalition members Thursday.
The group supports efforts to reduce crime and incarceration at the same time, saying putting the right people in jail will help them focus on reducing violent crime. The coalition includes police chiefs from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Thune and Noem comments do not exactly reflect two high level informed elected officials attempting to deal with a problem that affects not only the reservation but the entire state. More cops n a youth jobs program? OMG I haven’t heard that before. There are no simple answers for the poverty and suicide. At least the Obama administration has been actively involved trying to provide some relief.
Gee Thune, how about detox, half way houses and safe homes for the at risk youth. More social workers, CHRs and integrating of those programs into the local school systems
OR Kristi…….Housing so those kids can have a Frickin decent home.
AND more support for the Oglala College, which has satellite campuses thru out the rez.
The transportation program at Pine Ridge is amazing. It provides a great service to the people there.
Leslie, YES 1000 acres stolen fair and square from the tribes with the federal government driving the get away car. THAT is going to bring out the rednecks when the claim gets filed. (And it will happen)
The forced placement of the natives on the reservations, the theft of the Black hills, the oppression of the language and culture, the craziness of the government partnering with the churches to “integrate” the prisoners into white society, the Wounded Knee massacre, lack of knowledge about alcohol, Poor housing, lack of infrastructure and investment, it goes on and on. We all know that.
The specter of the Wounded Knee massacre still stalks Pine Ridge… not only did the government force the Oglala people onto the rez… then the army went in and butchered a large group of them… buried them in a mass grave…… and handed out 25 Medals of Honor to the drunks that did this. Wow. Oh but that’s the past. Yup ol chief Big Foot looked like a threat to the great Shrine of Hypocrisy.
Then the Badlands bombing range taking came along and took 300,000 acres from the tribe and its members, forced families out, then bombed the crap out of it and gave it back?
Try to grow some hemp n our friend Alex White Plume gets invaded like that little patch of hemp was going to destroy Amerikka.
We natives see cliven bundy pointing guns at the government officals , whom back down and think, Shit if that was us the Frickin army would have bombed us on the spot. WTF. He’s still mouthing off out there. Geez.
What’s diminished in this publicity are the great programs, people and friends of the tribes that are making many, many efforts to make Pine Ridge a better place. Those programs and organizations have a good idea of the needs and deserve support.
I’m grateful for the people who are supportive of the natives. Thank you.
Porter,what do those top cops say about all the guns on the streets because of the NRA?
At Mike … Stricter gun reform laws are favored by a majority of police chiefs across the USA. We in CO instituted fifteen round magazine limits and background checks for all purchases. The NRA dropped a few million to get two state legislators recalled but Democrats took back those seats six months later. The laws still stand, thumbing their nose at the NRA and gun huggers nationwide.
Good for you,Porter and good for Colorado. NRA likes to say that cops are on their side.
Thune and Noem and others that support more police and incarcerations on the reservation are missing a vital point.
When Indians are arrested for various charges they are jailed, charged and must go through the court system. When they don’t have the bond or fine money they remain in jail where they serve their sentences. The court likely doesn’t collect a whole lot in fines and costs.
The incarcerated get three hots and a cot to complete their sentence, somebody pays for that.
Now, conservatives will say that they shouldn’t drink or use drugs and if they did so wouldn’t break any laws. But, that isn’t the way addiction works.
During extreme cold weather many of the homeless will get themselves arrested to get out of the cold.
Thune and Noem’s theory only adds to an already existing problem.
Roger wrote:
>“Thune and Noem and others that support more police and incarcerations on the reservation are missing a vital point.”
It isn’t clear to me from the text of the Woster story above that Noem shares Thune’s enthusiasm for locking more Native Americans in cages, but as far as Thune goes, I’m in strong agreement with Roger. Thune is out of touch with reality on this issue.
Kurt,
Perhaps you are right about Noem agreeing with Thune, it isn’t that clear.
At any rate, Noem will say whatever the party leaders want her to say.
Roger wrote:
>“At any rate, Noem will say whatever the party leaders want her to say.”
I think she feels indebted to Thune for his friendship and for his help getting her elected, and I think she gives far too much weight to his opinions. For that matter, I think a lot of people give far too much weight to Thune’s opinions, especially among evangelical Christians.
Kurt,
Thune has opinions? lol
Probably the best thing to do would be to just walk away unless individually you have a reason to remain and be responsible. Otherwise don’t repeat misdeeds of prior generations, keep the treaty commitments, but let a sovereign nation be a sovereign nation and worry about their own ass.
Walter Williams PHD is an “African American” economist who believes minimum wage, welfare, and affirmative action destroyed their advancement. He makes quite a few good points and specifically addresses teenage employment.
SUFFER NO FOOLS:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIFBbClWSG8A1W8snIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByZ2N0cmxpBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMg–?p=walter+williams&vid=5f44f45fb02cebf11eb886bbae774b42&turl=http%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.3WSAp9Qd0hlrHkoeB1zC3w%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D169%26w%3D300%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqtzqsoM7-q4&tit=Walter+Williams+Suffers+No+Fools&c=1&h=169&w=300&l=3273&sigr=11bq2jhvd&sigt=1108n0p3n&sigi=12l05j5d4&age=1414524921&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&hsimp=yhs-002&hspart=mozilla&tt=b
I am quite sure that this guy could kick Tehran John or the NOem out of our house. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/23/1437568/-Rural-Dems-Rebranding-to-Win