In April 2024, the Iowa Legislature proposed Senate file 2435, which became effective in July of that year. The legislation prohibits the state’s public universities from directing any funds toward DEI-related offices or programs. House Study Bill 57 deals with similar DEI-related subjects, but targets the college accreditation system, while House Study Bill 53 removes defined DEI and critical race theory course material from mandatory course work. HSB 55 and 59 are designed to enforce those laws by requiring publication of all course syllabi and establishing that all finances, vendor contracts, and relevant professor information must now be made publicly available. 

On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, his cabinet directed all federal agencies to terminate any “equity-related” grants and require federal contractors to certify that they do not promote “wokeness” or DEI. Less than two weeks later, Reynolds issued a similar letter to Iowa’s state universities, calling on them to cut all DEI positions and related contracts.

Among other effects, the federal directives and governor’s order resulted in the closure of the University of Iowa’s famous International Writing Program. The Department of State declared that IWP’s grants “no longer effectuate agency priorities” nor align with “agency priorities and national interest.” The UI noted that “More than 90% of funds associated with the IWP’s federal grants are spent domestically, which would have resulted in slightly less than $1 million going back into the U.S. economy over the next year.”

These cuts and paranoid cleansing of “woke” education reached a peak in March, when the UI stated that they plan to close the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, along with many of the University’s living-learning centers and veteran/minority councils, following direction from the Iowa Board of Regents.

Also in March, the Iowa House of Representatives passed House Bill 401, which bans state universities’ general education courses from discussing “identity politics” or suggesting that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are present in the United States or Iowa.  

The bill also mandated that general education curricula at the state’s universities include a “Western Heritage” program requirement, in which students must complete a certain amount of semester credits in course work related to the western canon to graduate. Many worry that curriculum requirements being set by the Legislature, rather than by the Board of Regents, will lead to distorted learning, particularly in history and the humanities. Citing the Legislature’s directives, the Board of Regents already has cut two UI degree programs. 

Rep. Steven Holt (R-Denison), said the bill was vital to “further enforce the principles of Western civilization and American exceptionalism.” He went on to say, “I think we left it up to the so-called experts for many years, and in my opinion, they mucked it up.”

On the same day that House File 401 passed, lawmakers also moved to approve House File 437, which establishes a “Center for Intellectual Freedom” at the UI, and voted along party lines to end caps on in-state tuition and mandatory fees. In addition, they approved a bill that would deny Iowa Tuition Grants to students who attend Iowa private colleges that have DEI programs. 

The Center for Intellectual Freedom is set up to provide courses on American history and programming on civil discourse, and is estimated to cost around $1.5 million per year. The University’s total cost from cutting its 12 employees operating its Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity and other DEI offices totaled just $868,219 in savings.

The day after those bills passed, Trump signed an order directing that “the Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” Reynolds was in attendance for the order’s signing.

Republicans and right-wing think tanks like the Manhattan Institute have suggested transferring the Department of Education’s responsibilities of civil rights enforcement in public schools to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, considering the gutting of Education Department and DOJ staff earlier this year and the recent memo from the General Services Administration effectively stating that segregation is no longer an illegal practice for government contractors, it’s unlikely that any federal entity will properly enforce law and protect students. Givng civil rights-enforcement responsibilities to the DOJ is another tool for the Trump Administration to remove the Education Department’s long-held independence and centralize Trump’s authority. As of May 1, more than 250 DOJ attorneys have chosen to walk off the job instead of comply with the executive branch’s directives.

Research is also under attack. A court injunction has temporarily halted the National Institutes of Health’s cuts to Iowa research funding, which would amount to over $33 million and potentially terminate over 20,000 positions. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley posted on X in support of the research cuts.

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With civil protections removed, institutions kneecapped, further control over education returning to the state, and Reynolds’s capture of the judicial appointment system, little stands in the way of the Iowa GOP as they expand their regulatory sights on public libraries and the private sector, threatening penalties and budget cuts for promoting critical race theory or having associations with advocacy organizations.

Along with cuts to staff and budgets, the state has become more involved in policing language and tightening restrictions on faculty and staff speech. In February the Regents made revisions to Iowa’s freedom of expression policy with more clearly defined and punitive measures for digital content it finds objectionable, and moved to scrub all UI websites of references to diversity, equity, and other “divisive” ideologies. 

In February Trump ordered federal employees to report hidden DEI coworkers or face “adverse consequences.” House Study Bill 50 will implement annual reviews by the Board of Regents of state universities’ academic programs, which critics fear are designed to enforce compliance with these new anti-DEI policies.

The chilling effect of these moves has been successful, as associating your job or personal opinions with DEI-related topics could lead to the termination of your position, office, or research grants. Many faculty have chosen to quietly avoid being targeted rather than loudly speaking up and risking the attention of Trump or the Iowa Legislature.

Asking to remain anonymous, a history teacher who works in special education in Iowa public schools observed that these cuts will predominantly be felt by children with special needs and in poor communities with already under-equipped staff and services. “Maybe they can divide people on DEI and stuff, but I hope nobody, if they knew what they were doing, would want those with disabilities to have less.” 

The Trump Administration said the arrest of students and financial cuts at Columbia University and deportation of Professor Badar Khan Suri for speech critical of the Administration will be first “of many to come” as the Administration cracks down on demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The federal District Court of the Southern District of Iowa has placed a restraining order against Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s department for its revoking of five UI international students’ visas.

Republicans have successfully captured key state judicial and legislative procedures and used them to strangle the institutions and legal precedents that stand to curtail their agenda and limit their power. All public and private schools in the state have signed letters of compliance with the erasure of DEI practices to protect federal and state funding. With Democrats confused and their current share of Congress too small to fight these bills, it’s unlikely anyone can stand up to Reynolds’s and Trump’s attack on education.

The post Anti-wokeness and Iowa’s dismantling of education appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I mean, we already have our very own pumpkin king.

The recent turbulent senate confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and his subsequent appointment as a justice of the Supreme Court has thrown questions of socio-political justice up in the air.

Controversy surrounding the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh prompted President Trump to claim it’s “a very scary time for young men in America.”

Trump went on to say that this aforementioned ‘scariness’ comes from the potential “to be found guilty of something of something you may not be guilty of.” But what is there to be afraid of if you haven’t done anything wrong?

I’d really like ‘scary’ to just have to do with skeletons and Halloween costumes again, not toxic masculinity and obtuse judgement towards sexual assault victims.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, among thousands of other sexual assault victims, suffer in silence for years, unsure if they will ever recover or get to tell their side of the story.

No matter the extent of the assault or when it occurred, if it has caused someone emotional distress, it merits investigation and justice. All human beings deserve a basic respect of emotional sympathy.

And that sense of sympathy extends to Kavanaugh as well. This trial has no doubt tinged his reputation and will impact his life for a long time. Neither party deserves to be written off completely.

The investigation into this assault was not, as Kavanaugh seemed to understand it, an attack on him and his family just because he is a conservative nominee. It was a way to find recompense for a clearly distressed woman and measure Kavanaugh’s character as a person and future justice.

President Trump construing Blasey Ford’s testimony as false on a national scale illustrates a placement of personal allegiances over the pursuance of justice. Democracy is a system designed to be as fair as possible and avoid a one-sided power structure like the monarchy it was created to escape.

The lack of trust between genders mimics the polarization between political parties, and neither appears to have a clear solution. Without a open conversation on what and how to fix the blatant opposition between sides, nothing will change.

Though difficult and unlikely based off the current climate of the political system, consolidations need to be made on both sides to create a more unified system that works for the country.

While fodder for SNL and other late night shows, if you take a minute to really consider everything that has happened in the political sphere since Trump’s inauguration in 2017, it really is scary. Almost apocalyptic. The twisted world of Halloween Town from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” doesn’t seem that far removed from the partisan free-for-all we are currently living in. I’m half expecting for Trump to kidnap Santa Claus just for the hell of it.

You can help make the U.S. political system less scary by

 registering to vote in the upcoming midterms!

The post Old Soul: A Scary Time for Everyone appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Letterman suffered scrutiny after it surfaced he had sexual relationships with his female staffers while married to his wife, Regina. Blackmailed for $2 million, Letterman confessed  to the allegations live on “The Late Show” and subsequently retired in 2009.  Unfit for cable, he turned to Netflix, which agreed to facilitate a new kind of talk show.

The show debuts Letterman’s shockingly long beard giving us a biblical, omniscient impression much different from his typical “working man” appearance. The audience is unaware of who each guest is at the start of the first episode. On an eerily vacant and dark stage, Letterman stands in front of two black chairs as he gives a small introduction, then casually brings out former president of the United States, Barack Obama.

This is the perfect platform for Obama to talk about his personal life that had been absent from his presidential image. He talks of current politics, his mother, absent father, and childhood so focused on the importance of education. Obama also admits that he grew somewhat envious of his wife Michelle’s more pleasurable role as First Lady. As he had to deliver formal speeches from the Oval Office, his wife participated in human interest campaigns with children and young women.

Revolutionizing U.S. presidential campaign tactics, Obama is the first to mobilize voters using an online presence. Twitter and Facebook were handy in coordinating rallies, grassroots efforts, as well as sharing the campaign platform. Obama pioneered a strategy that Trump himself employed to become his successor. “It seems like a handy tool that has turned against us,” Letterman says.

In this episode, Obama touches on the “fake news” phenomenon. “One of the biggest challenges we have to our democracy is the degree to which we don’t share a common baseline of facts,” he explains. “You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts,” Obama quotes former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY.)

One of Obama’s inspirations is former Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) who helped organize the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. Letterman visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge where the police rained down tear gas on Civil Rights protesters. Although peaceful, Lewis says that he truly believed he would die that day.

“We had been taught not to be a threat, but be determined and be orderly, peaceful and abide by the philosophy and discipline of non-violence.” Lewis tells Letterman that he believes the current administration “is a major setback to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of a people…and a threat not only to our country but to the planet.”

The second episode, “You Be The Newsman, I’ll Be Liz Taylor,” features George Clooney who speaks of his Catholic upbringing, activism, personal life, and relationship with his family.

In the late 1960’s-70’s, Clooney’s father, hosted a local talk show in Ohio called “The Nick Clooney Show.” The local morning talk show gave rise to George’s love of show business, as his father would have him dress up as characters and mock interview him.

Clooney’s wife, Amal, is a human rights lawyer sharing Clooney’s interest in activism. He became very involved with the genocide in Darfur and began the Not On Our Watch Foundation in 2008. Clooney visited the decimated Darfur region of Sudan in order to investigate the corruption. He found that the banks were aiding the Sudanese government’s massacre of Darfur and used this information to spread awareness in the U.S. through the media.

We learn that Clooney is not just the former “sexiest man alive,” but a passionate, intelligent man driven by his Catholic virtues. When Clooney goes into detail about his wife, I was in awe of the degree of his sincerity. “Before I had the twins,” Clooney says, “I felt that way about her. I felt that I’d met someone who I would absolutely trade my life for…her life meant more to me than my life.”

After the first two episodes, I feel like I’ve earned friendships in Obama and Clooney. This show revolutionizes television’s 15-minute interview into an extensive, in-depth conversation with the iconic. Unfortunately, I’m unable to reminisce with George Clooney over a glass of his Casamigos Tequila, or visit the Edmund Pettus bridge with one of the founders of the Civil Rights movement, but Letterman’s show serves as a perfect substitute.

“My Next Guest” will continue with a new episode every month. The March episode will feature Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived a shot in the head from the Taliban. As the title hints, surely her bravery “needs no introduction.”

The post Netflix and Trill: Letterman Revolutionizes the Talk Show appeared first on KRUI Radio.

There are mistakes – misguided or wrong judgement. Writing this piece at night was not the problem. Drinking coffee that keeps one up past 3 AM? That was misguided judgement.

Then there are dumb mistakes. An example here is when NASA burned a $125 Million Mars orbiter vehicle thanks to not converting thrust calculations from English units to the metric system. True story, that happened.
We’ve come a long way as a species. That was a dumb mistake for the world’s brightest minds to make.

Finally, there are dumb, avoidable mistakes. These are when we not only had the wrong judgement on an event but, we also had plenty of the right information available to not make such proudly ignorant errors. That’s not enough, however. There’s the avoidable part. Mistakes we simply did not have to commit or be part of. That brings us to this day in American history.

We are here because of three reasons:

1. The President of the United States campaigned on two wildly uninformed and implausible precepts of understanding the vast immigration elephant in the room

a) “We’re gonna build a wall”

The feasibility of this project was priced anywhere from $15-25 Billion by varying estimates.  Naturally, this wouldn’t go over well with tax-payers who were being told in the same MAGA speeches that their tax dollars were being mismanaged in Washington (see: irony definition) on absurd spending in the wrong places so, act two of the show was always…

b) “Mexico will pay for it.”

On the very first call with the Mexican president, President Nieto shut down such a pipe dream while his counterpart practically begged him to “be cool about this, hombre”.

2. Immigration Reform is seriously hard work, and can not be taken lightly in hopes of an easy fix.

Last fall September 5, 2017, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions gleefully announced the end of DACA (checkout clip below for detail), the idea was to move along with the rest of the day and trust that this Congress would “figure it out” by March. “It” being comprehensive immigration reform that has eluded every President since Ronald Reagan (Fun Fact: He gave undocumented immigrants strict conditional legal standing – similar to President Obama’s DACA.)

3. The left hand (McConnell) knows not what the right hand (POTUS) is doing.

Here’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on his outlook of what his party’s president wants.

“I’m looking for something that President Trump supports, and he has not yet indicated what measure he is willing to sign… As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I would be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels.”

The significance of a Senate Majority Leader publicly proclaiming that he has no idea what the President of his own party wants and thus no discernible governing trajectory is noteworthy at best, and deeply troubling in an entirely unprecedented way at worst.  Did we mention that this party currently has majorities in both houses? Well, they do.

What is at stake?

Like any other government shutdown (our last one was in 2013), the functionality of the United States Federal Government. No need to panic, there are contingencies in place for such lunacy. That said, the effect of the mere possibility of such an occurrence is troubling on several fronts.

Domestically, it calls into serious question the viability of this current administration’s ability to convince a Congress legislated by the party favorable to it’s own governance goals and agenda (where discernible).

Internationally, the implications get murkier as one looks to see through the swamp but, the general sense of the waters is clear and will likely not be so easily forgotten with the next headline.
America’s standing in the world is represented by the dollar among other things. The strength of the dollar – the underlying representation of American power and stature – is a paper contract of stability. It says “in an unpredictably complex world, you can count on the United States to reliably and predictably get things done while keeping a functional government over time. The sheer threat of this being called into question for the second time in 5 years now (after the great recession) is significant.
Look no further than America’s biggest creditor and trading partner for proof, in China. American credit rating was cut from A- to BBB+.
Trivial as that might seem,  the accompanying commentary from the Dagong Global Credit Rating Company (think China’s S&P, or Moody rating agencies) is telling of the grim outlook on the 1 year anniversary of the new President:

“Deficiencies in the current U.S. political ecology make it difficult for the efficient administration of the federal government…The virtual solvency of the federal government would be likely to become the detonator of the next financial crisis. The market’s reversing recognition of the value of U.S. Treasury bonds and U.S. dollar will be a powerful force in destroying the fragile debt chain of the federal government”

So, there’s that: the integrity of the sole superpower for the last 25 years. This can not be entirely credited to 2017 and Presidency but, this last year surely accelerated the dire prospects quicker than anyone could have imagined possible.

For more commentary on the long road from DACA to this impending disaster, checkout part of this clip of Homeland To Heartland: MERGE exploring the story in more detail. The clip is produced by Leland Sims.

MERGE Radio covers international news weekly as part of a project to connect Iowans to the rest of the world. To learn more, CLICK HERE and visit the show’s page.

The post DAM: Dumb, Avoidable Mistake – A Government Shutdown appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This Clean Energy Plan was put in place with help from electrical contractors here as an attempt to cut carbon emissions from electricity generation by a third in the next fifteen years. As carbon emissions are the leading cause for a climate change, a cut in these emissions would have been a huge step forward in helping the environment. The unwinding of the Clean Energy Plan won’t happen overnight but as of today, Trump has offered no replacement for the plan.

While this cut of the Clean Energy Plan is the most recent, it is most certainly not the first dangerous move Trump has made in terms of the future of our environment. Trump quite notoriously does not care about the environment, he seems to only care about instant gratification of money and job creation (neither of which will matter if the environment is destroyed but I won’t get into that). Below I offer a short list of a few other environmental downfalls of the Trump administration.

1. He is currently the only world leader to deny climate change

Yes, you read that right. The leader of the United States does not believe in climate change. Let’s not forget his famous tweet on the topic.

And a few other questionable tweets about the ‘hoax’ of global warming that have been often overlooked.

     2. He made the worst head of EPA selection probably ever

His name is Scott Pruitt and he might be just as terrible as Trump. He is a climate change skeptic, no surprise. Therefore Pruitt has offered no plans for how he intends to mitigate climate change during his time as the head of EPA. Which is you know, only like the most important aspect of that position. He has long standing ties in the oil and gas industry, again no surprise. Pruitt also has a long history of being opposed to the EPA, the exact agency he is now running. His opposition to the agency is so strong that during Obama’s administration Pruitt filed fourteen lawsuits against the EPA, including suits attempting to block the efforts of clearing smog from national parks and cutting carbon emissions in energy production. He has even mentioned his desire to have the entire agency dismantled. 

3. He doesn’t care about endangered species

The endangered species act created in 1973 is defined as “ an act aimed to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats”. The Endangered Species List for the United States currently has over 1600 different species on the list that they are aiming to protect from complete extinction. Last month, a Senate hearing was held on the topic of “modernizing the Endangered Species Act”. In short, Trump and his administration are not a fan of the ESA for two reasons, it cost money to protect these species (money that Trump would rather spend on anything other than helping the environment) and secondly because they believe it “overreaches and harms the drilling, logging and mining industries”. Which is their way of saying “the regulations put in place to save these animals from being gone forever are preventing us from making money, which is more important”. Not to mention these are the exact industries that are to blame for a majority of these species being placed on the endangered species list in the first place… You really can’t make this stuff up folks. 

Fortunately, the Endangered Species Act is widely supported and it will be tough for Trump and his administration to make changes to the act, but this does not mean they will not attempt to. Species expected to be heavily targeted by Trump’s administration are gray wolves and grizzly bear as they both pose a threat to the farming and ranching industry.

4. He has highly considered withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement

The Paris agreement is an agreement signed by over 190 countries stating they will work together to lower their carbon emissions and limit global warming to within 2 degrees celsius of pre-industrial levels. While Trump hasn’t done anything in terms of the Paris Agreement yet and many remain unsure if he ever will, in his campaign he vowed to ‘cancel’ the United State’s participation in the agreement. The Paris Agreement would take a big hit if the United States were to withdraw, as we are one of the top polluting countries in the world. 

5. He’s a huge supporter of oil pipelines

From the get go Trump has shown his support of the highly controversial Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. The Dakota Access and Keystone pipelines have been highly protested and talked about in recent months as many fear that these pipelines will cause water quality issues, among a host of other environmental issues. Within days of being in office Trump signed executive orders to revive the creation and continuation of these pipelines. He did this less than one month after a pipeline in North Dakota spilled 530,000 gallons of oil into a small creek that feeds into the Missouri River. This topic portrays Trump’s complete disregard for caring about anything other than making money.

While much of these outrageous laws and ideas are still in the works and under heavy debate, it is pertinent information I believe everybody should be aware of. This has all taken place within two months of Trump’s presidency. If Trump succeeds in his plans I can only imagine the damage it will have on our already struggling environment.

I can’t begin to scratch the surface of major environmental topics in this article, therefore I urge all readers to take this base knowledge and use it for further research and self education. As I believe one of the biggest threats to our environment is society as a whole simply being unaware of the issues.

For more information on these topics and ideas of what you can do to help the environment during Trump’s presidency check out these websites.

What Causes Climate Change 

Endangered Species Act

Petition in support of saving the ESA

Four Things You Can Do To Stop Trump from Making Climate Change Worse

5 Reasons Trump’s Administration Should Scare the Shit Out of You

The post Trump is the Environment’s Worst Nightmare appeared first on KRUI Radio.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It isn’t the popular opinion, but all of the Patriots should make the White House visit. If it isn’t for something else planned, there are only reasons for the players to go meet President Trump.

The twist is that by attending they could still convey a message, and possibly a significantly more powerful one.

Earlier this week the University of Iowa Athletic Department held a town hall meeting for its student-athletes. The focus on the meeting, discussing diversity and inclusion. As thoughts were shared, the New England Patriots players who have decided to skip the White House visit were mentioned.

The topic brought about a critical response, from both perspectives. Some felt it hurt the team for the players not to attend, others said they have every right not to go. The media around the much anticipated visit was even brought into question.

Overall, the reaction to the players pledging their absence was that they need to make a statement against what they feel is wrong and that by not attending they will do so. Notable Patriots players Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, and LeGarrette Blount all have expressed that they will not attend, citing President Trump or the government as their reasoning.

Others have joined the list of players choosing to stay away. Dont’a Hightower’s reason was he had already attended in college; he also did not attend when the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX. Alan Branch decided to be with family and Chris Long didn’t give any more reason than he didn’t want to go.

The players holding out because of their disgust or anger with the new President came as no surprise. Many athletes have expressed their displeasure with the President and his actions over the campaign and into office.

Results from many of those who spoke out was what ultimately lacked. High profile statements have a cause and effect. One side will feel empowered while the other will lash back at whatever the statement was, just as it happened when players announced they wouldn’t visit the White House or when Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem.

The difference for these players, and the reason why they should still attend, is that they are public figures. They have abilities and opportunities that the average American citizen doesn’t have.

Whether someone is for or against President Trump they have an opinion. And the players have made theirs’ clear, but these players are also being given a chance that everyone else isn’t. A chance to speak to the President himself, in person.

Blount, who has been outspoken about feeling unwelcome in the White House, has the opportunity to meet face to face with the person so many Americans are frustrated with. He has a chance to express his concerns to the source of what many see as the problem. By not attending, he doesn’t have that.

These players can use the White House visit to spread their message to the ultimate target. They have the ability to be ambassadors to the President for the American people. They can be a more direct route than many of the politicians that are also causing frustration.

Being able to stand up for what you believe says more about ones character than letting the opponent win. Not attending sends a message but it brings no tangible results along with it. Speaking to the President does.

The old fashion way of solving problems is to talk it out. Today it is easier to avoid a problem or to speak out with no result than it is to go to the source. Discussion can solve problems; an idea the country was built on.

By these players attending, they would be able to tell the story of how the President acted with them. Was he rude, as many think would happen, or was he willing to talk? Did the President listen to the concerns of the players or did he allow it to go in one ear and out the other?

There would be no more powerful a message to the American people than a professional athlete, someone who to many is a role model, telling them how the President acted and what he said. Being able to say that he listened, or didn’t.

If the Super Bowl Champions, New England Patriots players could return and tell the American people they expressed their thoughts directly to the President it would leave a lasting impact. A message to stand up for themselves but also that discussion to work things through is much stronger a weapon.

The town hall for the student-athletes ended with similar words from the panel. Finding the people who can help tell the message and confronting it head on. Issues today need to be solved by working them out, face to face.

The post All of the Patriots Should Go to the White House appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This healthcare provider has a long, politically-charged history. The first clinic, focused on administering birth control, was founded by Margaret Sanger, Ethel Byrne and Fania Mindel in Brooklyn. Sanger was jailed 30 days after opening the clinic for violating the Comstock law. This

federal law was passed to suppress the “trade in, and circulation of, obscene literature and articles of immoral use”, and criminalized sending information related to erotica, contraceptives, abortifacients, sex toys, letters alluding to any sexual content or information. This law made communication about advances in reproductive healthcare essentially illegal.

Although Sanger is infamous for participating in racist eugenicist politics (PP’s fave is definitely problematic), the lasting legacy of Planned Parenthood has been about empowering women to make their own decisions about reproductive healthcare. This makes the organization a perfect target for the Trump administration.

However, what kind of policy maneuvers will the Republicans have to make to actually “defund” Planned Parenthood? It turns out that the majority of the money that the organization gets from the federal government is from Medicaid reimbursements.

According to Planned Parenthood officials, “Just like other kinds of health insurance, Medicaid reimburses Planned Parenthood’s doctors and nurses for the preventive medical services they provide, including life-saving cancer screenings, HIV testing, and Portia contraceptive and birth control options.” They further explain that the federal government doesn’t provide direct, open funding in the form of a blank-check style grant.

In this way, the incoming administration would have to go after Medicaid funding and programs like Title X, a federal program that provides funding to reproductive healthcare programs that include, but are not limited to, Planned Parenthood clinics. There is no legislation that gives money to Planned Parenthood that Republicans can repeal.

This means that the Republicans can’t just vote to shut down the PP clinics. Instead, they will have to play the long game and dismantle the healthcare system itself to really achieve their goal of disabling Planned Parenthood. It’s not that this is impossible — a lot of change (and damage) can happen during a united Republican government. But this change will not happen immediately or easily.

The conversation about Planned Parenthood “losing funding” is fundamentally about healthcare policy. Obamacare brought some necessary changes to the American system by incorporating guaranteed issue of basic, primary care into all insurance plans and creating the individual mandate that all people must be paying into the new system.

However, many experts argue that the biggest problem with American healthcare is the sheer complexity of the system. Most other developed nations have simpler, streamlined systems where every person has access to the same care, while in the United States there are many different systems for different classes of people. Not only does this

highlight the inequalities between social groups in America, it also contributes to the administrative nightmare that is American healthcare.

For more information about comparative healthcare policy, check out T.R. Reid’s The Healing Of America.

Genuine Justice is a column about reproductive justice focusing on current events, historical perspectives and systematic racism in women’s healthcare.

The post Genuine Justice: Defunding Planned Parenthood appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I’m sure you have seen the soldiers around campus. People leaping out of corners to ask you pointed questions to convince you that you’ve always felt a certain way. Carefully crafted loaded questions fired at you with expected responses. Protests and rallies to gain support for or against a certain individual or group of individuals. If you are an Iowa City resident of a few years this is nothing new. It is a norm of the political season and as a swing state we hold a tantalizing amount of power over the future of the leadership of our country. Politicians know it, and after months of campaigning major representatives have returned to Iowa city as a last ditch effort to seduce you into voting for them over their opponents.

Just yesterday I was attacked by a political volunteer while I was innocently buying books for class. This particularly energetic volunteer locked eyes with me from 50 feet away as I headed towards the bookstore in the basement of the IMU. I could tell by the wild look in her eye that she clearly wanted to say something to me and after mistakenly making eye contact I knew that I had sealed my fate and had to appease her with a conversation. As I came within shouting distance, our political activist friend Ol’ Wild Eyes hit me with her one line: “How do you feel about MONEY and LEGALIZING WEED?!”

As a typical college student I was taken aback.

I felt pretty good about those things and I had a suspicious feeling that was exactly why she asked me. After stammering out a shaky, “pretty good”, I looked over to Wild Eyes’ booth where other political activists were attempting to indoctrinate other innocent students to join their political candidate’s party. After receiving numerous political phone calls all week, I felt that I was prepared to have a well-informed conversation with Wild Eyes. I scanned her booth to find out which politician she was fighting for and realized it was a particular representative well-known for questionable political standpoints and several protests on campus.

This was precisely when I realized that I was in over my head and any further conversation with Wild Eyes would cost me time and get me nowhere. However, I had to respect her because she felt so strongly about the future of her country that she volunteered her valuable time and put herself out there knowing full well she might get denied.

After I politely informed my new friend wild eyes that I would not be voting for her political candidate I couldn’t help but think how volatile the situation in Iowa City is. Iowa is a powder keg waiting to ignite and every candidate is hoping it blows their campaign to new heights. Unfortunately this leaves us Iowans pulled in ten different directions; every candidate is promising to make your life better, but the only way to differentiate between the masses and rabble is to get informed. Many political activists are out there trying to get votes for their candidate at any cost, and had I been less active in current events I might have made a hasty uninformed decision that could have benefited the wrong individual.

If you can take anything from my story I hope it is the itch to find out what is going on in our country. I’m not the biggest fan of politics myself- as you can see by my annoyance of political activists- but I don’t allow that to get in the way of making an informed decision. It is easy to point fingers and claim that one candidate is crazy, but unless you take the steps to make a calculated informed decision, you are surrendering your voice, a constitutional right as an American citizen, and allowing someone else to tell you how to live.

If you like this article please check out some of the other pieces in my ongoing column!

The post Iowa at War appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the writer, not KRUI.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people.” These words were used to describe an entire ethnicity. They weren’t spoken by some random person on the street, they were spoken by someone who wants to be the President of the United States: Donald Trump, a reality TV Show host and a real estate tycoon.

In 15 words, he devalued every single hardworking Mexican. He spoke these words in the speech he used to announce his candidacy. In that same speech, Trump talked about how immigrants have no place here.

Since his birth, Trump has been surrounded by immigrants. Trump was born to the son of a German immigrant, and to a Scottish immigrant. Two of his wives are immigrants from the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Trump was born in the U.S., so upon his birth, he was automatically a citizen.

However, apparently that’s not important, because his mother’s skin was white. If immigration had shown up on her doorstep, the minute they saw her white face they would apologize and walk away. The lady with a brown face sitting on a bench? They would instantly walk up to her and assume she was illegal.

People say Trump is full anti-immigration, but I think he’s pro-immigration; ONLY if the immigrants look white. The reason being that he has a whole plan set up for immigration, but only for immigrants that come from Mexico.

His main points include building a wall and having Mexico pay for it and ending birthright citizenship. His flaw with ending birthright citizenship? Not only would I pack my bags and head to Mexico but Trump would have to buy a plane ticket and head to either Scotland or Germany. (Oh, and birthright citizenship is written into a little piece of paper called the Constitution.)

He says he wants to deport all illegal immigrants from the country. However, not all immigrants: just Mexicans. According to Trump,

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”

Trump only said Mexico, so it’s okay people from Central and South America. You can stay in the United States! You’re not from Mexico!

Right now, Mexico is still trying to get over the national embarrassment of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the drug lord who escaped from maximum security prison. Again. After his escape, Trump decided to give his opinion.

Trump is threatening a man who is feared by an entire country. Very smart. That’s what I want in a president. For him to provoke a drug lord and mass murderer. Trump is right in one thing: Mexico has drugs and drug cartels. It is precisely because of these drug cartels that people flee to the United States. They control Mexico’s government at the local and federal level.

On September 26th 2014, 43 college students were attacked by local police ordered by the local drug cartel. What has Mexico done? They covered it up and are still covering it up. (Geez, I wonder why people are fleeing.)

Ever since his speech in the summer, Trump has gone on to say even more ridiculous stuff. However, his supporters are just like him. Ignorant and aggressive. In fact, a Honduran man went with fellow Latinos to a Trump rally. His experience was captured.

His feelings at the Trump rally are what many immigrants feel in their own home country. Fear. Not only did Trump’s supporters get his home country wrong, one man spit on him because of the color of his skin. Ronald is from Honduras, which is separated from Mexico by an entire country. This man is not Mexican, he is Honduran. But to Trump’s supporters and to Trump this doesn’t matter. He is brown, therefore he is Mexican.

Our parents and our peers come to America not to steal jobs, not to make the economy worse, they come to escape. They are scared of stepping out into their street. They come so they don’t have to feel that emotion anymore.

I put out a study on Facebook and asked my peers to answer three simple questions: What their ethnicity was, the chances of them voting for Trump, and why they would or wouldn’t vote for him. I got 35 responses. Out of the 35 only 9 said they were either Hispanic or Latino. That didn’t surprise me. I was raised with the phrase, “Don’t say or do anything that will get you in trouble. Stay out of it.” The parents of Hispanic/Latino children are raised to avoid trouble, to not stick their neck out. This comes from their own fears of their childhood.

In the survey, 23 people said they were white. When I looked at the stats of their chances of voting for Trump I was definitely surprised.

Eighteen said there was no chance of them voting for Trump. Some of my favorite responses included:

“Garbage shouldn’t run for president.”

“This country would be a complete joke if Donald Trump became president.”

“Because he is insane and doesn’t actually have a solid plan for the nation and he’s racist and impulsive. He’d jump us into a nuclear holocaust 5 mins after being swore in.”

“Several reasons: 1. He’s racist af. 2. He’s sexist af. 3. He will single handedly burn this country to the ground. 4. Those creepy comments he made about his daughter. 5. I don’t trust his face. He looks like Peter Pettigrew, if Peter Pettigrew had become a billionaire running a rat mafia. 6. I made a vow that if Trump were to become president I was legitimately going to move out of the country and I’m currently a broke college student and I guarantee I will not have my life together enough to move out of Iowa let alone the US by 2016. 7. #Bernie2k16.”

“He’s a racist motherfucker that would ruin literally fucking everything.”

The rest of the reasons that people wrote went along these same lines. Not only do they think that Trump is racist, but they also consider him a joke. Some didn’t even mention his racist comments, they just don’t want him as president.

The Hispanics and Latinos that filled out the response all had similar thoughts. They wouldn’t vote for him because of what he said about us. “Us,” as in the entire ethnicity of both Hispanics and Latinos.

One Latino wrote, “He’s disrespectful. A leader doesn’t need to offend anyone, more importantly make anyone else seem like less to be a president. A president cares about every human. Doesn’t think of the innocent kids that he also puts down or most importantly, probably even scares. We’re all human. We all deserve respect.” The rest also wrote how they had no respect for him.

One thing that I found more surprising than anything else was that not one single Hispanic or Latino wrote a cuss word when writing their response. Their responses talked about being disrespected and how Trump was rude and condescending.

Going back to what I said before, Hispanics and Latinos are raised to stay out of it, avoid conflict, mind their own business. It is our greatest flaw. We don’t get involved. We don’t push. We keep our heads down, and do what we need to do. And yet we still get discriminated against. The vast majority of us are workers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, actors, singers, and students with no criminal record, but when just one Hispanic or Latino breaks the law, our entire race feels the repercussions. Suddenly, we are all criminals and need to go back from where we came from.

On November 7th, Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live. The live comedy show is known for making fun of things that normally wouldn’t be made fun of. While most of their shows laugh at politicians and celebrities and how they act, this one made fun of something else. It made fun of an ethnicity.

Leading up to the show, protesters began popping up. These protesters were Latinos. They weren’t happy that offensive comments made about them were about to be taken as a joke. They were about to be made of fun of on national television. They held up signs that read “Stop the Hate”, “#RacismIsntFunny”, and “#DumpTrump”.  They protested because the show wouldn’t be one rich white man hurling insults. . . It would be an entire cast of rich white people.

Trump’s monologue was the first thing that started off the show after the cold open. In it, he states that he can take a joke, makes fun of Rosie O’Donnell, and says hes rich, full of talent, and handsome.

The Latino protesters had said before the show that they would give $5,000 to anybody that called Trump a racist on the show. They weren’t joking and will give Larry David the money. While everybody considered it a joke, the Latino protesters did not. Trump called Mexicans criminals, but when the Latinos protested against him, they did nothing violent or criminal. They didn’t burn things, destroy things, or vandalize anything. It was a just a group of Latinos asking for respect. Latinos and Hispanics stay out of political issues and other things but when they do decide to stand up for themselves and ask for respect, they are taken as a joke.

This is important because Latinos and Hispanics are never taken seriously and in the words of John Leguizamo, a Colombian-born actor and producer, “This is celebrating somebody who, if he’d said those things about any other ethnic group, he would not be on SNL.” Sure, SNL is a comedy show and they can make fun of things that many wouldn’t, but I didn’t realize that that meant supporting racism.

This hurts because being Mexican isn’t just the color of your skin, or the place where you or your parents were born. Being Mexican is our identity. It is who we are. The reason the insults affect us so much is because we know we aren’t those things. We know that we are not rapists, drug dealers, or criminals. We are human beings.

I was born in America to Mexican parents. My entire life I have told people I am a Mexican-American. Mexican because of the blood that flows through my veins and American because this country is the only one I call home.

If Trump devaluing an entire ethnicity isn’t enough to convince you not to vote for him, then think of all the other communities he’s insulted. Women, other ethnic groups, and people with disabilities have also been insulted by a man who wants to be president and currently leading in the polls.

Donald Trump is a bully. He is not the type of man who we should have or want as president. All he has done so far is insult practically everyone expect for white supremacists. The only good thing that has come out of this is that Latinos and Hispanics have realized that they don’t want to be insulted anymore. They have decided it’s time they were given respect.

President Trump wouldn’t make America great. America isn’t perfect and she probably will never be, but it is our duty to get her as close to perfect as we can. Getting rid of racism would be a step in the right direction, and we can’t do that if our president is a racist. So please, DUMP TRUMP.

To read the first article of Living in White America click here.

This is the second article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how one immigrant group, Hispanics/Latinos, live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns Hispanics/Latinos, this could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss a culture of a different Hispanic or Latino group and interviews with a variety of Hispanics/Latinos will be added as well as interviews with non-Hispanics/non-Latinos asking for their opinion. Discrimination against Hispanics and Latinos has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into a world they dislike so much.

The post Living in White America: Dump Trump appeared first on KRUI Radio.