My mother always told me never to speak ill of the dead.
For that reason I won’t go on at length about Antonin Scalia, the recently departed Supreme Court justice. My opinion wouldn’t be worth that much anyway. I didn’t know the man — I was never even in the same room with him.
However, I do find this avalanche of posthumous praise of him as “a judicial giant” and one of the great justices of our history a little gag-inducing.
The Iowa caucuses are upon us. Hooray, whoopee, and two cheers.
The contests mark the official beginning of the 2016 presidential campaign, which already feels like it’s been going on for two years (because it has).
Some polls say that Donald Trump is going to be the Republican winner, others that Ted Cruz will be. Still others advise us to keep an eye on Marco Rubio, who’s sneaking up fast.
What a bummer. Mass shootings, cops using unarmed civilians for target practice, the Middle East in rubble, terrorist attacks, Donald Trump.
Trump wasn’t the worst of it, perhaps. But he certainly was the most irritating.
It was a spectacle worthy of Tennyson — “Trump to the right of us, Trump to the left of us, Trump in front and behind. Into the valley of Trump rode the 300 million.”
The United States was founded on U.S. Constitution Version 1.0 of 1789. Version 2.0, released in 1791, made 10 significant upgrades to protect citizens against viral government overreach.
Since then, Congress and the states have authorized incremental changes, culminating in version 2.27.
However, system administrators authorized in version 1.0 – the executive, legislative and judicial branches – have far exceeded the limitations expressed in the Version 2.0 Bill of Rights.
It’s time — past time, really — to name the person of the year. (TIME Magazine does it. Why not me?)
There were many worthy candidates in 2015: the Pope, the Donald, and Luke Skywalker, to name just a few. But only one symbolized the spirit of the year.
Older men declare war, but it is the youth that must fight and die. - Herbert Hoover
The top tier of Republican presidential candidates trumpeted a march to war during last Tuesday's debate, a call that can only mean boots on the ground.
Those boots will be filled by younger Americans, the ones typically absent from Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses just seven weeks away.
Editorial reprinted with permission from Des Moines Register, Dec. 10, 2015
It’s time for the Iowa Partnership for Clean Water to consider a name change that more accurately reflects its true mission. For example: The Iowa Partnership for the Malicious Persecution of Public Servants.
The partnership was formed last spring after the Des Moines Water Works sued Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties, alleging their drainage districts are largely responsible for Raccoon River pollution that’s costing central Iowa residents millions in clean-up costs.
When Paris suffered attacks that killed 17 last January — at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket — it responded with great class.
Parisians filled the streets, locked arm-in-arm in solidarity against terrorism. Leaders from throughout Europe (but not, alas, President Barack Obama) joined them in a show of support.
The medals awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre will be subjected to a review, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday.
Iowa's largest ethanol producer – POET, LLC – has agreed to fines totaling $53,000 for hazardous air emissions from its Shell Rock refinery over a two-year period.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) imposed a $10,000 fine – the most the department is allowed to levy without... more
The city of Bettendorf has agreed to pay a total of $2.3 million to the victims struck by a car while they were walking on the pedestrian trail adjacent to the I-74 Bridge two years ago.
Two of the victims were killed and the third seriously injured when a drunk driver mistook the bike/... more