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this facebook page "prairie fire illinois" popped up back in june. since then, whoever runs it has spent more than $180,000 on facebook ads.
it now has more than 60,000 "likes"
it now has more than 60,000 "likes"
the page is now encouraging illinoisans to disregard COVID guidance and promoting businesses that flout public health guidelines
they're also sponsoring a "rally" against covid restrictions at a golf club (?) featuring art laffer and stephen moore (??) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-essential-rally-tickets-126598011059
who is "prairie fire illinois"? well, their website ( http://weareillinois.com ) has no information -- this is it
facebook says the ads are paid for by "prairie fire", but that doesn't really give us much information. there are dozens of organizations with names similar to prairie fire in illinois.
so no, i don't know who runs the page that's dumping tens of thousands of dollars into a bunch of dangerous COVID nonsense
but there are some interesting let's call them coincidences between prairie fire and a certain far-right advocacy group
but there are some interesting let's call them coincidences between prairie fire and a certain far-right advocacy group
on the left is a prairie fire ad
on the right is an IPI ad
on the right is an IPI ad
on the left is a prairie fire post from oct. 17
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 23
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 23
on the left is a prairie fire post from oct. 20
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 23
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 23
on the left is a prairie fire post from oct. 18
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 21
on the right is an IPI ad that began running on oct. 21
anyway you get the idea. it sure is interesting that posts that started on prairie fire keep ending up as ads for IPI
one other thing. some of the same people behind IPI are running a group called "mighty michigan." it also has a lot of cartoons, petitions, etc. http://facebook.com/wearemightymichigan/
mighty michigan has been extremely vocal in speaking out against gov. whitmer's public health orders
mighty michigan has been extremely vocal in speaking out against gov. whitmer's public health orders
we know about the connection because the @MichiganCFN did a deep dive into the site. it's really worth a read: https://mcfn.org/node/7395/surround-sound-closely-tied-nonprofits-are-stoking-resentment-to-the-stay-at-home-order
@MichiganCFN tried to map out the connections between various organizations. longtime #twill fans will recognize some people and organizations here
(side note - as i write this, the most recent post from prairie fire is...the velvet hamster, a org related mentioned in the image above)
anyway, here's the kicker of the @MichiganCFN story. the folks behind "mighty michigan" sure seem to be interested in replicating this type of part-political-part-cultural facebook-centered distribution model
so who runs prairie fire? i don't know. hopefully we'll get some disclosure at some point soon. but it seems like we'd all be better off if we knew who was behind these kinds of messages
/ok back to work
/ok back to work
