Went in there to get a printer. Kind of a ghost town in there. I don't know how they stay in business. Used to be well stocked. Kind of an upscale better version of a radio shack minus all the resistors and wiring.

I had to work all day. Hoping to get out for a few hours tomorrow. Cold and snowy here. Will see what happens.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Posted this in the regular forum now posting this here as well.

We don't do transfer portal FutureCasts at Rivals, but if we did, I'd plug one in today.

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Just finished “Rolling Thunder”. Holy hell. Great movie. William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones.

Next two that I’ve been meaning to see for a while are “Sorcerer” and “Silent Partner”.

His announced lawsuit vs. Ann Selzer/The Register should probably be dismissed by the Courts as a nuisance lawsuit……under normal legal circumstances. But we all know the “transactional” attitude of the President-elect and I’m thinking if Trump can find a Judge who gives this case consideration, there is a reward in the near future for that justice.
I can’t believe how soft America has become when it comes to fighting for its Constitutionally guaranteed rights but in the current wave of creeping corporatism and the rise of American oligarchy, who knows?
Meanwhile, like the frog sitting in the pot do slowly boiling water, “we the people” are asking, “I wonder what’s for dinner?”

With the transfer portal, injuries, sit outs, opt outs, I think many programs are going to switch to playing two QBs.

This man's career was nipped in the bud when he was writing some of his best stuff. What might have been?

So sad.

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The highest paid clowns in the State produces the worse schools.
For the 2023-24 school year, 12 Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) scored within the lowest 5% of Title I schools in the state.
The Des Moines schools on the list are:

• Brubaker Elementary School
• East High School
• Goodrell Middle School
• Harding Middle School
• Hiatt Middle School
• Hoyt Middle School
• King Elementary School
• Lincoln High School
• North High School
• Studebaker Elementary School
• Virtual Campus
• Weeks Middle School

The report illustrates that 377 Iowa schools were in need of targeted support and improvement schools for the 2023-24 school year, compared to 271 the year before. The state has 1,282 schools in total, at all levels.


Check out some of the salary and benefit pacakages for past and current public school superintendents in Iowa. Some exceeding $300,000 annually and that doesn't include some really nice benefits.

Here's how much money Tom Ahart is getting after he leaves Des Moines Public Schools​

Des Moines Superintendent Tom Ahart resigned and is leaving his position in June with a remaining year of salary and benefits to be paid to him.
www.desmoinesregister.com

Des Moines Public Schools approves extension, raise for superintendent​

The head of Des Moines Public Schools is getting a pay raise and contract extension.

Black and Graves are big but Nebby, UCLA, and a few other big teams had some really large, athletic, heavy DTackles this year and in recent years. Do we like our DTackles in the 29-310 lb range for mobility and pass rush rather than run stuffing?

Due to his penchant for not understanding how things get done, Trump may find sucessfuly executing his agenda challenging.


President-elect Donald Trump's advisers have been hoping county sheriffs in border states will assist with the incoming administration's mass deportation campaign. But several sheriffs are already publicly promising to not lift a finger.

According to a Tuesday report in WIRED magazine, Trump's top immigration advisors like Tom Homan and Stephen Miller have been having conversations with several far-right sheriffs who have expressed an interest in helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement remove immigrants from the United States.

But that effort is unlikely to pick up traction, both for legal reasons and because other sheriffs have said they already have their hands full and don't want to take on more work.

Currently, ICE's 287(g) program allows for state and local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE in its efforts "to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of noncitizens."

However, this does not include sheriffs themselves rounding up and detaining undocumented immigrants. Additionally, no federal funding has been appropriated to any sheriffs' offices that help ICE, meaning just 125 out of 3,081 sheriff's offices in the U.S. have signed up.

And Yuma County, Arizona Sheriff Leon Wilmot told WIRED that the Supreme Court has already established that enforcing immigration law is outside the jurisdiction of local police departments and sheriffs' offices.

"[T]hat's not our realm of responsibility," Wilmot said. "If we wanted to do immigration law, we would go work for Border Patrol."

Link

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston dodged a response to President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan saying he would jail the mayor if he does not comply with federal deportation orders of illegal immigrants.

Johnston, a Democrat, has been one of a few officials who have picked a fight with Homan over the incoming Trump administration's plans for mass deportations. The Denver mayor was asked directly about if he would go to jail to block some deportations on CNN's Erin Burnett Outfront Tuesday, to which he instead said that he would work with the administration on deporting violent criminals.

"You know, I think there are thoughtful ways to solve this problem if they want to focus on violent criminals, we would be happy to help support pursuing, arresting, and deporting them. We've helped past administrations. We do that again," Johnston said. "If they want to focus on adding more judicial capacity, so folks with asylum claims can have those cases heard more quickly, we would support that."

Johnston also said he would not use his law enforcement to resist deportation orders, but instead predicted that citizens of the city would intervene to block federal officials.

"Yeah, we won't use our law enforcement and we don't think we need to. That's not what we're after. I think America is not after another conflict on this issue. They're after a way to find pragmatic solutions to this problem," Johnston said.

"If they are going to send the U.S. Army or the Navy Seals into Denver to pursue folks to pull them off the job at hotels or restaurants where they're working or pull kids off the soccer field, I think we will see Denverites and folks around the country who will nonviolently resist that, because I think that doesn't represent our values and doesn't represent the Constitution," he added.

Homan, who is expected to be Trump's chief hawk on border issues and immigration as the designated border czar, said on Fox News's Hannity on Monday that Johnston defying proposed deportations would be a violation of federal law and that "the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing: He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”

The incoming border czar has also received pushback from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, with Homan saying that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not need cooperation from local law enforcement to carry out deportations of illegal immigrants.

On January 6, 2021, Jeremy Rodgers and his friends went to Washington DC to hear President Donald Trump speak to his supporters. Jeremy is a very respectable young man and father. He has a clean record, has been involved in politics for years, and went to Washington DC to hear President Trump talk and show his support.

During President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, Jeremy and his friends stepped back from the massive crowd of a million plus Trump supporters so they could smoke a cigar. When they were standing away from the crowd near the Washington Monument, Ray Epps came up and told Jeremy and his friends that President Trump was going to speak at the US Capitol later that day.

Now Jeremy, a father and husband with two young sons, is facing years in prison for the trumped-up charges against him by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.

It makes you wonder how many more people can say the same thing about Ray Epps lying and steering them to the US Capitol?

Nearly two years had passed when the FBI visited Jeremy’s work. Jeremy was fired that day—right before Christmas. Jeremy is the father of two young boys.

Weeks and months went by when the FBI-Stasi raided his home at 6 AM on a June morning. Jeremy was in Florida working. He has never been arrested or in trouble with the law. The FBI agents drew loaded guns on his wife and infant sons!
Jeremy’s wife says his boys are traumatized by the FBI raid, “The raid has seriously impacted the psychological well-being of our children. For weeks now our three-year-old has been talking about this incident and has had difficulty sleeping that he did not have before. Jeremy and I are angry that his attempts to cooperate were ignored and that the jackbooted thugs over at the FBI decided to treat an American Citizen with absolutely no criminal record in this manner.”

Jeremy turned himself in days later. The Biden regime filed nine outrageous charges against him.

Since his arrest Jeremy was offered a “deal” by the wicked people who want to destroy him and his family. He turned it down.

click here for the rest of the story

It's de ja vu all over again. The Hawkeye WR room has been a national laughing stock for more than 5 years now. While players and coaches have come and gone, the lack of talent at the WR position remains

Bostick. When hyped but unproven WR Jacob Bostick announced he was leaving Iowa and transferring to talent rich Texas A&M after receiving big $, fans were left scratching their heads. Did A&M see something in the guy that Ferentz never did? After all, the guy had high expectations going into last season, yet finished the year with ZERO receptions. It turns out, after six games in the SEC, Bostick has a grand total of...ONE catch for 14 yards. It came at the end of a blowout win against an FCS school. Bostick likely would have had his union card at Iowa by now and been starting this year.

Vines. What about Iowa's other WR to jump ship after last season, Diante Vines? Vines played way more than he should have last year with mixed results. He had 12 catches for the Hawks and something like 14 drops. Like Deacon Hill, Vines realized he had no business playing Big 10 football and ultimately transferred down a level to Old Dominion. This year, Vines has 20 catches for 190 yards. He too would likely be starting for the Hawks this year.

Kasper. Then there's Kyler Kasper. The 4 star legacy recruit had Iowa in his final 2 schools out of high school. He ultimately chased the $ and the high powered offense and picked Oregon. Unfortunately for him, lots of 4 star WRs go to Oregon and Kasper wasn't utilized at all during his first two years. Iowa was desperate for talent at WR those years, so during this past offseason, there were rumors Kasper was thinking about transferring to Iowa for playing time. He ultimately stayed put at Oregon. So how is he doing in his 3rd year with the Ducks? He is 9th on their WR depth chart and has a grand total of...1 catch. He too would likely be starting at Iowa.

Brecht. Brecht was a 4 star guy who never lived up to his football potential. Rather than endure another year with Brian Ferentz calling plays last year, he opted to focus on baseball. In this, his senior year, Brecht likely would have been the team's primary WR. While Brecht was drafted by the Colorado Rockies organization, he does not have any pro stats yet.

Johnson. Believe it or not, Kaegan Johnson, who started at WR for Iowa way back in 2021, is still playing college ball. Oddly, it appears he peaked his freshmen year at Iowa, where he had 18 catches for 350 yards. In six games this year as a senior at Kansas State, Johnson has 14 catches for 161 yards. He's their team's second leading receiver.

Bruce. Arland Bruce should still be a senior in still in college. He too started for the Hawks as a freshmen in 2021, where his career peaked with 25 catches for 209 yards. He had a sophomore slump, left the program to get away from the Brian Ferentz offense, then was embroiled in the gambling scandal.

Not all WR recruits turn out to be stars. But it's mystifying just how bad Iowa's eye for talent & retention is at this position. Unfortunately, with the Cade McNamera 100 yrd per game passing attack, and Iowa's worst coach/recruiter Budmeyer responsible for recruiting and coaching all new WR talent, the future is anything but bright.

When my family and I moved to the great state of Iowa in 1967, we were in owe of the excellent public education that the state offered to K-12 students and the outstanding higher education of the three public universities, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

Unfortunately, today and for some time, Iowa public education ranking and quality has dipped significantly from its heyday. There are several reasons behind that decline. One principle reason is the ongoing reduction by the Legislature of necessary funds supporting public education of both K-12 and higher education.

According to the Iowa Department of Education's annual Condition of Education Report, the review of Iowa's budget history shows the state spent more money on education than ever before. It actually rose from $1.9 billion in 2000 to nearly $3.2 billion in 2017-18. That is an increase of $1.3 billion.

The Iowa Legislature passed the state's charter school law in 2002. There is now no cap on the number of charter schools that can operate in the state.

At the organizational level, critics believe that charter schools harm the wider public school district, due to funding and transparency concerns. “I'm opposed to publicly funded charter schools that are run privately,” said Joseph Roy, superintendent of schools at the school district in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 2022. Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws.

National teacher unions do not support charters because they give parents the option to flee failing schools or look for a better fit for their children. One possible reason may be due to traditional public schools falling short , which is an embarrassment and could be due to unions' failures.

Charter schools have unique freedom and flexibility not found in public school districts, and their freedom from the red tape of public education often allows them to dedicate increased resources and energy and supporting students in excelling at academic standards. On the other hand, charter schools have a higher teacher turnover rate and lose significantly more teachers each year than public schools. In the United States, charter schools lose 24% of their teachers each year, which is double that of traditional public schools.

It may be of interest to readers and IA voters to raise their awareness on the pros and cons of charter schools.

Teachers should be assigned goals, and their pay should be tied in to achieving those goals.

It is about performance of the teacher. Performance is shown when each individual student's progress is connected directly to his or her particular teacher or set of teachers. Based on how much the student learned, as demonstrated by the pre- and post- tests, a teacher will be assigned a value-added score. Teachers won't be able to blame the prior school-year teacher, nor the parents, nor society as some have done. If the score is low, it is either the kids are stupid, or the teacher is ineffective. We know that kids are not stupid, so...

How can a union protect a teacher from remediation, sanctions, or dismissal if the data shows clearly that the teacher is ineffective with the current students? It can't. And the traditional role of the union will have to change if it is to exist, just as the traditional role of the teacher must change.

From 60% in 2020 to 35% today. I blame our relentless (and often stupid) politicization of everything. (owed in large part to our problematic politics-as-entertainment habit)

Sharp decline in confidence in judiciary is among the largest Gallup has ever measured

The Hawkeyes aren't happy about the departures of Kaleb Brown and Leshon Williams, but either way, they're moving forward.

"Not to be callous, but if a player isn't playing, it's not like you lose anything that way," Kirk Ferentz said.

STORY:

A Coralville woman faces up to a decade in prison for encouraging another woman’s suicide in 2021, saying in a private message on social media at the time that “I want to make sure we get everything done right so you can rest easy,” according to authorities.



Jennifer Marie Williams, 48, was charged earlier this month in Jones County with assisting suicide, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Jennifer Williams (Jones County Sheriff’s Office)
The case involved the Dec. 29, 2021, death of a 38-year-old Olin woman who the Jones County Sheriff’s Office said died by hanging. The death was later ruled a suicide.


Williams called 911 to report the death and was outside the woman’s house when law enforcement arrived.


“I walked outside and told Williams I was sorry for the loss of her friend. She just shrugged her shoulders and did not appear to be saddened by the loss,” a deputy noted in a criminal complaint.




During an initial investigation, a deputy examined messages Williams said she had sent the Olin woman on Snapchat just hours before the death. The deputy took photos of the messages and detectives later executed a warrant to get the full conversation.


The messages, according to a criminal complaint, showed that although Williams knew the woman was suicidal, they talked about funeral arrangements and supplies for the suicide, and Williams asked her: “Back to the chair. Have you tested it out yet? Look here woman, tell me if you tested the rope strength too." Williams also told her on Snapchat, "Let me be the one who finds you. No one else can handle it."


Investigators said there were no messages to the woman telling her to not kill herself.


The conversation ended about 2 a.m. on the day the woman died, according to the complaint. Video surveillance showed Williams arrived at the woman’s house about 4:27 a.m. but she stayed in her car until almost 9 a.m., when she went inside and then called 911, the complaint states.


A charge of assisting suicide is unusual, several prosecutors said.


Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith both agreed that's not a common charge, and neither was aware of either of their counties filing that charge in the past.


"To the best of my knowledge, this specific charge has not previously been filed in Jones County," Assistant Jones County Attorney Sara Smith said Monday.


Williams was arrested Dec. 3 and was being held in the Jones County Jail on a $10,000 bail, according to a news release from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.

Americans must have forgotten what it looks like when one of their elected officials fights for their interests.

Fortunately, President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election has produced regular reminders of how it ought to look.

On Monday, Trump welcomed Japanese CEO Masayoshi Son to the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where the billionaire tech investor pledged a $100 billion investment in the United States, double what he pledged on a similar occasion eight years ago but not enough to keep Trump from showing off his legendary negotiating skills.

Son, who founded the tech investing firm Softbank, pledged $50 billion in U.S. investments in 2016, per CNBC.

This time around, Son's investment will create a projected 100,000 U.S. jobs in "artificial intelligence and related infrastructure" by 2029.

Trump, of course, welcomed the news of Son's massive investment.

Moreover, in one of several clips posted to the social media platform X, the president-elect raised expectations by suggesting that the investment would create 100,000 jobs "at a minimum."

Then, in a second clip, Son attributed his optimism to Trump's election.

"My confidence level to the economy of the United States has tremendously increased with his victory," the CEO said.

Finally, in the most remarkable clip of all, Trump publicly asked Son for an additional $100 billion.

"We were discussing, and President Trump said, 'Masa, double that is not enough. Maybe go for more. Right?" the smiling CEO recalled as he turned to the president-elect.

"That's right. I'm gonna ask him right now. Would you make it $200 billion instead of $100 billion?" Trump replied.

Son broke out into laughter, perhaps somewhat nervously, but more likely because he knew that Trump intended a compliment.

"Believe it or not, he can actually afford to do that," the president-elect said.

Trump then never took his eyes off of Son as the investor figured out how to answer.

"I will try to make it happen," Son said.

The billionaire investor then called Trump a "great negotiator" as the latter patted Son on the back and called his Japanese friend "brilliant."

After four years of elected officials prioritizing illegal immigrants and billions of dollars for Ukraine, Americans finally have an advocate.

Indeed, Monday's good-natured exchange with Son provided a perfect illustration of the disposition and skills Trump brings to the presidency -- and not a moment too soon.

Donald Trump has officially revealed when America was last “great”: the 1930s.
Back in that golden era, there was no polio vaccine. The United States instigated a series of debilitating, beggar-thy-neighbor global trade wars. Sympathies for fascism and isolationism were rising (look up the history of the “America First” slogan). And Americans were wading through the remains of our banking system, whose collapse had kicked off the Great Depression.


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Apparently, the president-elect’s transition team sees this period as America’s glory days.
Some of Trump’s 1930s-ish plans have received a fair amount of media coverage, such as his anti-vaccine nominees for senior health jobs, and his thirst for new trade wars. But less attention has been afforded to his threats to the U.S. banking system, which Trump seems intent on making more vulnerable to crises.


Consider the troubling idea to abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported. Congress founded the FDIC in 1933 in response to a series of painful, “It’s a Wonderful Life”-style bank runs. Hordes of panicked customers tried to pull their money out of banks all at once because they worried their cash would not be safe, causing thousands of banks to collapse.

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In the 90 years since, the FDIC has run a national insurance system for deposits, up to certain limits, so that customers can trust that their money would be protected if their bank got into trouble. The independent agency also supervises the banks it insures to prevent them from getting into trouble in the first place. (Knowing you’re backed by insurance can lead to riskier behavior, after all.)
Trump’s transition team is unhappy with this arrangement.


It has reportedly been asking potential nominees whether it’s possible to kill the FDIC altogether, as well as potentially shrinking, eliminating and consolidating other bank regulators and supervisors. Under such proposals, the FDIC’s deposit insurance function might be absorbed into the Treasury Department, the Journal reported; it’s not clear which other government agency, if any, would take over the FDIC’s other responsibilities, such as supervision and resolving bank failures. (Similar consolidation proposals were laid out in the Project 2025 playbook, which Trump repeatedly swore he had nothing to do with.)
It’s certainly true that our patchwork financial regulatory system could use streamlining. “Even Rube Goldberg could not have imagined our current regulatory framework, so making the system more effective (and less costly) could be a bipartisan thing,” said Kermit Schoenholtz, an emeritus professor who taught money and banking at New York University. “The question is whether the purpose here is to make it more or even less effective.”




If the goal of consolidation is to help regulators spot and address risks in the financial system wherever they occur — in traditional banks, nonbanks, markets, infrastructure, etc. — that would be fantastic. But there’s a difference between making government more effective and making it disappear, and Trump appears to be aiming for the latter.


How do we know? Financial deregulation was one of his major priorities during his first term. He rolled back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, a law created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The big banks also took on more leverage while he was in office, suggesting his appointees tolerated more risk-taking.
Since then, President Joe Biden’s appointees have proposed a series of regulations to reduce risk and make the financial system more resilient, including by requiring large banks to have a bigger capital cushion. Wall Street has fought these efforts ferociously, even running ads about them during “Sunday Night Football.”
The banks might soon get their way. Shortly after the November election, financial regulators announced they were pausing any major rulemaking, including on capital requirements, until Trump takes office. Wall Street firms and lobbyists have drafted wish lists of (de)regulatory changes they want the transition team to commit to, Reuters has reported. And more of Dodd-Frank appears to be in the crosshairs, especially if Project 2025 is implemented.


It’s no surprise then that bank stocks surged after the election. They’re expected to soon be “unshackled” by regulation, freeing them to take on a lot more risk. But taxpayers will still presumably be on the hook if the banks’ risk-taking goes awry.
Right now seems like a peculiar time for any pre-FDIC-era nostalgia. After all, last year was the biggest year for bank failures in modern history, thanks to a crisis that took down Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic. Runs on these regional banks threatened contagion across the rest of the financial system — at least until federal regulators (including the FDIC) stepped in to stem the panic and protect depositors.
MAGA World appears unchastened by either this experience or that of the early 1930s. Or maybe they take it as a challenge: You’ve heard of the Great Depression? Just wait until Trump delivers the greatest one of all.