South Dakotans continue to suffer lack of leadership, call in the feds

Crashes, blackouts, anthrax, Legionella, shigella, bovine TB, suicides, flooding, wildfires, hail, ecocide, crime, corruption, disease, drought, destruction, distrust and dependence: these are the Noem years. 

A Feeding America survey shows at least 105,880 people in South Dakota are food insecure. Homelessness in the state is rampant; drunk driving, meth use and teen binge drinking are off the charts. Only 30% of the electorate turn out to vote. There are no checks on executive power and the governor's cronies routinely raid the state's general fund. The state is second in addiction to gambling and teachers' salaries surf the bottom of the US. Wage slavery is the state's biggest claim to fame and South Dakota dairies are wreaking habitat havoc. 

Infrastructure is crumbling and the state's bureaucracy is overbearing and unwieldy. Ag groups want federally subsidized crop insurance and the right to pollute. Corruption and graft have become ordinary. Hatred of immigrants threatens the state's already hurting tourism economy. Pollution from industrial agriculture has made waterways poisonous, the state has no modern statute addressing financial assurances for pipeline leaks. Trophy fishing for threatened species is a tourist activity. East River, South Dakota is a dead zone. 

Mercury makes fish inedible. Racism is endemic and white immigrants have been accepted while displacing and disgracing American Indians. South Dakota wrongly puts thousands in nursing homes. Mass incarceration fuels the white foster home industry. The state's relations with tribal nations trapped in South Dakota are at historic lows. 

But, applaud the nutball Republican efforts diverting attention from the party’s culture of corruption where murders and their coverups are commonplace by clogging the legislative session with christianic religionist argle-bargle.

The only worse place on the planet to live than DC is Pierre phucking South Dakota. It's a hole where truth goes to die and South Dakota is among the states with the lowest personal income. Abby Wargo is another talented journalist fleeing Pierre and heading for the Hills.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Feeding South Dakota has served 2.5 times more people, which has — unsurprisingly — increased their workload. Now, they’re calling in backup. Enter AmeriCorps, which on Jan. 31 sent a six-person team from the National Civilian Community Corps program’s North Central Region to South Dakota. They will be here until April 2. The team is dividing their time between the three Feeding South Dakota distribution centers in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City. The NCCC team will be at the Pierre location until Feb. 26.

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