One of the oldest sayings in poker warns that if you’re in a game for 20 minutes and haven’t figured out who's the patsy — the player most likely to be the game's biggest loser …
Wisdom from the Stable Genius on Truth Social last week: “I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act. We are considering terminating …
The nation’s founders got right to the point when they laid out how to treat the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, the press and the rights of people to assemble and to petition the …
As I write this column on Sunday, October 12, the United States government is still shut down. Federal employee are not getting paid. No, wait, that’s not quite true. MOST federal …
If Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his boss, President Donald J. Trump, “make America healthy again” I will eat any one of the 15 or so hats that somehow …
Professor Emeritus of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa and a non-paid freelance opinion editor and guest columnist who receives no remuneration, funding or endorsement from any for-profit …
Service has always been a defining pillar of my life. I answered my own call to serve our nation when I joined Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at Iowa State University and stepped …
Back and forth all over Iowa I trundle hawking my book — "Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest." Everywhere I go one message emerges: We want our good old Iowa back. That is moderate, …
The campaign has begun to turn Iowa community colleges into four-year baccalaureate institutions competing with our highly valued network of private colleges. This ill-considered idea was requested …
The lesson of the hot stove emerged again last week. That is the lesson toddlers learn early and smart ones retain for a lifetime. Touch something hot and you know not to touch it again. …
Kathy and I returned last Friday from three days in the Black Hills, communing with two of my graduate school former housemates and their spouses. It’s a reunion that takes place somewhere in …
Former Iowa Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer recently touted on these pages the positive trajectory of rural healthcare in our state under Republican leadership. But here’s the rub. …
The Trump Administration is digging two huge holes at the White House: one for the construction of the executive mansion’s massive new ballroom, the other to bury the export-dependent U.S. …
Rob Sand appears to be in tune with a wide swath of Iowans who aren’t happy with the way things are going. Substantial crowds are showing up across the state to hear the state auditor …
I spoke to two groups in recent weeks, and people at both gatherings wanted to know about the work of the organization I lead, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. If I had known then what I …
There’s a reason the phrase listing the Three R’s puts Readin’ first and Ritin’ second. To write competently, you first need to see how to do it. What you’re reading …
Politicians in Washington, D.C., are getting ready to shut down the federal government once again, despite single-party Republican control of the House, Senate and the Presidency. This …
While my father and mother were far from apolitical, neither allowed any political signs or flags in the yard or on any barns on our southern Illinois dairy farm. The reason, my father once …
A cardinal rule as elected officials is not to break things — as in, if it isn’t broken, don’t “fix” it — not unlike the medical profession’s Hippocratic …
I have spent decades in healthcare, both in clinical settings and in policymaking, and one thing has become crystal clear to me: the best solutions for rural Iowa’s healthcare challenges come …