President Trump’s postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, recently testified before Congress about major slowdowns in mail delivery under his watch. As a 20-year postal veteran, I had only one reaction: DeJoy needs to be Returned to Sender. DeJoy, a Trump fundraiser who owns millions worth of ...
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee filed lawsuits recently against New Jersey and Nevada to prevent expansive vote-by-mail efforts in those states. These high-profile lawsuits make the same argument that Republicans have made in many lesser-known lawsuits that were filed ...
As Donald Trump has been nominated for a second term, how his presidency has already altered the orientation of his party is on display. Under Trump, the GOP ceased to be a party of small government whose yardstick of success was how close it came to a balanced budget. Trump signed on this ...
The choice between in-person learning, where available, and remote learning is a fraught one for parents. Children experience joy and connection when they learn alongside other kids, but they risk being exposed to the coronavirus. Remote learning at home can protect kids from COVID-19, but does ...
A very long time ago God had the necessity of making an “in your face” proclamation to his people. They had long since disobeyed his voice and each one did as they wanted. Scripture reveals a few names such as Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, but there are many names that are not. Jeremiah was ...
The last few months I have been thinking a great deal about the balance between the urgent and the important. Initially the thoughts were centered around the impact COVID-19 has on the ability to focus on what is important when we are consumed by what is urgent. The battle between urgent and ...
“If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness?” Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil Rights Movement, drops that question like a bomb on Page 352 of “Caste,” the new book by Isabel Wilkerson, herself also ...
“It doesn’t need to be your personal best. It doesn’t need to look pretty. It doesn’t need to improve from the last run. It just needs to happen.” Sign beside trail, author unknown. Dan Holt and Penne on a Sunday morning trail run. From Mt. Pleasant, this is 52-year old Holt’s ...
With the coronavirus still spreading widely, it’s time to start thinking seriously about influenza, which typically spreads in fall and winter. A major flu outbreak would not only overwhelm hospitals this fall and winter, but also likely overwhelm a person who might contract both at ...
Our area has been affected especially hard by the storm that went through our state last week. Thousands of people, including myself, have gone without power and suffered major damage on their property. Many Iowans are struggling to find food and shelter as we continue to deal with effects of ...
Life is full of changes. With change comes growth and independence. This past weekend we moved our daughter into her first college apartment. My son had a full week of high school cross country practice as a freshman. Extended family also welcomed a new bundle of joy, sweetly name Evelyn. I was ...
Vice President Mike Pence claimed in Iowa last week that President Trump had fulfilled his promises to Iowa farmers and ethanol producers. It’s not true and he knew that, because Iowa farmers told him so. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) put out a fact check Friday on the claims ...
In 2016, I wanted Hillary Clinton to be our next president, and I was sure that she would be. I was devastated. In 2019 and early 2020, I wanted a woman to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Instead, one qualified woman after another failed to get enough votes, and now ...
When nearly all U.S. brick-and-mortar schools suddenly closed in March 2020 and went online, large numbers of students simply didn’t log into class. Even if they did show up, many more weren’t paying much attention or doing their schoolwork. As a new school year gets underway, is there ...
Marshalltown Strong made its reappearance in full force after Monday’s derecho storm. The 99 mph winds and torrential rains brought back memories of the July 2018 tornado. The trauma of the tornado came back to residents as they heard the wind roar through neighborhoods and debris smash ...
Most of us frequently rely on the efficiency of the U. S. Postal Services, where a 50-cent stamp can mail a letter across the nation in just a few days. Well, not anymore. Our postal service is now another target of Trump cronyism and chaos. In June, Pres.Trump appointed one of his major ...
When Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin spoke to my colleagues at Stanford’s technology licensing office in the late 1990s, other search engines already existed. But Page and Brin, who were graduate students at the time, believed the page-rank algorithm they had developed at ...
Political pledges often cause headaches. On election night in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt told reporters, “Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another nomination.” He regretted it almost immediately. Later, he would say, “I would be willing to cut off my hand ...
President Trump, interestingly, decided it’s too dangerous to have a Republican National Convention but it should be mandatory that all schools — except his son’s — reopen under the threat of losing federal funds. In justifying his position, he said, “Children are almost immune,” ...
Political polls elicit predictable reactions from the candidates being polled. The campaign of the candidate trailing in the poll almost invariably invokes history: “I, for one, am grateful that Christopher Columbus didn’t take a poll before he bravely sailed off in search of a New World. ...