A few hours ago The Missouri Times posted an article about how the NRA is working the upcoming “veto” session in the Missouri legislature:

The National Rifle Association will make the override of Senate Bill 656 their top priority in the country this week as the omnibus gun bill continues to gain momentum as the most high-profile legislation at stake on Wednesday.

The pro-gun group will launch a once-in-a-decade lobbying effort to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that has drawn fervent support and opposition from all corners of the country.

As part of their efforts, the NRA has flown in several staffers to help lobby lawmakers, launched television ads, and sent mailers to key targeted districts. Whit O’Daniel, who lobbies on behalf of the NRA, said he’s been texting the entire Republican caucus to inform them that the NRA ranks SB 656 as the biggest priority in the country. It’s also their biggest priority in Missouri since 2003.

Imagine that! The NRA thinks that giving any and all Missourians unregulated rights to buy, own, sell guns and shoot their neighbors at will (as in stand-your-ground) is one of the biggest priorities in the nation. It’ll be good for NRA sponsors I suppose, as in the get-rich-quick kind of good.

Just to provide a little counterpoint,  I also want to share  this tidbit  from an article posted on the Turner Report:

A former Tarkio R-1 High School student who brought a loaded semi-automatic pistol to school, causing the school to be locked down, pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally possessing a machine gun that was found at his residence.

[…]

According to court documents, Knoth – who came to school on Feb. 11, 2016, wearing military-style clothing, boots and ballistic body armor – displayed a fully loaded magazine to another student that day. That student alerted a teacher, and the school contacted the Tarkio, Mo., Police Department. School officials then discovered a loaded Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol in Knoth’s backpack, along with four loaded 9mm pistol magazines, three loaded .223- or .556-caliber magazines, a spring-assisted knife, a seatbelt cutter and a window punch.

Knoth was arrested and handcuffed. The school was placed on lockdown.

Investigators searched Knoth’s vehicle, which was parked in the school parking lot. They found two loaded 9mm magazines and 15 loaded .223/.556-caliber magazines.

Investigators also searched Knoth’s residence. During a search of the southwest bedroom, investigators found a loaded machine gun in the closet – an AR-style .223/.556 pistol, containing no visible serial numbers or manufacturer stamp. They found a second machine gun, an UZI-style 9mm firearm (unknown manufacture), in the dresser. Investigators also found numerous rounds of ammunition and numerous loaded .223/.556 and 9mm magazines throughout the residence.

So are unstable young men with a fetish for guns and violence among the persons whose priorities the NRA is spending so much money to supprt? You  better bet they and their ilk will be among the beneficiaries.Of course, if the NRA gets its best-of-all-world druthers, teachers and administrators, along with each kid in Knoth’s school would all be sporting “good guy” guns in order to ward off attack. Possible outcomes? Draw  your own conclusions.

This morning in west central Missouri:

Sunrise.

What else could you surmise about their opinion of us? – from the latest mailing they sent to voters attacking Jason Kander (D) in the U.S. Senate race:

The “B” side of an Americans for Prosperity funded mail piece attacking Jason Kander (D).

Ah, the e-vile Obamacare is the subject of the first chevron. From Politifact:

….Just 7 percent of all plans in the federal exchange had a proposed rate hike of 30 percent or higher, estimates Agile Health Insurance, which bills itself as “an affordable alternative to Obamacare.” That translates to average increases at far lower levels than what Trump said.

Looking at finalized rates for the lowest and second-lowest cost marketplace plans in the silver category — which are the basis for federal premium subsidies and chosen by 68 percent of enrollees — the average increase is nowhere near 35 to 55 percent.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that the cost of a benchmark silver plan will be 4.4 percent more expensive on average across major cities in 13 states and Washington, D.C. (Again, that is a smaller annual increase than what had been occurring before Obamacare became law.)

According to Kaiser, enrollees in Minneapolis will see the biggest premium increase at 28.7 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, plans will actually decrease by 10.4 percent in Seattle….

“…Again, that is a smaller annual increase than what had been occurring before Obamacare became law…”

Fancy that.

Rex Sinquefield’s Show Me Institute [pdf] is cited as the source of the middle chevron:

….The jewel in [Rex Sinquefield’s] privatization crown is the Missouri-based Show-Me Institute, a right-wing “think tank” that pushes education overhaul (and other policies), and receives just shy of $1 million every year from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Rex Sinquefield is the Institute’s President….

….SMI is also funded by some big out-of-state interests. The Koch-tied Donors Capital Fund has given over $567,941 to SMI between 2005 and 2011. Right-wing funds like the Roe Foundation, the JM Foundation and the Castle Rock Foundation have also given to the group directly. It has also received funding from Apex Oil Company….

Because Kansas is doing so very well.

As for the third chevron: if the right wingnut controlled Missouri General Assembly would have approved Medicaid expansion (thus providing access to affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of poor Missourians) the tax dollars we have already paid would have stayed in Missouri for that purpose instead of going to other states to help provide access to affordable health care to their poor citizens. That’s called cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The “A” side of an Americans for Prosperity funded mail piece attacking Jason Kander (D).

Again, the “paid for” disclaimer is for Americans for Prosperity. The return address is for Americans for Prosperity – Missouri.

And who pays for Americans for Prosperity?:

Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity is a right-wing political advocacy group founded by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, the owners of Koch Industries.[1]

AFP serves as the Kochs’ “grassroots” operation, also known as astroturf. AFP spends millions on TV ads in election cycles. In the 2012 election cycle, it was a key component of the Kochs’ $400 million political network, receiving large portions of its money from Koch-linked dark money groups like Freedom Partners, American Encore, and Donors Trust. AFP’s budget, which comes from the Koch family foundations and other unknown sources, surged from $7 million in 2007 to $40 million in 2010 to $115 million in 2012. [2] According to the Center for Public Integrity, Americans for Prosperity “spent a staggering $122 million (in 2012) as it unsuccessfully attempted to defeat President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats,” including $83 million on “communications, ads, and media.”[3]

AFP’s messages are in sync with those of other groups funded by the Kochs and the Kochs’ other special interest groups that work against progressive or Democratic initiatives and protections for workers and the environment. Accordingly, AFP opposes labor unions, health care reform, stimulus spending, and any effort to combat climate change including President Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan….

Alrighty then.

So, in the teeny, tiny footnotes there’s a reference to Jason Kander’s (D) votes against HCR 46 in 2010. A summary:

HCR 46 Funderburk, Doug
Urges the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind its formal endangerment finding on greenhouse gases and urges our congressional delegation to vote against H.R. 2454 known as “Cap and Trade” (LR# 4779L.02I)

Okay, so Jason Kander (D) voted against a symbolic right wingnut anti-environment resolution. What sane person wouldn’t?

And, also in those teeny, tiny footnotes is another reference to Jason Kander’s (D) vote against another symbolic right wingnut anti-Affordable Care Act resolution:

HCR 18 Diehl, John
Urges the Missouri Congressional delegation to vote against H.R. 3200, the federal health care reform legislation (LR# 4336L.03I)

Obviously before they started calling it Obamacare. How quaint. So, what? There have been, what, over sixty failed repeal votes in Congress?

That’s all they’ve got? The do have a lot of money to send mailings filled with scare quotes and dark and fuzzy photos.

Previously:

We get astroturf mail (September 7, 2016)

The Daily Kos‘ election roundup reports that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is finally showing a little love to Missouri Democrats by means of a a $1.5 million TV ad buy to help Jason Kander defeat Roy Blunt:

It’s a little more surprising to see Democrats advertising in Missouri, a conservative state that Donald Trump is likely to carry in November. However, polls have consistently shown Republican Sen. Roy Blunt with a 3 to 7-point lead over Kander, and the DSCC has evidently decided that Blunt is worth spending money against. One Nation has also run ads here and the SLF reserved $2.5 million in fall TV time to support Blunt back in June; the NRA also recently started running ads against Kander. This is also the first time a major Democratic group has run commercials here.

While the DSCC’s move is welcome, […] Kander […] will need a lot more outside help ….

The move is surprising if only because Democrats seem to have written Missouri off. There is, for instance,  one Missouri Clinton campaign office, located in St. Louis. Compare that to 24 campaign offices in Iowa. And, given that campaigns have to choose how to allocate dollars, maybe they’re right to slight us. If you look at battle ground states polling averages on RealClear Politics – a more conservative-leaning polling site – you’ll find that Trump is currently ahead in only four states, and in most cases, the lead is less than 2 points – in two states it is less than one point. Toss-ups in other words.  But the battleground state where Trump  has had and consistently holds a larger lead is Missouri where his average lead is greater than that of than Georgia or Arizona, two red states that are increasingly viewed as potentially shiftable. If Clinton has any coattails at all in Missouri, they’re god-awful short. And, although there has been fewer polls measuring the senate race in Missouri than elsewhere, the margin between Blunt and Kander is larger than in several other senate races with GOP incumbents – it’s not a “margin or error” type of situation.

It strikes me, however, that the crux of the ad buy is that, as the Dailykos writer notes, “the DSCC has evidently decided that Blunt is worth spending money against.”  Even apart from any potential vulnerability, it might be worthwhile to take aim at Blunt. He’s a long-time political operative who stepped into Senate leadership in his first term, a natural role for the guy who was Tom Delay’s right hand man in the House. As the mention of Delay implies, Blunt is a “good earner” for the GOP and he almost always toes the party line, but in a way that minimizes controversy. It would be a “real get” to push him out of electoral Washington politics by means of a sincere, idealistic, young Democrat like Kander – although we should not expect Blunt to migrate any further than K-street, which might be his more natural nesting place to start with.

The Daily Kos writer is also right to note that Kander will need lots more help. Waves of Rove and Koch money will soon start rolling over us and the DSCC doesn’t seem likely to give Kander enough to keep him from being  submerged.

On Saturday statewide candidates were traveling, dropping in, and speaking at events across the state. Judy Baker, the Democtaic Party nominee for State Treasurer, made one such stop on Saturday evening at a picnic sponsored by Cass County Democrats in Belton, Missouri.

Judy Baker, the Democratic Party nominee for State Treasurer, speaking to Cass County Democrats in Belton, Missouri – September 10, 2016.

Judy Baker (D): ….I’m Judy Baker and I’m running for Treasurer of the State of Missouri. A lot of you don’t know me ‘cause I see new faces and I met some new people.

And the most important thing for you to do is remember my name when you’re talking with your neighbors and when you go into the voting booth. So I’m gonna make you say my name. What is my name? [voices: “Judy Baker.”] I’m gonna make you say it at the end, too, so don’t forget it.

I want to tell you little bit about my race, about me. Uh, but mostly I want to talk with you about we’re gonna do this together. Uh, I am the sixth race down [on the ballot] and the most important thing for us to do is, of course, other people go into the booth, right, and they vote for president and they vote for governor and vote for their United States senator and they get all the way down to Gordon [Christensen] [laughter] and then they start dropping off. Our most important thing to do if we want to sweep this state blue, and I do mean sweep it, all, all of the statewide races we’re gonna have to get people down the ticket and care about the person in number six. That’s me. All the way down the ticket.

So that’s what I’m asking you to do, is to talk about folks all the way down the ticket. Okay, not just me, but all of us, all the way down the ticket. And we’ll do our job to help you be proud of who you’re talking about.

So I talked with you back in June or so, when we were at that dinner, about the State of Missouri and the poverty that we have and we have children who are food insecure and we have people who can’t save for their future and what we’re going to do about it. And we talked, remember we talked about, is that the Missouri we want? And you said, no. And that we’re going to build the Missouri that we want together. And I’m continuing that quest.

I’m working under a banner of build access, build lives. I love audience participation, so I’m gonna say build access. You say build lives. Build access [voices: “Build lives.”]. What do I mean by that? I men, a lot of what labor has done for us, what unions and collective bargaining has done for us, is to give us weekends, and to give us paid time off, and to give us health care, to give us retirements, and to give us a collective voice.

Building assets in one’s life is having those things. And how do you save for a future if, if you don’t have health care? How do you save for college if you don’t have a good education? I mean these are the things that are fundamental to us building assets in our lives. As State Treasurer I’m gonna make my whole tenure there about economic opportunity for all and how we help Missourians build assets. Build assets, build lives. That’s what we’re going to do.

Now, my opponent is so very different in this regard. My opponent is talking about Trump, it’s almost like he’s adopted Trump tactics. Do we love Donald Trump? [voices: “No.”] He has Trump tactics. And he’s already started attacking me which probably means that I’m closer than I think to him [laughter]. He probably has internal polling that shows that he’s got to start attacking me so early. Which makes me feel good. [laughter] Sort of.

He has started talking in the same vein as Trump. He’s trying to scare people. He’s trying to make them anxious, he’s trying to make them feel like, you know, Democrats don’t have anything going on. I’m here to tell you today that we in this country, in this state, do not need fear. We need courage. They are breeding fear and anxiety. It’s just making us weak. If they think they’re making us stronger by making us afraid they are dead wrong. We need courage and optimism in this state and that’s I’m spreading everywhere I go.

As state treasurer I want to do children’s savings accounts so children learn to save early and they get financial literacy [inaudible] for K-12 so they can build a future and start talking to their parent’s about it. What I’m I gonna be when I grow up? I’ve heard a, a joke just recently that a person, when asked, you know, uh, some, some folks at an elementary school, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they said, you know, a teacher, a nurse, a doctor, and a firefighter, and a police officer, and, you know, kind of all the, the usual and they got to one little kid that was very, very, uh, nicely dressed . What do you want to be when you grow up? He says, a lobbyist. [laughter] That’s what my opponent wishes everyone would grow up to be because he has taken so much money from so many people [inaudible] favors. We’re gonna make sure that the people who vote, are voting know what he does. Hoe he votes for lobbyists and doesn’t take care of people.

That’s what I’m gonna do and you know that. You know my heart and you know that my heart is as a public servant. And I will continue that as state treasurer.

Uh, so I’m gonna ask you to help. This really important that we get out and do what we need to do. I’m gonna tell you a short story. There was a man that was, uh, talking to his, his grandchildren and he was talking about his farther. And he said, my father used to go in town, um, and sell vegetables. That’s what his mother and dad made money on. We would go with them, we would go in town and sell vegetables and they, they got their chickens from a man named Freddie. And one day Freddie left the chickens while they were in town selling vegetables and all the chickens got away. And he says, aw, when I see Freddie I’m gonna make sure I give him a piece of my mind. He shouldn’t have left the chickens out on the doorstep. I had to send the kids all over the countryside to pick them up. And indeed when he did see Freddie again he says, why the heck did you do that? I had to send the kids out, they gathered up all the chickens, and they could only, they spent all afternoon, they could only find eleven. And Freddie said, well that’s actually pretty good. I only left six. [laughter]

So, that is to say there’s a lot more people who think like we do about these issues out there. We just gotta get them to the polls. We gotta go out, we gotta find them. If we don’t know what our limits are we can do better than we’ve ever done before. I’m asking you to do that [in audible] down that ticket also for the whole slate. All the way to Judy Baker for treasurer. What’s my name? [voices: “Judy Baker.”] Thank you all so very much [applause]….

Mow it, then plant it.