I’ll make this short and sweet. (It’s been a day) I don’t have to tell anyone reading this what a vile, cruel, soulless person now former DHS Kristi Noem is. From shooting puppies in the face to abusing her position as Gov. of South Dakota to cheating on her husband with Corey Lewandowski she was Trump’s kind of gal. So her cruel as she could make it tenure as DHS Secretary was exactly what Trump wanted. It wasn’t just ICE and deportations but that’s the topic for tonight. The policies did affect white folks but mostly were aimed at brown folks with south of our border heritage and other minorities. It was racist. Well, it turns out from the time she can remember Noem was born to be racist.
As this article from The Mirror US reports Kristi Noem’s name is a bit longer. Most of us not born to great wealth and/or privilege and titles have a first, middle and last names. If you ever wondered what Kristi Noem’s middle name was, well she’s got TWO of them. Specifically ‘Lynn’ and Arnold. Which makes her full name Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem:
Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem
Yep, the initials of her name spell the word KLAN. I, and I’m sure millions of others agree with the suggestion made in the linked article this explains a lot. People think of the KKK/Klan as being pretty much southern. Yes, its roots are there as has been the bulk of its leadership and strength but it spread nationwide. Including in the mountain west. I thought about using a title picture which had five portraits of Klan women in Klan regalia. They were from freaking Colorado.
The other thing too many people don’t know (sadly I do because of my grandfather who was pure Klan) it’s never been about subjugating black people. No, as far as real KKK asshats believe down to their DNA anyone who isn’t WHITE, ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANT isn’t a human effing being. As I kid I had to explain this to friends on a Saturday afternoon when lacking anything better to do we headed to The Liberty movie theater to watch The Cardinal. When the main character was getting bullwhipped by the Klan I heard whispers to the effect of why were they whipping a white guy? I whispered he’s not only Catholic but a Priest! Later, after the movie I explained the whole attitude to them.
So yes, Noem’s name explains a lot. I don’t believe for one second her parents gave her a four word name that spelled K L A N by accident. So it stands to reason they’d have raised her to believe being white she was a real person while Native Americans out there were not. Or other non-white people. The linked article tries to make excuses on her behalf:
Despite her initials, there is nothing to suggest Noem herself has any connection whatsoever to the Ku Klux Klan, nor that she supports them.
I call bullshit on THAT. Yes, as I said some white folks have been affected but keep in mind that it’s often because they tried to help the brown (and other) people DHS’s racist ‘America is for WHITE people of European heritage’ policies. Seems awfully goddamned Klan like to me! But hey, I’m just some old fart who writes on a political blog. However people with actual influence and a platform have been calling out the racist, nationalistic nature of Noem’s policies long before now:
However, in February of this year, while Noem was still a secretary, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) wrote to her, complaining about the Department’s recruitment tactics for new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
In the letter, he cited advertisements used by the DHS to recruit ICE officers featuring white supremacist symbolism, including a slogan popular with the Ku Klux Klan, as well as a song written by members of a white-nationalist group.
“In recent ICE recruitment ads, DHS has ‘included images, slogans and even a song used by the white nationalist right,’” Whitehouse wrote in the letter.
“Such tactics are especially dangerous against the recent backdrop of the agency’s increasingly violent policing tactics, which have resulted in the deaths of two American citizens and been roundly condemned by law enforcement professionals across the country,” he said.
We can hope that this time next year Sen. Whitehouse and like minded people on Capitol Hill will be in the majority and be holding hearings. In the meantime, Noem is going about her make-work gig but with her lover Lewandowski having been fired it looks like her own time collecting a fat govt. paycheck and benefits might be short-lived. If enough people make this into yet another embarrassing sideshow of the main Trump Shit-Show under the Big Top (for you young folks that was the huge tent that held the main show at a circus) that Noem will have to live off whatever ill gotten gains she managed to amass.
But to conclude, Irony is getting a well-deserved chance to slap back at Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem – KLAN Kristi.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
