We have recently witnessed the 2026 WNBA draft.  We knew there would be some things like the usual UCONN talent and the six from UCLA. Europe had a bit of representation. Teams have needs.

What is confusing is how the coaches and management of these teams make decisions.

Lauren Betts was one of the few forward center players drafted.  The league seemed to lean towards shorter faster players.

Having become an Indiana Fever fan, I watch them closest.

The Fever have Aliyah Boston one of the better centers in the league.  Some say she is more of a forward than center, but that is a moot point. The point is that there is no real backup for Boston. One would think that this would be a priority for the fever.  They actually needed backups for the forward positions also.

They picked three guards.  After the draft it looks like the teams is being set up for the league to try to injure Caitlin Clark again.  In a way it makes sense as in 2025 they got Clark out after thirteen games. How many games will it take this year?  After all, that is what it looks like they have done with their roster.

There are two needs that the Fever need.  One is the need to have a bigger player that likes to play the boards, rebound, play defense, make first passes of the rebound.  The second need is to add a player that knows how to play with Clark so that the team can come out of the chute quickly. For two seasons it looks like new players need to play with Clark for a number of games to get their timing down and understand when she will pass. This was also an observation in the most recent world tournament.

The obvious answer to that need was Hannah Stuelke.  Stuelke meet need one.  She can do all of those things.  The second need is proven.  For two years Stuelke was on the front end of these Clark passes. One game she dropped 45 and had many games greater than ten points with a number of double doubles. There are a some things she needs to work on with shooting techniques which could be fixed. She is one of the faster big players on the court.  She has played with Clark which would play to the favor of giving Boston eight to ten minutes of rest and have the skills to be Clark ready in game one.

I am going to bring this point out.  Stephanie White is touted as a great coach.  I make the caveat that she is a great coach of a particular style game. She did not get the 2025 team ready properly having a talent like Caitlin Clark. She only went eight and five with Clark in the line-up.

Christie Sides was given first round draft picks and used both of them to elevate the team’s record from the year before. Taking a team that had a record of five and thirty-one she gets Boston and improves the record by eight games then gets Clark and the record improves another seven games more which could have been even more with a few better bounces at the end of the game.

My guess is Sides was left go for another reason that no one wants to talk about. Sides saw a different direction for the team going much further from the old guard Style of game. White was eight and five with Clark only a three game improvement. Those first thirteen games I saw a coach who was not utilizing her players properly, not using a skill set that was a continuation from the prior year. My guess is Sides would have been eleven and two in those games with Clark, but even better, I don’t think Clark gets injured.  If Sides had Sophie Cunningham on her roster, no way they beat up on Clark.  Pressure to do otherwise would have prevailed.  Also, a third year coach on a team has more latitude than a first year coach of that team when it comes to dealing with the officials.  I also speculate that Sides would have been tougher on Fever management to clean up the crap as she had it cleaned up a bit in 2024.

Between White’s coaching performance last year with the handling of Clark and this years draft, White does not really know what she has or does not recognize anything outside of her comfort zone. Also over two tenures as coach, White is a combined 58 – 51.  Only seven games over five hundred.  There should be a major improvement this year.  Is the team set up for improvement?

One more note, Michael Jordan had three coaches prior to Phil Jackson.  Will history repeat itself?

The argument against having voters present ID to vote is very interesting.  To show what is needed to purchase Sudafed, buy cigarettes, adult beverage, place a vote in congress, go to a politicians town hall, is very condescending.  Of all of the responsibilities of being a United States citizen, one of the most important is to elect your representatives.  Responsibility to fulfill the actions of a good citizen to do the maximum effort to put one’s self into position is up to the citizen.

 

The voter ID requirement is a part of the SAVE act bill going through the chambers.  While the ID is the visible end result, it is the procurement of the ID that is called into question.

 

The attitude that citizens should not act responsibly is the result of the constant last twenty years of the pounding from various members of the media and academia saying we will take care of you.  So the concept of being allowed to vote without id and proof of citizenship is a continuation of the “we will take care of you” phenomenon.  Try buying Sudafed without the same ID that allows you to vote.

 

The main type of photo ID that was proposed is the Drivers License.  The second form is the alternative is the photo id that is a government issued non drivers license that states offer for those who do not drive.  The problem is that some states bastardized these id forms by offering then to illegal aliens. These are also the same states that seem to be fighting the voter id requirements.

 

The humorous part of the discussion is how the opponents are fighting it.  There is the constant discussion that people, especially those of color and women.  Over seventy percent of the electorate is in favor of voter id.  That includes women and people of color in that group.

 

One difficulty in the current bill is the proof of citizenship.  Keep in mind just about any type of verification of citizenship can be supplied with fraudulent credentials.  Birth certificates are not a national standard in the United States.  It is left to the states per the tenth amendment of the United States constitution.  A constitutional amendment could be passed to tighten this up, create a federal process or standard to be used by the states. Legislation if written the right way could be done and be quicker to implement.

 

A second idea would be to require the Social Security Administration who since the time my kids were born to want people to apply for Social Security cards when children are born or they cannot be listed as a dependent on income tax forms. Social Security cards could be formatted to include citizenship on the card as verification of birth is required to during the application.  If you apply for a social security card when older, you need to supply proof of citizenship.  This link is from the Social Security administration: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10023.pdf.  Since non citizens can get social security cards and the reason they are eligible to get social security cards is needed at application this seems to be a no brainer.

 

I applied for my social security card in grade school as part of a social studies class project.  The card I received said to keep it on me at all times to show your employer. It also said not to be used as identification.  The use as identification seemed to have changed along the way as every seems to use it as identification.  Since that is now the case, include citizenship on the card.  Also allow for on demand e-verify at the polling place.  Then give out the paper ballot.  Have the only data connection at the polling place be an item to be used the e-verify connection.

 

One thing I have never figured out with voter registration is when you move, how you are unregistered from your previous address.  This was a big point of contention with various states and counties blindly sending out mail in ballots during the 2020 virus election debacle. I do know that I had received an Illinois ballot in the mail after I moved my residence to Iowa.  Since voter registration is handled by the states as defined by the tenth amendment of the bill of rights, there is no comprehensive federal voting registration system.  Different states have different procedures.  Within the states there are different methods of handling the change of voting venue.

 

With in person voting and voter id, going to different states to vote is possible, but difficult and expensive.  Even going to different parts of the state can be challenging, but it is illegal.  Once caught, you are gone.

 

To the disappointment and emotional shock of some in the electorate, more and more proof is becoming available about the lack of security in voting machines and the counting processes that lends to voter fraud.  Unfortunately we have had to live with the results of the 2020 election and the destruction it did to the United States and the confidence in the United States as that beacon of freedom.  The world events that came because of the results of the 2020 election have caused excessive death, distrust, and the perception of four years of American weakness that needs to be and is being corrected.

 

The need for the United States to be returned back to elected officials making laws and decisions, and away from hired bureaucrats is starting to happen.  The election process can also force the congress at the federal level to go back to the original idea of participation. Citizens taking time from their lives to represent their neighbors and not as a career. A time in life then returning to civilian life.  We need to return the participation in congress to receiving a stipend, no health insurance, no pension, make it a sacrifice, not a life style.

 

Strong citizen voter registration is needed.  Yes, it may take some work to verify that a voter is a citizen and has ID to prove.  Just as a strong marriage takes hard work and sacrifice, so should voting. Granted not everyone knows of a good marriage, but as a society are we beyond doing hard work?  If so, then we are dead as a society and a country!

It now seems that it is a priority by Iowa Democrats to reign in property taxes in Iowa.  The Republicans have discussed this for years and now finally the Democrats are putting out suggestions.  I commend both parties for prioritizing the discussion.

 

Iowa has done a good job of getting rid of the regressive progressive income tax that it used to live under.  The Republican goal of eliminating income taxes completely is admirable and doable if legislators of both parties can issue restraint and determination in spending.

 

As of this writing the Republicans have not put forth a plan for reducing and possibly eliminating property taxes, but have been discussing with local taxing bodies how and why property taxes are at their levels and alternatives to property taxes.

 

Democrats are proposing the concepts of caps and credits or subsidies. They propose a four per cent cap on property tax increase plus offering to expand subsidies for retirees and homeowners using said property as their residence.  There are questions that need to be answered such as how things will work.

 

Neighboring Illinois has a rule with property taxes that the tax rate in any one year for any taxing body can be increased by less than five percent with no accountability. Five percent or higher must be supported by a public hearing. In times of increasing property valuations taxing bodies work hard to keep the rate increase under five percent to avoid the public hearing.

 

Illinois taxpayers see their property taxes go up eight to fifteen percent and did not see a notice of a public hearing.  The spokesperson for the taxing body doing the increase will say they did not increase the rate, but the value of the property times the current rate gave the tax bill.  These spokespersons advertise in a popular persona that they have kept the rate of increase down, which is true.  But you are paying more. Iowa Democrats need to define what the cap is and how to administrate it or they would not be able to escape the current situation.

 

The problem Republicans have had in reducing or even freezing property taxes is that at the state level they have no direct input into how the tax numbers are generated.  Property taxes have been the main vehicle for generating local revenues for public safety, local roads and services, and local contributions to the education budgets.

 

State government has an indirect contributing factor as does the federal government. State and federal governments can mandate things and procedures that local governments must do which translates to costs. I am not saying that these mandates and procedures are bad. They exist and somehow need to be addressed.

 

For example, Cedar Rapids needs to put in sewers in a new subdivision.  New subdivisions must be made according to the current codes. Years ago in many municipalities the code was or there were no direct codes, only one sewer system handling both street runoff and pee, poop, and washer drainage (PPWD). In an early age this all mixed and were dumped in rivers, lakes and ponds.

 

Eventually processing plants were mandated to clean this waste water which local communities were required to fund.  Eventually local communities complained about the excessive processing during storm and some systems were not made large enough to handle the overages caused by the storms.  So once again PPWD went directly into rivers, lakes and ponds. Common sense and solution laws stated to separate the two to properly use the facilities for PPWD. System managers would have ten or twenty years to separate the two or have a sewage processing plant to handle that size of requirement.

 

Sewage processing is a necessity for municipalities and cluster areas. Even certain agricultural operations are required to have sewer processing operations. The sewage requirement is not a city planned cost but a requirement to exist in the State of Iowa or the boundaries of the United States.  But it is a cost that needs to be accounted for. Costs such as road maintenance, police and fire are direct costs which municipalities can generally control.

 

The same with school districts.  Hire a kindergarten or first grade teacher is straight forward.  Supply lunch and breakfast is a direct cost, but the cost can affected by state and federal nutritional guidelines and mandates.  Cost can also be affected by what the student and the student’s family can afford or decide to be responsible to afford. Again, not necessarily bad, but they exist and can affect the financial need.

 

The second half of the discussion is how do schools, municipalities and other property taxing bodies raise revenue even if they have it at the bare minimums?  Right now it is property tax. Iowa does allows a one percent sales tax rider.  Iowa does supply some funds via state sales tax, but this is not at the control of the local taxing bodies.

 

The local property tax and fees for services are the only revenue raising capabilities that the local taxing bodies are allowed to implement. Should the state allow local governing bodies to implement sales or income taxes? Should Iowa allow local taxing bodies to set their own sales and income tax rates? Should the state and federal government be forced to pay for the implementation of their rules and mandates?  How are the costs to be defined?  If community A is very efficient with their money, should they subsidize community B who may not be as efficient with the funding?

 

Both sides of this discussion need to be addressed. If there is no discussion or there will be no movement on property tax reduction or elimination.  Subsidies are just a mask allowing the government picking winners and losers.  They are not a cure. Cover-ups and masks only hide, they never cure.

Today, five years after the January 6, 2021 (the day) protests at the Capitol of the United States, we will look back on the event and state a few things. At that time my main writing tool was editorialpinups.com, a site normally allowed to throw out questions, make fun of society and public figures, and be a place for my independent voice from the heartland to have residency.

 

The first cause for the events of the day started November 8, 2016 when the electorate chose to derail the potential continuation of the disastrous Barack Obama regime.  Hillary Clinton was supposed to be elected and continue that course. The time following up to the 2020 presidential election were marred with continuous false information regarding Russian collusion, attacks on Trumps staff, family, negotiations, and calls to foreign leaders.

 

Trump was finding new ways to stimulate the economy which was done so well in his first three years that a medical situation was leashed on the world.  A situation so confusing that we all fell pray to the panic of politicians and medical charlatans to the point where a Virus was to close parts of the economy and tell people to work from home even though the infrastructure was not ready.  Said infrastructure was in better shape than we thought, but the people organization and trust was lacking.

 

We had the Spanish Flu and the swine flu which were quoted as the reason to shut down. Rush Limbaugh while fighting stage four cancer said there is no reason ever to shut down an economy. Having lived through the Virus, I agree.  There was however motive in it to derail Trump’s presidency.

 

During Trumps first presidency he did something that angered the mainstream media.  He talked directly to the population on twitter and shared to Facebook.  Social media eliminated the middle man of the main stream media.  No matter how many media bozos the mainstream media paraded in front of their audience, a tweet from Trump came any time of the day. Many times the tweets came before the mainstream media working hours.

 

Social media allowed direct communication from many, not just the politicians, but also from the growing independent media such as Glenn Beck, An0maly, Epoch Times, Daily Wire, Candice Owens, Liz Wheeler, myself and many more.  Where as Rush called himself a major influential member of the media, the others of us and I call myself this, a minor influential member of the media.

 

The first three years of Trump’s administration were positive.  This was also said about the first three years of Jesse Ventura’s Minnesota governorship.  Jesse found that in the fourth year the democrats and republicans were jockeying for message to set the agenda for the next election.  Guess what, the same technique for year four of Trump’s first term.  But it was not the democrats versus the republicans this time.  It was the entrenched or swamp, versus the desire for the continuation of what Trump had started with the cleanup of government.

 

The virus dialog scared Americans into thinking in a way they had not thought in the past.  They were made afraid.  Afraid more so than any time I witnessed in my life or had read about in United States history books.  Americans were not accustomed to this concept of fear.  But over the years the one item that kept Americans from a fear that could result in death was the Salvation of Heaven through the Judeo-Christian beliefs which had for years been under attack.   

 

What this fear did was allow for a government to keep people form congregating which kept them from communicating.  After church conversations were terminated.  Work and school conversations did not go on.  The idea was to force everyone through the vacuum of control of the mainstream media.  This worked partially.  Not even with the government forcing fear on Facebook and Twitter to not allow true election dialogue, Parler and Rumble pulled up the slack as they effectively told the government to get lost.  Even editorialpinups.com was not going to be stopped in the dialogue.  Conversations moved from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to Parler and Rumble.

 

Because of this fear, many states mailed out ballots to everyone on the voter rolls (even though many voter rolls are not closely policed)  and said not to be sick, fill this out and either mail it or drop it in a drop box.  Oh, and yes, no one is watching the drop boxes or the postal service 24 hours or with a camera system.   Contract mail carriers were moving ballots between states, post offices were instructed on how to back date ballots, drop boxes were being stuffed.  All while the mainstream media was reporting this was not happening.

 

Something weird happened on the Day of November 8, 2020.  The election was held like any other election.  However, strange things happened during the counting and reporting.  OAN news outlet was showing a tremendous landslide for Trump. CNN was showing results from states to all of a sudden have numbers start switching, not growing.  Tech junkies were monitoring data streams all over the world to news reporting venues finding weird things happening with the numbers. A consultant in Michigan stated she was told to change the numbers.  Weird things were happening in Arizona. All of a sudden counting in Fulton County Georgia comes to a stop and most were told to leave for the evening and counting would continue later in the morning.  That next day we are told that Trump lost!  81 million people voted for Biden.

 

The following days more information of improprieties came out.  There were attempts and court cases but the courts, including the Supreme court hiding behind rules that are not stated in the constitution such as standing, there would be no harm (that is what they wanted the court to determine). Commentators including editorialpinups.com recognized the distrust in the results. Editorialpinups.com published this fairly easy to do solutions to the November 8, 2020 election debacle, a runoff election https://editorialpinups.com/094-presidential-election.html .

 

This could have been easily done as the Constitution does not specify hard dates for presidential selection, just who does it.  The idea to have a one day paper ballot election.  Procedures could easily be made to accommodate the military.  January 1 of 2021 was a great day to pick as many had the day off already many businesses were closed to reduce conflict, and only paper ballots were to be used. The timeline had built in the debate and campaign schedule.  The licensed media could be coerced to carry these events.

 

One vote and the validity of November 8, 2020 could have been solved.

 

But it did not happen that way.  In data processing we had an old saying, “Garbage In Garbage Out”. One would say that the Biden presidency was the Garbage Out.  Some would say not.  Decisions made with tainted data give tainted results.  Many a spreadsheet has been rigged in industry to give bad data to cause a business result that an unscrupulous business participant wanted to affect.

 

In Data Processing there are times that a system will work improperly.  The result is to correct the system to make it work properly.  Sometimes data needs to be rerun through the process when there after the process is corrected.  Sometimes data has to be reentered as many processes now do not keep a backup of the data entered.  Sometimes the data is reentered as it was wrongly entered.  Sometimes there is reentry of data and re-processioning because there were flaws determined in all aspects of the process.

 

In the case of the November 8, 2020 election there have been claims of flawed processing, incorrect data entry, invalid collection of data, computer counting being compromised, lack of backup, unscrupulous activities.  Enough to cause everyone of a doubt of integrity.

 

This brings us to the January 1, 2021 (this one day) New Years Day election redo.  All of the items that occurred on November 8, 2020 could be corrected.  The top two vote getters would be able to go at it one more time.  Campaigning could be done.  Another debate, perhaps long form, say four hours to go through all of the issues.  Bring in the citizen media to ask questions that the mainstream media is afraid to.  Make this a national event which through participation and debate could create an audience greater than Caitlin Clark brought to the WNBA, larger than the World Series and the Stanley Cup.  Larger than the Super Bowl.

 

This one day with proper controls could have prevented the day.  Voting times set up with no reporting of tallies until the last polling place in Hawaii is closed. All votes counted by the time most go to bed and for sure by the time when everyone got up the next morning.

 

This one day could have prevented Trump from being banned on social media.  Social media owners, you would still have control of your product.

 

This one day could have prevented Mike Pence from proving he was derelict in his ability to say that we have to go through the process we need to go through. Pence the lousy communicator he was, only had to say we are going to follow the rules of the constitution, instead he says there is nothing he can do. Those with no or limited constitutional knowledge fell for that statement.

 

This one day could have kept Ashli Babbitt alive and not have populous opinion feel Michael Byrd be accused of a cold blooded shooting.

 

This one day could have had the world never question if there were government plants in the day’s crowd.  People would not have had an opportunity to be introduced to Ray Epps.

 

This one day could have prevented the need for Nancy Pelosi to create a mess which eventually would shut down the presentation of objects to the electors of various states.

 

This one day could have prevented bombs placed outside party headquarters in DC.

 

This one day could have given people a better trust of the results.

 

This one day could have been the equivalent of the instant replay used in sports to get officiating right. The replay process not being used caused Armando Galarraga to lose a no hitter when umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base on June 2, 2010.  November 8, 2020 is to elections as June 2, 2010 is to baseball.

 

This one day could have removed much stress and tensions that Americans live with today.

 

This one day could have told the country that fraud is not acceptable and perhaps saved some problems in Minnesota and California to this day.

 

This one day could have down a tremendous service to integrity, honesty, and many world events that have happened since.

 

This one day would not guarantee who would have one the election, but would have guaranteed that the winner got there fairly without as much corruption.

Jeffrey Epstein files reveal a woman named Kathy Ruemmler was one of the people who had the most communication with Epstein.

Over 100 emails and more than 50 meetings in just 5 years after he was a convicted sex offender.

She was White House counsel to Barack Obama.