Taking advantage of a law that allows him to assign any case to any member of the state bar, Missouri’s chief public defender, Michael Barrett, appointed Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (a fiscally conservative Democrat finishing his second term) as the defense attorney of a poor client this week, citing the governor’s refusal to provide his office with the resources it needs.
Good people of Missouri, former Navy SEAL (and former Democrat) Eric Greitens would like to be your next Governor. Now please watch him fire off a Gatling-style machine gun for 20 seconds.
Government by the people, for the people would be great if we, the people, weren’t such morons. In deed, in an effort to insure that good grammar shall not perish from the earth, Official House Resolution No. 1220 comes to the good people of Missouri from Rep. Tracy McCreery, who has apparently built up some deep-seeded loathing for her colleagueses abuse of the English language. In an interview with the Missouri Riverfront Times, McCreery explained that her fellow pubic servants’ constant slips of the tongue had the affect of “nails on a chalkboard” and that “it happens pretty much daily.”
Last night’s primaries likely provided great clarity in the presidential races on both sides. On the Republican side, Marco Rubio dropped out after a drubbing in Florida and John Kasich took the mantle as establishment favorite after a relatively easy win in his home state of Ohio. As for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton swept Bernie Sanders in four important states. And then there’s Missouri.
A specific genre of news story that has emerged during this wonderful time on earth is “[place of business] refuses to [render good and/or service] for gay wedding.” You may remember the bakery in Oregon or the bakery in Colorado or the pizzeria in Indiana. This morning, after a 39-hour filibuster, the Missouri Senate tentatively passed a bill that would make the state ground zero for all further instances of boutique shops choosing not to do business with gay people.
Flooding in the Midwest Tuesday shut down portions of two interstates and threatened hundreds of homes, the Associated Press reports. At least 18 people have been killed. South of St. Louis, the Mississippi river, swollen after days of torrential rain, is expected to crest at record levels later this week.
When the criminal trial of the HIV-positive college wrestler Michael Johnson began, BuzzFeed reports reports, his lawyer immediately fumbled her words, advising the jury her client was “guilty until proven innocent.” It was an inauspicious start to a trial that seemed, in retrospect, to have been stacked against the defendant in every way possible.
The events of the last month at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Columbia have been a sight to behold. From the seeds of student activism led by Black students in an area once known colloquially as Little Dixie, flowers have bloomed on college campuses across the country.
A University of Missouri professor who encouraged his students to stand up to the “bullies” threatening to kill black students on campus by taking a scheduled exam Wednesday has offered his resignation. Dale Brigham’s email about the exam was met with immediate backlash from some of his students, who accused him of not caring about their safety.
Posts from Mizzou students across a variety of social media platforms reflected a campus in turmoil on Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Melissa Click has apologized to the “campus community” and “journalists at large” for blocking a reporter from documenting a student demonstration on Monday. “I regret the language and strategies I used... [and also] the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice.”
