Gongol.com Archives: 2018 Weekly Archives
December 29, 2018
Show notes - Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - January 29, 2018
The last show of 2018 airs at 2:00 Central Time on WHO Radio
Another swing at the local option sales tax?
On January 2nd, the West Des Moines City Council will consider a resolution to send the local-option sales and services tax proposal to Polk County. So will Des Moines. The vote would tentatively be scheduled for March 5th. Both councils are considering proposals to put 50% of the revenues into property-tax relief.
Hospital price transparency comes January 1st
They'll have to post list prices online. It's not a perfect fix, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
It's not just soybean farmers who are suffering from trade nonsense
The Trump Administration's decision to keep the US out of the TPP means Australian farmers are going to have a strategic advantage in selling wheat and beef to markets like Japan, where the US is going to face tariffs that the Aussies won't. Multilateral trade deals are the best trade deals.
Eddie Lampert submits last-minute bid for Sears
He's already the chair of the board, but it looks like an affiliate of his hedge fund has offered $4.4 billion for the company, which is pretty much its only alternative to a complete shutdown and liquidation. Regardless, the company is closing another 80 Sears and Kmart stores, in addition to the many it's already closed. One problem for the company is that it hasn't turned a profit since 2010.
Wells Fargo to pay more than half a billion dollars to settle fake accounts
In a settlement with all 50 states (and DC), the company will pay out $575 million to the states (Iowa will get about $6.2 million, to be allocated to the Consumer Education and Litigation Fund). Another $1.6 billion is going to restitution and Federal penalties in other resolutions.
December 28, 2018
What is it with Black Velvet drinkers in Iowa?
The whiskey is the #1 liquor brand sold in Iowa -- by a big margin over #2 (Fireball) and by a giant margin over #3 (Captain Morgan). It is nearly eight times as popular as a fine Irish whiskey like Jameson.
December 27, 2018
How Facebook moderates more content than you think
"The [New York] Times was provided with more than 1,400 pages from the rulebooks by an employee who said he feared that the company was exercising too much power"
Sen. Bernie Sanders remains a one-way ticket to disaster
In a fundraising email, his people volley a tirade against Third Way Democrats. But the simple fact is that Sanders is toxic and would be a two-time disaster for the Democrats.
Sudden US withdrawal from Syria has Kurds looking for new allies in a hurry
There's no love lost between them and the Turkish government just over the border
20 million people are starving right now
A number of people roughly equal to the combined populations of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. That they live in faraway Yemen shouldn't discount anyone's sense of the tragedy. And it is particularly galling because the starvation is truly economic in nature, rather than something more unavoidable.
Iowa has a new state epidemiologist
We're social animals, so it's impossible to have health care without spending time, attention, and money on public health
Power plant explosion in New York City causes unnaturally blue sky at night
And when something like this happens somewhere else, it ought to be a good reminder for the rest of us to check our own preparations for power outages (that might last a good long time...). A cell phone flashlight isn't good enough. And travel with extra batteries, because there isn't always an outlet to save you.
The most important thing Jonah Goldberg gets right in this piece is that "What [the President's] defenders overlook is that his insults are not simply an act". His shortage (nay, absence?) of personal character is a choice. And it is a choice, too, when others defend it.
If "milk" must apply only to stuff from dairy cows, what about baby oil?
While there's definitely something to be said for truth in advertising, is anyone left more confused (rather than less) by the notion of "almond milk" or "soy milk"? Those names generally serve to make things more clear to the consumer, rather than less.
Aircraft window shades up or down?
Cabin crews sometimes ask passengers to put the window shades down shortly after landing in order to keep the cabin cool -- which is a pretty radical departure from the old days, when that was a signal of a hijacking. Here's another reason why it's a bad idea: Eyes take time to adjust to outdoor brightness, and if something goes wrong (even on the ground), then passengers need to be oriented to the hazards around them in an instant.
A $17 million home with just four bedrooms. But it's gorgeous.
December 26, 2018
May we continue expanding our sensibilities about mental wellness
Our country will be much better off when we bring the same prevention-oriented, everyone-does-it attitude to mental wellness that we give to dental care. Nobody gets judged for having a filling. Just as there is a compelling public-health case for dental care (including the use of fluoride in public water systems), there is also a compelling public-health case for widespread access to preventative mental wellness care.
They'll learn far more words from children's books than they will from television
If you count on Facebook as your lone marketing strategy...don't
It's a useful tool, but the fickleness with which it is managed makes it fundamentally unreliable
China didn't import American soybeans last month
File under: Trade wars are stupid
December 25, 2018
Six things to love about Des Moines for the holidays
The lights on Terrace Hill are a good place to start
A Christmas list attached to a red balloon
Launched in Mexico, it made its way to a rancher in Arizona -- who tracked down the youthful sender and delivered her wishes
The Secretary of Defense sends a message to the troops
His holiday greeting includes one line worthy of extra attention: "Storm clouds loom, yet because of you your fellow citizens live safe at home." One wonders which particular storm clouds loom largest in his mind.
The world needs to speak up for the Uighurs in China
It seems a million people or more have been detained without trial over their ethnic and religious identity. That's appalling -- especially if one legitimately believes that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
December 24, 2018
From "Christmas Catholics" to regular churchgoers
A worthwhile perspective from America Magazine: "That is what being a stranger means: Not being known is part of it, but not knowing is the rest."
What's an "affordable" college education, really?
Our meta-problem is that we continue to treat the college degree as a destination. It may be a well-worn commencement-speaker cliche to say "This is just a beginning", but the 21st Century really does demand that we think about everyone having a path through a non-stop, life-long education. And "everyone" means everyone, without exception.
There are better things to say than "You're so cute!"
Ask girls about themselves instead of passing judgment (no matter how seemingly innocuous) on their looks.
"I see how few monsters there are among us"
A counterterrorism-expert-turned-local-cop says he thinks most people are decent. What a great sentiment, and true. Most people -- really, most people, and that means everywhere -- are trying their best to be good. All fall short, some more often than others. But the real monsters are few.
UNHCR seeks donations for refugees
There are a lot of them in the world right now -- too many. And it's turning cold in much of the Northern Hemisphere.