During a phone interview on a conservative talk radio show on Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said she’s “continuing to have good conversations with the legislature” about passing a bill banning any kind of COVID-19 vaccine mandate during its upcoming special session. That session, scheduled for Oct. 28, has been called to consider the second set […]
Donald Trump
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Donald Trump lies, stokes xenophobia and endorses Chuck Grassley in speech at Iowa State Fairgrounds
When Donald Trump finally began speaking at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday night, it took him less than two minutes to get to his central message: “The election was rigged.” He was lying, but about an hour into his speech, the former president did say something true about the 2020 election. “I never conceded. […]
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How UI grad Liz Crokin became one of QAnon’s biggest influencers
Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault, child abuse and racism. “QAnon Congresswoman” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was red-pilled (that is, fell down the rabbit hole of far-right online conspiracy theories) back in 2017. “I first heard about [Q] from Liz Crokin,” Greene said in a Facebook Live video from November 2017. “She’s […]
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The fifth Iowan charged for the Capitol insurrection allegedly assaulted, threatened to shoot an officer
An Iowa man arrested by the FBI earlier this month for taking part in the U.S. Capitol insurrection was allegedly part of a mob that assaulted a police officer, shot him with a stun gun and stole his badge, radio and ammunition while attempting to grab the officer’s service weapon, among other acts of violence, […]
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Iowa Poll: 41 percent of Republicans say they won’t get vaccinated for COVID-19
In a new Iowa Poll published on Sunday, 41 percent of the respondents who identified themselves as Republicans said they have no intention of being vaccinated against COVID-19. Among those who said they voted for Donald Trump in November, the rate of vaccine rejection was even higher, with 45 percent saying they have no intention […]
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State Republicans pass bill to restrict early voting, voting by mail and voting on Election Day in Iowa
Just eight days after it was introduced in the Iowa Legislature, a bill that would make it harder to vote but easier to remove people from voting rolls, and creates new criminal liability for local election officials, received its final approval. On Wednesday night, the Republican-controlled Iowa House of Representatives sent the bill to Gov. […]
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‘It’s voter suppression’: Iowa Republicans target voting access, citing Trumpian election conspiracy theories
At least 33 state legislatures around the country, most of them controlled by Republicans, are working on bills that restrict voting. Iowa is one of them. “These bills are an unmistakable response to the unfounded and dangerous lies about fraud that followed the 2020 election,“ the Brennan Center for Justice said in a report on […]
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State Sen. Jim Carlin, a hardcore Trump supporter, becomes the first declared candidate in the 2022 U.S. Senate race
The 2022 U.S. Senate election in Iowa now has its first official candidate. On Monday, Republican state Sen. Jim Carlin announced he is running for the seat that Chuck Grassley has held since 1981. Carlin has served in the Iowa State Senate, representing part of Woodbury County, since winning a special election in 2017. He […]
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Iowan’s ‘menacing’ behavior in the Capitol illustrates how much worse the insurrection could have been
A short video captured inside the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6 shows perhaps the most heroic (and heroically restrained) performance by a police officer on that day, as well as the criminal trespassing of an Iowan on the halls of Congress. The officer is Eugene Goodman of the U.S. Capitol Police, the Washington Post […]
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‘The Republican Party is a cult’: Trump challenger Joe Walsh drops out of 2020 race after being booed during Iowa Caucus
Joe Walsh (not the Eagles guitarist; the other one) announced on Friday he is dropping out the 2020 race for president. Anyone not following politics very closely can be excused for not realizing Joe Walsh was running for president, or knowing who Joe Walsh is.
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Mark Sanford, who was running against Donald Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination, ends his long-shot campaign after 65 days
Mark Sanford, one of three candidates running against President Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, announced on Tuesday he is dropping out of the race. The former South Carolina congressman made his announcement during a press conference in New Hampshire, where he had focused his long-shot campaign.
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Video premiere and interview: The Awful Purdies, ‘45’
Because “45” has a simple, catchy melody, its easy to overlook the levels of depth that make it great. The melody is accompanied by a complex arrangement of acoustic elements, one of the hallmarks of the Awful Purdies’ sound. It unfolds into Katie Roche’s vocals and includes textured and layered harmonies that echo and support them.
