A lack of imagination…

26 Wednesday Aug 2026

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…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, 2026

ST. 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, 2026

Governor 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 cuts

The 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, 2024

The 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

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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

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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

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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)

Beer

17 Monday Aug 2026

Posted by in Eric Schmitt, social media, US Senate

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Senator Eric Schmitt
[August 13, 2026]

The best beer in the world is brewed at Anheuser-Busch in my hometown of St. Louis.
Drink American beer 🇺🇸🍻
[….]

Eric Schmitt (r) [2025 file photo].

Some of the responses:

Senator, you worrying about sports and beer, with everything else going on….is like Trump fretting over the ballroom and getting his name back on the Kennedy Center.
Maybe a little more attention to the economy and the Iran War, please.

Although modelo and corona are brewed by AB InBev, modelo and corona are actually brewed in Mexico Dipschmitt!
Keep up the good work!

You have driven me to drink more.

Real Men of Genius! Yes AB In Bev, is a multinational company based in Belgium!

So… North Korea, huh. Go figure.

This isn’t college anymore buddy…

But Kid Rock shot Bud Light for being transexual.

First sports now it’s beer and the hell with health care

Republicans are pro-North Korea now?
(North Korea has a decades-long history of military and technological cooperation with Iran, helping Tehran build the ballistic missile and rocket capabilities it uses to counter the United States and its regional allies.) Google
Are you ever going to do the right thing and stop this insanity?

Good to know. Not everyone drinks beer. Can you maybe work on healthcare? Affordable insurance and affordable medications?

Ghislaine Maxwell is being fed BETTER than our troops at sea! But sure, college sports, golf and beer. 🤡

There is excellent beer brewed in St. Louis. It shows who you care about that you highlight a macro brew, not a beer from one of the many excellent craft brewers.

Owned by Inbev… not American… since 2007.

The embarrassment of Saint Louis University continues…

Is this guy the best Missouri has to offer?

Joe Biden is not the president. Joe Biden hasn’t been the president in almost two years. I was not paying $9 a lb for hamburger meat and $4 a gallon for gas when Joe Biden was president. This is Trump’s America.

I’d ask you about the economy or the war but it looks like you’re busy with more important things

This is the important matter you are spending time on? All the major issues occurring that affect Missourian’s lives and you choose this?
First, if you REALLY cared about Missourians, you’d hype any one (or many) of the microbrews that are 100% owned and operated by Missouri small businesses and pay taxes and employ our own.
Second, this just shows how absolutely idiotic you are. InBev money eventually flows to ANOTHER COUNTRY. Not state. Country.

We’re lowering our food standards and look where it got us a whole bunch of recalled food making us sick. Dumb Fucks!

Budweiser is now owned by InBev-a Belgian firm. August Busch III sent ownership out of the U.S., as all good American plutocrats do.
Just not ringin’ the right bells for me, Schmitthead.

Are you serious? People can’t afford the basics and you are talking about beer? You are a terrible senator.

Amazing job, Trump voters. We now have the shitty economy and wars that you pretended Biden and Harris would give. You are all morons.
Pendejos.

Republicans let Trump start another war in the Middle East, put illegal tariffs on every country he can think of, and now Americans are out $219 BILLION.
While families can barely afford to put food on the table, he has enriched himself to the tune of $2.2 BILLION.

Another day, another embarrassingly tone deaf post from one of Missouri’s worst senators in history. Fucking resign already.

Josh Hawley (r) [2024 file photo].

Maybe a tie.

You just bounce from one inane subject to another. Do you have ADD? Also you flat out suck.

You never address anything that is important. You are a joke.

“Squirrel!”

Missouri’s 6th Congressional District – republican snowflake is afraid of a retired school teacher

17 Monday Aug 2026

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The results in the primary election:

State of Missouri – State of Missouri – Primary Election, August 04, 2026
Unofficial Results
as of 8/17/2026 6:01:05 PM

Office/Candidate Name Party Votes % of Votes

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 6 393 of 393 Precincts Reported

Jim Ingram Republican 8,820 9.014%
Chris Stigall Republican 43,158 44.106%
Nathan Hall Willett Republican 33,576 34.313%
Cody J. Oshel Republican 3,822 3.906%
Nathanael Schultz Republican 8,475 8.661%
Party Total: 97,851

Josh Smead Democratic 25,359 47.694%
Scot Pondelick Democratic 11,734 22.069%
Matt Levine Democratic 16,077 30.237%
Party Total: 53,170

Andy Maidment Libertarian 960 100.000%
Party Total: 960

Total Votes: 151,981

[emphasis added]

Today:

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social

I live in Missouri’s 6th Congressional district. Chris Stigall, the Republican who won the primary to be my next Congressman, has blocked me on social media.

If Chris is scared of a retired teacher asking him questions, I think he might be a little too weak for the position in the first place.

5:39 PM · Aug 17, 2026

Jess Piper (D) [2023 file photo].

Also, some of the responses:

Is it snowing at his house?

Insecurity is a bummer.

Sounds too emotional for the job.

We see what you did there.

Guys like that are definitely too weak to lead

His ads with all their name calling were absolutely disgusting.