• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Tag Archives: Secretary of State

Don’t you have something better to do?

08 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Disney, Jay Ashcroft, LGBTQ, missouri, pandering, right wingnut, Secretary of State, social media, Twitter

There are always problems with legacy admissions.

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2017 file photo].

Today:

Jay Ashcroft @JayAshcroftMO
It’s time to stand up to Disney, which promised to make over half of its characters part of the LGBTQ community. They should stick to cartoons and leave these discussions on life to the parents.
10:14 AM · Apr 8, 2022

Some of the responses:

It certainly is curious with all the 100% heterosexual characters Disney has had for years how children grew up to love people of their same gender.

I wonder why that happened.

Your thoughts on this would be important to know.

Fair point. Then they should leave hetero characters out of the cartoons also. You know, so that we can leave these discussion on life to the parents. Even the homosexual parents.

You dad is scared of statue titties bro

The value of institutional memory.

You should feel shame for promoting homophobia. It’s not going to gain you votes, it’s gonna cost you the respect of a lot of people though.

Get back to supporting individual liberties and just let people be.

I watched Winnie the Pooh and now I am a pantsless honey addict! Save our children from the same fate Jay!
[….]

Sweet mercy you’re a pale shade of your father Jay.

Where is that documented Jay? And what do you have against Gay people? Why are you so against anyone who does not identify as heterosexual? Explain why your are Homophobic?

Why can’t gay folks be represented at Disney? There are gay people in the GOP. You worked with one. Don’t want to talk about it, eh?

The cartoons where a protagonists parents are routinely killed. Gotcha. Much better than whatever is hurting your feelings. Another great take from the family who covered a statues breast.

Dad?

Every accusation by Republicans is an admission

Aren’t parents the ones that decide if their kid watches Disney?? They already have control of the matter.

It ain’t free.

I had no idea your father fed you lead paint.

Hope you enjoy your trip to Dollywood! Spend all you can there, okay?

Jay – We know you’re not the sharpest pencil in the box, but do try to both keep up and get it right.

amen it’s a total LGBTQ+ conspiracy that’s why they call it disney PLUS

Why are you so threatened by this?

Are you going to be okay or should we call your mommy?

Wtf does this have to do with your official responsibilities as SoS?

It’s a small mind after all.

We see what you did there.

Campaign Finance: A very happy camper

01 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, Committee for Liberty, Jay Ashcroft, missouri, PAC, right wingnut, Secretary of State

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2019 file photo].

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Perryville Investments PO Box 555 Perryville MO 63775 3/31/2022 $10,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Mark Lanier 13706 Falba Houston TX 77070 Lanier Law Firm Attorney 3/31/2022 $100,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Ketchmark & McCreight, P.C. 11161 Overbrook Road Suite 210 Leawood KS 66211 3/30/2022 $250,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty James Hagale 9503 Pasatiempo Drive Nixa MO 65714 Retired Retired 3/31/2022 $15,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Phil Wieneke PO Box 2903 Springfield MO 65801 Aaron Properties, Inc. Property Manager 3/31/2022 $10,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Thomas Fowler 4031 e. Eaglescliff Drive Springfield MO 65809 State Bank of Southwest Missouri President 3/31/2022 $20,000.00

C190931 04/01/2022 Committee for Liberty Beverly Randles 5823 N Cypress Avenue Kansas City MO 64119 Randles & Splittgerber Attorney 3/31/2022 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Unlimited money. Go figure.

Previously:

Bev Randles (r) – Lieutenant Governor – July 2016 campaign finance report (July 20, 2016)

Campaign Finance: It ain’t free (March 30, 2022)

Campaign Finance: It ain’t free

30 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

campaign finance, Committee for Liberty, Jay Ashcroft, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, PAC, right wingnut, Secretary of State

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C190931 03/29/2022 Committee for Liberty Holland Law Firm LLC 211 N. Broadway Suite 2625 Saint Louis MO 63102 3/29/2022 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s a chunk of change.

In January:

C190931 01/26/2022 Committee for Liberty Janet Ashcroft 5491 W Farm Road 54 Willard MO 65781 Retired Retired 1/25/2022 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

Aw, Ma, you shouldn’t have.

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2021 file photo]

Demonstrating to everyone, once again, that he really is that stupid

29 Saturday Jan 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Corona virus, COVID-19, dumbass, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Jay Ashcroft, missouri, pandemic, public schools, right wingnut, Secretary of State, social media, Twitter

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2021 file photo]

This morning:

Jay Ashcroft @JayAshcroftMO
62 school districts in Missouri are closed, leaving thousands of parents without the choice for what is best for their child. That is unacceptable. Keep schools open and the right to decide what is best for the family for the parents.
10:31 AM · Jan 29, 2022

The stupid, it burns.

“…That is unacceptable…”

If you buy his crap you’re as stupid as he is.

Some of the responses:

And keep local control so school boards and local leaders can decide what’s best for THEIR communities without fear of being sued by the state and wasting taxpayers’ money! Deal?

Not gonna happen.

Perhaps protocols that would prevent sickness that forces teachers and students to stay home from school would be sensible. Can you think of any?

Uh, like wearing masks, promoting vaccines, contact tracing, quarantine?

There is not enough staff to keep them open. Kids are sick. This has nothing to do with parents rights. So tired of the gaslighting. The virus did not go away just because Parsons said he was done with it.

Why are the schools closed, Jay?

Why are 62 school districts closed?

Take a wild guess.

My goodness, you might mention they’re closed because teachers and staff are ill. This has nothing to do with ‘parents not having the choice’, it has to do with a pandemic. This is the most idiotic tweet I’ve seen in months and you’ve had a lot of competition.

Jay Ashcroft really is that stupid.

Math is hard

11 Thursday Nov 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

congressional reapportionment, Jay Ashcroft, math, missouri, Monarchist kakistocracy, Redistricting, right wingnut, Secretary of State

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2021 file photo]

State of Missouri – General Election, November 03, 2020
Official Results
As announced by the Board of State Canvassers on December 08, 2020

Secretary of State 3692 of 3692 Precincts Reported

John R. (Jay) Ashcroft Republican 1,798,505 60.505%
Yinka Faleti Democratic 1,081,113 36.371%
Carl Herman Freese Libertarian 55,583 1.870%
Paul Lehmann Green 24,131 0.812%
Paul Venable Constitution 13,151 0.442%
[….]

[emphasis added]

Secretary of State endorses 7-1 congressional redistricting map
An extra Republican in Congress would represent Missouri better, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said.
by Ryan Pivoney Nov. 10 2021

[….]”The biggest question there is whether Missouri will stay a 6-2 state, with six Republican districts and two Democrat districts, or whether they will go 7-1,” Ashcroft said.

He said the state’s political leaning has been changing during the past couple decades, which could provide reason to change the current districts for more Republican representation.

He said he’s expecting a robust discussion on congressional redistricting, particularly in terms of how Missouri voters line up with current representatives.

“Just looking at my own position, I won statewide by 25 percentage points, which makes me say that it seems to me Missouri is a pretty Republican state,” Ashcroft said. “So in that regard, if we were 7-1, I think that would probably do a better job of actually representing who the people of Missouri are in Washington, D.C.”[….]

Democratic.

Jay Ashcroft (r), right wingnut, math:

60.505% is equal to or greater than 87.5%

36.371% is less than 25.0% and equal to 12.5%

This also explains how the U.S. Senate filibuster “works”.

“…they mostly come at night…mostly.”

02 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jay Ashcroft, missouri, right wingnut, Secretary of State, social media, Twitter, voter suppression

Jay Ashcroft (r) [2017 file photo].

Yesterday:

Jay Ashcroft @JayAshcroftMO
Great to be in Saline County tonight with so many friends for their Lincoln Day dinner. I was pleased to discuss election integrity and the work we are doing to ensure we NEVER have the problems Pennsylvania or Georgia had last year.
[….]
9:10 PM · Apr 1, 2021

Wait, what?

The responses:

What were the problems in Georgia? Too many Black people voting? Because there was no voter fraud.
[….]

Silly me, I thought that the SCOTUS decisions trumps that of a Missouri Attorney General’s opinion.
[….]

“Election Integrity” is the new “Jim Crow”. I look forward to explaining in detail the fall of the GOP to my grandchildren when they learn about this in history class someday.

Is “problems” a euphemism for minorities voting?

Problems? This seems incriminating

What problems? Good grief, a smart guy like you can’t find any REAL problems to work on? For shame. Senate Bill 1 will take care of stopping the flow of dark $$ & ensuring election security & voter rights. Unless you’re working to KEEP as much dark $$ as possible in the picture?

Love to hear more specifics on those “problems,” big dog.

Which problems, specifically?

You mean Democrats winning?

What problems? There were no problems.

“Election integrity ” = too many black people voted.

There were no problems in GA and PA and you know it. Isn’t bearing false witness during Holy Week kind of a big deal?

This is a lie. There were no problems in Pennsylvania or Georgia. They like liars in Missouri?

You mean the GQP getting beat? That problem?

What problems?

You’re a disingenuous ass.

The only “problems” Pennsylvania and Georgia had were a bunch of fascist-worshipping asshats that couldn’t accept the fact they lost.

Republicans should be embarrassed. Cowards.

There you go. A night to remember.

Previously:

That’s okay, there’s a duplicate tracking microchip in your smart phone (April 1, 2021)

Secretary of State: Yinka Faleti (D) ad

17 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ad, missouri, Secretary of State, Yinka Faleti

Yinka Faleti (D), the Democratic Party nominee for Secretary of State, has started running ads in the Kansas City media market:

I swore an oath to defend our constitution. West Point. Two tours in Kuwait. After 9/11, a Battle Captain in Operation Enduring Freedom.

My name is Yinka Faleti and now I’m asking to defend our constitution again, as your Secretary of State.

See, Jay Ashcroft’s making it harder to vote, even during this pandemic. Opposing same-day registration, early voting, even mail-in voting.

Our democracy is only as strong as our right to vote. We have to defend it.

Exactly.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (r): Rule of Law, meh…

22 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jay Ashcroft, missouri, Secretary of State, voter ID, voter suppression

“…I don’t care what the Supreme Court says…”

Voter suppression.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (r) [2019 file photo].

Last night, in Springfield.

With promise to revive voter ID, Ashcroft announces 2020 re-election bid
[….]

Ashcroft’s vow comes a month after the Missouri Supreme Court struck down the law, which required people with non-photo IDs such election cards or bank statements to swear they were who they said they were before voting.

The court said the scheme was “misleading,” “contradictory” and unconstitutional.

But Ashcroft hasn’t given up.

[….]

“I don’t care what the Supreme Court says,” he said. “You all should make the decision, the people of the state.”

It’s not clear it will work. High court judges considered an idea similar to what the bill proposes and called it “nonsensical” last month.

[….]

Such respect for the rule of law. It runs in the family.

Previously:

Finally, documentation of voter impersonation fraud in Missouri. Zero. (August 12, 2012)

Secretary of State Jason Kander (D): with Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC on voter ID (February 9, 2014)

Jay Ashcroft’s (r) voter photo ID tour – Warrensburg – June 16, 2017 (June 16, 2017)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (r): showing us who he really is

14 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

corruption, Donald Trump, gaslighting, Hypocrisy, impeachment, Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State

“…Every day, too, I engage with foreign leaders who sit across the table from me, or sit in a room, and I try to understand what it is they want…”

Yes, he said that, apparently unaware of the irony.

“…And I’m especially telling the truth about the dire condition of religious freedom around the world. America has a proud history of religious freedom, and we want jealously to guard it here…”

Trump Muslim ban protest at Kansas City International Airport – January 29, 2017

Gaslighting
…A more psychological definition of gaslighting is “an increasing frequency of systematically withholding factual information from, and/or providing false information to, the victim – having the gradual effect of making them anxious, confused, and less able to trust their own memory and perception…

“…My team and I at the State Department are out there every day, using our diplomacy to fix the very conditions that allowed these evils to fester…”

He’s not aware of the Kurds, is he?

“…And that brings me to a second idea of the Christian leader: dialogue. How we speak, our speech, our dealings with others.

For a moment, back to the Book of James: ‘Everyone should be quick to listen, and slow to speak’…”

There’s a Twitter account I could show you.

A few lines from a spiritual:

“…Oh won’t you sit down?
Lord, I can’t sit down.

‘Cause I just got to heaven, gotta look around.

[…]

Who’s that yonder, dressed in black?
Must be the hypocrites a-turnin’ back…”

Being a Christian Leader
Speech
Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
American Association of Christian Counselors
Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee
October 11, 2019

SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, everyone. (Cheers.) Good morning. Good morning, thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Dr. Clinton, for that kind introduction. It’s great to be with you and your wife, Julie. It’s a real privilege to be with you, and it’s a heck of a deal to be out of Washington today. (Laughter.) I was going to give you some wisdom, said maybe you’ll hold your conference there next year, but I thought about it and that’d be a bad idea. (Laughter.) But Washington could use your spirit and your love.

And I want, too, to take just a moment to pass along – I spoke to the President yesterday, and I told him I was coming down here. He reminded me that Tennessee won the country. (Laughter.) I told him I knew that. But he said to send his regards and his love and his appreciation for what you do taking care of people all around the world.

I did want to talk to you about why I’m here. I’m the Secretary of State. I spend most of my time traveling around the world, but I wanted to come here because I have a profound appreciation for your mission. And when I had a chance to talk to Tim about the opportunity to come speak with you, I was thrilled to get the chance.
Look, we share some things in common. We talk to people through hard times. We find ourselves in the middle of disputes and we seek to mediate them and try and identify their root causes. We try to keep conflict minimized, at bay. And when you think about those missions, the missions that you all have, it sounds a lot like the diplomacy that me at the State Department and my team engage in every day.

We’re both in very people-intensive lines of work, and we’re both appealing to the hearts and minds to change behaviors. As believers, we draw on the wisdom of God to help us get it right, to be a force for good in the life of human beings.

Now, I know that even having just said that, I know some people in the media will break out the pitchforks when they hear that I ask God for direction in my work. (Applause.) But you should know, as much as I’d like to claim originality, it is not a new idea. (Laughter.) I love this quote from President Lincoln. He said that he – he said, quote, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” (Laughter.)

And so with that in mind, I want to use my time today to think about what it means to be a Christian leader, a Christian leader in three areas:

First is disposition. How is it that one carries oneself in the world? The second is dialogue, talking. How is it that we engage with others around the world? And third is decisions, decisions that we make. How do we make choices? Upon what basis? What do we use as our bedrock to get to those decisions? These are things that you face in your work every day. They are issues that the State Department and President Trump, each of us, must face.

And my focus too, to be quite candid, is not just on being a leader. I learned how to lead at whatever level I’m blessed with during my time at West Point and other experiences, but I want to talk today about being a Christian leader. I learned that through a very different experience, an experience with God and my own personal faith in Christ.

Like a lot of people – and you don’t have to admit it today – but like a lot of people, I grew up going to church but with a relationship with God that wasn’t especially important for me, because I was destined to be in the NBA. (Laughter.) But as I grew older, when I started my time at the United States Military Academy, there were two young men – they were in the class ahead of me – who invited me to a Bible study. They were very intentional to me in explaining God’s Word. And after some study and discipleship with them, they helped me begin my walk with Christ.

And since then I’ve been privileged to have many different leadership roles. I was a captain in the United States Army in a cavalry unit. I was – I ran two small companies in my home state of Kansas. I served as a member of Congress trying to do my level best to represent the people of south-central Kansas. And then I served as CIA Director, and now I have the incredible privilege to serve President Trump as his 70th Secretary of State. I’m mindful he’s the 45th president, so there’s a lot more turnover in my job than in his. (Laughter.)

But back – Susan and I have been – had Christ at the center of our lives. Back in my church in Wichita I was a deacon. She and I taught fifth grade Sunday School, which was a great, great lesson for my time as Secretary of State. (Laughter and Applause.) But we also saw in that, in our time serving in that, we saw how many challenging issues that you all address every single day.

I’ve had the privilege to do it all alongside Susan, my wonderful Christian wife, and my son, Nick, who keeps me humble. Yeah, he reminded me. So I’m going to get off an airplane the other day at 3 o’clock in the morning, I forget where I was, and he texted me. It was a different time here on the East Coast. And he texted and said, “Dad, you almost fell down.” And he was not worried about me; he was worried about America. (Laughter.) He did not want me to embarrass America. (Laughter.) There is absolutely no shortage of leadership wisdom gathered from raising a teenage boy, I can certainly tell you that. (Laughter.)

And so my prayer today is that whatever understanding I’ve gained in these various opportunities that I’ve had, these blessings I’ve had to lead – some of which I’ve learned the hard way, for sure – I hope that I can share some of these with you today and it will bless you in your work as well.

We all know this: Before you can help others, you need to have the right approach to yourself. This is where I get to the first point I wanted to talk about, which is disposition. How – what’s the attitude with which we approach each of these challenges, all the things that we see in the world? How you carry yourself is the first arena of Christian leadership.

Scripture calls us to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” And so I keep a Bible open on my desk, and I try every morning to try and get in a little bit of time with the Book. I need my mind renewed with truth each day. And part of that truth is, as my son reminds me, is to be humble. Proverbs says, “With the humble is wisdom.”

Every day, as Secretary of State, I get a real chance to be humble, because I get to see the great work that my team is doing. I, like many of you, am also confronted with highly complex problem sets, and I need wisdom to try and make the right calls. I need to admit what I don’t know and try to learn it, to ask the questions that others might find obvious and be unembarrassed, and to accept conclusions when the facts are presented that might go against whatever preconceived notion that I might have had.

Indeed, this disposition is my duty; it’s my duty to the American people to pursue the outcomes based on an honest analysis of the facts as they present themselves. We know this, too – we see this in our lives: Pride can get in the way of that. But wisdom comes from a humble disposition.

And one more point on disposition: forgiveness. I love the story of the prodigal son in the Scripture: the son comes homes with his tail between his legs, he knows he’s messed up, and yet his father runs – runs – to welcome him back home.

The people who work for me know this, too: I have high standards for excellence. I hold them accountable and give them authority. I hold myself to that high set of standards because there is so much riding on what we do to keep the American people safe that we can’t accept anything less.

But when there is failure, when the people close to me misfire, I don’t strip away their responsibilities. I don’t cut them out of meetings. I keep them in the fold. I keep giving them important work. That’s what Christ does for us; we have an obligation to do the same.

We should all remember – we should all remember that we are imperfect servants serving a perfect God who constantly forgives us each and every day. He keeps using us – (applause) – he keeps using us to do a higher work. And my work at the State Department, as it is for those who work alongside of me, is to serve America each and every day.

And that brings me to a second idea of the Christian leader: dialogue. How we speak, our speech, our dealings with others.

For a moment, back to the Book of James: “Everyone should be quick to listen, and slow to speak.”

That’s a lesson I learned in the Army from a guy named SFC Pretre, and I was reminded of it in an interview this morning. (Laughter.) I’ll do better. (Laughter.) I was a brand new Second Lieutenant. I’d just arrived in Germany and I’d had my four years at West Point, and I was set to conquer the world. I went out to the field in a little tiny town in the far – then far-eastern stretches of West Germany, and there he was, a grizzled old soldier named Sergeant Pretre. And I walked up, he saluted me because I was the officer and he was the noncommissioned officer, and I greeted him, and he said, “Young man, you’ll do really well if you just shut up for a while.” (Laughter.) He actually had an adjective in there that I shall not use in polite company. (Laughter.)

I listened to him then, and I continued to listen. Every day, too, I engage with foreign leaders who sit across the table from me, or sit in a room, and I try to understand what it is they want. What are their objectives for their people? How can the United States deliver to help them in a way that treats America, the people that I am responsible for keeping safe – puts America first and delivers on behalf of the American people?

It reminds me, when I’m with them, that sound relationships absolutely depend on open ears. Good listening means more than just hearing; it means not rushing to judgment before you hear every side of a particular fact set. This comes through so clearly in Proverbs, which say, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

There’s a lot of times members of my team will come into my office and they respectfully disagree. They’ll have ideas that are different from mine or, in fact, often different from each other. I need to make sure that I listen, that I scrutinize each position before I say one is right or wrong, or that the truth is somewhere in between.

I’m sure you all see that. I’m sure you all see that in your research, in your studies, in the counseling that you do when you counsel people wrestling over a disagreement, whether that’s in their marriage or in a church matter or with their family. Let’s make sure we understand the facts. When we have that, we can begin to move forward and heal and solve problems.

After I’ve collected data, I feel like I have the seasoning to then be able to begin to speak fundamental basic, simple, small “t” truths. Colossians talks about this. It says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer to each person.” I know this is a critical part of what so many of you do, whether it’s pointing those you counsel back to the truth of the Scripture, or giving them a hard wake-up call over their trespasses.

I’ve found this in life – truth telling isn’t just a matter of private conversations for me. It’s what I try to do publicly as we lay down President Trump’s foreign policy to keep Americans safe and secure.

This administration has spoken to the truth in many ways that previous administrations haven’t done. (Applause.) For example, on China’s rule-breaking and authoritarianism; for example, on why the Islamic Republic of Iran is an aggressor, not a victim; for why, in fact, we know in our hearts that America is a force for good in the world. (Applause.)

And I’m especially telling the truth about the dire condition of religious freedom around the world. America has a proud history of religious freedom, and we want jealously to guard it here. But around the world, more than 80% of mankind lives in areas where religious freedom is suppressed or denied in its entirety.

The Chinese Communist Party – as we sit here today in the beautiful facility in Nashville, the Chinese Communist Party is detaining and abusing more than one million Uighur Muslims in internment camps in the Xinjiang. It’s the western region of China. The pages of George Orwell’s 1984 are coming to life there. I wish the NBA would acknowledge that. (Applause.)

So Christian pastors today are being unlawfully arrested, beaten, detained inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. We need to speak about this.

Christian areas in northern Iraq that I’ve had the privilege to visit have been ravaged by ISIS, part of a greater trend of Christian persecution all across the Middle East.

And so the truth – for the past two years we’ve spoken the truth. We’ve hosted ministerials. We bring leaders from all around the world called the Ministerial on Religious Freedom at the State Department. We’ve told the world about these shortfalls and the success of nations when individuals are given their basic human dignity to practice their conscience, their faith, or to choose no faith if they so choose all around the world.

We hosted the largest human rights conference ever at the United States Department of State just this past summer. It was truly remarkable. Faith leaders from all across the globe came together at our beautiful facility in the western party of Washington, D.C. to talk about the importance of religious freedom.

Just this week, the United States made a decision. We put visa restrictions on those responsible for the some of the human rights violations that took place in China and that continue to take place today.

And we’ve stopped American companies from exporting certain products to Chinese tech companies that are enabling these very human rights abuses. We did these things under President Trump’s direction for the simple reason that we know Americans do not want their companies building the machinery of a totalitarian surveillance state.

There’s so much more work to do. I would ask you today to pray for my work in defending religious freedom. (Applause.)

This is – look, I’ll be straight up with you – I’m from Kansas – but this is not a popular conversation to raise in Washington, D.C. sometimes, and sometimes not with other leaders around the world as well. But the world needs to hear this truth. And with you all, or with you having your voices being raised for this purpose, I am confident that we can improve human dignity for individuals all across the world. (Applause.)

Now for my final thought on Christian leadership. I want to talk about how it is we make decisions, individual decisions in our personal lives, in our family lives, and other decisions as well.

Let’s start with some of the toughest decisions of all: those involving money. I know you all see this as Christian counselors. I’m willing to bet my organization’s budget is a little bigger than yours. Although this is a big group. (Laughter.) But no matter whether it’s your family’s finances or you’re responsible for protecting taxpayer funds and being a good steward, as I am today, the Bible calls us to be faithful in our stewardship of whatever it is that we have been privileged to hold onto, no matter how much or how little. We have to be faithful in every single circumstance.

Think of that famous parable of the talents. The servant called “good and faithful” used what he had wisely.

Last year – and I confront this with some frequency – last year, I had a group of folks in my office who came and said, “Mike, we have this project we want to work on. It’s going to spend tens of millions of dollars. Here’s how we’re going to deliver that. Here’s the end state that we’re seeking.” And just like you do in your life every day and each as you do in your – the faith part of your life as well, I asked a handful of simple questions about whether this would be a responsible use of the American people’s money? Are we going to create value for the American people?

In this particular case, I recall it was a close call. It was a difficult decision. I ultimately decided that spending these resources was appropriate and that we’d put in place a set of metrics that would ensure that we delivered a good outcome for the American people. I’m sure you – there are many pastors out here – you make decisions, too, about how to spend the money you’re your flock has so generously contributed to the Lord. And I know you’ll do the best for your congregation and for your church as well. And you’ll do that remembering this important Christian leadership principle, this call for stewardship.

Because we are mindful that decisions are a question of priorities, often. I just talked about one decision we made at the State Department. It meant that those resources couldn’t be spent elsewhere. We were setting a priority. And I am grateful that my call as a Christian to protect human dignity overlaps with America’s centuries-old commitment to the same mission in our foreign policy all across the world.

My day is often scheduled into 15-minute increments. Every now and again I get a half hour, and every now and again I get to hear some of the beautiful worship music that I was able to sit with you for. I need to be intentional – we each need to be intentional – about carving out time to pursue the mission of defending human dignity.

I’m proud to say that President Trump has let our State Department do that. Indeed, he has demanded that we do.

International organizations will try, from time to time, to sneak language into their documents claiming that abortion is a human right. And we’ll never accept that. (Applause and cheers.) We’ve worked diligently to find every dollar that might be going to that and we have worked tirelessly and successfully now to bring it nearly to an end.

We also face situations around the world of human trafficking. We’re exposing them. We’re fighting them. (Applause and cheers.)

Earlier this year, our Diplomatic Security Service came across a young woman and pulled her out of a human trafficking situation not too far from here in Dallas, Texas. This young woman was separated from her mother and she had been shipped off to the United States from Guinea when she was just a small child.

She had been toiling for 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without pay: cooking and cleaning and caring for five children of a wealthy Texas family. She wasn’t permitted to attend school. She didn’t receive medical care. She wasn’t allowed to play with the other children in the neighborhood.

This young woman endured sheer misery for 16 years until, with the help of concerned neighbors, she escaped.

The blessing in this story is that her case came to the attention of the United States Department of State. We became the lead investigator in the case, and one of our agents tracked down this young woman’s mother, who had been desperate to see her again. (Applause.) We were able to fly her to Texas to testify at trial. She was there to vouch for the girl’s identity, to say, “This is my daughter.”

Ultimately, the perpetrators were put in prison for a good long time. And the girl is, today, working towards her GED and receiving counseling and living a wonderful life. (Applause.)

These violations of the most fundamental freedoms, human dignity that I spoke about today – religious persecution, human trafficking, political repression – they leave deep scars.

And I am sure that some of you – and especially our friends who have traveled here from overseas today – I’m sure you counsel folks who are healing from those kinds of traumas.

My team and I at the State Department are out there every day, using our diplomacy to fix the very conditions that allowed these evils to fester.

Others will confront these evils closer to home, where the emotional aftermath is no less terrible: vicious abuse, or the opioid epidemic, just to name a couple.

But no matter what comes before you, I pray you’ll help hurting people stay immersed in God’s Word. By remaining humble. By showing forgiveness. By listening intently and carefully and thoughtfully. By not rushing to judgment in complicated matters. By being a faithful steward. By using your time with intentionally.

And I pray you’ll do these things not out of your own strength, but by relying on, as Paul says, “Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we are able to ask or to imagine.”

You will all be in my prayers as you do God’s work, and I covet yours as I lead American diplomacy.

Thank you for joining me here today. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. Thank you, all. (Applause and cheers.)

“…Earlier this year, our Diplomatic Security Service came across a young woman and pulled her out of a human trafficking situation not too far from here in Dallas, Texas. This young woman was separated from her mother and she had been shipped off to the United States from Guinea when she was just a small child…”

But, the United States separating children from their asylum seeking parents, then placing them in cages, is okay?

“…I’ve found this in life – truth telling isn’t just a matter of private conversations for me. It’s what I try to do publicly as we lay down President Trump’s foreign policy to keep Americans safe and secure…”

Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi. Say his name.

“…Who’s that yonder, dressed in black?
Must be the hypocrites a-turnin’ back…”

At the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia – August 15, 2019

15 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

governor, Governor's Ham Breakfast, Jay Ashcroft, Mike Parson, missouri, Nicole Galloway, Secretary of State, Sedalia, State Auditor, State Fair

The early morning Governor’s Ham Breakfast in the second week of the State Fair in Sedalia is the largest annual one day gathering of ostrich skin boots, tailored jeans, and silver decorated leather belts in the State of Missouri.

We’re talking menswear.

It’s an opportunity for us to photograph and (rarely, if ever) talk to a number of Missouri politicians, all in one place at the same time.

This year a number of office holders either skipped the event or managed to avoid the entrance gauntlet. Others made their way through it.

Governor Mike Parson (r).

Right wingnut swag.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (r).

A journalist:

Eli Yokley – Morning Consult.

On a break of sorts, though he hasn’t stopped tweeting. We knew Eli way back when…

State Auditor and recently announced gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway (D):

State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D).

After covering the breakfast under the tent for 1000 people we ventured on to the State Fair grounds.

An encounter on the main drag:

A blue ribbon in the Home Economics Building:

Getting ready to judge pies:

Judging rabbits in the Poultry/Rabbit Building. Poultry during the first week of the fair, rabbits during the second week:

Various political parties have tents on the main drag promoting their candidates and ideology.

The folks at the Democratic Party tent have noted a consistent number of people this year passing by calling out and yelling “Socialists!” (among other things) at them. Yeah, sure, everyone’s a rabid capitalist until their party leader imposes tariffs to engage in a trade war and then has Congress bail out agricultural interests. We didn’t ask the occupants of the Republican tent if people were consistently yelling “Fascists!” at them. We probably should have.

← Older posts

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Congress
  • Democratic Party News
  • Eric Schmitt
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Jason Smith
  • Josh Hawley
  • Mark Alford
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 740,848 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...