Opinion

As we celebrated our National Day of Thanksgiving last week, one thing I was especially grateful for was passage of a generational bipartisan infrastructure bill for the American people. Last month, I watched from the White House lawn as President Biden officially signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law.

The smaller of the two “infrastructure” bills before Congress earlier this month has become law and that is a good thing for spurring the economy. The larger of the two spending bills has not passed, has been misidentified and faces an uphill Senate battle.

If you have enough to eat, a place to live, a way to get around, people who care about you or people you care about, then you are wealthy. If you lack any of these elements, you must still be grateful for what you do have while striving to obtain whatever is absent.

For years, I have read in The Richmond News how Emanuel Cleaver II is bringing broadband to rural Ray County. Where is it? I haven’t seen it.

Voters and candidates in school board, city council and other municipal races will face an unnecessay new challege in the coming elections, and another unnecessary and divisive change is proposed by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

On this Veterans Day, Nov. 11, we extend our appreciation and thoughts to our active-duty military personnel, and we pay tribute to the many millions of veterans who have served our country over the past 246 years. We also wish to memorialize the passing this year of our brother-inlaw, Cmdr. Barry Rowe, and acknowledge the other veterans of the Jones and Moskowitz families who served during major wars from the Civil War to the War on Terror.

I find it interesting that you chose this story for front-page news. I suspect because you assumed that this taunting was an example of white supremacy by school kids.

I’ve written about this subject many times and still find myself dazed by the inadequacies of our state officials and their lack of concern for our state’s poorest citizens. In August 2020, voters approved Medicaid expansion for the state of Missouri by a 53% majority, thus making it a constitutional mandate.

Amid all the recent accusations and threats by Gov. Mike Parson to punish the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for revealing a significant security flaw in the state’s online database, the most disturbing element is the state’s underlying threat to the freedom of the press for the news media doing its job.

Putting politics aside, people should get vaccinated to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. But that is the trick – getting anyone to put aside politics in this divisive age of hyperpartisanship.