My father a lifelong hawkeye fan passed away this morning after a brief illness. We went to a few hawkeye games together. Notably the Kansas St. game in Ferentz first year, what a hot one! Every gameday we would sit around as a family and enjoy many Hawkeye games. Wins celebrated, losses fumed over.

He always liked to here stories i would tell him from posts on this site. Mostly the funny ones on whether a coach would be fired or about a player rumor mill etc...... Thank you.

Thanks to my dad i started being a Hawkeye fan early in my childhood, and will always remain same.

It was always are hope every spring somehow the Hawks would win a championship come the fall.

Many wonderful Hawkeye memories were made with my father. He will be missed.

Go Hawks!

Thinking of going to Maine with the family this summer for 8-9 days. Great deals on Sun Country out of MSP into Portland and have never been anywhere in the vicinity of Maine / New Hampshire so I am looking for tips. Mostly planning to hike, see waterfalls, see lighthouses, eat lobster, etc. I know Acadia NP is a must-do, but wondering if it is worth also uprooting and spending time in the White Mountains, and then also southern Maine for Ogunquit / Kennebunkport, etc. Any feedback is appreciated!

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President Joe Biden looks set to have a challenging time trying to win re-election to the White House in November's election, including in the state where he was born.

Biden is heading into an election year amid continuing poor approval ratings and concerns that his presumed 2024 Republican challenger, Donald Trump, is beating the president in several key swing states—including Pennsylvania, where Biden was born in 1942.

While Biden is perhaps more commonly associated with Delaware, where he was a senator for 36 years and continues to regularly visit while in office, the state of Pennsylvania is still close to the president's heart; the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania opened in his honor in 2018.

Pennsylvania is also now considered a crucial state for Biden's presidential future. While the state which Biden flipped from Trump in 2020 by just 1.2 percent is considered a swing state, it had leaned Democrat for decades, only voting for a Republican candidate twice since 1988. If Biden were to lose Pennsylvania, it would go to show how disgruntled Democrat voters have become with the president since he entered office.

A recent Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll shows that Trump is narrowly beating Biden in Pennsylvania by just one point (40 to 39 percent). Another Quinnipiac University survey showed that Biden beating Trump 49 to 46 percent in Pennsylvania in a race the polling group says is still too close to call at this stage.

However, the Quinnipiac University poll also shows that Biden is suffering from low approval ratings (40 percent), a trend that has plagued Biden nationwide.

According to FiveThirtyEight's national live tracker, Biden's current average approval rating is just 38.6 percent, with the president not recording an approval rating above 50 percent since August 2021.

There have been numerous hot topic issues that experts believe may be playing a factor in why Biden is struggling to secure crucial support in his birth state heading into 2024.

These include ongoing concerns about the economy—with Biden's time in office seeing decades-high levels of inflation and record gas prices, although both have now fallen—as well as the criticism aimed at the president over his handling of the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Biden has been frequently criticized, including by progressive members of his own party, for failing to push for a ceasefire to end the war that broke out in the wake of Hamas' attack against Israel on October 7.


Christopher Borick, a professor of political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said the 81-year-old's age is also an issue with key demographics in the state heading into November's election.

"The age factor adds to his diminished status among younger voters and voters of color, as many of his policy accomplishments under Biden that are directed towards the interests of these cohorts are not credited due to a lack of connection exacerbated by generational differences," Borick told Newsweek.

"The situation in Israel and Gaza has certainly further strained the president's standing among younger, progressive voters and added to his challenges with key groups within his 2020 coalition."

"The immigration crisis is fairly salient even in Pennsylvania where the effects are less direct, and most voters see Trump as better equipped to handle the matter," Borick added. "This all adds up to a challenging path for Biden to repeat his 2020 success in the state he identifies so deeply with."


Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

However, Borick added that Biden's chances in Pennsylvania "remain solid" while noting that Trump also has "substantial liabilities heading" into the year. The former president is facing 91 charges across four criminal investigations and faces being a convicted felon by the time November's election comes around.

Trump was disqualified from running for president in Colorado and Maine for allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause due to his actions around the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. The Supreme Court is set to determine if he can remain on the ballots.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing in relation to all investigations and lawsuits filed against him and accused them of being politically motivated "witch hunts" that aim to prevent him from winning the 2024 election.


"Trump's negatives are high, and it seems hard to identify factors that may change that situation in the upcoming year," Borick said. "Biden has a better opportunity to recapture voters within the Democratic coalition than Trump has of winning over disaffected Republicans and independents that were not with him in 2020.

"Republicans have had failure after failure in Pennsylvania since 2016, and the most likely voters in the state have become solidly Democratic in their preferences. Thus, despite very significant challenges, Biden has a reasonable path to winning Pennsylvania this fall."

Cary Coglianese, an Edward B. Shils professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, said that Biden still has time on his hands to turn things around in his birth state, and noted the unreliability of polls at times.

In December 2011, Utah Senator Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who were campaigning for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination at the time, were beating incumbent president Barack Obama in a survey of key swing states like Pennsylvania. Obama went on to cruise to re-election against Romney, including winning Pennsylvania by more than five points.

There were also several polls that falsely suggested there would be a "red wave" at the 2022 midterms, which failed to materialize as the GOP only just managed to achieve a majority in the House and failed to re-take control of the Senate from the Democrats.

"The Biden team would obviously prefer to be polling way ahead of Trump, but that was never going to happen in a swing state anyway," Coglianese told Newsweek. "Biden's job approval rating numbers, in general, mean that Biden and the Democrats will have their work cut out for themselves in Pennsylvania. But that's something we always knew."

"Republicans, of course, also have their work cut out for themselves," Cognalise said.

"If Trump is their candidate, it seems he has done little if anything that would expand his appeal to suburban Pennsylvanian voters who will likely be crucial for a victory in the state.

"The abortion issue will likely cut in favor of turnout that supports Biden in ways that I don't think we see polling data adequately capturing," Coglianese added. "And Trump's anti-democratic rhetoric, focus on the past, and language of grievance will likely also motivate turnout in Biden's favor, even if voters are not so enthusiastic about Biden."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...S&cvid=48abf4d37f98453ba31ea347250f7803&ei=11

You know, the thing you gripe about in your own head all the time but choose not to have that be the battle you fight with the spouse because it won't end in anything productive?

A man of integrity. Heads better roll swiftly.

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Wycleff Jean and Bill Krystol on MSNBC. I love them both. But Bill looked like "what am I doing here"? LOL

WHO: Illinois Fighting Illini (3-4, 0-1 Big Ten)
WHEN: 8:00 PM CT (Friday, January 26, 2024)
WHERE: Huff Hall (Champaign, IL)
TV: BTN (Zach Mackey and Tim Johnson)
RADIO: AM 800 KXIC (Steven Grace, Mark Ironside) | YouTube
MOBILE: foxsports.com/mobile
ONLINE: foxsports.com/live
FOLLOW: @IowaAwesome | @Hawks_Wrestling | @IowaonBTN

#3 Iowa picked up a comfortable 34-6 home win over Purdue last week and now heads on the road for a pair of away duals in Illinois, against Illinois and Northwestern teams that are a combined 3-6 on the season thus far. In other words, the competition probably won't be at its fiercest this weekend, either.

Iowa starts off the weekend in Champaign, with an 8 PM tilt against the Illini. Iowa is 55-26-1 all-time against Illinois and have won 12 straight duals in the series dating back to 2006. Tom Brands has never lost to the Illini as Iowa head coach (12-0).

MORE HERE:

Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would require public school students to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" each day and require instruction on the words, meaning and history of the national anthem, including how to “love, honor and respect” the song.



The bill, House Study Bill 587, was advanced out of a subcommittee by Republican Reps. Henry Stone of Forest City and Phil Thompson of Boone. Democratic Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown voted against the bill, saying it is unnecessary and a waste of classroom time.


The bill, which said it won’t apply in private schools, would require students and teachers to sing “at least one verse” of the anthem each day. Students and teachers would be allowed to opt out of singing the anthem, but they would be required to stand if able and remain silent while the anthem is sung.





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Schools would also have to direct students and teachers to sing all four verses of the anthem on “patriotic occasions,” as determined by the local school board.


Multiple speakers at the subcommittee meeting Wednesday said the bill placed onerous requirements on schools and potentially violated the First Amendment by requiring students and teachers to stand during the anthem.


Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said she was opposed to the bill “legislating patriotism” and requiring a certain kind of speech at schools.




“It explicitly talks about teaching how to love, honor and respect the national anthem,” she said. “And putting those kind of values on a symbol is simply wrong.”


Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, said much of what is in the bill already is taught in classrooms, but the groups did not support implementing the mandates on schools.


“We promote patriotism as much as possible, we just don’t want to be mandated that all districts have to do it, and have to do it the same way,” he said.

​

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Beyond the anthem, the bill would also require social studies instruction in grades 1-12 to include instruction on the “object and principles of the government of the United States, the sacrifices made by the founders of the United States” and “the important contributions made by all who have served in the armed forces since the founding of the United States.”


During the meeting, Cahill led the group of three lawmakers in singing the national anthem before outlining her opposition to the bill. She said she wanted to illustrate “that our Capitol is the perfect place to show patriotism,” but schools should not be mandating displays of patriotism.


She said she was concerned that the bill would mandate speech and asked whether students would be punished if they kneel during the anthem. She also said singing the song every day and teaching its concepts would shorten the time available to teach other topics.

Rep. Henry Stone of Forest City (left), Rep. Phil Thompson of Boone (middle) and Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown (right), sing the national anthem Wednesday during a subcommittee meeting at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines. (Caleb McCullough, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau)
“The school classroom is not the place for mandating the singing of the national anthem, thus mandating patriotism for students,” she said. “I think that’s something students choose, and it’s something that they learn.”


Stone, the subcommittee chair, said he was supportive of the bill. He noted there could be changes to it as it moves through the lawmaking process.


“I grew up in a household that valued patriotism, that promoted patriotism,” he said. “That’s why I joined as a third-generation military man. … I believe in this bill, I believe that it's something that we can put back into our schools that has added value.”


After passing the subcommittee on Wednesday, the bill, which was proposed by House Education Committee Chair Skyler Wheeler, is eligible for a vote in the full committee.

The Star-Spangled Banner​

According to the National Museum of American History in Washington, the four versus of the national anthem are:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,

’Tis the star-spangled banner — O long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto — “In God is our trust,”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I think I've told y'all I'm a Chargers fan. Not sure how I feel about this.

Either way, huge for news for Michigan.

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I've been reading and starting following videos and podcasts on this.

From what I've read and heard so far, it seems this is a new tool for the radical left. I get it, not all are, but it seems that most of the targets are on the right.

WTF, is wrong with people. Getting someone killed because you don't like what they say or believe. JFC, if you on the left aren't condemning this, then you are living in the wrong country.

This is third world sick sh*t. Needs to stop and money spent to find the people doing it. In the $34 trillion dollar budget there should be more than enough to find these people.

How long before it starts happening in everyday neighborhoods because someones dog craps in someone's yard and it escalates to swatting?

So, I hit a deer with the current Tradmobile...

While the damage wasn't fatal, I'm gonna have to put the old girl down eventually and get a new ride. She's a 2013 Honda CR-V with 260,000 miles and runs like a champ. Fvcking deer....

Anyway, I've narrowed it down to the four in the poll (kinda like the CFP).

I did offer a write-in vote option, but be aware that I'm not interested in easy-to-steal Hyundais or Kias. No thanks to any of the Big Three American offerings. No, I don't want a Nissan Rogue, either.

Write-ins cannot exceed $40K MSRP.

What should I get GIAHORT?

With 30 days of open transfer portal, it will be interesting if Iowa targets any one. Last year Iowa was targeting Ernest Hausmann from Debby. Loveland would be an insane talent to nab at TE, but that is a spot Iowa is currently deep at.

Dithering at the state level, and at the local level has denied some fairly quick, and easy improvements to schools across the state. Sadly, the shooting at Perry might spur some action.
https://www.kcrg.com/2024/01/26/iow...two-shootings-later-money-is-largely-unspent/

Algona’s Merrill Moore was a boogie woogie rockabilly piano pounder much like Jerry Lee Lewis however Moore recorded before the Ol Killer. He never got his dream job to be Bob Wills’ piano player so he went to Hollywood to back Tennessee Ernie Ford and others on television.

Forgotten in Iowa and America, Moore was treated like a conquering hero when he played rockabilly festivals in Europe.

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They're trying to do it right now. Officially make him the presumed nominee before anymore primaries. I mean it's their party. They can do what they want. But it's weird listening to them bitch about the Dems and Hillary and Bernie for the last 8 years then turn right around and do something even worse.

Foreclosures ticked up last year in what experts said was a housing market correction after years of volatility following the outbreak of COVID-19, according to the real estate data analysis firm ATTOM.

Foreclosure filings last year, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, jumped 10 percent compared to 2022 and were up 136 percent from 2021. But they were down nearly 30 percent compared to 2019, the year before COVID disrupted the housing market.

There were more than 357,000 homes in the foreclosure process in 2023, about 0.26 percent of all homes in the U.S., up slightly from a year ago. But these homes that found themselves entering this process were down from the 0.36 percent seen in 2019 and from what ATTOM says was a peak more than a decade ago with 2.23 percent of properties finding themselves in foreclosure activity.

"We see the recent rise in foreclosure activity as a market correction rather than a cause for alarm. It signals a return to more traditional patterns after years of volatility," ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement. "Our data suggests that while foreclosure activity may fluctuate, it's unlikely to approach the highs seen in the last decade."

A spokesperson at ATTOM told Newsweek in a follow-up email that if certain economic trends shift, foreclosures could rise.

"If we see home prices decline, this could potentially lead to negative equity. And if unemployment rates continue to rise, we may see more and more people not able to make their mortgage payments," said Jennifer von Pohlmann, a senior director of public relations at ATTOM.

Data from December showed that foreclosure filings fell 6 percent compared to the previous month and were down by 2 percent compared to the same time a year ago, according to ATTOM. The firm produces its analysis based on public records and foreclosure filings from more than 3,000 countries across the country, it said.

New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Maryland and Ohio registered the highest rates of foreclosures in 2023. Metropolitan areas that reported the most foreclosure activities included Atlantic City in New Jersey, Lakeland in Florida, Columbia in South Carolina and Fayetteville in North Carolina.


Barber suggested that the foreclosure activity in 2023 reflected economic trends of a housing market that is less predictable than it was during the pandemic.

"We foresee a market that is more reflective of broader economic trends, with foreclosure filings becoming a more predictable aspect of the housing landscape," he said. "This shift offers a silver lining—the opportunity for investors, homeowners, and industry professionals to plan and strategize with greater confidence and insight."

ATTOM's spokesperson added that the trajectory of interest rates, which have been elevated since the Federal Reserve hiked rates to fight inflation, as well as home prices and unemployment rates, will shape how foreclosure activity will unfold.

"With rising interest rates, resulting in higher mortgage payments, especially those with [adjustable-rate mortgages], this could potentially increase the risk of foreclosure," von Pohlmann said.


More than 270,000 homes in the U.S. had lenders start foreclosure activities in 2023, an increase of 9 percent from 2022, with California, Texas and Florida leading the country. Bank repossessions were down 2 percent last year compared to 2022, with Michigan, Pennsylvania and California seeing the highest number, according to data from ATTOM.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/rea...S&cvid=4750fdd84d2e4564a2c632a1d0b8d08a&ei=12

Looks like they’re trying to upgrade.

Does Cade start day one next year?

Per Jon Rothstein, the Big Ten is planning to stay at 20 league games when USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington join the league this summer.

The Big Ten is also going to limit the Big Ten Tournament to 15 teams, so the bottom-3 teams in the league would not make the conference tournament.

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There has to be a story behind this Coca-Cola outfit.

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