Why Leave South Dakota #9

South Dakota not among states taking action against Russia

Two prominent Republican governors, Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, who are widely seen as angling for a White House bid, mostly took aim at President Joe Biden rather than issuing executive orders targeting Russia. They criticized his energy policies and said that had made it difficult to slap sanctions on Russia's exports of oil and gas. Noem made her comments last weekend at the CPAC convention in Orlando, Florida.

Of course the report comes from yet another out of state trip on our state airplane promoting her national political prospects.

In contrast, even TEXAS recognizes that at least symbolic action is warranted:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, posted on Twitter over the weekend that he has asked restaurants and retailers “ to voluntarily remove all Russian products from their shelves.”

Of course South Dakota's massive secret trust industry may have a lot of Russian oligarch trust money, so maybe that's part of reason for the lack of action.

Why leave South Dakota #8

Wouldn't it be nice to have a state government that isn't so incompetent that they spend a huge amount of money for an absolutely pathetic digital assistant for the state's web page. Think of the actual web content $1.6 M could have bought to get what we need from the state. Digital assistants are a 1990s idea that has never worked - remember Clippy?

Don’t Shoot Fez, the 1.6-Million-Dollar Robot Pheasant—He’s from the Government, and He’s Here to Help  (Dakota Free Press 2022-02-20)

Of course like the nationally mocked Meth-We're On It campaign, this work was done by an out of state operation whose owners no doubt are being courted for a hefty Noem 2024 contribution. They certainly weren't picked for their superior technology ideas.

Searching for another state where the government operates with more ... minimal competence.

(graphic captured from sd.gov from Dakota Free Press)

Why leave South Dakota #7

It's not so much Noem herself, amhorrent as she is, but the strong support she enjoys in our state. So much hate in this state.

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who just signed the first anti-trans bill of 2022 into law, is asked why she thinks 90% of LGBTQ+ youth in South Dakota are diagnosed with anxiety or depression:

“I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.” pic.twitter.com/WbKr2Tlujs

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 17, 2022