Hey, South Dakota Republicans! If you want a bigoted idiot representing you in Congress (and you obviously enjoy having a bigoted idiot representing you on the global stage, so why not?), you want Neal Tapio!
South Dakota’s own best Saudi coddler lives up to the standards of Russian election meddlers and declares that Somalis, Lutherans, and Catholics have made part of Sioux Falls a “complete disaster” and are causing “the complete destruction of our city.” To substantiate his point, Tapio provides an article about late-night crime in downtown Minneapolis, which mentions neither Sioux Falls, Somalis, nor any religious group.
KELO’s Todd Epp provides the screen cap:
When Tapio screams at Sioux Falls to “wake up!” perhaps he’s just lonely; he posted this bigoted missive at 2:42 a.m., adding weight to my hypothesis that if you’re doing anything other than sleeping or loving at that hour, you’re up to no good.
The article about Minneapolis which Tapio shares comes from mostly anonymous sources and thus, in the era of Russian influence campaigns, should be ignored. Alpha News MN is funded and run by rich Minnesota Republican/Tea Party figures who participate in a right-wing astroturf network that drives “most of the anti-Muslim propaganda in Minnesota” but who decline to take responsibility for their own content. The article does link to an August WCCO report that says that while downtown Minneapolis business owners are complaining about bars clearing out by midnight by people who want to avoid “shenanigans,” the city is “coming off a 30-year low of violent crime.” U.S. News and World Report also notes that in this decade, the violent crime rate in Minneapolis has been lower than it was throughout the first decade of this century.
But here I am pointing out facts, when a discussion of facts was never Tapio’s or Alpha News’s intent. Tapio’s intent was do blow the racist dog whistle and rouse his fellow white supremacists in Sioux Falls or “South Sioux Falls” or anywhere anyone is up to hear his lonely cries in the night about people who don’t look and pray like he does.
Money magazine counts Minneapolis neighborhood Lynnhurst as #46 of the 100 best places to live in America, due to the strong school system, the Minneapolis park and trail system, and proximity to downtown Minneapolis entertainment and jobs. Sioux Falls ranks as #50 on the same list with its parks, “thriving” literary scene, and “safe and family-friendly environment.”
By the way, over the past decade, Minnehaha and Lincoln counties have seen the largest increases in labor force in South Dakota. Tapio’s Codington County (I’m still trying to figure out why he calls Sioux Falls “our city”) had the absolute largest loss of workers. What happened, Neal? Are you trying to scare workers from Sioux Falls back to your city of Watertown?
People from far and near are flocking to Minneapolis and Sioux Falls while rural counties in Minnesota and South Dakota lose population, because they offer bountiful opportunities for living a good life. Minneapolis and Sioux Falls grow because they are not dominated by the bigoted, fact-free stick-in-the-muddedness of malcontents like Neal Tapio.
But hey, Neal, if you think counterfactually tearing down the biggest city in South Dakota is a way to win voters, you go right ahead and play that game. The rest of us will continue to enjoy burning off our Minerva’s lunch on the Sioux River bike trail and watching Dusty Johnson beat you again in the primary.
Fear mongering is always the tactic all across the board; from the White House dribble down to smaller states and townships. I get so tired of “instilling fear” in people so they re-act or “act” the way it was intended.
https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/profiles/somali/images/figure2somali-medium.jpg
This is a chart showing the hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees flooding America from 2010-2016. Methinks Tapio doth protest tooooooooooooooooo much.
Just a few months ago, someone posted on-line about how young Somali men ran amok at a ValleyFair in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 22, 2018, hundreds of them, and the police had to be called, and it turned into a dangerous riot. And the main stream news media wasn’t even covering it! (Their emphasis, not mine.) So I checked it out. First, their source:
USA Really – one of the more unreliable sources in news media – “According to eyewitnesses who were at the park that night to celebrate Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, “a group of nearly 100 Somali men mob rushed past security and amusement park staffers at the front entrance and proceeded to run through the park and instigate fights among themselves and with guests. Cliff Hallberg, who was inside the park with his children at the time the fights broke out said it was very frightening for his children. ‘I saw about 60 Somali teenagers push their way through lines and scream at guests. This looked like a targeted attack on law enforcement,’ Hallberg added.”
What USA Really neglected to mention: It was ValleyFair’s “Valleyscare” “Halloween-Haunt” night for adults and teens, so there shouldn’t have been any children there, and that while multiple fights did break out, that happened at 11:00 PM, with scheduled closing time at 12:00 Midnight anyway, and the police mopped it all up pretty quickly. No injuries, no property damage, and only 3 people arrested for minor offenses. (MPR, CBS, and multiple other news outlets.) Personally, I suspect that alcohol was involved more than race…
Anyway, I posted the news reports, and was told that I’d just proven their point – the news media was covering it up! They’d even changed the time! They had eye-witnesses! Look at the video! I pointed out that there was no video, and I was told, semi-ominously, “It’s coming!” It never did.
No, I’ll take that back. It did. For those of you who like exaggeration and labeling, here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bRW9LrKF0A
All I can say is, if you think this is a riot, you’ve never been in a riot. (I have, in L.A. A riot is an unmistakable occurrence, and it’s not a thing where someone says, in a rather bored voice, “we’re never gonna get out of here.”) Again, the videographer never mentions “ValleyScare”, “Halloween-Haunt”, or that this is all happening after eleven at night. But of course, the videographer is Laura Loomer, a notorious Internet conspiracy theorist.
My personal bet is that Mr. Tapio takes Laura Loomer, USA Really, and, of course, American Thinker (who apparently also believes that Minneapolis is a hell-hole of Somali-inspired violence) absolutely seriously.
Tapio’s Hitlerish missives and the anonymous KKK activity in Sioux Falls is allowed, even encouraged, in today’s Republican Party. It’s Republican “free speech.” There you are, all you Wosters out there. That’s what you sign up for when you move from “D” to “R.”
Yeah, I suppose we allow these folks to pollute the airwaves due to the First Amendment, but Republicans could take a stand and exile Tapio and similar ilk from their party. They won’t because that’s who they are now, unfortunately. The good folks who remain in that party lack the guts or power to take out the trash in their party.
Yet another installment of Tapio’s serial dogwhistle manifestos for stochastic terrorism. He is still shaken to his core from pride week.
Awww. Picking on pasty white Lutherans? C’mon Tapio. These are Nordic people. Aren’t they your heroes?
Actually the ELCA is working pretty hard and with some success at diversifying and following Christ’s teachings. Hence the Welcoming the foreigner thing, very Jesusy.
The Valley Scare thing was so minor it only got one day’s coverage in the Strib. You know if it had any legs, they would have continued to pound it. The video Eve linked to showed how ridiculous Tapio’s claims are.
What a sucky way to live for Tapio/Nazis/KKK/white scumacysts, frightened and angry. Ugh.
Mr. H, you know I have nothing but contempt for Mr. Tapio and his overgodding and biggoting, but there is at least one other thing one can do at 02:30 that is not “being up to no good.” Often, people like to have an early breakfast, or what I call pre-breakfast, at 02:30, and it can last until 03:00 or so. Then you nap for a few hours, get up and get dressed for regular breakfast.
Reading Tapio’s post reminded me of two Citations Needed episodes I’d recommend. They cover the relationship between mainstream media (mostly Fox) and real estate interests, and its effect on policy regarding the homeless and such. In his post above, Tapio reads much like the news anchors sound in the following episodes:
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-85-incitement-against-the-homeless-part-i-the-infestation-rhetoric-of-local-news
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-86-incitement-against-the-homeless-part-ii-the-exterminationist-rhetoric-of-fox-news
Tapio bought a duplex at 1805 S. Lyndale in SF in May 2019. Tapio’s 2019 Annual Statement for his NT Sales and Leasing changed its listed physical address from Watertown to that SF address.
Look out, R. Blake Curd: Tapio may be coming to run for your Senate seat!
…and Neal Tapio has registered to vote at that Lyndale address in District 12:
So I guess he means it when he speaks of Sioux Falls as “our city”… though I’ll suggest that his presence in the Queen City of the East will wreak more slow destruction than most of the immigrants he would ban.
Good! I’ll have the great pleasure and privilege of voting against him.
Are you in District 12, Eve?
I do indeed live in District 12. Swung by and had a look at his new (very tiny) duplex yesterday, just to see where he’s going to be.
Here’s people Tapio ought to be denigrating, but he won’t.
http://flip.it/lGmhtL
Debbo’s link takes us to the story of Christianity used as a recruiting tool and coaching weapon in college football. Yuck—that just makes me want to spend less public university money, from taxpayers or donors, on college sport. But for theocrats like Tapio, I’m sure that’s just fine: favor his religion, exclude those who don’t follow his narrow path.
Tapio’s duplex is right across from Spellerberg Park—might be a great place for a rally for liberty and inclusion. But then again, it’s also right by the VA hospital and the children’s hospital, so I suppose we wouldn’t want too noisy of a rally, just something clearly visible to Neal and his neighbors coming home on 26th.
I’d say we do something tasteful, with signs and rainbow flags.
Spellerberg Park. A perfect place for a Muslim Brotherhood rally. I’m sure Neal will welcome them with Kool-Aid and shortbread. I’ll be sending the Mpls branch the invitation.