Al_4_ISU

Daisy Dukes at Iowa 80 truck stop?

Indiana tenderloins can fuck right off.

Spending a lot of time in all of those places (which I have). Indiana is the outlier. Rust Belt. Lot of Southern feel to it - Evangelicals and such. College hoops is way bigger than college football. Notre Dame kinda doesn't count. Lot of the state is forested and rugged with more quarrying, mining, etc in places (although the NW part looks like the western Midwest). Eastern time zone. Has pro sports and a majorish city. The other 3 are really fucking similar. Lots of Germans. Lots of Catholics. Row crop ag. Very few trees. Nebraska has more ranching because you can't grow anything in the Sand Hills. Both college football and basketball are big deals. Iowa's been more politically moderate over the years, somewhat aligning with it's neighbors to the north and east, but that shifted in '14 (and is hopefully shifting back). KS and NE both seem to be moderating some too. None of them have pro sports (although KS has the Chiefs and Royals next door).

It definitely was. Obama won the Driftless Area (and our neighboring WI and MN counties too) both times. The farm crisis in the 80's made a lot of farmers hate Reagan and Republicans. These were the guys my grandpa's age (my grandpa is a 90 year old Trump loathing yellow dog Democrat). Their sons all did really well farming and became Republicans as a result (my old man being a rare exception). Most of the old Carter Democrat farmers have died out, and I think that was a part of Trump's rise as Boomer and old Gen X rural guys became hardcore Trumpers. I also think that low income/low education white people (IE white trash - I can say it because I live amongst them) didn't care about politics before Trump, and they turned out in a big way. They're losing interest again as he's losing steam, and his win never really changed their lives. Combine that with women overwhelmingly flipping to Harris and I can see how Iowa is making this political shift with different demographics than we saw in the past.

I voted for Harris last week. My wife dropped off her vote for Harris this AM.

We've been following the Kansas playbook, just a decade after the fact. Kansas is the most similar state to Iowa, IMO, so I find that kind of humorous in the "laughing because I have no other choice" sort of way. And can confirm on OK. My cousin's wife is a teacher in Tulsa, and she's ready to burn everything down.

This is historically true, and a factor in why I chose to never leave. I was/am extremely proud of that. The last decade has seen us join the rest of the states between the Rockies and Mississippi politically and it was hard not to see that as a permanent shift. I really hope there's some of that old Iowan political weirdness kicking around.

Reynolds' attack on public education has been hugely unpopular. My quasi-MAGA FIL told me this winter there's no way in hell he's voting for her in '26. That pissed people off more than the child labor stuff. Especially in the rural areas (where strong public education is a bipartisan value among citizens).

Probably the Libertarian.

Since I got to the farm this morning, 2 people I know voted for Trump in '16 and '20 told me (without me initiating the conversation in either case) that they can't vote for him anymore. One of them said she's probably voting for Harris because of how hard the Republicans have gone after abortion (she's a 36 year old white woman with 2 daughters under 10) and that she doesn't want her daughters to grow up without those rights and protections. The other (50 year old white guy) isn't voting for Harris, but either skipping the presidential ballot altogether or voting 3rd party out of protest.

This is the thing about cults. They almost never survive beyond the vitality of their central figure. Trump looks like a robot who's batteries are running out of juice. He's not the firebrand he was 8, or even 4 years ago. He's a tired old man that rambles, goes to bed early, and shits himself. He's not cut out to lead an insurrection anymore.

I think there was a lot more pro Tump energy in 2020, and the institutions held. I think they will face less force this time around. Don't disregard how much of a difference Trump not being in the White House already will make.

I think you overestimate the resolve of the average MAGA. They'll bitch and whine on social media, but you had about what? 1,000 psychos for Jan 6? I think one of the biggest reasons we won't see a second civil war is because of how comfortable the average American is, regardless of political affiliation or election results. Too many of these folks are nothing more than keyboard warriors. Plus, as you can see evidence of all over the place, the MAGA movement is just running out of steam on many fronts. I'm sure some idiots will try to do something, but there won't be anywhere near enough coordination or scale to create the Black Swan event you're fearing. IMO.

Is Liberty a not for-profit?

There were 4 variants at our local grocery store. They had the siracha, serrano, habanero, and jalapeno.

FWIW, Dyersville has a good brewery and Whitewater Canyon is cool if you ever find yourself needing to kill time around there in the future.

It hadnt rained in months and the pit was probably full. Lots of non ideal fall input application this year. Ive never been to FOD. No desire to. Wife and I hitting Dubuque for a night out in a few weeks if we get harvest finished. Great beer/food scene there.

If you went through Colo, you missed it. Same longitude, but on 20. Also, you were just smelling 250bu/acre corn my friend

Did the “Hell is for Deadbeat Moms” Guy on 20 still have all his shit up? That was always a highlight of my Ames to Cedar Falls commute when the wife and I first started dating.

Most farmers seem to be still in the Trump camp for cultural reasons. Farmers in the western Midwest aren’t exactly clinging on like in the 80’s. Many are fat and happy and just don’t seem concerned about the tariffs. Likely because they assume there will be another bail out subsidy. That said, my dad was talking to some old boys the other day who admitted they couldn’t keep voting for the lunatic. They said they weren’t voting for Harris, but planned on just skipping the presidential vote. Ive been wrapped up in harvest since mid September but what I’ve noticed is a bunch of displays of down ballot Republican candidates without any Trump stuff.

WE’RE BACK MOTHERFUCKER Maybe

We still control our own destiny, but committing so many unforced errors as a 13.5 favorite at home, and losing the way we did is the fucking worst

This is the most disappointing loss in a history of disappointment

This is the most self inflicted loss I’ve ever seen. What a fucking worthless effort

These types of accounts ruin social media