Name it what you will.
Heh.
Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…
Oh, Mapquest
27 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Campaign Finance: but wait, there’s more
27 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in campaign finance
Tags
abortion, Abortion ban, Amendment 3, anti-choice, campaign finance, General Assembly, HJR 73, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Stop the Ban
Pre 1973 2026 medical instruments.
Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for the anti-choice PAC pushing to abolish abortion in Missouri:
253648 08/27/2026 Her Health, Her Future PAC Chris Archer 4724 Oakridge Park Dr. St Louis MO 63129 Archer & Lassa LLC Attorney 8/26/2026 $100,000.00
[emphasis added]
“We will not go back”
No on Amendment 3.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: once again, so they get it (May 27, 2026)
Choice in Missouri (June 18, 2026)
Campaign Finance: Next (August 6, 2026)
Campaign Finance: the anti-choice vision for Missouri (August 27, 2026)
Campaign Finance: the anti-choice vision for Missouri
27 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in campaign finance
Tags
abortion, Abortion ban, Amendment 3, anti-choice, campaign finance, General Assembly, HJR 73, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Stop the Ban
Pre 1973 2026 medical instruments.
Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for the anti-choice PAC pushing to abolish abortion in Missouri:
253648 08/27/2026 Her Health, Her Future PAC Drury Southwest Inc. 101 S Farrar Dr Cape Girardeau MO 63701 8/27/2026 $500,000.00
[emphasis added]
No on Amendment 3.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: once again, so they get it (May 27, 2026)
Choice in Missouri (June 18, 2026)
Campaign Finance: Next (August 6, 2026)
A lack of imagination…
26 Wednesday Aug 2026
Tags
54th Legislative District, Brandon Phelps, budget cut, childhood education, Dolly Parton, General Assembly, Imagination Library, Mike Kehoe, missouri, reading
…from Gov. Mike Kehoe (r) and the right wingnut controlled Missouri General Assembly.
Books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library which were sent to a Missouri child.
From HB 2002 (the Missouri Budget 2026-2027), truly passed:
HB 2002, pg. 21 [May 2026]
[….]
1 Section 2.300. To the Department of Elementary and Secondary
2 Education
3 For the Office of Childhood
4 For a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children
5 from birth to age five
6 From General Revenue Fund (1101) ……………………………………………………………….$2,000,000
[….]
How nice, right?
Except, no:
Missouri cuts budget to Imagination Library, enrollment frozen
BY Jacob Meikel Missouri
PUBLISHED 10:16 AM CT Jun. 03, 2026ST. LOUIS—The foundation that oversees Dolly Parton Imagination Library says it is working with the Missouri legislature to restore full funding for the program in the state.
The state legislature recently passed its fiscal year 2027 budget, but a cutback in funding for the Imagination Library from nearly $6 million to roughly $2 million puts the program at risk.
In a memo posted to its website, the program says the cutback in funding would close to new enrollments on July 1 of this year.
The program would also continue to send new books to kids enrolled as funding allows, which the program says could run out of funding within four to six months.
The Dollywood Foundation says it’s working with the Missouri House and Senate to restore funding before the budget is finalized and is signed by Governor Mike Kehoe.
Imagination Library is encouraging families to reach out to local representatives to share the importance the program is to their children.
“…The Dollywood Foundation says it’s working with the Missouri House and Senate to restore funding before the budget is finalized and is signed by Governor Mike Kehoe…”
It didn’t happen.
From the Imagination Library website today, in a response to an online query about the availability of the program for a child in Missouri:
Not available in Missouri.
Because, by a vote of the right wingnut controlled Missouri General Assembly, supporting a children’s reading program is less important than cutting taxes for billionaires and millionaires. Apparently.
Mike Kehoe (r) [2026 file photo].
Governor Mike Kehoe (r) tries to have it both ways:
Dolly Parton’s Passing and Imagination Library Funding
August 26, 2026Governor Kehoe joins the nation and world in mourning the loss of the legendary Dolly Parton.
The Governor is a strong supporter of children’s literacy and education. Given the seriousness of Missouri’s budget imbalance, tough decisions are being made to restore responsible spending across the entirety of state government.
The state budget Governor Kehoe signed in June provided $2 million in funding to the Imagination Library program. Books continue to be provided to Missouri children enrolled in the program.
Yeah, right.
Future of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library children’s book program uncertain in Missouri
Program may not continue beyond 2026 due to funding cutsThe future of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library free book program for children is uncertain in Missouri due to funding cuts.
As part of the state fiscal year 2027 budget, funding for the program was slashed down to $2 million. Previously, the program operated with $6 million in funding.
Whether the program will continue beyond 2026 is still up in the air, according to a regional director for the Dollywood Foundation, which oversees the program.
“Unfortunately, the state has not fulfilled its commitment to sustain full funding for the program,” Regional Director Michelle Anthony said in an email. “The funds needed to continue Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Missouri have been significantly reduced in the state budget. With the currently allocated funding, the program can continue operating through the end of 2026.”
[….]
Kehoe’s statement went on to say that books “continue to be provided to Missouri children enrolled in the program.”
However, once the $2 million runs out, date unclear, children will not receive a monthly book in the mail.
The program cannot accept new families due to the shortage of funds.
[….]
Yeah, no.
Because, by a vote of the right wingnut controlled Missouri General Assembly and with the approval of Governor Mike Kehoe (r), supporting a children’s reading program is less important than cutting taxes for billionaires and millionaires.
The role call vote on HB 2002:
Rep. Brandon Phelps (r) voted for the budget with the $4,000,000.00 cut to cripple the program.
Brandon Phelps (r) [2025 file photo].
He has plenty of partisan/rubber stamp company.
Own it.
The punch line, two years ago:
Hello, Dolly! Dolly Parton to Visit Missouri for Statewide Imagination Library Celebration Event
Aug 14, 2024The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is hosting an event with Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library team on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at 11 a.m. in Kansas City, Missouri. The event will celebrate the success so far of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Missouri and encourage more Missouri families to enroll.
Imagination Library of Missouri partners, early childhood education stakeholders, and other special guests were invited to attend the event in-person. DESE has partnered with Kansas City PBS to livestream the event statewide so all of Missouri can share in the celebration. Families, parent groups, classrooms, and school and community partners can watch the livestream.
“As the former Senator who carried the Imagination Library of Missouri legislation, to now being in the role of Commissioner, this is a full-circle moment,” said Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger. “Since the program launched in November 2023, we have enrolled more than 137,000 Missouri children in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. We hope Dolly’s visit to Missouri will help us promote the program even further, reaching the families of the remaining 262,000 Missouri children who are eligible.”
Missouri is the 14th state to commit to a statewide Imagination Library program, but no other state has been fully funded, with all children under age five eligible, on the day the statewide program launched.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dolly to the Show-Me State and join her to celebrate the Imagination Library program,” said Governor Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson. “Ensuring Missouri’s children have a quality education is near and dear to us, and we know the earlier we can get children excited about reading and learning the better equipped they are to find success and achieve their American Dream down the road. We appreciate Dolly, her team, and DESE for helping bring these quality educational resources to Missouri children and continue to encourage all eligible Missouri parents to utilize this program.”
All Missouri children under five years old are eligible to register for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. There is no deadline to register. The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by providing age-appropriate books each month to children free of charge. To receive books, a parent or guardian must register their child on the Imagination Library national website. Books will be mailed directly to the homes of registered children every month, until their fifth birthday.
The statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was made possible through Section 178.694, RSMo, and $11 million was included in DESE’s Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 budgets for the distribution of books.
[….]
Mike Kehoe (r) [2024 file photo].
“…Ensuring Missouri’s children have a quality education is near and dear to us, and we know the earlier we can get children excited about reading and learning the better equipped they are to find success and achieve their American Dream down the road. We appreciate Dolly, her team, and DESE for helping bring these quality educational resources to Missouri children and continue to encourage all eligible Missouri parents to utilize this program…”
That was then. Not now.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) – Governor’s Ham Breakfast – Missouri State Fair – Sedalia – August 20, 2026
22 Saturday Aug 2026
Posted in Congress
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D).
Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) attended the Governor’s Ham Breakfast (a fundraiser) on the fairgrounds of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia on Thursday morning. He took a few moments to speak with media:
.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D): ….So, uh, make no mistake, I am here now because, uh, the district was, uh, mean-spiritedly redrawn, uh, and I, I’m going to do, uh, you know, what I would do normally and it’s go out and be with the people where I, that I’m representing. I’ve done it for all my career whether it’s, you know, pastoring the same church for thirty-seven years, or being city council, mayor [of Kansas City], and a member of Congress. So, you know, I’m, uh, kind of obsessed with human beings. All kinds.
Question: [laughter] Just a reaction from yesterday’s [Cole County Circuit Court] ruling.
Rep. Cleaver: Well, obviously I’m disappointed in the, in the ruling. I think they’re wrong. And the law is, I think, clear. I’m not a lawyer. But almost every lawyer that I’ve spoken with has said, uh, that it’s clear. That, uh, when the signatures are certified it stops everything, uh, until the people of Missouri who took their time to, uh, to do the signature and, uh, petition a referendum, uh, a chance to, to have their say and a vote.
So, had they worked the way they should, should work and the way they have worked in the past, uh, everything would have stopped yesterday, uh, and, uh, we would be now getting ready for, uh, a election in November with the old, uh, lines. And then of course, uh, after their, we reached the end of that term, uh, that would be an, an election [inaudible] take place. But all that was pushed aside. And, we, you know, I don’t, I can control only that which I control. And I can control, you know, being out, being available, uh, meeting with and, and, uh, listening to people across the state. And I have done that….
Question: ….How much faith do you have that the [Missouri] Supreme Court will rule in favor of the referendum?
Rep. Cleaver: Uh, I have not, uh, uh, organized a party to celebrate, uh, the Supreme Court decision. Uh, I, I can only hope that, uh, they will, uh, you know, do their job as they understand it. That’s all I can do.
Question: Secretary Hoskins was saying that this isn’t a ‘smear Representative Cleaver campaign’ to get you out of office. Says he’s friends with Rick Brattin [the Republican candidate in the 5th Congressional District] but it has nothing to do with it.
Rep. Cleaver:: What’s that name?
Question: Uh, Secretary [of State] Hoskins. Denny Hoskins. Denny Hoskins. Any reaction to these words? Has he spoken to you as well?
Rep. Cleaver:: No.
Question: No. And your reaction to what he said that this wasn’t out to get you specifically?
Rep. Cleaver:: You know, if we go squirrel hunting the squirrel that’s targeted, they’re gonna feel like it was taken personally.
You know, I, I don’t know how else to take it. I think, uh, the only other way, you know, that you’re doing something to the, to the people. Based on the polling data I’ve seen on, uh, mid-decade redistricting the people of Missouri don’t like it. Uh, black, white, rural, urban, old, young. I was at a, a senior citizen’s facility yesterday and I couldn’t hardly even finish my speech because people wanted to express their anger and hostility [to redistricting]. And, uh many of them, uh, were not in the party of which I, uh, sit now.
But, you know, I, I don’t know what the Supreme Court is gonna do. I don’t know a single member of the Supreme Court. I couldn’t call a single name. I, I, I, you know, I’m not gonna spend a lot of time sitting around saying, ‘woe is me.’ I’m gonna go out here, run a clean campaign as a group of ministers asked me to do yesterday. They said, look, we, we don’t care about all that [inaudible] stuff. We want you to run a straight campaign, the way you’ve always done and, uh, don’t get in the gutter. But I’m not. I’m gonna run a campaign based on what I’ve been able to do in Congress….
Rep. Cleaver:: ….I am convinced, and a lot of people don’t like this, that, that the overwhelming majority of people in this country are good and decent people. There’s a group, make no mistake, uh, you know, of haters and, and they like chaos so forth. But the majority of the people are, are just, just good. And, and they want to see things done in, in the right way….
Question: What were your takeaways on the historic defeats of Amendments 4 [restricting initiatives] and 5 [implementing regressive taxation on working people] here in Missouri. Do you think that large margin might carry over to some momentum, uh, for November for Missouri Democrats?
Rep. Cleaver:: Yes, I, I. I’m. Look, people don’t like to be ignored. And if people go out and get, uh, signatures knocking on doors, they, they want the process to work. Uh, and it means that they disagreed with something. Uh, Rachel Maddow [MSNOW] did something, and I missed most of it, uh, a week or so ago, about all of the times that the Missouri General Assembly passed things that the people didn’t like in recent times, you know, whether it was minimum wage or whether it was a woman’s right to choose, and the people went out and collected the signatures to put it on the ballot and won. Uh, you know, and, and she was expressing some shock that Missouri would, would do that. And, and I’ve said in interviews I’m, I’m not. People want to believe, uh, that their voice means something.
And, uh, I think the law, uh, was clear. And that is that once the signatures are certified everything is supposed to stop and revert back to the, uh, previous lines. And, uh, that’s, every time a court gets ready to go over this that’s what I expect them to do. They may not do it. But, uh, that’s my expectation….
Previously:
Governor’s Ham Breakfast – Missouri State Fair – Sedalia – August 20, 2026 (August 21, 2026)
Taigan Plummer (D) in the 54th Legislative District – Town Hall – Warrensburg, Missouri – August 21, 2026
21 Friday Aug 2026
Posted in Missouri General Assembly, Missouri House
Taigan Plummer (D).
Taigan Plummer, the Democratic Party candidate in the 54th Legislative District, held an open public town hall this evening in Warrensburg at the Trails Regional Library meeting room.
The town hall started at 6:00 p.m. and lasted until past 7:30 p.m. The wide-ranging discussion with those in attendance included public education, vocational education, access to health care, campaign finance, Amendment 5 (and it’s overwhelming rejection by Missouri voters), economic development, public service, affordability, housing, and investment in the public good.
Governor’s Ham Breakfast – Missouri State Fair – Sedalia – August 20, 2026
21 Friday Aug 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Emanuel Cleaver, Governor's Ham Breakfast, Jason Smith, Mike Kehoe, missouri, Missouri State Fair, Quentin Wilson, Rene Vance, Sedalia, Vivek Malek, Yvonne Reeves-Chong
The Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair took place yesterday morning in Sedalia. This annual fundraising event is usually a “must attend” function for Missouri legislators, statewide office holders, members of Congress, and candidates. Usually.
Champion Ham and Bacon.
For an hour or so before the organized program and meal starts attendees start at the entrance running a gauntlet of campaign signs and t-shirt wearing campaign volunteers. After the early August primary some November general election candidates do show up.
Early morning fog at the entrance to the Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D).
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe (r):
Mike Kehoe (r).
State Auditor candidate Quentin Wilson (D).
Eric Schmitt (r).
State Treasurer Vivek Malek (r).
Jason Smith (r).
Phone energy.
Yvonne Reeves Chong, Vice-Chair of the Missouri Democratic Party.
Quentin Wilson (D).
After the breakfast many attendees and politicians make their way to the main fair grounds.
Midway entrance.
Quentin Wilson (D).
Rene Vance (D), candidate in the 52nd Legislative District.
“Has anyone seen Eric Schmitt (r) anywhere?” “Look for the microphones.”
“Barrel Bob”
Missouri Democratic Party tent:
Previously:
Rabbits! (August 20, 2026)
Horses! (August 20, 2026)
Pie and pickles! (August 20, 2026)
Pie and pickles!
20 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Today in the Home Economics Building at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia:
Pie judging in a youth class with awards presented by Tess Bauer, the 2026 Missouri State Fair Queen.
Cucumber Pickles, Sweet:
Horses!
20 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Today at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.
Clydesdale:
Rabbits!
20 Thursday Aug 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Today at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.
Judging rabbits:
“Hands”
Grooming:
