Yeh, seen one, seen 'em all, amirite?
CNN is now reporting the picture of the dog ain’t even the real one. That critter is alive and well, apparently.
I guess I sort of assumed that was the case? I don’t see Noem keeping mementos of the dog she executed, so I figured the dog pic was just a stock photo in case any readers weren’t sure what a “dog” was.
Yeah. That seems legit. I was curious (superficially) how the heck the photo leaked out to begin with.
For a sec there, I thought you meant that Noem didn’t even shoot the dog, she just made up the story to look tough.
Could be worse. They could have used a stock photo of an AR-15. Or of a 737 
But it’s placed a restraining order on Noem just in case.
This is a very long thread but I didn’t see any mention of why her dog might have been aggressive. If I missed it sorry for repeating.
Even the gentlest dog will be aggressive if they are mistreated or frightened. An owner yanking their collar or shaking them aggressively. Owners hitting, kicking, or just shouting irrationally will cause a dog to defend herself. While I can’t say that Kristi abused Cricket, the tone of the book and her interviews leads me believe she’s capable of that behavior. Seems apropos to blame the dog for a reasonable reaction to her own actions.
Kristi claims that she can make the “hard decisions” but just like the current MAGA crowd, she chooses the easiest path of no resistance. Wasn’t it Stalin who said (paraphrased) “if a man has a problem with you and you eliminate the man then there’s no problem”. Kristi could have just rehomed the dog where both parties benefit (she gets rid of the dog and the dog lives a long life), but instead she just chose to kill her to satisfy her own need for revenge if Cricket bit her.
MAGAs solutions to problems seem to be swift and heartless. They dehumanize those they oppose so they can just “get rid of it” rather than look for more complicated solutions that allow all sides to come out ahead. And just like Kristi, when MAGA threatens, they become indignant when those same people resist. They respond emotionally to the insult and lack the empathy needed to make mutually beneficial choices. A famous bumper sticker says “Kill them All and Let God Sort it Out”. That is the true MAGA motto.
Could have been that; or could have been (as I think I’ve said before in this thread, but as you say it’s a long thread) that she grabbed ahold of Cricket while Cricket was in biting mode, and got bitten the same way somebody trying to break up a dog fight by grabbing a dog can easily get bitten: a hurried bite before the dog realizes who’s got ahold of it. That wouldn’t mean the dog’s essentially vicious, it would mean the dog got confused about what was going on.
Or could’ve been that the dog never bit her, and she added that bit when “I shot the dog because I did a lousy job of keeping a bird dog away from birds”, by itself, didn’t go over well. She’s been telling this story for a while, and the earlier versions don’t include the dog biting any human.
Yup. We’ve got lots of possibilities here. Maybe it actually was a vicious dog – which she let loose around her daughter.
None of the lots of possibilities make Noem look good.
Because of course her daughter just loved to get a daily mauling when she got off the school bus. Why else would she immediately ask, “Where’s Cricket?”
Which reminds me - has her daughter commented on this incident?
Googling around, I can’t find any reactions reported from the daughter, who’d be 27 now.
I couldn’t find anything either.
The most likely explanation for her silence is that she just doesn’t want to be involved with the public discourse. This is such a hot button topic that no matter what she says she’s going to get burned. Still, it would help immensely with her Mom’s Maga supporters if she were to say “Yes, that was the most vicious dog we’d ever had. Mom made the right choice”. The fact she hasn’t shown any support to her Mom’s account is telling.
Kristi Noem confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, 59 “Yea” (including, for some inexplicable reasons, nine Democratic senators) versus 34 “Nay”:
I guess the story of gunning down her poorly-trained dog and a billy goat for being “disgusting, musky, rancid” proved that she has the mettle and temperament to run the nations’ largest law enforcement and emergency management department.
Fuck.
Stranger
I hate to say it but she’s not the worst of the nominees. If I only get a limited number of vetoes, she’s not at the top of the list. She does technically have experience as governor of a state. She’s actually run something. I don’t like her but to me she isn’t as dangerous as Gabbard, Patel or RFK.
She’s been confirmed to a position that likely won’t exist in a week or two.
Oh, it will exist, either separately or as part of a larger Committee for State Security.
How many vetoes do they get?