JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Today’s post focuses on some great lines from journalists, a Democratic state senator and two members of the public.

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Jennifer Rubin, a columnist for The Washington Post is right on the money with her latest column, titled “I’ll skip the Olympics. You should, too.”

She says China, one of the most repressive nations in the world, should never have been awarded the Olympics, but now that they have them, people should register their objection by not watching. Rubin says…

“While NBC has already shelled out money for the rights to air the events and corporate sponsors and advertisers have spent millions to promote their products during them, perhaps a significant drop in TV ratings would send a message to all of them: If the IOC (International Olympic Committee) awards the Games to monstrous regimes, viewers might flee, rendering them less valuable. We can choose not to encourage such moral travesties.”

Naturally, NBC is trying to sugarcoat the situation. Molly Solomon, head of the network’s Olympics production, was quoted as lamely acknowledging that “there’s some difficult issues regarding the host nation.”

Difficult issues?

To which Rubin responded, “What better PR could a totalitarian regime hope for from a U.S. media outlet?”

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Many of you probably haven’t been following the latest escapades of our Missouri General Assembly, which never ceases to amaze with its steady march back to the Dark Ages.

This week, a state Senate committee rejected Gov. Mike Parson’s nominee for director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, Donald Kauerauf, mainly because Kauerauf had been quoted in St. Louis Magazine as saying, “The goal of public health vaccination programs is to achieve 100 percent coverage.”

As you know, I’m no fan of Parson, but in this case it appeared he had chosen a very qualified candidate to succeed Randall Williams, a goofball whom Parson ousted last spring. (Among other things, Williams once advised Parson to veto funding for a program aimed at connecting severely ill patients with hospitals that could treat them most effectively.)

Kauerauf was assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health from 2016 to 2018 and has three decades of experience in public health. Parson named Kauerauf director of the department in July, but the appointment required approval by the Missouri Senate, which proved more than problematic.

About 150 people rallied in the Missouri Capitol rotunda before Monday’s confirmation hearing to express their opposition to his confirmation. Some of those in the crowd promoted the idea of “medical freedom” and others inaccurately asserted that Kauerauf supported vaccine mandates, which he does not. (Later in the day, after the hearing, one person in the crowd called Kauerauf a Nazi.)

Naturally, the Senate heard the call of the wild and refused to advance the nomination to a vote. On Tuesday, Kauerauf resigned.

All of which prompted Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence to say: “The guy answered the questions right. But at that point the die had been cast…The guy could have given the cure for cancer and it wouldn’t have mattered.”

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The Chiefs’ inexplicable collapse in Sunday’s game against the Bengals continues to echo. In Wednesday’s Star, a couple of letter writers were able to look on the light side.

Liberty resident Paul Stephen Smith had this after-the-fact headline suggestion for Monday morning’s paper: “Grim weeper.”

Dan Gruss of Shawnee had the best line, though…

“All we needed was the refs to find us four more points.”