Kathy and I live in an old house in Jefferson (apparent construction year 1901). It’s the house my parents bought in 1944, and it was my childhood home. My folks sold it about 28 years later …
Interest in local elections in Jefferson this fall appears to be greater than usual. It’s a good thing. City council and school board elections in Iowa are held in odd-numbered years. In …
As I write this column on Sunday, October 12, the United States government is still shut down. Federal employee are not getting paid. No, wait, that’s not quite true. MOST federal …
Kathy and I returned last Friday from three days in the Black Hills, communing with two of my graduate school former housemates and their spouses. It’s a reunion that takes place somewhere in …
There’s a reason the phrase listing the Three R’s puts Readin’ first and Ritin’ second. To write competently, you first need to see how to do it. What you’re reading …
Last March, six months ago, Congress averted an impending federal government shutdown by reaching a bipartisan compromise, which extended the government funding deadline by six months, to the end of …
Another political leader killed, and another frustrating challenge on what to say, what to do. Charlie Kirk’s death resurfaces similar tragedies from our American past, both venerable and …
Why does Congress even bother to debate an annual budget? Every year members of the federal legislative body spend innumerable hours in committees and on the House and Senate floor debating …
College football is here once again, and fans are geared up to cheer on their treasured favorite(s). What stokes such ferocious lifetime loyalty to a bunch of guys playing a game for a few weeks …
A year ago this month, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, introduced the No Kings Act with 36 co-sponsors. With the Senate under Republican control, the bill did not …
American pundits are prone to designate their immediate time period, whenever it happens to be, as a “turning point.” When the political situation balances on a knife’s edge, as it …
The Democratic presidential nomination appears to be wide open today. No shortage of obvious hopefuls, with another batch who are probably mulling it over. More will pop their heads up in the weeks …
Do elected leaders grow to covet great power once in office, or do they assume power already coveting it? And what about those who resist the siren song of power, and instead choose to serve their …
French President Emmanuel Macron shook up world diplomatic circles last Thursday with his announcement that come September, France will recognize Palestine as an independent nation. How much …
I’ve been thinking lately about wealth. Not mine — I’m woefully short on acquaintance and familiarity with the subject, and that’s not going to change. But as I age, I …
The state of Iowa in 2013 approved its “Nutrient Reduction Strategy” for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into the state’s streams and rivers, and eventually downstream into …
Memory is a tricky thing for older folks. Sometimes we can remember specific people, places and events from decades earlier, while at the same time we can’t remember much about yesterday or …
The United States system of government is one of the most complicated such mechanisms in the world. It’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it disperses power. That’s what …
What links Dwight Eisenhower, the Lincoln Highway and Greene County? nnLocal history buffs know. “Ike,” at the time a 28-year-old lieutenant colonel, volunteered to help lead an Army …
Iowa’s DOGE task force, a Governor Reynolds’ creation channeling the 2025 federal DOGE Department headed until recently by Elon Musk, last week discussed the possible consolidation of …