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Stacy Kinder: Cape mayor speaks out after shooting at Cape Central commencement (5/21/24)6I am sitting in my empty house as my extended family takes my son, a 2024 Cape Central High School graduate, out to dinner to try to salvage a celebration of his graduation and all he has achieved. I’m not able to go to that dinner, because I am, in gut-wrenching honesty, trying to process what happened a few hours ago at the CHS graduation, where gun violence marred a beautiful family and community event. I am one of thousands of people here in Cape who have had this day turned on its head in a traumatic fashion.
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Rich Lowry: Harrison Butker is right about men and women (5/21/24)To judge by the internet reaction, Kansas City Chiefs place-kicker Harrison Butker is guilty of a dreaded double-doink — a missed field-goal attempt that embarrassingly hits both uprights — with his commencement address the other day. ...
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Veronique de Rugy: Why no politician can ‘fix’ prices (and why that’s OK) (5/20/24)Prices are threads stitching together the fabric of our economy. They guide countless producers, here and abroad, to meet the most urgent demands of countless consumers. Prices enable the economic coordination of millions of individuals — each with his or her own unique preferences, skills and resources — with no need for a central planner. They direct entrepreneurs and innovators, signaling where opportunities lie and where resources are most needed. ...
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: Graduates need to know that life is bigger than their GPA (5/20/24)"Your success in high school does not determine your success in life." My high school English teacher Chuck Keller told me this, and it was exactly what teenage me needed to hear. Chuck was right, and I’m here to pass on this little nugget to young adults today. ...
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Michael Reagan: It’s all about Nov. 5, America (5/20/24)What’s happening on CNN and MSNBC is disgusting, but not surprising. Some of their so-called pundits and reporters have been downright giddy while watching Donald Trump on trial in New York City. They think that the New York DA’s office is doing God’s work, not Joe Biden’s. ...
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Star Parker: Fix Social Security with ownership, not more government (5/18/24)4The trustees for Social Security have just issued their annual report. And, as we have learned annually over recent years, the system cannot meet its obligations. According to this latest report, the Social Security system will not be able to meet its obligations to retirees by 2035. In 2035, the system will be adequate to meet just 83% of its obligations.
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Rich Lowry: Biden has disastrously misplayed the politics of Gaza (5/18/24)2It’s bad enough that President Joe Biden is playing politics with the war in Gaza, but even worse — at least for his purposes — that he is doing it so poorly. Biden may imagine that he is maneuvering with incredible skill — subtly balancing geopolitics, alliance management and domestic imperatives — when he is really upsetting all sides in the course of further undermining his already-rickety presidency.
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Betsy McCaughey: Shafik, other college presidents have mission confusion (5/17/24)Columbia University President Minouche Shafik is urging university leaders across the country to do some "serious soul searching." Good advice. She should start with her own soul. Shafik has the wrong idea about the purpose of a university. She and likeminded college presidents are turning preeminent universities into factories, churning out social activists who are adept at shouting down their opponents, squaring off against cops and vandalizing buildings but who acquire little knowledge and few reasoning skills during college.
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Jonah Goldberg: Biden still trails Trump; It’s more than inflation, Gaza, age (5/16/24)6A batch of new polls from the New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer has very bad news for President Biden: He’s losing. Among registered voters, he’s significantly behind in five of the six battleground states that are most likely to decide the election. He does slightly better among likely voters but remains behind in five key states.
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Jason Smith: Rooting out antisemitism on campus (5/16/24)Like so many Americans, I have been absolutely appalled by the rampant antisemitism we’re seeing on college campuses. It’s unacceptable that in America in 2024, vicious mobs are harassing, chasing down, and blocking students from entering buildings on college campuses because of their Jewish faith. And let me be clear: these mobs aren’t anti-war protestors; they are terrorist-supporting hate groups.
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Rich Lowry: A presidency in its dotage (5/15/24)3Is anyone surprised that Joe Biden is caving? It’s what he does. In a disgracefully craven move, President Biden has paused weapons shipments to Israel to try to prevent the Jewish state from launching a full-scale offensive against the remaining Hamas military stronghold in Rafah.
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Kathryn Lopez: The long haul of love (5/15/24)We cannot live without mothers. That seems like it should be an obvious point. But we have examples in recent culture and politics that suggest otherwise. The vice president of the United States recently visited an abortion clinic. As much as the issue of abortion has been important to the Democratic Party, no president or vice president had previously made such a visit. At his own abortion-rights rally, our Catholic president made the sign of the cross, as if to call upon God’s blessings for more abortions.
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Victor Davis Hanson: Try a little honesty about Israel (5/14/24)4Scan news accounts of anti-Israel campus and street protestors. Read their demands and manifestos. Collate the confusion after October 7 from the Biden administration. Here are 10 of their most common untruths about Oct. 7 and the war that followed.
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Holly Thompson Rehder: From teacher raises to opioid prevention: What Missouri’s new budget means for you (5/14/24)Hi y’all! What a week it has been in Jefferson City! There were certainly some highs and lows, but in the end, several bills were passed in the Senate and the fiscal year 2025 state operating budget was sent back to the Missouri House of Representatives with the Senate’s changes. It should pass smoothly and make it to the governor’s desk before the 6 p.m. deadline Friday evening. Granted, we cut it closer than almost any other session in history.
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Campus protests are just pale imitations of the 1960s (5/13/24)4It seems silly to write a column about the recent college protests. It’s not really news when privileged students who have never been in the line of fire and whose most pressing concern is what pronoun they’ll use on any given day decide to rise up against the establishment...
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Is the union resurgence real? Does it matter for workers? (5/13/24)Unions are said to be having a moment. The story goes something like this: Helped by a presidential administration that touts itself as the "most pro-union in history," labor unions — after decades of decline — are winning big victories against anti-union corporations and extracting impressive concessions for their workers. But is it all true?...
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It takes courage to write in the digital age (5/13/24)Erma Bombeck was right when she said, "It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else." I thought of this quote when my friend Gina Barreca recently asked on social media, "Writers: Why is it hard to hit 'send' even after all these years?"...
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Lucas Presson: Why I’m grateful my mom didn’t let me quit piano (5/11/24)5Growing up, I didn’t experience a major rebellious phase. I’m sure I had my moments, but frankly, between my parents’ guidance and church involvement, I stayed out of trouble for the most part. Looking back, I’m grateful for the direction they provided. However, one memory stands out—a conversation with my mom when I was 12.
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Guest commentary: A mother’s role in advancing shared parenting in Missouri (5/11/24)1n this Mother’s Day, Missouri has much for which to be thankful. We became the fifth state to pass Shared Parenting legislation in 2023. Shared parenting advocates are pro-mom and dad! But they are especially pro-children! Motherhood is a blessing to me, and I will readily admit that the challenges of working and nurturing children at home are hard to handle all the time. Of course, that’s the beauty of shared parenting, sharing those responsibilities. I have met so many women in the movement who are mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers and aunts. This movement couldn’t have had the success it’s had without women stepping up to the plate.
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Star Parker: Add Sen. Tom Cotton to VP Shortlist (5/11/24)Headlines are now filled with names reported to be on Donald Trump’s "shortlist" of possible VP candidates. These individuals, some of whom I know, indeed have serious qualifications and experience and are appropriate to be considered for the No. 2 position in the executive branch of the nation’s government.
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Betsy McCaughey: Colleges side with radicals to detriment of students (5/10/24)2The Left and their media allies want you to believe the protests roiling college campuses are spontaneous uprisings of morally fervent students worried about Gaza war victims. Don’t fall for that claim. It’s a scam. These protesters don’t represent most students or the American public. Yet Monday, Columbia University canceled graduation ceremonies, kowtowing to the radical fringe, with whom they largely agree. Students and their families be damned.
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Jason Smith: House Republicans challenge Biden’s economic policies amid rising living costs (5/10/24)5Last week, President Biden called for the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, President Trump’s signature legislation that jump started the best economy of my lifetime and that continues to provide needed tax relief to working families today. In one statement, the president promised American workers, families, farmers, and small businesses that they would see their taxes go up – breaking his promise that families making less than $400,000 would not receive a tax increase...
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Jonah Goldberg: What we should have learned from the war on woke (5/9/24)1This isn’t going to be more musing about whether America has reached "peak woke." But that is part of the story. So let’s start there. About a decade ago, many on the left embraced the word "woke," a term with roots in African American culture and activism. It originally meant staying awake — that is, "woke" — to the dangers facing the Black community. But in the hands of the broader, and whiter, academic and journalistic left, it soon became a kind of cool catchall for progressive politics, alongside other buzzwords like "intersectionality."
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Rich Lowry: The Columbia University push to elect Donald Trump (5/9/24)1"Let’s finish what they did in 1968," a Columbia protester said the other day. In political terms, that would mean electing Donald Trump. The disorder of 1968 — when LBJ declined to run again and Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon and George Wallace faced off — played right into the hands of Nixon, who rode his opposition to the riots and campus unrest into the White House.
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Kathryn Lopez: A troubling tale (5/8/24)At 10 years old, Rob Henderson reached the following conclusion: "As far as I was concerned, adults were unreliable liars. With each new family, new parent and new rejection, grief, anger and loneliness accrued within me." Henderson writes of the upbringing that led to this despairing insight in his powerful new book, "Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class."
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Holly Thompson Rehder: Rural health care access and funding moves forward despite lengthy delays (5/8/24)Hi y’all! What a week it has been in Jefferson City. It’s hard to wrap up all the political drama that took place, including a multi-day filibuster, but the bottom line is that multiple measures to improve and protect rural health care access have moved forward in the Senate this week.
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Rich Lowry: No, Columbia isn’t complicit in ‘genocide’ (5/7/24)As Morningside Heights goes, so goes the Levant. This is the childishly self-dramatizing conceit that’s been driving the pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University, with similar ideas playing into protests elsewhere. It allows students living privileged lives at elite universities to believe that they are on the front lines of fighting so-called genocide, and what happens at their schools — and to them — is exciting, dangerous and determinative of geopolitical events half a world away.
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Victor Davis Hanson: Can the current universities be saved? (5/7/24)4Elite higher education in America — long unquestioned as globally preeminent — is facing a perfect storm. Fewer applicants, higher costs, impoverished students, collapsing standards, and increasingly politicized and mediocre faculty reflect a collapse of the university system.
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Michael Reagan: It’s not about you, Marjorie Taylor Greene (5/6/24)5What a good week it should have been for Republicans. Dozens of campuses from UCLA to Columbia University were being wracked by pro-Palestinian protestors who set up “Gaza Solidarity” encampments, spewed antisemitic hate speech, took over buildings and intimidated Jewish students. ...
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: Ultraprocessed food manufacturers should not be permitted to market to children (5/6/24)1My son brought home a bookmark from school promoting the school’s spring book fair — and it doubled as a coupon to a fast-food restaurant. This isn’t the first "free kid’s meal" coupon my son has gotten. It’s a pretty common thing, and after the book I just read, it annoys me. ...
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Veronique de Rugy: Will California hobble the US railroad industry? (5/6/24)American federalism is struggling. Federal rules are an overwhelming presence in every state government, and some states, due to their size or other leverage, can impose their own policies on much or all of the country. The problem has been made clearer by an under-the-radar plan to phase out diesel locomotives in California. If the federal government provides the state with a helping hand, it would bring nationwide repercussions for a vital, overlooked industry. ...
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Stacy Kinder: A look at sales, property taxes in Cape Girardeau (5/4/24)6The City of Cape’s fiscal year begins every July, and our administration is very busy preparing the FY25 budget for city council approval. This process will be before the public numerous times in June, which is important as our city budget lays out the city’s priorities. It is vital that city residents can see clearly how revenue is generated, and how it is used.
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Star Parker: No, demonstrations today not like the 1960s (5/4/24)The current demonstrations on college campuses against Israel remind some of the unrest on college campuses during the 1960s. But the comparison is not a good one.
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Betsy McCaughey: Trusting China in inviting another pandemic (5/3/24)3It’s one thing to die from natural causes. Worse, to die from a disease leaked by Chinese scientists in a lab and allowed to wipe out millions. That is now almost certainly the explanation for the origins of COVID-19. And even worse? U.S. taxpayers paid for it.
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Jonah Goldberg: What we keep getting wrong about campus protests (5/2/24)The current campus demonstrations are a reminder that of all the mossy cliches and puffed-up pieties of polite (and impolite) American discourse, the sanctity of protest is the hardest to question.
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Rich Lowry: No, don’t rush the Trump J6 case (5/1/24)11When the Supreme Court said it would hear Donald Trump’s immunity claim in the Jan. 6 case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, the former president’s enemies erupted in anger. It was delay for delay’s sake. It was a rank political favor for an ally. It was utterly gratuitous in legal terms, since it’s a slam dunk that a former president doesn’t enjoy immunity for acts during his time in office.
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Holly Thompson Rehder: Education wins the week (5/1/24)Hey y’all! It’s hard to believe, but we are truly in the home stretch in Jefferson City as there is now officially less than a month until the last day of the legislative session. Last week, a resounding statement was made that, for all the obstacles and false starts that may have gotten in our way so far this year, education is a priority for this General Assembly.
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Kathryn Lopez: The evil of antisemitism (4/30/24)Eva Weintraubova and her older brother Pavel. Marthe Suzanne Tepfer. Rosa Henriette de Vries-Gersons. Petr Haim. Eva Neuova. Those are just a few of the names of children at Auschwitz who were recently remembered in an online memorial. The Auschwitz museum in Poland regularly posts photos on social media of people who died in the gas chambers. These posts note the birthdays and death days of people of all ages. Most jarring are the daily photos of children.
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Veronique de Rugy: Stop the ‘emergency spending’ charade already (4/29/24)5Last week, Congress moved closer to passing four separate bills with $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies and the domestic submarine industrial base. This funding has been debated for months, with much of it intended for wars that have been going on — and likely will continue — for a while. In other words, it’s not new or surprising. Yet once again, it will be labeled "emergency spending", a tool allowing legislators to double down on their fiscal irresponsibility. ...
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: Ultraprocessed foods are everywhere (4/29/24)In my quest to eat healthier as an adult, I’ve encountered a lot of meat and dairy alternatives along with low-fat and sugar-free treat options that claim to be better choices. Many of these products are also marketed as organic. Like the almond milk I buy. I choose not to eat mass-produced animal products because of the unethical and inhumane conditions found in corporate farming. What I failed to realize was that the corporate atmosphere of processed food marketed as healthy is equally horrific. ...
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Star Parker: House Speaker Mike Johnson is a hero (4/27/24)1Author Herman Wouk captured well how to understand heroism. "Heroes are not supermen; they are good men who embody — by the cast of destiny — the virtue of their whole people in a great hour," observed Wouk.
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Betsy McCaughey: There should be no right to sleep in all public places (4/27/24)1In a Supreme Court showdown Monday over whether the homeless have a "right" to camp in public, almost no one mentioned the actual victims of that crazy idea. Homeless advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, told the court that living on the streets is a "victimless" crime. Victimless?
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Michael Reagan: Republicans are doomed if they don’t get it together (4/27/24)5Another week, another round of Republicans attacking each other. This time it was over the Ukraine funding bill that was passed by the House and ultimately became part of the big military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that Congress passed this week.
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Jonah Goldberg: The Republican Party can still do what’s rational and right. Here’s the proof (4/26/24)There’s no record of Edmund Burke — the great Irish-born British statesman and father of modern conservatism — actually saying what is often attributed to him: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." But it does capture his worldview well enough.
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Legislation would help safeguard Missouri water against unregulated export (4/25/24)As past president of the Southeast Missouri Regional Water District and a local farmer, I will not stand idly as our precious water resources are attacked. This is why I fully support State. Rep. Jamie Burger and State. Sen. Jason Bean as they introduce legislation stopping unchecked access to our water supply.
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Rich Lowry: Nothing good comes from Columbia University's radicalism (4/25/24)5Columbia University is once again the center of the radical universe. More than 50 years after anti-Vietnam War demonstrators roiled the Columbia campus in 1968, anti-Israel agitators are disrupting the school’s operations, and inspiring similar actions at other universities around the country.
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Rich Lowry: Alvin Bragg makes history -- preposterously (4/24/24)38Alvin Bragg is to be commended for getting to trial on the Trump hush-payments case. Lesser prosecutors would have been daunted by the prospect of creating a national melodrama and a norm-breaking prosecution of a former president over what is, in essence, a misdemeanor business-records charge.
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Victor Davis Hanson: Are Iran’s nine lives nearing an end? (4/23/24)1The theocracy of Iran has been the world’s arch-embassy attacker over the last half century. So it has zero credibility in crying foul over Israel’s April 1 attacks on its "consulate" in Damascus and the killing of Iran’s kingpin terrorists of the Revolutionary Guard Corps there.
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Kathryn Lopez: The power of forgiveness (4/23/24)"Is forgiveness and being forgiven an important part of gratitude?" I was asked this question around the same time that Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, an Iraqi-born Assyrian bishop in Sydney, released a statement from a hospital, forgiving a teenager who stabbed him during Mass.
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: Happiness is a home to tinker with (4/22/24)My husband and I have never bought a home we didn’t tinker with. And by "tinker", I don’t mean a coat of fresh paint and new shelving. I mean the knock out a wall, rip up the flooring and till the backyard for a new garden kind of tinkering. Real do-it-yourselfers. This is why when the kitchen cabinet recently fell off the wall — literally while putting away dishes — we didn’t stress too much. We were planning to remodel the kitchen anyway. I simply set up wire shelving for the dishes that hadn’t broken, and then we strolled through Lowe’s hand in hand. ...
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Star Parker: Trump is right — more violence, turmoil under Biden (4/20/24)14Former President Donald Trump’s statement that the attack on Israel by Iran "would not have happened if we were in office," has drawn derision, including from his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton called the remark "delusional," saying that Trump "has no idea what to do in the Middle East in this situation."
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Rich Lowry: The anti-Israel delusion (4/20/24)2Surely, you’ve heard of the brutal conflict that has displaced millions of people and killed more than 14,000, while aid convoys have trouble getting where they need to go? No, the Sudanese civil war hasn’t been on your radar screen?
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Veronique de Rugy: Tax time myths and truths (4/20/24)Another Tax Day has come and gone, and most Americans believe they pay too much. One recent poll revealed that 56% say they pay more than their fair share. Unfortunately, I fear this is just the beginning considering the insane level of debt Washington policymakers have accumulated over the years. With this in mind, here are some important facts about our tax system that you might not know.
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Betsy McCaughey: Paying top dollar and getting bupkis (4/19/24)3If you pay New York state taxes, you’re paying top dollar and getting bupkis. Nothing in the budget deal announced in Albany on Tuesday changes that. State tax money is supposed to provide services and improve the state’s economic outlook. But a report released last week shows the state’s economic prospects plunging to dead last among the 50 states. ...
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Jonah Goldberg: US support for Israel, Ukraine proving inadequate (4/18/24)13After Iran’s massive drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday, President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "You got a win. Take the win." Most of the weapons, the first Iran had ever fired on Israel from its own territory, were successfully intercepted.
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Kathryn Lopez: The human cost of IVF (4/17/24)2The New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury and her husband recently put some of their hard-earned resources into getting a movie based on one of her novels, "Someone Like You," into theaters. It was an act of courage and faith, and it could be a cultural game-changer if people care to notice.
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Rich Lowry: No one cares about Joe Biden’s lawlessness (4/17/24)5Here we go again. President Joe Biden has, once more, claimed to find astonishingly wide-ranging authority to forgive student loans hiding in minute places deep in the federal code. Biden has already been rebuked for this practice by the Supreme Court, yet he remains undeterred.
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Repealing food stamp ban for felons would improve public safety (4/16/24)People with drug felonies on their criminal record are uniquely excluded from receiving benefits in Missouri from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, after they are released from prison. This deprivation of SNAP benefits is solely because of their categorization as a former drug felon.
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Victor Davis Hanson: DEI cronyism and woke grifters (4/16/24)11When ideology replaces meritocracy or provides immunity from the consequences of illegal behavior, systemic mediocrity follows. Under toxic National Socialism, Stalinism, and Maoism, millions of cronies and grifters mouthed party lines in hopes that their approved ideology would allow them to advance their careers and excuse their lawbreaking.
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Veronique de Rugy: The erosion of fiscal responsibility (4/15/24)Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle recently wrote that the best argument made in favor of limiting the size of the stimulus during the Great Recession — part of a larger conversation about austerity — was one of ethos. "We weren’t spending the money in theory," she wrote, "or in 1945, when an ethos of fiscal responsibility prevailed. We were spending it in the 21st century, when that ethos had collapsed, so there was a considerable chance that when the good times finally rolled around, no politician would willingly undertake the sacrifices necessary to get the budget back in shape." ...
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: We all deserve space to pursue our dreams (4/15/24)The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop saved me from making a huge mistake recently. I emailed my editor before I left and told her that I didn’t think I’d have time to continue writing this weekly column. I told her I was too busy. I have a full-time job for our local newspaper, where I write and edit columns for the Kentucky community. ...
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Michael Reagan: Republicans need to unite, not fight (4/15/24)10I don’t blame the public for not wanting to put the Republican Party back in power in Washington. As the GOP proved again in the House last week, it’s incapable of accomplishing anything of importance. ...
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Star Parker: Americans are not seeking out middle ground (4/13/24)A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Sen. Mitt Romney regarding the demise of the No Labels political party initiative tells us as much about Romney, and why he failed to ever become a national leader, as it does about the failure of the No Labels effort. No Labels defined its mission "to support centrism and bipartisanship."
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Betsy McCaughey: Biden Administration not ready for an H5N1 pandemic (4/13/24)4The H5N1 virus, which for 30 years affected mostly birds, is rapidly evolving and spreading globally. The Biden administration is dangerously unready. Over the last two years, H5N1 has jumped from birds to mammals, infecting at least 26 species.
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Rich Lowry: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s case against Speaker Johnson (4/13/24)The first time that Republicans toppled their own speaker during this Congress, it wasn’t a particularly edifying spectacle, but Marjorie Taylor Greene is reaching for new lows. To paraphrase Marx: first as a farce, then as a more preposterous farce.
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Eclipse in downtown Cape: A day the hidden gem shown to visitors from around the world (4/13/24)How do you even begin to describe something that’s both utterly breathtaking and incredibly frustrating all at once? This past weekend was an absolute whirlwind as we played host to folks from all corners — Washington State, Iowa, St. Louis, Illinois, and the East Coast — all descending upon Cape Girardeau with one mission: to witness the eclipse. They’d been planning and booking with us for months, and let me tell you, the anticipation was palpable. It felt like forever waiting for that moment to arrive, but when it did, it was nothing short of magical.
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Jonah Goldberg: The latest sign that Republicans are abandoning even their most deeply held principles (4/12/24)3The changing of the conservative mind in recent years could hardly be captured more pithily than in the headline of a recent op-ed: "Why I believe in industrial policy — done right." So opined Sen. Marco Rubio for the Washington Post and, at greater length, for National Affairs.
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Rich Lowry: Yes, fight anti-white racism (4/10/24)4Is there anything more poisonous or ridiculous than insisting that corporations and the government treat people fairly regardless of race? Apparently not. An Axios report on the Trump team’s intention to use civil-rights laws to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies discriminating against whites has occasioned sneering and denunciations.
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Victor Davis Hanson: Americans differ on Ukraine and Gaza (4/9/24)1When Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans overwhelmingly supported Ukraine — as they did with Israel after Oct. 7. No wonder: Ukraine was surprise attacked by Russia, and Israel was by Hamas.
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Kathryn Lopez: Remembering and misremembering Buckley (4/9/24)I cried and cried and cried on the night of Feb. 27, 2008. I'm not sure anyone ever did that while watching Charlie Rose on PBS before. But there I was. William F. Buckley Jr. had died that day, and Rose played recaps of interviews with Bill over the years. Bill founded National Review magazine in 1955, and I was editor of the magazine's website when he died.
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Veronique de Rugy: Washington’s ‘job creation’ circus is hitting the road (4/8/24)2In the grand circus of politics, where elephants and donkeys alike perform under the big top, there’s one act that never fails to draw a crowd: the venerable "job creation" routine. Putting people back to work, especially those without college degrees and in the manufacturing world, is in the center ring. Unfortunately, when you look behind the smoke, mirrors and rabbits hidden in hats, you’ll see that promises to rebuild America through industrial policy are just plain old corporate welfare. ...
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Michael Reagan: Who’s going to save America’s soul? (4/8/24)Lent is over – and I’m kind of sorry. As a practicing Roman Catholic, I observe Lent every year. The Britannica defines Lent as a solemn period of penitential preparation in Christian churches before Easter that provides 40 days for fasting and abstinence in imitation of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry. ...
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Rich Lowry: The Bible is America's book (4/6/24)Of all the objectionable things Donald Trump has ever done, selling a Bible would seem to rank pretty far down the list. Yet his marketing, along with Lee Greenwood, of a God Bless the U.S.A. Bible for $59.99 has occasioned a couple of news cycles of outrage. The Bible has an American flag cover and accompanying American historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, as well as the words to Greenwood's iconic patriotic song.
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Star Parker: Why do Americans, UN support Hamas terrorists? (4/6/24)Most recent Gallup polling in March shows that 36% of Americans "approve of Israeli military action in Gaza" and 50% disapprove. Last November, a month after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, 55% approved of the military action that Israel initiated.
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Broadband availability challenge underway (4/6/24)Missourians have an incredible opportunity and responsibility to impact how broadband deployment funds will be distributed across our state. For the first time, Missourians can provide on-the-ground feedback about which homes and businesses still lack access to reliable, high-speed broadband. Nobody knows better which communities and rural areas are underserved than the people who live there, and now is the time to make your voice heard. Once the map challenge process closes on April 23, the public will not have an opportunity to weigh in on how these federal taxpayer funds will be spent.
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Betsy McCaughey: Teach migrant children English — bilingual ed is a scam (4/5/24)3New York City, Denver, Chicago and other cities are urgently recruiting bilingual education teachers as the children of migrants enroll in school. Bilingual ed will doom most of these kids to failure. All too often it's an educational ghetto, producing dropouts who can't speak English and face a lifetime of poverty. Non-English-speaking students should be given intense instruction in English when they first arrive at school and then mainstreamed to classrooms where students are taught only in English.
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Jonah Goldberg: An unfortunate alternative to Trump, Biden (4/4/24)1American politics is so intensely stupid and nasty that it sometimes seems as if somebody made a series of wishes with a monkey's paw. The dark moral of "The Monkey's Paw," a 1902 short story by the English writer W.W. Jacobs that became a pop culture trope, is that you should be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. In 2008, the widespread wish for an African American president who would usher in a new "post-racial" politics yielded to an era of heightened obsession with and tensions over race. In 2016, the ancient dream of a capitalist outsider who would run government like a business delivered a man who ran the government like it was in the business of promoting and enriching him. In 2020, the notion that a non-military threat could unite a divided country around a common challenge gave way to sharp polarization over the management, treatment and origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Rich Lowry: Colorblindness is America's most transgressive idea (4/4/24)Writer Coleman Hughes went on "The View" and was greeted almost as though he had shown up wearing a white hood. Hughes, a soft-spoken black intellectual who is a political independent, was talking about his new book, "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America."
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Jason Smith: Protecting rural Missouri from the Left's costly climate agenda (4/3/24)7On President Joe Biden’s first day in office, he declared war on American energy by cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have supported thousands of jobs and supplied 830,000 barrels of oil from Canada to U.S. refineries. It’s gotten even worse since then. While his radical, costly energy agenda is popular among the wealthy and most radical fringe of his party, it’s been a complete disaster for working-class Americans who are struggling to keep up with higher costs for everything from the gas they put in their cars, the groceries they buy to feed their families, and the furniture and appliances they purchase for their home. And as his new electric vehicle (EV) policy makes clear, he has no intention of abandoning his costly climate agenda.
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Rich Lowry: Thank God for the internal combustion engine (4/3/24)2One of Joe Biden's notable digressions when getting deposed by Special Counsel Robert Hur was about driving his beloved 1967 Corvette Stingray convertible. Which wasn't surprising — the president genuinely loves his car. And why not? It's a thing of beauty and, for its time, was a splendid feat of engineering.
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Kathryn Lopez: The gift of Lieberman's example (4/2/24)1"The light's gone from his eyes." It was 2000, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat from Connecticut, was in full campaign mode. As Al Gore's vice-presidential nominee, Lieberman was preparing to debate Dick Cheney, but Lieberman's son, Matt, was worried about him. He said the words above to Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, who later used them as a wake-up call for her husband. As Lieberman recounted in his 2011 book, "The Gift of Rest," Matt had been concerned that he was not sleeping, and maybe not praying, as he normally would. Matt had said, "His brain is all there, but his soul isn't coming through," Liberman wrote. "... It jolted me from my fatigue, and, I think, reconnected me to my soul."
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Victor Davis Hanson: Gaza — truths behind all the lies (4/1/24)4Prior to Oct. 7, there were roughly 2 million Arab citizens of Israel but no Jewish citizens in Gaza. Gazans in 2006 voted in Hamas to rule them. It summarily executed its Palestinian Authority rivals. Hamas canceled all future scheduled elections. It established a dictatorship and diverted hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid to build a vast underground labyrinth of military installations. “Collateral damage” Hamas began the war by deliberately targeting civilians. It massacred them on October 7 when it invaded Israel during a time of peace and holidays. It sent more than 7,000 rockets into Israeli cities for the sole purpose of killing noncombatants. It has no vocabulary for the collateral damage of Israeli civilians, since it believes any Jewish death under any circumstances is cause for celebration.
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Michael Reagan: East Palestinians see red over Biden’s politics (4/1/24)2Last week must have been especially rough for the people still living in the contaminated eastern Ohio town of East Palestine. On Tuesday, only hours after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Harbor was knocked down by an out-of-control container ship, they had to watch President Joe Biden come on national TV and promise to “move heaven and earth” to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge “as soon as humanly possible.” ...
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Holly Thompson Rehder: Money In the Right Pockets (3/30/24)2Hi y’all! Several weeks ago, I took time in my weekly column and on the Senate floor to talk about the importance of doing the leg work and having the conversations if legislators want to get their bills approved by the General Assembly and on to the governor’s desk. I am pleased to say that I walked the walk, did the work and now a very beneficial bill is on the verge of heading to the Missouri House of Representatives.
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Veronique de Rugy: Americans can tell the difference between rosy economic data and reality (3/30/24)2The economy is growing, unemployment is low, wages are up, and inflation is down. However, the American people remain grumpy about the state of the economy. This puzzle was just investigated by four economists. They found that people often know that something is wrong even if statistics don't reflect the problem. In this case, people are perceiving that inflation is still, in fact, high.
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Betsy McCaughey: Beware of squaters (3/29/24)4If you own a home and don't want to lose it, keep reading. Homeowners who go on vacation or a business trip, even for just a week, are returning to find their house overtaken by trespassers who fraudulently claim a right to be there. It's happening to tens of thousands of homeowners from New York City to Atlanta and Los Angeles...
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Star Parker: Recapturing our lost and disillusioned youth (3/28/24)Our nation's Declaration of Independence begins with the famous statement that "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But according to the latest Gallup World Happiness Report, Americans' success in the "pursuit of happiness" is diminishing. For the first time since the annual report was first compiled in 2012, the United States is not among the top 20 happiest countries in the world. In this latest 2024 report, the United States ranks 23 in the world, down from number 15 in 2023.
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Jonah Goldberg: Why Trump's running mate is less likely to be Marco Rubio than Marjorie Taylor Greene (3/28/24)3Now that Donald Trump is officially the presumptive Republican nominee, he's getting ready for the general election. In just the last couple of weeks, he's scratched a lot off his to-do list. He installed new leadership, including his daughter-in-law, at the Republican National Committee and negotiated a joint-fundraising agreement with the party. His campaign is in talks with his former campaign manager and pardon recipient Paul Manafort to run the GOP convention. And his lawyers have successfully delayed the most serious legal threats he faces while getting a nearly half-billion-dollar bond in his fraud case reduced to a more manageable $175 million. Yep, everything is shaping up as well as can be expected for Trump's fourth run for president (including his widely forgotten and short-lived 2000 effort ). The last big thing on his list: Pick a running mate.
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Rich Lowry: The absurd four-day workweek (3/27/24)6Karl Marx would be proud. Bernie Sanders has proposed taking another step toward the philosopher's envisioned utopia by proposing to mandate a four-day workweek. Marx wrote how in communist society, workers would be liberated to "hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, raise cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have in mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic."...
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Kathryn Lopez: A message from Rome (3/27/24)2ROME -- I was here 11 years ago today, I am remembering. A pope from Latin America was elected. Everyone was surprised. I've been staying at the North American Pontifical College here in the Eternal City. The seminarians have a love for the pope and want to teach the treasures of the Church to all who are open...
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Victor Davis Hanson: Biden's border blowup (3/26/24)2Some 8 to 10 million illegal aliens from all over the world, as expected, have flooded across the border since President Joe Biden took office. A demagogic candidate Biden, remember, in 2019 invited those massing at the southern border to "surge" into the United States without specifying that they first needed legal sanction: "We immediately surge to the border all those seeking asylum."...
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Jason Smith: The dangerous consequences of Biden's border crisis (3/26/24)23In mid-March, an illegal immigrant was arrested for viciously stabbing two people outside a laundromat in O'Fallon, Mo. It's just one of the many examples of the dangerous consequences of President Joe Biden's border crisis, which has turned every state into a border state. Unfortunately, Biden continues to ignore Americans' concerns and their demands for this administration to do what's necessary to end this crisis and make our border -- and communities -- safe again...
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Betsy McCaughey: New York doomed to be migrant central — other cities take note (3/25/24)2Mayor Eric Adams’ agreement, announced Friday, to limit the time migrants can stay in shelters at taxpayers’ expense, is smoke and mirrors. It’s designed to fool you into thinking he’s solving a problem when he’s actually caving to the migrant industrial complex. ...
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp: We must show up and do better for our communities (3/25/24)A big part of my job is community engagement. The opinion section of any newspaper cannot happen without the people of the community. In order to lift up the voices of our neighbors, I must reach out and be willing to talk to people, not just sit at the computer and wait for my inbox to fill up. ...
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Michael Reagan: Oakland's tax revolt is a hopeful insurrection (3/25/24)You’d never expect a tax revolt to start in the blue California city of Oakland. But a bunch of angry, overtaxed and underprotected local business people there have said, “Enough is enough.” The owner of a restaurant has called on other Oakland small businesses to stop paying local taxes until their city starts doing what it should be doing — protecting them from a recent wave of robberies and thefts. ...
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Star Parker: Abortion is a winning issue for Republicans (3/23/24)6Abortion is a winning issue for Republicans The visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in St. Paul, the first ever visit by a president or vice president to an abortion clinic, is getting the considerable attention it deserves...
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Rich Lowry: Joe Biden should be angry and anxious (3/23/24)4Who knows if Joe Biden is as "angry and anxious" about his reelection prospects as a new NBC News report portrays him. It could be that it's ordinary ill-temper from a politician prone to shouting in private (an Axios headline not too long ago dubbed Biden "old yeller"), or exaggerated reports from meetings where typical salty language is used by old political pros hashing out strategy and tactics...
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Veronique de Rugy: U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel: A global deal for American prosperity (3/23/24)The Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel company recently agreed to be purchased by the Tokyo-headquartered publicly traded company Nippon Steel. This deal makes sense to economists. It will encourage other foreign companies to invest in the U.S., creating wealth and new job opportunities, and further shoring up the U.S. economy, particularly amid inflation worries. More importantly, this deal makes sense to the owners of U.S. Steel...
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Jonah Goldberg: Trump didn't threaten a 'bloodbath' (3/22/24)13At a rally in Ohio on Saturday, Donald Trump said that if he is not elected in November, there will be a "bloodbath." That he said that much is true. Having actually read the text of his remarks, however, I do not believe he was threatening: Elect me president or the streets will run red with blood...
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Holly Thompson Rehder: Options and support for education (3/21/24)16Hey y'all! Another week has come and gone and it has been a whirlwind of legislative activity. In addition to the continuing process of committee hearings and meeting with colleagues to work out the details of proposed legislation, activity on the Senate floor is picking up steam. Last week we passed a huge bill regarding education in Missouri. I say huge referring to both its impact and its literal size...
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