Talibangelical News - A Fundamentalist Christian Theocracy is a Little Closer in South Dakota

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem delivering the State of the State address on Jan. 11, 2022.

Photo: Erin Woodiel/The Argus Leader via AP

Noem to push abortion ban after 6 weeks, conservative vision

The dream of every American evangelical Christian is to have control of the entire United States, at least in the short-term with world-domination to follow, backed up by a nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the world several times over.

This much was obvious from a the PRRI 2021 American Values Survey in which 57% of white evangelical Protestants stated a preference that Christianity should be the predominant religion in the USA. Only 13% had a preference for religious diversity.

That dream came a little closer to being realised with the election of white Christian fundamentalist Trumpanzee, Kristi Noem, to the governorship of South Dakota in 2019.

According to her Wikipedia entry:

Noem did not implement face mask mandates, raised doubts about the efficacy of mask-wearing, encouraged large gatherings without social distancing or mask-wearing, and questioned public health experts' advice.

Since her election, she has pursued relentlessly right-wing policies exactly as advocated by fundamentalist Christian groups and in her State of the State address announced her intention to make abortion virtually impossible with a so-called 'heartbeat' bill where, contrary to medical evidence, an embryo is deemed to be a living person at 6 weeks. In fact, the heart doesn't develop until the embryo is 9 weeks old and the commencement of a heartbeat does not make the foetus capable of independent existence, any more so than does the commencement of liver or renal function. In other words, she will effectively ban abortion, despite Roe vs. Wade still being on the statute books in the USA, based not on science but on religious superstition as arbitrarily defined by right-wing theologians.

In what has been described as a 'wish list for conservative evangelicals', she also announced that she would seek to make it easier for people to carry a concealed firearm; that public schools will be required to set aside time for Christian prayers; that the teaching of 'controversial', (i.e., embarrassing for white supremacists) history of racism in the USA will be outlawed; that exemptions from COVID-19 vaccinations on medical, or importantly, religious grounds. In the same address she derided other states for enacting measure to prevent and slow the spread of COVID-19.

Early in the pandemic, Noem was supportive of measures to mitigate it, and requested that the legislature pass a bill giving the state health secretary and county officials the power to close businesses and other entities. On March 13, 2020, Noem ordered K-12 schools to close, and on April 6, 2020, she extended that order for the remainder of the school year. Also on April 6, Noem ordered businesses and local governments to practice social distancing and other CDC guidelines. However, she did a smart and cynical volte-face when then President Donald Trump, having panicked when he was at a lost to know how to cope with the impending disaster but unable to accept that the experts knew more than he did, began to minimise the pandemic, criticise the measures the CDC was advocating and bully anyone who disagreed with him, and instead promoted wackadoodle solutions such as taking the antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, and appearing to advocate drinking bleach and inserting a UV light source into bodily cavities. Seeing the support this stance was gaining Trump from the conservative right, in common with many other Republican politicians, Noem swiftly fell into line with the disastrous policies emanating from Trump's White House.

Covid-19 cases, South Dakota (13 Jan, 2022)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

Consequently, one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 occurred at The Smithfield Foods production plant in Sioux Falls, where four employees died, and 1,300 employees and their families tested positive. Noem fold Fox News that 99% of what's going on today wasn't happening inside the [Smithfield Food] facility. Despite nearly 200 food inspectors contracting symptomatic COVID-19 from 3 food-processing plants in South Dakota, the state's Food Safety and Inspection Service did not provide PPE for the inspectors and forbade them from wearing face masks because they might have accentuated the risks!

The extent to which the Republican Party has become the political wing of white evangelical Christianity can be judged by the fact that the only Republican criticism for Noem's State of the State address came from the even more right-wing Republican, Steve Haugaard, who complained that it was not conservative enough. Political power in South Dakota now depends on how slavishly candidates adhere to an extremist, neo-fascist political agenda as determined by the white evangelical churches.

This is also illustrated by a second chart from the PRRI 2021 American Values Survey which shows how far to the right and opposed to pluralism Republican voters have moved on issues which they believe define what it means to be America, such as speaking English (93%), believing in God (78%), being born in America (62%) and being Christian (63%). This report shows how polarised US public opinion has become, especially since Trump's presidency as the Republican party has become the political tool of white conservative Christianity.

Noem has also stated her opposition to same-sex marriages and her disagreement with Obergefell v. Hodges, the case which resulted in SCOTUS declaring a ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Like other entitled white evangelicals, Noem has a cavalier and selfish regard for the rule of law. She appears to believe she isn't bound by laws with which she disagrees, or which inconvenience her and her family. Nor is she averse to abusing her office to serve the self-interests of herself and her family. In late November 2021, it was reported by USA Today, that Noem spent $68,000 of taxpayer dollars on imported rugs from India, chandeliers and a sauna for the governor's mansion. In July 2020, after Noem's 26-year-old daughter, Kassidy Peters, was denied a real estate appraisal license, Noem began a vendetta against Sherry Bren, a state employee and director of South Dakota's Appraiser Certification Program, which had denied the license. Bren complained of age discrimination and received a payment of $200,000 of South Dakota tax-payers' money, to Bren as part of a nondisclosure agreement to withdraw her complaint and leave her position.

Noem's potential abuse of power and conflict of interest in respect of her daughter's estate appraisal and possible misuse of a state airplane is currently the subject of an investigation by the South Dakota state's Government Accountability Board. When Associated Press broke the story of the potential abuse of power, resulting in the states Attorney General, Jason Ravnsborg, referring the case to the Government Accountability Board, Noem demanded Revnsborg's resignation, citing a leaked story of the death of a pedestrian who died as a result of an accident involving a car being driven by Ravnsborg, and attacked Associated Press claiming, through a spokesperson, that they were trying to destroy her children and contending, in an echo of Trump's 'fake news' tactic for handling press criticism of him:

This story is just another example of the double standard that exists with the media... going after conservatives and their kids while ignoring Liberals. The Associated Press is disparaging the Governor's daughter in order to attack the Governor politically – no wonder Americans' trust in the media is at an all-time low.

Rosa's Laws of Religion

Third Law of Special Theological Relativity:
Tolerance for other religions is inversely proportional to the power of a god's supporters. As their power becomes absolute their tolerance reaches zero.

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By running the state as her personal fiefdom and her cynical abuse of populist policies with a disregard for the welfare of others, and her bullying of anyone who disagrees with her or even points out the potential conflicts of interest which have characterised her governorship, Kristi Noem is providing a glimpse of just what life in the USA would be like if the evangelical Christian fundamentalists ever got the powers they crave.

Noem is believed to be positioning herself for a run at the presidency in 2024!

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