Iowa’s pork consolidation started in earnest about 50 years ago when swine started to move indoors. In 1976, Iowa had an estimated 60,000 hog farms producing 15 million head. Today, according to …
In his first stab at the presidency, DJT’s rallying cry was “Build the Wall”, and it was an effective campaign to stoke fear of “other” people. The man who would later become the 45th …
When District Judge Adria Kester studied at the Drake University Law School, she must have opted out of the “Law of Holes” coursework. I have written before about the first Law of Holes, in …
One fist of iron, the other of steel If the right one don’t get you then the left one will — from “Sixteen Tons” as sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford That’s the challenge the …
Too many officials in the Trump Administration and several farm state Capitol Hill leaders believe that just saying something is true makes it true. For example, on June 24, the White …
Imagine 1,500 foreigners showing up in rural Iowa who can’t speak English, are pacifists, refuse to take loyalty oaths, live communally with no pay, and shun social convention. Arrest them! …
It must be a sign of desperation. Obviously, the president hasn’t stirred enough outrage in hurling the word “socialist” around. He wants you to be afraid, very afraid, and the s-word wasn’t …
Whether you work for the federal, state or local government, you best just accept that blame and criticism go with the job and move ahead. Decatur County Attorney Alan Wilson learned that lesson …
Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader of Iran, vows revenge on the “criminals” who assassinated his father, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had led Iran for 36 years. It must be assumed …
Dear Comrades, I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your membership in VFW L.A. Wescott Post 2253 and, more importantly, for your continued commitment to serving our Veterans and the …
I’m old enough to remember when Congress — like most Americans — worked during the summer. Sure, the pinstriped, air-conditioned gang took a few weeks off every August but they usually …
“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law” (Appropriations Clause, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, U.S. Constitution). Congress’s “Power of …
President Trump and the ayatollahs blew up any hopes of taming inflation with renewed bombing of Iran and the Persian Gulf, just as fuel prices were softening. Gas jumped and stocks slumped when …
Clean air and water should be non-partisan goals for Iowa, which has serious pollution and health issues. We’re encouraged by the discussion taking place across the state and across the political …
So it was decided: Chicago had won the bid for the Columbian Exposition of 1893. Better known as the World’s Fair, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root were named as chief architects to great …
Buried words, like buried treasures, sometimes surprise and enrich. But buried landmines only create problems now, and later. Such is the case with a passage buried in a 71-page Iowa Supreme …
If the Confederate States of America (CSA) had succeeded in winning, or negotiating, its independence from the United States of America in the Civil War, this year it would be celebrating its 165th …
Imagine punishing your kid for telling the truth by taking away their allowance years later. It makes no sense, but that’s the logic behind an assertion by Kraig Paulsen, the Director of the Iowa …
In the ongoing, years-long group text between my four brothers and sister, there was a brief exchange the Saturday before Memorial Day between me, son Paul, and my next younger brother Perry. I …
Chris Jones and his boss at the water works used to ask as they gathered daily to discuss the roiling river’s polluted water: “Where’s the outrage?” Iowans are freaking out over our …