* Tina Sfondeles…

Billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker — the richest sitting politician in America — is shelling out another $850,000 from his own pockets to renovate the Illinois Governor’s Mansion in Springfield.

That cranks up the tally of personal funds he has used to cover government expenses — including doubling some salaries and paying for other renovations — to at least $3.45 million, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

* But this post isn’t really about the Pritzker money. It’s about a bot publication called Moose Gazette which lifted Tina’s story in its entirety, but appeared to run it through a translation program…

Billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker — the richest sitting politician in The usa — is shelling out an additional $850,000 from his very own pockets to renovate the Illinois Governor’s Mansion in Springfield.

That cranks up the tally of individual funds he has applied to cover federal government expenditures — which includes doubling some salaries and shelling out for other renovations — to at the very least $3.45 million, in accordance to a Solar-Periods investigation.

“Solar-Periods” is apparently bot speak for “Sun-Times.” Also, check out this photo caption…

Democrat J.B. Pritzker hugs his spouse M.K. Pritzker and celebrates at an election night rally at the Marriott Marquis Chicago after beating incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in the Illinois gubernatorial election, Tuesday night time, Nov. six, 2018. |
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sunshine-Situations

That bot needs to settle on its translations. Sunshine-Situations?

* Another photo caption…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledges the group soon after being sworn in as the state’s 43rd governor in January. File Image.
Abundant Saal/The Point out Journal-Register by way of AP

Um, that would be Rich Saal at the State Journal-Register.

* And…

It appears as "the reporter" who lifted your story, "Laura Neilson," has a twin, an actual reporter, who works for the Telegraph in London. So they not only steal stories from reporters, they steal their photos as well. pic.twitter.com/hYe4ir4VYP

— Steve Warmbir (@stevewarmbir) October 4, 2019

* I called the number on the Moose Gazette’s contact page and spoke to a very nice lady who said I was the third or fourth person to call about this. She insisted that she has no idea what the Moose Gazette is or why they’re using her phone number, which she said she’s had for 47 years and doesn’t want to change. I gave her the website address and wished her luck. The address listed on the page didn’t turn up anything, either. I suppose I could go to Boise and knock on some doors, but I kinda have better things to do with my time.

From the “about” page…

All contributors to the website are members of the Idaho News Media Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Moose Gazette is owned by MG LLC, a registered business in the state of Idaho.

There is no such thing as the Idaho News Media Association, but that link does bring up another site called Slap Coffee, which is currently unavailable.

According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s website, MG LLC is a Foreign Limited Liability Company that cancelled its registration in 2004. I did find the name of a registered agent at the time the company cancelled its registration, looked up his number and left a voicemail.

OK, I think I’ve wasted far too much time on this today.

Any other suggestions?

…Adding… With a hat tip to a commenter…