Undaunted Podcast: Ep 2
l3wis We went on a wild ride about city political history.
Media
Hey Angela, probably should have said this years ago
Love Angela’s first post on her blog. She takes Noem to the woodshed. It is monumental.
I had the pleasure of donating for the second year to Emily’s Hope art auction. This year I attended. First I will say when you serve medium rare 8 oz filets, provide a steak knife (I was laughing at all the people sawing thru their steak with a butter knife, maybe 4 star hotels don’t have steak knives?)
Either or, it was a great night talking to my artist friends! Chad, David and Nancy, you made my night, always great catching up!
Now back to Angela’s article. I enjoyed the candor of the article, but if you knew this was going on, why didn’t you say something?
Many peeps over the years have worried about me and my big mouth online and have asked me if I was worried and I always say, ‘Last time I checked I live in America, and the 1st Amendment rules the day.’ And it has always protected me. I have had so many private organization peeps try to shut me down with cease and desist orders, which I ignore. I have only taken down ONE post, I used a copyrighted image of a mountain, and the photographer was not happy. So I deleted the post. As for government folks, screw you, I own this information and I paid for it, and you know it.
So let’s deep dive into Angela’s piece;
In fact, early in my career, when people from both sides of the aisle complained about my work, I took it as confirmation that I was doing my job correctly.
Exactly. When I see action in local government because of my needling, I look at it as a win!
Kristi Noem became the first governor in my career who not only refused to sit down for interviews on these issues, but who actively tried to discredit me as a journalist.
Kristi Noem is the Dumbest Person on Earth. And I don’t mean that as satire, it is true. I have followed her career since she was screaming in a 4-H barn.
She is a Sadist. There is no other word to describe her. She takes pleasure in other peoples pain, and she has been doing it for a long time;
What makes this moment even more disturbing is that Noem is no longer just discrediting journalists. She is discrediting the dead. Alex Pretti cannot correct the record. He cannot defend himself against false claims that portray him as a violent threat. His family has to live with the public narrative created by an administration that chose to misrepresent what happened, even when video evidence shows otherwise. To lose a loved one in such a sudden and traumatic way is devastating enough. To then watch the government lie about who that person was, what they did, and why they died is an added cruelty no family should have to endure. This is not about politics or messaging. It is about basic human decency and the obligation of those in power to tell the truth, especially when the person most affected no longer has a voice.
Thank you for saying this Angela!
When elected officials are not held to account, trust collapses. When journalists are discredited for doing their jobs, the public is left without a shared set of facts. When authority goes unchecked, abuses become easier to justify, easier to dismiss, and easier to repeat.
This is why I bitched about Marshall Selberg who was ILLEGALLY living out of his district while serving on the city council and perjured a campaign finance form. PERJURY! Elected officials need to be held to account, on all actions, including lying about a financial disclosure at a public meeting, Mr. Spellerberg!!!!
A functioning democracy depends on credibility.
AMEN!
Hey Angela, if you ever want to cooperate on stories together, hit me up! I still forgive you for your hard hitting article about me making fun of Vernon Brown’s bald head. I still laugh about that to this day!
BTW, speaking of funny stories that went by the wayside, here is one for you. So when Jolene Loetscher was running against Poops her and I had a side convo at one of her coffees, and she told me the story about Poops being a ‘stalker’. At first I was alarmed, because that is a crazy accusation, until she explained. Apparently Jolene and John Thune were good friends and Jolene asked John for an endorsement and he told her it would put the SD GOP on it’s head, but he did tell Jolene something funny, he said that when Poops was running his rip off web developer business he tried to get Thune as a client, and Thune told Jolene that Poops was a ‘Stalker.’
So that took awhile
I let the cat out of the bag in December that Gage had sold, but I knew about the sale months in advance and was waiting to see if the local media would report on it. SF Bizzo was the first to report on the sale (which I am assuming she was PAID to print the article). My suspicions were correct;
The acquisition of Gage’s assets came amid significant financial challenges for the company. Gage became employee-owned when its ESOP was formed in 2007, and the value of that ESOP had dropped to 1.5 cents per share, which went to zero after necessary administrative and professional expenses were paid, according to a letter sent to shareholders.
It communicated that Gage “has navigated significant financial challenges” over the past several years, including “persistent cash-flow constraints, the general slowdown across the construction industry and the company’s broader financial trajectory,” which ultimately required pursuing an investor “to ensure the long-term stability of the business and protect the interests of its shareholders.”
The letter continued: “We know this is not the outcome anyone hoped for and sincerely regret the impact this has on you.”
The Gage real estate in northeast Sioux Falls was owned separately. Part of it was purchased in November for $14.4 million, according to Minnehaha County records, though it’s not clear what that includes. The property includes a highly automated 200,000-square-foot production facility that opened in 2019 at an estimated cost of $40 million and a two-story office building.
So why hasn’t the media touched this? Well, there is the obvious screw job to employees there is also the involvement of cemetery fraud). I found it funny that the company that BOUGHT* them was the one to pay a news service to break the story, this tells me the heat in the kitchen hasn’t been good.
*Talk about a misleading headline;
Gage Brothers becomes part of Minnesota-based concrete company
If I sell my house to another family, I don’t get to move back into the house I just sold them and become a PART of their family. The business SOLD to a competitor because they were facing bankruptcy, this isn’t a partnership.
UPDATE: Stormland is also reporting on it, after what appears to be a press release sent to the media. The the new owners are giving former Gage employees who stayed on with Molin a ESOP option with their company, but I am assuming those investments will start from scratch because if you were to bring in hundreds of employees in it would reduce the value of the ESOP stock for current Molin employees.
The Scab upgrades to Shopping News status from Tidbits status
I used to work for the company that owned the Shopping News. It was the longest employment I ever had. I think I worked for K. Lesnar for 11 years (2 separate stints) as an estimator and customer service manager for the commercial printing side. Inserts were where we made our money. So recently I have been seeing fliers around the Scab at various locations, and I finally figured out they have inserts now. Can you please bring back K’s column? And no worries, you don’t even need to contact him, one of the office ladies would download his column from the internet each week.
The Libertarian Media Hypocrisy
Well, you know how it goes, when you can’t tough it out in the real world, you suck on the government teet. The Skab has been successful in scooping up public notice revenue all over the region because of a moronic law in Pierre that requires local governments to PAY a local publisher YOUR TAX DOLLARS to print public notices.
I know, as someone who is all about transparency, I’m not sure I am benefitting from this unless I have a magnifying glass to read the 4 PT type. I have argued several times you would save the taxpayers millions in this state if we just required to have the documents online, available for print outs at local libraries, city halls, police stations, etc. instead wasting ink and newsprint. This isn’t a Skab issue, it is an issue across the state.
What ever happened to the media being supported by subscriptions and advertising, and GOOD truthful non-partisan news? People would pay for that. I also laugh about the supposed libertarian slant of the Skab while they have their hands in the cookie jar all the while complaining about Noem’s misuse of state funds. We get to see misuse every time we see your rag. And what about more ‘regional’ coverage? And the weekly ‘Where’s Jon Hansen’ column doesn’t count.
I have noticed that since they started printing the notices, the paper has become much thicker, but the NEWS(?) content has become much smaller. Must be spending a lot of time finding ways to spend our money.
But hey, I don’t blame the Skab for this cashflow, everyone has their ‘NUT’, I blame the unethical Sioux Falls City Council for setting the precedent after every single one of them voted for this after receiving campaign funds and advice from one of the Skab’s investors, King Paulson. One of the most corrupt, unethical, quid pro quo votes I have ever seen. Never once did they question the investor, they just marched forward and purposely hid it from the public. Then they wonder why the public screams at them at public input. Your inactions speak louder then words.
I know at least one legislator has tried to revise this law, Greg Jamison, but it is always met with massive opposition from the newspaper association. I have argued in the past, if your news content and advertising is good you should be able to support yourself, why do you think I only make $600 a year 🙂 do the math.