Tag: politics

Week Three of the new administration was one of stupid stuff. I don’t know how much time to allow this to play out, yet I’ve been busy with my three federal representatives: Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst.

All three favor the scrutiny USAID is receiving. Ernst gets to the heart of the Republican matter in her recent newsletter where she links to this five-page letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding the agency. Short version:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) repeatedly stonewalled my investigations that aimed to uncover how tax dollars were being spent at the agency.

As the Senate DOGE Caucus founder and chair, I blasted the rogue agency’s history of obstruction and waste, including millions for Sesame Street in Iraq, sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, and risky research in Wuhan. I demanded a full and independent analysis of the recipients of USAID assistance.

Americans deserve answers about how their tax dollars are being spent abroad, and I will not be deterred in fighting for and uncovering the truth. (Senator Joni K. Ernst Constituent Newsletter, Feb. 7, 2025).

While I’m willing to bet some bad decisions were made about USAID expenditures, the way the government is attacking the congressionally mandated agency is rookie politics at its worst. Ernst should know better than to support firing most of the 10,000 workforce without notice. If USAID was stonewalling Ernst’ investigation as she said, there is plenty of reason to call key leaders to Washington for hearings. The fact the courts stopped indiscriminate firings without the Congress being involved, plus paid for supplies to fight disease sit idly in warehouses, just makes Team Doge look stupid. In addition, damage has already been done to good work USAID has been doing.

What was up with the big guy and Mexico and Canada? We’re gonna slap tariffs on you, he said, then as just as quickly, he lifted them for a 30-day period. The whole thing supports his campaign rhetoric about the borders and has little to do with reality. The fentanyl talking points seem like especially weak tea since very little of the drug arrives through the U.S.-Canadian border.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Fentanyl is a “synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic.” The number of deaths from fentanyl use began to skyrocket after Trump came down his escalator in Trump Tower to run for president (See chart above). It begs the question of why he didn’t do something about it when he had the chance? To slap a tariff on Mexico and Canada to address a non-issue, resulting in higher costs for consumers, just makes him look stupid.

The Heritage Foundation observed, “The Senate has been keeping their foot on the gas this week by confirming five more Cabinet nominees. That brings the total of Cabinet positions filled to thirteen.” They are also pleased RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard were voted out of committee to be scheduled for a vote by the full Senate. Senator Grassley has been doing his part of the Republican loser-nominee train as chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Senate Democrats called for an additional hearing on Kash Patel, the nominee for Director of the F.B.I., because of his shady background. Grassley would have none of it.

Kash Patel testified before the Committee for more than five hours, disclosed thousands of pages of records and media appearances, and provided 147 pages of responses to written questions. Further hearings on his nomination are unnecessary. 

No one was convinced by the Minority’s baseless efforts to mischaracterize and malign Kash Patel. It’s additionally outrageous to assert that a nominee should come before the Senate to answer for government actions that occurred prior to their time at an agency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will not fall for Democrats’ delay tactics. I intend to hold a final committee vote on Patel’s nomination as soon as next week. (Press Release by Chuck Grassley, Feb. 4, 2025).

The idea we would avoid adequately vetting someone for the top law enforcement agency, a person with close ties to Russia, is just ridiculous. In a way, Grassley is right. Patel’s hearings are not about vetting. They are about politics and that makes our senators look stupid.

I could go on yet I won’t… Except to say the proposed firing of the board at the Kennedy Center, and making the president chair of that board is really stupid. If there is or was a golden age of American arts, it began when the Kennedy Center was built and opened to the public. It is hard to say what the president has in mind going forward, yet how could his leadership do anything but put gilt on it. The fake brilliance would dim the hearts and minds of anyone who cares about the arts. With him, that is probably the point. Also, a person can listen to only so many Lee Greenwood concerts.

I don’t know how many more of these weekly updates I will do. At the same time, there is plenty of stupid to go around.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Republican State Senator Ken Rozenboom, who chairs the Senate State Government Committee which was considering a bill to declare a five-year moratorium on new Iowa gambling casinos, decided the fate of a new gaming license for Iowa’s second largest city.

“According to my conversations, this bill did not have enough support from Senate Republicans to advance all the way through the Senate process,” Rozenboom said. “In the interest of moving this session forward to other issues of critical importance to Iowans, I have no plans to reconsider the legislation for the remainder of this session.”

That was that. On Thursday, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted 4-1 to grant a gaming license to the City of Cedar Rapids, and the ground breaking ceremony was scheduled for Friday. Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell was exuberant, saying it was a “(transformative) day for Cedar Rapids and Linn County.” Lawsuits are expected, yet unless established gaming interests have bribed the judiciary, it seems there will be a Cedar Rapids casino.

I occasionally visited a casino during my lifetime. It takes less than both hands to count the number of times. When my parents took our family to the west coast by automobile, we stopped near Las Vegas at a restaurant that had a slot machine in the lobby. When my home town of Davenport got its first casino, I boarded the riverboat to see what it was about. I visited the land-based casino in Bettendorf for a wedding reception. When I worked at the oil company, the department head hosted a trip to Dubuque where we spent part of our time on a riverboat casino cruise. I once held a meeting near Philadelphia and the group decided to visit Atlantic City for dinner and sightseeing. We walked through the Trump casinos then in operation with row upon row of slot machines. During all those visits, I gambled away roughly $50. It seems unlikely I’ll visit the new Cedar Rapids casino to gamble.

Cedar Rapids is in close proximity to three casinos: Riverside, Tama, and Waterloo. If a person wanted a change of scenery, Dubuque is not that far away. My point in favor of the new casino is why should people have to drive so far to gamble? They shouldn’t. It burns unnecessary fuel, and the risk of a highway accident is increased. Why not let Cedar Rapids build a casino?

In his new book, The Sirens’ Call, released last week, author Chris Hayes discusses the deleterious effect of slot machines on our mind. He explains “the unique attentional trance the machine’s gameplay induces.” In a libertarian society, such simple pleasures, addictions and exploitation should be allowed. Society at large should not function the way someone’s nanny might.

If you like gambling, Cedar Rapids says Gamble On.

The number one tip for helping seniors stay warm indoors during winter is wearing layers of clothing. Begin with a tank top, a t-shirt next, a woolen shirt, then a light jacket. As we age, we tend to be chilly in winter. Cocooning with layers can help.

We also have a tendency to get stir crazy, as evidenced in the questions callers asked during Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ telephone town hall on Tuesday. One woman was in a hospital room for the previous two days and was concerned about Medicare not paying for treatment of a family member’s Alzheimer’s Disease. She could not be consoled, and seemed distraught, even after Rep. Miller-Meeks said a relative of hers had Alzheimer’s and Medicare paid for treatment.

The questions were mostly good, although people need to do a better job asking them. Focus people! You are not in your media bubble at home! Try out your questions before joining the call. Practice! I know, it is a lot to ask.

I made it through to the end. The parts Miller-Meeks read, about the new golden age, energy dominance, and the like, were hardened talking points she used previously in her newsletters. Her way of saying these things drives me crazy. It’s like she’s paying tribute to the MAGA gods before getting started with her shtick, the way a priest says a prayer and does the sign of the cross before approaching the altar.

I took away a couple of things:

• They are working on passing the budget through reconciliation, not regular order.
• She is all in on DOGE.
• Current Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will not be cut now, but any enhancements from the Affordable Care Act are on the table.
• No answers on what to do to bring more manufacturing to Iowa.
• USAID is not supported by her and others and will likely be cut dramatically or eliminated.
• She waffled on the question about privatizing the VA.

I spent worse hours, like the time my boss made me listen to Rush Limbaugh while we were driving around Pennsylvania back in the day. At least I know how to stay warm in winter.

Dear Senators Grassley and Ernst,

Associated Press reported Tuesday Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, advanced from the Senate Intelligence Committee in an 8-9 vote. Next steps are for the Senate to schedule a vote. I urge you to vote no on Gabbard.

When Gabbard was running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2019, I met her at a neighbor’s home. I am a U.S. Army veteran, and from this and one previous encounter in 2016, I can say I was not impressed with her depth of thought or with her qualifications to head a government agency. It is personal experiences like this that drive my opposition to her confirmation as director of DNI.

Thank you for your consideration.
Regards, Paul Deaton

On Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, State Representative Amy Nielsen and Solon Mayor Dan O’Neil hosted a town hall meeting attended by 17 local residents at the Solon Public Library. There was a lively discussion.

Overshadowing the town hall was the fact Republican lawmaker Martin Graber of Fort Madison died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 72. The Gazette story quoted House Speaker House Pat Grassley, “Our caucus is devastated by the unexpected passing of our friend and colleague Martin Graber.” “Our caucus” and no one else? A Democrat at the town hall suggested the obvious: there will be a special election to fill his seat. Let’s give partisanship a rest until the human is buried or cremated before thinking about politics. May Graber rest in peace.

Mayor O’Neil went first. The biggest project the City of Solon is planning is a new wastewater treatment facility. In part, the current one, built in the 1960s, needs updating. The population has grown considerably since the original plant and the city needs expanded capacity. They are one year into a five-year project.

The mayor also suggested the city welcomes increased tax revenue from recent growth. It leaves a little breathing space in the budget, he said. He also discussed the non-partisan nature of city council and would like to keep it that way. We all know he is a Democrat, yet the work is more positive when politics is left outside. He also talked about getting more representation on the county board of supervisors. The legislature is talking about “rural representation” again this year.

State Senator Dawn Driscoll introduced Senate Study Bill 1018 in the Iowa Senate, related to county supervisors and “rural representation.” She explained in her newsletter:

At the forefront of my week was Senate Study Bill (SSB) 1018, which is a bill I filed and am particularly passionate about. This bill requires county supervisors be elected from single-member, equal-population districts in counties with populations of 125,000 or more (or are home to one of Iowa’s public universities). This bill also requires these same counties to fill vacancies on their board of supervisors by special election, while all other counties must fill the vacancy by appointment. SSB 1018 gives a voice to the people of Iowa, especially those in rural communities whose voices can be overpowered by massive amounts of student populations. Given that I live in rural Iowa myself, I recognize the importance of rural representation. Our votes and our voices matter, and I believe SSB 1018 captures exactly this sentiment. The bill advanced through Tuesday’s subcommittee and the Local Government Committee meeting

I pointed out at the town hall that a lot depends upon how the maps dividing our county into districts were drawn. County Auditor Julie Persons was present and said depending on how the legislation is written, and whether it passes, her office would draw a district map and forward it to the Secretary of State for approval. In an Iowa State University study conducted after the 2020 U.S. Census, researchers found 83.3 percent of Johnson County is urban and 16.7 percent is rural. It’s hard to see how a single rural-dominant district could be drawn without extreme gerrymandering.

I want the freedom to vote for the best candidates for all five supervisor seats as the current at-large elections enable. The only Republican elected to the board of supervisors since we moved here in 1993 was John Etheridge. Republicans won by getting out the vote in the entire county in a low turnout election. There’s another reason to favor the at-large system. It elected the first Republican supervisor in many years. It seems like the bill will move this year, even though in our county, it would lock in urban rule by Democrats by district.

Rep. Nielsen covered many topics, including private school vouchers, home schooling, changes in special education, school lunch programs, and the higher education committee. There were questions about water quality, discrimination against LGBTQIA individuals, cancer, and nicotine use and control.

I raised two issues I would like to gain more attention.

Public discussion of contracted administration of Medicaid has gone silent in the state. Is it still costing us too much money? Is the current administrator going to endure? Are we going to require grandma to get a job while enroute to the nursing home? It was a good discussion that ended with my suggestion Rep. Nielsen address it in her legislative newsletter.

I also asked what the legislature was doing to address the statewide shortage of physicians, especially in specialties such as vascular surgery. This topic has not gained traction among Republican lawmakers whose past tendency has been to lower standards rather than incentivize qualified surgeons to move to Iowa.

Rep. Nielsen wears a white hat and even though she doesn’t represent my district, she has been very supportive of everyone in the county. It was a good night in Solon.

Conservatives are complaining the pace of cabinet confirmations is too slow, with only three confirmed as of this writing: Secretary of State, CIA Director and Defense Secretary. They whine that W. had seven confirmed on inauguration day and Obama had six. Maybe if they were better organized and had better nominees for these important positions the pace would pick up. Not holding my breath on the administration getting better organized. It is what it is and Republicans in government and without are just going to have to live with the goat screw they created.

On the sixth day of the Trump administration, the debris has not settled from his initial actions as president. He’s just getting started as policy explosions continue to go off. It is too early for an assessment. My wait and see attitude persisted through the distasteful destruction of systems we once viewed as normal. That is, we viewed them as normal seven days ago.

I’m not ready for hot takes from pundits and calls to action from people who favor a pet project or cause. At six days in, the action continues hot and heavy and none of us who favor a better society can afford to be distracted. This is exacerbated by the off the cuff speaking manner 47 uses intentionally. In Fletcher, N.C. on Friday he said that he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation’s central organization for responding to disasters, according to PBS. It is time to keep our powder dry while the president sorts out his ideas.

Some things stand out to me.

• PEPFAR (The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), one of the few successes of the George W. Bush administration, has been paused. The program is credited with saving more than 25 million lives.
• Last night, 47 fired at least 15 Inspectors General, a violation of federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general. It is like the fox watching the hen house, only worse.
• Confirmation of FOX television personality Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense is an affront to every active duty service person and to veterans. Is this the best leadership Republicans can offer?
• The mass roundup and deportation of undocumented immigrants fumbled out of the gate. There are some actions, notably in New Jersey, but mass deportation it is not. Someone in the county seat sent around photos of a couple of ICE-marked vehicles at a local convenience store. An attorney in Des Moines reported ICE apprehending some clients. The administration could possibly ramp up from this week, yet for all the hubbub about it, not much is happening. It didn’t happen on Day One as predicted by Republicans.
• The pauses at NIH, CDC and other public health-related agencies were unconscionable. In Iowa alone NIH spends $209 million, supporting 2,579 jobs at multiple locations. You can’t just “pause” science and expect useful results.

Looking forward to what week two will bring. I expect it will be more of the same distasteful, poorly conceived, and in some cases illegal activities. It doesn’t help that this was anticipated.