Yeah. Unless i’m reading this out of context, conversation went like this:
You: How did she undermine the ballot?
Ben: X, Y, and Z
You: What was on the ballot?
Ben: More detailed X, Y, and Z
You: Did you enjoy doing all that research for me? /* with no further response*
lol… Yeah, that’s because your don’t know the context and the history. I was just giving him a taste of his own medicine, in good fun. I could have taken it much further. I decided to stop, I could have read his sources, taken something out of context and sent him scurrying for more info, since he took the bait.
I finally found a topic he’s cares deeply enough about that he’s actually invested. He’s done that shit to me and others, like @twojarslave a million times. Whenever he disagreed or didn’t like something, he’d ask a million questions to have us prove our points and then eventually express how he didn’t care because it he didn’t live there.
I am surprised he fell for it, being that I told him I would do it to him when the opportunity arose.
As far as the topic, I actually agree with him. I am not a Noam fanboy, though I did appreciate her not locking her state down. And why would I care? I don’t live in SD… hehe…
Pat, I do this to you (and I shouldn’t because it is a waste of time), because you make a lot of claims that are detached from reality. About how the current POTUS is the worst in history (ignoring guys like Jackson). You rant about the dystopian country we are living in. How the US is failing, and it is about to be irreversible. I only say stuff like:
Because how you say the country is, doesn’t match my experience at all, and I don’t think it matches most people’s reality if we are being objective. You are looking at gas prices, inflation, trans swimmers, and ignoring economic recovery, unemployment, the stock market, the awesome opportunities that are available in every state in this country.
I have changed my mind in the past when presented with solid evidence. You can say what you want about going on and on about my claim about Noem, but I feel I backed it up fairly well. Any further questioning from you would be grasping at straws. My questioning to you is legitimate because you don’t provide reliable evidence of your claims (at least many of them), and questioning the nature of your replies usually results in hand waving.
Recently, our discussions were around Biden being responsible for gas prices and inflation. I listed out several causes or contributing factors that seem to be fairly likely possibilities. Why was that never addressed, when the original claim put the blame squarely on Biden?
I would have accepted that Biden’s policy hasn’t improved (or even contributed to the problem in some unquantified way) these things for the reasons you and @twojarslave listed, but I don’t accept that he is the only cause unless it is shown to be true (which was the original claim, that neither of you made, but defended).
Did she keep S.D. open?
Yeah, she did, for the most part. We were the world’s worst place to be for COVID multiple times, I believe. I understand that many people do not consider that to be a real issue though.
She ran on a platform of transparency, but has used taxpayer money to try to pass a bill that would allow her to keep the sources of her donors private. I don’t really care who donates to her, but the whole thing makes it clear that she has as little concerns about the people as any other politician.
As has been mentioned, 2/3 of voters voted for medical marijuana, and 1/2 voted for recreational. To me, those numbers are signs that much of the population is, if not supportive of, at least okay with, marijuana. She has continued to spend taxpayer money to fight something that half of her citizens want. I didn’t vote for either, and still am on the fence about it, but again, she’s putting her desires before the desires of her citizens. Half of her arguments were ridiculous - something about LEO’s not being able to determine if a plant is hemp or weed, than a high ranking LEO said that yes, they can determine that.
She spent like at least a million bucks for a Minnesota marketing agency to come up with the slogan “Meth. We’re on it.” regarding our meth addiction issue. While not “bad” of her, it was expensive, didn’t support local business, and made us an international laughing stock for a week or two.
She spent way too much time campaigning for other politicians, namely our former president, to the point where high ranking conservatives in the state who had always supported her, made sarcastic comments about being “glad to see she’s in the state again” since she’d spent so much time in other states, working for other people, and not her own citizens.
She has, and this has been well-acknowledged by people, hired family members and given them large raises, that based on their age/education/experience, do not deserve. Our teachers, first responders, etc. have not been treated the same.
I think a little while ago, she decided she wanted a $400k+ fence built at her mansion. Taxpayer money, again. I don’t know if that happened or not.
Complains a lot about socialism overtaking America, which I don’t disagree with, but our state has a history of getting handouts from the federal government, and she picks and chooses when she’s okay with it. When the extra unemployment money from the government was being handed out during the first several months of COVID, she turned down a LOT of money, simply because…well, I’m not really sure why. Plenty of people were still without jobs, and many of the conservatives in my circle who are normally responsible human beings could’ve used another month or so of assistance.
When we had record flooding, and many in rural areas (including reservations) were literally stranded, and without power, she put the Guard to work in our largest cities that already had plenty of volunteers and first responders. Told the tribes here that they were sovereign nations and needed to help themselves. Oh wait! Unless they choose to protest a pipeline, in which case she can and will have them arrested, because they are S.D. citizens and she’s in charge of them. Inconsistencies like that annoy me.
She’s been bashing Biden’s responses to Putin (which I agree with), but gave a bust of Mt. Rushmore with Trump’s face added onto it to Trump, who never had the harsh words for Putin that she demands of Biden.
She blames the left for causing division in the country, which they’ve done their fare share of, but when running for governor against a Democrat man in a wheelchair who made his support of the 2nd Amendment clear, she said no liberal would support guns. Why not? Dude liked to hunt. And that if he says he’s a Democrat and also that he supports guns, only one of those statements could be true, and it’d be the former. Way to not cause division, Kristi.
She’s really good at putting on a good front. She knows what to say that appeals to her fan base. “America First! Liberty! Freedom!” While our state has one of the highest rates of sex trafficking, and high rates of poverty, addiction, and who knows what else, she’ll put up a fight to have fireworks lit at Mt. Rushmore, despite Parks people recommending not to, due to the fire risks, because Donny T., who probably just has a crush on her, would be impressed. As would other conservatives. (I’m not anti-conservative, and learn right on many issues.) I was glad S.D. was willing to vote a woman into office, and was prepared to support her when she was elected. But she hasn’t really done anything since being elected except take popular stances that boost her ratings and increase her odds of taking a higher political office.
She talks about small government, but uses the government and taxpayer money to fund whatever she wants. She talks about freedoms, but fights people protesting and voting when she doesn’t agree with it. She strikes me as the opposite of AOC, someone who can say the right things to her crowd, but has never actually accomplished anything. She’ll get in Putin-esque photo shoots on a horse wearing a cowboy hat and holding an American flag, then post it on Twitter, where 90% of the comments are middle aged men commenting things like, “Good God I want one” and “I wonder if she takes it up both holes.” It’s easy to say girls sports should be played by girls and listen to the right wingers applaud. And that’s about all she’s done. She says something, gets attention, and then her supporters ignore the shady stuff she does. I believe she’s got the presidency in her sights and while that’s not illegal or anything, it supports my point that she’s like every other politician, and cares more about her career than her voters.
Plus, like @twojarslave said, no one has a Kristi and twojar 4ever tattoo.
Impressive post.
I’m not a fan. Was it too obvious?
I was impressed by the fact that you wrote a long, detailed, well thought out post. Plus I know you’re a young’un, and I know it’s politically incorrect to say, but I don’t see long, detailed, and well thought out from the young’uns of this (or any I guess) generation often.
I do disagree (or maybe you wrote it wrong) with your AOC comment though LOL. But I figure you earned the right to say it. (I think you meant to say she’s the same as AOC?)
Welcome to the fray!
Thank you for the very thoughtful post with a lot of great insight into your perspective on state-level politics in South Dakota. You just gave me the best insight I’ve had into South Dakota politics from the perspective of a young Southern Dakotan, or any Southern Dakotan, that I’ve had in my entire life.
There’s a lot to process once you start thinking about government policies and the processes by which they get enacted. Especially how they impact people at the federal, state and local levels. It takes thoughtful people like you to do it.
Not that you should trust government, but i no longer give Crenshaw the benefit of the doubt after he supported red flag laws.
I can’t believe you ever did! I never had any doubt about what Pirate Seal is. (I should note that I’m not sure what he said about Red Flag laws-could be something I agree with or not, but I don’t trust him)
Yes, its pretty obvious…and if what you say is accurate i would not be too much of a fan either
Dude, I am all for weed. 100%, but that is the least of our problems right now. We got insane people trying to hijack the language we use and force to accept things we don’t want to accept. We are in a culture war. I like weed, but it’s at the bottom of my worries.
Would have rather been in NY or CA, with insane rules that don’t make any sense?
In CA, they arrested, yes arrested a dude who was sail boarding by himself for violating the 'don’t go outside ‘cause covid’ policy.
Yes, weed should be legal in SD, they put it on the ballot and the people have spoken. Outside of that, bigger fish to fry.
Where Noam also failed, was when she vetoed the bill preventing dudes calling themselves women to compete against women in sports.
So yeah I don’t think she’s strong or good enough to be anything more than what she is.
He was clearly a white supremacist extremist MAGA hat wearing mysoginist. He brought his surfboard to the Jan 6th terrorist attack too
They could see the maga hat under his wet suit…
I used poor wording. Maybe, Noem is to the right what AOC is to the left - someone who can say the right thing to rile up her fanbase, but never actually accomplishes anything? (Anything productive?)
I still never replied to you regarding the Russell Means speech that I sent to you, lol. My bad, dude. Usually when I get on here, it’s for like 2 minutes to check a log or something, and when I have a few moments to pour out my hatred for Kristi Noem (deep down it’s really because she won’t get a Kristi + jshaving 4ever tattoo like I did) it slips my mind.
It’s mostly my complaints about one person, haha. If we were to dig even further into the whole ordeal regarding marijuana, I could bring up our attorney general who ran a man over with his car on a lonely rural road, drove straight to his sheriff buddy’s house, was somehow not breathalyzed until the following morning, and then reported that he had hit a deer. A deer who’s glasses and blood ended up on the AG’s passenger seat. Noem has been pushing for his impeachment but many believe it is really because of his stance on pot which differs from hers…oooh! Drama! He’s probably not gonna be impeached though. I think there was an annoucnement about it today. Crazy stuff. @mnben87 - You ever hear anything about this? I forget we’re in neighboring states.
Yeah, I just hear a lot of people hold her up as some sort of hero to the conservative movement and I just disagree. There’s better, more deserving conservatives out there.
I don’t care a whole lot about weed, although I find it funny to imagine you getting high. For some reason you don’t strike me as a dude who would do that. I was mostly trying to say this, same as you:
Although I don’t even think she should be governor.
Dude. That’s because your are stereotyping me, so because I have strong convictions on somethings, important things, therefore I must fall in line as a strait down conservative. I don’t even consider myself conservative. I have a ‘steal your face’ icon, because I am a deadhead, pretty hardcore. And was fortunate enough to see them lives quite a few times and loved every second of it. Hell, it wasn’t but a couple of years ago my hair was beneath my shoulder blades and at one point blue and another purple (which looked better).
People who saw my probably thought I was a fruity leftist with my colored, long ass hair. I am not going to publicly discuss my alleged consumptions, but I had fun. And I hung around and were friends with all kinds of folks across all kinds of spectrums, throughout my life. Prior to 2015, never had to deal with political discussions. Now it’s like a prerequisite before somebody is willing to give you a chance… It’s sad, really. Enough about me…
Actually, I am pretty much pro-legalization of almost anything that isn’t inherently deadly, as an aside.
Well, you like who you like. Though I have a question about that as you seem to lean towards the left, correct me if I am wrong. Being that the “blue states” states led by democrats almost categorically down the line, had insane covid rules, shut down small businesses and let big ones operate, and had these insane covid rules we are all aware of, would you have rather had that?
You are right. My apologies for doing so.
I used to be. On the fence about it now.
Based on what? Serious question. I don’t post a ton in PWI, but I suppose I’ve done enough now to have given an impression of myself.
I guess it depends on the state. I have family in the Twin Cities, and based on their experiences, really wouldn’t have minded living there. To me, it really didn’t sound that bad. I’m not sure I would’ve wanted to be in, say, California or some other blue state. I don’t follow the news closely enough to see what things were like in all other 49 states though, haha.
Sowell is an american treasure
He’s one of the most admirable, thoughtful and accomplished academics of our lifetime who is barely known outside of conservative and academic circles.
If Noam Chomsky is the liberal’s academic, Thomas Sowell is the conservative academic. Even at age 91, our academic can beat up their academic. There’s no such thing as an ex-Marine, after all.
