Human trafficking currently occurs in Iowa. Commercial exploitation is present in the incentivizing of the state removal of children from their biological parents, and in the manufacturing, agriculture and food service industries. Sex trafficking is going on right now in Iowa. I intend to focus on stopping the demand.
Letters
Letter to the editor: The Catholic Church must wrestle with the demon of pedophilia
Americans in the Trump age are accustomed to atrocities flashing across editorial space and vanishing into the next outrage, but there are exceptions in longevity. Critics and accusers of the Catholic Church, while it remains a viable institution, must wrestle with the demon of pedophilia. Cardinal Wuerl, archbishop of D.C., recently resigned from some of his exalted church offices, facing grand jury findings that he presided over cover-ups for pedophilic priests.
Letter to the editor: Protecting the environment and the economy is not a zero-sum game
Florida’s global warming climate-catastrophe hurricane dominates the news, momentarily eclipsing even the presumptive leader who calls this situation a hoax. Too many liars have access to public attention, voicing the dangerous and defeatist idea that there is a “cost” to defending the earth’s
Letter to the editor: Why the Secretary of State race is important to Iowans with disabilities
It might not seem like the most exciting race, but for Johnson County voters, I’m going to say Secretary of State is the most important contest on the ballot. Democratic candidate Deidre DeJear has called the position she’s running for the “gatekeeper”: The Iowa Secretary of State supervises elections — a big deal in these days of hacking, voter purges and court battles over poll ID laws. Just last year, actually, DeJear’s…
Letter to the editor: Cedar Rapids, we can do better than GO Cedar Rapids and newbo evolve
I publicly voiced early reservations with newbo evolve, the city’s festival turned flop. It featured mundane pop acts. It lost $2.3 million. Vendors are still owed $800,000. Executives were fired. Board members pointed fingers. And the banally named GO Cedar Rapids ceased operations on Monday, Oct. 15. How did this all go so wrong?
Letter to the editor: How Carbon Fee and Dividend will help stop climate change
Climate change is real, it’s bad and it is quickly getting worse. The Midwest and the southern U.S. will be especially hard hit. There will be more severe weather patterns including drought and flooding, more deaths due to extreme heat and significant economic damage with lower GDP.
Letter to the editor: We can’t afford to ignore the looming climate catastrophe
As my husband and I wait, watch and hope our garden and late summer beans, squash and raspberries will survive and mature despite Iowa’s unprecedented rains, the latest IPCC report has been released. As Floridians await Hurricane Michael’s devastation and the people in North and South Carolina struggle to recover from Florence, we learn the world will quickly pass 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming and will rapidly rise to unlivable dimensions.
Letter to the editor: Like Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh indicts himself
Comparisons of the current Supreme Court confirmation charade to the Clarence Thomas affair are frighteningly well based. Not just because both men are pretty obviously abusers of women, and of themselves, but because both provide the most convincing indictments of their own conduct. I’ll pass on Clarence for now, because, all appearances to the contrary, he does at least nominally hold an unrecoverable SCOTUS seat.
Letter to the editor: Vote Pat Heiden and Janelle Rettig for Johnson County supervisor
While I do respect Phil Hemingway’s tenacity and dedication, I support both Janelle Rettig and Pat Heiden for supervisor on Nov. 6. I specifically want to explain why I am supporting Pat.
Letter to the editor: A rebuttal of Luke Tweedy’s ‘Let’s retire the $5 show,’ from the artist mentioned in it
Recently within the Iowa City music scene there’s been a lot of talk regarding what’s wrong with the scene and how we can grow to make it better. This is awesome, as someone who plays in many active bands, books shows on a regular basis and runs a DIY page for this city. I am very excited that people want to make this city better for musicians and fans of music. I see a lot of fragmentation of subcultures, not enough young people/college students supporting local music, and general unawareness of DIY bands and music. All that is definitely changeable.
Letter to the editor: A response from a guilty artist to ‘Let’s retire the $5 show’
I want to thank Luke Tweedy for his Sept. 29 letter to the editor. Artist compensation is an incredibly important subject that isn’t discussed in concrete terms nearly enough. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about it while I sit at a desk working a job I don’t really care about, dreaming of a day when I can support myself entirely on my art.
Letter to the editor: The $5 show and the Iowa City DIY music community
With respect to Mr. Tweedy, I appreciate what he wrote and I agree with him on most points. I believe that this has been said quietly within the community and it’s important that we not take for granted the power of the press to broadcast these ideas.