A few people have asked me in prior months “Who is writing the South Dakota Voices website.” It’s a substack with what seems to be a lot of AI generated nonsense purporting to be commentary on South Dakota. I get asked, because of their goofy takes on political issues, such as advocating for all farm subsidies to be eliminated:
Many of the problems appear to be from agricultural runoff and waste. In addition, farming communities are facing all kinds of stresses as consolidation occurs and there are fewer people on the farms, in schools, and on main street.
Is there something the state can do to make the farming business more profitable and more accessible to younger people? Is removing the subsidies and allowing the market to work one of the solutions?
So, this last weekend, at the Doeden-fest event this last weekend in Spearfish, where citizens for liberty types came to an event to be talked at by Doeden.. and which humorously seemed to be taken over by Mary Fitzgerald and Sam Kephart, I’m told there was a live video at the event where participant Katie Hoffman pointed out that Juliann Talkington is the author of South Dakota Voices.
Have you heard that name before? Of course you have. Talkington was the person who didn’t know how to send out e-mail for the 2024 No on Amendment H group:
If you recall, on behalf of No on H, Talkington was the one who sent an e-mail out to every person on the SDGOP’s mailing list of over 400 Republican County Officials, Donors, and Convention attendees out to the world and then CC’d them all, so everyone who received it received a copy of the SDGOP’s e-mail list. At the time, she released the SDGOP’s mailing list to the wild.
Now if what I’m hearing is correct, she’s in the clickbait business with such gems as:
Even though there was really appears to be no reason for concern, the measles vaccine was introduced in 1962.
Since that time, a lot of other vaccines have been introduced. Is the data similar? Is the real point to inject people so they become sick with other illnesses? Something else? Why did Congress limit liability for vaccine makers?
From releasing SDGOP resources to the wild to clickbaiting with goofy AI generated nonsense. This is what passes for South Dakota political leadership these days.
Substack subscribed me to that crap last fall. I couldn’t dump it fast enough. I did google enough to determine that this feed and a couple dozen other “______ Voices” feeds came from the same dingy office somewhere in San Francisco if I recall correctly.
I watched the video of the event and it could indeed by hijacked by anyone that the microphone was handed too. I’m surprised John Dales was not there or had the chance to speak and ramble on and on going from one rabbit hole to another. Next thing you know people forget why they were even there as a chance to bring up concerns and issues and eventually go home. Toby Doeden is left standing and walks out the door with the rest. Oh yeah before we forget! Thanks for coming Toby!
Pat, you haven’t even seen the worst of it. Go look for the posts about climate change, and the most recent one about nonprofits trafficking children.