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Oh gosh. I am not a political consultant. For me, progress is a good word. Its not really a political party. Is this sort of the leading edge of something larger thats happening in Texas? You know, I was just talking to a friend of mine on the Dallas City Council and he said there was a very similar thing that happened in their recent elections where several new, more future-focused council members were elected more progressive. If the work really gets done at the local level and we are representing the same constituents that the folks in Austin are, I would imagine that this is the start of a better Texas in terms of its politics.

San Antonio is nearly two-thirds Hispanic. State demographers are projecting Hispanics will make up more than half of Texas in about 20 years. What do you think Texas can learn from San Antonio?

We like to say were Americas 21st century city. Thats what were talking about. Not just the demographics but also the challenges we face and how we address them. Hopefully, people can learn from San Antonio and how we address some of the significant challenges we see in urban communities.

I represented in District 8, on the Northwest Side, a very diverse district, maybe leaning slightly conservative but demographically mixed and I was able to work toward fairly progressive solutions to significant challenges. Infrastructure and environmental issues, working with constituencies like our largest refugee population in San Antonio, without having to hide away from what those challenges are. That tells me that a lot of these things that progressive elected officials work on that sometimes make peoples blood pressure rise who are more conservative simply need to be communicated better across the community of why its important.

One of our challenges in San Antonio is connectivity. Its not just about transportation, its getting people on the North Side to understand that investments in the bus system on the South Side are important for economic development, which builds jobs that their children are going to fill. Just getting people to understand that were all in it together has been a challenge that can be accomplished if, as an elected official. Im willing to try.

Whats the biggest problem facing San Antonio?

Socioeconomic segregation. We have seen disinvestment in parts of our community that were redlined 80 years ago, or not even that long ago, that are now demanding attention and need to be invested in if we are really going to build equity in the basic services and infrastructure that the city provides. We do that because children who are raised in poverty have a significant disadvantage in achieving levels of education that can help break out of that cycle. Their parents are less likely to be home with them because theyre having to work two or three or four jobs just to make ends meet, so it contributes to a cycle in which it really does matter what ZIP code you live in to determine your outcome in life. Being able to break that cycle through investments, jobs and services like transportation and improving peoples streets and sidewalks, despite the fact that they might not turn out at the polls in the numbers that people in nice neighborhoods do, is a priority.

You were the grand marshal for this years San Antonio pride parade, and youve said you want to extend the nondiscrimination protections passed by the City Council in 2013 to the private sector. Is that a priority for you as mayor?

I want to make sure that the values of nondiscrimination, the fact that people that should not be discriminated against based on sexual orientation, gender identity, all these things, is not just for show, but that it is actually implemented. Yes, I do believe nondiscrimination is not just an important value in the public sector but its also important in the private sector, too. We have to see the temperature of the council and legally talk about how something like that could be pursued but, if youre doing business in the public realm you shouldnt be allowed to discriminate based on those things.

Does San Antonio have a policy that differs from state law when it comes to marijuana? Austin, Dallas and Houston have a cite-and-release option for police.

Not currently, no. I know the district attorney is interested in exploring not decriminalization, but steps toward it.

Is that something that youre in favor of?

So when were talking about controlled substances, I will always follow the lead of law enforcement. I am interested in increasing the compassionate uses [of medical marijuana], which is the first step for us. But I am interested, and I think we need to be for criminal justice reasons and community restoration reasons, too.

You and several top city officials, including San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, were publicly opposed to Senate Bill 4, the sanctuary cities ban. How do you think the new law will impact your city, where nearly two-thirds of residents are Hispanic?

I think its going to create a division and distrust between our law enforcement and the community members that they serve. Im on the same page as our local law enforcement that this is bad for public safety, not to mention that it will likely do racial profiling. Beyond the immigration and the racial element to this, the kind of centralization of authority and the removing of elected officials, removing public officials from office unilaterally by the attorney general, is the kind of thing that if we were seeing this happening somewhere in the Eastern Bloc, we would be outraged because were pro-democracy.

Top Republicans like Dan Patrick and Abbott blame skyrocketing property taxes on city and county governments and are pushing a bill that would limit their ability to increase rates without elections. What do you think about that proposal?

Its cheap politics, its checking a box so that it passes the fact check when they say they reduced the taxes, when in reality its provided no meaningful relief to any homeowner. What would provide relief is appraisal reform, maybe sale price disclosures. San Antonio has lowered our tax rate close to seven times in the last 20 years the only thing a city can do to lower taxes. But the appraisals keep going up, and school district taxes keep going up because they need to have resources to put textbooks in front of students and teachers in classrooms.

Is the state Legislature underfunding education?

Schools are underfunded in my belief and many others. There are secondary impacts that are devastating. Frankly, the Legislatures recent history of inadequately funding of public education has dramatic secondary impacts on generations of Texans that we dont talk about. It has led to socioeconomic disparities that we see in cities. As the reduction of state funding has taken place, local communities have had to step up and thats why youre seeing school districts raise their taxes. This crisis of property taxes that has been created has been manufactured by the state looking elsewhere from its primary responsibilities.

Governor Greg Abbott vetoed $1.5 million meant for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). In San Antonio, that veto led to staff cuts at the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), and six air monitors were temporarily shut down. Youre an AACOG board member; what do you think motivated Abbott?

Because its easy politics. It takes time to communicate with people challenging concepts. Especially if your values are different. We need elected officials who are dedicated to the task of explaining why air quality matters for public health, for economic reasons; its cost avoidance of taking care of people in the hospital. We lost 52 people in Bexar County because of air pollution in 2015. Public health is not acceptable collateral damage to fulfill whatever political aims people have in Austin. If we had more public officials dedicated to the task of addressing these really serious issues that dont necessarily grab peoples attention but are important and require focus and commitment and investment, I think wed have better policymaking.

You have ambitious renewable energy goals. The state and federal government have different priorities. How do you achieve your goals with those obstacles?

Continue to show how it makes fiscal sense to do so. Building a resilient energy grid is cost-saving. Maybe not next year, but in 10, 20, 30 years its going to save us money in the long run. Thats a great opportunity for us to create jobs. And then, at the end of the day its better for your kids health. I dont argue with my doctor but sometimes I ask for a second opinion. When you ask for second, third and thousands more opinions from medical professionals and scientists that are all telling you the same thing, that bad air is bad for health, we should listen.

In one word each, can you describe Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and Joe Straus?

[laughs] Im gonna get in big trouble. This is a trapdoor isnt it? Texan, Texan and Texan.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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New San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Priorities, Progressives and the Legislature - The Texas Observer

Sam Clovis, the Trump administrations chief scientist on agriculture, described progressives as race traitors in a now-defunct blog that highlightedthe former Iowa professor and right-wing radio hosts paranoid views of the leftand its leader, former President Barack Obama.

In the blog posts, which were dug up by CNNs KFILE teamthanks to the Wayback Machine, Clovis frequently ruminated on racial issues in America, blaming progressives for heightened racial tensions during Obamas tenure. Clovis wrote that progressives were liars, race traders and race traitors' who lack moral certitude. He argued that progressives were the real racists.

His blog did not demonstrate much scientific aptitude. Rather, it showed his prowess at right-wing commentary, pivoting the American left against the good people of Middle America. Clovis touched on the go-to topics of conservative radio hosts during the Obama years.

He was brought up by socialists to be a socialist, Clovis wrote of Obama. His associations were socialists or worse, criminal dissidents who were bent on overthrowing the government of the United States.

Clovis also seemed to grasp the reverse-racism grievancesthat have been expounded by the alt-right this past year.

We can go back 100 years and trace how the progressives, socialists and fellow travelers have done everything possible to keep minorities in this country enslaved to government, another blog post said. This is particularly true in the African-American community. The progressives have systematically attacked the individual, the black family unit, the black female and the black male.

According to CNN, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture defended Clovis in a statement.

Dr. Clovis is a proud conservative and a proud American, the spokesperson said. All of his reporting either on the air or in writing over the course of his career has been based on solid research and data. He is after all an academic.

In May, it was reported that Trump was leaning towards nominating Clovis to run the research division of the Department of Agriculture, even though Clovis had zero experience in agricultural research.Clovis, a devout Trump supporter, was known in Iowa for his conservative radio show Impact with Sam Clovis on Sioux City KSCJ. During the 2016 presidential election, he became a confidant of the Trump campaign, advising the candidate on agricultural and immigration issues.

The rest is here:
Donald Trump's chief agricultural scientist, Sam Clovis, called ... - Salon

If you thought that STEM studies were safe from theclutches of the radical brand ofprogressivismthat permeates most universities social sciences courses, think again.

Purdue University has established its School of Engineering Education, seemingly designed to refocus the discipline from actual engineering to left-wing social justice ideology.

The School of Engineering Education (ENE) envisions a more inclusive socially connected and scholarly engineering education. This implies that we radically rethink the boundaries of engineering and the purpose of engineering education, the schools website states.

Our mission to transform engineering education based on scholarship and research rests on three pillars: Re-imagining engineering and engineering education, creating field-shaping knowledge, and empowering agents of change.

Eddie Zipperer, an assistant political science professor at Georgia Military College, saysthe program fits into the joint mission of progressivism to tear down western institutions and co-opt all academic subjects.

"Progressivism is a Trojan horse ideology that destroys institutions from the inside, and higher education is the prime example,"Zipperer told LifeZette.

"English 101 was once a class where you learned to composition. They taught you how to take your thoughts and effectively articulate them on paper," Zipperer said. "Now, they teach you what to think instead how to find sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia everywhere."

"In classrooms where students once read Shakespeare, now they complain about him as a dead, white guy," he said. "Of course, this is not the case in every university, but it is the case in more and more universities each day."

In an article titled "Social Engineering Rather than Actual Engineering" published by the James G Martin Center for Academic Renewal, mechanical engineering professor Indrek Wichman criticized the move.

"[ENE Dean Dr.Donna] Riley's purpose seems not to be how best to train new engineers but to let everyone know how bad engineers have been, how they continue to 'oppress' women and persons of color, how much we need 'diverse perspectives,' and how the 'struggle' continues to level all distinctions and differences in society," Wichman wrote.

"Lest the reader believe I exaggerate, let him peruse a periodical called the Journal of Engineering Education, the Society for Engineering Education's flagship journal," Wichman continued. "In each number, readers find at least one article with a title such as 'Diversifying the Engineering Workforce' or 'Understanding Student Difference.'"

Zipperer noted the administrators in charge are pushing an agenda driven by politics rather than learning.

"This engineering department has probably gone off-the-rails leftist, and whoever is behind the changes is probably working on a political agenda as opposed to a teaching-students-about-engineering agenda," he said.

This indeed seems to be the case.

Riley identifies herself on Twitter as an "Engineering professor, social justice advocate, [and] Presbyqueerian." Her "scholarship currently focuses on applying liberative pedagogies in engineering education, leveraging best practices from women's studies and ethnic studies to engage students in creating a democratic classroom that encourages all voices," shestates in her biography on the Smith College website, where she used to teach.

"I seek to revise engineering curricula to be relevant to a fuller range of student experiences and career destinations, integrating concerns related to public policy, professional ethics, and social responsibility; decentering Western civilization; and uncovering contributions of women and other underrepresented groups," she writes.

The obsession withidentity politics, once confined mostly to the corridors of Literature and Social Sciences departments, now permeates nearly all areas of academia. Even a discipline as presumably dull and inoffensive as archiving has not been spared. As Campus Reform reported on Tuesday, at a recent weeklong archivists' conference in Portland, Oregon, archivists attended a presentation on "Identifying and Dismantling White Supremacy in Archives."

The panel called on archivists to "decenter whiteness by valuing materials produced by people of color and communities of color" and to "explicitly prioritize materials produced by people of color and communities of color."

Zipperer said it is popular on campus to push far-left ideologies.

"Having leftist opinions is like street cred in many higher ed institutions," Zipperer explained. "The general culture of higher education is not in any way a microcosm of our culture at large, but an island of ultra-progressivism."

(photo credit, homepage image: Huw Williams)

Link:
Campus Progressives Target the Sciences with Divisive Identity Politics - LifeZette

New Hampshire Primary Source covers breaking and behind-the-scenes news and analysis on all things political in the Granite State. John DiStaso is the most experienced political writer in New Hampshire and has been writing a weekly column since 1982.

PROGRESSIVES UNHAPPY. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and many party leaders have been saying for more than a decade that the party should provide support financial and otherwise to candidates regardless of their positons on abortion.

As far back as 2006, then-DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel threw out the old playbook and recruited moderate Democrats some of them anti-abortion to run in red districts. The party picked up nearly 30 seats in a mid-term election.

That approach continues in 2017. In April, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Congressional Committee, said, I would encourage our candidates to be pro-choice candidates, but its also important that we have a big tent. I think we actually can do both.

In mid-May, a spokesman for DNC Chair Tom Perez said, The party does not believe in a litmus test. Two weeks earlier, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi voiced the same view in an interview with The Washington Post, adding, This is not a rubber-stamp party.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the former presidential candidate and progressive champion, recently campaigned along with Perez for an anti-abortion Democratic candidate for mayor of Omaha, Nebraska. Sanders said that despite his own staunchly pro-choice position, Democrats just cant exclude people who disagree with us on one issue.

Sanders' and Perezs endorsement of that candidate, Heath Mello, earned them criticism from NARAL Pro-Choice America, whose president, Ilyse Hogue, said it is not only disappointing, it is politically stupid.

Now, progressives are taking aim at DCCC chairman U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who reiterated the leaders long-standing position in an interview with The Hill on Monday.

There is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates, he said, adding that the party must make sure you have candidates that fit that district, that can win in these districts across the country.

Vermont-based Democracy for America which last year endorsed Sanders for president, by the way quickly pounced on Lujan.

It is profoundly disturbing to hear the person tasked with helping Democrats take back the House suggest that our party can credibly talk about confronting economic inequity, while turning a blind eye to candidates who want to limit women's right to control their own bodies, DFA Executive Director Charles Chamberlain said.

Abortion rights are inextricably tied to the fight against economic and racial inequity, full stop, and until all leaders of our party fully understand that, we're going to keep losing.

Jennifer Frizzell, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund, referred to the Democrats new A Better Deal for American Workers plan.

Last week, congressional Democrats unveiled a policy vision that centered on expanding economic opportunity, she said. At the Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund, we know that access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including safe, legal abortion, is central to expanding economic opportunity for New Hampshire citizens and all Americans.

This access is fundamental to womens economic security, health and well-being. We are fortunate that in New Hampshire, we have a full congressional delegation that is committed to fighting for all New Hampshire women to have access to quality reproductive care. They have always shown that access to safe, legal abortion is part of their core principles. They know that having the ability to plan, prevent and space pregnancies creates more stable families and increase economic opportunities.

Democracy for America, NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, EMILYs List and nearly a dozen other groups unveiled a Statement of Principles reiterating their pro-choice stand and strongly implying that anti-choice Democrats will face primaries in 2018.

Where do New Hampshires two strongly pro-choice House members stand on the litmus test question?

U.S. Rep. Shea-Porter is not with the party leadership.

Carol understands and respects every candidate's right to have his or her own personal views, anti or pro, but Democratic candidates should support a woman's right to make her own medical decisions, her spokeswoman, Marjorie Connolly, said. This is one of many areas where Carol and DCCC leadership hold different views."

U.S. Annie Kuster said, Ensuring that women have the right to make their own reproductive health care decision is one of my top priorities. As long as Republicans control Congress those rights will be in jeopardy. Ultimately, we need to elect Democrats across the country who are going to fight to support hard-working families by defending access to health care, expanding economic opportunity and working to create good jobs.

But, she added, Democrats are not a one-issue party, and I respect that there is a diversity of opinions within our caucus.

Thursday afternoon, Aug. 3 update: AMERICAN BRIDGE GROUP LAUNCHES AD. American Bridge, a liberal pro-Democratic political committee founded by Hillary Clinton supporter David Brock, quickly jumped into the controversy surrounding President Donald Trumps description of New Hampshire as a drug-infested den Wednesday. Click here.

The original Thursday morning New Hampshire Primary Source column follows.

CANDIDATE PROTESTS HOUSE RECESS. Republican 1st District U.S. House candidate Eddie Edwards is ramping up his criticism of both parties now that his GOP House leaders decided to send members home on a five-week break. Click here.

GROW PAC LAUNCHED. Former House Speaker Terie Norelli said Wednesday that she and other top Democratic women launched a new political action committee called GROW out of concern that women are not as prevalent in New Hampshire offices as they were during her tenure in office from 1996 to 2014. Click here.

RAISING MONEY FOR HOUSE DEMS. WMUR reported in July that U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, will visit New Hampshire on Aug. 16 to appear at the New Hampshire Young Democrats Summer Cookout in Hampton. For more on that visit, click here.

MORE SPECIAL ELECTIONS ON TAP. Democrats are looking to parlay the momentum of recent legislative special election victories into wins in upcoming contests in several Republican districts. The NHGOP, meanwhile, is hoping to rebound. Click here.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Marchand said this week that he has hired a fourth campaign staffer someone with a last name familiar to followers of Granite State politics. Click here.

(John DiStaso can be reached at jdistaso@hearst.com or distasoj@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jdistaso and on Facebook: Facebook.com/JohnDiStasoWMUR.)

Excerpt from:
NH Primary Source: Progressives hit DCCC's 'no abortion litmus test' stand - WMUR Manchester

Clovis is currently serving as the senior White House adviser to the USDA, but as his old blog posts highlight, his background is strongly rooted in the politics of conservative talk radio. His nomination requires Senate confirmation.

Clovis did not respond to an email from CNN's KFile requesting comment. A spokesperson for the USDA said, "Dr. Clovis is a proud conservative and a proud American. All of his reporting either on the air or in writing over the course of his career has been based on solid research and data. He is after all an academic."

A spokesperson for the White House did not return a request for comment.

In his writings, Clovis directed most of his ire at then-President Obama and the progressive movement.

In a post from September 2011, Clovis wrote in reference to Obama, "He was brought up by socialists to be a socialist. His associations were socialists or worse, criminal dissidents who were bent on overthrowing the government of the United States. He has no experience at anything other than race baiting and race trading as a community organizer."

The month before, Clovis said the 2012 Republican primary candidates needed to call out progressives for what they were "liars, race traders and race 'traitors.'"

At times, Clovis adopted a conspiratorial tone in his blog postings, openly pondering whether the Obama Administration would place conservative activists on a kill list that included terrorists like Anwar al-Awlaki and accusing Obama-era czars of using taxpayer money to buy the support of academics who would claim science was settled.

In one blog post in April 2011, Clovis contrasted the successful recovery efforts following the 2008 floods in Iowa with the chaos in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, attributing the difference to Iowa's culture "focused on family, community and the primacy of faith in life."

"The president, like the rest of us, is clearly a product of his upbringing, his associates, his education and his experience," wrote Clovis. "He was brought up by socialists to be a socialist. His associations were socialists or worse, criminal dissidents who were bent on overthrowing the government of the United States. He has no experience at anything other than race baiting and race trading as a community organizer. He has never run anything. Finally, his education at some of the best colleges in America was deeply influenced by socialists or worse on those campuses. He supposedly earned degrees in political science and law, but his actions reflect a shallow education and chronic underachievement in nearly every thing he has done."

"My caller was most concerned about the fact that our candidates seem to be afraid of taking on the race baiting," Clovis wrote. "I could not agree more. The current crop of candidates need to get that titanium spine we keep hearing about and call out the progressives for what they are -- liars, race traders and race 'traitors.'"

In the same blog post, Clovis said Democrats were attempting to keep minorities "enslaved" to the government. He said progressives wanted to eliminate people of color from America but saw government enslavement as a second option.

"We can go back 100 years and trace how the progressives, socialists and fellow travelers have done everything possible to keep minorities in this country enslaved to government. This is particularly true in the African-American community. The progressives have systematically attacked the individual, the black family unit, the black female and the black male to essentially eliminate people of color from the American landscape. Because elimination has become impractical, subservience to government is an acceptable second option.

"After the Civil War, African-Americans voted almost en masse for Republicans," wrote Clovis. "That all changed in the election of 1912 when first term governor Woodrow Wilson was able to convince WEB(sic) DeBois to back his candidacy. That year, 60% of eligible African-Americans voted for Wilson. This loss of a small but homogeneous voting block to the other side hurt the Republicans and would continue to hurt them until the present day. DeBois was the first race-trader and did a magnificent job of convincing his fellow blacks to back a southern racist for president. What ever was the deal that would allow someone of DeBois's stature to side with such an incredibly flawed individual? To this day, I have not been able to find adequate scholarly work to explain this remarkable shift in allegiance. Wilson was a progressive and a racist. In my books, the two were, are, and will remain, synonomous(sic)."

Clovis said the minority community would some day "wake up" to their enslavement.

"Like putting the frog in the pot then turning up the heat, minorities have been enslaved by government operatives who care nothing for the nation and everything for power," wrote Clovis. "Someday, men and women of color will wake up to the incredible deception that has been visited on their communities. Someday, these wonderful, courageous Americans will rebuff collective dependency and will embrace individual accountability and the covenant we find in our Constitution.

In other blog posts, Clovis repeatedly argued that progressives were attempting to enslave citizens to the government.

Clovis pushed this sentiment repeatedly.

Clovis also expressed a deep disdain for former President Obama, who he said hated American greatness and had an "anti-American mentality."

"Barack Obama is inherently dishonest, a pathological liar and a person who has surrounded himself with sycophantic, co-dependent people who are more clearly identified by their association with him than by their own accomplishments," wrote Clovis. "He is a Maoist, anti-colonialist who is also a pathological narcissist. This is a very dangerous combination."

He wrote a week later, "We need to make sure we have done everything we can to beat Barack Hussein Obama and his progressive, Maoist, anti-colonialist followers."

"Though it comes as no surprise, headlines today reveal that the National Education Association, the largest union in the United States, public or private, has asked its rank and file to support the re-election of Barack Obama. Similarly, the Service Employees International Union came out of the communist closet over the weekend, letting the world know that they are fellow travelers in pursuit of seizing the means of production and irradicating(sic) personal property rights in our market system. When one examines the reach of unions in America, one is startled to find out that some 15 million foot soldiers stand ready to march into battle for the socialist we now know is Barack Hussein Obama."

"Over the past three days on my radio show, we have been having a great discussion of the policies and consequences of the administration's latest actions in assassinating Anwar Al Awlaki. Along with Al Awlaki, Samir Khan, an American citizen as well, died in the Predator attack that killed Al Awlaki while he was in Yemen. What is not at issue is that Al Awlaki was a despicable human being who was bent on carrying out his jihad against America. He was likely the individual behind the underwear bomber and the Fort Hood shootings. Was he bad? No Question. However, he was an American citizen and he should have been extended his Constitutional protections. What is frightening is that a panel of mid-level bureaucrats is determining who gets killed and who doesn't. Are you comfortable with that? I am not, particularly when this administration wants to Mirandize enemy combatants on the battlefield and wants to try foreign-born, non-citizen terrorists in federal court with all the protections of our most sacred civil document. What am I missing here? This situation is not only indicative of being on a steep, slippery slope, but that we are sliding down this slope at breakneck speed. We already have documentation that this administration thinks that returning veterans, pro-life advocates and small government advocates are all potential terrorists. This is written down in Department of Homeland Security policy documents. Is it such a stretch to think that at some point that those who pose a threat to this administration might not move up the list generated by this secret panel? Possible? You bet. Probable? Who knows."

"Mapleton suffered the worst of the damage," Clovis wrote. "A large part of the town of 1200 was devastated by a F3 tornado that blew through about 7:30 pm. The little town was shut down by law enforcement until around 2:30 in the morning so that power lines could be restored and gas lines could be secured. By sunrise on Sunday morning, much of the situation had been contained and folks were already moving out into the little town to start the clean up. By the time the governor showed up--before noon--the streets were clear and people were out in force cleaning yards and policing up the debris around town. The power is back on but the gas lines will take a week or so to repair. Not to worry, this is Iowa. This type of resilience is so typical of this part of the country. From Texas to North Dakota and across the western part of the Midwest, the culture of this society is focused on family, community and the primacy of faith in life. Each episode like this seems to end the same way--neighbors helping neighbors get back to life as close to normal as possible. Thus, the difference in the reaction of the people in Iowa to the floods of 2008 to that of the nation during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Read more here:
Trump nominee Sam Clovis blasted progressives as 'race traders ... - CNN (blog)