The killing heart                      

The last decade or so has witnessed a heartwarming resurgence of American pride. Tens of millions of common men -- laborers, policemen, honest journalists, and regular Joes from numerous walks of life -- have hefted high the glorious stars and stripes to which generations pledged allegiance.

But recent years also brought into distinct aspect this horrible truth: Millions of our lesser national brethren hunger so mightily for governmental and cultural dominance, they've seized up ugliness with relish.

Their smiley-face, peace sign masks lie on the floor. Visible now are the grotesque visages of those who exalt lawbreaking, treasonous ambitions, and sundry immoralities.

Badness is the ideal. Consider foul phenomena presently poisoning our great nation, at the calculation of Democrat leaders and other sinsister actors:

Openly socialist and communistic notions and candidates populate national conversation. Illegal immigrant crimes -- including murders, rapes, and child predations -- occur alongside celebrations of Christian conservative Charlie Kirk's broad daylight murder, as well as that of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the attempts to assassinate President Trump. 

Furthermore, backroom-plotted, barely legal lawfare machinations to sabotage democracy and foil the people's will have seen animation. Cashless bail allows offenders with numerous criminal convictions to lurk anew in American neighborhoods and perpetrate additional offenses, while state and local officials ensure area police are barred from cooperating with federal law enforcement. 

City streets teem with (possibly bankrolled) protesters, assaulting law enforcement with concrete chunks, explosives, and bricks from pallet-stacks mysteriously situated for comfortable access.

Sadly, that list-- to which other vile efforts could easily be appended -- has been joined by a large-scale and despicable outpouring of sympathy for three-time toddler-strangler Lyndsay Clancy.

A sickening push to allow baby-murdering mothers to dance free -- citing mental dishevelment, resulting from the God-given wonder of childbirth -- has begun. Iowa retired columnist Rekha Basu, of the Gannett Corporation-owned, obdurately liberal Des Moines Register, penned an entire missive endorsing such wicked crackpottery.

New 'progressive' exhortations to grant mothers child-killing rights are a logical, albeit horrendous, extension of the dire philosophy undergirding the abortion of millions of babies each year. (Perhaps garroting disquieting husbands will soon also become a woke cause.)

Do not doubt that the same reprobates who promote the above will continue bannering themselves the 'good guys,' virtuous believers in love, peace, and tolerance. 

Of course, no intelligent observer will be fooled, and honest ones will raise the finger of contempt.

Immoral is not moral, nor wrong right, or unfair fair, any more than down is up. 

November's election results will show whether the America of noble tradition will endure as its founders intended, or if moral rot and ideological pestilence settle behind the wheel.

God help us all.

Springsteen 2026: Burn Down the USA                    

Anyone who's heard Bruce Springsteen in recent years knows the corporate cash-box-in-denims no longer has the grit evident in 1984 hit "Born In the USA."

Once bannered a working class hero, he now postures as subversive squawkbox, one whose loyalties seem located anywhere but between Canada and Mexico.

Springsteen now trudges in the ranks of yesteryear's celebrities, who've thrown arms about evil in desperate hopes of rekindling flames from expiring embers.

(Of course, it is possible that Springsteen's present B. Arnold stance is as counterfeit as the earlier blue-collar one, and contrived from cold, dollar sign obsession. For all we regular folks know, Springsteen may change from a hoity toity Italian three-piece into proletariat drag of t-shirt, jeans, and work boots, before treading stage boards. You know - character costume.) 

Per Gateway Pundit, Springsteen told one recent audience:  "If you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens…If you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president — and as the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”

Further emphasizing look-at-me positioning, he released the overly-long "Streets of Minneapolis," a call to graffitied riot barricades. Again, one is confronted by the ebbing of the man's creative abilities.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump concerns himself with establishing political cooperation to rid America of illegals, "not random songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information.”

Erstwhile Jerseyite Springsteen grew massively wealthy by posturing as patriotic; now that his bank vault is jam-packed, he effectively blows snot on Old Glory. (A stomach-turning spectacle not seen by Hollywood's Tom Hanks, who is busy on his South-of-France yacht entertaining Barack Hussein Obama.)

The catalog of for-profit play-actors who hiss at America's Constitution while singing songs of Karl is unfortunately lengthy. It includes not only Springsteen and Forrest Gump, but a treason-hearted horde, whose Walk of Hollywood stars are daily trod over by actual, working taxpayers that truly love this Land of Lincoln.

Iowan DC Larson is the author of That a Man Can Again Stand Up and Ideas Afoot.  He counts among freelance credits Daily Caller, The Iowa Standard, and American Thinker.  His political blog is American Scene Magazine.

Trump resistance redux                                                                   

An unintended and negative consequence of President Trump's landslide victory is the emergence of a subversive element, one which seeks to defy American immigration laws. Perhaps they wrongly believe their illicit misdoings are justified by fantasized moral superiority.

One national example is New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who implied to a recent interviewer that he and his wife were considering harboring an illegal in their home: "Let's have her live at our house above our garage, and good luck to the feds coming in to try and get her."

Sadly, this canker has also been exemplified here in Iowa.

In January, Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Jared Smith issued an official advisory (in numerous foreign languages) to illegal students. He advised them how to impede American legal authorities. 

Dr. Jared Smith

Can a more anti-American attitude be displayed than one evincing contempt for our nation's legal champions, and for statutes enacted by democratically-elected legislative representatives?

After he'd shoehorned into the letter boilerplate language with which he professed respect for law, Smith boasted: "We will not share student information or grant law enforcement building access unless legally required to do so."

(Last February, accompanied by a Christian pastor friend, this writer braved Waterloo's dangerously frigid temperatures to support Trump in the Iowa caucus; Iowa did favor the Republican candidate. The event was convened in a school. At each desk was a fresh copy of far-left radical Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," which is fine. Students should consider ideas across the political spectrum. But I wondered whether opposing philosophies enjoyed equal schoolroom visibility.)

"Lastly, get the history books out," counseled former U.S. Representative Dave Nagle (D-IA), in a February 1 essay printed by the Waterloo Courier. (Full disclosure: The Courier has also published numerous pieces by this writer.)

Former U.S. Rep. Dave Nagle (D-IA)

"Study the Underground Railroad," Nagle continued. "For all those who, if given the time, could produce proper papers, pack them in your basement, give them the garage, hide them in your churches so we can organize a proper presentation of their right to be here...That will be your call when the federal government shows up."

Like Murphy, Nagle blatantly advocates challenging law enforcement. He skirts borderline criminality, broadly winking his scofflaw intent.

And that the former U.S. Representative would liken present-day, reprehensible Democrat anarchy to historic moral opposition to slavery is a howling offense deserving of the description 'surfboarding to status atop others' suffering.'

Most recently, Winneshiek County, Iowa Sheriff Dan Marx boasted in a February 4 Facebook post of his intention to do all he could to "block, interfere, and interrupt" ICE agents in the performance of their lawful duties regarding illegal immigration. 

Sheriff Dan Marx

Marx characterized U.S. citizenship laws as "unconstitutional." (Isn't that for the Supreme Court to determine -- and not the lowly "Sanctuary Sheriff" of Winneshiek County?)

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds directed the accessory-to-crime county official to acquaint himself with a relevant 2018-adopted state law. 

"Specifically, Iowa law provides a sheriff shall not adopt or enforce a policy or take any other action under which the sheriff prohibits or discourages the enforcement of immigration laws," she wrote.

"Iowa law further requires that a sheriff shall not prohibit or discourage a law enforcement officer from assisting or cooperating with a federal immigration officer as reasonable or necessary," the governor continued. "Including providing enforcement assistance."

Gov. Reynolds also spoke of pulling state funding from Winneshiek County. And Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd opened an investigation.

Each above-cited wrong recalls former Alabama Governor George Wallace, a Democrat, 'standing in the schoolhouse door' to prevent federal authorities from entering to racially integrate public schools. 

Former Alabama Governor George Wallace, Democrat