Blame it on the Diet Coke
l3wis 
February 2021
Governor Noem’s Hypocrisy is Astounding
The Radical Right Wing Fascist Authoritarian Republican’t party is alive and well in the governor’s office in Pierre. In true Trumpian style ‘Do as I say, not as I do, and when caught, lie, lie, lie.’ Noem has learned well from her mentor in releasing the videos of Ravnsborg and now a judge says No way Jose. I kind of wondered how they could be released before his hearing?
While Noem is correct Ravnsborg should resign (for multiple reasons, mostly because he is dumber than spit) I find it ironic how she enjoys throwing rocks at her glass house. Noem has refused to give TRANSPARENCY on her security costs and air travel while stumping for one of the worst modern presidents (besides Reagan) in the history of our nation. She continues to lie about her Covid response (7th highest state death rate in the nation), lie about how many actual jobs would be produced by a pipeline that hasn’t even been built yet (or ever will be), blames the Covid outbreak at Smithfield on dirty immigrants and cries about fireworks (I’m sure if Haaland is confirmed she will put a stop to that on sacred native land) and continues to overturn the will of the voters over recreational marijuana. To call her a raging hypocrite would be a monumental understatement.
She says Jason should have ‘integrity’ and face the highest level of scrutiny and transparency when it comes to his accident. Yeah, Kristi, he should, BUT SO SHOULD YOU! I think it is pretty obvious your jet setting all over the country because you dream of being Trump’s Palin in 2024 was questionably legal.
Noem has continued the divisiveness of the past 4 years and has made it worse by covering up her own indiscretions with the same old tired lies about the fictional sect they call the ‘Radical Left’. The only radical that exists lives in the Governor’s mansion and she gets nuttier by the day, I’m expecting her to turn into a jar of peanut butter here pretty soon.
Noem enjoys the Ravnsborg distraction, because if you believe the gossip hounds in Pierre, Noem may have a lot of explaining to do about her Trump Travels that have very little to do with campaign stops, airplane trips and security expenses. I take most of these rumors with a grain of salt that have been circulating for months, but if even half of them are true, Noem may be secretly hoping all of her constitutional officers were web surfing while driving in the ditch, because she is going to need one Hell of a distraction to splain this one away.
The $15 an hour Minimum Wage is a Joke!
While some may be surprised that I do not support it, it is for other reasons. It should be $18-20 an hour and it should take affect within two years with four 6-month steps. There should also be an automatic inflationary COLA every year.
If they pass a Federal $15 an hour minimum wage, it won’t take fully affect until 2025. What’s the point?!
There is also a lot of misinformation out there about how this will kill businesses and cause mass unemployment. Not the case, when states have raised their minimum wages they did see an initial hike in unemployment, but in low wage jobs, after a year they actually saw economic growth and the GDP in the state rising. Believe it or not, when you pay people more, they spend more, and it helps the economy. What an amazing concept!
You also need to understand that this only affects large businesses who participate in interstate and international commerce. Like Walmart or Amazon. Ma an Pa’s Ice Cream Parlor in Bumf’ck Indiana won’t have to pay those wages.
And now for the obvious reasons this is the right thing to do. The large corporations who can afford an $18 an hour minimum wage, CAN AFFORD THE WAGE. They make Billions while paying very little Federal income taxes then turnaround and expect the very taxpayers who do pay their taxes (us) to subsidize their low-wage workers in the form of Medicade, SNAP and and housing. It was once estimated that because of the low wages Walmart pays its workers, EACH store costs taxpayers $1 million a year in worker subsidies. Why not just pay workers a living wage?
The upside is a boon in economic growth because instead of the top 1% sitting on all the wealth in our country, the workers would be spending it!
I guess I have never understood the argument that we need to starve workers while the top 1% sit on loads of money they will never be able to spend. It’s NOT a socialistic concept, it’s just good economics.
If you think a Meatpacking Plant is a great place to work, watch this
I have argued a long time it is time to get rid of our craphole owned by Chinese Communist investors, and retrain the workers in ecologically safe manufacturing jobs.
UPDATE: South Dakota Attorney General Ravnsborg should resign
The state releases Jason’s investigation interview videos. I have to admit when I wrote the original post on Sunday Afternoon, I never thought Sh!t would hit the fan come Sunday Night. Not sure if they will garner the 2/3 vote to boot him out. I have a feeling this really isn’t about Jason, but more about Noem wanting to replace him with a minion that will do her bidding.
VIDEO LINKS HAVE BEEN BROKEN
Since this seemed to be the biggest news story of all time on Thursday I figured I would take a couple of days to process my thoughts.
It’s pretty simple when you look at the facts of the case and the 5 month investigation, Ravnsborg likely broke the law (he is charged with 3 counts) and as our top law enforcement official in the state he should resign. He should also have his law license at least suspended for 2-3 years.
I know Noem has been chomping at the bit to replace him with an appointment she could lead around like a show pony but that speculation shouldn’t factor into the fact that Jason drove off the road illegally and killed someone.
I keep coming back to one word ‘integrity’ and as an elected official the only way to have this is by doing the ethical thing and resign, and that is really in his hands. The legislature will likely not take action, mostly because they are fascist cowards that don’t have the courage of a prairie dog. The SD Bar Association will likely not take action because in situations like this they usually circle the wagons.
A few years ago one of the Assistant City Attorneys for Sioux Falls who represents the SFPD was charged with a DUI and plead guilty to the charge, not only did he keep his job and received no punishment from the city, he has kept his post as the SFPD advisor and the SD Bar Association took no action.
It’s called the good old boy network.
While I agree SD laws are lax and it has probably been hard for the prosecution to charge him with much more, I do have concerns about how we came to this, and think the family of the victim have an incredibly strong civil case.
• Prosecutors gave us few details about questioning Jason and what his answers were about that night. Why is this?
• While they argue he didn’t receive special treatment in the prosecution, he certainly did with no investigation or toxicology test given the night of the accident. Heck, they didn’t even look for a body and the sheriff borrowed him his car. I also take issue with a 5 month investigation. If you ever go and read these accident reports from other cases in our state the results are usually given within 24-48 hours. There is no doubt in my mind that this long, extra thorough investigation was because he was receiving special treatment. It takes 5 months to determine someone drove into the shoulder of the road?! Give me a break.
• While the timeline is murky, about a month or so ago Jason told the media he was ‘innocent’ and didn’t commit any crimes. He knows this was untrue. I hope this comes up in his initial hearing for 3 counts.
I think Jason is going to fight the charges which I find baffling, because he really should be doing only two things, resigning and pleading guilty.