Governor Noem Less Interested in Grammar, More Concerned About Fewer Kids Shooting Fewer Birds

Civics education? How about grammar education?

My great-uncle Les was a good guy, but…

“We’ve got a lot less acres of habitat in South Dakota. We’ve got a lot less birds out there, about 65 percent less pheasants out in South Dakota than we did 10 years ago. This last storm killed off even more of them,” Noem said.

She continued: “We also have sold less licenses than we have in recent years. We’ve got less kids and youth outside enjoying the outdoors. And that’s all very concerning for me” [Bob Mercer, “Governor Noem Outlines Goals at 2019 Conservation Summit,” KELO-TV, 2019.03.28].

Governor Noem used less five times in that statement. She was wrong every time.

Fewer acres, fewer birds, 65 percent fewer pheasants, fewer licenses, fewer kids. Countable nouns take fewer. Noncountable nouns take less, as in less grammatical sense, less facility with the English language, less water in Lee Schoenbeck’s yard….

Even the KELO-TV website agrees. Check out the HTML code that comes up when I straight-copy-and-paste the text:

"We've got a lot less acres of habitat in South Dakota. We've got a lot less birds out there, about 65 percent less pheasants out in South Dakota than we did 10 years ago. This last storm killed off even more of them," Noem said.
<div id="lkqd-ad-476-683831-outstream-incontent-1883654401"></div>
She continued: "We also have sold less licenses than we have in recent years. We've got less kids and youth outside enjoying the outdoors. And that's all very concerning for me."

Whatever grammar checker is operating under the Keloland.com website caught three of the five errors. It’s too bad one of Kristi Noem’s high-priced aides can’t.

In additional grammar flubs:

Less kids and youth is redundant.
That’s all very concerning for me is a sloppy and inflated sentence. That concerns me. A lot. Shorter, more direct.

Our youth are taking the “Smarter Balanced” tests in school right now. How are they supposed to score proficient on those tests when their own Governor is filling their heads with bad grammar on the TV and radio? Be a role model, Kristi: make fewer grammar mistakes!

She knows how to regurgitate and define a problem but is far short on solutions. The decline in hunter population and young hunter recruitment has been with us for over 20 years and a big reason is fee hunting and highly restricted access to private lands. That is fact and has been well researched starting with Delwin Benzon’s research out of CSU clear back in the 1980’s. Failing hunter recruitment has been dumped into governments lap for trend reversal and nothing government does or has done has changed the direction. She wants to continue down the same road of government assuming the roll of parent, guardian, civic minded land and habitat stewards and it’s doomed to failure before it begins. Now we have a trapper education program, that gifts live traps to the inexperienced and ill committed so they can impact nest predators and collect bounties paid for by the license buying public. The question needs to be asked; Did Noem commit GFP to paying bounties without consulting with or understanding the budget authority vested soley in the Game, Fish and Parks Commission? Do we honestly believe that a mere handful of adolescents and adults can be trained to trap well enough, long enough, and widely enough to even come close to impacting nest predator populations? We have a gross decline in trapping and trappers nation wide for a variety of reasons but when we did have a generous compliment of those folks with skills and commitment, they still didn’t affect pheasant nest predation. We are tossing more than 500,000 + dollars of license money into the landfill that local license buyers will pay for because we don’t have non-resident license buyers like we use to have and won’t ever have again until private landowners, businesses, government and wildlife management quit denying the real reasons for wildlife declines and recognize the contributions and impacts (economic, cultural and governental) that abundant wildlife of all species have on this state. Does anybody understand that non-resident license money is “ear marked” by law to be spent on “habitat and land acquisition in this state to improve huntable and non-hunted wildlife populations? That money is drying up too so T- you can rest easy and comforted that you won’t likely get another letter in the mail seeking your cooperation in signing up walk in areas for about the same money as you could make raising winter wheat. There are fewer hunters because there is less and more difficult access to private lands and far less wildlife than there use to be and there is far less wildlife because land stewardship and conservation in this state is a victim of political foolishness and decay of community spirit and culture.

2019-03-30

16 Comments

chris

If only Kristi would put on her best camo thinking-cap and think up a new crop to grow that might give those birds some extra habitat… duh.

2019-03-29
Loren

It appears as tho this was written by Kristi and not her handler. Doh!

2019-03-29
Wayne B.

Chris,

I don’t think anyone needs to come up with new crops. The old crops are what worked wonderfully. Wheat, barley, and other small grains provided nesting & rearing cover and early feed. But small grain prices are in the basement (even worse than corn & beans). If it became profitable to put small grains back in rotation, it would help immensely.

2019-03-29
chris

@Wayne B.- I meant “hemp”! Can’t you just imagine how stoned all the birds and dogs would be?

2019-03-29
mike from iowa

Wingnuts place a higher priority on having game birds for their high rolling, campaign contributors to shoot than they care about educating Dick and Jane. Spot gets consideration because he looks like a bird dog.

Nothing new here.

2019-03-29
Chris S.

People making those grammatical mistakes make me want to yell, “Speak English!” Ironic that they’re usually the ones pushing for English-only laws.

2019-03-29
suka sapa

You can’t be surprised by any of this, can you? When you don’t care about electing smart, educated people, this is the result you get.

2019-03-29
MaryD

Should look into her Georgetown degree. How much did she pay for it?

2019-03-29
Buckobear

Ah come on folks. Style and usage manuals are expensive !! Then, of course, one must have an understanding of READING to properly use one.

2019-03-29
Roger Cornelius

Once again Kristi shows her support for Trump, this time by speaking at the same 4th grade level as great leader.
Nothing spells hick like Kristi.

2019-03-29
Debbo

I kept reading “fewer!, fewer!” every time I came to one of her flubs. I’m not grammar police, but that was pretty bad.

When we could get a freezer full of pheasants for the winter in that first weekend, while sending the Iowa relatives home with all the law allowed, there were several differences in farming. Examples:

The mile line right of ways, 60 ft?, were honored/enforced. Ditches were not farmed. There were government programs that made shelterbelts, sloughs and other wetlands economically viable. Fields were smaller– more headlands and fence rows. More cattle being pastured which also necessitated more hay lands. Corn rows were wider. Small grains fed the birds.

Of course there’s the whole herbicide/pesticide debacle. My list is too short for sure and maybe there are things that don’t belong there. I’m sure y’all will fix it.

Overall? It’s all the fault of Frantic Flaccid Fool and the SDGOP. 😃😃😃😃

2019-03-29
happy camper

Commodities prices spiked recertified wetland acres allow tiling habitat is gone. State drainage laws are lenient so counties don’t want to do due diligence less it cause liability. Look in the mirror Ms. Noem.

2019-03-29
T

And have the farmer sign over their hunting rights to the state! I’m looking for the letter I rreceived in mail last fall. We sign up, receive a certain amount (not worth anyone’s time) and the public can hunt your land.
Everyone I know that got these letters thru them in the garbage

2019-03-30
96Tears

A perplexed and fatigued Governor Kristi von Shtupp, the Reichsgräfin of Hamlin County, appears with her cabinet in front a gaggle of news hounds and West River legislators. They used to call these press conferences back when we had competent governors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uai7M4RpoLU

2019-03-30
JW

She knows how to regurgitate and define a problem but is far short on solutions. The decline in hunter population and young hunter recruitment has been with us for over 20 years and a big reason is fee hunting and highly restricted access to private lands. That is fact and has been well researched starting with Delwin Benzon’s research out of CSU clear back in the 1980’s. Failing hunter recruitment has been dumped into governments lap for trend reversal and nothing government does or has done has changed the direction. She wants to continue down the same road of government assuming the roll of parent, guardian, civic minded land and habitat stewards and it’s doomed to failure before it begins. Now we have a trapper education program, that gifts live traps to the inexperienced and ill committed so they can impact nest predators and collect bounties paid for by the license buying public. The question needs to be asked; Did Noem commit GFP to paying bounties without consulting with or understanding the budget authority vested soley in the Game, Fish and Parks Commission? Do we honestly believe that a mere handful of adolescents and adults can be trained to trap well enough, long enough, and widely enough to even come close to impacting nest predator populations? We have a gross decline in trapping and trappers nation wide for a variety of reasons but when we did have a generous compliment of those folks with skills and commitment, they still didn’t affect pheasant nest predation. We are tossing more than 500,000 + dollars of license money into the landfill that local license buyers will pay for because we don’t have non-resident license buyers like we use to have and won’t ever have again until private landowners, businesses, government and wildlife management quit denying the real reasons for wildlife declines and recognize the contributions and impacts (economic, cultural and governental) that abundant wildlife of all species have on this state. Does anybody understand that non-resident license money is “ear marked” by law to be spent on “habitat and land acquisition in this state to improve huntable and non-hunted wildlife populations? That money is drying up too so T- you can rest easy and comforted that you won’t likely get another letter in the mail seeking your cooperation in signing up walk in areas for about the same money as you could make raising winter wheat. There are fewer hunters because there is less and more difficult access to private lands and far less wildlife than there use to be and there is far less wildlife because land stewardship and conservation in this state is a victim of political foolishness and decay of community spirit and culture.

2019-03-30
Debbo

96, thanks for that link.😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Madeleine Kahn was one of the funniest women ever and Mel Brooks knew how to use her. Plus, Blazing Saddles is a hilariously insane movie!!

Thanks for the memories!

2019-03-30

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Governor Noem Less Interested in Grammar, More Concerned About Fewer Kids Shooting Fewer Birds

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