The photo with Mike Singletary is noteworthy. While I supported his football play, in recent years Singletary has travelled with and supported Trump. I do not know if he has campaigned in Iowa for Repub candidates. On another note, one definition of a scam is trying to sell something as your product or your idea, when it is free in the marketplace.
I received one of these today with my 2nd grade child’s end of year evaluation. This is part of Republicans’ well established messaging strategy. Instead of policy details they communicate with emotionally charged messaging that evokes fear and/or anger. It’s exploitative and like it or not it’s very effective with low information voters. What bothers me more than the message is that school districts participated in distributing it.
This website (and I am not sure of its reputation) says that almost 98% of kids that are "missing" are found. Plus, the site says and I have heard it too, that most are taken by a parent without custody. So the actual number of "missing" children is actually far lower than even 100 a day.
This site also has an interesting graph that shows that most of the kids missing are runaways, and many of them run away multiple times, meaning they are counted more than once as well.
This is not new. In 1986 in Clarinda Iowa, the Kiwanee sponsored a child ID Day as a service project. Many responsible parents came with children in tow to be fingerprinted, and the project was a success. Only after the day was done, did I hear a comment or two such as 'was that really necessary or helpfull?' And to those commenters, I say, well done. It is not easy in a small town in Iowa to question the service projects of a local organization.
The photo with Mike Singletary is noteworthy. While I supported his football play, in recent years Singletary has travelled with and supported Trump. I do not know if he has campaigned in Iowa for Repub candidates. On another note, one definition of a scam is trying to sell something as your product or your idea, when it is free in the marketplace.
I received one of these today with my 2nd grade child’s end of year evaluation. This is part of Republicans’ well established messaging strategy. Instead of policy details they communicate with emotionally charged messaging that evokes fear and/or anger. It’s exploitative and like it or not it’s very effective with low information voters. What bothers me more than the message is that school districts participated in distributing it.
This website (and I am not sure of its reputation) says that almost 98% of kids that are "missing" are found. Plus, the site says and I have heard it too, that most are taken by a parent without custody. So the actual number of "missing" children is actually far lower than even 100 a day.
https://findthekids.org/2021/06/how-many-missing-children-are-found-each-year/
This site also has an interesting graph that shows that most of the kids missing are runaways, and many of them run away multiple times, meaning they are counted more than once as well.
https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/impact
Thanks for your reporting on this Laura!
I’m completely shocked that Brenna Bird would do anything that demonstrates a lack of intellectual integrity. Shocked, I tell you.
Too many things in Iowa schools are being exploited right now. If you follow the trail it leads straight to the political top.
This is not new. In 1986 in Clarinda Iowa, the Kiwanee sponsored a child ID Day as a service project. Many responsible parents came with children in tow to be fingerprinted, and the project was a success. Only after the day was done, did I hear a comment or two such as 'was that really necessary or helpfull?' And to those commenters, I say, well done. It is not easy in a small town in Iowa to question the service projects of a local organization.