I could tell stories for days of my parents’ selfless generosity. My upbringing was unconventional. Many people who needed a place to live came and went on the 80 acres I grew up on in Southwest Missouri. Some lived in a tiny cottage that came with the property, some lived in mobile homes, and some even created a home in the old hog barn. There was no judgment – if it was within our ability to help neighbor or stranger, we did. 

Although we did not celebrate some of the traditional holidays, we did celebrate Mother’s and Father’s Day. But there was always a hint of rebellion at the idea of honoring parents just because the government said we should. (Those of you who know me will begin to see where I get my libertarian bent.)  As I grew older, I decided to honor my father and mother on the day they became my parents – my birth date. It made more sense to give back to them on the day they gave life to me. For a long time, I tended to resist some of the holidays because they have become so commercialized, laden with material expectation, obligation, and guilt.

I was wrong.

As a country, we are bonded with our fellow citizens by shared national ideals and values. Holidays of remembrance, honor and celebration are vital to our unity – especially given our uniquely American foundation of fierce individual rights and liberty. In today’s culture where there are those determined to usurp and devalue the role of women as mothers, honoring motherhood and elevating the traits a mother should possess while celebrating their differences is more important than ever.

 A couple of weeks ago, I texted my daughters to remind them that I did not expect and did not need anything for Mother’s Day. They show their love for me in a thousand ways any given day of the year. They lol’d and said okay. No expectations. No obligation. No guilt. 

When I woke up on this second Sunday in May, my older daughter was already gone to work and I walked into the kitchen to find flowers, homemade cookies, and gift bags for both me and my mother. I was not surprised. This is how she expresses her love. When the younger returned home that afternoon from a weekend with her dad, she helped me prep Mother’s Day dinner for my parents with some of my mother’s favorite dishes. And then she went the extra mile and did additional tasks without being asked. This was her gift, just as meaningful as flowers and sweets.

A friend texted that morning, wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day, and I asked, “What was your favorite thing about your mother?” He immediately replied, “Her patience, her ability to take a joke when we all made fun of her, the sense of overwhelming unconditional love.”

Something about that seemingly simple, yet profound description struck a deep emotional chord. Isn’t that what all mothers should strive for? Aren’t those among the qualities we all need from our mothers? If my daughters can say only that about me, I could ask for nothing more.

Throughout the day on social media, I read story after story of how mothers shape the lives of their children, and messages from moms encouraging other moms. In the minutiae of the day-to-day, we often don’t consider the long term impact of what we do for our children. We just do what needs to be done in that moment. 

But there are moments in history when mothers doing what needs to be done changes the course of a nation.

There is no greater recent example of this than the movement we saw come out of the covid lockdown of schools. There was an awakening across the country as parents’ eyes were opened to what was happening in their schools and what their children were being taught – and not taught. For many, their trust in the public education system was destroyed. 

In Florida, Moms for Liberty formed in 2021 to push back against covid mandates in schools. They grew to hundreds of groups in 45 states by 2023. In Missouri, there were mothers (and fathers) who suddenly became involved in politics out of the necessity of doing what needed to be done for their children in that moment. They showed up at school board meetings, they ran for those school boards, they formed coalitions in their communities, went to the Capitol, got involved in political campaigns, and filed lawsuits against the education bureaucracy that was actively doing harm to their kids.

Shannon, one of those Missouri moms who stepped up to lead, shared this in a Facebook group:

“…Those years taught me how to stand up for my children and my liberties. I fought for all my children but none more than Max. He was a Freshman in high school at the time. It was him who came to me and begged me to help get school in person. He was struggling emotionally and mentally aside from starting to fail academically.  He was the reason I even got involved at all. I didn’t know how to get the school’s attention, what avenues I needed to take. I just knew my child was pleading to me with tears in his eyes to help. You know that feeling. You remember that feeling with your own children.

Last year, in Max’s machine tooling class, they made metal hearts with “Happy Mothers Day” on them. He told me he wanted to say something different, more meaningful so he inscribed “thanks for saving the world”.  This is probably the most treasured Mother’s Day gift any of my kids have ever gotten me.

No one person can save the world. That’s not what he meant, but I do believe I helped save his little world. Through this group, through our advocacy and our determination and my family’s decision to move, I in some small way helped save his world. I am sure I could say the same thing about you and your children would agree. You helped save their world.”

Early attempts to establish holidays for mothers included a committee to establish a “Mother’s Friendship Day,” organized by Ann Jarvis in 1868. The purpose of Ann’s holiday was “to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War.” Many women’s peace groups had organized similarly in the 19th century with the common theme of mothers coming together whose sons had fought or died on opposite sides of the war. 

Mother’s Day is rooted in peace, forgiveness, unity, and finding common ground.

Of course, there are bad mothers. There are mediocre mothers. There are mothers lauded as the epitome of maternal virtue. None of us are perfect mothers. Our shortcomings are ingrained into our children along with our strengths. When a child is rude or misbehaves, how many times have you heard, “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” (Or does anyone still actually say that???)

In our highly polarized and tribalistic political culture, I often wonder where we went wrong. I think of all the old sayings our mothers and grandmothers used to repeat: “You catch more flies with honey.” “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” “Life’s not fair.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And so many more, including one that was a constant in my childhood, “What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.”

If you’ve paid much attention to politics in Missouri (or wherever you are, no doubt) at all lately, you’d think a whole lot of adults either missed out on some of these lessons or have forgotten them entirely. And if you’re paying attention, you will also notice that conservatives and libertarians are losing the war for the principles and values that have made these United States of America a “shining city on a hill.” We have a “supermajority” of Republicans in our state, yet we are increasingly divided as purism breeds contempt and disharmony.

We lack legacy thinking. The gains for liberty we saw in the unified grassroots pushback against covid tyranny have already begun to wane as we are consumed by infighting. We have short memories, forgetting so quickly the lessons we learned. Our “solutions” tend to be stopgap measures that get social media clicks, but sweep the problems under the rug of the next generation. Our mothers should be disappointed in us. I can almost hear them saying, “Just wait ‘til your Founding Fathers get home!”

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

 If we’re not persuading, we’re losing. Our words matter. Our rhetoric matters. Even when we fall short of them – especially when we fall short of them. You might have heard the admonition to “let your speech always be with grace…” Perhaps we should spend more time listening to understand so that our words will likewise be heard and considered. After all, “God gave you two ears and one mouth so you can listen more than you speak.” 

When I think of my mother, I think of how she is always singing or humming, her penchant for practical jokes, her unerring belief that I can do anything I put my mind to, her unending generosity, and her unconditional love even when I am sure I have disappointed her. To this day, I want her to be proud of me. And I want to take the lessons that I learned late and teach them to my children early. I want to leave a legacy they can build on. I want to save their world.

Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow—
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Looking ahead to the second Sunday of 2025, I believe the best way we can collectively honor our mothers is to honor the Mother’s Day holiday legacy of peace and reconciliation. Working together, finding common ground, being patient with each other, and treating each other well even when we disagree. And above all, keeping a sense of humor. Are there gifts greater than these?

The post The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: A Mother’s Day Retrospective appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Petersen had this to say about Ashcroft possibly running for Governor, “Exciting news to see… I don’t like many politicians – very, very few – and I like the Ashcrofts. Jay Ashcroft seems to be a little bit more fiscally conservative then the senior.” This was in reference to Jay Ashcroft being the son of former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Petersen’s co-host, John Marsh, mentioned that Jay Ashcroft has not discussed future plans since last year when Ashcroft said, “After intense, prayerful consideration we have decided to remain devoted to the work Missouri voters have entrusted me as secretary of state” in regards to running for United States Senate, to replace the senior senator from Missouri, Senator Roy Blunt.

Petersen and Marsh also discussed Ashcroft’s recent conservative positions, many posted on the KWOS website, including being opposed to the gas tax increase that the Missouri Legislature passed last year. Current Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed that gas tax increase into law.

Jay Ashcroft has yet to release a public statement regarding the breaking news yesterday morning.

The full segment from the show can be listened to below.

The post Is Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft Laying Groundwork for 2024 Gubernatorial Run? appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

PDMP made into law will have Missouri joining the other 49 states in attempting to reduce drug overdoses and addiction through enforcement. However, it will also have Missouri joining other states around the country in a ridiculous contradiction.

The Contradiction

Missouri is one of many States with a Drug Court program, a voluntary but costly alternative to incarceration available to non-violent drug offenders. In Missouri, completion is rewarded with expungement of the drug offense related to a person’s participation in the program. Essentially, it’s the state’s way of acknowledging not all drug offenders are violent. It also acknowledges that non-violent offenders don’t deserve to be burdened with a criminal record, and kept in a system of incarceration and probation that negatively alters their future in society.

PDMP, on the other hand, is a state-run program specifically targeting non-violent drug offenses. Here we have two conflicting government systems—one criminalizing non-violent drug offenses with a subsequent system asserting non-violent drug offenses shouldn’t be criminal. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right one is doing.

The Hypocrisy

So which is it? Is non-violent drug use criminal? Or are only violent actions criminal? The state says both—unless the non-violent prove themselves worthy of not being treated as criminals by jumping through challenging hoops and paying large sums of money to the courts, strung out over a period of one to two years. Effectively, non-violent drug users are offenders because MONEY. And the revenue collected doesn’t even come close to alleviating the tax burden funding these wasteful programs.

If Missouri really wished to make a dent in addiction and overdose cases, it could at least try NOT to contradict itself. Sending mixed messages is the wrong message. In this wildly spun web of hypocrisy, only one message is clear—the War On Drugs is alive and well. PDMP is just a thinly veiled escalation, doomed to fail just as the rest of the Drug War has.

The post Government Fail: Missouri Legislature Contradicts Itself in the War on Drugs appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Abby suffers from a rare connective tissue disorder that causes progressive pain, fatigue, and more. She tells me, “In college, the physicality of going to class and studying in the library really started to take a toll on me. My doctors didn’t know how to treat me; it was a disease that they didn’t know much about.” She adds, “Now they know so much more, but at that point they didn’t.” Abby clarifies that at this point in her early college experience, she was confused and suffering without guidance or understanding from many. “I was really stressed out and struggling to keep up with everything when I met Eapen.”

A mutual friend suggested that Abby talk to Eapen and that is when she first considered medical cannabis. “Eapen was one of the first people to talk to me about medical cannabis and some of the options that other states were starting to legalize. I learned about things I grew up being afraid of because there is so much social construction around cannabis; especially negative connotations that have been made about it. He was someone that gently pushed me to educate myself because he thought I might benefit from medical cannabis.”

It did benefit her. In fact, she eventually got off the other drugs that she says, “I didn’t need anyway,” and that were lowering her standard of living, causing her to live in a haze. She replaced those drugs with medical cannabis. Abby credits Eapen with being the first person to seriously recommend medical marijuana, but shortly after, a doctor told her she needed to seek alternative medicine and suggested she move to Colorado.

Abby had to leave the state she loved so she could seek the medical care that she desperately needed. She recalls that people called her a “medical refugee” when she moved from Missouri to Colorado around 2013. After five years, she then moved to New Hampshire, where she has been for nearly two years.

She found legal and safe access to medical cannabis in a different state, but Abby looks forward to coming back to Missouri once marijuana is accessible. Abby’s voice softens in a dream of the past and hope for the future when she recounts, “Missouri is a special place; it has so much to offer as far as parks and amazing places to explore outdoors. When it comes to our cities: jazz, sports in KC and St. Louis, museums, food, and Missourians themselves who really care about their community and each other.”

Abby’s story of medical cannabis, advocacy, and justice coincides with Eapen’s. She reminds me that in over ten years of knowing him, she’s seen him work tirelessly and passionately on the things he cares about. “I really don’t think that the state needs to worry about him reoffending. He’s got a lot of things that matter more to him and is goal focused and cares more about the other projects he’s working on.”

Abby’s story doesn’t end here. Eapen’s journey is not complete. Neither has cannabis’ future been determined. Life moves ever forward. Missouri recently legalized medical cannabis and is slowly making progress. Abby hopes to come back to the state she loves once her needs can legally be met. Eapen continues to advocate for others who find themselves marginalized by the criminal justice system with Crossing Paths PAC, and works with The Weldon Project to bring attention and solutions to those suffering under cannabis laws. Both hope for the day when people will be free to choose.

Image: O’Dea at Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The post Forced to Become a Medical Refugee, Abby Rowe Can Finally Come Home appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

I care about guns. It’s “my issue”. I’m a gun advocate. It’s why I tune in to politics. 

Right now, in the midst of Biden attempting to take our guns, the only thing stopping the federal government from dismantling the Second Amendment is a moderate Democrat in the United States Senate. Just one more vote and they’ve got all the cards. 

The 2022 U.S. Senate elections will determine if we hold the line or falter, finally, after 244 years as a great nation. All eyes and ears are on Missouri, where the safe Republican Senate seat has just been put back into play with Roy Blunt’s retirement. Leave it to Missouri to pull off another ‘legitimate’ Todd Akin mistake. 

Missouri is a +9 Republican state, meaning the Republican candidate should win by about 9% on average. Republicans would have to try pretty hard to screw this up. Enter weaselly adulterer Eric Greitens. 

The disgraced, now twice-divorced former Governor has announced that after resigning amid scandal as governor, he will be running again as a Republican in the 2022 midterm elections for U.S. Senate. Worse, he seems poised to carry enough of the Republican vote to win the nomination, but lose the seat handily to any Democrat polled against him. 

This spells disaster for the Republican party in both Missouri, and DC. Party leadership everywhere is hoping someone emerges who is better suited to win the general. Losing the Senate would be detrimental to the razor-thin edge that Republicans are holding onto in Washington. 

So far, no one challenging Greitens for the nomination has polled within striking distance. Meaning Republican voters in Missouri are weighing their options and deciding they’d rather take a chance on the thieving, mistress-abusing narcissist than on another establishment status-quo politician. 

The only silver lining is that there’s still time for someone else to emerge. Granted, it’s a long shot.

Missouri would need someone to challenge Greitens that is a true “outsider” and who could compete with his military experience. Someone who has the conservative credentials to hold the grassroots’ faith, and has a personal and professional record that Republican Party voters in Missouri could be proud of. 

This candidate would need to have it all AND have the resources to be competitive. Sadly, the chances of a candidate emerging like this are slim. Missouri Republicans wait, holding their breath and bracing for another Akin or Greitens-esk embarrassment to unfold. 

Meanwhile in DC, Republicans are panicking at the thought of losing the Missouri Senate seat, and with it, the country. The Missouri Senate seat should be a safe Republican seat in Washington, but the selfishness and personal ambition of one man has now thrown the future of the entire country into jeopardy. 

Missourians and Americans everywhere are now waiting for a leader to emerge. The leader we need is a Christian missionary, businessman, and veteran who has created real opportunity for the people of Missouri. 

Time will tell if this leader will step up and answer the call. 

Alexandra Salsman serves as the Vice Chairman for the Lincoln County Republican Central Committee.

Image: TLR Composite, St. Louis PD/Facebook, Eric Greitens

The post Opinion: Supporting Eric Greitens is Political Suicide for Republicans  appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Three bills filed in Jefferson City, this year, take aim at ensuring and expanding 2nd Amendment rights within the state. Two, if passed, will inhibit federal agencies from infringing on Missourians’ gun rights, and one would expand those rights to individuals otherwise prohibited by current state law.

The Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) seeks to restrict federal agencies from commandeering local and state law enforcement officials for the purpose of enforcing federal gun control laws. The bill, introduced both in the House (HB 85) by Rep. Jered Taylor and in the Senate (SB 39) by Sen. Eric Burlison, would among other things make it a state violation for local law enforcement to do so. Law enforcement officers who violate the new state law would be subject to lawsuits and would be excluded from ever holding a state position in the profession again. Basically, if the Feds want to take Missourians’ guns or gun rights away, they are going to have to do it themselves.

The second bill, HB 501 introduced by Rep. Nick Shroer, would prohibit disclosure of medical marijuana patient registry information to federal agencies and third parties. Currently, the ATF says being a medical marijuana card holder excludes a citizen from purchasing firearms. But in Missouri, we believe a person can have their pot brownies and ARs, too.

Third, HB 895, introduced by Rep. Michael Davis, would restore Second Amendment rights for non-violent felons after they’ve completed their sentences. Talk about pulling out the viper’s fangs…

So far, SAPA has passed both House and Senate committees, while the other two await scheduling on the House calendar. SAPA, having been introduced multiple times in the state legislature, is moving more quickly than in previous years. It is still very early in the legislative session, so don’t count the others out.

Any one of these monster bills becoming law would be a tremendous step forward in the gun debate, but one can only imagine the amount of liberty unleashed if all three were to be signed by Governor Parson. Here’s hoping for a freedom trifecta in Missouri this year!

The post Show Me The Way – Missouri Goes for a Gun Rights Trifecta appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

This time, however, the restaurants are fighting back.

The coronavirus pandemic has been an unpredictable rollercoaster for restaurants in STL County. When the first mandatory stay-at-home order was issued in late March, many scrambled to adapt by adding or increasing curbside carryout options. By mid-May, indoor dining was allowed at 25% capacity, and then increased to 50% in June. Between the end of July and October, dining capacity allowances vacillated between 25% and 50%—until the most recent closure order taking effect this week. Except this time, there is no expanded unemployment option for employees, and no Paycheck Protection Program loans for businesses. 

On Saturday, Bartolino’s Restaurant announced on social media their intent to join other restaurants in a suit against County Executive Sam Page. 

We, and other Family owned Restaurants in St. Louis County are not going quietly You have been there for us, we are going to be there for you! Sam Page’s overreach with the arbitrary closure of indoor dining for county restaurants and bars is irresponsible. 

The final weeks of the year are consistently one of the most important times of the year for restaurant employees. Our employees are FAMILY, and Sam Page took a direct uppercut towards their livelihood. We have partnered with other local county restaurants to file a lawsuit against Sam Page, and plan to REMAIN OPEN for SAFE Indoor Dining.

 

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A post shared by Bartolino’s Restaurant (@bartolinos_stl)

Amid a public outpouring of support, many restaurants have stated they will remain open in defiance of Page’s closure order. It is unclear how the county intends to handle violations of the order. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell stated violations of the health order would be handled on a “case by case” basis and that they would not “tolerate irresponsible behavior” in putting people at risk. Restaurant owners report they have a longstanding good relationship with St. Louis County law enforcement, and do not expect they will interfere with any restaurants who choose to remain open.

Benjamin Brown, owner of Satchmo’s Bar & Grill in Chesterfield, has been active in advocating for dining establishments during the course of the pandemic. In April, he and another restaurant owner successfully lobbied for a suspension of a law prohibiting restaurants from selling sealed curbside cocktails. It is no surprise that he is among those leading the way this time as well. 

Monday afternoon, Brown announced that he had spoken with the CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association. He stated they “will now be joining the independent restaurants suing the county and the Missouri Restaurant Association council will now be working in conjunction with the attorney for the restaurants.” 

Mr. Brown expanded on this in the following statement to The Libertarian Republic:

“The fact that an organization like this is willing to get involved so directly only highlights the ludicrous and arbitrary nature of these restrictions. I believe that is pretty clear to anyone that has been closely following the county’s covid response and the information they have been providing to the public. 

How you can you believe this is really about saving lives when: 1) 50% of the new hospitalizations in St. Louis are coming from places outside of the county, 2) they state that most of the new spread is coming from small gatherings in homes, and 3) Dr. Garza of the St. Louis county covid taskforce recently stated publicly that, “Even if we did shutdown restaurants and bars, I don’t know how much of an impact that would have on transmission, because there is so much now out in the community,”. 

I understand the pressure felt by a politician to “act” during trying times. However, it’s clear from the very information they’ve presented to the public, that restaurants in St. Louis County are NOT one of the major drivers of increased transmission of the virus nor the increase in hospitalizations. Our restaurants are being used as a scapegoat. A convenient target for a county executive lacking the power to to change human behavior in places where they claim the higher rates of transmission are actually occurring.”

Neil Struharik, owner of Tucker’s Place steakhouses, spoke with Austin Petersen on the KWOS Morning Show about his frustration with Sam Page’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and the lawsuit being brought in response to the latest mandatory closure orders. Struharik talked about the hundreds of restaurants and distributors getting involved in the pushback against Page. He stated the St. Louis County Executive has been stricter on St. Louis County than any other region in Missouri, and that he is specifically targeting and bullying restaurants in the midst of the holiday season—one of the most important times of the year for restaurant employees. Struharik also pointed out that, in spite of being the most restrictive, St. Louis County has one of the worst records for coronavirus cases and that Sam Page is looking for a scapegoat.  

Later in the day, Struharik told The Libertarian Republic that he had spoken with attorneys for the pending suit, and that a “complaint from 40 local restaurants with a restraining order” would be filed Tuesday. It is expected to be in front of a judge by the end of the week. He went on to say that the number of restaurants joining the lawsuit is expected to increase dramatically by the end of the week.

Ultimately, the Tucker’s Place owner said everything they are doing is for their people.

“This really isn’t about money or even principle. This is about people. This is about the families that we care about that have carried us all these years in our businesses and helped us build the businesses that we have.”

The post Fed Up With Sam Page: The St. Louis County Restaurant Rebellion #STLFoodFight appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

“When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.”

– 1 Corinthians 13:11 (New American Bible)

When I was a young pup, my father sent a letter to the governor of Missouri advocating a particular cause. As I was already a somewhat precocious young writer, I asked if I could send my own letter along with it. Dad agreed.

I don’t remember much of what was in my letter, but what I do remember makes me shudder in shame. For example, I’m pretty sure that I asked Governor Kit Bond to cap candy bar prices at twenty-five cents apiece. (What can I say, candy bars were an important part of my life.)

This would hardly be the only outrageous request I would make to an authority figure; I once wrote a letter to Santa asking for my own personal flying reindeer. I didn’t specifically request Rudolph—I’d have been happy with his half-brother Randolph, or even one of Blitzen’s bastard kids. I didn’t get any flying reindeer that year and I am still super pissed about it.

Looking back, though—what makes a kid think that the government could (or should) set candy bar prices in the first place? Was I that naive?

Short story: yes. But at least I came by it honestly. My father is a member of the Silent Generation and my mother is a baby boomer. They had a lot of respect for the government and they passed this along to crumb cruncher Chris. And that’s understandable, when you consider the things they saw the government do:

Build Hoover Dam

Implement the “New Deal“*

Overcome the Great Depression**

Invent the atomic bomb

Win a war against fascism on two different continents***

Finally fix the Civil Rights mess****

LBJ’s “Great Society“*****

Put men on the moon******

_{*f#ck this noise though}

_{**no relation to the New Deal}

_{***with help from the limeys and more than a few commie “friends”}

_{****a mess government created in the first place}

_{*****f#ck this noise too}

_{******at least the fascists we beat a few years before didn’t help us with this. Wait, what?}

No wonder my parents’ generations thought big about government. (And don’t even get me started on my grandparents’ generation—they practically created a religion around FDR.)

Bottom line: our government used to do some really cool shit. If they can put a man on the moon, surely they can keep a Snickers bar from costing more than two bits.

While such micromanaging of the economy may seem like an exaggeration, government actually does far worse things these days. If only their meddling was limited to candy bars. I think of Dr. Malcolm from Jurassic Park: “Your (politicians) were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Along similar lines, as a younger Missourian with a mind of mush, I was taught that “right” and “wrong” were roughly equivalent to “legal” and “illegal.” That particular piece of indoctrination is insidious. It takes years, nay, decades to unlearn that once it’s burned into your brain.

Never shy about quoting myself, I refer you to a high school philosophy paper I wrote in January 1990 humbly titled “Morrillism.” It included these wonderfully clueless nuggets of ‘wisdom’:

Substance addictions have been given a bad name. To be completely honest, some of these little habits can be very important.

It’s okay to be hooked on something as long as…

1. It’s cheap.
2. It’s legal (this is very important!)

(In retrospect, I was simply justifying my own addictions to coffee and cheap beer.)

Then, later on in the same paper, I doubled down on the inanity:

What makes you happy? This is one thing where almost everyone differs. Here is the key to happiness (at no charge!)

If you get a kick out of it, do it, as long as…

1.  It is legal (once again, this is important)
2.  and it falls within your budget.

Oh, what a sweet summer child I was. So sweet it’s amazing that I didn’t give myself type 2 diabetes. (You can tell, however, that I have at least always been consistent about one thing: being a cheapskate.)

I can’t solely blame my parents or grandparents for instilling me with a respect for government and a legality-based view of morality. No, my schools did a lot of that too.

When we were taught history, specifically the early days of the country after the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation were given extremely short shrift. My teachers, both in my public high school and my state college, talked about the Articles in much the same way that the school nurse might talk about head lice.

The recurring theme: the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced, because the national government it formed was too weak to get anything done. A weak government! Oh, the horrors!

As an adult, I look back on this and think: a federal government too weak to get anything done sounds pretty kick ass! In my old age, I would be fine with the Articles being brought back, plus the Bill of Rights and some language mirroring some of the subsequent amendments (most notably 13, 14, 15, 19, 24, and 26.) (Notice I didn’t mention Amendments 16 and 17, both of which should be killed with fire. Much like head lice.)

I remember another sweet innocent question that I asked my parents as a tot: “Do the police have to follow laws?” And its companion question: “Who arrests police if they do wrong?” They didn’t have a good answer for either question. America is still struggling with this in 2020.

In my old age, I have grown to become quite skeptical of activist government. I also now know that legality does not equal morality; far from it. I have lost faith in both government and Santa Claus.

Santa Claus and government really aren’t that much different.  One doesn’t exist and the other really shouldn’t. In any event, you shouldn’t be counting on either for free stuff or moral guidance.

My naivete as a youngster was focused around the government as a force of good. My naivete as an adult may be focused around the idea that we will ever be able to shrink or rein in that same government. Using government to fight government—isn’t that just precious?

If it sounds like I’m evolving (or devolving) into an anarchist, maybe you’re onto something.

The post Out of the Mouths of Babes: Big Government Gets It Done appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

“A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.”

-Mark Twain (apocryphal)

I’m not saying that I’m a voracious reader, but when I was a child, I set a goal to read every book at the local public library. I think I had read about a fictional character doing such a thing (perhaps Encyclopedia Brown, a kindred spirit if there ever was one) and thought I was up to the same task.

I was not.

Lest you think that the “square” in Laissez-square is not earned, consider this: in maybe sixth grade, I  volunteered to help tutor kids at summer school in exchange for…a key to the school library. (And the occasional treat from the cafeteria freezer that the principal was willing to share on the sly.)

And if that’s not square enough, I also tore through comic books at a fierce pace around that same age. But mostly Archie comics, which were never particularly cool in any decade. (How they managed to take that  pablum and turn it into something semi-hip with Riverdale, I’ll never know.)

As I grew older, this love of reading led me many places:  books about history, government, biography/autobiography, mystery, horror,  current events, and so forth. I read magazines, including National Review and Hillsdale College’s Imprimis. My mother has always kept a pile of cheap paperbacks around the house, and I read some of those too. (Some trashy romance novels included…a few of which were surprisingly salacious, especially considering it was a more conservative time.)

My family always watched the evening news. I remember mimicking Walter Cronkite’s habit of shuffling of papers around on his anchor desk. We got the regional paper every day, too. (Back when Cape Girardeau had two dailies…the Southeast Missourian and the Bulletin-Journal. I was always a Bulletin-Journal guy.) Not to mention the local paper, the Illmo Jimplicute, which published a couple times a week and gave a sometimes uncomfortably up-close view of the goings on around our weird little town.

As a result, I am what you might call an “information junkie.” I like to know things. The internet was a particular godsend for folks like me. Instant unlimited information that is also (mostly) free. What’s not to love?

In my post-internet adulthood, I established a certain morning routine that feeds this habit:

1. Get up around 05:00.
2. Make a pot of coffee.
3. Drink coffee.
4. Cruise the internet for news and such.
5. Get decent.
6. Drink even more coffee/get to work
7. More coffee around 14:00 (if needed)

Step #4 is the most important part of the morning. I have a list of sites I visit more or less every day. They are:

CNN.com

Yes they are liberally biased, and have really kicked that into an almost laughable overdrive under President Trump. Somehow they are now often to the left of even MSNBC. But it’s wise to peek behind enemy lines once in a while. More on that below.

(Substitute NBC News or USA Today here if you want.  Fox News if you want wall-to-wall 24/7 Trump adoration.)

Facebook

If you get most of your news from here, well, you’re screwed. It’s mostly used for passing around hoaxes and conspiracy theories these days. And memes.

Almost as a side item, it’s sometimes nice to be able to keep up with friends and relatives.

It will be fun to see if they start cracking down on political content following their ominous change in the terms of service effective October 1 of this year.

Twitter

On February 18, 2018, I posted this on Facebook:

“I stayed off Twitter for the longest time, as I perceived it to be a shallow den of celebrity worship. It still is.

However, it is somewhat fun/terrifying to see a sitting president have a mental breakdown in real time. So it has that going for it, which is nice.

(He is kind of the perfect guy to reign supreme in a shallow den of celebrity worship. Given that our entire planet is a shallow den of celebrity worship, it’s kind of what we deserve.)”

Two-and-a-half years later, nothing has changed. I have a lot of good political follows there, though.

I’d like to think I’m a good follow too, but my number of followers says otherwise. If I had feelings, this would hurt them. (Hint, hint.)

Reddit

The less I say about this place, the better. I steal a lot of memes from there, though.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

They are also liberally biased, but they are still by and far the best source for news out of St. Louis and eastern Missouri. Plus I have a friend who works there.

I actually subscribed to the digital edition a ways back because I got sick of fighting their paywall. Plus, you can’t constantly threaten to cancel your subscription if you don’t have one.

Memphis Commercial-Appeal

They are also liberally biased (what a shocker, I know), but I lived in the Memphis area for five years, and I still like to see what sort of mischief goes on down there. Hint:  a lot.

Southeast Missourian

My local paper, mentioned earlier. They are notable for being conservatively biased. (Really, there is such a thing.) Plus I have several friends/acquaintances who have also worked there over the years.

I also subscribe to the digital and print editions of this fine paper. Because I hate paywalls and the environment.

James Lileks (more specifically The Bleat)

Mr. Lileks is a writer/author/columnist from Minneapolis whom I’ve been reading since about 1995. “The Bleat” is a long-form blog published daily since about that same time. (Calling it a “blog” is somewhat misleading, though, because he started this before anyone really knew what a blog even was.)

I enjoy his style and agree with him on many things. Plus, he may be one of the only persons on the planet who is more…how you say…relentlessly organized than I am.

Dilbert

Scott Adams is a very smart but also very weird dude, who has really gone the extra mile in alienating people since Trump became president by relentlessly supporting Cheeto Jesus. I don’t want to get too deep into his reasoning, but it’s something about Trump being able to bend reality to his will with his superhuman persuasion skills. (Which Adams coincidentally claims to possess on much the same superhuman level.) If you want to really go down the rabbit hole, dive into his blog here: Scott Adams Says. Tinfoil not included.

Casting all that aside, his relentless esoteric Trumphumpery hasn’t gotten in the way of keeping Dilbert a top-notch comic strip. It speaks to me on several levels.

The Drudge Report

Matt Drudge has his own issues, but the Drudge Report has been a go-to daily dive for me since 1996. He was overly optimistic about Romney in 2012, but has made it up to me since then by becoming a Trump skeptic.

The Libertarian Republic

Well, duh.

KFVS-12

My local TV station, a long time CBS affiliate. I have been watching them long enough to remember when they used Steely Dan’s “Peg” as bumper music. And yes, I’ve had friends who worked here too.  (Seeing a theme?)

This list is not all-inclusive. I bounce around the interwebs all the live long day, hoovering up all sorts of information from across our fair planet. Sometimes when I suffer delusions of grandeur, I think of myself as Mr. Universe from the movie Serenity:

“Can’t stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere.”

You probably noticed that I flagged several of my daily haunts as “biased” one way or the other. A word about that: as long as you are aware of a source’s bias, you can adjust for it and filter out the worst of it.

If I decided to boycott everything that offended me politically in some way, I’d have nothing to watch on TV, nothing to watch at the theater, no music to listen to, no sports to watch, and no place to get news. Grow a pair, put on your hip waders, and slog your way through it.

In fact, I think it’s important to go out of your way to read points of view that you don’t agree with. Otherwise, you end up in an echo chamber or a feedback loop that you may never escape from. If your ideas can’t survive differing opinions, your ideas may be trash. Feed your brain like you would your body: mix things up a little bit.

Just beware of brain farts.

On the subject of cranial flatulence: the brain food most likely to give you that, in my humble opinion, is talk radio. (With the obvious exception of our gracious host Austin Petersen, whose show is nothing but a bright ray of sunshine.) Much of the rest of talk radio is like shoving White Castles right into your noggin and then rinsing it with prune juice. I can usually tell which of my friends get all of their opinions from that medium. They tend to use the same set of talking points, and in ways that are often well outside their usual grasp of history or current affairs. Such as going on about the “Saul Alinsky playbook” or the “drive-by media.”

To me, talk radio seems to be a way of fomenting continuous outrage. Or, to really double (or triple) down on the fart analogy: it’s like one never ending (and very loud) air biscuit.

I live just down the street from Rush Limbaugh’s childhood home, and I appreciate his sense of humor and what he’s done for talk radio, but he has become largely insufferable since hitching himself to the Trump Train. And he’s probably the least odious of the big talkers. (Don’t even get me started on Hannity.)

When seeking out differing opinions, I try to find persons who are are open to admitting that their side is wrong once in a while. It’s a surprisingly short list. But the ability to call B.S. on your comrades carries extra weight with me. (In legalese, this is called an declaration against interest.)

During the George W. Bush administration, I often read Patrick Buchanan and Joseph Sobran to see how Dubya was being criticized from the paleoconservative right. During the Obama administration, one could do the same with Camille Paglia or maybe Bill Maher. During the Trump Terrors, is no shortage of “Never Trump” Republicans out there, the most acid-tongued of all probably being Rick Wilson. George Will and Peggy Noonan are more sober in their critiques from the right.

Naturally, libertarians criticize everyone. Especially ourselves.

So, by that logic, are we among the most reliable groups out there to get information from? I say “yes,” but opinions vary.

Even with us, you might want to at least take a sniff to make sure we’re not also expelling cerebral gas in your general direction.

The post How to Feed Your Brain (and avoid brain farts) appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

As for now, Missouri’s 13 casinos are getting in a better place financially. Due to the Covid-19, they were closed from March to May. So Missouri has welcomed the customers back and they are safe for slots, players, and workers. There is no buffet but meals are still being offered. Chef Victor says that customers are getting more and more comfortable with dining at the casino.

Regeneration for Casinos was quite challenging because people were not comfortable sitting in restaurants. Employees have been trained well on how to stay sanitized in the kitchen and so far now, everyone is safe.

If there will be an issue, the gaming commission will make sure that anyone who will breach the regulation will be arrested.

Gambling during pandemic

People need to escape so they need some entertainment. Like many states, Missouri does not codify whether online gambling is permitted. As it exists in a sort of grey area. Some people are still using online casino webpages to stay at home without any interaction with the outer world. For those who still prefer gambling on websites, there are real money online casinos whose customers are mostly satisfied.

Chips, dice, cards, and slot machines are the things that are touched by hundreds of people in a day at casinos. Casinos are putting safety protocols in place to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.

Dealers place cards face up, so players will not touch them. Everything will be regularly sanitized. Happily, people are more encouraged to wash hands to take care of the environment. Chairs of the gaming floors are removed.

Every dealer in the casino is required to wear a mask and if a guest doesn’t use a mask then they need to offer one.

State casino operator history

Missouri’s first movement into gambling was in 1980. It was allowed to make Bingo halls in the state. In 1986 voters won with 70% approval to adopt the state lottery. The first gaming law was approved to allow riverboat gambling.

The lawmakers in the state had no need to interact with this sort of fuss. Some residents are very dissatisfied because of that. Nevertheless, this state still enjoys gambling services in the largest city in there.

Casino regulations are not strict when it comes to games so gamblers find electronic slots easily.

In 2019, during the legislative hearing about illegal gambling, the Missouri lottery and slot machines were accused of hurting public education in the show-me state.

Missouri gambling age

The legal Missouri gambling age for entering casinos is 21 across the state. Sports Betting is illegal. The main issue is that the state senate can not yet agree with that. There are no casinos in Missouri that accept 18 years olds, the possible age limit is high because it should discourage younger people from gambling.

The post Business picks up at Missouri’s 13 casinos since reopening in June appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.