KXEL Presents: The Jacobsen Group Podcast – January 18, 2025

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Viking spelling of an S-E-N, and we have got a great show lined up for you today.

We're going to preview the Iowa legislature.

And do we have guests today?

We have the Iowa standards, the premier journalistic and blog vehicle for politics across the Hawkeye and Dereis City cyclone in Panther and Bulldogs

State.

Jacob Hall.

We have Pastor Sam Jones, who

is the conscious of the state of Iowa, giving one of the most tremendous, testifying sequences in the history of Iowa Committee hearings on the Medical Freedom Bill in 2022.

the matriarch of the Iowa Pro-Life movement, former longtime head of Iowa Right to Life, the inimitable, miracle girl, Jennifer Bowen, I call her J-Bow.

Welcome everybody to the show, issue one.

We are one week into the Iowa legislature.

Surprises,

shocks, or business as usual, I go to you, Jacob Hall.

John, I'd really say overall it was a pretty vanilla first week in Des Moines.

Not a lot got done, which is typical of the first week, but also it just felt like there wasn't a real clear direction this year in terms of what is going to be the big so-called controversial thing, what's going to be the conservative red meat.

Obviously a lot of speeches, but just very little to get excited about.

So I think

If I was going to sum up the first week, it would be a week that provided more questions than answers.

And I guess if nothing else, it's good because it gives people a reason to stay tuned to see what's next.

Fascinating account, Jacob.

You are there on the beat, Pastor Sam Jones.

Are you making any mischief?

Oh, you know, John, of course I'm making mischief.

I mean, you can't be the conscience of Iowa if you're not making mischief.

And especially with what Jacob Hall was saying there down at the Iowa Standard, great news source.

If you guys haven't checked that out, you got to go to theiowastandard.com and check out what he has.

He's got stuff daily coverage down there.

But if you're following this, you know, Jacob's saying not much is happening, but I actually see behind the scenes all kinds of scurrying that's going on because the leadership is trying to figure out how in the world can we

Avoid following a republican platform.

I mean that that is the number one priority on Pat Grassley's desk right there is how in the world can we make sure that we do not follow this platform and That's that's pretty much what's going on there.

They're trying to figure that out And so they're hoping that it's just status quo and per usual nothing happens But I get the feeling that there is a storm a brewing down there in Des Moines John

Sam Jones is picking up a vibe.

Do we have a vibe shift to change in the zeitgeist Jennifer bow and J bow?

What say you?

Well, I would concur with what's been said so far Vanilla is one way to describe it for sure It's pretty disheartening and disconcerting.

We've talked about it the last couple of years Sean, you know

We have literally no excuses for why a single abortion is happening in Iowa at this point in time.

The Republican Party has taken more seats in 16, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024.

And so I find myself very confused when I hear people like Speaker of the House Pat Grassley talking about how abortion will probably take a vaccine, so to speak.

when we look at other alternatives.

Or you have his counterpart there, Matt Winshittle, who's talking about we need more bipartisanship.

And forgive me if I'm misunderstanding something, but doing some simple math, Iowans have put 101 seats for Republicans and only 49 Democrats.

So I don't understand this.

We got to be bipartisan.

Islands haven't, haven't elected them again and again and again to have abortions still happening.

Jacobson with the outro says maybe Matt's getting the Des Moines vapers.

He's spending a lot more time in Des Moines the last several months than in his home district.

Perhaps it's a Des Moines thing.

Moving on.

Issue two.

Let's talk about life.

For years, we heard, can't do anything till we get a Republican governor, then we've got to have a Republican House, but we can't because we don't have a Republican Senate because of Mike Ronstal.

Now, we have de facto super majorities, a Republican governor, a large Republican Senate, a huge Republican House, a powerful trifecta, and the mother of Pearl, Roe versus Wade overturned, and yet crickets.

Jacob Hall, what's going on with life legislation?

Well, John, I'm fairly certain that they're just waiting until we also get control of the Iowa Supreme Court.

Oh, wait.

Yeah, they have that entire thing too.

You know, I was on another show earlier this week and what I said was,

it's almost like someone has to tell Republican leadership in the state of Iowa that Roe versus Wade has been overturned because it's almost as though they have no idea.

Yeah, they did the heartbeat bill, you know, in a special session after Roe was overturned, but they had done the heartbeat bill before Roe was overturned.

So I consider that to be a lateral move at best.

And now the question is, now what?

And the fact that we're going on almost

two years, you know, post post row, and we still have no direction and no goal.

I know State Representative Zach Deacon is at the Capitol trying to find co-sponsors for his bill to, you know, actually block abortion in the state of Iowa.

And he's having a heck of a time finding co-sponsors despite the fact, as Jennifer said, there's over 100 Republicans out of 150 legislators.

And it's

It's almost as though they don't really believe what they say when they campaign as it relates to the life issue.

You know, I campaign and got into electoral politics because of the life issue.

I term limited myself, but there are days when I wish I could be back if only to co-sponsor such great pro-life legislation.

Sam

Jones, what say you?

Yeah, you know John one of my favorite quotes is obedience is simple and disobedience is very complicated and what we're finding down at the legislature is that the disobedience against God's law here that simple law that says thou shalt not murder is becoming very complicated They're trying to figure out what what what is the next incremental step that we can take to avoid to actually

going and stopping abortion and absolutely abolishing abortion.

And what we need right now is that we need the church to step up.

We need pastors to step up.

We need pastors to speak out.

And one thing that I'm really excited for is seeing that Brad Sherman has announced his candidacy for governor.

I think he's the only one who's announced so far.

But Brad Sherman wanted to go into change the Iowa Constitution.

He presented this when he was down there to change this so that there would be constitutional rights for those who are pre-born, giving them equal protection under the law.

And that's what we need.

That's exactly what Zach Deacon's bill would do, Representative Deacon's bill would do, what Jacob Hall was referring to.

And right now, they're trying to figure out, can we give more tax credits for adoption?

Well, as somebody who has done foster care and adoption,

That's great.

It's great to have nice tax credits, but it's even better to obey God and to stop murdering children.

And whether or not we get tax credits for adopting children, it doesn't give us the right to murder children.

And so we need that conscience.

We need that prick.

It's time to say enough is enough.

We need to stop murdering children.

And I mean, we look at this, they're making this very complicated.

because disobedience is complicated, it's time to make it simple and just obey the law of God.

Sam Jones, Pastor Sam Jones, as always, speaking truth to power, Jennifer Bowen, weigh in.

Well, I can say assuredly that there are a few people that have spent more time

professionally and personally with individuals that are still in power, both on the state level and the federal level in my tenure working in the life movement.

And I believed from the governor to the Congress to the US Senate, the state legislature, I believed every single time I was told

Oh, I'm with you.

I'm with you, Jennifer.

We just need to get Roby laid out of the way.

Probably tens of thousands of times.

I've heard that.

I've mirrored those words.

And I don't know how many places in Iowa, myself, in front of faithful, earnest, trusting, naive, Iowans.

Because I really thought that they meant it.

And so you flash forward to June.

22nd, 2022, when miraculously Roe v. Wade fell.

Unbelievable victory.

That's what we've all prayed and worked for, right?

And immediately the shift started.

Oh, well, we didn't mean that.

It's a state's rights issue.

And I didn't mean that.

And so from the US Senate on down, almost every single person

started backpedaling or keeping their mouth shut and it's been very, very disconcerting that we have had such a trifecta and we are seeing a state that became an abortion sanctuary state until that fetal heartbeat bill went into effect in 2024 and I have to tell you

I just I lose sleep over these individuals.

Just don't seem to want to like Sam said, they just don't want to obey God and do the easy thing and protect the human life.

We're only halfway through our conversation.

Our old boss, the great John McLaughlin group, later on in the show after our panelists will hear from Barbara Haynes Bryant, great entrepreneurial businesswoman with a Christian worldview put into action in commerce.

After that, the free market enterprise

Institute, the premier in the nation.

Think and teach tank that boys and girls from the Gorton Institute will opine with their New Year's prediction involving economics and social issues.

Our show today on this beautiful Saturday on KXCL, America's original 50,000 watt blowtorch out of Waterloo in St.

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is brought to you by Midwest Renewable Energy LLC, Jim and Cindy Jandren, founders, Midwest Renewable Energy LLC, ethanol, and renewable fuels out of Eastern Nebraska Energy.

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as the lovely and gracious Deborah Jacobson does, who I met 42 years ago this week in undergrad at Creighton University.

She walks and runs for life, liferunners.org, protecting expectant mothers and babies in the womb.

And after they're born, protection and help and assistance for expectant mothers and babies in the womb, building a culture of life.

from womb to tomb.

Issue three.

We're back with Iowa standards.

Jacob Hall, the conscience of Iowa, Pastor Sam Jones and the matriarch of the Iowa pro light movement, Jennifer Bowen joining our panel.

I'm John Jacobson, the Jacobson report with the inimitable great engineer, Mike Shane.

Issue three.

Do we have a leadership gap in Iowa?

Assess GOP leadership with the trifecta.

and the Supreme Court, and dominance in the executive branch, and are any men allowed?

I start with you, Jacob Hall.

Oh, thanks for starting with me, John.

I really appreciate the opportunity to take this question first.

You know, I think the leadership in the house and the Iowa house is what it's been.

for a few years now with Speaker Pat Grassley and Majority Leader Matt Winshittle.

And sometimes that can be good, sometimes that can be bad.

I would argue that the things in the Senate have actually gotten worse in the time that I've been at the Capitol and the House has actually gotten a little bit more conservative, but I would credit that to the caucus more than the leadership.

The leadership in the Iowa Senate is what I would be most concerned about.

and thoughts and prayers to Jack Whitver as he goes through this brain tumor situation.

It's a terrible, terrible thing that somebody at his age has to go through with a young family.

So I say all the things that are obvious and shouldn't have to be said so that we can move on and say what needs to be said.

Is he the most effective person to lead?

the Republicans and the Iowa Senate.

Last year, things came to a screeching halt in the Iowa Senate.

There were days that they literally did nothing.

There were days where there weren't subcommittees, there weren't, and you just kind of wondered like, what on earth is going on?

There were, we just talked about the life issue.

There was a bill, the baby Olivia bill to show a three minute video in grades seven through 12 on fetal development, and it died in the Iowa Senate.

And there was a lot of people saying, what is going on?

To me, I just think, you know, when you're dealing with what Jack Whitver is dealing with, trying to literally stay alive and your body is being challenged in the way it's being challenged.

Boy, I've never been the majority leader in the Iowa Senate, but I imagine that makes things even more taxing if you're doing the job the way you're supposed to be doing it.

So the fact that the Republican caucus in the Senate came back and elected the same leadership, if I have concerns about legislative leadership, it's definitely that decision because I'm just not sure how cut out for the job Jack Whitver is going to be this year.

an empathetic and yet incisive take from Jacob Hall.

I go to use Pam Jones.

Yeah, you know, I think that Jacob gives a really good picture of what's going on.

And you have in the Senate, the question is what leadership is, is it moving at all?

Is there anything that's happening?

Or is it a standstill?

But then over in the House, I think the question when you come to leadership,

is a different question altogether.

It's where in the world is the leadership taking?

And because, I mean, certainly you can lead in bad directions.

And if anything, I think that that's probably what's going on with the House leadership right now is while I'm concerned whether or not the Senate can move anywhere because of the circumstances and everything that's going on with Senator Whitver over with Speaker Grassley.

My question is, what direction is he taking us?

My goodness, we've got the head of the education committee coming out saying, hey, let's put the priority of healthy school food.

I mean, these are the education camps that are training up children to become socialists and Democrats completely against the Republican Party.

But let's make sure they get a nice lunch for it.

That's our primary concern on that side.

And we have, let's talk about giving more tax credits.

in order to try to limit the most abortions that we can instead of abolishing abortion when everything is set up.

I mean, I'm starting to wonder, especially with they haven't even dealt with this idea of transgender bathroom stuff with now a transgender person there, a man pretending to be a woman in the carcass and using being able to use the bathroom down there.

I'm starting to wonder, is this the Republican Party of Michelle Obama?

Like what in the world is going on?

Where is Pat Grassley taking us?

This seems straight out of the playbook of 2012 Obama and specifically Michelle Obama and the things that she was echoing.

So I got a lot of concerns about leadership down there.

Sam Jones landing a combo of a right cross and an uppercut.

Jennifer Bowen, I go to you.

Okay.

Well, I have no...

option, but to be as pointedly candid as I can be.

Leadership, quote unquote, leadership starts at the top.

And I have, unfortunately, you know, many people do know that I've been sidelined myself with this pesky little thing, with stage four TAM service since 2019.

But as I've been getting a little more clear headed these last couple of years,

I have been dismayed watching a legislature, men and women sit and wait to be told when to sit, when to stand, when to speak.

And it's coming from the top.

It's coming from the governor's office.

And that crushes me because we were so close all those years.

And I've watched our state

default into an abortion destination.

I've watched as 26,000 babies and more have been slaughtered in the womb since 2017 when Governor Branstad left for China.

I have watched as the current administration shut down churches and schools

and surgeries that were needed for my cancer treatments, but let abortions continue.

I have watched as they haven't just not supported pro-life legislation abortion bans and the like from 2019 when the first fetal heartbeat though was dead.

I have watched them

deliberately destroy abortion bans that could have saved lives.

And what I'm witnessing is a leadership at the top that is just not what we signed up for.

It's not who we thought we were putting in office.

God alone knows the heart.

I pray every day for every single lawmaker, every single person in the executive branch.

I pray to God that we in Iowa would be a beacon for life and not be known as somebody who just allows the destination of unborn babies to continue.

And I feared that when this fetal heartbeat law passed the second time and it is saving lives, praise God.

But

the most recent headline in November 2024, multiple headlines, said that this law is now decreasing abortions by 40%.

That leaves a huge amount of unborn babies that are still losing their lives.

So why are we sitting around doing nothing when we can't, you know, what's the old saying that we have heard?

go bake or go home.

If this is your last chance in the legislature, maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

Now is the time.

What is the holdout?

And I just think that every, I will just say this, I think that every Iowan of faith needs to be holding up our leaders in prayer and admonition and encouragement.

I think that the time has never been.

more pressing than now.

And I pray specifically too for the Senate leader, Jack Wood, for a good friend of mine when I was working down there.

I cannot imagine the strength of character that he has to be able to continue to fight.

I've had my own brain tumor that should have taken my life.

I thought

cancer brain, which is a thing, and I am in awe that it can function, but you also have to come to a place sometimes.

Sometimes it's much, much earlier than you ever desired, but sometimes we have to make hard decisions and recognize that maybe God has a different calling for us, and I just urge all people of faith to be praying,

because Iowa could be, we could be so much, so much better at protecting like both born and unborn.

Hartfeld commentary from Jen Bowen.

Issue four is we round the last bend to the home stretch on the horizon.

Governor's race in Iowa is Kim Reynolds on the ropes or even

K. Ode.

Kim Reynolds ruffled the feathers of President Donald Trump when she broke from traditional gubernatorial non-endorsements and endorsed Ron DeSantis prior to the Iowa caucuses, later on seemingly making some comments on social media attributed to her that were not entirely positive.

to President Trump.

Now, is she on the outs with the current regime coming back into power?

And furthermore, if there is a primary challenger, will that be someone implicitly supported by Trump and Trump's fellow travelers?

Is she in danger in her party's nomination process?

And looming on the horizon, Rob Sand, the potential Democratic nominee, releasing a report earlier this week of a phenomenal astronomical fundraising hall of 8.2 million dollars.

Will Kim Reynolds ultimately decide, as Lyndon Baines Johnson did, when Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy Sr.

were emerging in 68 to stand down knowing that he would not be able to survive the primary process, even if nominated, and certainly lose to Richard Nixon.

Jacob Hall, where are we at at the top of the ticket in Iowa?

Yeah, this the short and simple answer that is absolutely not.

I mean, she's fine For now it would take a real miracle for somebody else To even compete against her in a primary I would say if she's more vulnerable than one or the other She's gonna be more vulnerable in the general election But we have to remember she won re-election by nearly 20 points Iowa is a very red state and

For better or worse, she has...

the good graces of a lot of Republican primary voters as evidenced by her flexing her muscles in the Republican primary just a couple years ago over the education savings accounts issue.

Rob Sand can raise all that money, but guess what?

It's really easy to raise all that money when you're literally the only statewide elected Democrat to have it given to you.

When there's not a Democrat serving in the U.S.

House, there's not a Democrat serving in the U.S.

Senate.

If you want to give money to a Democrat in the state of Iowa, you literally

really have one choice where to put it.

And that's Rob sand.

So that's that's good for him.

And to be fair, he's genuine.

Like I've had some genuinely good conversations with him.

And Brad Sherman, he's a great guy, conservative guy.

But the question that we have to ask ourselves is, what do the normies do?

And are there more conservative America first voters and the base of the Republican

and the base of the Republican Party as it relates to the primary, or are there going to be more of your quote, normie voters?

Because the base remembers the COVID governor led lockdowns.

The base remembers eminent domain being allowed to be used for carbon capture pipelines.

The base remembers the endorsement of Ron DeSantis.

The base remembers all of that, but the question is, will the average Republican primary voter remember?

And if you look back to 2022, Donald Trump did endorse against Governor Brian Kemp down in Georgia, and it didn't matter.

He absolutely walloped David Perdue.

So he can do the same here, but it's going to be tough for anybody to compete with Governor Reynolds in a primary.

Jacob Hall, always with great takes.

I'm going to save Sam for last, because I'm going to put Sam on the spot.

Ask him.

to give us a half-minute prayer for the safety of our people, especially of our incoming president, this transition as America, again, transfers power peacefully under our Constitution.

Jim Bowen, what say you?

Hall comes in with some great analysis.

He's talking about the normies, assess the gubernatorial race on the horizon.

I think it's a good analysis.

I'm not entirely sure how this will play out in Iowa.

I am in full agreement that Iowans have been firmly grounded in large part with President Trump.

Did she misstep too many times and too often and too big with him?

I think that's not really in question.

And I think that his loyalty will remain

to Iowans, for sure, for the way that we've had his back all these years.

But, you know, I do think that until somebody of equal caliber, well, caliber is not really the right word, of equal strength behind her, I do think it is an uphill slog to beat her in a primary.

And as much as I am

not a Rob sand fan.

I think it would be, it could be quite reminiscent of how close she came to losing to the awful candidate that was Fred Hubbell in 2018.

She did win by a large margin 20 plus last time.

I don't know.

I guess I just, I really don't know how Iowans are going to be when it comes down to

remembering a lot of things.

Are they going to remember, you know, how diametrically opposed they are to somebody like Rob Stand and his ideology?

Or are they going to remember that this is a governor that locked down our state in a number of ways when COVID occurred and then went out a couple of years later and denied that she did that?

I don't know.

I think it'll really

remain to be seen.

What happens here in Iowa in the next couple of years, we may see something quite unexpected.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Very solid take.

Teaser for Future Show.

Rob Sand today is committed to joining this program in the next week or two.

We will have him on this program for a very serious sit down.

Sam Jones.

Final word, gubernatorial race, and you are the pastor in the room.

Can you conclude this segment with a prayer, great peaceful transition, and the safety of our incoming president?

All right.

Well, you know, John, the saying goes that there are two things that are sure in life, and that's death and taxes.

And in Iowa, it's a little bit different.

It, of course, is that Chuck Grassley doesn't lose political elections and neither does the Branstad machine.

And Kim Reynolds is the inheritor of the grandstand machine.

And so it would not be smart betting money to put the money against Kim Reynolds.

But as long as we are early here on this analysis, I would say there is a chance because there are cracks in the foundation.

And this is a different political time that we're living in.

You know, this is

This is a different kind of politics.

And so while the people of Iowa may have some short-term memory loss when it comes to voting and some of the things that Kim Reynolds does say, I think that there could be some things that happen, especially if we have a do nothing legislature again here in this session.

And if we have an endorsement from Trump against, in a primary against Kim Reynolds.

if Trump is feeling vindictive, he kind of put Kim Reynolds as, you know, enemy number one on the Republican Party there for a little bit as she was really going with Ron DeSantis.

And while I might have my disagreements with Donald Trump, this is just analysis.

That's here is that I would say there is a chance, but I would say that the Vegas money and the Vegas betting odds are still heavily leaning towards Kim Reynolds.

That's kind of where I'm at.

on that, John.

And do you want me to close out this segment of the prayer?

Did you have something that you wanted to add?

I will.

I will, Sam Jones.

And I want to thank our great round table of Jacob Hall, the Iowa standard.

Sam Jones, the conscience of Iowa and Jennifer Bowen, our pro-life matriarch.

Sam, you are the pastor, the bonapastor.

Lead us in prayer as we

move toward inaugural day, Martin Luther King Day and National Championship Football Day, a prayer for our

nation.

All right, let's pray.

Father, we do just thank you for this day and we thank you for the opportunity given us to just raise our petitions before you, Lord.

We know that you are always on your throne.

You're never away.

You're never asleep.

You're never too busy to hear our prayers.

And Father, as our nation goes through this time of transition of power, we do pray that it would be a peaceful transition of power

And Lord, we do also just pray specifically for President Donald Trump that you would protect him in this time.

We know that there have been multiple attempts on his life, unrighteously so.

And so Father, we would pray that you would put a hedge about him and would protect him during this time.

And Lord, we would pray that our nation would return to you and return to your laws.

And Father, that you would be glorified and that your name would be lifted high.

And in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you're enjoying this KXEL podcast, then we invite you to listen to KXEL's great programming in real time too.

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It's where Iowa comes to talk, News

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blowtorch, 50,000 watts clear channel, it began right here in eastern Iowa, Caxiel, Wadaluw, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Dubuque, Clinton, Quad Cities, and all the great places in the area such as Tiff and the North Liberty, Marion and Robinson, Hiawatha, and all these great places, and part of the great radio history of eastern Iowa are the people of Hames Homes.

They started broadcasting commercials on radio and television well over half a century ago.

And so we're so glad to be joined back today, this morning on this beautiful Saturday morning on 1540 AM, 100.5 FM.

And of course, this podcast preserved every week, kxl.com slash Jacobson, the Danish Viking spelling with an S-E-N.

And we're here with the matriarch of

Hames, Holmes, Barbara, Hames Bryant, Barbara's so great to be back on the radio with you again today.

Well, it's so glad, I'm so glad to be here with a Danish Viking.

I never made that connection.

Yes, some of the family have red hair.

You know, my dad was a pretty tough Marine up there in Korea.

He must have inherited some of that Danish bloodline because it's 70, 72 years ago.

He was up 73 74 in those winter campaigns up in Korea and of course your brave father and mother Key integral people in winning World War two year Your father was attached to some very important people your mother on the medical end of things and you know Barbara

It would be a very dark world where not the United States of America military preserving freedom around the globe, historically, especially fighting Nazism and fascism and communism during those years when your parents so proudly served.

Well, I'd like to do a shout out to my husband, Dan Bryant.

He served as a Marine during the Iran hostage crisis.

He was on the flight line, waiting at Heft of Tehran.

to release the hostages when the original flight broke down.

So, you know, I got one more hero in my family.

Boy, that is absolutely true.

Mr. Bryant, we do salute you for your service.

I have a special affinity for Marines, currently a nephew of the Marines, my father in the Marines.

Semper Fi, always.

to the great Mr. Bryant and Barbara, it's funny because in the university class I was teaching just yesterday on Friday afternoon.

I invoked Ronald Reagan's peace through strength philosophy that although I kept us out of war, it also kept a lot of bad guys from doing worse things.

He truly chastened Marmar Gaddafi and he put down tyrants

in Grenada, but also, it was never lost on me that after the debacle we had with Jimmy Carter's failures to get the hostages released that were about a year's worth of failures, Ronald Reagan said, you better release those hostages Ayatollah or else.

In Barbra's, the funniest thing, 15 minutes before Reagan was sworn in, the hostages were on a plane.

to the United States.

How about that, Gipper?

John, I forgot all about that.

That's so true.

You know, it's just really amazing when you speak softly and carry a big bomb once you get away with it.

Yeah.

But I gotta tell you, like Ronald Reagan, I did not like Donald Trump at first.

I thought he was just a big low-card.

I thought Reagan was gonna get us into a war, and instead, both of them are getting us out of war.

It is amazing because I thought it was noteworthy.

I commented to friends, President Trump had a presser a week ago and he said five times during that press conference, Israeli hostages better be free.

There better be an agreement before I take office.

He says or else there will be hell to pay.

He said it not one but five times.

Barbara, they've signed a release.

a ceasefire and a release of the hostages.

Pretty amazing.

History may not always repeat itself, but as Mark Twain says it often rhymes.

Mark Twain was wise on so many levels.

He was.

He really was.

Well, Barbara, your parents were wise and I just wanted to take a smidgen of time today to take a little look back in yesteryear because his current president

of the Iowa Broadcast News Association.

We are trying to bring archival footage from the early years of television and radio forever safely in a museum of sorts, even if it's a digital museum.

And of course, we have so much to be proud of Conrad Johnson at WMT Television at the time now, KGAN, putting together the watch warning system for tornadoes, skirth thunderstorms with a grand price, then at WMT.

They then legendarily went over to KWWL television after the Palm Sunday tornadoes in 1965.

They convened a national gathering in Kansas City with the National Weather Service and promulgated the watch warning system that we have today.

There were cutting-edge pioneers also in going from black and white to color television.

One of the most famous videos that you can pull down on YouTube across the country

is when they flipped the switch to Bob Bruner in his new studio at Broadcast Park in 1965 or 6 when he went live on TV from black and white to color.

Well, I remember great color television commercials of another variety that started in roughly 1970.

Barbara, let's listen in for a moment.

See if you can ID this one.

Because you want an attractive, affordable home, heavily insulated for lower heating and cooling costs.

Because you want to choose that home from the largest selection of mobile homes in Iowa.

Because you want all the help and advice and service you need from professional people you can depend on.

For all those reasons you've come...

from Neil Diamond in the background there.

Oh, John, I got two comments for that.

First of all, you need to write a book.

The amount of dates and names and TV stations in your brain is second to no one that I know.

And secondly, I love that commercial.

Even though I got teased mercilessly about it at school, I think I was in junior high school then.

And my parents

were also huge pioneers, not just in black and white color TV, but they knew that mobile homes would never be acceptable until they were respectable.

Yes.

My

parents, the first time we had a strong windstorm, and a few homes tipped over, and this was in 1974, and my dad worked tirelessly with the Iowa legislature to codify

installation laws to make sure that every dealer in every place in Iowa made sure that homes were securely fastened to the ground so that they wouldn't hit over in the strong winds.

People would never be happy with manufactured or mobile homes as they were called at the time until they were safe.

And I give my dad a lot of credit for that.

I do too.

And Barbara, think about it.

It took a chief master sergeant who hung around George S. Patton

who valued God and country and duty and honor above money, it took that type of man to pull off that kind of feat to bring that industry into total mainstream reality.

John, my parents had never owned a business.

When my dad retired from the military in 1969, they didn't know anything about the housing business.

They didn't know anything about running a business.

They didn't even know anything about Iowa.

My dad came from Missouri.

My mom's from Indiana.

But because of that, they had no preconceived notions, and no was not in their vocabulary.

They fought for everything that is fine about manufactured housing today.

The pricing, the dealers, the safety, the beauty of them, and they weren't going to back down even from other local home dealers at the time who thought that the status quo was just fine.

Well, you know, your father, the late Kurt Ames, bestowed the world like a colossus, as we say.

The man had physical gravitas.

He was in charge.

And my parents' dental practice in Marion, you know, dad would have some legislators in there, a mayor here and there, maybe Santa Claus himself, would come into that dental office.

But back in the day, even as kids,

We were in awe when Curt Haymes walked through those doors.

And for us kids of Dr. Jacobson and hygienist Joyce Jacobson, we were very proud that Curt and Norma Haymes were patients of our dental practice.

I mean, we had Lisa Bluter as a patient, but no one topped Curt Haymes and Norma Haymes.

Well, I'm glad that you were so impressed again as a teenager.

I was horrified.

You saw my dad as a hurricane coming in and changing everything.

I saw him like a bull in a china shop breaking everything.

I just wanted to shake my head every time he walked in the room.

He started introducing himself to everybody.

He was inimitable and one of a kind and he's an American classic.

If only we had more.

Everybody tries to blend in and just be

incognito today and just be a regular person.

We need more characters with character in our society and Kurt and Norma were every bit that.

Barbara, let's talk about prices, but let's set up the prices conversation with a commercial involving prices.

That was

the commercial dubbed prices from the early 70s also Barbara and they have those great.

Oh,

do you remember the gas crisis and how high all the prices came for?

fuel oil and gas fuel and oh my gosh I remember people in line for hours yes gas under a dollar gallon

the Arab oil embargo of 1973 when OPEC put an embargo on oil which haunted not just President Nixon before he was forced from office but President Gerald Ford who had to break out the wind buttons to whip inflation out because there was such a cascading out of control prices

due to the oil and energy crisis and then wage and price controls were put in and that made matters worse.

But you know what?

Hames was always there a Barbara with safe, affordable, beautiful, housing, hearth and home for families.

I cannot think of a more important vocation in United States commerce than home and hearth for a family that's safe, that's affordable, and that's beautiful.

You know, some of those folks that my dad sold homes to in the 1980s came back in the 1990s and bought new homes, bigger, for bigger families.

And they're coming back now to buy smaller homes all on one floor because they're empty nesters and they don't want stairs in the big yards and malls.

Absolutely, Barbara.

And you folks have got so many good things going on.

I would turn the attention of all of our listeners to this wonderful website.

homes.com and there are so many wonderful guides and paths on that website.

You can look up their communities such as Summit View and Grand View, the community documents, the financing application, information on insurance and of course their history and their commercials, employment and the referral.

program and the Hames Law is just a great item that's always updated and fresh they've talked about the belly underneath the home we've talked about that a little bit in two parts and there's the vapor barrier and of course you've got the lots there people can buy these wonderfully priced homes that are you got a lot of square footage Barbara talk a little bit about that the kind of homes and the kind of pricing and how they can get financing

We have a great selection of new and pre-owned manufactured homes, and our pre-owned homes are beautifully refurbished using a 96-point checklist.

We even check to make sure the doorbell worked.

Awesome.

We're very transparent.

The price on our Facebook page, gameshomes.com, is the price.

It's our best price.

And if you come and look at these homes, you can see why.

We also have financing available both from local lenders and our own income lender to co-finance.

So it's never been easier to move into a beautiful, affordable, turnkey, low maintenance, manufactured home.

And ladies and gentlemen, a lot of you, actually this broadcast goes to 14 states and two Canadian provinces.

But for those of you that are looking

for a wonderful area of the country to reside in, too.

Very safe, feted, manicured perfectly with Frisbee and Dolph and dog parks and a food pantry.

Right, just a stone's the way, figuratively speaking, from the eastern Iowa airport there in Cedar Rapids, maybe 15 minutes from the University of Iowa, 15 minutes from world-class hospitals in either direction.

Barbara, you're in the cat bird seat there, aren't you, in Southwest Sea Rapids?

Oh, we are.

I've got one more thing I want to share

with

you, John.

Oh, please, please.

You're talking about our website, Hamestones.com.

Go to our important section.

We are actually a registered apprenticeship program with the Department of Labor.

And we are looking for people to become registered apprentices in our service department.

And our service department

It's the one that does that 96-point checklist.

Yes.

Who refurbishes the homes inside and out, top to bottom, front to back.

And we're looking for someone for a two-year program who knows a little bit about hand tools, who knows long-the-job training and online training for the rest.

But if somebody out there knows someone who's, though, maybe out of high school or maybe out of junior college or maybe, you know,

Later in life, looking for a career change, I would encourage them to go to handhomes.com, flash employment, and fill out an application as a registered apprentice.

You know, I know this is a wonderful Christian business.

You follow a lot of biblical virtues, and you're feeding of the those who are less fortunate through the food pantry.

Look at this apprenticeship.

What a beautiful thing to bring in a new generation into learning.

the industry, so to speak.

And I mean, Joseph taught our Lord Jesus Christ how to be a carpenter.

You're inculcating all these great biblical values.

When people work with the hams, they're working with honest folks who play it straight.

We're saving up our treasures in heaven, John.

We're not here to gouge anybody.

We just want to provide a beautiful, safe, affordable housing.

And God will guide us on how to do that.

Well, amen, sister Barbara Hamas Bryant, a great community leader, not just in the Sea Raps Metro, but statewide throughout Iowa and the family, of course, nationwide, as they have always been cutting edge in the manufactured home community.

So, Barbara, I know we've piqued interest.

We're arcing toward spring inexorably.

I'm even seeing advertisements on CBS for the Masters.

You're the strain of guitar music and the voice of

Jim Nance, Barbara, you've alluded and I have to the beautiful website.

How else can they reach you online in person with my telephone?

Our sales office is open seven days a week at the corner of Wolfman Avenue and West Post Road Southwest in Cedar Rapids.

So that's Wolfman Avenue, West Post Road, Southwest Cedar Rapids.

We're also available by phone at our Marianne's phone number, legacy number that came with us to Cedar Rapids, 319-377-4863.

319-377-4863.

And Barbara, again, if they want to drive by, what street corners should they navigate to to see these beautiful homes in the two different communities?

Wilson Avenue and West Coast Road, Southwest.

There we are folks.

Cedar Rapids.

You betcha.

The city of five seasons, Cedar Rapids, met a young Cedar Rapidian the other night who was at the Scorer's Table of a varsity basketball game involving Ottawa University and one of our other great teams, Oklahoma Wesleyan, in the area.

and she was very proud to be from Cedar Rapids.

We commiserate, we actually talked about Hames Homes and of course we talked about Bob Brooks and all sorts of other Hawkeye related things.

We're still Hawkeyes all over the place, they're there everywhere and I know that Jan Jensen is going to get those guys back on a winning track.

It's not uncommon to have a few Kings to work out in January but we know our Hawkeyes always peak.

in March, and that's when it comes down.

And guys, Hames Hopes is going to peak in March, aesthetically, when the grass greens up, when the flowers bloom, with the landscaping.

It looks like Edward Scissor's hands has done the beautiful landscaping there.

If you drive through these communities, they're just really breathtaking in their safety, in their aesthetics.

You see the American flag, you see wonderful shrubbery.

Foilage and Barbara.

It's just a joy always to be on with you.

I hope to see you again very soon.

Oh, I hope to see everybody who's listening.

I grant you and some of you manufactured home teammates.

Go Hawks!

Go Hawks, guys!

That was Barbara, Hames Bryant, and kudos to Mr. Bryant, Semper Fi, and thank him for his service as we celebrate the peaceful transition of power.

Nothing like it.

that is found in the United States.

Peaceful transition of power.

And Barbara was interesting.

I told my statistics class that I have been through basically 20 different presidential cycles in my life.

And basically, well, I can recall 15 cycles.

I'm counting my parent cycles that they've talked to me about.

I myself have been through 14 different presidents.

And Barbara, isn't it funny?

We've got seven Democrats and seven Republicans.

And in my, let's just say, 64 years here on planet Earth, the GOP has held the White House 32 years and the Democrats have held the White House for 32 years.

There is a balance in America.

It seems like everybody always has their day.

And maybe that's why we've had such peaceful transitions.

You know, the other side always lives to fight another day, and often gets their chance.

And it's a beautiful thing the way our Constitution works, Barbara.

I love the two-party system, and I agree it works.

Well,

guys, Hame's Homes works better than ever.

Go see Barbara and go Hawks on the Jacobson Report on KXEL.

This is John Jacobson, and I want to thank

our

sponsors, Jim and Cindy Jandran, Midwest Renewable Energy, LLC.

Energy for Strong America is clean as clean as green, emanating from Eastern Nebraska.

Renewable fuels and ethanol underjirting

our farm families with revenue vectors, keeping our food supply safe, and in the hands of Midwest families, not corporate concentrationists, as well as no more money in Mid-East's carer dollars.

Midwest Renewable Energy LLC, and LifeRunners.org.

Also sponsored by Jim and Cindy Chandra.

LifeRunners.org, the LifeRunners team, they're running for life all across America.

Get to LifeRunners.org and order your t-shirt and help out LifeRunners today.

Like the lovely and gracious Deborah Jacobson, walk and run for life.

We are building a culture of life for Moom.

To Toom, we are helping expectant mothers and babies along the way.

This is John Jameson thanking my inevitable producer, the one and only Mike Shane, and giving kudos to Barbara Haines Bryant and the Gorgie team, and most especially, Pastor Sam Jones, pro-life feature, Jennifer Bowen, and the Iowa standards, Jacob Paul.

John Jacobson here.

for CATCHYL 1540 and 125.

Sadie, check out our podcast on CATCHYL.com plus Jacobson.

And until we meet again, be safe, be smart, be good, be strong.

Love Jesus Christ.

God bless us everyone and God bless America.

Bye bye.