Billy Long: Democrats can't beat Donald Trump, but Republicans can

Seventh District Congressman Billy Long says GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has his complete backing..

Responding to the actions of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who said he would not make campaign appearances with Trump or defend him, while continuing to offer support to down ballot candidates.

Long says Ryan shouldn't be worrying as much about holding on to the House.

From Missourinet:

“No congressman puts people on the Supreme Court, the President of the United States does that,” said Long. “If we let Hillary Clinton get elected and put two to four people on the Supreme Court, the fabric of this country is going to be changed for the next 40 to 50 years.”

Long also says Republicans are responsible for any problems Trump is having:

“A Democrat cannot beat Donald Trump, but the Republicans can, and they’re sure trying right now.”

From 2012: Ed Emery: Public education is slavery and a pipeline to prison

Earlier today, I saw a question posed on Facebook to Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar, asking if the Turner Report post on Ed Emery's speech on education in Columbia was accurate. Kelley said it might be accurate, but that it was taken out of context.

Respectfully, Rep. Kelley, Emery's comments were not taken out of context and it was not the first time Emery has made such comments.

In the July 16, 2012, Turner Report, when Emery was making a successful run for his first four-year term in the State Senate, I included a video, in which Emery claims that public education is slavery and a pipeline to prison. The same video accompanies this post.

This is what I wrote four years ago:

Former State Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, has made no secret of his disdain for public education. It can be seen in the accompanying video where he likens public education in Kansas City and St. Louis as a "pipeline to prison." He also makes it clear in the issues section of his website. that public education is a form of slavery:

Vouchers are one way of providing the power of competition to state-run schools, but they are not the only way. Nevertheless, vouchers have worked where used, and all schools, both government and private, improved scores — some significantly. In addition, dropout rates always declined when competition was introduced via vouchers. 

However, big-government advocates fear competition and individual freedom. They argue that the use of vouchers will enslave private and parochial schools by “accepting government money and the strings that go with it.” They don’t trust private and Christian schools to read the law and make their own decisions about the risks and benefits. Yet, I believe it is a question of personal liberty, of choice. Why should big-government politicians decide whether or not parents and school administrators can make that decision? Non-government schools are capable of choosing whether or not they will accept vouchers; that is freedom. 

Freedom is about choice. The absence of choice is slavery — a form of imprisonment. It is freedom, not slavery, that produces opportunity, and it is opportunity that produces the prosperity and exceptionalism of the United States. In education, we have removed all of that choice.

Emery has little dealing with public schools, other than railing against them, since he homeschooled his children, which, of course, is his right.

It is not just Emery's positions on education that make his candidacy troublesome. Emery drew national attention six years ago for the final report issued by a special committee he headed studying the problems of illegal immigration in Missouri.

Emery's committee discovered that illegal immigration problems are caused by abortion and "liberal social welfare policies." The following is taken from a November 2006 Associated Press article:

"We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," Emery said. "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers

The AP article also featured Emery saying that the abortion claim had come up during testimony during the committee hearings. What Emery did not say was that he was the one who came up with that idea and gave the following quote to a now-defunct southwest Missouri blog in 2006:

"Twenty million potential workers have been needlessly killed. We would not need any immigrant workers at all if those twenty million aborted fetuses were contributing to the economy."

And if that isn't enough, Emery is also aligned with the birther movement.

In July 2009, he attended a birther meeting with lawyer Orly Taitz. The following passage comes from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Emery said he questions Obama's citizenship and he believes his alleged lack of a legitimate birth certificate ignores the Constitution.

Joplin city manager provides weekly update

(City Manager Sam Anselm provided the following update to the Joplin City Council Friday.)

Good afternoon, everyone. Please see below for this week’s update.

Key Meetings

-On Tuesday, I met with public works staff to review information about the replacement of the Jackson Avenue bridge. We have some better cost estimates on two options, one of which would leave the existing low water bridge in place and build a bridge further to the east. Staff will begin the process of setting up some additional neighborhood meetings to get feedback from residents before we bring a recommendation to you for your consideration.

-On Wednesday, I met with Chamber President Rob O’Brian for our regular meeting on economic development issues. Work on the Owens Corning facility continues, and we discussed two other potential projects that aren’t quite ready for public discussion yet. Progress on the Advanced Technical Training Center continues as well. We discussed the possibility of meeting prior to the first council meeting in November to tour the facility. I’ll work on the details, but if you are interested in the tour, please let me know.

Miscellaneous

-It has been a while since I’ve given you an update on the Priority-Based Budgeting process. We experienced a slight delay the past couple of weeks, not just because of budget meetings, but we also provided the consultants with current fiscal year budget data to include as our baseline for program costs, etc. The non-personnel cost allocation sheets have been re-distributed to departments, and they are in the process of returning them to me. I am looking at the possibility of using our November work session to give everyone an update on this process as well as an overview of the system for our newest members of the council.

-With Hurricane Matthew in the news, our emergency management director, Keith Stammer, sent an email earlier today in response to several inquiries he has received about how local residents can help with relief efforts. I’m copying his email here, for your reference and for those in the public who read this update. It’s solid advice. “I have heard from a few people who want to contribute, in some way, to the relief effort currently going on due to Hurricane Matthew. May I offer a few words? This is by no means an authoritative nor definitive statement, but it is an attempt to clarify a few points. So….

1. Wait! The hurricane is currently ongoing and will continue to do so for a few more days. This type of disaster is not like a tornado, which appears quickly and is then gone. Rather it is a relatively slow moving and massive storm that will take its time bringing damage to people and property. Right now people are still evacuating, sheltering and experiencing the full impact of this storm.

2. Watch! As these communities begin to come out of hiding, most will begin to assess their needs, inventory their resources and then match the two as best they can. When they identify shortages they will usually post their needs via electronic means -so keep tabs on local and state websites for information on what is actually needed.

3. Wonder! Put yourself in their situation by recalling the May 22, 2011 tornado we experienced. Many brought LOTS of contributions to us, both monetary and physical. While we were able to put the money to work immediately, the physical items took time, effort and resources to collect, sort, store and distribute. Unfortunately, some of those items donated couldn’t be used as they did not meet our needs. So I would encourage everyone to carefully consider what may be given in the way of aid:

A. Money: This is always the fastest and most efficient way to meet needs, allowing the on-site and local agencies leeway to best determine how to help those in need. Contributions to national organizations (American Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way and several others) can be made immediately – but understand that some organizations will not guarantee your funds will be spent exclusively on this hurricane. Be sure to check with them first if this a concern to you.

B. Other: Food/clothing/equipment/etc. Not every disaster is a total loss in which everyone loses everything. Needs vary across a region, to a greater or lesser degree. Again, consider waiting until the government, jurisdictions and organizations leading the relief efforts make known what they need. Then supply only what they ask for, in the quantity requested and delivered to the local specified.

-In case you missed the press release that went out earlier today, the city’s ISO rating has increased from a 3 to a 2, which is good news for home and business owners who have property insurance. A link to the full release can be found here, but we encourage home and business owners to contact their insurance representatives to see if this could help lower their premiums.

-Finally, I wanted to remind you that during heavy rain events, typically staff has to close road access to the low water bridges/areas on Jackson and on Murphy. Depending on when the weather event takes place and if crews are responding to other emergencies, there can be a delay between when the water recedes and when the gates are re-opened for vehicular traffic after debris has been cleared from the roadway. I’ve asked staff to explore other options to give better notice to residents who travel those areas, but while we research those solutions and related costs, I would ask you please relay to the residents you speak with that we try to open them as soon as we can, but only after it’s safe to do so.

 In the Pipeline

-Our website will soon be undergoing a renovation, so beginning next Tuesday, October 11th, staff will not be uploading much of any new content while CivicPlus does their work. We will continue to post road closures, agendas and minutes, etc., but we will rely more on the use of social media and email to provide updates during this time. Our hope is to have the new website back up and operational around the first part of November.

Tonight's debate and the Republican Party's nightmare

Tonight's debate was about the worst possible thing that could happen to the Republican Party.

The results of the debate may well have guaranteed a victory for Hillary Clinton.

Not because Donald Trump fell apart or rambled, though he did so at times.

The problem for the Republicans was that Trump was so much better than anyone expected, remembering that the bar had been set low.

That makes it that much harder, and it was already close to impossible, to convince Trump to drop out of the race. It would have been difficult for a replacement candidate, whether it be Mike Pence or someone else, to win and the campaigning would have been a logistical nightmare since it is too late to have Trump's name removed from the ballots, but it offered the Republicans possibly the only chance they had, barring an October surprise, to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Consider that the latest WikiLeaks release showed she maintains public positions that are different from her private positions. She still has not explained her missing e-mails. Sure, she's sorry she used a private e-mail account, but why did she feel the need to destroy the e-mails? It is easy to make the case of people gaining access to the secretary of state by contributing to the Clinton Foundation. You can make a good case against Clinton for her treatment of some of the women who have made accusations against Bill Clinton.

Bobby Jindal would have taken that information and crushed her with it and he never made any inroads at all in the Republican race.. In fact, Ben Carson is probably the only one, other than Donald Trump, who would not have bludgeoned Clinton to a massive defeat with those kind of weaknesses hanging over her head.

But just like Claire McCaskill, who wound up facing Todd Akin, the perfect opponent, in her re-election campaign four years ago, Hillary wound up with a gift- courtesy of the GOP and the media- maybe the only candidate she could defeat in a year in which everyone is wanting change.

For every one of Clinton's flaws, which might have been fatal to her election chances in any other year, Donald Trump has a worse flaw. Bill Clinton mistreated women, no doubt about it, but judging from everything he has said during the campaign, the Access Hollywood video and the Howard Stern tapes, Trump is definitely not the person who should make the case.

The Clinton Foundation is a problem, but Trump is not the one to prosecute the case since his foundation is a train wreck.

The e-mails probably should have been enough to keep her from becoming president, but Trump keeps creating so many problems for himself with his lack of self-control and his apparent lack of decency that he has never been able to damage her with them. The people who were already ready to vote against Clinton because of the e-mails will vote against her. Trump has not done anything to bring more people under his tent.

That being said, Trump showed slightly more discipline tonight than he did in the first debate, not enough to beat her, but enough to offer false hope to those who keep believing, despite all contrary evidence, that Trump has finally turned the corner.

A few other thoughts about tonight's debate:

-Libertarian Gary Johnson knows more about Aleppo than Donald Trump. Martha Raddatz sliced up Trump on her questions about Syria and Trump didn't know enough about the subject to know he had been wounded..

-Trump landed some strong blows with his mentions of the Clinton e-mails and hit some of the notes that the right wing of the Republican party wanted to hear, but he had some cringeworthy moments.
For instance, his putdown of Mike Pence. It was petty, especially considering the contortions Pence went through during the vice presidential debate to support Trump. I am not a fan of Pence, but he certainly deserved better than Trump and his hurt feelings offered him.

-Speaking of cringeworthy- how insensitive was it for Trump to say that a dead American soldier would still be alive if he were president?

-The most dangerous moment for Trump came when he proclaimed that he had never assaulted a woman in the manner he described during the Access Hollywood video. All the news media or the Democrats, or both, have to do is to find one person who can turn that statement into a lie. Perhaps Trump was just lying to impress Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, or we could be seeing the same kind of avalanche of accusers who came forward after Bill Cosby denied any wrongdoing.

-Clinton's strongest points came when she emphasized the children's health insurance program and after 9-11, times when she worked across the aisle with Republicans for the greater good. It was easier to imagine Clinton doing that than to envision Trump working with Democrats.

-Clinton's mention of Muhammad Ali was particularly fitting since her strategy seemed to mirror that of Ali when he fought George Foreman in Zaire in 1974. Clinton did Ali's rope-a-dope, allowing Trump to punch himself out. She didn't achieve the same result as Ali's knockout, but then that might have driven Trump out of the race.

And for the Democratic Party, Donald Trump continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.

(Photo by Stephen Crowley)

Roy Blunt: I'm sticking with Donald Trump (but I won't mention his name)

Only one member of Missouri's GOP Congressional delegation, Rep. Ann Wagner, has withdrawn her support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, following the release of the Access Hollywood video Friday.

Sen. Roy Blunt has made it clear that he will stand by Trump.

From the National Review:

Missouri Republican operatives say they now believe Blunt will pull it out — but he remains the rare GOP Senate candidate whose poll numbers lag behind Trump’s. That gives him every reason to avoid doing anything to hurt the top of the ticket, because if Trump’s number start to fall, there’s a possibility that his could too.

So Blunt, in his speech this afternoon, urged Republicans to back Trump, deeming this “the most important election ever.” “The most important thing about the presidential election and this Senate election . . . [and]Senate elections anywhere, is the Supreme Court,” he said. “The next president is more likely than not to appoint a new generational majority” to the Court, he added, without mentioning Trump by name.

Joplin Globe endorses Hillary Clinton- how many subscribers will it lose?

On this morning's opinion page, the Joplin Globe endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, the second time in the past three election cycles that the area's newspaper of record, in the middle of a rock-ribbed Republican area, has elected to endorse the Democrat.

In 2008, the Globe endorsed Barack Obama over Arizona Sen. John McCain.

In today's endorsement, the Globe Editorial Board, under the headline Nation at Risk,  said Clinton was better prepared to become president because of her experience and knowledge, and her support of the Patriot Act.

The editorial ended with this paragraph:

When it comes to the future security of America- the most important issue of our time- Clinton is the candidate who makes the most sense.

The Globe lost subscribers eight years ago. Will history repeat itself?

Links provided for top Turner Report/Inside Joplin posts for the week

It has been a busy week for the Turner Report/Inside Joplin blogs with viewers flocking to posts on numerous topics.

Turner Report readers were interested in posts on the Joplin Globe's obituary rates, health insurance pay increases for Joplin city employees, my take on Joplin's city elites and their penchant for getting us involved in things, losing millions, and then frivolous lawsuits are filed that have no way of recovering the money.

And that's just for starters.

It was also the week I took an allegedly humorous blast at Seventh District Congressman Billy Long and clown sightings and offered my opinion on Donald Trump's latest fiasco.

Two deaths topped the reader interest on the two Inside Joplin blogs- the announcement today of the death of a Missouri Southern State University student and the passing of realtor Charles Burt.

Links to the top posts are provided below:


The Turner Report

1. Brenda Schmid: What the Joplin Globe charges for obituaries is obscene

2. Much touted raise for Joplin city employees will barely cover insurance increase

3. Why Donald Trump's critics are wrong about Hollywood Access video

4. Insurance hikes for Joplin city employees far worse than Turner Report originally reported

5. The Blasters, Wallace Bajalli and other things the elites thought would be good for Joplin

6. Las Vegas authorities investigate clown sighting

7. Randy Turner, could you go crawl off and die like an animal

8. Former employee on obituary charges: Joplin Globe has to get its money somewhere

9. Ed Emery: Public education responsible for homosexuality, socialism

10. Enemies of public schools pour nearly $700,000 into Greitens campaign

Inside Joplin

1. MSSU student found unconscious in residence hall, dies at local hospital

2. Joplin Police looking for person connected to Wal-Mart collision

3. Wanted: White woman driving dented vehicle after Range Line accident

4. Jasper County Sheriff's Office Arrests

5. Jasper County Marriage Licenses

6. Jasper County Dissolution of Marriage Petitions

7. Joplin Police seeking information on Snak-Atak robbery

8. Joplin Police Department Arrests October 4-5

9. Joplin Police Department Arrests October 5-6

10. Joplin Police Department Arrests October 6-7

Inside Joplin Obituaries

1. Charles Burt

2. Ishmael Hankins

3. Jewell Mitchell

4. Roy Wilson

5. Betty Pigg

6. Paula Lee

7. Mike Stephens

8. Mitchell Aldridge

9. Shirley Daugherty

10. Linda Pennell

Inside Springfield

1. Springfield man sentenced to one year in prison for health fraud

2. Federal grand jury indicts eight Springfield residents, two from Willard for meth conspiracy

3. Greene County Dissolution of Marriage Petitions

4. Help needed locating fugitives last seen in Springfield

5. Springfield man pleads guilty to child pornography charge

Watch Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump Presidential Debate Live

McCaskill: Actions being taken to address opioid crisis

(From Sen. Claire McCaskill)

1,067
The # of Missourians who died of drug overdoses in 2014.

6
The # of times the Missouri State House has failed to take action on the opioid crisis since 2007.

Numbers speak for themselves. More prescription opioids are sold in Missouri than any other Midwestern state, and we have the 7th highest drug overdose mortality rate in the country. In 2010, more than 13,000 Missourians were hospitalized for opioid use.

:

But despite these facts, our state legislature has refused to implement a statewide prescription drug monitoring program—a commonsense measure that every other state in the country has adopted.

In the absence of action from Jefferson City, I've been fighting to make sure Missouri communities are getting the help they need:

I recently launched an opioids information and resource page to help Missourians find nearby treatment centers, and to provide healthcare providers and advocates with information on monitoring programs

I added language to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act to ensure regional monitoring programs, like those found in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, have access to federal resources normally reserved for state governments
I toured the state with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who was appointed by President Obama to lead government efforts on heroin and opioid abuse in America.

And I've held hearings and townhalls with law enforcement, medical professionals, and Missouri families affected by the crisis.

For more information on opioid addiction or abuse, please visitwww.mccaskill.senate.gov/opioids.

Missouri communities are shouldering an unnecessary burden because of state inaction, but I won't let them shoulder it alone.

Enemies of public schools pour nearly $700,000 into Greitens campaign

While much publicity has been given to the amount of money Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens has received from proponents of right to work laws, the former Navy SEAL has also been receiving sizable contributions from anti-public school sources, including longtime voucher and charter school proponents.

A search of Missouri Ethics Commission documents shows that Greitens has received at least $695,000 with a record of attacking public schools and teachers while pushing for charter schools and privatization.

Among those contributing to Greitens:

$275,000 from Bernard Marcus, founder of Home Depot. Marcus gave $250,000 to the misnamed Families for Better Public Schools, a pro-charter committee in Georgia. (The only thing public about charter schools is that they drain taxpayer money from public schools. The public has no say in how the schools are operated, they do not have publicly elected boards, and board meetings are seldom, if ever, open to the public.)

$50,000 from Ron Weiser, one of the top contributors to the Great Lakes Education Project, an advocacy group for expanding so-called school choice and charter schools.

$10,000 from Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

$125,000 from Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger Management, who gave $25 million to the Success Academy charter schools.

$100,000 from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a private equity multi-millionaire who started the Rauner College Prep Charter Schools. Rauner recently said, "Half of Chicago Public School teachers are virtually illiterate."

$100,000 (five $20,000 contributions) from the DeVos family of Michigan, which originally found the pro-voucher group All Children Matter and Amway. Dick DeVos began the effort to undermine public schools by calling them "government schools."

$10,000 from Bill Bloomfield, chairman of Baron Real Estate, who spent more than three million dollars trying unsuccessfully to elect former charter school executive Marshall Tuck  as state superintendent of public instruction in California and contributed $2.1 million to Ed Voice, which fights teacher tenure laws.

$25,000 from Marlene Ricketts, Chicago Cubs owner. The Cubs charity contributes considerable money to Chicago charter schools.

 The amount of money Greitens has received from public education foes may be far greater than the contributions listed above.

The Republican Governors Association-Missouri has contributed $6 million to Greitens, funneling money from the Republican Governors Association a 527c organization that does not reveal its donors.

At this point, Missourians also have no way of knowing who contributed to the $1,975,000 Greitens received from a group calling itself  Seals for Truth, though that group is not 527c and will have to list its donors on its quarterly financial report which is due to the FEC by October 15. The contribution was the largest in Missouri history, until Greitens received $2.5 million from Republican Governors Association-Missouri, the largest of five contributions from the committee.

Greitens' website lists a one-paragraph statement on his beliefs on education:

Too many Missouri children and parents are trapped in failing schools. I’ll lead efforts to provide more choices and opportunities for kids who need it most.
Ironically, the tens of millions Greitens has received from out-of-state sources would go a long way toward alleviating the poverty that is responsible for many of the ills that face public education.