Tag Archives: rural

Why we can’t have nice things – part the infinity

30 Sunday Aug 2026

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Political sign, yard sign, and banner theft.

RSMo §115.637. Class four election offenses. — The following offenses, and any others specifically so described by law, shall be class four election offenses and are deemed misdemeanors not connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage. Conviction for any of these offenses shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than one year or by a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or by both such imprisonment and fine:

[….]

(19) Stealing or willfully defacing, mutilating, or destroying any campaign yard sign on private property, except that this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any private property owner to take any action with regard to campaign yard signs on the owner’s property and this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any candidate, or the candidate’s designee, to remove the candidate’s campaign yard sign from the owner’s private property after the election day.

[….]

Banners and signs at a Democratic Party event at a generational rural farmstead in Leeton, Missouri:

Overnight:

Johnson County Missouri Democrats
·
So much for political discourse.

If anyone sees this banner, missing two of its corners, there is a [$]200 reward offered by Raymond James for information leading to an arrest of the person or persons who stole it and two other banners.

The banners cut from the metal fence sometime between 1030 pm on the 29 Aug and this morning at 8 am.

Also stolen Respect Mo Voters banner and a Missouri Democrats banner.

Stealing political signs / banners is a felony not a prank.

Stealing any political yard sign is a felony under Missouri state law.

See a sign on someone’s property leave it alone.

You want to disagree? That’s fine. But don’t go stealing stuff that’s not yours. Do better.

The total value of the signs/banners which were stolen was reportedly over $750.00. That’s a Felony in Missouri.

How do we stop this? Start catching and convicting the perpetrator(s).

What you can do:

Write in permanent ink/marker on every yard sign/sign/banner you place in your yard “Stolen from [your address]”. If the sign is recovered or the perpetrator is caught with the sign that is proof that it is your sign.

In a world of relatively inexpensive tracking tags and private surveillance cameras some moron is going to get caught. It’s just a matter of time.

Update

More images:

And, from the Johnson County, Missouri Election Authority:

Diane Norcross Thompson, Johnson County Clerk
[August 30, 2026]
·
As we head into campaign season for the November 3rd General Election, this is a friendly reminder that, pursuant to 115.637 RSMo, stealing or willfully defacing, mutilating, or destroying any campaign yard sign on private property is a Class Four misdemeanor punishable by up to $2,500.
Let’s all keep our hands to ourselves and let others express their political views as they see fit. A better use of your time is to make your voice heard at the ballot box! 🗳️

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) – Leeton, Missouri – August 29, 2026

30 Sunday Aug 2026

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Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D).

Johnson County Democrats hosted one of their regular “Blue Dogs on the Farm” events on a multi-generation farmstead in Leeton early yesterday evening. Approximately 100 Democrats from the local area, Johnson County, and surrounding counties were in attendance. It was sunny and hot, with a temperature in the high 90s.

Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) attended, spoke, and conversed with attendees – and posed for selfies and photos.

Representative Cleaver addressed the upcoming midterm election, accountability, the corruption and grift in the Trump Administration, on access to health care, on infrastructure, on the economy, on working for the needs of people in the district, and much more. The response from the crowd was determined and enthusiastic.

“When our country is at its darkest, Democrats must be at their best.”

Roberta “RB” Burford, Chair of the Johnson County Democratic Central Committee.

“Resist”

Representative Emanuel Cleaver and Leeton resident Raymond James.

The infrastructure bill that Congressman Cleaver voted for during the Biden Administration paid to repave 2 and 13 Highways in Johnson County and replace the bridge on 2 Hwy near Leeton.

Our Rural Electric CoOps in Johnson County brought affordable high speed internet to farms, thanks to that vote.

Did the Republican Congressman Mark Alford from the 4th District vote to repave our roads, build new bridges or bring us highspeed internet? No he did not.

He did vote for the Big Beautiful Bill under the current Trump Administration, as did every other Republican in congress, that defunds our rural hospitals and gives even bigger tax cuts to billionaires.

Senator Roy Blunt was the only Republican member of congress from Missouri to vote along with Congressman Cleaver on the infrastructure bill that President Biden signed.

My oldest is able to use the high speed internet to work from our farm enabling her to move back home.

I will gladly vote for Congressman Cleaver, a congressman who did more for me than the Republican who was my actual representative at the time.

Raymond James, MSG US Army Retired and
Rural Johnson County Voter

Newly paved MO Highway 13, heading south toward Highway 2 and Leeton.

Previously:

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) – Governor’s Ham Breakfast – Missouri State Fair – Sedalia – August 20, 2026 (August 22, 2026)

Missouri – COVID-19 – Hotspots – April 23, 2020

23 Thursday Apr 2020

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Missouri map excerpt: Johns Hopkins

As of this morning (reported via Johns-Hopkins) two rural counties in Missouri are hotspots (and growing) for confirmed COVID-19 cases. Local news sources report a higher number of confirmed cases.

Moniteau, County:

Confirmed cases: 59
365.98 cases per 100,000 population

Moniteau County statistics, chart: Johns Hopkins

Saline County:

Confirmed cases: 96
419.31 cases per 100,000 population

Saline County statistics, chart: Johns Hopkins

There is a lag time in reporting to centralized sources from various local sources due to different deadlines. The numbers continue to change. They continue to go up.

Also reported via Johns Hopkins, for Missouri:

Cases in Missouri: 6,277
Total Deaths: 238
Fatality rate: 3.79%
Patients tested in Missouri: 58,156

10.79% of COVID-19 tests in Missouri have a positive result.

Stay Home. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Good luck to us all.
#FlattenTheCurve

Revisiting Last Tuesday: Obama and the Rural Vote

12 Tuesday Feb 2008

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In his Saturday column, KC Star‘s Steve Kraske uncritically passes along this bit of speculation:

Connor states, point-blank, that the Missouri primary results suggest that Obama, who wound up carrying the state by 10,000 votes, will have trouble here in November if he’s the Democratic nominee. If he can’t win rural Missouri, Connor said, he can’t carry the state – period – come November.

“If Missouri is always right, then that means he doesn’t win the presidency,” Connor said.

Let’s be honest: Wheat’s loss was attributable, in part, to race. And Obama performed more poorly in some rural counties against Clinton than Wheat did against Ashcroft 14 years ago (OK, Clinton’s voters were voting Democratic).

So Obama appears to have had a slight edge over Clinton when it comes to one-on-one matchups with McCain. And maybe he can boost African-American turnout enough to patch over his deficit in the country.

Connor and Kraske are committing the cardinal sin of directly extrapolating general election predictions out of primary election results. They want to tell a story that Obama is the next Alan Wheat, based on no evidence other than the color of his skin and his performance outside of the big cities in the primary. But if you’re going to draw conclusions from the primary vote, you’re going to end up with a different story.

The story Kraske should be telling is how the Democrats managed to turn out more primary voters than Republicans, even when you leave out Kansas City, St. Louis City, and Boone, Jackson, and St. Louis Counties. Obama may have lost outstate to Clinton, but he outdrew Huckabee, McCain and Romney. By Kraske’s logic, the GOP should be just as worried about their presumptive nominee’s poor perfomance outside of St. Louis and KC.