Search query: iowa
How Many Republicans is George Soros Backing in November?
Soros Fund Management, the private investment management fund of George Soros, is generally very "left-leaning" and supportive of Democratic candidates, but sometimes the far-left financiers of the Soros Fund give to candidates who have an "(R)" next to their name.
Earlier this week, I took a look at the Koch Brothers and examined some instances in which the partisan narrative doesn't exactly match up with reality– though they are often perceived as partisan Republicans, Koch Industries has giv
19 Sep, 2018
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3 min read
Iowa News Groups Dodge Questions over Libertarian's Dubious Debate Exclusion
I recently experienced what was undoubtedly the most depressing experience of my journalistic career. I'm used to being stonewalled with half-answers by politicians, but I never expected to get the same treatment from fellow journalists. That's just what happened when I wrote a report on why Libertarian candidate for Iowa governor Jake Porter is being excluded from a debate hosted by KCCI television and the Des Moines Register.
Bring on the Fudge
Porter appears to be polling about 6%, and is
19 Sep, 2018
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5 min read
Courts to Hear Legal Challenge to Electoral College
What can be done to improve the way we elect our president? The current system, where nearly every state gives all of its electoral votes to whatever candidate wins that state, is nonsensical. It throws out tens of millions of votes and forces candidates to focus on just a few swing states rather than the entire country.
To solve the problem, plaintiffs in four different states recently filed lawsuits contending that winner-take-all is unconstitutional and must be replaced by a system that comp
18 Sep, 2018
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5 min read
The Shortlist: 4 Contenders to Take on Trump in 2020
We are just over two years away from the election night 2020, and we are now around the time where campaign teams are beginning to form, and front-runners are beginning to emerge. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will run for re-election in 2020 and, while he will undoubtedly face opposition from his own party due to his controversies, he is almost sure to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the next election. While Trump is disruptive, his voter base clearly wants him to remai
17 Sep, 2018
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8 min read
Judge Strips Ambitious Anti-Corruption Amendment from Missouri Ballot
Update 9/17/18: State Senator Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph), former State Senator Jim Lembke (R-Lemay) and former State Senator Bob Johnson (R-Lee's Summit) joined Common Cause in filing an amicus brief Saturday, calling on the courts to let the voters decide on the initiative:
"The will of the voters should determine who legislates and what influences legislative decisions. The Clean Missouri initiative seeks to enact this fundamental principle... The voters of Missouri rather than the courts sho
14 Sep, 2018
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3 min read
Fake News? Independent Candidate Gets Curious Coverage from Kansas City Star
Running a campaign outside the two-party apparatus is not easy. I have reported on the many barriers in place that are hostile to independent and third party candidates even launching a campaign.
However, even when these candidates do make it on the ballot and present a viable challenge to the political status quo, they still face a media and campaign environment that marginalizes their candidacy at every level.
Case in point, in Kansas, the three candidates for governor -- Republican Kris Kob
12 Sep, 2018
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5 min read
5 Lawsuits That Could Change U.S. Health Care
Malpractice lawsuits happen every day, and most people don't think twice about them until they're the subject of one. In most cases, these lawsuits only affect the individuals involved, but in rare cases, a lawsuit comes around that could change the shape of the health care industry as a whole. Let's take a closer look at five lawsuits that could do just that.
Columbus v. Trump
In 2018, three cities — Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio — sued President Trump, alleging that he and his a
12 Sep, 2018
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4 min read
Unrigging The System: How Voters Can Reclaim Their Power This November
Political reformers across America are paying close attention to key elections on November 6. But their focus is not on candidates or political parties. It’s about how Americans vote on ballot measures to unrig the system.
Here are some highlights:
Voters Not Politicians (Michigan)
In Michigan, an anti-gerrymandering measure is on the ballot after Voters Not Politicians gathered more than 425,000 petition signatures with only volunteers within just 110 days. The measure creates an independen
12 Sep, 2018
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3 min read
Obama Speaks: Party Politician or Community Organizer?
I greatly admire and appreciate moving, memorable speeches, and former President Barack Obama has given many. Some of his most powerful have been when he stepped outside of his role as a politician.
I cannot help but think of the timeless eulogy, more than a speech, that he gave at the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, in which Obama remembered and memorialized the pastor and the eight parishioners killed by a white supremacist gunman at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charle
10 Sep, 2018
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6 min read
OPINION: An Independent's Role in the Health Care Debate
Over the last 15 to 20 years, health care has gone through quite a few changes. Drastic government initiatives for health insurance mainly started with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Social Security Act of 1965, which brought about what we now know as Medicare and Medicaid.
Since then, the actions of both the government and the private sector until the 1990s focused on lowering costs across both sectors. This was a difficult feat due to a previously private but universal service suddenly becomin
05 Sep, 2018
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5 min read
