The cartoon is by Jo Johnson of Gregory County SD, and it appears on the "Dakota Free Press" site. It appears under the headline "All Kristi wants for Christmas." The reference is to Kristi Noem, South Dakota governor. "Dakota Free Press" is a fine journalistic resource in our neighbor to the west. I often refer to Noem as "Governor Tight Fittin' Jeans." Remember Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn? Note the depiction of Jason Ravnsborg at right. See the little red vehicle? A little notoriety there. Read on.
The sun is out on this first morning of the new year. A novelist would say the snow is "glistening." A novelist would paint a dour picture of this advent of 2021. Our much-desired normal life remains on hold. The resumption of high school sports strikes me as quite tentative. Athletes may wear masks but won't they be breathing heavily as they exert themselves?
I remember when sports had the controversy of mouthguards required for volleyball players. Whatever concerns prompted that seem pretty minor compared to the issues now.
We had a reprieve for fall sports, pretty unstable as it turned out. Initially there was going to be no football or volleyball, not until an abbreviated spring season. Football in the spring? Reminds me of the old USFL with Herschel Walker. It didn't seem right that time of year. Besides, getting the calendar so full of football would threaten to saturate the public with the sport. Saturation is a danger for any entertainment commodity. This should be common sense but let's remind: scarcity or the perception of scarcity is an important part of marketing.
When I was a kid, there might be only one NFL game to watch on TV on a given Sunday. Supply was slow in catching up to demand. Technology strides had to help out. Help out it did, as a burgeoning TV universe most certainly filled our plate with football.
As for spring football, it exists now as spring exhibition events by college teams. A commentator joked re. a certain state: "The two most popular sports are football and spring football." NDSU of Fargo has promoted that type of passion.
I used to enjoy listening to WDAY radio in mid-morning, to get variety from the oft-redundant cable TV news. However, WDAY (of Fargo) could get so preoccupied with sports. I sent an email to Mike McFeely in which I included this criticism. I guess he's no longer on WDAY - he's too politically liberal I'm sure - but he's with Forum Communications which owns WDAY.
Media must stay vigilant
The mercurial McFeely hasn't answered the last couple emails I sent him. Most recently I encouraged him to keep paying attention to what's happening in WDAY's neighbor to the south, as in South Dakota, where even Kristi Noem is getting impatient about lack of developments with the Jason Ravnsborg thing. The thing is the incident which happened to cost a human life.
How "tight" are South Dakota Republicans with each other? We might think it's quite congealed.
Republicans with Noem and Ravnsborg - she might not want to be mentioned in the same breath - generally don't break ranks with each other. But no matter how strong the stranglehold of the GOP in South Dakota, politics is never petrified. It can be fluid even when you'd swear it won't be. Remember how the Republicans were so incredibly "on the ropes" after Watergate? There was talk that the GOP might be permanently frozen as a minority party. I am age 65 now, 66 in January, so whenever I hear such talk I'm tempted to grin. Disruptions happen. The political parties can subtly re-define themselves, adjust their constituencies.
Oh, it doesn't have to be subtle! Look at what has unfolded right in front of us: the Republican Party which for most of my life was pretty broad-based and ideologically driven, with disparate speakers at conventions, is now a personality cult. No hyperbole there. I suspect many of my GOP friends would shrug and not really dismiss that. They wouldn't answer to cult but they would most certainly put forward the Trumps as the be-all and end-all of what's happening.
A matter of infatuation
Yesterday I tuned in to Newsmax TV out of curiosity. I had some samples recently where I was mildly entertained by the upstart Fox News wannabe - that's because Newsmax makes no bones about what it is or what it stands for. Yesterday I saw Sean Spicer on the screen, and his guest couldn't drift away from discussing the Trumps. She started out with Melania. And I had to wonder: why can't a network like this spend more time talking about ideas and policies? Instead it's the incessant drumbeat of defending the Trumps.
The Trumps are put forward as royalty. The family has been put forward by conservative media as defining the Christian faith. Surely we would not have Trump as president if it were not for evangelical Christianity. Conservative media puts forward the evangelicals as if they alone speak for the faith. There are more moderate strains of the faith. I belong to one of those.
Speaking of drumbeats, there is the prevalent concern about young people not being attracted to organized religion. An insightful discussion on a C-Span channel had the frank admission that "people who make their living in religion are fully aware of how the right wing nature of so many Christians is alienating for many." This was the C-Span show where I learned the term "nones," for people who answer surveys by checking the "none" box when asked about religious affiliation.
When someone asks about religious affiliation, do you have to cite a denomination? Or can you just say you're a Christian? As far back as when I was young, the youth were getting alienated by religious denominations. Why the carving out into so many factions or splinters?
The need for answers in SD
The situation in South Dakota hovers as we yawn through the New Year's Day holiday and weekend. It's on the periphery of the news. Governor Noem recently sounded agitated. She said the victim's family deserved answers. She added that she wasn't pre-judging, but I had to wonder if she was subtly submitting a judgment.
The nature of the traffic "accident" doesn't appear to pass the smell test. I told McFeely in my email that if I found myself in Jason Ravnsborg's position - the AG - I would be so traumatized I'd have to step aside from my public position for a while. It would just be because I'm human. And if I did not, I would project humility to the maximum degree, to be dripping with it.
Yes, we can all make mistakes most certainly. I have previously written that the accident might remind of "there but for the grace of God go I." Really. Although the distracted driving was pretty extreme, it's the sort of lapse we are occasionally guilty of. That's why the State Patrol issues so many speeding tickets. And remember that the incident happened at night.
I rarely drive after dark these days. Recently on a rare occasion when I did, I felt it was just not desirable to do so. Risks are all around us, and in that regard let me also point out that bicycle trailers trouble me if they're used for infants. I guess they're actually sold as "infant carriers." I implore that in this age of distracted driving, with the Jason Ravnsborgs of the world out there, don't! It takes only one quick lapse and you have tragedy. Most certainly that's what happened with Ravnsborg.
What is going on deep in his mind? If he does not feel daily devastated, he is not a normal human being. Why is the investigation going on so long? Well. . . There is probably political pressure for a legal charge, and indeed one would seem to be warranted, but two problems: 1) They're up against an AG with lawyer's savvy and he appears to be going "full lawyer" to defend himself. And you know how that can go. And, 2) the collision scene - I won't say "accident" - was not immediately sealed off. In fact, Ravnsborg came back the next morning and who knows what all he did? The yellow tape is for a reason.
The sheriff on the scene the night before got a little cowed, it seemed. This Mayberry-type guy was dealing with the state's AG.
Why was Ravnsborg out driving across the non-descript South Dakota terrain late at night? Some vital professional commitment? Well, it was a Republican Party fundraiser. I wonder how many "funds" they raised.
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| U.S. Senator Mike Rounds |
And now, maybe Kristin Noem, "Governor Tight Fittin' Jeans," may be showing her refreshing human side too, breaking through the wall of partisan rigidity. Yes, politics can be fluid. Even in the Dakotas? There is hope.
My podcast for first day of 2021
Happy New Year! My "Morris Mojo" podcast message for today is about music and East Side Park. This is part II of my thoughts on the Killoran stage. Today I report about a letter written by Skip Killoran to the Morris Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to Del Sarlette for relaying some of the new background to me. It's a subject worthy of attention. Here's the permalink:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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| Another cartoon by Jo Johnson of Gregory County SD. As with cartoon at top, this June offering appeared on "Dakota Free Press," a great source of wisdom for South Dakota and elsewhere. |
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| Be sure to listen to Ringo's new "Here's to the Nights." |
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