Your State

The bee's kneads - early yesterday evening at Powell Gardens in Kingsville, Missouri:

Remember former state representative Cynthia Davis? Slightly nutty and seriously dim denizen of the lands on the far right shores of dominionist Christian extremism? Now that she no longer has no longer legislative outlet, she shares her very special political views by means of an internet talk show.

The policies put forth in this document suggest that America's main problem is that the poor have too much and the wealthy, too little. The budget plan "corrects" this perceived imbalance by deeply cutting programs that help low- and middle-income people, and cutting taxes on those with high incomes, capital gains, multinational corporations and "pass through" business income.

Today's Kansas City Star has a front page story that should embarrass any politician in Kansas and Missouri.

by Sara Afzal

Before his tragic death, Michael Brown had just graduated high school and was headed to college -- a path more promising than most of his peers. But Brown’s academic experience was far from perfect, ProPublica’s Nikole Hannah-Jones shares on this week’s podcast. His school was part of the Normandy district, one of the poorest, most segregated and lowest performing in Missouri.

In Ireland, the Orange Walks are parades that celebrate Protestant England's victory over and subjugation of the Catholic north. Concurrent (though not so "noble") themes run through open-carry activists own marches through Ferguson, Missouri.

Rex Sinquefield was raised in St. Louis' Saint Vincent Orphanage and went on to create Dimensional Fund Advisors, which oversees $350 billion in global assets. It's the type of rags-to-riches, up-by-his-boot-straps story that makes Republicans smile in their sleep, surrounded by dreams of Ronald Reagan's resurrection and the end of food stamps. Since 2007, Sinquefield has invested at least $30 million to mold his home state — one he didn't live in for 40 plus years while he amassed his wealth elsewhere — into an anti-union, anti-public education, tax-free utopia that only ALEC can create.

Not that sedition laws were ever a good idea, but it's sickening that people think it's okay to talk about armed revolution because they don't like the black man in the white house, and they're not smart enough to know that folks whose politics disagree with their own are not, in fact, criminals.

Is it worth it? Some black officials are looking to back tea party loon Rick Stream in the upcoming St. Louis County Executive election. The reason? To snub current officeholder (and inept handler of the Ferguson fallout) Steve Stenger.

When Jack Gillum of the AP asked the city of Ferguson, MO., for copies of records related to the shooting of the unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, by one of their town's police officers, he was effectively told no.

The idea of guns in schools raises several questions that go beyond the issues involved in adequately training teachers, itself a veritable minefield: Will teachers go through mandatory mental health screening? Can the authorities guarantee that no teachers with anger management issues will be armed in schools? Do schools mandate that guns are locked up while teachers are in class — rendering the good guy response moot — or are they left accessible to children in purses, lockers, desk drawers, or, better yet, on the desk tops? Missouri might just find out.

The GOP did some soul-searching after their drubbing in the 2012 election and came up with several ways to connect to voters more effectively. Their plan to make inroads with women, however, have run up against some very old, white, and male headwinds.