We cover the bullet points from House and Senate leadership’s opening remarks and how they were all overshadowed by a superspreader event one floor below protesting things that don’t exist. It’s very cool and very sane.
Episode transcript, as prepared for delivery
It’s Tuesday, January 12th. Today, Governor Kim Reynolds gives her Condition of the State Address, and yesterdays opening day speeches were overshadowed by a bizarre spectacle one floor below. I’m Greg Hauenstein and this is the Daily Dome from Potluck Media.
Good morning, everybody. My plan was to cover the speeches from the leadership of Iowa’s two legislative bodies but then something happened.
Yesterday there was a mass demonstration at the Iowa Capitol. It was not explicitly violent like the insurrection attempt in Washington DC last week, but it very well could wind up more deadly.
A group of a couple hundred people, almost none of them wearing masks, Carrying professionally printed signs that said things like, “Facts over Fear,” and “Un-Mask Iowa.”
Supporters of the group Informed Choice Iowa shouted and cheered and loudly protest Iowa’s mask mandate, and vaccine mandate.
Here’s the thing. We have neither of those. There are some loose guidelines around masks that our Governor does not enforce and no one’s talked about forcing the vaccine on anyone. We can barely get it out to people.
It’s telling that this group has a big disclaimer on their website that their information “is not medical advice. Please consult a trusted medical professional to determine what is right for you and your family.”
You know what your medical professional is going to say? Wear a mask and get vaccinated. This is why we can’t have nice things.
That event could very well be a superspreader event that was forced upon the members and staff who have to be there. That includes non-partisan LSA staff, maintenance staff, people just going to work and doing their jobs now have to worry that they’re going to get sick because a bunch of entitled people cared more about themselves than others.
I’ll cover a bit of what each member of leadership had to say yesterday morning.
House
- Prichard – COVID relief, reflections on the insurrection and how it reminded him of when he was stationed in El Salvador after their civil war.
- Windschitl – Nobody printed his speech and I don’t care to listen to it. He can pull himself up by his bootstraps and get an account on Blogger himself.
- Grassley – “safe and affordable child care is a priority” kids back in schools
Senate
- Chapman – stories of brave iowans to inspire us to be brave enough to cut more taxes, spend less and to ban abortion
- Whitver – tax cuts, austerity, not “raiding the surplus”
- Wahls – public investment success stories like Remdesivier and nanovaccines from Iowa State University. Only one to mention a vaccine and using our considerable surplus to help front line workers and others in need.
I’ll speak with Senator Wahls this afternoon and have part of that conversation for you along with the bullet points from Governor Reynolds’ condition of the state address tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.