Governor Kristi Noem’s refusal to release information about the tips she has received about alleged liberal monkeyshines at South Dakota’s public universities strikes Brookings Register editor Josh Linehan as inconsistent with the “transparency and accountability” Noem said she wanted when she launched her latest McCarthyite sally against higher education:
At the end of May, the governor sent a letter to the South Dakota Board of Regents. And if I am grading here again, it wasn’t much better of an effort than the press releases and columns she sends this way. In a rambling four pages ostensibly about South Dakota colleges, she manages to touch on most of her favorite catchphrases, including “drag shows,” “preferred pronouns,” and even, against all odds, “The Chinese Communist Party.”
But buried at the end of this missive was something that caught my eye:
“To help keep our institutions accountable — and ensure that we are all aware of what is occurring at our taxpayer-funded colleges and universities — I will be setting up a whistleblower hotline. Students, parents, taxpayers, and anyone who wants to continuable [sic] to transparency and accountability within our institutions will be able to access this hotline at 605-773-5916. We will use the information we learn to guide policy decisions going forward” [Josh Linehan, “Noem’s Definition of Freedom Fails Test,” Brookings Register, 2023.07.19].
Noting that Noem has denied public records requests from his paper and from KELO-TV, Linehan says that, unlike Noem, he’s going to fight for transparency, consistency, and real freedom:
…you don’t need to be an attorney or a journalist to know the Governor can’t have it both ways. She’s keen on taxpayers knowing what happens to their money at those liberal institutions of higher learning — anonymous and silly as even her cherry-picked examples are — so long as she can harvest her capital letter buzzwords that I assume make sense if you spend your evenings plugged directly into Fox News or OAN.
But she sure doesn’t want you to know what kind of farce her office is spending your tax dollars on.
Now, I am well aware that the readership of this paper includes die-hard Kristi Noem fans who are not at all apt to think she can do much wrong. Here’s all I can say: Regardless of politics, if we are to govern ourselves, we all have to operate in a single shared reality.
If you think South Dakota’s colleges and universities are dens of liberal indoctrination, like the governor says, why would you not want that information put on the record? Even if you want to vote for Noem for anything she runs for, don’t you want the public’s business done in public?
We’re going to appeal the decision from the governor’s office. But I am writing this because I actually believe in your right to know what your government is doing. Because that’s real freedom — in Brookings, Pierre or even Vermillion [Linehan, 2023.07.19].
I look forward to Linehan’s appeal of Noem’s effort to keep secret the information she is using to attack our public universities.
Get ’em, Josh. I’m glad to hear that somebody is willing to keep poking holes in the veil noem is trying to hide behind.
Bless his heart. The Register isn’t quite my hometown paper but it’s pretty darned close. I know his mom and Mr. Linehan was just born when I left SDSU.
100% supportive of your efforts Josh.
She’s hiding something for sure….
So No Em(inent domain) is a liar. Who knew?
They are prob still waiting for their first hotline caller.
Universities attract liberal professors and administrators because liberalism holds up better under fact based analysis. (Studying and dissecting a problem to identify the root cause is called Fact Based Analysis. It also evaluates potential solutions to ensure it is being implemented in the most beneficial way.)
Mrs. Noem has truly become the professional hustler she’s been trained to be leaving no grift untried but when the Board of Regents realizes faculty salaries will have to go up to attract any professors at all the spit will swamp the fan.
“Studying and Dissecting a problem to identify the root cause is called Fact Based Analysis. It also evaluates potential solutions to ensure it is being implemented in the most beneficial way.”
Plagiarized from:
https://www.techagilist.com/agile/scrum/fact-based-analysis-problem-solving/
Finally someone challenging ‘Noem the Grifter’.
Wonder if she drags up another display maligning the paper/editor, her last resort when she’s no ammunition left.
All they have to do is say “we lost the tape recordings.”
Or just “Hey newspaper, we said it’s none of your business, so knock it off. NO!”
DaveFU – Jesus you’re a moron. Research isn’t plagiarizing any more than an encyclopedia is plagiarizing. Go back in your hole and suck your wounds, fool.
*pointing finger*
PLAGIARIST! PLAGIARIST!
Thank you, grudz. Appreciate your support.
Cory likes us to code when we can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockquote_element
Mr. Kurtz finds no difficulty being constructive. Thanks, man. I tried to remember the old way we learned in school but it kept coming out in highlighted italics; so I gave up. Sometimes ya gotta define the crux so we’re surfing on the same wave, that’s all. I don’t cite what I learned in sophomore year either, Playa P(:
Not that I have to explain myself to the insolent dog who named itself Dave Eff You.
First he accused my assistant of plagiarizing when my assistant’s algorithm specifically was written to make plagiarism impossible.
Then the insolent mother of a dog accused me of plagiarizing for adding a definition of a word or term. Not only do definitions that are in public domain not require a specific source but the definition in question wasn’t written by the source he linked to. That source was also using a definition in the public domain.
*Psychologically, this son of a mother dog has developed a severe codependency on me. It’s become more concerned that I acknowledge it’s intellect as worthy than it cares about its own self esteem. It’s become a severe personality deviation from normal.
DaveFU, Are you ok?’ 🤔 Antworte, Hund!
High five on the backhand side, Playa P.
Too bad SCOTUS just made it legal beagle to stalk and threaten, which has inevitably been a catalyst for that kind of stuff. I’d say it titillates him to reward your comments with his scorn.
Noem’s farcical tipline yielded nothing but trumpian sore loser hot air. Go figure. The regents and universities ought to demand restitution for wasting their time to investigate bags of nothing. https://www.bhpioneer.com/eedition/page-01/page_2b134f90-6f91-56ba-80b4-763b241894b4.html
“I don’t know if this (the hotline) is adding value.” – the understatement of the article that documents the snipe hunt chasing down imaginary complaints that wasted the time of administrators, faculty, and some students.