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Category Archives: Uncategorized

The usual suspects

31 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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bigots, book banning, Daniel Boone Regional Library, Denny Hoskins, LGBTQIA+, missouri, pearl clutching, Rick Brattin, right wingnuts, story time

“…Rick Brattin (r) and Denny Hoskins (r) are the pre-eminent legal scholars and final arbiters of the law in the State of Missouri, said no one ever…”

Rick Brattin (r) [2013 file photo].

Denny Hoskins (r) [2017 file photo].

Pearl clutchers gotta clutch pearls.

What Missouri officials didn’t explain about an LGBTQ+ library story time
Jason Hancock
July 30, 2026 5:45 am

Denny Hoskins wants to cut a library’s funding over two books he has not read.

He Googled them, saw excerpts and looked at some pictures. For Missouri’s secretary of state, that was enough.

The books are “Rainbowsaurus,” the tale of a family searching for a rainbow dinosaur, and “Big Wig,” about a child who wins a costume contest in drag. Staff at a Columbia library read them aloud to toddlers and preschoolers during a “rainbow story time” attended by families who chose to be there.

The additional cost to Daniel Boone Regional Library for the event was $26 — $18 for a prop wig and $8 for contact paper. Everything else came from resources the public already owns.

When Hoskins learned of the event, he warned the library that if the “inappropriate endeavor” went forward, he would use his authority over the Missouri State Library to block every dollar of state and federal funding he could from future events.

The library read the books anyway.

And thus, a press conference was quickly convened.

Hoskins stood beside Rick Brattin, a state senator running for Congress, with a warning letter from Attorney General Catherine Hanaway providing the legal backdrop. Together, they brought the machinery of state government to bear on a Saturday morning story time for preschoolers.

[….]

“…Denny Hoskins wants to cut a library’s funding over two books he has not read…”

Next step, book burning for fun and profit.

Previously:

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 3 (May 9, 2023)

Some (former) constituents are more equal than others (June 4, 2023)

Campaign Finance: Two PACs, passing in the night….

28 Tuesday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Amendment 4, ballot initiatives, campaign finance, General Assembly, HJR 3, Mike Kehoe, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Missourians for Fair Governance

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

121477 07/28/2026 Missourians for Fair Taxation Missourians for Fair Governance 100 E High St Floor 1 Jefferson City MO 65101 7/27/2026 $162,035.00

C232522 07/28/2026 Missourians for Fair Governance Missourians for Fair Taxation 100 E High St Floor 1 Jefferson City MO 65101 7/27/2026 $518,705.00

[emphasis added]

In what order? Just asking.

Campaign Finance: defunding public education

28 Tuesday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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American Federation for Children, campaign finance, defunding public education, federal, House Republican Campaign Committee, HRCC, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Public Education, right wingnuts

Vouchers.

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091068 07/27/2026 House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc American Federation for Children 5950 Berkshire Ln Dallas TX 75225 7/27/2026 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

From Dallas, Texas to Jefferson City, Missouri. A cheap buy.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: dismantle the public good, privatize everything (July 28, 2018)

Campaign Finance: Public education, eh? (September 15, 2019)

Campaign Finance: oxymoron (July 14, 2020)

Campaign Finance: of, by, and for the children (July 24, 2020)

Campaign Finance: in a name, sort of (October 6, 2020)

Campaign Finance: Who profits? (July 12, 2022)

Campaign Finance: Why not just name it ‘The Committee to Defund Public Education in Missouri’? (July 11, 2024)

Campaign Finance: the money behind the “school choice” voucher scam designed to defund public education (July 30, 2024)

What a friend we have in Donald (r), and Betsy, and…June 10, 2026)

Joined at the hip (June 11, 2026)

Campaign Finance: from Alabama to Dittmer (July 18, 2026)

Big Boy, No. 4014

21 Tuesday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Big Boy, No. 4014, railroad, steam, train, Union Pacific

This afternoon in Warrensburg, Missouri:

Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014, Ridgeview crossing on the east side of Warrensburg, Missouri.

Pride Festival – Warrensburg, Missouri – July 11, 2026

12 Sunday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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BurgPride, LGBTQIA+, missouri, Pride, Warrensburg

For the sixth year.

The annual Pride Festival in Warrensburg was held yesterday in the Union Ballroom on the Campus of the University of Central Missouri.

Vendors started showing up at 10:00 a.m. for setup. The doors opened for the general public at noon.

There were vendors, various information booths, photo backdrops, a costume contest, food and refreshment, and a silent auction by Free Mom Hugs.

After the venue opened there was an all ages drag show:

Later in the afternoon several local political leaders and candidates spoke in support of the community. Representative Wick Thomas (D) addressed anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in the Missouri General Assembly and spoke on the value of this community’s celebration of pride.

Rep. Wick Thomas (D).

Unlike previous pride festivals the public pearl clutching by busybodies outside of the event was next to nonexistent. Desultory actually. One person.

Yeah, no.

There were allies there, just in case:

“Love is Love”
“I am so happy you are here!”

It was another good day.

Previously:

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 26, 2021 (June 26, 2021)

Local busybodies engage in pearl clutching (June 3, 2022)

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ.” (June 4, 2022)

Pride Festival – Warrensburg, Missouri – June 4, 2022 (June 4, 2022)

The pearl clutching right wingnut bigots among us (April 19, 2023)

Always the other (April 21, 2023)

Meta – The pearl clutching right wingnut bigots among us (April 22, 2023)

Unified Field Theory of Right Wingnut Pearl Clutching, Self-Righteousness, and Victimhood (April 22, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council – April 24, 2023 (April 25, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council – April 24, 2023 – part 2 (April 26, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 (May 9, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 2 (May 9, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 3 (May 9, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 4 (May 9, 2023)

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 5 (May 10, 2023)

Living in a self-imposed cultural vacuum (May 10, 2023)

A downward spiral…of pearl clutching (May 25, 2023)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 3, 2023 – Returning to Family Friendly Format (May 26, 2023)

Thoughts and… (May 27, 2023)

Everyone is here for the ratio (May 28, 2023)

All means all (May 29, 2023)

Warrenburg, Missouri Pride Festival – before the crowd – June 3, 2023 (June 3, 2023)

Warrensburg, Missouri Pride Festival – hand wringing, pearl clutching, and sign waving in the noonday sun – June 3, 2023 (June 3, 2023)

Warrensburg, Missouri Pride Festival – June 3, 2023 (June 3, 2023)

Warrensburg, Missouri Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 (May 19, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Starting at 11:00 a.m. (June 1, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Across the street (June 1, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – on being an Ally (June 1, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Same Planet, Different Worlds (June 2, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – useless platitudes pave the road to self-righteous certainty (June 2, 2024)

Breaking News: Pearl Clutchers Clutch Pearls (June 3, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Crystal Quade (D) (June 4, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Elad Gross (D) (June 5, 2024)

Warrensburg Pride Festival – June 1, 2024 – Richard Brown (D) (June 6, 2024)

Pride Festival – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 31, 2025 (May 31, 2025)

Pride Festival – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 31, 2025 – It was a good day (May 31, 2025)

‘Tis the season (primary)

11 Saturday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

54th Legislative District, Amendment 4, Amendment 5, August election, Primary, Taigan Plummer, yard signs

Yard signs.

“Vote No on Amendments 4 & 5”

Taigan Plummer (D), in the 54th District.

Looks like a good plan.

What’s next?

04 Saturday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

4th of July, Constitution

[White House photo]

Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8 – United States Constitution

….No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state….

The 4th of July, 2026

04 Saturday Jul 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

25th Amendment, 4th of July, Donald Trump, semiquincentennial

Aaron Rupar ‪@atrupar.com‬

Trump says he will send the communists into exile
[….]
10:53 PM · Jul 3, 2026

Neecy ‪@neecy.bsky.social‬
Perhaps he should spend the 4th reading the Constitution for the first time.
1:03 AM · Jul 4, 2026

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Joseph Alito (r) shits the bed, and then doesn’t leave

30 Tuesday Jun 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

14th Amendment, as useless as tits on a bull, Birthright citizenship, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Fascist pigs, Joseph Alito, Neil Gorsuch, right wingnuts, U.S. Supreme Court

This morning, DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. BARBARA, ET AL. (2026):

[….]

JUSTICE ALITO, dissenting.

This is one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court, and in my judgment, the Court has made a serious mistake. As interpreted by the Court today, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone who happens to be born in this country, including the children of “birth tourists,” women who come here solely for the purpose of giving birth to a child and then promptly return home. Careful analysis of the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and the process that led to its adoption shows that it does not degrade the concept of United States citizenship in this way. Instead, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country.

[….]

Clarence Thomas (r) vomits 91 pages:

[….]

JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE GORSUCH joins, dissenting.

This Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393 (1857), would have permanently denied citizenship to blacks as “a subordinate and inferior class.” Id., at 404–405. After the Civil War, the Reconstruction Congress overruled Dred Scott, first with the Civil Rights Act of 1866, then with the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Both the Civil Rights Act and the Citizenship Clause guaranteed citizenship to persons born and domiciled in the United States regardless of their race. Neither guaranteed citizenship to persons who were not domiciled in the United States.

[….]

Meanwhile, the Court has repurposed the Fourteenth Amendment to protect its own set of preferred rights that the Reconstruction Congress never contemplated and that cannot find support in its text. Today, the Court does so again by recognizing a constitutional right to citizenship for the children of all foreign birth tourists and illegal aliens.

[….]

“Birth tourists”? Is that like “Einstein Visas”? Just asking. Or maybe ask Melania?

“No Human Being is Illegal”

Just throwing shit against the wall:

[….]

JUSTICE KAVANAUGH, concurring in the judgment and dissenting in part.

Executive Order No. 14160 establishes new exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country. 90 Fed. Reg. 8449 (2025). The Court today holds that the Order violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. I respectfully
disagree with the Court’s constitutional holding. In my view, the Executive Order does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. But the Order does contravene a federal statute, 8 U. S. C. §1401(a). Congress could—consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country. But Congress has not yet done so.

[….]

Hey, Squee wants to know where the post-term party is!

The reviews are in:

jesse ‪@jesseltaylor.bsky.social‬

my god, birthright citizenship was 6-3, with alito, gorsuch, and thomas dissenting, and kavanaugh dissenting as to whether the 14th amendment provides birthright citizenship

the plain language of the 14th amendment survives by one vote

9:36 AM · Jun 30, 2026

Stephen Nuñez ‪@socio-steve.bsky.social‬

Resolved: “the Constitution includes the words that are unambiguously written in the 14th amendment, which is part of the Constitution”

5-4

9:43 AM · Jun 30, 2026

Mark Joseph Stern ‪@mjsdc.bsky.social‬

Donald Trump came one vote away from getting the Supreme Court to say that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented and temporary immigrants, a view held only by fringe far-right nativists until VERY recently. This is shocking. I am stunned.

9:43 AM · Jun 30, 2026

ElieNYC ‪@elienyc.bsky.social‬

With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn’t really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say “we won” and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.

9:43 AM · Jun 30, 2026

Moira Donegan ‪@moiradonegan.bsky.social‬

Among other things, a 5-4 ruling on birthright citizenship is an invitation to try again.

10:00 AM · Jun 30, 2026

Hey, Joseph Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh:

“Resolved: “the Constitution includes the words that are unambiguously written in the 14th amendment, which is part of the Constitution’

5-4”

Law
Editor’s note: NPR retracts Justice Samuel Alito story
June 30, 2026 10:51 AM ET
By NPR Staff

Editor’s note: Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.

So, it’s a wash.

Mullin v. Doe (25-1083) and Mullin v. Al Otro Lado (25-5)

26 Friday Jun 2026

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Fascist pigs, immigration, right wingnuts, Shakespeare, Trump sycophants, U.S. Supreme Court

The Stranger’s Case
[….]
Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an agèd man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.

[…]
Say now the king,
As he is clement if th’offender mourn,
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity.

– Sir Thomas More, attributed to Shakespeare

“No Human Being Is Illegal”

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