Iowa Revolution/Deep Midwest 4/9/25 with Abena Imhotep

Thank you Teresa Lawler, Steve Hanken, and many others for tuning into my live video with Robert Leonard and The Imhotep Report! Join me for my next live video in the Substack app

Podcast Segments:

Iowa Coast to Coast (statewide news)

From Dr. Bob’s Deep Midwest Substack: Below is a transcript of the video in Rollins’ tweet, with my comment in italics:

Male voice off camera: I call it woke seeds.

Rollins: Should I do a quick video? (Rollins trying to make it appear that the video wasn’t staged).

Hi everyone, it's Brooke Rollins here at USDA. We started really early this morning as we always do is we're here fighting for farmers and ranchers and putting Americans first, but you're not going to believe what we just found. Behind the door at USDA, we found a whole box of these seeds. And listen, we love seeds here at USDA, but check these out. These are specific tomato seeds that are for growing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at USDA. I mean, look at these. If you can be anything, be inclusive at USDA. America, this is what we're fighting here in Washington, D.C. This is why we are completely working to realign under President Trump's vision our entire government about returning power to the people , about ensuring that we're putting Americans first and that we really are going to make America great again and no longer will we spend tax dollars on diversity, equity, inclusion at USDA.

From Dave Busiek on Media on Substack: The mass protests in Des Moines and other Iowa cities this past Saturday were covered, but I would rate the coverage as routine. Ho hum. Another garden variety protest rally. I sense many citizens are furious at how our government is being torn apart, how immigrants are being seized and shipped out of the country with no due process rights, how Trump is attacking universities, law firms and the news media itself. Iowans are frightened seeing their investment accounts wither away under Trump’s reckless tariffs. People are shocked that Congress shirks its duties and lets Trump run rampant. Fury. Fright. Shock. And my point is that none of that emotion is coming through in the coverage. On the local TV news, the stations showed a crowd shot here, a protest sign there, a sound bite – all standard stuff. The Sunday print Des Moines Register had not one mention of the rally in Des Moines early Saturday afternoon that attracted thousands of people. Not once did I see a reporter describe the mood of the crowd. I got a better sense of Saturday’s rallies by looking at social media and some of my cohorts in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative than I did from major media outlets. Guys like Bob Leonard know how to tell a story. Good reporters can sense when they’ve got a juicy story on their hands, and they skillfully use their powers of observation, their writing skills and their storytelling abilities to swing for the fences and knock it out of the park. Sadly, with coverage of all the gut-wrenching stories affecting our lives the past few months, I’m seeing far too many bunt singles and not nearly enough home runs.

Cauc Talk (talking political news)

From CNBC: China has pushed back once again to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies by hiking its levies on U.S. imports to more than 80%. China’s Office of the Tariff Commission of the State Council said tariffs on U.S. goods will rise to 84% from 34% starting on April 10, according to a translation of the announcement. This comes after the latest U.S. tariff hike — which brings levies on Chinese goods to more than 100% — took effect at the start of April 9. The repeated escalation of the tariffs threatens to bring trade between two of the world’s most important economies to a standstill. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. exported $143.5 billion of goods to China in 2024, while importing $438.9 billion of goods. The Trump administration announced a sweeping new tariff policy last week, and warned other countries not to retaliate. Some nations, including Japan, have seemed willing to negotiate on tariffs, but China appears to be taking a more hardline stance and quickly announced a countertariff.

Wider Scope

From Reuters: As a boy in the 1960s, David Wagner would run around his family’s Missouri farm with a glass jar clutched in his hand, scooping flickering fireflies out of the sky. “We could fill it up and put it by our bedside at night,” says Wagner, now an entomologist. That’s all gone, the family farm now paved over with new homes and manicured lawns. And Wagner’s beloved fireflies – like so many