Via Twitter:

Kansas Independents ‏@KS_Independents

Does HB 2155 make it so that I can offer Missouri Brownback and Kobach in exchange for Nixon and Kander? #ksleg #legalizedfantasysports 11:03 AM – 13 Jun 2015

A response:

Jason Kander @JasonKander

Sorry, I’d invoke my contract’s no trade clause. [….] 7:54 PM – 13 Jun 2015

As if Rex Sinquefield is finished with Missouri?

Previously:

Inviting the leader of a sovereign state to speak in your capital city to tweak your elected leader (March 4, 2015)

If you radically defund state universities how can you expect them to field a basketball team? (March 22, 2015)

A sign for the times (April 3, 2015)

This is the matter with Kansas (June 7, 2015)

Kansas: Now what? (June 8, 2015)

A couple of days ago Digby drew my attention to Paul Krugman’s definition of the term “derp”:

Derp” is a term borrowed from the cartoon “South Park” that has achieved wide currency among people I talk to, because it’s useful shorthand for an all-too-obvious feature of the modern intellectual landscape: people who keep saying the same thing no matter how much evidence accumulates that it’s completely wrong.

Based on that definition, many of you may notice that there’s lots of examples of derpiness around SMP in the past few days as well. I allude to all the posts about the doings of Kansas Governor Brownback and the economic disaster that he has created in Kansas with his tax-cuts for the wealthy friends of the GOP (see here, here, and here). Nevertheless, in spite of the emergency created by epic budget shortfalls and ranking 44th in job creation this year, there are those who persist in their embrace of derp, claiming that the “Kansas experiment” has been at least a moderate success, or, given time, will succeed colossally.

Notable among Kansas-disaster deniers is billionaire Rex Sinquefield who set out to buy himself enough compliant politicians to take Missouri down the same road. Sinquefield wants the Kansas experiment to be successful so badly that he doesn’t scruple to re-engineer the facts as he did in a recent Forbes Magazine article. Of course maybe that’s an example of plain garden-variety dishonesty rather than derp.

Sinquefield’s dollars though have had their effect on many of the Republican members of the Missouri legislature who passed their own gift to the very well-heeled, S.B. 509, last year. The standard rationale for ignoring what similar cuts did to Kansas: it’ll take more time for the positive effects of the Kansas tax-cuts to be felt. In other words, unless you belong to the  intrinsically deserving 1%, you should suffer now since we’ve heard that there’ll be pie in the sky someday. Maybe. This is classical derp, folks.

The same kind of derpiness makes Scott Walker a viable Republican presidential candidate. Walker cut taxes for Wisconsin corporations and the wealthy by almost $2 billion dollars over his tenure, and, in spite of trying to pay for the cuts on the backs of the poor and middle class via massive cuts in education, other public spending, and tax “reforms” that cost the poor and seniors, he is facing a  $283 million budgetary shortfall this year alone. He also failed to create more than half the jobs he promised would follow his tax-cuts.

How can we still regard the Republican economic philosophy as financially fiscally responsible when it leads a governor to put his state into debt default as Walker has done? What responsible, clear-thinking individual could even entertain the thought that after destroying the prosperity and endangering the public well-being of Wisconsin, Walker should be entrusted with the keys to the White House? But hey, he’s still singing the same tune and he won re-election. Derp at its best.

Examples of red-state tax-cutting failure abound. Most recently, we’ve read about how Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindall and his Louisiana legislative cohorts are begging Grover Norquist, instigator of the GOP endorsed anti-tax pledge, to let them off the hook so that they can salvage the Louisiana economy from the effects of their tax-cuts.

Want another example? Here in Missouri we’ve recently been learning about how the municipal courts have been used to generate revenue for small jurisdictions that would be unable to pay the bills otherwise. But what about a whole state that works on a similar principle? I’m talking about Albama here:

AL.com points out some of the examples of costs that are now paid for by court fees, not tax revenue: “In Chambers County, drug offenders pay into the fire and rescue fund. In Madison County, since 2000 fees for serving court papers have paid for county employees to get a raise. In Lawrence County, court costs help fund the county historical commission, so ostensibly future generations can learn about a time when Alabama adequately funded its court system.”

The State of Alabama has become so dependent on money extracted from increased court fees that, in 2014, Cleburne County officials were apoplectic when they realized that construction on nearby I-20 had cut traffic tickets in half.

[…]

The result? Working class people are paying for the cost of giving tax cuts to the wealthier residents of these states.

That last sentence? It’s true about Kansas, Wisconsin, Missouri, and red states everywhere. What allows this situation not only to persist but to become even more prevalent? Which is to say, how does the wrecking crew get re-elected? Easy-peasy. Misinformation: think Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, spin and outright lies from elected officials. Deflection: steer the conversation to abortion, guns and gays (did it ever occur to you that Obama took so much heat for a similar observation because it hit too close to home?). Fear: ISIS is coming, or Sharia law, or the U.N jack-booted troops. And last, but not least: derp: if you don’t wanna believe the facts, don’t; if they’re inconvenient, disregard them.

Well, Governor Sam Brownback (r) is one of the principle parties to blame for the budgetary mess in Kansas.

This morning, via Twitter:

Jim Ward ‏@RepJimWard

Today’s rumor-Republicans to cut & run. Adjourn session leaving Governor to make huge cuts to education. #ksleg 8:33 AM – 9 Jun 2015

Ah yes, the republican party is supposed to be the one of “personal responsibility”. Got it.

Previously:

Inviting the leader of a sovereign state to speak in your capital city to tweak your elected leader (March 4, 2015)

If you radically defund state universities how can you expect them to field a basketball team? (March 22, 2015)

A sign for the times (April 3, 2015)

This is the matter with Kansas (June 7, 2015)

Kansas: Now what? (June 8, 2015)

Yesterday the right wingnut controlled Kansas Senate voted to increase regressive taxes. The Kansas House will take a look at it.

On Twitter:

Moderate Party of KS ‏@ModerateKS

The ends dont justify the means. The “cons” lied to get elected then passed tax hikes on to working poor #ksleg  10:34 PM – 7 Jun 2015

Yael T. Abouhalkah ‏@YaelTAbouhalkah

Johnson Countians: Your senators just passed largest tax increase ever in KS. (But you can afford it, right?) #ksleg  9:25 PM – 7 Jun 2015

KS Senate Democrats ‏@kssenatedems

The largest tax increase in the history of our state passed earlier this evening. Not a single Democrat voted in favor of it. #ksleg 9:05 PM – 7 Jun 2015

As if any voters will remember that at the next election.

Previously:

Inviting the leader of a sovereign state to speak in your capital city to tweak your elected leader (March 4, 2015)

If you radically defund state universities how can you expect them to field a basketball team? (March 22, 2015)

A sign for the times (April 3, 2015)

This is the matter with Kansas (June 7, 2015)

Blind ideology. No demonstrable understanding of objective reality. Meanness.

Senate punts tax debate; House goes home til Monday

Legislature, Brownback struggle to fill $400 million budget deficit

Posted: June 6, 2015 – 11:22pm

The Kansas Senate and House participated in separate versions of legislative paralysis Saturday night while trying to wiggle state government out from under the burden of a $400 million budget deficit.

Inertia was so troublesome that House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey R-Louisburg, adjourned the House until Monday.

The Senate was still scheduled to convene Sunday, but the chamber’s agenda was unclear….

[….]

And the rest of civilization understands why:

Justin Henning ‏@jjhenning

I see #ksleg antics made Doonesbury this morning. 7:25 AM – 7 Jun 2015

Governor Sam Brownback (r) [January 2015 file photo].

Yesterday via twitter:

Kent Bush ‏@Kentbush

Who would have ever thought that a bunch of ideologues would have so much trouble governing through a crisis of their own making? #ksleg 11:15 PM – 6 Jun 2015

Five minus two equals seven. There are people who believe that works in Missouri, too.

Previously:

Inviting the leader of a sovereign state to speak in your capital city to tweak your elected leader (March 4, 2015)

If you radically defund state universities how can you expect them to field a basketball team? (March 22, 2015)

A sign for the times (April 3, 2015)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Four freedoms speech”, Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union, January 6, 1941 [pdf]:

….For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are: Equality of opportunity for youth and for others. Jobs for those who can work. Security for those who need it. The ending of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.

A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my Budget Message I shall recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program; and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause….

Meanwhile, Kansas:

Tim W. Jones ‏@SpeakerTimJones

There’s the KC Red Star…then there’s facts: Gov. Sam Brownback: Tax policy growing Kansas [….] #moleg #ksleg @KCStar 4:02 PM – 1 May 2015

A reply:

Sean Nicholson ‏@ssnich

@SpeakerTimJones Help me understand how kansas is awesome 4:45 PM – 1 May 2015

An answer to the question:

Tim W. Jones ‏@SpeakerTimJones

@ssnich I measure success by how limited gov’t is, how much freedom people have & how low taxes are. Kansas rules. #ksleg 4:57 PM – 1 May 2015

Kansas ain’t all that.

Heh. The “Red” Star:

Jason Hancock ‏@J_Hancock

In the derogatory newspaper nickname contest, “Kansas City Red Star” will never be as funny as “St. Louis Post-Disgrace.” Sad but true. 5:02 PM – 1 May 2015

State Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-19) wants to be Missouri’s next Attorney General. He wants it a lot since he announced his plans to run in 2016 over a year ago. Consequently he’s been very busy  getting his name out before the public. But not just any public. His constituency of choice seems to be the reddest dregs of this increasingly red state. It’s  hard to think of just about any rightwing bandwagon he hasn’t tried to ride since declaring his candidacy, no matter how rickety:

Tax Cuts for Rich Folks: Evidence suggests that Schaefer supports the Kansas tax “experiment” and would be willing to beggar Missouri’s middle and working class in order to give big tax cuts to rich folks and their businesses. When state GOPers recently fêted Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, Schaefer, who is currently the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, opined that the governor had “some really compelling numbers.” This is in spite of what Politico has dubbed the “Brownback effect,” observing that “Republicans once idolized Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as a tax cutting superstar – now he’s a lesson in what not to do.” Evidently Schaeffer didn’t get the message. Or else he actually takes seriously dishonest statistics of the sort that billionaire Rex Sinquefield published in Forbes Magazine in order to make the Kansas experiment look like it is succeeding, or at least not as disastrous as it is proving to be.

Social Spending Cuts: Schaeffer, like so many GOPers before him, seems to think it’s okay to fund tax cuts – favored by rich political donors like Rex Sinquefield – by cutting the ground out from under those who lack the wherewithal and the influence to fund his climb to the top of the Missouri political heap. He’s proposed cutting $130 million from the already meager amount allocated by the House to social services, health and mental health services. He says that the agencies are wasteful and that cuts are necessary to slow their growth.

It is true that Missouri’s social services are currently not functioning too well. Ill-considered cuts and the resulting “reforms” over the past few years have taken a steep toll, a situation that many take as evidence that they need more rather than less money. According to figures supplied by state budget officials, Schaefer’s claims of waste perhaps reflect his ideological biases rather than a close analysis of the real-life situation. As for out-of-control growth? Wouldn’t you expect that as Missouri continues its GOP-led transformation into a poverty stricken backwater, one might expect demand for services to increase – a demand, that folks like Schaefer are determined not to meet.

Guns “R”Us: Schaefer was one of the motivating forces behind Missouri’s Amendment 5, a constitutional amendment voted in by the gun-mad hordes who dominate mid-term elections in Missouri. This amendment, under the rubric of an “inalienable” right to own guns, was so badly written that it has made it impossible to bar convicted felons from gun ownership. As the St Louis Post-Dispatch described it, Schaefer’s decision “to start acting like a pandering fool” has had a scary, but entirely predictable – and predicted – result:

… .In a state in which there are more gun deaths than traffic deaths, in which toddlers are grabbing mommy and daddy’s guns and firing away, in which cities are being told by a Legislature there is nothing they can do about gun violence, now convicted felons can own guns and there is nothing the police can do about it.

Again, let me reiterate. This guy’s a lawyer – and he even wants to be the state’s main lawyer. If his legal acumen was insufficient to locate the problems in what was essentially his baby, a lot of other folks pointed them out before it was too late to fix them. Now Schaefer’s twisting and turning, trying to find a way to prove that “Amendment 5 doesn’t mean what it says.” Sadly, the courts don’t agree.

So stop and think. Either Schaefer is, as the Post-Dispatch implies, a spineless panderer, or he’s out-and-out stupid. He’s either taken in by or cynically peddling obviously failing, ideologically driven voodoo economic theories, GOP welfare queen vilification, and the Guns equal God ideology of hardcore gun crazies. Either way what rational, unbiased person could trust him to act in the best interests of the people of Missouri – either in the State Senate where he now works his backwards magic, or as Attorney General? Is the distinction even meaningful? If the sum of a politician’s major legislative efforts are stupid and harmful then it’s doesn’t make much difference if the motivation is incompetence or venality. For all practical purposes that individual is a fool.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (r) [January 2015 file photo].

Wichita State and University of Kansas fans attending the NCAA basketball tournament game between the two schools appear to understand that.

Via Twitter:

Yael T. Abouhalkah ‏@YaelTAbouhalkah

Gov. Sam Brownback just got booed on national TV. Pretty savvy political fans in that basketball arena. 6:24 PM – 22 Mar 2015

Kansan Sports ‏@KansanSports

Sam Brownback was just shown on the video board in Omaha and was met with a less-than positive response. 6:24 PM – 22 Mar 2015

KCTV5 – Kansas City ‏@KCTV5

Governor Brownback just got booed when they showed him. #KUvsWSU 6:24 PM – 22 Mar 2015

Jonathan Shorman ‏@jshormanCJ

That crowd reaction was definitely audible on TV 6:25 PM – 22 Mar 2015

Sean Nicholson ‏@ssnich

#schadenfreude 6:29 PM – 22 Mar 2015

Okay, I’m not too certain that last one wasn’t about the outcome of the basketball game rather than Governor Brownback (r) getting booed by the crowd.

Heh.

Dave Zirin ‏@EdgeofSports

Could get ugly! “@sluggahjells: Sam Brownback getting booed I think by the mostly people from the state of Kansas crowd.” 6:30 PM – 22 Mar 2015