Posted September 30, 2026in Morain
We’re now only about five weeks out from Election Day 2026. Iowa voters may cast their ballots at their county auditor’s office starting Wednesday, October 14, about two weeks from now. If you’re not aware that the campaigns are in full swing, you’re living off the grid. Television programming is
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Posted September 24, 2026in Morain
This year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. It’s also the 150th anniversary of the closest America has ever come to a constitutional meltdown over the presidential succession (with the possible exception of the most recent presidential election). In light of growing concerns
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Posted September 14, 2026in Morain
We’re seven weeks from the midterm elections. Mail-in and absentee voting has already begun in some states. Voters are starting to pay more attention to the candidates and to the parties they represent. And President Trump insists it’s all about himself. That may be substantially true. Both for his supporters
Read More →This week the United States and its people are soberly remembering the stunning terrorist attacks that weaponized jetliners to kill thousands of people in the American homeland on September 11, 2001. Their deaths constitute the most tragic effect of the episode, and they continue as open wounds for family and
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Posted August 20, 2026in Morain
As if your TV set were not inundated by enough political ads these days, you can expect a whole other set of them soon. The new load, probably coming your way after Labor Day, will try to persuade you to vote in November to allow a minority of Iowa legislators
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Posted July 16, 2026in Morain
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 that, although this statement didn’t specifically identify President Trump by name, that is who he meant, along with
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Posted June 11, 2026in Morain
At least four important public policy questions keep rolling around in my head. Two deal with foreign policy, the other two with federal taxes. I’d like to see them ascend the priority scale of the people who can act on them. They’re not all that complicated, and I’m pretty sure
Read More →This is a trivial column. I turned 85 last Monday. Family saluted me with a birthday dinner, thoughtful gifts, and lots of well wishes. Many friends congratulated me as well. It all warmed my cockles. I’ve always considered 85 to be the starting line for the “really elderly.” And now
Read More →Kathy and I were privileged to be on hand for a grandson’s high school commencement ceremony at Adel-De Soto-Minburn (ADM) High School in Adel last Sunday. The event was hugely attended, impressive, and full of joy for the graduates, their classmates, families, and friends. The end of a high school
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Posted May 21, 2026in Morain
Suppose your Republican legislature is trying to carve up your mostly black Democratic congressional district and distribute its parts into two or more mostly white Republican districts? If you don’t like that, how do you prove that the legislature’s motivation is racially based (which is illegal) instead of politically based
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