Governor Kristi Noem phoned WNAX from her vacation at Mar-a-Lago a couple days ago to tell us South Dakota’s stunning surge in coronavirus cases is nothing to worry about. It’s what she expected and expects to continue:
I expect it to continue…. We always knew we’d have a lot more cases in the state…. I don’t think people should be alarmed. We’re where we expected to be [Gov. Kristi Noem, transcribed from audio, in “SD Governor Kristi Expects Covid Surge to Continue,” WNAX, 2020.10.30].
We expected 202 coronavirus deaths* in October? We expected 1,434 new cases on Saturday and a test-positivity rate of 49%? We expected to be vying with North Dakota for most cases per 100,000 population, with both Dakotas posting daily average new cases over the past week of well over 100 new cases per 100K pop (ND 122.7, SD 118.8) while the next worst states, Wisconsin and Montana, are only in the 70s and mask-wearing Minnesota is at 39.5?
We expected this brutal pandemic surge? We expected this?
Governor Noem has been jetting around America telling people she trusts Donald Trump more than anyone else to lead our nation through the coronavirus pandemic and all the other crises we face. Fine, suppose we did trust Donald Trump as much as Kristi Noem does. What would we expect?
We’d have expected coronavirus to go away if we just stayed calm. We’d have expected coronavirus to go away with the heat in April. We’d have expected to be packing the churches on Easter. We’d have expected coronavirus to go away without a vaccine. We’d have expected coronavirus to disappear in August. We’d have expected Americans would have gotten coronavirus vaccines in October. We’d have expected to have “rounded the final turn” against coronavirus in early September. We’d expect to be rounding the corner (again?!) right now. We’d expect to hear nothing about coronavirus after Tuesday.
In the world Kristi Noem inhabits, the world in which we all trust Donald Trump as much as she does, nobody expected 425 South Dakotans dead and 46,000 South Dakotans infected by coronavirus. Nobody expected 230,000 Americans dead and 9.1 million infected by coronavirus.
Some of us expected from the beginning that we’d be grappling with coronavirus for two years and grinding through rolling lockdowns if we wanted to prevent two million American deaths and millions more around the world from coronavirus. But nobody who trusts Donald Trump could have expected coronavirus would be on track to become the third-biggest killer in South Dakota this year.
Governor Noem, you are lying to us. You either never expected coronavirus to be this bad right now, or you don’t really trust Donald Trump.
*202 deaths from coronavirus in October. It took us six months to rack up our first 202 deaths from coronavirus.
Tangentially Related Expectations: If we trusted Donald Trump the way Kristi Noem trusts Donald Trump, we’d also expect to have two thousands miles of border wall paid for by Mexico.
Refusal by our Governess to address the pandemic actually provides her with an opportunity if she would do so now. Weeks or months ago would have been the better time, but no one would have greater credibility in declaring an emergency NOW in an effort to bring the situation under control. It’s no longer about liberty and personal freedom – it’s time for personal responsibility.
Recall that it was Noem who closed the schools in SD back in March when the level of virus activity was negligible. I realize that was before she won that free ride on Air Force One, but she does, nevertheless, have a chance now to restore some honor and dignity to her office by finally doing what is right for the health and safety of South Dakotans.
A recent article in the WSJ. hope this link works for your readers.
I am looking forward to being accused of having “Noem Derangement Syndrome”, btw.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-is-worse-in-the-dakotas-now-than-it-was-in-the-springs-hot-spots-11604136600?mod=djemalertNEWS
{…The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that masks be worn in public to reduce transmission from people who may not yet know they are sick, among other reasons. Studies have shown that a person who is sick is less likely to spread the virus while wearing a mask.
Allison Suttle, chief medical officer for Sanford Health, a hospital system that covers both North and South Dakota, said she is concerned about the rising case numbers and wants to see more mask-wearing. “Unfortunately, the virus and its effects have become quite politicized,” Dr. Suttle said.
Covid cases make up about 18% of patients in the system’s hospitals, Ms. Suttle said, and space is tight overall, in part because many people deferred care for other health issues during the spring and summer.
She said she expects Covid-related patients to rise, given the usual lag time between new cases and hospitalizations. The hospital system has the ability to move patients among its hospitals and add capacity if needed, she said.
Of course she knew. What’s a few hundred deaths to the person who has overseen their deaths? In another month, the all seeing wench from the trump compound will phone in to say that she knew there would be double the deaths and had that predicted on her daily planner.
When married gals like this lie so openly, ol’ Bry Bry better be ready for the news that he just ain’t exciting anymore, but he needs to hang around for the photo ops.
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt.” Dr. Fauci. Here is what a Doctor knows about the trump virus.
“President Trump’s repeated assertions the United States is “rounding the turn” on the novel coronavirus have increasingly alarmed the government’s top health experts, who say the country is heading into a long and potentially deadly winter with an unprepared government unwilling to make tough choices.
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious-disease expert, said in a wide-ranging interview late Friday. “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.” Washington Post 11.1.2020
GNOem said she knew, laughable. What a fraud she is. She lit the fuse, so she knows when the bomb explodes along with the casualties that come with it.
The Democrats have nothing more to offer buy criticism of our great Gov and President. They offer no solution and the media let’s them get away with it. While Joe Biden is the big guy getting a cut of Hunters contracts from China where the virus started.
I would like to hear what The Democrats solution is!
Noem and Trump resemble the Russians Lysenko and Stalin, whose anti-science jihad led to the downfall of Soviet agriculture and millions of deaths. You have DJTJ and Noem minimizing the deaths. Like Stalin, Trump and Noem push on with failed policies that cause death because they are both selfish, evil people.
Noem planned for tens of thousands of virus victims. She wanted a thousand dead by Christmas. If that was not what she hoped for she should have done something. She is probably happy nothing went wrong.
South Korea has a a population of 51,640,000 and has had 466 Covid deaths this year, same as South Dakota!
Ladies and gentlemen,
Once again, I give you our distinguished Governor of the Great State of South Dakota….
THE DOPE QUEEN OF DELUSION
Link worked for me, Chris, thanks.
It’s worth comparing how South Dakota handled the flu 100 years ago. Clearly the state has the power to act (from SD archives link at bottom):
One of the best examples was in Rapid City. The Home Guard (the equivalent of today’s
National Guard) roamed through the streets of Rapid City, fining and arresting people
who were not abiding by the cities newly created “sanitation laws.” City residence were
fined or arrested for “expectorating” (spitting) on the sidewalks of Rapid City. As the
local paper noted, “The Guard will be out in full force today to see that there is no
breaking of the quarantine regulations.” On October 27, 1918, one Rapid City man was
charged with “flagrant violation of the anti-spitting ordinance.” Even a Rapid City police
officer was arrested by the Home Guard for violating the anti-spitting ordinance and paid
the customary fine of $6.
Throughout the state, churches, theatres, schools, pool halls, parlors and other public
gathering places were closed indefinitely. The flu escalated to the point that the
superintendent of the South Dakota Board of Health declared that, “In any community
where the disease is prevalent, public gatherings of all kinds are forbidden.” Individuals
who had any symptoms of the flu were asked to refrain from public gatherings of any
kind. Public drinking cups and towels were prohibited. People were forbidden to
congregate at train depots, requiring patrons to buy their train tickets one person at a
time.
https://history.sd.gov/Archives/docs/Spanish%20Flu%20Article.pdf
A majority elected Princess Death to be their ruler. She has made the state number one in coronavirus transmission. Disease and death are just fine with them. It’s cheaper than gas ovens.
If only the legislatures would outlaw the virus, or change human behavior.
grudznick, “outlaw the virus” echos the “pro-life” arm of your Conservative/GOP friends approach to end abortion — completely ignore the causes and reasoning behind the issue. Unfortunately, they do not possess the irony you do in their simplistic advocacy.
What is South Dakota getting in exchange for your Governor abandoning SD and campaigning nationwide for FatCaligula?
I think, Mr. o, you miss the sarcasm in grudznick’s bloggings.
But you are right, righter than right in fact. I have heard people say that when grudznick is on your side, you should look deeply at your position. Like my close personal friend Bill always says, I’m just sayin…
Of course, that was not a hoax happy camper, like this trump virus is. As little trump says, 1,000 deaths a day “are almost nothing”. 6 bucks for spitting, is a large fine. 6 bucks used to be a lot of money.
Golly jeeebeeezus, $6 back then could equate to taking away a man’s entire shanty and wardrobe in today’s dollars, in today’s Rapid City. I find it hard to agree with Mr. Camper’s idea to re-impose these spitting fines.
Full Disclosure: grudznick is a spitter
Gosh, Kristi should tell New Zealand how to do coronavirus. They would only have had 2500 people die instead of 25.
Yo Gov : what do ewe expect the body count to be b4 we become alarmed?
The dying is going to ramp up in the Newer of the Zealands, Mr. Anderson. You cannot stop the virus, the science tells us this.
I expected all of this too. But she didn’t.
I must have missed Kristi’s prediction that we’d soon have 20 times the cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Over a 40 percent positive rate. Worst in the nation.
And the shame of it is, this didn’t need to happen at all. Noem could have, at a minimum, strongly encouraged masks and distancing without “shutting down” the economy. The medical science suggests that more than half of the lives could have been spared by these simple actions.
And then she has the chutzpah to blame it on testing? A doubling in testing? No, Kristi. The blame goes to you. It’s all yours.
Whatever GNOem says or does, do the opposite and you will thrive and live.
There is enough fake news in this world without Ms Grudznick’s contribution, the same science tells us we have the power to limit the damage as evidenced by the facts listed below. The stats cited reflect totals for a population of 4.8 million.
New Zealand cases Updated Nov 1 at 3:47 PM local. Confirmed 1,959 +9, Deaths 25 ,Recovered 1,501
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/10/07/921171807/new-zealand-declares-victory-over-coronavirus-again-lifts-auckland-restrictions
I think Mr. Grudznick I do get your sarcasm when it is doled out. In fact, I acknowledged it in my post when I stated, “Unfortunately, they do not possess the irony you do in their simplistic advocacy.”
o – Methinks the grudz does not posses the self-reflective capacity to fully appreciate its own irony.
It’s indeed ironic, Messrs. Schriever and o, that grudznick does not fully appreciate his own ironicism. Now, both of you, get your skinny asses out there and vote.
Hey, you Hoarders! Knock it off.
Given the state of our current state’s economy how much better off would we be here in South Dakota had we had a governor who early in March had listened to good science and SD common-sense and advocated and displayed by her own actions that wearing a simple mask would have saved a bunch of these SD dead loved ones? Will she ever admit to her wrongs?
Is she ‘pro-life’ enough for you rabid pro-lifers that are so over-joyed at Barrett getting an illegitimate Justice seat hmmm?
Growing up in Sioux Falls in the 70’s-80’s you would see 2 episodes of M*A*S*H re-runs per day while waiting for KSFY news at 6pm. The importance of masks was a feature of that show. It is comical and also tragic to imagine Kristi Noem arguing vs. Margaret Houlihan. She’d get thrown out of the ER on her can.
Kristi Noem and Sarah Frankenstein Esq are two of a kind. Very powerful but with very questionable ethics. David Lust Esq too. Rounds and Thune are too. This article makes it clear the lawyer enablers are at great risk. The good ole boys network is the American corruption way. Thus the extraordinary push at the end to now somehow convince and deny their way into another 4 years of power. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/lawyers-trump-big-law-return.amp?__twitter_impression=true
Extraordinary.
@danielsgoldman
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28m
It’s one thing for Trump supporters to block highways and bridges with little law enforcement response [but not on public streets in Graham NC where BLM protestors were sprayed, beaten and arrested this week.]
It will be an altogether different matter if they congregate aggressively at polls.
Extraordinarily, and as mentioned here before. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/09/moneyland-oliver-bullough-review-wealth-corruption-oligarchs
Sat. Australia reported 0 cases. The population of AU is 23.2 MILLION. My son lives there. You can still have small family gatherings, work and get groceries, but travel (other than for work) and super spreader events are forbidden. If you get caught without a mask in public there is a stiff fine. If you get caught unnecessarily traveling there is a fine and at least a small jail term. It does work —look at the numbers.
Gee Kristi, have some empathy, don’t just brush it off.
Hey slim. Me too. A Murdo shirt/tail relative, and another favorite red head niece, both in QLSLND!
***
Check out pic of 17 armed cops and soldiers in full battle gear macing a BLM crowd at the Graham NC courthouse [@6:41 comment above]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/election-graham-north-carolina-protest/2020/11/01/beee5d8c-1c64-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html#click=https://t.co/tQgf72vjdo
(Militarization of policing. DEFUND POLICE means reallocate/reprioritize/weed out supremacists. RC Mayor Allender budget whines about policing protestors, threatens social programs.)
Yesterday, at the grocery, after I put my mask on in the parking lot, there was a gagglette (small gaggle?) of three middle-aged women talking by a car. One of them was admitting to having tested positive for COVid. NONE were masked. inside the store, only a few people and the employees were masked. I made a quick purchase and skedaddled.
And we wonder why SD leads the nation in rate of infections? It seems deliberate.
leslie, thanks for the link to Dahlia Lithwick’s opinion piece about unethical lawyers. Her writing on legal issues has always been top notch and I almost always agree with her points.
That said, it seems unfortunate that she choose Rosenstein’s actions on immigration policy as a purported unethical act. As readers of my comments know, I loathe Trumpist immigration policies. I also think very little of Rosenstein and question the wisdom of many of his decisions, especially relating to restrictions and public comments on the Mueller investigation. Lithwick, however, tells readers that Rosenstein acted unethically by directing subordinates that they were obligated to enforce one of the more obnoxious Jeff Sessions policies prohibiting lawyers from categorically excluding immigrants with children from prosecution.
Ethically, a lawyer can decline to work for a client in a civil matter if that lawyer disagrees with the wisdom or appropriateness (rather than legality) of the potential client’s goal. But contrary to Lithwick’s argument, it is not a violation of any existing ethical requirement for that lawyer to accept the client and advocate for a lawful, but morally distasteful, objective. From what I read in Lithwick’s analysis, I saw nothing to indicate that Sessions’ objective of categorically prohibiting prosecutions of certain immigrant families was not authorized by Congress, or unconstitutional, and therefore an unlawful policy. If I have missed something that made it illegal, rather than merely cruel and stupid, let me know. If the policy was not unlawful then, contrary to Lithwick’s contention, Rosenstein’s directions to subordinates does not appear to exemplify in any way a transgression of legal ethics, despite its arguable moral weakness.
Bottom line – it is inappropriate to question a lawyer’s legal ethics for taking an action that is lawful. Thus, Lithwick should have found a more salient example to establish an otherwise extremely important and valid point that lawyers that violate the law or lie in order to enable Trump should be held accountable.
My question for Noem is if she knew that cases were going to spike in October why didn’t she try to do something to slow it down?
The GOP is determined to believe and act as if that the virus can’t be controlled or stopped or prevented or mitigated. I have never seen a political party / movement so determined to literally sicken, disable, and kill its constituents.
Meanwhile, a lot of lying is going on: for one thing, when the DOH says there are still plenty of unoccupied hospital beds, they are including health centers all around the state, many of which do not have ICU beds, so the listing of “0 ICU beds occupied” means diddly. See chart here:
https://doh.sd.gov/news/Coronavirus.aspx
Not a darn thing, Taunia. If her campaigning works, we might get a new Governor when Trump appoints her to Secretary of Agriculture or Chief of Staff or whatever position she thinks will give her the best visibility for the 2024 campaign. Unfortunately, that would leave us with Larry Rhoden as Governor, which would most certainly not improve our situation.
Hi Bat. Dahlia can certainly be a bleeding heart and i have at times criticized her interviewee’s political naïveté (Susan Hennesey Esq). I will put on my galoshes and dig a little. The whole Comey, Rosenstein, Mueller, Barr impeachment affair has been quite a fascinating civics lesson in laws, ethics, and norms!
Btw: Susan Hennessey Retweeted
Eric Hananoki
@ehananoki
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) at Mar-a-Lago last week with self-described “proud Laura Loomer”
Whitest teeth, tanned-est arms, biggest diamond! (fb post 43 mins)
Sam@2 at 11-1-2020, 9:41, asserts that Biden and Democrats “offer no solution” to their criticism of Noem and Trump.
Anyone who has listened to Biden and his supporters know that is an incorrect statement. Two of the biggest complaints are that Noem and Trump have decided to let the pandemic run its course while they hope that private industry will develop a vaccine, and thus the Trump Administration is not going to take any active steps to try to control the pandemic and thereby reduce sickness and death that are currently flowing from the virus.
Biden, however, has offered the following specific solutions and steps to limit the devastation inflicted nationally by this pandemic:
https://joebiden.com/beat-covid19/
To be fair, however, perhaps Sam@2 can tell us what solutions are being offered by Noem and Trump if he is re-elected. So far the Trumpist say they have no solution:
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-pandemics-virus-outbreak-03de71eecbb9a605b1efc324cdeb3a5e
I haven’t seem any indication that if re-elected Trump has identified any other solution aimed at defeating the pandemic. Although not she is currently up for re-election Noem has publicly stated she will take the same approach, saying “We also know that we can’t stop it,”
https://apnews.com/article/12bec4013ad5fc13c7df8555dd44e4c1
Did I miss something Sam@2, or are you projecting the Trump plan onto Biden, or just trying to implement the Trump gaslighting strategy?
“spike” — https://www.nfl.com/news/all-77-false-positive-covid-19-tests-come-back-negative-upon-reruns
Pretty drumpf like to admit Noem Nothing knew this after the fact. She is about as honest as he is, too.
Is John Dale asserting that false positive results from tests on NFL personnel administered 2 months ago somehow conflate to invalidate current test results in SD?
Curt, the simple answer is, “Yes.” Any false positive results at any time invalidate all current test results anywhere. Such is the belief. Besides, it’s all going to go away November 5th.
November 5?? Are you sure Eve Fisher? I had heard that tomorrow was the end of the trump virus. What sayeth John Dale on this, he knoweth everything.