OMG: What has the Iowa Legislature done now? 😱
Opinion: The Iowa Legislature continues its punitive reign.🚩
The Republican-led Iowa Legislature is preparing to wrap up the 2024 legislative session, and it can’t come fast enough. Lawmakers and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ machinations this session have provoked a litany of SMH (shaking my head) emojis.🤦🏽♀️
Here’s my take on the 2024 legislative session using text/slang/social media acronyms and abbreviations.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It 👀
ICYMI Iowa will allow teachers and staff to bring guns to school and give them qualified immunity when, not if, they kill someone.
ICYMI Iowa will weaken and reorganize the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and dismantle the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans and other affinity groups.
ICYMI Iowa has removed gender balance requirements for state boards and commissions.
ICYMI Iowa doesn’t care about feeding hungry children.
ICYMI Iowa lawmakers want to further whitewash the education Iowa children receive.
And that’s not even close to an exhaustive list of everything troubling (school budgets, AEAs, etc.).
WTF: (You know what it means) 😲
WTF is going on at the Iowa Legislature, and why does it seem like they’re out to get us?
When TF does this session actually end? #bye #100days
Does this state GAF about anyone who isn't a white male?
How TF do Iowa legislators stand the sound of their own pontificating?
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion 👋🏽
IMHO, legislators sorely need diversity, equity and inclusion training. #DEI not #die
IMHO, this state is becoming more anti-Black and anti-immigrant by the day.
IMHO, when legislators work to whitewash history, roll back progress on civil rights and recoil at DEI, they might just be racist.
LMK: Let Me Know ✔️
LMK when the session is over so we can commiserate and plot anew.
LMK how this trifecta of terror is the best state government we can muster.
LMK if there’s still hope for Iowa.
LMK why some Iowans’ liberties are prized and their rights are worth maintaining — but not all Iowans.
IDK: I Don’t Know 🤷🏾♀️
IDK how any Iowan is supposed to flourish in a state where Iowans are pitted against each other and are suspicious of each other.
IDK why we keep expecting better from the same legislators who show us who they really are each session.
IDK what it will take to fix this mess, but we will need all voters on deck.
WYA: Where You At?👓
Wya, voters?
NGL: Not Gonna Lie 😔
NGL, I don’t like it here rn (right now) in this political climate.
NGL, I have considered packing our bags and moving out of this state a record number of times this month.
NGL, many of the bills passed this session will harm vulnerable Iowans and help make the state uninhabitable for others.
SMH: Shaking My Head🤦🏽♀️
SMH at how fear, bigotry and hate have found fertile ground under Iowa’s Golden Dome.
Unified government, whether R or D, will eventually run to excess and the only check is divided government, forcing compromise on all issues. R's now have it and I blame the D's for their political incompetence, pushing "coastal" policies and issues that will take years to resonate in Iowa.
Meantime, here is D-icon Tom Harkin's advice as reported by Doug Burns: "If I were running for the Legislature in Iowa, there are only three issues I’d run on, no matter what part of the state I was in. First, no public tax money for religious schools, period. The second issue I would campaign on: government should not be able to take your private property for a private company, period. And the third issue would be reproductive freedom for women. I’d just do those three issues. I wouldn’t talk about anything else.”
Nothing else. Can the D's summon the discipline to follow this advice?
Dana, we are with you 100%. Even joining you in thinking about moving out of Iowa. In addition to all the OMG things you mentioned, it appears that our governor and legislature want to completely ruin public education; that they do not care for all of us but only a select few--just to name a couple more.
Dana, we need your voice. We need your perspective. We need you as a model for what we can become. We need a new governor who does care about DEI, all of our people, especially the children all of whom need the support and financial aid to keep a strong public education program; who need adequate and good nutrition; who need healthcare for all. We need legislators who care about the people, as some say, People over Politics. We need governmental leaders who are honest and have the best interests of all the citizens as heart. We need governmental leaders who understand they are servants of the people of Iowa. Let's together, instead of moving, continue to speak out, to use our voices, our energies, our commitments to make Iowa a place where folks want to move to, not move from. Thank you for your important reporting. Keep up the good work. As Harriet Tubman said, "If you are tired, keep going; if you are scared, keep going, if you are hungry, keep going; if you want to taste freedom, keep going." Let's keep going together. Diana