South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem is a rising star on the GOP and national political scenes — telegenic, forceful, conservative, and unafraid to stand up against the tide of propaganda demanding drastic shutdowns in the face of a seasonal virus.  Under her leadership, South Dakota has not closed down its small businesses, has allowed life as normal to proceed, and has thrived.  Maturely, that makes her and her state the target for media opprobrium.

Last night, CBS News decided to lead off its latest dose of COVID panic with video from South Dakota, claiming the state has the highest per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19 and implying a crisis there.

HOSPITALS STRAINED: South Dakota and Indiana have the highest rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita nationwide.@DavidBegnaud spoke with battle-weary health care workers on the frontlines of the crisis in both states. pic.twitter.com/dpAKlPFA3Y

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 1, 2020

Governor Noem was having none of it and fired back a tweet:

More misleading reporting from CBS. There are 547 people -STATEWIDE- in the hospital in South Dakota w COVID. That’s less than 20% of those hospitalized. Nearly 40% of our beds are empty. Our doctors & nurses are doing an OUTSTANDING job taking care of those who need extra care. https://t.co/GU85Znjuk4 pic.twitter.com/RYfM0c4nGB

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) December 2, 2020

Don't mess with Kristi.