Stephen G. Bloom is a professor of journalism at the University of Iowa. He is the author of seven nonfiction books, the latest of which is The Brazil Chronicles, due out in November.

For anyone who grew up in Iowa during the 1940s or ’50s, or was a student at the University of Iowa in the 1960s, the name Bobby Washington will ring a bell. While nowhere near as agile and skilled an athlete as Caitlin Clark, Washington was a talented and wildly popular basketball player. Just like Caitlin, if you mentioned just the name Bobby, everyone knew who you were talking about.

Bobby was a starter on the Iowa basketball team that three years earlier had lost in the NCAA Final Four to University of San Francisco and Bill Russell, who scored 26 points and grabbed 27 rebounds in a single game, a record that stands today.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

The anguish and angst visited upon us this election year is faithful to the old saying “Politics makes strange bedfellows.’” That take is adapted from a line in Shakespeare’s The Tempest—”Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

Inspired by this season of anguish and angst, this post offers dots connecting George Orwell, Bob Feller, Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, and Joseph Welch. You’re familiar with most of our cast. And you may recall that Welch is the attorney who grew up in Primghar, Iowa and attended Grinnell College. He gained national fame as the U.S. Army’s attorney 70 years ago, when he got fed up and asked Senator Joseph McCarthy on live television, “Have you left no sense of decency?”

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

I’ve been muddling through some thoughts about national politics after the November 5 election. I will no doubt have more, but this week I have one for each party.

Henry Jay Karp is the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Davenport, Iowa, which he served from 1985 to 2017. He is the co-founder and co-convener of One Human Family QCA, a social justice organization.

The night after Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump duked it out in Philadelphia, unsurprisingly, Chris Hayes dedicated his MSNBC show, “All In With Chris Hayes,” to conversations about the debate.

Rebecca Traister was among the guests who appeared on that show. While my wife Gail and I do not remember ever having heard her before (she writes for the New Yorker), after that night, we look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

William R. Staplin is a former scientist specializing in utilizing molecular biology techniques to investigate RNA plant and animal viruses, research and development of vaccines to protect against infectious viruses; husband to Ruth A. Staplin, a longtime SPPG employee and political wonk; father to two independently minded young adults; cancer and spinal cord disability survivor; and a supporter of women’s reproductive rights, LGTBQ+, and Black and Brown Lives Matter. He is also a full-time greyhound owner and greyhound cafeteria worker.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to women’s health care rights in 2022, when the conservative majority ruled in favor of Dobbs in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women Health Organization. The 5-4 decision overturned the Roe vs. Wade precedent, which since 1973 had guaranteed a woman or girl the constitutional right to an abortion. The conservative majority’s decision to allow the 50 states to regulate abortion led to a massive upheaval in women’s and girls’ basic access to health care, and in turn maternal and infant care.

Many Republican-controlled states quickly enacted abortion bans, or allowed laws from before Roe to take effect. Fourteen states (mostly in the southeastern U.S.) have total abortion bans.

Anna Ryon is a Des Moines attorney who practices in the field of utility consumer advocacy. Her experience includes nearly nine years of service at the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate.

When Brenna Bird was elected attorney general, she took an oath to faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of her office, as state law requires. The official website of the Iowa Department of Justice describes the attorney general as “the state’s chief legal officer.” In that capacity, it is reasonable for Bird to know what duties she is required by law to discharge.

However, Bird’s record suggests she either does not understand all the duties the law requires her to discharge or has simply chosen not to fulfill some of those duties. Her failure to discharge the duties required by law has left Iowa landowners subject to unconstitutional eminent domain and their neighbors subject to the dangers of hazardous carbon dioxide pipelines without the legal representation they deserve.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com   

I don’t want to be scared. I avoid roller coasters. I don’t like horror movies. I’m not a fan of people jumping out even if they’re yelling “surprise,” and I don’t pay to be scared in Halloween haunted houses.

But when I was 15, the church youth group went to a haunted house sponsored by another church. Even then, I tried to find an excuse to skip out, but it was a church event. How scary could it be?

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

I have fielded a bunch of emails, text messages and phone calls in the days since the school shooting in Winder, Georgia.

Each one is from Perry, Iowa. Each one had the same question for me and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Each one came from a parent, teacher or other concerned person asking, why isn’t the public allowed to read the official findings by state agents about the shooting at Perry High School and Middle School last January 4?

Kurt Meyer writes a weekly column for the Nora Springs – Rockford Register and the Substack newsletter Showing Up, where this essay first appeared. He served as chair of the executive committee (the equivalent of board chair) of Americans for Democratic Action, America’s most experienced liberal organization.

You’re invited to time travel with me today, to April 1968, fifty-six years ago. Newspaper headlines on April 1 said President Lyndon Johnson won’t seek reelection. Some might have thought it was an April Fool prank. A much bigger jolt came April 4, with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The number of Marines in Vietnam peaked just under 86,000. Tragically, U.S. fatalities in Vietnam also crested in 1968, almost 30 percent of all American battle deaths happening that year. And, after 249 shows, the final episode of the Andy Griffith Show aired. Bucolic Mayberry seemed strangely out of synch with what was going on in America.

On April 27, 1968, Vice President Hubert Humphrey formally declared his candidacy for president. The second paragraph of his announcement:

What might have been a slow news week in state government took an unexpected turn on September 3. Governor Kim Reynolds announced that Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg was resigning, effective the same day. Minutes later, the Iowa Bankers Association revealed that Gregg would join the association as president and CEO, beginning on October 1.

There’s a lot to unpack here.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com   

A weekend ago, I door knocked in a small town near Sioux City. Canvassing for political candidates is an adventure, raising important questions. 

Is Cujo’s chain strong enough? Will I fall through the porch? Is the person peeking through the curtains willing to open the door for what might look like a white-haired Ted Bundy? Can I get this done before the start of the football game?

There were no obvious hazards, and the people I talked to were mostly “Iowa nice,” even if some probably thought I was “a woke Communist.” A lot of people weren’t home. But this guy answered the knock. I could tell by his expression; he wasn’t welcoming me in for cookies and coffee. I made my doorstep pitch.

Blake Iverson is a member of Central Iowa Democratic Socialists of America.

A crusading fervor has caught hold of many liberal news outlets following the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago. They marvel at the raw star power on display: the Clintons, the Obamas, the Emhoffs, and even Lil’ John graced the stage to celebrate Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race. They offer something of a benediction to the thousands gathered–elite operatives and rank-and-file activists alike–and readying them to go out and retake the shining city on the hill. 

But there is a striking absence from the convention itself and from the ebullient media coverage: the United States’s actual crusade in the holy land, the genocide in Gaza. While the Democratic National Committee allowed Palestine solidarity activists to hold a panel during the convention, and Vice President Kamala Harris uttered the word “Palestine” during her acceptance speech, the party made it clear, throughout the festivities and at every level, that the policy will not change. The genocide will continue until Israel and the United States finish the job.

Genocide apologists and the cynical within the party claim this is an unfortunate but necessary tradeoff between ending the genocide and electing Donald Trump. They are wrong. The choice is between not ending the genocide and electing Donald Trump.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

With the September 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump soon upon us, here are three quotes that summarize where we stand in the 2024 presidential election, and also the likely nature of the campaign going forward.

Two quotes have graced Bleeding Heartland posts so often you may be able to recite them by heart.

The first is from presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sioux Center, Iowa, in January 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

We are in the home stretch of another presidential campaign, and it is important for voters to be alert for the unintended consequences of candidates’ promises.

Office-seekers and their supporters like to portray issues in terms of absolutes—as in, my position is the very best way to address this issue; my opponent’s way is all wrong.

Most of the time, issues are not all black, nor all white. Most of the time, issues involve many shades of gray, meaning there are no simple solutions.

Take illegal immigration, for example.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com  

When the last firework explodes, the calendar accelerates. School, a distant memory in June becomes a focus in July. There’s a lot to do and a short time to do it.

In early August, teachers cram in their last vacation amid thoughts of seating charts, lesson plans, and getting classrooms ready. Veteran teachers know the first days are consumed by speeches, and smiles with little time to get ready.

Some feel hopeful anticipation, while others feel a tingle of fear, and dread but all want a positive start. Here are some suggestions for a positive start.

I doubt either party has had a more successful convention in my lifetime than last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

I envisioned finishing this post on Friday, but it was so hard to choose my favorite moments that I ended up watching many DNC speeches a second time. My two biggest takeaways:

For the first time in many years, the Democratic ticket has better bumper-sticker slogans than Republicans.

• “Mind your own damn business.”
• “We’re not going back.”
• “Do something.”
• “When we fight, we win.”

All of those slogans are calls to action, and they encompass a wide range of aspirations and concerns about a second Donald Trump presidency.

Second big takeaway: The Democratic Party has a deeper bench today than I can remember. So many great speeches didn’t make the cut. Honorable mentions include the remarks by U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxwell Frost, U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

I couldn’t have written this kind of piece after last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As longtime GOP strategist Stuart Stevens and Democratic political commentator James Fallows both observed recently, the Trump takeover has produced an enormous talent gap between the two major parties. Republicans have chased away many with experience, skills, and crossover appeal, because only loyalty to Trump matters.

Any top ten list is subjective. I was guided not only by speeches that moved me, but also by those that seemed most effective in accomplishing one or more of the Democratic National Convention’s main objectives: firing up the party base, introducing the ticket to a national audience, and appealing to swing voters.

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

Republicans, who control the Iowa House, the Iowa Senate, and the Iowa governorship, make no secret of their intent to entirely eliminate the state’s income tax. It probably won’t happen this coming year or the next, but the plan is now on a glide path. If the Iowa GOP remains in power for the rest of the present decade, we should probably count on the demise of the Iowa income tax by the end of the 2020s or before.

Even though those rates have already started to drop by dint of Iowa legislative actions in the past few years, the state income tax still makes up a huge chunk of the state’s budget. In fiscal year 2022-23 the figure was 46.8 percent—nearly half of state budget revenues. That percentage is now no doubt somewhat lower due to legislation that has dropped individual state income tax rates to a flat tax figure of 3.8 percent next year, but Iowa still depends on billions of state income tax dollars each year for its budget.

Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.

Secularists, Freethinkers, Atheists, Agnostics, the non-religious—known collectively as the “Nones”—are on the rise in the United States, as well as in my home state of Iowa. According to the a Pew Research poll published in January 2024, the Nones represent nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population, which is no small amount. If you add in those who consider themselves “Nothing in Particular”, that number surges to just under 40 percent. 

The Nones outnumber those who identify as Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, and Jews combined, as well as mainline Protestants as a group, with only Evangelical traditions overtaking the Nones in sheer population numbers.

However, when we look at the make-up of Congress and our civic leaders, the issues discussed at the national and state level, and even the cultural touchstones in our day to day lives, you wouldn’t guess so many Americans have no religious affiliation.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but here’s a metaphor about the news media excitement and anticipation generated by the forecast of a September 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump: Looking forward to that debate (and its possible sequel) is like going to the busiest intersection in town or camping out along a freeway looking forward to a traffic accident—maybe, if you’re lucky, even one in which someone is seriously injured.

Inherent in the presidential debates is a sense of suspense, and it’s not whether worthwhile information will be offered to viewer. The suspense has been whether one of the two, or both, may suffer a self-inflicted injury by blundering into a campaign-damaging statement or behavior. 

Trump, however, seems to escape being accountable despite his frequent lies. It is a real-life application of what he said in Sioux Center in January 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?…It’s, like, incredible.”

Bernie Scolaro is a retired school counselor, a past president of the Sioux City Education Association, and former Sioux City school board member.

On a hot August day, I proudly joined the chant “USA! USA! USA!” I was wearing my American flag shorts and a blue tank. I was definitely proud to be an American. It was 2017. I was in Des Moines for the Solheim Cup, watching the U.S. women golfers play against the European women in team competition. 

However, the Solheim Cup is so much more than just watching golf. Spectators like me enjoyed not only the golf but the exuberant atmosphere surrounding the course. It’s an event where spectators are like participants representing their country, cheering and supporting their team to victory. I remember not only interacting with fellow Americans from across the country, but also the fun bantering back and forth with the European fans. It was joyful. Playful.  

I am not sure when it changed for me, but I started developing an adverse reaction to seeing the American flag. Not because I am unpatriotic. In fact, perhaps because I am patriotic and love what the American flag should stand for.

Ed Wasserman is a 52-year resident of Iowa and a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at The University of Iowa. The views expressed in his piece are his own and do not in any way reflect those of his employer.

Donald Trump has often been credited with being a supremely slick sloganeer. Indeed, who among us is unfamiliar with such memorable monikers as: Little Marco Rubio, Ron DeSanctimonious (DeSantis), Lyin’ Ted Cruz, Nikki “Birdbrain” Haley, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, “Shifty” Adam Schiff, “Wacky” Jacky Rosen, and Laffin’ Kamala Harris? All of these scornful sobriquets concisely convey Trump’s deep disdain for his many political rivals.

Yet, long before Trump, another Republican office-bearer garnered high marks for his cutting political invective. Spiro T. Agnew served as the 39^th Vice President of the United States from January 20, 1969 to October 10, 1973, when he was forced to resign after pleading ‘no contest’ to a felony charge of tax evasion.

Expertly aided by White House speechwriters Pat Buchanan and William Safire, Agnew delivered a series of strident speeches in 1969 and 1970 attacking the Nixon administration’s many enemies, both perceived and real.

Henry Jay Karp is the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Davenport, Iowa, which he served from 1985 to 2017. He is the co-founder and co-convener of One Human Family QCA, a social justice organization.

As a former member of the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, I was sad to read in the Quad-City Times about a troubled relationship between the commission and city government. The same problems existed before I joined the commission in 2019, and persisted up to the day I stepped down in 2021 for health reasons.

During my time on the commission, we tried hard to work out several of the matters cited in Sarah Watson’s article about the dysfunctional relationship between the commission’s staff and the city’s professional staff. Our efforts had little or no effect. 

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

Here we go again.

Don’t be surprised if there is a hard-fought campaign between now and the November election over a guy named David May. You may not recognize his name. But you will in the weeks to come.

May is the newest member of the Iowa Supreme Court. His name will be on the ballot in November, with voters having the opportunity to weigh in on whether he should be retained as one of the high court’s seven justices.

Matthew T. Lee is a lifelong Iowa resident and University of Dubuque graduate who follows local and national politics.

The American media encountered a strange new challenge in the summer of 2015: how to keep up with and hold accountable a public figure who lies at a breathtaking rate? How to fact check, how to cover, how to pierce through the disinformation? 

Most political reporters never figured that out. As time went on, their problem was compounded. That disingenuous public figure took over one of the two major U.S. political parties and became president—and he did so on the back of discrediting the the “fake news media.”

Fast forward to 2024. This man is once again running for president. The political party he usurped is even more under his sway (his daughter-in-law now co-chairs the Republican National Committee). And the media has apparently learned nothing in the ensuing nine years.

A legal challenge to a “giant step backward” for Iowa women ended this week.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the Iowa City-based Emma Goldman Clinic, and Dr. Sarah Traxler, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States, on August 15 asked a Polk County District Court to dismiss their lawsuit challenging Iowa’s near-total abortion ban.

The state has been able to enforce the ban (House File 732) since July 29, making most abortions illegal after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected. That often happens around six weeks after the last menstrual period. The Iowa Supreme Court ruling that allowed the 2023 law to go into effect made it almost impossible for plaintiffs to show the statute is unconstitutional.

Bill Graham is Vice-Chair of the Iowa State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers. That committee released the following statement on August 16: “The Iowa State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers Opposes Attacks on Iowa State Judges and Justices.”

The Iowa State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) opposes attacks on individual judges and justices based upon recent opinions released.

Just over a year ago, Bob Vander Plaats of the Family Leader made and encouraged impeachment threats against Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice [Susan] Christensen and Justices [Thomas] Waterman and [Edward] Mansfield arising from their decision in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, et al, v. Reynolds, No. 22-2036 (Iowa S.Ct. June 16, 2023). Fortunately for the people of Iowa, the effort did not succeed. The justices had released an opinion declining to remove an injunction preventing the enforcement of the fetal heartbeat bill.

More recently, Lea DeLong who is associated with the Iowans for Reproductive Freedom (which is not officially involved in the effort) penned a letter that was discussed within a Des Moines Register opinion piece headlined as IOWANS ARE TALKING ABOUT FIRING JUDGES AGAIN. THEY MAKE A GOOD CASE, August 9, 2024. DeLong makes the case for the removal of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David May because of his vote in a recent opinion – suggesting Justice May is ideologically out of touch with people in the state. The opinion upheld a 6-week abortion ban as constitutional.

Ed Tibbetts, a longtime reporter and editor in the Quad-Cities, is the publisher of the Along the Mississippi newsletter, where this article first appeared. Find more of his work at edtibbetts.substack.com.

When I was a kid growing up in eastern Iowa during the 1970s, the school library opened up the world to me.

I remember rushing through my homework during study hall, so I could get to the library.

Like most students in school, there were classes I loved (history and English) and those I hated (math and science). But despite my misgivings about the curriculum, never did I doubt my love for the school library. To me, it was a refuge for independent thought and exploration, where nobody could exercise control over where my mind wandered.

There, the world beckoned, and I eagerly dove in.

Charles Bruner was a state legislator from 1978 through 1990 and ran his campaigns as an advocate for children and families, turning his Senate district blue after two decades of Republican representation. He is a volunteer for VoteKids2024 which is hosting a special webinar August 15 on this caregiving agenda. A blurb about the webinar is below. You can register for this webinar at this link.

Iowa Democrats and the policies they propose do a good job of addressing the concerns of almost all the families on the list above, but too often Democrats are silent in speaking to the concerns of that first group: working class, Christian, “traditional” husband and wife families worried their way of life is no longer valued, and government is leaving them behind.

Republicans do the opposite. In her response to President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union Address, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds emphasized that Republicans believe that “parents matter” and are leading a “pro-family revolution.” She, Moms for Liberty, the FAMiLY Leader, and Iowa Republicans in the state legislature and Congress have persistently promoted these families, calling for policies to focus on them and protect them from government overreach.

Polling from Parents Together clearly shows that Democrats have lost ground with parent voters. Since 2020, parents’ views have shifted; overall, parent voters now see Republicans as more aligned with parents and their rights relative to Democrats.

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

During the “Progressive Era” in American history—two decades or so, from roughly 1896 until 1917—a number of states adopted the “initiative” and “referendum” as part of the way their governments operated. Many of those states were in the American West. Iowa was not among them. What would it be like here if we had taken that step—or if we did so now?

The initiative allows citizens to propose new legislation on the election ballot, and the referendum allows voters to vote those proposals up or down. That combination provides a way to bypass the state legislature which, as we know, doesn’t always enact legislation that is the people’s choice.

The morning after Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, the Cedar Rapids Gazette published a lengthy article about an explosive claim. Republican Party of Iowa state chair Jeff Kaufmann asserted that it was “blatantly antisemitic” for Harris to pass over Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Thanks to the Gazette’s content-sharing arrangement with the Lee Newspaper group, the story inspired by a GOP event in Cedar Rapids reached thousands more readers through the Quad-City Times, Sioux City Journal, Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, and Mason City Globe Gazette.

The piece was an editorial failure on several levels.

Henry Jay Karp is the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Davenport, Iowa, which he served from 1985 to 2017. He is the co-founder and co-convener of One Human Family QCA, a social justice organization.

I was dismayed to read that Republican Party of Iowa state chair Jeff Kaufmann called it “blatantly antisemitic” for Vice President Kamala Harris to choose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, instead of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

In my opinion, Jeff Kaufmann (who is not Jewish) is the last person qualified to pass judgement on what is and what isn’t an act of antisemitism.

Gerald Ott of Ankeny was a high school English teacher and for 30 years a school improvement consultant for the Iowa State Education Association.

I’ve been waiting for the 2024 election in Venezuela. In my head, I was planning an essay. A turnaround in the fortunes of Venezuela is critical to abating of out-of-control migration in the Western Hemisphere.

Between 2014 and 2023, an estimated 7.7 million left Venezuela as migrants. That’s 20 percent of the country’s population, or about 2,000 per day on average. Of these, 6.5 million have found temporary relocation in Latin America and the Caribbean, mainly Columbia and Peru.

The root causes of this unprecedented flow of migrants and refugees include democratic breakdown, repression, and a lack of basic human rights. These remain unchanged in Venezuela. There is also a deep economic crisis driven by devastating policies and a kleptocracy that has characterized the political landscape during the last 20 years. Nineteen million Venezuelan citizens are experiencing food and medical insecurity. It’s a boiling pot ready to explode.

Bill Bumgarner is a retired former health care executive from northwest Iowa who worked in hospital management for 41 years, predominantly in the state of Iowa.

Like me, you’ve probably encountered a friend or family member who has said, “I don’t vote for a political party, I vote for the best person.”

That seemed reasonable back in the day, when there were still moderate—even progressive—Republicans on the ballot in state and federal elections. Today, the “best person” notion is not particularly logical. 

The two major political parties represent profoundly different values. In these more partisan and divisive times, voters must decide what kind of America we aspire to be and which party best aligns with that choice.

In 2024 it’s time to pick a side, a way of life. 

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com  

We’re Las Vegas magic show nerds. We’ve seen a lot of big names like Lance Burton, Penn and Teller, Criss Angel, Shim Lim, and David Copperfield. But early in one of our Las Vegas vacations, we couldn’t afford prime time, so we settled for an afternoon magic show at the MGM. 

At that time, the basement of the MGM was decorated like the Wizard of Oz. So, the tiny magic stage was nestled between munchkin mannequins and the yellow brick road.

If you’re in a magic show for under $10 a ticket, your expectations are low.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

During the 40 years I was a newspaper editor/manager, I strived to ensure the staff incorporated context into their articles. Sometimes, in a journalistic shorthand, that was described “the Iowa angle.”

If there was a mass murder in Iowa, I would dip into my stash of clippings and find the list of the worst mass killings in Iowa history. That allowed us to give context to the magnitude of the tragedy.

The same with tornadoes and floods. How does the number of deaths compare with the worst of these nightmares we have experienced in the past?

During the Vietnam war, and later during the Gulf wars, we turned to bound desk calendars where we pasted clippings to track the running tally of deaths of Iowa soldiers. 

So, over this past weekend a friend and I pawed through statistics to provide important Iowa context when Belgium’s mixed relay triathlon team pulled out of the Olympic competition in Paris.

Diane Rosenberg is executive director of Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, where this commentary first appeared.

When U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley stopped at Jefferson County Park in June during his 99-county tour, it was the first time in a long while that he invited the general public to a meeting in this county.

Of course, I had to attend to ask him about CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression or EATS Act.

The EATS Act is Big Meat’s next move to gut California Proposition 12, and it’s currently embedded in the House version of the Farm Bill. (Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst were among its original Senate co-sponsors.) California voters approved Prop 12 in 2018 by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin. The measure requires any pork sold in that state to come from sows who were raised in a larger, more humane area where they can more freely move. It prohibits the sale of pork from sows caged in gestation crates or pork from their litters.

Ed Tibbetts, a longtime reporter and editor in the Quad-Cities, is the publisher of the Along the Mississippi newsletter, where this article first appeared. Find more of his work at edtibbetts.substack.com.

Senator Joni Ernst calls herself the U.S. Senate’s “fiercest advocate” for government accountability.

Too bad she doesn’t appear to care about the country’s biggest tax cheats.

Over the past couple years, the Iowa senator has been fixated on the Internal Revenue Service. But rather than help the IRS try to recover the hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes each year, Ernst and her fellow Republicans are doing the opposite. They want to choke off the funding that is helping the IRS to rein in these abuses and give you better service.

Three weeks ago, the IRS announced that, with the additional funding provided by the White House and Democrats in Congress, it had collected more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes from millionaires over the past year.

U.S. women have had phenomenal success at the Olympic Games in Paris. Simone Biles has won more Olympic medals than any other American gymnast. Katie Ledecky has won more Olympic medals than any other American woman in any sport. Lee Keifer became a three-time gold medalist in fencing and competed against Lauren Scruggs in “the first All-American final in the individual foil in Olympic history.” U.S. women also won their “first-ever team fencing gold in women’s foil” and their first medal in rugby.

At this writing, more than two dozen women competing for the U.S. have won medals in events ranging from cycling to diving, shooting, and canoeing. Laura Kraut became “the oldest American woman to win an Olympic medal since 1904” as part of a team equestrian event. More medals are likely coming in swimming and gymnastics, and the track and field events are just getting started.

Instead of celebrating the successes of American women in France, Iowa Republicans joined the stampede of conservatives who used a boxing match between an Algerian and an Italian to push their anti-trans agenda.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com  

Mom asked, “You didn’t make anyone mad today, did you?”  I didn’t have the heart to answer truthfully. 

She kept asking.

I kept fibbing.

Norman Brewer is a retired journalist who reported for the Des Moines Tribune (1965-1978) before moving to Washington, D.C. He has written three novels about domestic terrorism, most recently January 6: A Novel, his take on how much worse the insurrection could have been. He lives in Portland, Oregon.        

When bedrock freedoms of democracy are on the line, I am a conservative. No. Correction: I am a staunch conservative.

Being a conservative of any stripe does not mesh with my full embrace of the progressive agenda that has been baked into America’s social fabric over the past century, immeasurably enhancing our well-being.