The Washington D.C. wheeler-dealers are making patsies out of the rest of us. Members of Congress get million-dollar-plus expense accounts, lifetime pensions and lavish perks, but for the greedy, that's not enough. They're also racking up big bucks trading stocks in the very same companies Congress regulates...

I have long opposed making voting mandatory, an idea that pops up every few years. I still don't like the idea. But it's become more attractive, at least as a thought experiment. The arguments against compelling people to vote -- as Australia and a handful of other countries do -- run from the constitutional (it's coerced speech) to the cultural (this is America, dagnabbit) to the practical and the partisan...

Glenn Youngkin promised to be on the side of parents as Virginia governor, and on his first day in office, he delivered. The Republican issued an executive order allowing parents to decide whether their kids will wear masks in school, and met an instant wall of resistance from Democratic-controlled counties and criticism from White House press secretary Jen Psaki. A Washington Post headline said Youngkin is "terrifying people."...

The omicron variant of COVID-19 has surged to the point that many school districts are back to remote learning. When the transition was announced in my son's school, I felt a rush of relief. Though he's fully vaccinated, I knew he would be safer at home from the highly infectious omicron variant. We've seen many around us suffer breakthrough cases and as a person with autoimmune disease, I really want to get through this pandemic without testing my luck with infection...

This year may be the last January March for Life. I've attended many of the annual anti-abortion gatherings in our nation's capital, and it's a sight to behold. There's always a big showing from North Dakota, thanks to the University of Mary in Bismarck. ...

We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday of January -- this year, Jan. 17. On Aug. 28, 1963, King delivered one of the great speeches in American history, popularly known as the "I Have a Dream" speech. It is a speech that must be dusted off and studied anew today, because it contains the very message that our nation sorely needs to hear and digest now. A message that has been tragically lost and buried and replaced with great and destructive distortions...

Motorcycle riders can now leave their helmets at home, thanks to our state legislature and governor. Some riders have lobbied for this for years, and last session the politicians gave in. Now many riders will go without a helmet, and some of them will pay a big price...

I was sad to learn recently of Terry Teachout's passing. He was kind to me always, but he was especially kind to me when it mattered most, when I was trying to change careers in my 30s from computer programmer to, of all things, writer. I'm one of the only people who'll be writing an encomium for Terry who is from the same little place. ...

The city of Cape Girardeau streets are some of the worst in the state. They spend thousands of dollars on our parks. They have spent thousands on sidewalks, which many get very little use. What kind of impression do our terrible streets make on perspective new industries looking to expand to the Midwest. ...

A popular bluegrass festival returns to Fruitland this week, and this year's event will be extra meaningful to organizers. Tammy and Bull Harman have been regular promoters and organizers of the Bootheel Bluegrass Festival, which will celebrate its 15th annual gathering beginning Thursday and continuing through Saturday. But in December, Tammy's parents, in their 80s, lost their Reynolds County home to an EF2 tornado. Thankfully, the couple survived...

The average cost of an extended Covid hospital stay in Missouri is over $250,000. The cost of a simple in and out stay is over $53,000. How much does a vaccination cost? I'm guessing the workers that rip up concrete only to pour another thin layer on Lexington between Perryville and Kingshighway can do those repairs with their eyes closed...

Now with a new name to go with its new shelter, Southeast Missouri Pets, formerly known as Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, is poised to do even more good for our region in caring for stray animals and connecting these furry friends with their forever homes...

From the moment COVID-19 appeared, the pandemic became inseparable from politics. Political frenzy was inevitable since the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a level-4 security virology lab in Wuhan, China. The rapid-fire spread soon threatened to indict the Chinese communist government for nearly destroying the world economy and killing millions...

Once again, the arrogance and high-handed attitude of former and current Jackson R-2 administrators has cost the district, students and taxpayers dearly. What should have been an $800,000 payment has, over years of ridiculous wrangling, mushroomed to a $4 million payment. All those who advocated for dragging out this lawsuit -- current administrators, the district's legal team, etc -- should be summarily fired...

"The most dangerous pronoun discourse has nothing to do with gender identity. It's the undefined 'we' in public policy debates that's the problem." These are the words of Richard Morrison, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Morrison identified "the fallacy of we," and I'm often guilty of committing it...

Well, it looks like we're headed for autocracy, then. In his wisdom, Joe Biden decided to declare in his Georgia voting speech that there's a crisis in our democracy that can only be fixed if the Senate filibuster is eliminated to rapidly pass two sweeping Democratic voting bills on narrow partisan votes, an unlikely prospect that already looks completely dead...

Let us celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a great American who gave the ultimate sacrifice to free people and give them access to the ballot. Today across America our voting rights are under attack including here in Missouri, and we -- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents -- must put an end to it...

On Monday, we will pause to honor the life and legacy of minister and civil rights advocate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There will be events around the country, including locally, celebrating King's leadership and influence that played a key role in helping African Americans receive equal rights...

Last January, newly elected President Joe Biden pledged to fight racism and unify the nation. Instead, during his first year he's imposed a harsh agenda of racism in everything from distributing pandemic-relief aid to allocating scarce medicines for COVID patients. Racial favoritism is affecting every way Americans are treated by this administration...

More money going to waste in the state to lawyers because of state lawmakers who can't do a proper job and unwilling to fix their mistakes. When the police of the state are begging them to fix their vague and contradictory "Second Amendment Preservation Act." No one is surprised that they liked the name but didn't know what they were signing. Is no one at the state level government qualified?...

On Monday, Russian president-for-life Vladimir Putin explained that the "peacekeeper" paratroopers he sent to Kazakhstan to help quash civil unrest were part of his larger policy of preventing "color revolutions" in former Soviet-bloc countries. Putin made his remarks at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which the New York Times described as "a body equivalent to NATO that includes six countries from the former Soviet Union."...

Gov. Mike Parson recently announced a lawmaker from Cape Girardeau would be joining his administration. Wayne Wallingford, who had been serving as state representative for the 147th district, will take his experience from the Legislature, business and the military to serve as the state's next director of the Department of Revenue...

There is no question that the public education system in our country has failed many students. The students who thrive and do well are students who have goals and have the determination to reach those goals. These students come from many backgrounds, but one thing they have in common is they all desire knowledge and most learned the value of reading at a young age. And parents or grandparents or someone in their young lives encouraged them to read...

Two upcoming galas in Cape Girardeau will combine good causes with style. SoutheastHEALTH will host its fifth annual Journey Gala to benefit patients — and their families — receiving treatment at Southeast Cancer Center. This year's event has an African Safari theme and will be held at Drury Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. Along with live entertainment, dancing, great food and live and silent auctions, the gala will feature speed painter D. Westry and comedian Buzz Sutherland...

The Constitution must be defended — except when it must be jettisoned. We've heard much upon the anniversary of Jan. 6 about how Donald Trump wanted to distort the Constitution to get Vice President Mike Pence to try to throw the election to him a year ago...

As we await findings and conclusions of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack, let's take a moment and do our own soul-searching about what is going on. The House Select Committee is engaged in Washington's favorite pastime — looking for whom to blame. The sidelight of this pastime is the pretense that things that are very complicated can be made clear and simple...

The new year often feels like an opportunity to correct past mistakes — for example, improving one's diet or quitting smoking. This explains why 25% of Americans, and 40% of those younger than 30, make New Year's resolutions. Based on the latest poll from The Economist and YouGov, the Biden administration should adopt a New Year's resolution, too. In particular, it should reconsider its domestic policy agenda. Americans aren't buying it...

On the wall at home I have a picture of my brother Rex and me in a tennis tournament as kids. In my office, there are pictures of us together in front of the house we grew up in, as well as photos together at business events. When I play ping pong or tennis or watch football with my daughters or, currently, do anything, my mind often turns to fond memories of growing up with a brother who loved sports, laughter and competition -- and who was a business partner for the past 20 years...

The Charleston High School boys basketball team ended the 77th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament in a familiar position, teammates coming together at center court to raise a championship trophy. The Blue Jays defeated a competitive Jackson team 51-46 at the Show Me Center. It was the 20th time for powerhouse Charleston to win the tournament...

I would like to thank our mayor, city council members, and city management for the bonuses paid to all full-time city employees. You saw a need, an opportunity, and acted in a tangible way to demonstrate how much you appreciate the current employees going above-and-beyond to provide excellent customer service during the city employee shortage. I commend you on your wise decision!...

I am writing this letter on Jan. 3, 2022. Yesterday this country had a 204% increase in the 14-day average of the number of new cases of Covid-19. Although the 14-day average for deaths declined by 3%, more than 1,200 people died from this disease. At present the COVID-19 Omicron variant is the most contagious form of this disease. ...

Many students preparing to take college entrance tests such as the SAT enroll in courses to help them prepare, the thinking being the additional tutoring will raise their score and help them achieve their goals. A similar program right here in Cape Girardeau is helping college-hopeful athletes prepare for the next step of their journey...

The fullness of time, and now the omicron wave, have made it obvious how preposterous the chief lines of criticism against Donald Trump were during the pandemic. It has been said, over and over, that Trump almost single-handedly killed Americans. Chris Hayes a couple of months ago called for a truth-and-reconciliation-commission-type inquiry into how Trump "willfully got hundreds of thousands of people killed." Willfully!...

"Be my Mommy!" the banner in the CVS window read, part of a display of surplus Baby Emma dolls. It was the fifth day of Christmas, and I noticed during Mass — shortly before I went to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions — one of the petitions during the service was for those struggling to have a happy, peaceful Christmas. ...

One of the consistent components to success in life is education. More specifically, graduating from high school. It's something Cape Girardeau Central High School has been working on for several years. Recently, district officials announced 91.48% of Central's seniors graduated in 2021. It topped the state average of 89.62%...

At the beginning of a new year, it's traditional to make a resolution or two. I have no such list for myself or others, but I do have a wish. For 2022 and beyond, I wish all of us who still cherish liberal values will band together to oppose the worrisome rise of authoritarianism around the world...

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise." Proverbs 6:6 Edward O. Wilson, the Harvard biologist who has died at age 92, is most famous for his contributions to evolutionary biology, but he built his career on ants. He wrote multiple books on the insects, including a 700-page encyclopedic work in 1990 that has to count as one of the least likely winners of the Pulitzer Prize ever...

One great mystery is the persistent refusal of those on the left to abandon what is clearly not true. That is, that the means for reducing the burden of poverty is more government spending. It all really started in the 1960s under President Lyndon B. ...

The Democratic Party used to call itself the party of working people and hail the "dignity of work." No more. Now Democrats want to guarantee people who choose not to work an income funded by the suckers who do the right thing by showing up for work, caring for their family and paying taxes...