Did You Know You Were Being Followed?

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Dave Bradley

I sure didn’t until I accidentally saw this video the other day. I had heard of flock cameras for the first time only a week or two ago. With all the crimes that Trump and his minions have been committing in broad daylight my attention has been diverted from what should be local issues. But things such as flock cameras are no longer local. A system with this much data would never stay local for long anyway.

(7:30) Very interesting short video. A man is harassed locally for his speaking out in town meetings:

Do you remember the Texas woman whose license plate data was used to track her after she had an abortion in Ohio? While the actual incident happened about a year ago, the story just gained traction in the last few weeks. According to the AI response to a Google search:

In 2025, a Texas sheriff’s office used Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras to track a woman who had a self-managed abortion. Law enforcement queried over 83,000 nationwide cameras—including in states where abortion is legal—using a search log that explicitly referenced the abortion. This event sparked intense national backlash and privacy concerns.

Here is a followup from the (Ohio) State News Bureau 

Texas officials used data from thousands of Flock cameras nationwide to track a woman in 2025, according to a report from 404 Media. Almost all abortions are banned in Texas. A sheriff said the woman’s family was concerned for her health and safety after a self-administered abortion. But pro-choice activists are worried.

“The concern is a person who is leaving a state where abortion is illegal and coming to Columbus to get the abortion care they deserve should not be followed into our city by this dragnet surveillance system that we have,” said Jaime Miracle, deputy director of Abortion Forward.

I don’t think I need to illustrate this much more. The flock cameras are indeed an extremely powerful tool that in the wrong hands could greatly invade a citizens life. Such tracking devices could easily be turned into weapons of surveillance against individuals or groups who are seen by those in power as people who must be tracked.

With ICE currently out of control who would want them with such a tool? What groups would they surveil? Blacks? Brown? Muslim for sure? Anyone seen with a “suspect?” The depths they could go to with such a weapon is scary. The threats to our (and I mean everyone’s) civil rights are pretty blatant.

Maybe a local police chief wants to track all his teenage daughter’s travels? Watch her boyfriends? Oh the damage some folks could do with such a tool is mind bending.

According to a quick Google AI search Iowa has some 39 municipalities with flock cameras. It did not give the number of total cameras. Here is a map from IPR:
 

And here is a 3 minute report from KCCI tv as Story County delves into their flock system:

Posted in #nevertrump | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hidden Health Care Plans From Republicans

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Dave Bradley
(2:20)

No matter what the proposal on health care coming from the Trump administration you can bet it will have certain characteristics. First it will make health care less accessible for the patient. Second it will increase the out-of-pocket for the patient to the point where even one incident will break the patient.

And on the other side of the ledger, there will be an insurance company whose payouts will decrease, their exposure will be lessened and their ways to use the system to deny claims will be greatly enhanced. The Trump administration has been proposing in very misleading messages that make such plans seem viable when they are really not. They are generally referred to as “junk plans” throughout the industry.

As the subsidies for Obamacare are set to go away after the election and Medicaid is being taken from millions across the country, the Trump administration has no replacement but junk. With the midterm elections just around the corner, the fact that the USA has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world should be a front burner issue. It is something that in former days people would be raging about.

Here is Politics Girl explaining how a situation that may have bankrupted her in the US caused barely a ripple in the country she was visiting: (1:30)

While the extreme right has spent the campaign deflecting from the real issues with name calling and outrageous racism voters are looking at their pocketbooks and seeing them drained as never before. And the only solutions the extreme right offers is more money for more oligarchs. Voters know that a real threat of turning out officeholders who ignore their needs is the power they need to exercise.

In Iowa, our congressional delegation has been down the line with Trump and his extremist agenda. They talk about the one bill they passed in this congress that gave a few crumbs to the likes of you and me while giving huge tax cuts to the rich and taking away programs for the poor that in many cases are their lifeline. SNAP, Medicaid and subsidies for Obamacare.

Democrats will stand up for the likes of you and me. Their first concern will not be how to monetize our suffering for themselves or their buddies. No, Democrats first concern is to fix the problem. Republicans have acted almost as an enemy combatant in the past 40 years.

Our constitution says we are the power in this government. Now is the time to step up and use that power for our good, not the good of the wealthy.

Here is a short video with candidate for US Senate Josh Turek discussing his health care proposals. Remember the earlier video where Politics Girl had an emergency in a foreign country and it was fixed? With leaders like Josh Turek, America could do that also!

(2:33)

 

You gotta love this guy and you gotta love his health care stand. One thing is sure, Hinson cares more about some oligarchs pocketbook than your health.

Posted in #nevertrump, 2026 election, Health Care & Medicare | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Real Conversations On The Ground In Iowa

Posted on August 14, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Iowa HD-07 – Pocahontas, Sac, Calhoun, Webster counties

“We need someone who will speak up and use that privilege for the greater good.” – Rachel Burns

Interview with Rachel Burns, Democratic candidate for Iowa House of Representatives District 7, northwest Iowa. Counties in HD 07 – Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac, Webster (western part).  facebook.com/RachelBurnsForIowa/

Donate –  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/burnsforiowa

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Full Video: Rob Sand Town Hall In Ottumwa

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Props to Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland for providing the public service of recording full videos of Rob Sand’s town halls.  Follow her YouTube channel here. Please share it on social media to help reach more voters.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Zach Wahls Launches Build The Barn PAC

Posted on August 12, 2026 by Trish Nelson


Zach Wahls Substack
Aug 10, 2026

Build the Barn PAC | Building a Better Future

What’s Next: Build the Barn PAC, supporting next-gen leaders in Iowa and across the country. There’s a lot of work to do — join us at www.buildthebarnpac.com

Introducing: Build the Barn PAC

Today, I am launching Build the Barn PAC, which will continue the work we began together in my Senate campaign.

“Build the Barn” was the unofficial motto of my U.S. Senate campaign, a tribute to the classic line often attributed to Sam Rayburn: “Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.”

Like the campaign, our PAC will not accept or solicit a single dollar from corporate PACs, and every dollar we raise will be fully and transparently disclosed. I’m not interested in building the thing I spent a year running against.

We will formally launch this new endeavor at my eighth annual birthday brunch fundraiser on Sunday, August 16 at 11:00 AM in Coralville — you are invited to join us if you can be there in person — and if you cannot be there in person, you can support the effort online by donating securely online via ActBlue by clicking on this link or via the button below:

Our first endorsement: Rep. Josh Turek

Josh won our primary, he can win this seat, and I was proud to give him my full support on the night of our primary election — and today, he is the first candidate we are endorsing and whose campaign we are supporting.

As I said on the night of our primary election, Josh and I competed hard against each other, as we should. We had real disagreements. Scripture tells us that iron sharpens iron — and while our primary made us both sharper, it didn’t make us colder. We got to know each other, even as we competed with each other. Josh is a good man. And he will be an infinitely better U.S. Senator than Ashley Hinson.

Between now and November 3, he needs doors knocked in places that are a long drive from wherever you live, and he needs money. So does Rob Sand, and so do the U.S. House candidates who can flip that chamber and put a check on the corruption and chaos in Washington.

That’s the work of the next eighty-five days, and if you’ve been looking for the right time to get involved, today is the day.

Click here to read more on Zach’s Substack

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Now Is The Time To Cool The Earth

Posted on August 11, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“Roughly 90% of new electric generation around the world last year came from the sun and the wind. And that in turn is because earlier this decade we crossed some invisible line where it became cheaper to produce power from the sun than from burning coal and gas and oil. Let me repeat, we live on a planet where the cheapest way to make power is to point a sheet of glass at the sun.

We have quite suddenly the opportunity to build a clean abundant future if we simply seize it.. This gift has come at the last possible moment. It would be an extraordinary sin to waste it and it would be a beautiful, beautiful project for humans to build it out across our hot and tired earth in the next few years.” – Bill McKibben

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Brett Mohler For Iowa HD26 Running On Right To Repair

Posted on August 10, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Iowa HD 26- Davis, Monroe, Appanoose, Wapello counties

Insufferable Wenches of Iowa have done a ton of these statehouse candidate interviews.  Please share on your social media platforms to get the word out about our great Democratic candidates.  And be sure and visit the Wenches’ YouTube channel for more candidate interviews. Follow the Wenches on Facebook

Brett Mohler is an engineer running against a Republican in HD26, a district that voted 72% for Trump last election.

Follow Brett Mohler on Facebook

Check out his campaign website at https://mohlerforiowa.com/  if you would like to volunteer for the campaign or make a donation.

 

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sunday Funday: It Is Fair Week Edition

Posted on August 9, 2026 by Dave Bradley

21 minutes: Christina Bohannan at the Soapbox 2024

 

It is that time in the yearly cycle for the Iowa State Fair! One of the most recognized fairs in the world, the Iowa State Fair even had a starring role in the movie State Fair in 1945. The fair starts Thursday August 13 and runs through Sunday August 23. So far it looks like the weather will be moderate with temps in the upper 70s / low 80s during the day.

One of the true highlights of the Iowa State Fair is the Soapbox sponsored by the Des Moines Register. Speakers are given 20 minutes to speak an hopefully for the crowd to listen. Here is a link to the CR Gazette with a list of the times and speakers at the Soapbox. 

Note that Naig, Bird and Hinson will only be given 10 minutes. No explanation. I will guess they want to get on and off the stage as quickly as possible to avoid any questions, such as air and water quality, the gutting of medicaid and SNAP or Iowa’s involvement in trying to supress votes.

 

Lets go – this weeks background music will be state fairs:

 

A) Once again Donald Trump oversees job disasters in the US. What were the hiring numbers for July in the US?

 

B) With July numbers setting the tone, May and June employment numbers were also revised. Do you know how much these employment numbers were revised?

 

C) Meanwhile, how did our neighbors to the north (Canada) do with their job numbers last month?

 

D) The Iowa State fair averages about how many visitors per year for its 11 day run?

 

E) On to other subjects. Trump seemed to be surprised to find out that America’s inventory of what was running low due to the Iran War?

 

F)  It was revealed this week that Capitol One shut down hundreds of bank accounts of Donald Trump in 2021 based on evidence of what?

 

G) Iowa joined the growing group of states that have been officially touched by what food borne disease?

 

H)  Space still continues to blow our minds. Last week the size of the largest known galaxy was released. Any idea how big that galaxy is?

 

I) Texas is usually the largest attended state fair. It takes place over 24 days in October. What is the second most attended fair? It is in a midwestern state.

 

J) The normal deployment for a navy ship is @ 2 months. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for how long with only a brief port stop at Guam?

 

K) In Michigan the Democratic Party selected who as their candidate to run for US senator in a race that was extremely close?

 

L) Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island called who “the most reprehensible candidate ever for Attorney General”?

 

M) Senator Rand Paul sought and got a recommendation from his investigating committee to pursue a charge of Contempt of Congress against whom?

 

N) Thanks to a law, what can not take place in Iowa until the end of the fair?

 

O) David Hearn – what happened to him this week?

 

P) What current US congressman had a Contempt of Congress citation that he ignored for years?

 

Q) A new mRna vaccine has been approved by the FDA for what disease?

 

R) Who debuted a new wig at an appearance in Las Vegas last week?

 

S) In Ohio is Max Miller in or out of the race for his congressional seat?

 

T) How long has the Iowa State Fair been in Des Moines?

Hey, before you go to the Fair, check out the list of new foods. That way you can be ready to treat your tummy to some real delights!
 

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com
Note: The BBC demanded Trump financial records and Trump dropped the lawsuit Thursday

Answers:

A) We lost 23,000 jobs. Expect that to be revised downward in coming months

 

B) May was revised down by 60,000 and June revised downward by 40,000

 

C) Canada grew by 75,000 jobs – huge considering their size

 

D) 1.1 million

 

E) Offensive weapons.

 

F) money laundering. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is working on this

 

G) officially now we have cyclosporiasis

 

H) 1.7 million light years across (a light year is about 6 Trillion miles)

 

I) Minnesota which usually has more than 2 million in attendance

 

J) 260 days or just short of 9 months. They are having really serious problems and shortages

 

K) Abdul El-Sayed

 

L) Todd Blanche

 

M) Doctor Anthony Fauci (I believe Joni for the contempt citation)

 

N) the opening of the school year

 

O) The case against him for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool was thrown out of court due to lack of evidence

 

P) Jim Jordan

 

Q) the flu

 

R) the ultra vain Donald Trump

 

S) As I write he is still in the race, but sinking like a rock

 

T) It has been in Des Moines since 1878 and at the fairgrounds since 1886

Why is it not front page news on every major media outlet that the United States commander in chief had hundreds of his bank accounts frozen for money laundering?????? – jenni

Sen. Jeff Merkley: “Authoritarianism isn’t down the street or around the corner — it is here right now”

 

Abdul El-Sayed: “ICE is not very old, it’s 15 years younger than I am. It was a bad experiment, it’s been weaponized to do the worst things and I think we need to abolish it and start from scratch perhaps going back to something like the INS which for a very long time very capably enforced immigration policy without shooting Americans and violating our civil liberties”

 
Trump’s vanity do
Posted in #nevertrump, 2026 election, Humor | Leave a comment

Hoover Days: A Time To Reflect On America

Posted on August 8, 2026 by Dave Bradley

3 minutes:

 

Every year West Branch, Iowa throws a birthday bash for their hometown boy who made it big. This will be the 152nd birth anniversary for Herbert Clark Hoover who was born in the litttle town on August 10th of 1874. The party started last night and continues today.

It is always a good party with the hook of nostalgia like few small town fests can offer. This year they are reopening the renovated Hoover Library. And it is the home of the National Hoover Ball Championship! Where else can offer these enticements?

As most everything does these days thinking of Hoover Days turned my thoughts to politics. While Herbert Hoover himself has been mostly described as a good person, his presidency has been considered a disaster by all but a few. Hoover was in charge when one of the worst economic disasters happened and Hoover did little to stop the pain.

As the nation sunk deeper and deeper into the (as it was then called) Great Republican Depression Hoover was held back by a politicaal philosophy that told him that the government should NOT be involved in digging the country out of the hole it was in. So nearly four full years passed before someone who would involve the national government in the national recovery.

 

The light flashed in my brain. As I have heard many times before Democrats have to clean up the messes left by Republicans. We are often reminded of the mess left by the likes of Herbert Hoover and his predecessors Calvin Coolidge through piles of literature, art and especially movies that captured the before and the after of the Great Republican Depression.

The depression did not just fall out of the sky on October 28th of 1929. There were lots of warning signs that politicians and economists chose to ignore. One of the brightest was the income gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us. Concentration of wealth is one of many flashing lights that we share today with our ancestors from the 1920s.

 

What I realized is that it seems like once things get so broken that the economy itself won’t run, then Americans call on the Democrats to dig them out. As we all know Franklin Roosevelt stepped into one hell of a mess left by Hoover. But since that time there has been a pattern of Republican crashing the economy, then in seeming desperation, Americans turning to Democrats to fix things.

We have seen Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon to a degree but more so Reagan, Bush I and especially Bush II and the first Trump regime absolutely wreck the economies. They were all followed by Democrats who spent the major part ogf their time in office fixing what the Republicans broke AND setting up a good, stable and very productive economy for their successors.

Then for some reason America hands the low inflation good job economy back to Republicans who immediately cut taxes for their wealthy friends and do what they can to screw over the average citizen.Here is a Robert Reich video that gives a good picture of how this worked 6+ years ago. (6 minutes):

 

As I said this video is 6 years old. To fill in the gap since then, Trump left an economy that was on the brink of collapsing under the weight of a world wide pandemic called Covid. Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic left the country in a shambles.

Joe Biden followed Trump and calmed the seas, ended the most serious parts of the pandemic through vaccinations, got the economy opened again and got pandemic induced inflation under control. Most observers rated the US economy under Biden as the strongest in the world at that time.

Here we are only 18 months into the second round of Trump and the ship is headed for the iceberg again. Huge tax cuts for the wealthy coupled with huge cuts in programs for the poor have moved the wealth gap to its largest separation ever. Inflation is rising and as if to insult us even further, Trump is destroying our landmarks such as the White House and Kennedy Center.

We can do something about this, now. That is to get behind Ddemocrats in the next election to make sure the Repiublicans are in the minority both in DC but also in Des Moines.

Posted in #nevertrump, Economy, Republican mythology, Republican Policy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

IDP Chair Rita Hart/Sage Against The Machine

Posted on August 7, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Iowa democratic chair Rita Hart speaks during the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Dinner at Iowa Event Center in Des Moines Nov. 9, 2025. Credit: Bryon Houlgrave-The Des Moines Register


Nathan Sage and Robert Leonard talk with with IDP chair Rita Hart on the Sage Against The Machine podcast.

Transcript

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment