🗣️ It’s Friday! Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s
pet photo, and of course, reader replies!

🪧 Tomorrow: Join striking Starbucks Iowa City baristas for a rally at noon Saturday outside the store at 228 S. Clinton St., which they’re encouraging folks to boycott until they get a contract. (Read up on how Iowa City was the first unionized Starbucks in Iowa, and when the strike began.)

🎧 Have you heard this song before? It seemed appropriate after last weekend’s heavy snow (and in preparation for this weekend’s; ugh, I AM NOT READY for full winter yet!).

A person dressed in winter gear drags a Christmas tree through the snow. (Carlson Tree Farm)

🐕 This is Diesel, who “is right around 14 years old,” says reader Kyle L. “We got him from a rescue in Colorado about 12 years ago.”

I needed a reminder of what sun felt like today; thank you, Diesel!

Send me your pet photos here.

Readers are invited to add to the conversation by emailing responses@iowastartingline.com. Please include your first name and last initial. You may also want to include your city, but that’s up to you. I may edit your content for conciseness or to correct typos.

Should Iowa be able to prohibit the Satanic Temple from holding a holiday event in the Capitol?

• “While I might not agree with this organization’s beliefs, I don’t think that Iowa should selectively choose who can and who can’t hold holiday services in a public Iowa building.” — Rich S.

• “Sure reeks of censorship to me. They’ve been very vague in their reasons. What part of freedom of religion does this not comply with?” — Tim

• “I am unapologetically Christian; an ordained Episcopal priest. But I believe that all should be able to host an event regardless of religious affiliation. The state has no business deciding correct beliefs!” — Diana W., Boone

• “If they allow one, how could they not allow all? Do we honor the First Amendment or not?” — Bob H.

• “Satan wishes nothing more than to harm us and have us go to eternal suffering. Why would we help out a group that supports someone who wishes our destruction?” — Paul B. (NOTE: You can read what the group actually stands for here.)

• “As a part of separation of church and state, I believe that NO religious displays of ANY kind should be allowed in the main building for political activities for our state for any occasion. I’m not condemning the Satanic Temple or any other group for their right to use of free speech. That’s my view.” — Clare L. 

• “I think any group that wants to display at a state capitol should be allowed to display unless they advocate breaking a state law. Whether or not I agree with them is irrelevant. What matters is the free speech of citizens in that state.” — Jeff S.

UnityPoint nurses union vote:

• “So I work for UPH, and I wouldn’t want my name attached to anything, but a LOT of us non-nursing staff are quietly cheering them on. UPH is a great place to work for sure—but we still want to see our nurses get taken care of.” — Anonymous

  (NOTE: I’ll keep reader comments anonymous if a person is risking something major to tell us something—a job, a house, their life.)
  
  

• “Yes! A union for nurses has been needed for a long time.” — Donna C.

   

• “Nurses are well paid and everyone is suffering with the high medical costs.” — Paul B.

  (NOTE: Here’s what nurses actually make in Iowa, per the nurses themselves. And remember who’s actually to blame for rising medical costs.)

Jean Seberg:

• “I enjoyed the Jean Seberg story. I remember her and competed with her in one-act play competitions in high school. She was very talented and seemed like a nice person. I was raised in Steamboat Rock and to compete against schools the size of Marshalltown and Des Moines was a challenge and matter of pride. When we scored higher than them in one-act play competitions in Des Moines, she was not happy, but we were ecstatic. The play which carried us to number one was ‘Pink and Patches,’ a symbol of the time and places across Iowa in the 50s.”
  — David A.

Government website hack:

• “My name is Brian Penny, and I’m a former bank whistleblower and freelance journalist researching AI. I wanted to let you know there are links to AI sex apps hosted on the official Iowa government website. They can be found on Google by searching ‘deepfake site:iowa.gov’ Over the coming days, more will appear.

  Last week, I worked with KLAS 8 News over the same thing happening on the Nevada DOT website.

  This is because Iowa is a customer of Granicus, a cloud services and AI provider. It’s a wide-reaching hack involving 23 government agencies across 14 states so far. Your local government is unfortunately one of them, and your citizens are in danger. This page needs to be immediately deleted, and your local government needs to be notified. Thanks.”
  — Brian Penny, Tucson

Iowa’s hospital ranking:

• “Re: Iowa is tied for the worst ranking among states for our quality of hospitals. One word … YIKES! Appreciate the work you do.” — Amy G.

• “I am confused by the assertion that Iowa hospital quality is not good. The safety report relates to disaster planning. While this is obviously very important, it hardly seems to relate to the quality of care which seems to me to be the most important issue in hospital ‘quality.’

   

  I have in the past two years had more experience with Iowa hospitals than in the previous 80 years of my life. I have found the staff and facilities in three different hospitals from primary to tertiary care satisfactory. Thanks for your on-line journalism!” — Stephen M.

  (NOTE: It is about quality of care, actually. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade “uses up to 32 evidence-based measures of patient safety,” according to their website.)

Boycott:

• “What a stupid idea to boycott Walmart. Have you thought of the results for the Salvation Army and how much less money will be put in their kettles because of a lot less customers boycotting? And what about the employees who might get hours cut because of less customers, many of them Democrats? This is just a stupid idea.” — K.O. Kelting

  (NOTE: If you’re referring to the We Ain’t Buying It boycott, that was Target, not Walmart.)

Protests and rallies:

• “I thought I’d let you know that the Peaceful Panorama Protest won’t be held on Christmas or New Year’s Day. Otherwise, we’re pressing on regardless, weather permitting. Thank you for getting the word out about this and all the other info you supply.” — Dr. S., Stuart

Soundoff feedback:

• “[Re:] Dixon’s letter about Free Speech: Thank you for clearly laying out where we are and offering a qualifying statement that could be adopted. Make lying wrong again!” — Bonny H., Onawa

• “Another gem of a response from you to a truly ignorant question! Brave, Amie! I wish I knew you personally for you would be my dear friend for your integrity and wise balance!” — Greg C.

• “How can I get on the mailing list?” — Laurie D. (NOTE: Here.)

Clarification on ag and cancer survey:

• “My name is Caroline Powell, and I am a second-year MS student in the Agricultural Safety and Health program at the University of Iowa. I appreciate you sharing my survey this morning. I am the only student on this project, as this is part of my thesis work. …

   

  Because the study aims to characterize if concern even exists about developing cancer from agricultural work, the current headline may unintentionally suggest that the survey is only for farmers and ag workers who are already concerned. …

   

  This survey is for anyone who has lived and/or worked in a community in Iowa where agricultural activities have taken place, including family members who have lived on agricultural operations, owner-operators, workers, and service contractors who work on agricultural operations regularly. This can be currently or in the past. … The goal is to learn directly from agricultural communities about what they know and think about cancer. Whether you believe there’s a risk, no risk, or haven’t thought about it at all, share your perspective.” — Caroline Powell

Letter of the Week:

The 7 Think Tanks Controlling Trump

“Since the 1960s, think tanks and advocacy groups have been key influencers
of presidential policymaking. For decades, Democrat and Republican presidents have relied on think tanks for research and policy ideas. Most recently think tank roles have shifted from advisory to actual policy formulation and implementation, whereby the President is the marionette controlled by the think tank puppeteers.

Research is replete that seven conservative organizations have had hundreds of their recommendations implemented. If, since Jan. 20, your mind has been spinning around after witnessing a rapidly reshaped federal government and change in international diplomacy and social norms, you may wonder who is pulling Trump’s strings.

Let’s examine the seven think tank puppeteers who have controlled Trump’s
2.0 administration since Jan. 20 and will continue to change the USA until Jan. 2029. This should help you better understand what’s going on at the White House.

Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in mid-2024, ‘I know nothing about
Project 2025,’ despite an April 2022 speech at a Heritage Foundation event where he endorsed or acknowledged the project’s efforts (Salon, July 11, 2024).

Project 2025, a 922-page blueprint, contained 735 detailed policy proposals for Trump to implement across 20 federal agencies (CBS News). Interestingly,
only 31% of Republicans are aware of Project 2025 (Navigator Research) and of those who are knowledgeable, only 7% view the blueprint favorably (NBC News).

Data from the Center for Progressive Reform and Governing for Impact’s Oct. 15 report reveals the Trump 2.0 administration has already implemented 251 domestic policies written by the Heritage Foundation. Sixty-four of Project 2025’s foreign affairs and international economic policy proposals have also been implemented since Trump’s inauguration.

Together, this means 315 of Project 2025’s policy proposals (42.8%) have been implemented since Jan. 20 (The Hill). Additionally, about 70% of Trump’s cabinet and over 50 senior officials had prior roles with Heritage or its Project 2025 partner groups (DeSmog).

Here’s just nine high-profile recommendations from Project 2025 Mr. Trump has implemented:

• disbanding US Agency for International Development,
• prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the military,
  
• allocating funds for 100,000 ICE detention beds,
• laying off thousands of IRS employees and eliminating new funding for tax enforcement,
• deploying Secret Service and other federal officers as law enforcement in Washington, DC,
• canceling federal contracts supporting diversity, equity and inclusion,
• defunding NPR, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
• withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, and
• expanding tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. (The Hill and BBC)

America First Policy
America First Policy Institute (AFPI) prepared nearly 300 executive orders
ready for Trump’s signature immediately after his Jan. 20 inauguration. AFPI
dominates Trump’s ‘America First’ economic nationalism, immigration
restrictions and deregulation task forces personnel and their co-founder Linda McMahon is now Secretary of Education (NPR).

Center for Renewing America
The Center for Renewing America, founded by Russel Vought—top Project
2025 architect and Director, Office of Management and Budget—has been
instrumental in shaping policies around Schedule F (civil service reclassification), Christian nationalist faith-based governance and federal budget restructuring (Politico).

Claremont Institute
The Claremont Institute has contributed ideological frameworks promoting
‘national conservatism,’ advancing ‘constitutional conservatism,’ state-level
resistance to the federal bureaucracy, DEI reforms and climate-related executive orders (DeSmog).

Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College-trained figures have taken education posts across Trump’s
agencies, promoting the nationalization of curriculum and the rollback of federal education standards (NCSL).

America First Legal
Stephen Miller’s organization, America First Legal, advises Mr. Trump on litigation and executive acts aimed at neutralizing federal civil rights enforcement, immigration enforcement, Department of Justice strategies and border governance (Politico).

Council for National Policy
The Council for National Policy is the hub for political appointments and
helps integrate religious nationalist proposals into agencies’ missions, including Health and Human Services and Education (DeSmog).

Mr. Trump has followed the playbooks presented to him by seven self-
serving organizations. Already in play are 251 policies that span from federal
agency restrictions to immigration crackdowns, rollback of environmental civil rights protections and significant centralization of the executive branch.
Internationally, 64 policies created by think tanks are in force and have enabled Mr. Trump to take a sharp pivot toward isolationism, trade protectionism and militarized deterrence that is consistent with the ‘America First’ concept (The Fulcrum).

But hold your hat. The Project 2025 Tracker and other independent
observers note that another 309 objectives of the marionette masters remain ‘in progress’ (www.project2025.observer/en). Reformation of America has only just begun.

As the late Paul Harvey would say at the closure of his 1976-2008 ABC
News radio broadcasts, ‘and now you know the rest of the story. Good day.’“

— Steve Corbin, Professor Emeritus of Marketing, University of Northern
Iowa

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