Jasper County, statewide candidates to appear at ice cream social

(From the Republican Women of Jasper County)

The Republican Women of Jasper County is hosting an Ice Cream Social, July 12, 2022 at 6:00 PM in the Carthage Memorial Hall at 407 S. Garrison Avenue. 

In addition to enjoying delicious Hershey’s Ice Cream, the ladies have invited all the contested local and statewide Republican candidates. The candidates will begin speaking at 6:30 P.M. This is a free event!

At this free, family-friendly event, you are encouraged to meet the various candidates. This is your opportunity to vet your candidates before the August 2nd Primary. Over 24 of the Republican candidates have confirmed they will be attending the Ice Cream Social. In addition to ice cream, there will be a silent auction and a raffle.

The Republican Women of Jasper County are affiliated with the Missouri Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women. It is our goal to encourage the ladies of Jasper County to participate positively in the political process. 

The Republican Women of Jasper County meet at 6:00 PM the second Tuesday of each month at El Palenque 708 W. Fourth Street Webb City.

For more information contact the Republican Women of Jasper County at rwjcmo@gmail.com.

Trump: You can forget about Vicky Hartzler for Senate

Former President Donald Trump appears to be nearing an endorsement in Missouri's U. S. Senate race, and while he has not said who he would endorse, he made it clear on his Truth Social site that it won't be Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler.

From the Kansas City Star:

“You can forget about Vicky Hartzler for Senate from the Great State of Missouri,” Trump wrote. “She called me this morning asking for my Endorsement, much as she has on many other occasions. I was anything but positive in that I don’t think she has what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats, together with their partner in the destruction of our Country, the Fake News Media and, of course, the deceptive & foolish RINOs.”

Trump issued a statement of support for Seventh District Congressman Billy Long, but made it clear he was not endorsing Long.

With Long running a distant fourth in what is looking to be a three-candidate race between Hartzler, former Gov. Eric Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, it would seem Trump will likely endorse either Greitens or Schmidt.

Nancy Hughes: To be like me

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Matthew 18:6 (NIV)

My daughter has always loved to paint. Pictures. Rooms. Furniture. It doesn’t matter. She has always believed – and I agree – that a fresh coat of paint can make anything look new again. That is why she was painting a bathroom in my home. It had not been updated in years and she had a great idea to paint stripes from the middle of the walls to the floor.

The colors were unique and the work intricate as she painstakingly brushed each stripe free-handed without using tape to mark the vertical lines. Her two-year-old daughter Lola sat on a tiny stool and watched every move her mother made. She would clap her hands periodically and giggle “Yeah Mommy. Good job, Mommy.”

Finally, my daughter took a lunch break and we all went into the kitchen to fix sandwiches. As we sat down to eat, my daughter suddenly stopped and said “Mom, where is Lola?” Afraid of the answer, we both ran to the bathroom. The newly painted bathroom. And there was Lola, paintbrush in hand, making her own version of stripes horizontally across the wall. All the while she was giggling “Yeah, Mommy! Yeah, Lola!”

“Lola! No, no!” my daughter gasped and, grabbing the paintbrush from her, gave Lola a swat on her bottom. Lola began to cry and ran to the living room as my daughter surveyed the creation Lola had left behind on the walls. My daughter hung her head.

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “You can fix that.” But she shook her head. “It’s not the wall, Mom. It’s what I just did to Lola. Did you hear her? She was only trying to be like me and do what I did. She just wanted to be like me.”

Matthew 18:6 speaks clearly and loudly as Jesus states that it would be better to sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown than to be a poor example to “little ones.” While He is talking about “little ones” who are new in their faith, it certainly applies to how we model behavior to our children as well.

Do you have children who are watching your every move? Do you find yourself smiling as you hear what they say and do because they are trying to be you or are you cringing at what you are hearing and seeing?

For example: when you tell someone how nice they look and when they have walked on, remark that you really didn’t like what they were wearing, what does your child learn from you? If you see who is calling on your cell phone, ignore the call and later tell the person you didn’t get their call, what behavior are you teaching to your child who is watching you?

My daughter hurried to the living room to hug Lola and apologize for the swat. She brought her back to the bathroom, told her how much she liked her drawing, and asked her to help finish the wall. They spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and painting together. “Yeah, Mommy! Yeah, Lola!”

Father, please help me to be a Christian example to my children in all things so that by watching me, they will want to know you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflection:

Have you ever heard something negative your child has said and realized that it came directly from listening to you?

How did it make you feel?

Apply

Consider conversations that you have heard your children having with each other that are directly related to conversations you have had.

If they reflect a poor Christian example, apologize to your children and share Scripture as you strive to do better.

Power

Matthew 18:6 (NIV) “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Ephesians 5:1 (NIV) “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children . . .”

Titus 2:7 (NIV) “In everything set them an example by doing what is good.

(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.) 

Agenda posted for Carthage City Council meeting

 

Federal judge dismisses Schmitt lawsuit blaming China for COVID-19

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s lawsuit blaming China for COVID-19 was dismissed Friday when a federal judge ruled his court has no jurisdiction over foreign governments.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, in a 38-page ruling, wrote that a federal law setting rules for when a sovereign foreign entity could be sued in U.S. courts doesn’t allow any part of the lawsuit filed by Schmitt in April 2020 to continue.

“All in all, the court has no choice but to dismiss this novel complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” Limbaugh wrote.

Schmitt’s office filed a notice of appeal immediately after Limbaugh made his ruling.

When Schmitt filed the lawsuit, he claimed China was responsible for allowing the novel coronavirus to cause a global pandemic by covering up the initial infections in Wuhan.

“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” Schmitt said in a news release when the lawsuit was filed. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”

It took more than a year to get any of the nine defendants served with notice of the lawsuit and $12,000 to translate the complaint into Chinese.

The lawsuit was the first of its kind in the U.S. attempting to hold the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party liable for COVID-19, Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitt’s office, said in an email statement to The Independent.

“The office disagrees with the court’s decision to let China off the hook, and today promptly filed a notice of appeal in this case to continue Attorney General Schmitt’s efforts to hold China accountable – we look forward to prevailing on appeal,” Nuelle wrote. “Our fight continues on to make China pay.”

Schmitt, attorney general since 2019, is a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and has touted the lawsuit as an example of his willingness to confront Chinese power if elected.

Soon after it was filed, legal experts predicted that it would fail.

Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California at Hastings College of Law, told the Washington Post in April 2020 that she did not “see any portion of this lawsuit succeeding under the law as it currently stands.”

Along with the Chinese government and the Communist Party, the lawsuit named three national Chinese government agencies, the governments of Hubei Province and Wuhan, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“After the complaint was filed, plaintiff attempted Hague Convention service, but China posted notice on its web site that it was refusing service under Article 13 of the Convention, which allows signatories to refuse service that would violate sovereignty,” Limbaugh wrote.

The Hague Convention is an international agreement that creates a central agency in each signatory nation for accepting service of court papers on behalf of its citizens and entities. By refusing service, the government agencies are immune from being held liable, Limbaugh wrote.

The only remaining question, Limbaugh wrote, was whether Schmitt was correct in describing the Communist Party, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences as non-government entities.

Schmitt’s complaint alleges that the Communist Party controls everything in China. While it is technically a separate legal entity in China, it has effective total control, making it part of the government, Limbaugh wrote.

Limbaugh listed the allegations – failure to contain the virus within China, lying about

transmissibility and delaying, censoring, or withholding critical information and noted it is “not the type of conduct by which a private party engages in ‘trade and traffic or commerce’ and thus it is not commercial activity.”

Schmitt’s argument that the actions of the institute and the academy fit commercial activity exceptions in the law, is not convincing, Limbaugh wrote. The alleged conduct has to have a “direct effect” on commercial activity, he wrote.

“The court cannot conclude that the core misconduct had an immediate consequence – a ‘direct effect’ – in the United States,” Limbaugh wrote. “Many intervening events would necessarily have occurred before the mishandling and coverup resulted in COVID cases inside the United States.”

TV ad spending approaches $10 million in Missouri U. S. Senate primary

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

In late March, a poll from Trafalgar Group showed the Republican Senate primary in a dead heat.

U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, with 24.9%, held a slight edge over former Gov. Eric Greitens, with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt just behind but all within the 3% margin of error.

Three months later, after nearly $10 million of television ad spending along with radio and social media buys, little has changed. In the polling firm’s latest survey, completed June 30, Hartzler had 24%, slightly ahead of Greitens, with Schmitt within the 2.9% margin of error.

“The needle hasn’t moved much,” said Terry Smith, a political science professor at Columbia College.

And with almost one-quarter of Republican voters consistently telling pollsters they will vote for the candidate that wins an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, Smith said nothing is likely to change unless he acts.

“If nothing happens between now and election day in August, other than just normal campaigning, you probably would see the actual vote look kind of like what the polls look like,” Smith said.

The Independent reviewed Federal Communications Commission filings by 34 full-power television stations serving the state and found that of the eight major party candidates in the U.S. Senate primary running full-fledged campaigns, only four are buying time directly. Five political action committees are also airing ads to influence the race.

All but $227,000 of the $9.6 million spent on television ads since Jan. 1 has been for spots running after the March poll by Trafalgar Group.

Trudy Busch Valentine is the only candidate in the 11-person Democratic field with ads on the air. Valentine, the Anheuser-Busch beer heiress who entered the Democratic primary race in late March, has spent $822,135 for the spots in St. Louis and Kansas City. She has not reported fundraising totals but she has personal wealth of $67.5 million to $214.7 million.

Lucas Kunce, a Democrat who had raised $3.3 million by March 31, will begin his ad buys this week, said Connor Lounsbury, spokesman for Kunce’s campaign.

Otherwise, all the spending so far has been to influence Republican voters.

That includes almost $850,000 spent by Missouri Stands United, a PAC formed by former Sen. Jack Danforth, asking voters to turn away from the Republican field and support an independent candidate.

The biggest spender is Save Missouri Values, the PAC backing Schmitt. The PAC, which has raised $4.5 million, has spent just under $2 million on TV ads running in every market in the state. Schmitt’s campaign committee, which has raised $2.9 million, has spent $539,000 on television ads, all in the St. Louis television market where Schmitt is best known.

The other campaign and PAC spending totals are:

Team PAC, which backs former Gov. Eric Greitens, has spent $1.7 million. The PAC received one $2.5 million donation in 2021 from Richard Uihlein, who Politico identified as a billionaire shipping and industrial supply company executive. 

Greitens, who has raised $1.8 million for his campaign committee, had $345,000 on hand on March 31 and has not purchased any television time.

Show Me Values PAC, which opposes Greitens, has spent $1.5 million. The PAC, formed in early June, has not reported fundraising totals.

Hartzler has spent $1.3 million from her campaign committee, which has raised $2.9 million since the start of 2021 and had $1.5 million on hand as of March 31. There is no super PAC supporting Hartzler.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz has spent $642,560 from his campaign committee, which reported in April that it had raised $2.2 million including a $2 million loan from the candidate. There is no super PAC supporting Schatz.

WinMo PAC, supporting U.S. Rep. Billy Long, spent $156,775 of the $227,000 it has raised since the start of 2021. Long, who has raised $1.5 million and had $500,000 on hand March 31, has not purchased time with his campaign fund.

Based on recent purchases, Hartzler is on the air in the St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield markets. After making early purchases in the smaller markets like Cape Girardeau and Joplin, Hartzler is concentrating on the heavily populated areas.

Schatz, who started his ad buys in late May, has not made any purchases in the Kansas City market.

“In a multicandidate race, where your goal is to get 30% to 33% of the vote, to prevail in the primary you have to find media markets where you either connect with voters or the issues you talk about really resonate,” said Republican consultant James Harris, who is not associated with any campaign. “And you have to ignore some areas.”

A Republican candidate ignores the Springfield market at their peril, Harris said.

“Everyone will target southwest Missouri because it is really a honeypot for votes,” Harris said.

Most of the campaigns buy time during news shows, anticipating that news viewers are the most engaged voters.

But sometimes the program purchased can itself be part of the message.

During the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics from Beijing, Team PAC spent $20,000 to air a single spot on every NBC affiliate in the state attacking Schmitt’s record on China.

And the Missouri Stands United ad, where Danforth takes on the Republican Party he helped make the dominant force statewide, is airing during Family Feud on KDNL in St. Louis, which has no local news broadcast.

Republican consultant John Hancock, who has worked for Hartzler’s campaign, said managing media buys is a constant challenge.

“Every campaign and every PAC that is buying media has a media buyer working on their behalf,” he said. “Among their other duties, they are constantly surveying what competitive ads are running in the state and the district and communicating that back to the campaign.”

Campaigns and PACs are not allowed to coordinate their purchases. But by watching the public moves, such as ad purchases filings at the FCC, they can make tactical decisions about where to air ads, Hancock said.

For example, Save Missouri Values has spent only $213,000 of its $1.9 million in the St. Louis media market, the largest in the state. But that is also where Schmitt is spending his entire TV budget so far.

Candidate committees have a big advantage over PACs when it comes to obtaining air time and the price paid for spots. Stations must sell ads to campaigns, bumping regular advertisers if needed to air them at the time requested. PACs have no similar right to the airwaves.

And, Hancock noted, campaigns get the cheapest published rate for the program purchased. The cost of airing an ad is based on the number of viewers likely to see it.

For example, a 30-second ad on the 10 p.m. news on KSHB in Kansas City costs campaigns $400. For the PACs, the price is $880.

A PAC “is always going to be less efficient,” Hancock said. “Sometimes it is much less efficient.”

Billy Long: Invasion of Ukraine shows NATO not just a Cold War relic

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

We’ve heard a lot of talk about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the last few months. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, new countries have considered applying for membership to the military alliance. But what exactly is NATO? How did it get formed, and why is there a new focus on countries joining?

NATO started in 1949 when Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States all came together to create an alliance against the Soviet Union. 

It was all part of the containment strategy to prevent communism from spreading beyond the Iron Curtain into Western Europe. Four more countries joined before the Soviet Union dissolved and another 14 joined after the dissolution. The most recent member state to join was North Macedonia in 2020.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, NATO has taken on new prominence. Just a few weeks ago, NATO voted to allow Finland and Sweden to apply for membership. The two countries originally avoided joining for fear they might antagonize the Soviets. Finland has an 810 mile border with Russia and had even signed an agreement of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1948. 

Sweden on the other hand has largely seen itself as a neutral arbiter on the international stage, and therefore did not want to join an alliance with either side of the Cold War. 

The invasion of Ukraine has changed the calculations for both countries. Today in Finland, 75% of their citizens are in favor of NATO membership while 80% of Swedes are in favor. 6 months ago this looked a little different when only 20% of Finland's and Sweden's populations favored joining. What a difference an invasion makes. Russia’s unprovoked aggression against a peaceful neighbor has rattled the Citizenry of both Finland and Sweden.

One of the most important aspects of the NATO charter is Article 5. It says that an attack against one member state is an attack against all member states. This means that all NATO member states would respond militarily if one member state is attacked. Article 5 has only been invoked once, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11terrorist attacks on the United States. 

Every NATO country joined with the U.S. in our invasion of Afghanistan and the War on Terror. With Russia invading Ukraine, security assurances have been top of mind for Finland and Sweden. They understandably want the security assistance that NATO membership brings in order to deter Russia from invading their countries. 

All in all, the invasion of Ukraine has shown that NATO is not just a Cold War relic, but a military alliance still incredibly important in today’s world. What a difference an invasion makes and how much different the response would have been had Ukraine been a member of NATO. But like Dandy Don Meredith used to say on Monday Night Football "If, if's and but's were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas."

Vicky Hartzer: Inflation severely impacting ranchers and farmers

(From Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler)

Inflation isn’t just felt at the gas pump or the grocery store. It is also severely impacting our state’s farmers and ranchers.

As a farmer myself, I see firsthand the destruction the Biden administration’s policies are having on the agriculture industry. With fertilizer prices soaring 17% in the first six months of 2022 and a 5.1% increase in farm sector production expenses on top of a 9.4% increase from last year, it’s easy to see why our farmers are frustrated.

But there are solutions we could implement today which would put us back on track:

First, we must take immediate steps to unleash America’s energy industry and lower farm input costs. President Biden can do this by increasing oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, expediting pipeline permitting, and abandoning rulemaking designed to discourage investment in American energy.

Second, we must increase domestic fertilizer production. President Biden can accomplish this by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to consider potash and phosphorus for inclusion on the U.S. Geological Survey’s list of "critical minerals" and provide recommendations on how to boost domestic production.

Lastly, we must restore the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a science-based institution. With rising input prices, farmers deserve reliable access to critical crop protection tools, not the EPA creating additional uncertainty for producers by leaving them without readily available and cost-effective alternatives for key planting decisions.

If Democrats take our agriculture industry seriously, they will fight for these steps just as my Republican colleagues and I are in the House. I am hopeful we can come to a consensus for the benefit of our farmers and ranchers.

Joplin R-8 hires 15 teachers, accepts four resignations

During a closed session June 28, the Joplin R-8 Board of Education hired 15 teachers, accepted four resignations and hired 28 classified employees.

The board hired Jacob Williams as South Middle School principal.

Certified Resignations- Caroline Adams, Jennifer Matson, Kate Brinks, Erin Snodgrass

Certified Employment- Kailee Anderson, Chandler Brower, Melissa Carnahan, Tiffany Chiles, Shirley Kittrell, Angie Malcom, Madison Meinhardt, Jenny Moore, Sara Ruth, Cheryl Sieber, Todd Ellis, Justin Larsen, Kimberly Nally, Elizabeth Sanders, Casey Tullis

Classified Employment- Stephanie Allen, Alyson Armstrong, Glenna Broadaway, April Chew, Vicki Cobb, Evalyn Crawford, Elaine Darcey, Jonathan Davis, Amy Foulks, Meghann Fountain, Tyler Graves, Morgan Helms, Sarah Mayfield, Gina Mueller, Abigail Raum Elizabeth Schmidt, Jessica Skiles, Cassandra Sofia, Brian Starchman, Arleen Thomas, Charli Thurman, Susan Wear, Terry Bennett, John Blanken, Jermaine Boykin, Aurora Gonzalez- Gonzalez, Robert Harrington, Justin Lane, and Julie Webb 

Grand jury indicts Joplin attorney on fraud, drug charges

A grand jury in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma returned a 17-count indictment of Joplin attorney Daniel Thomas Giraldi today.

Giraldi, 44, is charged with Possession of Oxycodone with Intent to Distribute (Count 1); Possession of Clonazepam with Intent to Distribute (Count 2); Use of a Communication Facility in the Commission of a Drug Trafficking Felony (Counts 3-12); Interstate Travel to Aid Racketeering (Count 13); Honest Services Fraud (Counts 14-17) (superseding).

A news release issued by U. S. Attorney Clint Johnson outlined Giraldi's alleged offenses:

Giraldi allegedly possessed with intent to distribute Oxycodone and Clonazepam on April 19, 2022. Giraldi and a woman also allegedly engaged in a texting conversation about Giraldi providing the woman with Xanax on April 14, 2022.

 
He is further charged with traveling from Missouri to Oklahoma to distribute Oxycodone and Clonazepam. Finally, he is charged with honest services fraud.

According to the indictment, from February 2019 until April 20, 2022, Giraldi abused his official position as an Assistant District Attorney in the Ottawa County District Attorney’s Office when he secretly used his position to provide favorable official action related to certain defendants’ criminal cases in exchange for sexual acts.

Official actions included dismissing criminal charges, reducing charges and/or offering favorable plea agreements; moving court dates; reducing bond amounts and dismissing or reducing traffic infractions.

Prosecutors also alleged that Giraldi took steps to cover up his activity by communicating via untraceable physical notes, using secured messaging applications, communicating in coded language, and using the trappings of his office to perform official actions for his own gain. The FBI is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle M. McWaters is prosecuting the case.

Earlier post- FBI arrests horny Joplin attorney on bribery, drug charges