Monthly Archives: January 2024

The Illiterate

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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has been getting a bad rap.

Comparatively speaking, at least.

She’s been slammed for her fumbled answer to a question about the causes of the Civil War, saying it “was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do.” Later, at another town hall meeting, she tried to do some damage control by saying  slavery was “a very talked about thing” as she grew up in the South. “I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we could learn going forward. I shouldn’t have done that.”

But Haley sounded like an honors graduate from Harvard, a Rhodes Schlolar,  and a Nobel Laureate in History compared to our former president’s comments about the Civil War while campaigning in Iowa:

The Civil War was so fascinating. So horrible, was so horrible but so fascinating. It was, I don’t know, it was just different.  I just find it—I’m so attracted to seeing it. So many mistakes were made.  See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that. All the people died, so many people died, you know.  That was a disaster. If you got hit by a bullet in the leg you were essentially going to die or lose the leg. That’s why you had so many people, no legs, no arms, if you got hit in the arm or the leg it meant that you were up because the infection, gangrene, it was just such a, you know, sort of a horrible time.  But that’s. I was thinking to myself because I was reading something and I said this is something that could have been negotiated, you know, and it was just for all those people to die and they died viciously. That was a vicious, vicious war, and in many ways—look they’re all this, there is nothing nice about it. But boy, was that a tough one for our country. But I think it’s, you know, Abraham Lincoln.  If you could have negotiated it, you probably wouldn’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was. He would have been president but he would have been president. He wouldn’t have been the, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln would have been different. But that would have been okay. It’s, it would have been a thing and that I know very well.  I know the whole process that they went through and they just couldn’t get along and that would have been something that could have been negotiated and they wouldn’t have had that problem. But it was, it was a hell of a time.  

“A tough one for our country…..a hell of a time.”

Good Lord!

I haven’t read anything so stunningly ignorant since I took an essay test in the seventh grade on a chapter in a social studies book I had neglected to read during the previous week.

Negotiate?  Forty years of negotiation after the Missouri Compromise (does he have any idea what that was?) didn’t prevent it. Yes, it was a tough one for our country.  But it ended slavery, which the blithering former president failed to mention, assuming he can perceive and recall any educated discussion of it.

He did mention Abraham Lincoln, although disparagingly, but what would your expect from him?.

Trump’s lack of interest in reading, even detailed security reports during his presidency, is beyond legendary. Every time we watch him deliver a cringe-producing message from a teleprompter we wonder if he can read.  He clearly hasn’t mastered an art first proclaimed by that great American philosopher, George Burns—“Sincerity, if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

He is known to read things about himself.  But to expect him to know anything about the Civil War, the writers of the Constitution, the meaning of the Declaration of Independence—–not a chance.  He wouldn’t know the significance of Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and imaginining him reading out loud anything from Shakespeare to song lyrics from Le Miz invokes near-terror.

That’s why we get gibberish on almost any subject—-and for some reason there are people who think his brand of universal illiteracy should be the template for the American mentality.

When the Civil War is boiled down to a discourse on missing arms and legs while he claims to “know the whole process that they went through,” there is no ignoring the fact that this “stable genius” is an intellectual empty vessel who enjoys his own internal cranial echoes.

Is our former president really the best the party of Lincoln, can negotiate?

SPORTS: Chiefs vs 49ers for it all, again; Mizzero for the season?; New Tiger D guy; Baseball and Speed Returning  (1/30/24)

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

We are two days away from February, a short month.  By the end of it, men will be playing baseball again, drivers of brightly-decorated automobiles will be going in circles really fast, and the frozen spirits of sports fans will have begun feeling the first tentative touches of warmth.

(CHIEFS)—A season-long work in progress is one game from being complete. The number 3 AFC Kansas City Chiefs will play the number 1 NFC San Francisco Giants after two weeks of hype in the Super Bowl, a game name coined by Chiefs and AFL founder Lamar Hunt.

Game management and big-time plays at critical moments were the keys for KC.  The Chiefs controlled the ball for 20:31 of the first 30 minutes, keeping the dynamic Ravens offense on the sidelines until the Chiefs had built a 17-7 halftine lead.  They had the ball for another 17:29 of the last 30 minutes, with the only second[half pointa coming on a Justin Tucker 43-yard field goal with 2:37 left.  Patrick mahomes hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling with  32-yard third down pass on a third-and nine challenge just before the two minute warning and that was the game.

Travis Kelce and Mahomes were perfect with 11 targets and 11 completions for 116 yards and the game’s first touchdown.  Kelce broke Jerry Rice’s record for most playoff receptions and tied Rice with 8 playoff games with 100 yards receiving.

What it all boils down to is that the Chiefs are in their fourth Super Bowl in five years, while the 49ers are back in the big time for the first time since losing 31-20 to Mahomes and Co. in Super Bowl 54 in 2020. The last time the two teams met was in October, 2020 when the Chiefs won by three touchdowns.

(miz)—Missouri basketball has crafted an 0-fer conference season and the story continues to shoe little variety—lead, contend, watch the other guys pull away at the end.  Maybe they are waiting to peak in the conference tournament.

The 72-64 loss to South Carolina left them 0-7 in the conference.

The Tigers tried the inside game this time instead of throwing up threes (they tried only 8 and made only 2).  Trying to pick up fouls inside didn’t produce much—South Carolina committed 17 fouls that Missouri turned into 14 points; Missouri recorded 18 fouls that became 16 SC points.

The Tigers again failed to close the deal. They were within 5 with 2:28 to go but hit only one field goal afterwards.

(MIZZ-D)—The football team has a new defensive coordinator—Corey Batoon, who comes to Columbia from South Alabama where he has been in charge of the defense and safeties for three years.  Here are some of his credentials:  The school was 22-16, held opponents to the low 20s per game in scoring.  Opponents were 169/513 in 3rd down conversions, 33/70 on 4th downs, and South Alabama recorded 85 sacks in 38 games.

(MIZZ$)—The MU athletic department has reported it took in almost $141.6 million in fiscal 2022 and spent all but one dollar of it, both records.  The Post-Dispatch got the numbers from the NCAA.

They do not include money donated to a “collective” that goes for payments to athletes under the name-image-likeness program.  Mizzou raised $7.1 million for that program. Mississippi State was the only school reporting less.  The highest-rollers are no surprise:  LSU $20.1 million; Georgia $18.3 million; Alabama $16 million, and Florida $15.8 million. (zo047)

(BASEBALL)—We are two weeks away from the opening of spring training.  Pitchers and catchers for the Royals and the Cardinals report on the 14th with pitchers and catchers reporting on the 19th.  The first games are on the 22nd.

The Cardinals avoided arbitration with Tommy Edmond with a two-year deal, and signed former Houston reliver Josh James for his potential. James had been with Houston for parts of four seasons but has had injury problems.  He’s 30, was in 87 games for the Astros 2018-21, struck out 34.2% of the batters he faced, walked 13.2% and allowed batters to hit only .204. Somehow, however, he compiled a 4.64 ERA.

As we were going to press, the Cardinals announced two additions providing possible depth and/or potential.  First baseman/outfielder Alfonsa Rivas was picked up off waivers from the Angels. He was with the Pirates, the Guardians and the Angels and last year, hit .229. He’s 27

The Royals avoided arbitration with relievers Rick Anderson and Carlos Hernandez, starters Kyle Wagner, Brady Singer and Kris Bubic. Adam Frazier, a free agent second baseman from the Orioles has signed a one-year deal . Twelve-year veteran backup catcher Sandy Leon has a minor league contract. The Royals will be his 8th team. He has a .208 lifetime batting average.

And the engines have been fired for the first time in the major motorsports season—

(DAYTONA)—How about a race that lasted 24 hours having a winner only 2.1 seconds ahead of the second-place car.  A Porsche owned by Roger Penske came across the line first, the car driven by Penske’s 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, Felipe Nasr (who drove the last leg and got past the Cadillac that had dominated the race in the last 40 minutes), Matt Campbell and Dave Cameron.

The win is the first for Penske in the 24-hours since a team led by Mark Donohue won in a Lola 55 years ago.  It continues a roll for Penske Motorsports that began with an Indianapolis 500 victory last May, a NASCAR championship with Ryan Blaney in November. His next target is the LeMans 24 Hours in June.

Newgarden becomes the fifth reigning 500 winner to win the Daytona 24 hours to start the next racing season. Arie Luyendyk did it in 1998, Dan Wheldon eight years later, Dario Franchitti  in 2008 and four-time 500 champion Helio Castroneves two years ago.

IndyCar’s Colton Herta as part of the third-place team.

Failures 

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It is hard to look at what remains of the Missouri Senate and not be ashamed of how far governance has fallen there.  The Senate, once proud of its role as a bipartisan deliberative body—it used to be said, “The House passes the bills; the Senate writes the laws.”—is in total disarray because a few members will go to no ends to get their ways although it is abundantly clear their only support is themselves. We remember when the Rs and the Ds could argue as if it was Gabriel versus Satan on the floor but with respect and civility.

Today there are 24 Rs and only 10 Ds.  Actually, there appears to be 19 Rs, 10Ds, and 5 soreheads who want to run the place and throw tantrums if they cannot get their way. The number of soreheads might be seven but five are the biggest problem so for today’s contemplations, let’s say fice, for consistency.They have adopted the name of a similar bunch of miscreants in the U. S. House of Representatives.

The Freedom Caucus.

At the start of the session, caucus chairman, Rick Brattin warned, ““Peace is no option…In terms of advancing policy, this will be a show-no-prisoner type approach.”

Such is the level of adulthood within this caucus.

There is nothing free about taking hostages and that is what happened recently in OUR State Senate.  25 hostages to start. There have been deserved consequences and it was about time. But they let these five to claim they are victims of a failed system.  They have it wrong.  It is they who are the failures.

It is time for some basic lessons in Government for People Who Don’t Care About Government But Better Learn Something Instead of Thinking Everybody is a Crook or a Liar, Etc.

They aren’t, as a large general rule. A few, however, are the products of these times, thinking disrespect for the system is respectable and minority bullying that stops orderly public service is acceptable.

One of the Senate’s roles is to confirm or reject governor’s appointments to state boards and commissions.  The Five Senate Soreheads and two others who voted with them stopped any business from being transacted for 11 hours on January 18th by keeping 25 Missourians from being confirmed to positions on various state boards and commissions, most of the positions being voluntary and unpaid personal public service commitments.

The 5SS wanted to invoke an almost-never used rule to start immediate debate on a plan to make it harder for citizens to file petitions to create or change laws without an opportunity for citizens  to be heard in committee hearings. They lost 25-7 and had a hissy fit about it. They decided to keep the Senate from considering the appointments until they got their way, not a prudent move by supposedly intelligent prople who several times in recent years had pulled the same kind of stunt.

The leader of the remaining 19 Rs and 10 Ds, President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, called the behavior, “..unequivocally, without a doubt, the worst show of bad faith, or the biggest show of bad faith, I have ever seen in my life.” The floor leader who has the traditional role of setting the debate schedule, Cindy O’Laughlin, salled the caucus “terrorists.”

There is something to be said for filibusters as a tool to force negotiation and compromise, but the caucus is interested in neither, as Brattin has noted. The egregious disregard of senatorial courtesy and procedure is coupled with a disrespect of the process of government.  As Rowden observed last week, the caucus had held the floor for 16 hours and 45 minutes of the 17 hours and 52 minutes the Senate had been in session so far.

Minority Leader John Rizzo, whose Ds quietly have watched the Republicans’ ability to govern disintegrate into a worsenig  rolling internal mud fight, called the latest implosion “the civil war within the Republican Party that is showing its face and that has come from outside of the smoke-filled back rooms and is now front and center. This has been going on for years now. The only difference is that now the public is seeing it.”  He says the Senate reflects the national fight by Trumpian MAGA true believers trying to control the U. S. House of Representatives:

“They’re…sick and tired of having to take orders from someone else and they are pushing towards an authoritarian government, as we’ve been saying forever.”

Last Monday, Rowden showed had had more than enough.  He took away committee chairmanships from caucus members Brattin, Bill Eigel, Andrew Koenig, and Denny Hoskins. Senator Mike Moon did not have a chairmanship, having lost that distinction in 2022 for wearing bib overalls on the Senate floor, a violation of the dress code, and refusing to apologize.

This might seem to an outsider to be quibbling.  But within the political bubble, this can be a pretty stiff penalty.  Committee chairs have enormous power to determine whether important legislation ever gets debated and ever has a chance to become law.  They also have influence in getting things done for constituents or for favored interest groups. Loss of that power can take away important self-serving talking points during campaigns for higher office and become fodder for political opponents who want to raise issues related to public trust.

Moon is the only one of the five not seeking statewide office this year. It is hoped that voters select their more adult opponents of whatever party they choose.

The caucus, called “the chaos caucus” and “swamp creatures” by Rowden who probably should not have lowered himself to name-calling, has indicated it is not fazed. Hoskins called Rowden, “the worst President pro Tem in the history of the Missouri Senate,” the kind of exclamatory dialogue to which observers have become accustomed from this caucus.

Hoskins is a CPA much more than he is a Senate historian.  Perhaps someone should ask him to name who else is on his bottom five list of pro Tems.

Regrettably, O’Laughlin let her frustrations get the best of her in a news conference earlier Thursday when she said remarked, “Two years ago I said, ‘You know, with 23 votes you can throw somebody out of here. I would do it today. I absolutely would.” That would mean cutting a deal with Democrats to get enough votes and Republicans seemingly would ask to be injected with cholera first. But the statement illustrates how far beyond reason the leadership thinks the 5SS have gone.

The intemperate observation, which mentioned Eigel by name, led Eigel to go wildly ballistic with a screaming fit aimed at O’Laughlin, a continuation of behavior that raises questions about whether one who has shown a propensity to be ungoverned in his present office should be considered fit to govern others. Eigel thinks he would be an excellent governor.

It was, to be blunt, disgraceful, and a total display of disresprect for the tradition of courtesy that has made the Missouri Senate effective.  To the credit of O’Laughlin, Rowden and others on their side, they have resisted the shouting, rude interruptions, and arm waving of the 5SS.  If someone is to make a spectacle of themselves, it is unlikely to be them.

There still has been no confirmation votes. The number of appointments awaiting confirmation has risen to 42. Governor Parson, also an R, said last week, “They’re not doing anything wrong, nobody has anything against them, yet they’re in the crossfire of what’s going on here politically, internally, and that’s not right. It’s simply not right.”

Innocent people who are willing to serve on tne boards and commissions that oversee programs and services from which all of us benefit are in danger of losing the opportunity to serve and the caucus does not care.

The behavior of caucus members past and present goes beyond disrespect for the other 29 members of the Senate.  It also has affected all 163 members of the House who work hard for four months to get bills into position for final passage only to see all of that work go up in smoke in the Senate because nothing is more important than what the caucus cannot convince a majority of their own party to buy.

To put it directly, the 5SS have lowered work by a revered part of our state government to a depth beyond the worst nightmares of all of those who have served in it for more than two centuries and it is incomprehensible that their demagoguery should be tolerated much less supported by some county party committees. But some do.

Should any of them be expelled?  No. People in seven Senate districts deserve representation even if is from senators more interested in their political futures than in respecting the functions of government. They still can do constituent services while contaminating the lawmaking process. They have to face opponents on the ballot who are being given ammunition against them every minute they continue to abuse the process of OUR system of government.

They say they are fighting for their causes. Perhaps they might be better off WORKING for their causes.  Working has a tendency to engender respect and that can produce progress.  When work, respect, and progress give way to bullying, shouting, and minority dictatorship, representative government fails the broad interests of the people.

As long as they carry on, the legislative branch of our state government is failing us.

And these are the failures behind the failure.

Notes From a Quiet Street (Injured Curmudgeon Edition)

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(being an irregular voyage through some mental flotsam and jetsam that isn’t worth full blogness)

There is so much to writr about these days but unfortunately your constant observer has become a one-fingr typist because was not observant when he went to the mailbox Thursday night and tripped over a little sidewalk wall and found himself in aencounter with a garage door.  The door is fine but the left shoulder of your observer became removed from its socket, said left arm now tightly strapped down.

But I do want anyone in the area to know that on tuesda morning thru Wednesday afternoon I have attanged evhibits from the Steamboat Arabia Museum in KC and National TransportationMuseum in Kirkwood to be in the capitol rotunda to promote legislation to help veterans, provide financial aid to struggling local historical museums, krrp the Arabia in Missouri and help the NMOT achieve its dreams for expansion and protection for and restoration of its collection.

Now onto the original great observations about our times—-

Anybody else getting tired of emails or telephone calls from people wanting to know if your experience with your doctor, your mechanic, your financial advisor, your car salesman, your—-you name it—was a pleasant one?

Feedback Mania has taken hold.

It seems as if every time I go someplace I get an email request almost before I’m out the door wondering if I had a pleasant experience, if the office staff was friendly, or if I would recommend this to others.

Did you enjoy your colonoscopy?  Was the admissions staff chipper enough?  How was the taste of the gallon of stuff you drank?  Was your experience with the drug administered before insertion pleasant?

I’m thinking of saving all of these surveys until I can fill them out while I’m on hold after an impersonal, recorded voice tells me that my call is important.

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I had a dream the other night that I opened my closet door and the only things inside were hangers with t-shirts proclaiming that I had saved a shivering dog or an elephant, that I had helped a school kid get a meal, another kid get healed from a disease (I slept under about three adorable blankets during the night)—you know.

I had bankrupted myself at the rate of $19.95 a month for so many different wonderful causes. In my dream, I decided to go on TV and promise viewers that I would give them a t-shirt that said, “I saved Bob” if they just sent me $19.95 a month.  The t-shirt would cost me 75 cents from the sweatshop in China. I needed the money because I placed a telephone call to see if a Medicare plan was available for me in my zip code and I needed to enroll.

Then I woke up and felt badly because each of these charities is only trying to do good in its small part of the human experience.  All except for the Medicare guy.

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Speaking of insurance:  Can you imagine if Flo and Doug had a child?

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Here is something that is spooky as all get-out:

A few days ago my friend Steve Mays, who was our webmaster at the Missourinet for many years and did great and creative things while some of us sluggards refused to quit living in our  internet caves, was explaining ChatGPT to me.  As I understand it, it’s an artificial intelligence program that lets people feed some information in and the program spits out a theme, a letter, an article, or whatever in whatever format or language or length the user wants.  People talk to it on their cell phones.

Later that day he asked Chat GPT:

Do you have any information about reporting by a man named Bob Priddy?

ChatGPT

Bob Priddy, a renowned journalist in Missouri, retired after a notable 40-year career. He was known for his dedication to government transparency and his critical view on the state of statehouse reporting, especially concerning the decline in media presence and the increasing influence of lobbyists. Priddy also played a significant role in advocating for open government, such as pushing for cameras in judicial chambers. However, he expressed concerns about the worsening state of government transparency in Missouri. His career has been a testament to committed journalism, focusing on impactful stories and the importance of government accountability​​.

As complimentary as it was, I was, and am, a little bit chilled that some lights and wires in a box can churn out something like this about me.

I looked up ChatGPT on Wikipedia.  I wonder who—or what—wrote the article.

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Saw a discussion a few days ago about whether Iowa Hawkeyes’ greatest basketball player should go pro or stay in college. One of the questions is whether Caitlin Clark would take a financial cut if she did.  One sports site, Firstsportz, estimates her net worth already is three-million dollars because of the endorsements of various products and services while in college.

At least Clark has stayed at one school throughout her career instead of being a jock gypsy, as so many athletes have become.

Are we alone in thinking there’s something basically wrong with college sports today?  I doubt it.

When you tax something—-

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It’s a cliché.  “When you tax something, you get less of it.”

That’s shorthand for a Ronald Reaganism: “If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.”

Would that economics could be so simple.

A bill in the legislature this year would excuse residents of St. Charles and Jefferson Counties from paying the St. Louis City one-percent earnings tax.  That’s a tax that St. Louis collects from people who come to the city to work and then leave it to go home in those two counties.

One of the supporters of the bill has trotted out the old cliché to justify it.

The trouble with cliches is that they are so easily punctured.

Those who think earnings taxes are appropriate note that daily job emigrants are served by St. Louis police and other St. Louis first responders, among others, that they drive on the city’s streets, contribute to the city’s trash burden, that they go to city hospitals or doctor’s offices if they get sick or hurt during working hours or recreational tie at the ballpark, and on top of it all, they have jobs in St. Louis that they don’t have at home.

St. Louis and Kansas City have earnings taxes.  Many years ago, when financier Rex Sinquefield, long an opponent of earnings taxes spearheaded a drive that got law passed requiring the two cities to re-approve their earnings taxes every five years. The Post-Dispatch reported a few days ago that Sinquefield had donated $25,000 to the campaign of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Phil Christofanelli, a candidate for the state senate.  In the process of requiring the five-year re-enactment of the tax in the cities, voters also approved a statewide ban on any other city ever considering such a tax.  Voters thus gave up their right to decide what is bests for their town on this issue.

The problem with the cliché is that the word “it” needs to be defined.  Does this bill mean the elimination of the tax will bring thousands of new workers to St. Louis?  Where will they come from—St. Charles and Jefferson Counties?  Will they leave their jobs in those counties where they don’t pay an earnings tax now to flock to St. Louis just because employees won’t pay it there any more?

Will elimination of the tax result in lower prices for goods and services? It’s hard to visualize why it would.  Will it make funding public services more difficult?

The cliché has a big problem; the definition of “it.”

A look at Missouri’s loosened marijuana laws tends to indicate high taxes are no barrier at all to the weed businesses.  Maybe if we jacked up the tax even higher there would be less marijuana sales. Or maybe not.  I recall when cigarettes were two dollars a carton (ten packages). Big price increases did not seem to be the factor in reducing smoking many years later. Smoking laws were a much bigger factor.

Property. If you tax it,  you get less of it?  It’s true that increasing taxes might force someone to move into a less-expensive home.  But the old property is still there—for someone else to inhabit.  People go away but property doesn’t.

Yes, there is less in the pocket but there is more for “it,” and by “it” we talk about the institutions and services that are necessary to protect us, to heal us, to educate us, to make it possible for us to go from one place to the next—taxes are the only way there can be more of “it.”

So the cliché is just that, and cliché’s sound good but they are just surface words that substitute too often for careful thought.

(It’s kind of like a former colleague who once remarked, “Stereotypes are so handy because they save so much time.”)

It’s a campaign year, though, and tax cuts always are cheap and easy things to promise and they do seem to persuade some voters who fail to realize the consequences of the cuts, especially when the economy drips and the programs those services finance aren’t available when they are needed the most.

Maybe in a campaign year, we should levy a wordage tax on politicians.  There’s a lot of “it” that, under this philosophy, would go away.

Maybe the tax should be a pretty big, now that you mention……….

How Our Major League Sports Teams Are Plotting A Massive Rip-off Of The State 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Most of our patrons do not read the Tuesday entries that focus on sports. We ask that you carefully read this one, however, at least the first part.

(SPORTS WAGERING PETITION)—-Our six major league sports teams have crawled into bed with an industry whose sole characteristic is greed and the people of Missouri could become their abused children.

The teams, fed up that the legislature has failed to legalize sports betting, have launched a petition campaign highly favorable to the casino industry and detrimental to the public to put the issue on the ballot.

It’s a rip-off of major league proportions.  The Cardinals, Royals, Chiefs, Blues, and Missouri’s two major league soccer teams are collecting petition signatures to ask voters to let them and our thirteen casinos pocket millions of dollars with a sweetheart tax package that will take millions away from Missouri schools, veterans, and even the host cities of the casinos.

Hidden in the deal is a big tax cut for the casino industry that is made bigger with provisions that lower the amount of money to be taxed.

The petition campaign constitutes nothing less than a mugging of the state of Missouri.

Let’s begin with a simple question.  Would you knowingly bet eleven dollars, knowing that the most you ever could win would be TEN dollars?

That is what the teams and the casinos are going to do to Missourians.  The state is guaranteed to be a loser with the very first bet.  Here is how it will work if voters fall for this scheme:

Missouri’s casinos pay a twenty-one percent tax on revenues remaining after they have paid off winners of bets.  So much money is bet in Missouri that the casinos have approached revenues of two-billion dollars in each of the last two years and are on track to equal last year’s record or set a new revenue record for a third straight year.

Simple elementary school mathematics shows how the teams’ casino allies will grow immensely wealthy with this scam while the things that are supposed to be financed with the gambling tax are massively short-changed.

The proposed tax rate on sports betting is only ten percent, eleven percentage points below the rate charged for the last thirty years of casino gambling on table games and slot machines. Thus, the state would give up eleven of the present twenty-one percentage points to get ten

The American Gaming Association’s latest annual report says Missouri would be the twelfth state with a tax of ten percent or less.  Fourteen states have tax rates above ten percent or that top out above ten percent, including three states that charge fifty and fifty-one percent. Only five states on the AGA’s chart show rates of less than ten percent.

But there is something dark behind the petition’s demand that the rate be ten percent here.

Ten percent and twenty-one percent produce an average of 15.5 percent, an effective twenty-five percent tax cut for all Missouri casino gambling.

While the teams’ sophisticated advertising campaign will tell voters the proposal wll generate millions of dollars more for the state education fund and for their host cities, the truth is that it will produce less.

Financial analysts who advise the Missouri General Assembly forecast taxable revenes from casino gambing will jump from almost two billion dollars to $2.4 billion within four years.  A twenty-one percent tax of that amount would produce $504 million with ninety percent going into funding for elementary and secondary public schools. The other ten percent would be distributed to the thirteen cities that have casinos in them and to one county that shares revenues with the casino city.  An average tax of 15.5% would produce $372 million, again with the 90-10 split, $132 million less than if the twenty-one percent tax is maintained.

While $372 million dollars on the low end might seem to be an impressive sum, here is something else the casinos and the sports teams will never tell you in their promotions and advertising:

The Missouri Gaming Commission reports that casinos in the last fiscal year paid gambling taxes of $403.3 million dollars on revenues from slot machines and table games alone.

Approving sports wagering as proposed in the petition will take more than thirty million dollars away from the state, not add revenue.

Our metropolitan areas will feel the difference most acutely.  Host communities in the St. Louis metro area, which has four casinos, will lose $5.6 million in the first four years of sports wagering under the petition plan.  We wonder if Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III, who has been the spokesman for the teams during legislative committee hearings, has ever thought of what this plan will cost his main ticket-buying community.

Host communities in the Kansas City metro area, also with four casinos, will lose $3.65 million, something we bet the Chiefs and the Royals haven’t considered. .

Our figures are based on projections made by legislative fiscal analysts.

Legislative fiscal analysts forecast the ten percent tax will cost the thirteen host cities more than eleven million dollars, total, in the first four years of wagering, money they would receive if sports wagering were taxed at the same rate as slots and table games.  Amazingly, the association that represents those cities doesn’t seem to care. It has endorsed whatever the casinos have asked for from the legislature. One wonders if the city councils or the citizens of those communities has ever heard how much they have lost in the past thirty years because the two-dollar admission never having adjusted for inflation and how much they will lose if the petition passes.

By our calculations, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual inflation calculator, the state already has lost almost $1.1 Billion in admission fees because casinos are paying the same fee they paid when the first two of them opened thirty years ago this year.

In the most recent fiscal year, the state received $57.9 million in admission fees. Had the fees been adjusted annally for inflation, it would have received $113.5 million. But inflation works both ways.  The $57.9 million the state did receive had a purchasing power of only $29.5 millon because of the loss of purchasing power of the two 1993 dollars. Remember, half of the two-dollar admission fee goes to the host cities.  But their association doesn’t seem to care.

And it’s worse.

Buried within the petition are six deductions not allowed in today’s law that will reduce taxable income by several millions of dollars. The deductions encourage casino bookeepers to try to show their casino produced a monthly loss on paper.  If they can, the schools, home dock cities and other state entities listed as beneficiaries of this new form of gambling will receive zero revenues that month.

But it’s far worse than that.

If a casino can show that it had a paper loss for a month, the amount it claims as loss will carry over to the next month and be used to calculate that month’s profit or loss, again reducing the casino’s tax payments. Can anyone name any other business or industry in Missouri that is allowed to calculate their taxes this way?

Two states provide scary examples of the dangers of the carryovers for Missourians to consider.  In November, 2022, Louisiana casinos reported a statewide loss of $25.6 milllion because some of the casinos took bets made by a Texas furniture store owner that the Texas Rangers would win the World Series, which they did. In the same month, Maryland casinos reported a statewide loss of $33.6 million after they spent more than $60 million in promotional credits as part of the state’s launch of mobile betting.

But it’s far worse than that.

Let’s go back to the admission fee. Casinos also pay the state a two-dollar admission fee for each person who goes through the turnstiles to the gambling floors. If the gamblers stay longer than two hours, the casino pays another two dollars—a policy that began on the first day that casinos opened thirty years ago this year when they actually were boats and river cruises actually were possible.

A prediction was made at the East Coast Gaming Conference in 2019, a few months after sports betting was legalized by the U. S. Supreme Court, that within five to ten years, ninety percent of sports wagers would be placed online. Just two years later, gambling analyst Larry Henry reported on Casino.org that more than eighty percent of sports bets already were being placed online and New Jersey, the first state to legalize sports betting after the court ruling, 92 percent of sports wagers had been placed online in 2021.

If Missouri follows national trends, ninety percent of sports bets soon will be online and not made by people who go through the turnstiles of our casinos.  Under the petition, those online bets will produce zero revenue for programs and services whose budgets have suffered greatly because turnstile admissions have declined by about forty-seven percent in the last twelve years.

Who is suffering the most? The Veterans Commission Capital Trust Fund, which provides money for veterans nursing homes. Admission fee funding of care for our veterans has dropped by 63 percent in the last decade.  Nothing in the petition does anything to reverse that trend.

The Missouri Gaming Commission’s budget has declined by more than twenty percent in the last decade. It has twenty-three fewer employees than it had then. And it is facing a major increase in enforcement responsibility if the petition passes. The commission will collect some licensing fees but the petition also requires it to use some of its new money to pay for a problem gambler’s assistance fund.

Numerous studies have indicated gambling addiction will at least triple with the introduction of sports wagering and remote betting.  The money to be set aside for “compulsive gambing prevention” comes out of the commission’s pocket. It comes out of the taxes benefitting schools and home dock cities and fees going to the gaming commission. Nothing in the petition requires the casinos or the teams to contribute directly to a fund to counter the problems their new form of gambling will create.

And two more things before we go.

The casino industry has spent a lot of time and resources trying to convince your legislators and mine that sports wagering is a stand-alone issue that need special care and feeding.  It is not.  Their own bills just add “sports wagering” to the list of games of skill in our state laws.  In the now-seven years that sports wagering bills have been introduced, not one has said anything that defines sports wagering as differing from poker, blackjack, craps, or any other table game or slot machine.  A bet is a bet is a bet.  And if you bet long enough the casino will have all of your money whether you bet on the spin of a wheel, the fall of a card, the roll of a die, or the pull of a lever.

The committee backing the petition campaign says sports wagering will provide new good-paying jobs.

Will it generate enough new jobs to replace the 5,600 people laid off in the host cities during the last fifteen years?  Will it replace the $100 million-plus in payrolls lost each year by the host cities in that same period?

Everybody loses except the teams and the casinos in this petition campaign. People going into casinos know they’re playing on tables tilted against them. That’s fine.  But before Missourians support this blatant deception against our state by the casinos and our sports teams, they should look at how much they will lose regardless of whether they gamble.

The casinos have never dealt the top card on the deck to the legislature while trying to convince it to approve sports wagering.  Now they, with their sports team bedmates, are doing the same with the general public.

The legislature could fix all of this during this session. But don’t expect it to. There are 197 state representatives and senators in our General Assembly.  The Associated Press has reported that casinos, sports teams, online sports betting companies, and video gaming terminal inerests have hired about eighty lobbyists to pressure the people we presume represent us into representing those interests instead. That’s one lobbyist for ever 2.5 members of our legislature. It is hard to grow a backbone and do what is right on this issue when  you are surrounded by lobbyists backed by interests with bottomless checking accounts and a willingness to support re-election bids or to support opponents for those with the courage to reject the ongoing mugging of Missouri.

The only recourse Missourians will have if this petition gets enough signatures to be on the ballot later this year is to vote it down.  If they fail to do so, their state will be a big loser.

(All of the statistics used in this entry are drawn from the annual reports of the Missouri Gaming Commission, the American Gaming Association, legislative staff fiscal notes for pro-casino legislation, and the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We never have seen the homework the casinos to justify the claims they have made in the past or the present).

Now, we take a look at the history behind a cold football game, a cold-shooting basketball team, and the latest from baseball’s hot stove league)

(CHIEFS)—The regular season wasn’t pretty for the Kansas City Chiefs but they looked almost as solid as the frozen field at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday night with their dominating 26-7 wild card playoff win over the Miami Dolphins, a team that hasn’t won in forever  in cold weather.

The game goes into the record books as the fourth-coldest game in NFL history.  Here’s where it fits in:

December 31, 1967  Lambeau Field, Green Bay comes from behind to beat Dallas 21-17 on the famous Bart Starr quarterback sneak behind center Ken Bowman and Right Guard Jerry Kramer who pushed Defensive Tackle Jethro Pugh aside just enough for Starr to cross the line.  Temperatur at the start of the game: -13. Wind Chill  -48. The game was dubbed “The Ice Bowl.”  Green Bay went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders 33-10 in Super Bowl II.

January 10, 1982  “The Freezer Bowl”  Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati. Coach Forrest Gregg, who played in “The Ice Bowl” is now the coach of the Bengals, who beat the San Diego Chargers 27-7. San Diego’s only touchdown was scored by former Missouri Tiger Kellen Winslow.  Game time temperature: -9  Wind Chill -59.  Some of the players in this game, as in the Green Bay-Dallas game reported health problems for the rest of their lives because of the playing conditions.

January 10, 2016  TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis. Seattle beats the Vikings 10-9 when Bill Walsh’s field goal attempt goes wide left with 22 seconds on the clock. Minus-6 with a windchilll of minus-25.

January 13, 2024 Arrowhead Stadium,  Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins in the southernmost NFL cold game on record, 26-7. Harrison Butker’s four field goals and two extra points outscore the Dolphins, who lost their eighth straight game played in below-freezing temperatures. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa dropped to 0-5 in games played below 45 degrees.  Game time temperature: -4  Windchill -20. At the end it was -9 and -28. The extreme cold sent 69 people to aid tents run by the city fire department. About half were for hypothermia symptoms and fifteen people were taken to hospitals where seven were suffering from hypothermia, three for frostbite and five for various other reasons.

      The game broke the record for the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium.  The Chiefs beat the Broncos 48-17 on December 18, 1993. Footall Reference reports the temperature at the start of the game was 0.5 degrees.

December 10, 1972  Metropolitan Stadium, Minneapolis Green Bay 23, Vikings 7. Temperature at game start 0. Wind Chill -18. Green Bay’s running backs, John Brockington and MacArthur Lane combine for more than 200 yards rushing, 99 by Lane, who had come over from the St. Louis Cardinals that year. Later, Lane was with the Kansas City Chiefs and in his last year in his career, 1978, rushed for 144 yards against  the Bills. He was 36 years and 199 days old and remains the oldest player to rush for more than 100 yards in an NFL game.

January 20, 2008  Lambeau Field  New York Giants 23 Packers 20 on a 47-yard field goal 12:25 into overtime by Lawrence Tynes. Temperature -4, Wind Chill -24.

December 26, 1993  Lambeau Field  Packers vs. the now-LA Raiders. Packers win 28-0. Game time temperature 0, Wind Chill -22.

January 15, 1994  Ralph Wilson Stadium, Buffalo, Coldest game played at Orchard Park in Buffalo. Game start temperature 0, Wind Chill -32. Bills come from behind in the fourth quarter with a fourth quarter touchdown pass from Jim Kelly to Bill Brooks to win 29-23.

December 3, 1972  Metropolitan Stadium, Minneapolis. -2 at the start with a windchilll of -26. Vikings kicker Fred Cox outscores the Bears with three field goals and two PATs in a 23-10 Minnesota victory.

Kansas City’s defense again was dominant, keeping the Dolphins out of the red zone all night long.  Miami’s only score was a 53-yard touchdown pass and run to former chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill who otherwise was not a factor in the game. The win against Miami moves the Chiefs into next week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, who beat the Pittsburgh Steelers last night in the game delayed for a day because of a typical Buffalo winter storm that dumped more snow into the stadium than an army of scoopers could remove on Sunday.

(miz)—The Missouri Tigers reached the halfway point of their regular season Saturday, losing their sixth game in their last seven outings and could drop below .500 tonight when they play league-leading Alabama on the Crimson Tide’s court.  Alabama is 11-5 overall with a five-game winning streak. Missouri is now 8-8. The Tigers join Arkansas and Vanderbilt in the SEC cellar with 0-3 records.

SB Nation’s Sam Snelling reports the Tigers have not defeated a high major opponent since losing Caleb Grill early in December with an injury to his non-shooting wrist. He had surgery  and might be back later this month.

Snelling suggests coach Dennis Gates is giving his veteran players a chance to right the ship, but it’s not working. Five of his guys have played more than 100 games in their college careers with Nick Honor accounting for 139. Noah Carter, John Tonje, Connor Vanover, and Sean East II all have more than 100 games. He wonders when Gates will realize his veterans aren’t getting the job done and when he will start building for tomorrow with his younger guys. (zou)

(BASEBALL)—No big new signings by the Royals and the Cardinals but the Redbirds have made an interesting front office move by hiring Chaim Bloom as an advisor. Bloom was with the Boston Red Sox until he was dumped by Fenway Sports Group despite being credited by some with cutting spending while rebuilding the team’s farm system.

He’ll be an advisor to Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, who plans to step aside after the 2025 season, prompting questions about whether Mozeliak is grooming his successor. Mozeliak warns against jumping to conclusions. “where it leads to, we’ll see,” he says.

It’s the second major advisory step taken in the off-season by the Cardinals, who signed Yadiar Molina earlier as an advisor, prompting speculation about his role growing from advisor to manager.  Molina is managing in the Puerto Rico winer league and wants to manage in the bigs.  Present Cardinals manager Oli Marmol is in the last year of his contract. Mozeliak does not expect friction between the M’s.  Although he’s a supporter of Marmol, he also recognizes the Cardinals cannot have another year with problems on the field and in the locker room.

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Holiday

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Today is Martin Luther King Day.

Yesterday, we were among a few who went to church in person on a minus-4 degree morning.  Many more worshipped from the warmth of their home through our Facebook page.  I suggested to the minister that this would be a day for an old-fashioned hell-fire sermon, that the grape juice for communion should be warmed and the communion wafers be toasted.

We sang a hymn that seems appropriate on this holiday.  We often like to take hymns and turn them into the original prose or poem they were originally.  These lyrics were written by Shirley Erena Murray and copyrighted in 1998 by Hope Publishing Company. The tune is called “For Everyone Born.”

For everyone born, a place at the table. 

For everyone born, clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing.

For everyone born, a star overhead, 

Refrain:And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace;

Yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy! joy! 

For all who share life, a place at the table, revising the roles, deciding the share, with wisdom and grace, dividing the power.

For all who share life, a system that’s fair.

For those we neglect, a place at the table, a voice to be heard, a part in the song, the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled, for those we neglect, the right to belong, 

For all who have breath, a place at the table, a covenant shared, a welcoming space, a rainbow of race and gender and color. 

For all who have breath, the chalice of grace, 

For you and for me, a place at the table, though wounded and sore, with need to forgive, in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy, for you and for me, a new way to live, 

For everyone born, a place at the table, to live without fear, and simply to be—to work, to speak out, to witness and worship.

For everyone born, the right to be free. 

There are scriptural references attached to this hymn:

Genesis 1:27: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

And Luke 14:12-24: Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,  and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, ou will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’”

 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.  I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Coretta Scott King wrote on this day eight years ago:

On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.

It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African­American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian­American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.

Or as that hymn says:

For everyone born, a place at the table, to live without fear, and simply to be—to work, to speak out, to witness and worship.For everyone born, the right to be free.We still have far to go, don’t we?  “Miles to go before we sleep,” write poet Robert Frost.  But no matter how much time we have, we have time to create a world where all are welcome at the table, all have a right to be free.

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Uncertainty

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I want to talk to you today about my greatest hero and about his life and his times which resonate in these uncertain days.

I want to tell you about helping George Clooney make a movie.  But Clooney, whose work I admire, is not the hero of this story.

Back about 2005, I was wrapping up my second chairmanship of my profession’s national organization, the Radio-Television News Directors Association (now the Radio Television Digital News Association) when George Clooney’s production company reached out to us to help with some information about Edward R. Murrow.  I also was the organization’s historian so the response fell to me.

Edward R. Murrow was, and is, my hero. To be involved, even in such a minor way as I was in producing an Oscar-nominated Murrow movie produced by George Clooney—who can be as serious as a heart attack in his work although many of his movies are light-hearted—is one of the most important distinctions I have gathered.

Murrow had given his greatest speech at our convention in 1958, three months after See It Now was killed by CBS boss William S. Paley. It’s known as the “wires and lights in a box” speech.  It’s also considered his professional suicide speech because he was critical of the early network television news decisions as he warned: “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box….”

Here’s the entire speech, should you choose to listen, from our convention more than 65 years ago:

Bing Videos

I provided the background information and a copy of the organiztion’s 1958 logo for the opening and closing segments of the movie.  You won’t see my name or that of RTNDA in any of the credits, but that was my contribution. I am not bothered by the omission. It was, after all, a minuscule part of the story.

When the movie came out, RTNDA had a reception in Washington where Clooney, Strathairn, and Grant Heslov (who played a young Don Hewitt, the creator of Sixty Minutes), attended.  I have a signed movie poster in my loft office.

Seventy-one years ago, he said:

“If we confuse dissent with disloyalty–if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox–if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought.”

McCarthyism was ramping up in America at the time.  There are those who feel we are in our greatest peril since then, perhaps greater.  Reading these words reminds us that we as a people have been where we are before and we have survived because reporters such as Murrow (and we still have some today although we are also bombarded by many on the other side) refused to back away or had no fear in confrontations with demagogues. The story of a free nation seems to be cyclical, which is one reason to study unvarnished history.

His most famous broadcast was “See it Now” on March 9, 1954 when he used McCarthy’s own words to condemn him, concluding:

“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine; and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.

“This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it–and rather successfully. Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

David Strathairn recreated those remarks with great effectiveness in the movie.

Bing Videos

I invite you, especially if you are a reporter today or a young person wanting to be a reporter in this rapidly changing world of journalism, to watch this 1975 program about Murrow, produced by the BBC.

:Bing Videos

And I invite you to read this column from constitutional lawyer John Whitehead, written in 2005 when the movie came out. It seems appropriate now:

The Rutherford Institute :: Edward R. Murrow: “We will not walk in fear, one of another.” |

I close with Murrow’s words that are a challenge to all of us when there are those who believe they can seize power because they can intimidate a nation.

“This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities.”

 Murrow reaches out to us seventy years after that broadcast. All we have to do is remove “Senator McCarthy” and fill in another name and we will understand the challenge we as citizens must not avoid meeting.

One of Murrow’s journalism descendents, Dan Rather, used to close his broadcasts with the word, “Courage.”

May all of us, we who are not descended from fearful men and women, find it in 2024.

 

Sports: (UPDATE: Final AP football poll; Royals, Chiefs Will Stay at Home; Kelce Forgoes a Record; Is Missouri Playing Its Way Out of the NCAA Tournament Already? And the Chiefs and Dolphins Face Daunting Weather Saturday

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Missouri’s win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl allows it to move up just one slot in the final AP poll of the 2023-2024 season. Here’s the top 25:

  1. Michigan (61)
    2. Washington
    3. Texas
    4. Georgia
    5. Alabama
    6. Oregon
    6. Florida State
    8. Missouri
    9.Ole Miss
    10. Ohio State
    11. Arizona
    12. LSU
    13. Penn State
    14. Notre Dame
    15. Oklahom
    16. Oklahoma State
    17. Tennessee
    18. Kansas State
    19. Louisville
    20. Clemson
    21. North Carolina State
    22. SMU
    23. Kansas
    24. Iowa
    25. Liberty

(ROYALS/CHIEFS)—The Chiefs and Royals say they will stay in Jackson County if voters extend a 3/8 cent sales tax increase in April, ending speculation Kansas might lure the Royals across the state line.

Approval of the tax extension will lead to a new 40-year lease. The teams say they’ll provide more than $200 million in new conomic benefits. The Chiefs will foot the bill for a renovation of Arrowhead Stadium. The Royals will build a new stadium downtown and privately fund a one-billiion dollar ballpark district, a Kansas City Balpark Village if you will.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs won a game Sunday that some pundits said was a meaningless one. The Chiefs already had locked in their third seed in the playoffs and the Chargers were wrapping up a go-nowhere (except higher on the draft list) season.  The Chiefs held out a lot of their offensive regulars and turned the offense over to former MissouriTger Blaine Gabbert who hit 50% of his passes and pulled off some timely scrambles to get the Chiefs into position for the winning field goal as time grew short.

An offensive display, it wasn’t,. The only touchdown in the game came on a 97-yard fumble recovery and runback by Mike Edwards late in the first quarter.  The Chiefs finished with two field goals. The Chargers had four field goals.

Mike Jones needed a half-sack to reach his incentive goal that would given him an additional $1.25 millon dollars.  He got it late in the game, setting off a big celebration on the sidelines. Afterwards he promised. Part of the $1.25 million performance bonus will be spent on Rolex watches for the entire defensive line. And the defensive coaches including defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will get watches too because, “It takes a collective [effort] in order to reach those types of goals.”

Travis Kelce passed up a chance to become the first tight end in NFL history to catch passes for 1,000 yards eight years in a row. He was only 16 short but told coach Andy Reid he thought it would be better to rest up for the post season and “didn’t like the way it felt” to play just to get the 16 yards and extend his record.

The Chiefs have a rematch with the Miami Dolphins Saturday. The Chiefs won the first game  21-14 in November.

(ABOUT THE WEATHER)—Saturday night’s game with the Dolphins might be the coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history.  The National Weather Service forecasts a high temperature Satuday of 14 degrees with an overnight low of minus two. Wind gusts of 23 mph will make playing conditions worse. And it might snow.

The Chiefs-Broncos game on December 18, 1983 was played with a temperature recorded by Pro Football Reference as 0.5 degrees.  The Chiefs won 48-17.

The Dolphins have lost seven straight games that have been played in below-freezing temperatures. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is 0-4 in games with temperatures of 45 degrees or less at kickoff time.

Miami has lost two in a row. The Chiefs have won their last two regular season games.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals continue to accumulate new faces, the latest being Andrew Kittredge who will be in the bullpen. They give up outfielder Richie Palacios to get him. Kittridge is 33 and has seen limited action (31 games) in the last two years because of Tommy John survery.  When he’s healthy he has a career 3.65 ERA and a 3.68 strikeout to walk ratio.

The Tampa Bay Rays get Palacios, who is 26 and in 86 big leaguegames has posted a .244 batting average and is known as a contact hitter. Better than 87 percent of the time last year, when he swung, he connected—fair or foul.

(ROYALS)—The newest pickup for the Royals is Rangers reliever Will Smith who has signed a one-year deal for five million dollars to be a closer. He’s a lefty, 34, who could fatten his contract by $125,000 each if he pitches 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 55, and 60 games. He started his career with the Royals before moving on.  He has three World Series rings with three different teams in the past three years. He’s been in five All-Star games.

(MIZ)—Every game you win in December is a game you don’t have win in late February and early March.  The Missouri Tigers basketball team has picked up its sixth loss in just 14 games this year,falling to Georgia 75-68 in their conference opener and sinking to 8-6 overall. The Tigers played their usual hot and cold game, trailing early, surging back to take a lead and then letting the opponent go on a run.

Georgia has won nine straight, its longest winning streak since 2010-2011. Missouri fell well behind early, nearly caught up at the half, briefly took a lead in the second half and promptly let Georgia go on a run from which Missouri never recovered.

Bench players were one key. The Bulldogs had been averaging more than 30 points with subs who scored .   Missouri had just three points, a basket by Jesus Caralero Martin.  But something’s wrong inside. Coach Dennis Gates noted that the Tiger show just seven free throws. Georgia shot 21.  However Missouri outscored Georgia 36 to Georgia’s 33.

The game was played in Columbia.

Missouri plays #6 Kentucky tonight.

(MIZFB)—-When Missouri plays LSU in football next time, it will be facing kind of defense they showed to Ohio State a few days ago.  Tiger defensive coordinator Blake Baker is bolting to Baton Rouge. Baker took Missouri from a position outside top 100 defensively and made them a top-35 team last year.

The past few days have been more Tigers plan to leave for the NFL draft. The latest to declare are place kicker Marrison Mevis and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Hopper is the eighth player from this year’s defense to announce his departure for the draft. (ZOU)

 

Passive 

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Maybe it’s a case of thinking the old days were better than today.  Maybe not.

The legislature has returned to the Capitol.  Most people have no idea how quickly things move when the session starts or how intense the work is—or how contentious is can become if a partisan renegade group decides it must prevail, their minority status be damned.

For the last three years the sessions’ last week or so have become mired in political mud and the sessions have been the least productive in long, long memory because of conflicts between the legalization of those Video Lottery Machines that are pimples in our convenience stores and sports wagering legislation that seeks to give our casino a significant tax break to the detriment of our education funds and even to the further detriment of their own host cities.

But that’s a diatribe for another time.

It seems to from our high position that the baneful effects of term limits, about which we were warned in 1992, have produced another regrettable trend.

A passive legislature.

The loss of institutional memory because of term limits cannot be overstated.

One of the bigget warnings before 1992 was that term imits would transfer power from the chambers to the hallways, where lobbyists roam, because no senior members would be around to advise newcomers on the role of the General Assembly in the process of lawmaking and in the process of shaping state fiscal policy.

The transfer became obvious several years ago when, during debate, the sponsor of a bill would ask of another lawmaker proposing an amendment, “Have you checked with so-and-so out in the hall?”

Later the issue became even more egregious as I watched lawmakers during debate checking their cell phones for text messages from the paid influencers outside the chamber. Lobbyists are banned from being on the House and Senate floors. Physically.  But their electronic presence is undeniable.

As we have watched for these many years, it seems that the legislature today is more likely to accept legislation without question and without hearing the voice of the public as much as it once did. Although we don’t cover committee meetings as much as we did in our reporting days, we have been in a large number of them on the issue of sports wagering, a special interest of ours for several reasons.

The caisno industry, now unfortunately aided and abetted by our major professional sports teams that need millons of dollars a year to try to keep pace with bigger-market moneybag teams, has always presented bills that are—to be frank—terrible fiscal policy for the state and its people and especially for schools, veterans, and the casino’s home cities.

Glaringly absent is any aggressive interrogation of the industry.  I can recall only two instances in which any semi-extensive questions were asked and only one when the questions were aggressively put (and the industry’s response was hardly direct).

In the old days—and I intensely dislike using that phrase—it seemed the legislature, while heavily influenced by lobbyists (who have a place in the system) and their checkbooks, looked more critically at legislation.  And it seems that lawmakers who were more likely to be presented a problem took an initiative, now missing, to fix the problem.

Many legislative hearings where held at night so members of the public could more easily be present without missing a full day of work. Night meetings are scarce today, leaving the field more and more to those who can affort to buy representation.  The voice of the citizen is muted in today’s system and the general assembly is more susceptible to being influenced by political action committee money.

In the first year of my lobbying career (working on getting the casinos to pay to keep the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Missouri), I took some findings of casino greed to a member of the House who told me, “Oh, the casinos will be interested in this. I’ve already gotten two checks form them this year.” He apparently was totally unaware of what a self-indictment his statement was.

Some legislator’s offices are festooned with plaques from organizations thanking them for their support.  When I was running the Missorinet newsroom we had a rule that we would accept no awards from any organization we covered.

We were not their friend. Nor were we their enemy.

We are one of those in the halls again this year, raising our pitiful voice against the steamroller called the casino industry, hoping again that we will trouble the consciences of those who sit quietly while the industry presents its plans for getting richer and richer while the services that serve the people of Missouri that rely on revenue from the industry get poorer and poorer, and poorer still under proposed sports wagering legislation.

Somebody has to ask the questions.  Too bad it isn’t the people who are presented with bills the industry wants passed.