Dakota Free Press 2020: 1,261 Posts, 17,053 Reader Comments…

1. mike from iowa 2021-01-01 14:45

   Here is an explosive way to start the next year’s news cycles….

   https://reason.com/2020/12/31/pro-trump-lawyer-tries-to-implicate-chief-justice-john-roberts-in-murder-and-pedophilia/

   Lin Wood says John Roberts is implicated in Scalia’s death and he is also a pedophile. I can hear Marlboro Barbie tell South Dakotans those accusations are not helpful and nothing more.
2. Loren 2021-01-01 17:11

   MFI, that would be a pretty strong statement from Mitch McConnell’s jelly fish. Of course, letting folks know that they “shoot dogs” in Murdo was also “not helpful” to the image of SD, methinks. ;-)
3. mike from iowa 2021-01-01 17:33

   A leader devoid of passion and charisma is what South Dakota deserves and it shows in all levels of government from Pierre to Washington, DC. Vanilla at its very plainest.
4. mike from iowa 2021-01-01 17:39

   drumpf has started snapping at vanilla Marlboro Barbie and wants noem to take his place in the Sinate. Wingnuts eat their own but never own their eats.

   https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/01/politics/donald-trump-thune-noem/index.html

   Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2021-01-01 17:57

   Mike, the 27 legislators listed above are fighting people like Trump and Lin Wood to lead our nation. They drink those conspiracy theories to the lees. Maybe they think Trump money is what they need to finally pick themselves up off the dusty ground and run a viable statewide campaign against the GOP establishment.

   They, like Trump in his absurd tweet this afternoon pushing Kristi to primary John, are mistaken. The moment Trump threatens the stability of the GOP order in South Dakota, the Chamber of Commerce, the Retailers, SDAHO, and everybody else invested in the statewide GOP/Janklow patronage machine will rise like an angry dragon and burn the Mulallys and Frye-Muellers and Goodwins to ashes.

   But hey, if Trumpists want to waste money on a primary battle in South Dakota instead of focusing on real battleground states that could make a difference in the balance of power in Congress in 2022, let ’em come and waste their money here. Pour it on!
6. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2021-01-01 17:58

   Loren, that shot dog comment may have sounded coarse to outside observers, but I’m fairly confident it cost Thune nothing here at home.
7. Porter Lansing 2021-01-01 18:04

   GOAL ACHIEVED:

   grudznick was three times as obnoxious as me in 2020.
   960 times he posted
   322 for Porter

   grudz told me that if I’d just shut up Cory will defeat “Dirty Al” Novstrup, in the next election.
   I did my part.
   Now, do yours, grudz.
   Represent and recommend Cory in Pierre, for free, as you promised.

   Love and miss you all,
   Porter
   #HeidelbergerForSenate
8. Mark Anderson 2021-01-01 19:02

   I feel like you are the elf on a shelf Cory, I’d better watch what I type because it’s on my permanent record. Just like high school.
9. robin friday 2021-01-01 20:50

   Since Thune’s comment came one day after Mitch’s declaration that Biden was the president-elect, I have to think that was permission from Mitch for Thune to say what he did. Sometimes they don’t realize how transparent they are. Or they don’t care.
10. deb 2021-01-01 23:12

    What an incredible year you’ve shared with us. Thanks so much for the compilation. May 2021 be a much better year!
11. leslie 2021-01-02 06:05

    Bear with me. These statistics may assist in understanding the following. “The local newspaper is dying. Across the country, newsrooms are either shuttering completely or struggling through massive staff layoffs. It’s becoming increasingly clear that in the void left by trusted local reporting, misinformation is taking root.

    A sweeping investigation by the New York Times uncovered a conservative pay-for-play network that disguises itself as unbiased local coverage. The enterprise includes 1300 sites spanning all 50 states, and with familiar web layouts and innocuous titles like Wichita Standard or Illinois Valley Times, [etc] you may have come across….” See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/technology/timpone-local-news-metric-media.html

    Face Book and Google have stripped away advertising income streams from local newspapers and applied algorithms that amplify false news stories written by 4 dozen Philippines “text sweat shop” internet writers (among others) that are entertaining, bloody, gruesome, or provocative (while tied to some local bit of news like an obituary to get local readers to engage). Pushing peoples buttons skews news content they receive in Youtube and Face Book feeds. “Why Is This Happening” MBNBC podcast w/Chris Hayes podcast 12.08.20 interviewing the extremely tedious NYT reporter discussing PR firms and individuals like Monte Bennet (highest pandemic PPP loan recipient), John Tumen (Illinois Opportunity Project) and others behind this grift.

    So what? The stories are false and are political. Who is doing this? Republicans, of course. This is tedious and opaque (like Rudy’s risible misunderstanding of “strict scrutiny”) dive but I will follow this up with how it relates to trends revealed above by Cory’s social media blog, DFP, that we all love.
12. leslie 2021-01-02 06:11

    For example, (and then I will wait for a more appropriate thread), Brian Timpone is an American conservative businessman and former journalist who operates a network of “pseudo-local” news websites.[1] By October 2020, nearly 1,300 websites linked to Timpone, most of which presented themselves as local news outlets.[2][3] According to the New York Times, Timpone’s “operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency.”[2] His sites publish articles for pay from outside groups, and do not disclose it.[2] wiki
13. leslie 2021-01-02 06:56

    One last example today:

    Davey Alba Retweeted
    @RMac18
    Dec 12, 2020
    ….this is a misrepresentation of our piece. Facebook has an internal tool that tracks how content from *any* page leads to hateful comments from users. The examples in the story included death threats….
14. leslie 2021-01-02 08:03

    Why would Thune use the phrase “go down like a shot dog”? Is the number 2 Republican just crude, or does he know algorithms pick up hateful quotes and amplify them?
15. leslie 2021-01-02 11:15

    ….think trolls like Sarge, Dale, grdz, and others that come and go here.

    “The extent of the deceit has been concealed for years with confidentiality contracts for writers and a confusing web of companies that run the papers. Those companies have received at least $1.7 million from Republican political campaigns and conservative groups, according to tax records and campaign-finance reports, the only payments that could be traced in public records.
    Editors for Mr. Timpone’s network assign work to freelancers dotted around the United States and abroad, often paying $3 to $36 per job. The assignments typically come with precise instructions on whom to interview and what to write, according to the internal correspondence. In some cases, those instructions are written by the network’s clients, who are sometimes the subjects of the articles.” Davey Alba, NYT (previously linked)
16. jerry 2021-01-02 12:10

    Cory, thanks for an outlet to rant and roll. May the Dakota Free Press rock on with the articles showing how dystopian South Dakota is under one party rule. I’m sure that many of us, like me, would like to see you as the change we need in Pierre. Thanks for all the great work you do!
17. Joe 2021-01-02 12:58

    Thank you for this blog and your passion for our home state to do better.
18. grudznick 2021-01-03 08:47

    It is unsurprising that the covid bugs got the most attention. Even with the raging NDS, Ms. Noem did not stand a chance.

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