May 27, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Stray Thoughts
Last week, the Pentagon accepted the emir of Qatar’s gift of a Boeing 747, a $400 million bauble donated for our president to enjoy by a monarch whose family has ruled the tiny Mideast nation for more than a century. Our commander in chief said the United States would be
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May 22, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Morain
Have you ever heard someone refer to an “emolument” in a context other than the U.S. Constitution? Probably not. The word is somewhat archaic, and rarely appears other than as a reference to a gift provided to a public official, especially the President. It came into its own during President
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May 19, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Stray Thoughts
The Iowa Supreme Court gave citizen engagement and accessibility to public meetings a much-needed boost Friday in an appeal of a lawsuit against the Iowa City Community School District. The district’s practice of posting full videos of school board meetings on the internet for on-demand public viewing was at the
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May 15, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Morain
The Trump tax cuts, enacted in 2017, are due to expire at the end of this calendar year, 2025. The new 2025-26 federal fiscal year doesn’t kick in until this October 1, 2025. Plenty of time for Congress to decide whether or not to renew the cuts. Right? Right. But
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May 13, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in The Culture Buzz
From Iowa’s cultural epicenter, Mainframe Studios at 900 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines, comes your Listener-supported Community Voice, the Award-Winning independent radio station, KFMG-LP 98.9 FM (streaming simultaneously at www.kfmg.org), bringing you music, literature & cultural content. – John Busbee for The Culture Buzz The Culture Buzz Podcast Library
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May 12, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Stray Thoughts
You may be experiencing whiplash this spring just trying to track the Iowa Legislature’s zig-zag movements. It comes from what some might charitably call a lack of consistency on a key theme. A set of bills from the Republican majority at the Capitol illustrates this inconsistency. First, there’s the Legislature’s
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May 08, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Morain
The deeper one dives into history, the more nuanced and complicated it seems. The nuances are all-important, though, because they enrich our understanding of human nature and of why things happened as they did. Last month marked the 250th anniversary of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, generally recognized
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May 06, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in The Culture Buzz
From Iowa’s cultural epicenter, Mainframe Studios at 900 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines, comes your Listener-supported Community Voice, the Award-Winning independent radio station, KFMG-LP 98.9 FM (streaming simultaneously at www.kfmg.org), bringing you music, literature & cultural content. – John Busbee for The Culture Buzz The Culture Buzz Podcast Library –
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May 05, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Stray Thoughts
At least one member of the Iowa House appears to live by the mantra “Do as I say, not as I do” as he demands access to sensitive personal information and commands silence as he trolls for documents. The audacity of Representative Charley Thomson’s recent demands to a nonprofit organization
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April 30, 2025 by Brent Antisdel
in Feature 1
That’s right Iowa; summer is back. With it comes a whole host of reasons to get out of the house and get out the sunscreen. Des Moines and the surrounding metro area become a destination in the steamy months with art, food, music and cultural festivals to satisfy most every
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