The extermination of Cricket, who briefly lived on the Noem farm until the “responsible parent, dog owner and neighbor,” as the sitting governor of South Dakota refers to herself, now rages into day five with no indication of surcease. In fact, Twitter/X users are becoming more enraged the more that two things happen: 1. Noem responds on Twitter that she just doesn’t get what people are upset about, and 2. More photos of the tiny, blameless being (or a puppy of that breed and age) emerge and people begin to identify with the little guy on a personal basis. And that is proving deadly for Noem.
Noem has done a stupendous job of opposition research here. If this had been a scandal that was exposed, it would have been a great one. This is total October Surprise material. This swamps Comey’s letter to Congress about Hillary, the Access Hollywood Tape, all of it. As I said yesterday, Noem is clueless. (Her entire tweet is below. I just had to show you the reaction Twitter is having first.)
“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned. What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges.”
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“My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life. The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did. Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”
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As I said yesterday, she hasn’t got a clue. Her argument now is that it’s “legal.” Nobody accused her of breaking man’s laws, only God’s. But this broad doesn’t know the difference. She is the one who doesn’t think there should be rape or incest exceptions for abortion. Unless I am very much mistaken, a merciful God would not write a law that cruel, only men would. And I specify “men” not men and women.
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One thing I’ll say about Noem, she is a perfect representation of the MAGA Republican of 2024. Especially the MAGA Republican female. She’s got everything that cosmetic surgery and narcissism can produce visually, she’s brainless, clueless, and now we find out heartless and soulless as well.
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And why is this important? Because the vice president is one heartbeat away from the presidency and this is who you would have taking over if something happened to Trump — BUT — and this is more important still — anybody who is Trump’s vice president is going to be running the show in Dick Cheney-esque fashion, because Trump has made it crystal clear that all he can do nowadays is golf. That’s it. When he’s not forced to show up in court and nap, all he can do is golf. Nothing else.
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Trump could have campaigned this entire weekend. He did not. But he did golf. And Elise Stefanik knows this and she’s chomping at the bit to get in there and run the country. And Stefanik may have moved up several notches this week on Trump’s short list because Noem has dug her own political grave, jumped in, and shoveled the earth in on herself. Everybody else sees this with clarity except for she, herself.
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Poor little Cricket. I hope you’re looking on from puppy heaven at this joke down here. Better yet, I hope you’re not. I hope you’re playing with my kitten, Xorra, that got hit by a car at eight months old and the two of you are cavorting, joyous and free, for all eternity. You deserve that.
Has the Supreme Court of the Absurd given her immunity?
They could go ahead and in this case it wouldn’t matter. This woman struck a very deep chord. And she’s still OBLIVIOUS! That’s what blows me away. She just can’t get it.
she is a con, xtian, ‘pube–she can’t get it because she does not have the intellectual wherewithal TO get it. It’s not just that she’s an ignoramus, she is, but she is willfully stupid and does not want to learn. What I find appalling, slightly less than her cruelty to an animal (for which she needs to be subject to the EXACT same treatment and I hope this happens soon), is that enough voters in s.d. thought she should be the executive of the state.
It was legal in Nazi Germany to kill Jews on a whim too……
……that didn’t make it acceptable civilized behavior either you blithering idiot.
Pure, redneck filth.
Noem strikes me as someone who at a family viewing of Old Yeller would smile, even clap at the very thing that made almost all of us cry. (All these decades later I still get choked up and tear up just thinking about seeing that in the theater. As a young boy I was SO embarrassed until I saw everyone else, including adults crying too) She’d rebuke, even punish her kids for “not being tough”, then (in front of the kids) call her husband dickless. And say she was headed out to a bar to find a “real man” to spend the night with and do exactly that.
Any competent dog trainer will say training a dog is more about training the owner how to treat and teach the dog. I can also say that when it comes to “working dogs” be they drug sniffing or for bomb detection, LE, livestock herding or hunting even some bred for such tasks simply aren’t suited to them. Some are almost instinctively terrific, some can be excellent with good training and some simply aren’t up to it. You find the same thing with people in all manner of things, be it in sports, the arts or the workplace. Just as some people who seem like they’d be good at certain things simply are NOT and can’t, even with lots of coaching/teaching and effort on their part become proficient at certain tasks, some animals just aren’t meant to do certain things. You don’t go blowing people’s heads off for that, nor should you do so with an animal.
Yes, it can cost a fair amount of money and/or effort to train a hunting dog and it’s frustrating when one you had high hopes for doesn’t seem to learn. If you think that’s tough, I lived and worked for ten years on a farm handling horses for someone who bred and raced horses. Some terrific looking ones turn out to be no good. So you find another place and task for them. Maybe even if they suck racing they can turn out to breed good racehorses. Some can become regular riding horses for experienced riders and some are even gentle enough in personality to be used at places that provide trail rides to folks who might just take the one ride on a horse. The same can be true of working dogs. Some can wind up breeding new litters of puppies, some can become pets. But with dogs in particular if a dog is a problem the source can always be traced back to how an owner/trainer treated it. The dog’s “failure” is really on them!
Noem may think she knows animals but like so many people about so many things she OVER estimates her knowledge and or skills. And is too stupid or stubborn to realize it and winds up creating a problem. And if someone is an asshole like Noem the result is the dog pays a tragic price. I’m reminded again of an episode from the TV series Bones where a dog that got trained to be a fighting dog killed a person and though a good dog who could have, with a good owner (which Dr. Brennan would have been – she was going to adopt Ripley but the law required he be euthanized) a good companion animal. As a lifelong dog lover, this gets me every time, and I’m telling you if Cricket bit Noem it was for good reason:
I never blame a dog for having a jackass human! 🤨
but I do blame parents for raising jackass humans.
As a pet owner, I am disgusted. All I can say is, stick a fork in her, the bitch is done.
Hell, just forcing his dog to ride in a luggage carrier, pretty much did in Mittens’ campaign.
In this country, we may be indifferent to cruelty to humans, but you don’t f*ck with our fur babies.
She’s no more or less disgusting than the multitude of MAGA Morons who think she’s a good governor. You americans are a bunch of sick puppies.