Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

Bark louder, little dog.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

In after Baud. Damn.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

He really is that stupid.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans in disarray!

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / You and Whose Army?

You and Whose Army?

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Let’s check in with Dollar Store Sarah Palin, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. She’s lifting the stay-at-home order for the over-65 in Sioux Falls, epicenter of the outbreak and home of the Smithfield Foods COVID cluster, even though the state is still on the upward part of their COVID curve. She’s also in a very public fight with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) and the Ogalala Sioux Tribe, demanding that they remove checkpoints from state and federal highways running through those reservations.

Kristi’s agenda is really to become the next Palin — she’s had a $130K studio installed in the basement of the capital so she can appear on Fox and Newsmax. $75K of that price was for makeup.

The tribes’ response to Dollar Store Sarah has been basically fuck and you. They consider themselves sovereign nations when it’s in their interest, and when you are running a 10,000 member nation that has an eight-bed hospital, one respiratory therapist and a three-hour drive to the nearest referral hospital, you damn well aren’t letting any COVID in. Here’s CRST tribal chairman Harold Frazier’s statement:

… We will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death… I absolutely agree that we need to work together during this time of crisis, however you continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation.

Frazier’s action has been backed by a group of state legislators, including the two pictured below, who reiterate that the state doesn’t have jurisdiction on tribal land, and also criticize Dollar Store Sarah for basically gunning for a fight.

I just had to include this picture. Such a classic.

I’ve heard from different people who wonder what Noem will do. My answer: she will do nothing more than flap her gums and flash her crazy eyes on the TeeVee. The South Dakota state highway patrol, her “army”, has 189 officers. There are a few more state officers at the DCI, but that’s it. Probably 200 on a good day. I guess if she wants to really make headlines, she’ll call out the National Guard, but I’d hate to fight against a well-armed group of Native Americans when they hold all the high ground on the few roads into the rez. It would be a bloodbath. Who knows, maybe Noem’s buddy Trump will call out the FBI and the Marshals and we’ll have the COVID equivalent of the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff. All because the tribes decided to stop a few cars on the highway and tell them to drive through without stopping if they don’t have business on the rez. Fucking stupid, but that’s where we are in Trumpville 2020.

Also, somewhat related, I wrote about the Navajo Nation’s terrible COVID problem last week, and one of you sent a link to a GoFundMe which looks legit, if you’re looking to help out.

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Scott

    Fauci is testifying (remotely) before the Senate now.  It’s on the BBC, CSpan 3, etc.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  2. 2.

    Cheryl Rofer

    The international aid group Doctors Without Borders has dispatched a team to the Navajo Nation, which as been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

    "You can't expect people to isolate if they have to drive 100 miles to get food and water."https://t.co/CPROoZ5MmL

    — The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) May 12, 2020

  5. 5.

    Realist

    The United States needs to be partitioned between Blue States and Red States.

    This is the only long-term solution.

  7. 7.

    raven

    I  assume the guard has armor and air assets, it won’t even be a fight if it comes to that.

  8. 8.

    The Pale Scot

    I’ve been reading the local news and Native American media. Can’t remember the source the story is that DSS has hired the shitgibbon’s campaign operatives to ??? can’t remember, Lowbronski or something. They have told her to instigate this so she sheen as combative, AKA an asshole. Goals are to keep SD rising curve out of the media and to endear her to the MAGATs

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    The real question is whether she is smart enough to do the math, both political and the original kind, and determine that this is not in her best interests.

    I won’t be surprised if the answer is ‘no’.

  12. 12.

    Immanentize

    @raven: Also, I don’t think a governor can call up the guard alone and vice versa.  So the Feds would be doing it as it is federal jurisdiction anyway.  Sadly, this administration has been doing all it can to attack tribal sovereignty, so who knows.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Realist: This is — I think — the third day in a row that you’ve made this comment. You’ve had your say, and it’s getting beyond tedious. It’s a stupid, cruel, and unworkable proposition. Now go away.

     

    Edited for fixing.

  16. 16.

    montanareddog

    Infelicitous, but may I propose “dollar store remainder bin Sarah Palin”, Kristi Noem (who appears to be an obvious anagram, à la Reince Priebus)?

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    Not to mention it’s a concept which is just plain stupid 8 16 32 64 128 256 ways from Sunday.

    Eminently ignorable irritant, he/she.

  23. 23.

    montanareddog

    @Omnes Omnibus:  A Belgian colleague once told me that Belgium hangs together because the Walloons hate the French more than they hate the Flemish, and the Flemish hate the Dutch more than they hate the Walloons

  25. 25.

    Tenar Arha

    @Realist:  Before you go into a pie troll—you want to stay in this blog stop showing up to spout this same bullshit neo-confederate hogwash you’ve been spouting the past day or two.

    We already fought one bloody war about this, & had about 100 years of legally sanctioned apartheid afterwards. Not interested.

    Bye!

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    I didn’t know there were still men wearing that style of hat in the 21st century. I find it somewhat comical.

  33. 33.

    Uncle Cholmondeley

    I don’t have anything to add, except to thank mistermix for giving us these regular South Dakota updates.  I also have a SoDak family connection, and it’s hard to find updates even in a next-door state.

  34. 34.

    Heidi Mom

    Picking a fight with the Oglala Lakota, Crazy Horse’s people, does not seem like a good idea.

  35. 35.

    E.

    Mistermix, I fear you may be underestimating both the breadth and the depth of racist sentiment against Native American people.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    I guess if she wants to really make headlines, she’ll call out the National Guard, but I’d hate to fight against a well-armed group of Native Americans when they hold all the high ground on the few roads into the rez. It would be a bloodbath.

    I hope to all the high heavens that it never comes to this, because it would be terrible for the Native Americans in the end, no matter what happened in any initial skirmish.

    I hope the dumb ass governor finds a way to back down gracefully. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can count on the Trump administration for any helpful mediation.

    And the last thing that anyone wants is for Trump to send Young Jared out to try to resolve the stalemate.

  37. 37.

    billcinsd

    Since Noem didn’t close anything, how can she open Sioux Falls? Any closing there was done by the mayor not the Governor.The state’s FAQ for their plan to get back to normal says several times that the state never closed

  38. 38.

    laura

    @Realist: Perhaps you and your final solution should fuck off and keep fucking off until you come to the edge of your flat earth – and then fuck off right over the edge into infinity where I’d invite you to fuck off forevermore.

  41. 41.

    download my app in the app store mistermix

    @billcinsd:

    Since Noem didn’t close anything, how can she open Sioux Falls? Any closing there was done by the mayor not the Governor.The state’s FAQ for their plan to get back to normal says several times that the state never closed

    She had a mandatory stay at home order for over 65 year olds AFAIK.  It’s expiring and she’s not renewing it.

  44. 44.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Brachiator: Maybe the tribe could put up some classic-style signs on the highways:

    UNLESS YOU HAVE AN INVITE

    FROM THE OGLALA SIOUX,

    CONSIDER YOURSELVES INVITED

    TO DRIVE STRAIGHT ON THROUGH –

    GERMA-SAVE!

  45. 45.

    MCA1

    I just love the “don’t judge a book by its cover” aspect of the original post, because looking at those two behatted gentlemen I would have bet a mortgage payment they were fully on board with Noem’s antagonizing of the Sioux.  In fact, I assumed they had red ball caps on underneath the cowboy hats.  Maybe there’s still hope for the ethical redemption of my fellow middle aged white men!

  47. 47.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @Realist: There’s another long-term solution. It involves crushing the Confederate elements of your polity, a hundred and fifty years or so since the last one. I’d suggest law enforcement as the appropriate venue; the neo-confederates depend on grift and fraud to round out their personal funding as separate from the funding they get from the plutocratic globalists like the Kochs and Mercers. Everyone who is involved should be made to feel the state’s wrath for their involvement in sedition.

    Of course, for those that decide to resort to violence of any kind they should learn that in fact the state’s monopoly on the use of force is a real thing that the state protects. When Biden wins, going after the mercenaries should be just as high a priority as going after the confederates.

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