The Next No Kings

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Trish Nelson


Official announcement from Indivisible:

For over a year, millions of us have come together to declare that America has no kings. We made our voices heard in the streets, and we made history with the three largest protests in our country’s history.

Now, it’s time to take the next step.

With our democracy at stake, we’re showing up again on October 17 to encourage unprecedented voter participation in the midterms. Previous No Kings mobilizations have already shown the strength and scale of our movement. No Kings: Vote Early is about translating that protest power into a massive wave of voter turnout.

While the regime is actively threatening to sabotage the election and undermine our freedom to vote, we know the best way to protect our rights is to exercise them. So on October 17, we’re organizing thousands of local events across the country to ensure every eligible voter has a plan to vote early, knows their options for how to vote, and is ready to help defend the results.

No Kings Vote Early. On October 17th it's time to take the next step. Register for our upcoming call to find out how to claim our power and protect our vote.

No Kings: Vote Early will look different than previous mobilizations. Some communities will still have large rallies, but with a new focus on early voting. Other events might look like block parties, cookouts, or a march to the polls.

The message and actions will also be tailored to your local context. Early voting options and starting dates vary by state, but no matter what event you’re joining and what actions make sense for your community, our goal will be the same nationwide: converting the protest power we’ve built together into a massive display of resistance at the polls. Here’s how you can get started:

1️⃣ Find an event in your area. Our map is live and we’re expecting more events than any of our previous mobilizations. If there’s not one in your area yet, check back soon, or read through the host toolkit to learn how you can organize your own event.

2️⃣ Join the mass call this Thursday, September 10 (8pm ET / 5pm PT). This call will have critical information on how this No Kings will be different from our previous mobilizations and how voting early is directly linked to protecting our elections, so we need as many folks joining as possible.

3️⃣ Chip in, if you can. Millions of participants, hundreds of moving parts, anchor events, recruitment, supplies, and thousands of local events can only come together with a lot of grassroots support. If you’re in a position to contribute to the effort, we could use your help.

Together, we’re going to build the largest early vote turnout this country has ever seen. We’re going to use our constitutional rights to defend the results from any attack that gets thrown our way. And we’re going to reclaim our right to decide our country’s future.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

No Kings: Vote Early events are nonpartisan and are designed to increase participation from all eligible voters.

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action and no civil disobedience. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.
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Watersheds And The Future Of The Mississippi River

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Mark your calendar for this educational opportunity.

Zoom Event by Iowa Izaak Walton League
Public welcome!
Register Here
The Living River: Communities, Watersheds & the Future of the Mississippi
When: Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. CT
Where: Virtual via Zoom

What does it mean to be a good river citizen?

The Mississippi River is more than a channel on a map. It is a living system connected to its watershed, its communities, its history—and the choices we make about its future.
Join us for September’s Watershed Talks with longtime conservationist and river advocate Barry W. Drazkowski. Barry will take us beyond the traditional focus on floodplain management to explore why healthy rivers require policies and practices that connect the river with the entire watershed.

We’ll explore the history and management of the Upper Mississippi, the Izaak Walton League’s connection to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, and the importance of collaboration among the League’s Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin divisions.

We’ll also look at the growing threats facing the river—from sedimentation and hydrologic change to agricultural contaminants—and what informed, engaged communities can do to help shape its future.

Because we are all connected to the Mississippi watershed, protecting healthy watershed ecosystems also means protecting the water, communities, and public health we depend on.

Come learn what it means to become a river citizen—and why our communities matter to the future of the Mississippi.

Free and open to all. Join us September 22 at 7:00 p.m. CT via Zoom.

Register Here

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Proposed Amendment To Iowa Constitution A Scam

Posted on September 7, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Iowa State Capitol

Constitutional amendment aims to protect rich taxpayers

by Peter Fisher

[Previously published as a guest opinion in the Cedar Rapids Gazette]

This is a scam alert. We’ve all learned to be wary of schemes promising to save us thousands of dollars but designed instead to drain our bank account. Well there is a new one coming on Election Day in November in the form of a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution.

The past decade of Republican rule has been a story of one tax cut after another shoveling millions in benefits to the richest Iowans while tossing pennies to the rest of us. The most recent cuts promised the average millionaire household about $23,500 in savings but gave the bottom two-thirds of tax filers an average of only about $100.

That strategy has led to huge revenue losses. Schools and other services have been forced to retrench as state funding fails to keep up with rising costs. And yet the budget is still not balanced. The annual budget deficit exceeded $1.2 billion last year and is projected to do so again this year. .

The tax-cutting binge has been financed largely by eating up our savings. From 2021 to 2024 the state accumulated large budget surpluses, thanks to federal pandemic relief, but we started devouring those surpluses, and they will soon be gone. Revenues no longer keep up with what Iowans want and need from their state.

The Legislature has chosen not to fix the budget imbalance but instead to try to lock in all those tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy. Republicans have put a constitutional amendment on the ballot requiring a supermajority to pass any law that increases individual or corporate income taxes: Two-thirds of both the House and the Senate would have to approve such a measure, making it virtually impossible to pass.

This amendment would ensure that we can’t finance public schools or health care or childcare by any measure that would make the rich pay their fair share of costs. We couldn’t restore a higher tax bracket on top incomes or enact a millionaire tax as some states have done, or close a loophole that corporations exploit. Call it “The Millionaire Protection Act.”

Future legislatures would be left with only two choices: Enact massive cuts in education and other services, or adopt a huge increase in the sales tax, making goods and services even more unaffordable in working family budgets. To cover continued revenue shortfalls the sales tax would have to rise to nearly 9 cents on the dollar including the local option portion.

Guess who pays the biggest share of their income in sales taxes? The lowest income Iowans pay about 6 percent of their income in sales and excise taxes, the top incomes only 1 or 2 percent. So don’t be fooled. A vote for this amendment is not a vote to keep your taxes down. It is a vote to preserve tax cuts for the richest and force higher taxes on the rest of us.

Peter Fisher is a retired professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Iowa where he taught state and local government finance.

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How To Tell If You Are Buying American Beef

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Trump’s Mystery Meat import program started Tuesday. This throws Trump’s mystery meat imports into a current food supply that is tainted with various forms of illness producing foods. So I thought it might be a good idea to post this video on the off chance that it might help you avoid some of the potentially tainted product from abroad.

4 minutes:

If you have been paying attention you are aware that foods from eggs to blueberries and lettuce have been felling Americans this summer. Since the DOGE cutbacks and RFK, jr. and the administration’s attitude that they really don’t care, shopping and eating this summer has been an adventure.

While this video won’t necessarily help you avoid tainted meat, it may help you support American beef ranchers by buying their meat. Also remember that the administration will not tell us where the beef is from so you are on your own. Good Luck.

Also note that the price of beef will probably not change at the store, so the biggest effect will be to screw the cattle farmers. And on a side note Costco announced they would not stock any of the imported beef. As far as I know they are the only retailer to make such a statement.

Good Luck. And I do mean Good Luck.

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Sunday Funday: It’s Election Wrecking Time Edition

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Dave Bradley

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com

This weekend was once a kind of unofficial beginning of the campaign season. Labor was once a powerful force in the US. As laborers gathered for social events and to celebrate labor, politicians would join in. Often the politicians courted workers votes and would give speeches hoping to get a large number of labor votes in the coming election.

Republicans have pretty much nullified any power that labor ever had. The campaign is pretty much a 365 day a year enterprise these day with corporate media bombarding us daily with the message from corporate HQs constantly. If you step out of line BOOM! you’re gone. As the world rolls on one of the biggest economic drivers in this country is to simply replace human labor. The huge loudly humming data centers all over are the monuments to that push.

It is sad that any worker would ever vote for a Republican. It is sad that any woman would ever vote for a Republican let alone be a candidate for that party.

It looks like the Republican strategy is disruption and confusion with an unverifiable claim of victory

A) Speaking of BOOM! you’re gone – what Fox Business personality found herself out of a job Thursday morning without warning?

B) Dolly Parton’s death was hard enough. Gloria Steinem died Wednesday. What year did Steinem start MS. Magazine?

C) The US Mint released a new $1 coin this week that featured whose likeness?

D) What country is moving some of its gold from storage in NYC to storage in London?

E) In sports, the WNBA season has been interrupted as what takes place?

F) In a totally out of touch statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed the high US energy prices are due to what country?

G) Two dead and one missing due to flash flooding in what National Park ?

H) Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Edouard inundated parts of what state last week?

I) The US hosted the G20 economic meetings last week. Who did the US invite as a surprise guest, stunning many of the other nations?

J) Trump announced a “partnership” with what other country to exploit the other country’s oil reserves?

K) A megadrought has drained the nation’s largest reservoir at Lake Mead by what percentage?

L) In a line that seems to signal huge damage to the separation of powers who said that Trump’s ball room “was likely illegal” but nothing would be done to stop construction?

M) What search engine joined Apple labeling Lake Ontario as Lake America on its maps?

N) What union leader announced he would back Republican candidates despite his union overwhelmingly backing Democrats?

O) As part of the sowing of confusion for the election what county in Texas announced it would close 92 polling places that were open in 2024?

P) Among the victims of Trump’s out of control construction was at least one cherry tree gifted to the US by Japan in what year?

Q) China and Egypt concluded an agreement where they would begin using what as a means of exchange?

R) In a resignation that shook the Trump administration who resigned as Secretary of the Army last week?

S) What year were women allowed to sign for a loan without a male cosigner?

T) In a seemingly surprising rebound, the US economy created how many jobs in August according to the BLS?

 

“Women are not a special interest group. They are half the population.” Gloria Steinem

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com

 

Answers:

A) Maria Bartiromo 

B) 1972

C) Trump’s

D) The Netherlands

E) world cup of women’s basketball (FIBA)

F) Ukraine. Bessent claimed that Ukraine’s attackacks on Russia’s refineries has caused the low worlwide refinery capacity that is causing the prices to rise

G) the Grand Canyon

H) Texas

I) Russia who had been kicked out when they in faded Ukraine

J) Venezuela

K) 70%

L) Chief Justice John Roberts. 

M) Google

N) Teamster’s leader Sean O’Brien

O) Tarrant county, Texas. the county seat is Fort Worth

P) 1912

Q) Local currencies or more specifically they would quit using dollars

R) Dan Driscoll

S) 1974

T) 162,000

 

Trump just cut down cherry trees gifted to the united states by Japan in 1912. The court said he couldn’t and he did it anyway.  He testing the people to see what he can get away with. – Adammedia1

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Thank You, Gloria Steinem!

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Dave Bradley

As part of the baby boom generation, I grew up in an environment where women were for the most part of the stay-at-home variety. Black and white Tv was a good background for the America of the 1950s. But as we all know while the top of the kettle looked smooth and serene, under that calm was a brew that would come to a boil in the 1960s.

So like so many others coming of age in the time of Viet Nam and Nixon, we were pulled in many different directions. Among leaders who emerged during that time was the young Gloria Steinem and her magazine MS.

Now this is the ravings of an old man, but what Steinem represented in the early 70s and beyond was something I cheered. Any gaining of rights by any group was something that I always cheer for.So while Gloria Steinem became the face of the women’s movement, others emerged from nowhere to push the movement along.

As the movement simply exploded, Iowa women took their places among the leadership. Three that come immediately to mind are Minnette Doderer, Jean Lloyd-Jones and Roxanne Conlin. While I knew them only peripherally, I watched their exploits and joined their campaigns when I could. I would nominate Laura Belin as a heroine of today as she holds Iowa politicians to standards on her bleedingheartland.com blog.

So I want to say thanks to Gloria Steinem and all the feminists who have done what they can to reroute America. As we all know, the current regime is doing all it can to take our country back to the last century.

Since the advent of the Trump party, I think of the women’s movement and Steinem in particular, often. I think of the women running under the Republican banner and wonder if they understand that they are running under the banner of the party that wants to take their rights away? Do they understand that their party leaders openly, actively work to end women’s voting rights?

And I wonder would an Ashley Hinson, a Miller-Meeks or especially a Brenna Bird get an approval from someone like Gloria Steinem? I most certainly doubt it.

Here is a Meet the Press from the early 1970s featuring Gloria Steinem. This is quite interesting in the presentation of what we consider pretty common ideas (28 minutes):

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Issues We Seldom See

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Dave Bradley

While our mass media hypes up things that are really diversions, many really relvant issues are ignored or given very little exposure. What issues that are exposed they are often exposed in such a superficial way by politicians that we get no clue as to what that politician’s real philosophy is.

While the media pushes story after story about transgendered individuals, the real political issues we should be talking about are things like wealth inequality, invading other countries, policies that create inflation, individual rights, voting rights and food insecurity and the like.

As we chase rabbits into rabbit holes, huge money is betting on politicians they can control to quietly get the political outcomes they want. One such issue I stumbled on earlier this week is crypto currency. We have written about it before as have many others, but the behind the scenes workings of crypto remains mysterious as does who will win if (when) crypto is legitimized. Considering the money behind crypto you can bet it won’t be you and me.

Here is a video from our friends at More Perfect Union that makes an attempt to demonstrate how corrupting crypto is and how damaging it will be. This video is 11 minutes long. It scared the hell out of me. Note that preliminary congressional action will happen September 15th. So write of call  now to let them know you are watching:

Another seldom spoken of issue is the coming Social Security insufficiency that is scheduled to arrive around 2032. That is in a little over 5 years. What that means is that the vote that we cast this year for a senate candidate this year will be in office as the Social Security issue becomes a crisis. That is of course assuming that there will be no fix until it becomes a crisis.

Keep that in the back of your mind as you go to cast your ballot this November. Do you think Josh Turek will do anything to update the Social Security system before it becomes a crisis? I do. Turek is a populist. A decent retirement is part of a populist agenda.

Do you think Ashley Hinson do anything to make Social Security stronger. Based on her votes and on her positions as a MAGA candidate, I can easily say that she will do all she can to bring about the end of SS as we know it. I could easily see her as a vote to privatize Social Security and turn the trillions of the elderly over to those who fund the Republican Party.

One thing for sure – in order to maintain Social Security taxes will most likely have to be raised on the rich. You surely won’t see Hinson do that. So if you vote for Hinson understand that your are probably voting to end Social Security.

 

Paul Krugman took a look at SS as a hostage issue a couple of months ago:

Posted in #nevertrump, 2026 election, Republican hypocrisy, Republican Policy, Social Security | Tagged | Leave a comment

Trump’s Attack On Mail-In Voting

Posted on September 4, 2026 by Trish Nelson

UPDATE:

 

“The MAGA coalition is held together by one thing –  election denialism.”  Marc Elias

“This is not a DOJ that is blessed with a lot of really good lawyers. This is a disorganized mess and a desperate move to try to salvage this latest effort by Donald Trump to make it harder for you to vote and easier for them to cheat.” – Marc Elias

Marc Elias went live today and took questions. Marc  tells the truth of what MAGA is doing while the mainstream media pretends everything is just business as usual.

“In this special live episode, Marc Elias breaks down a chaotic day in the fight over Trump’s mail voting order — a Boston hearing where the judge tore into DOJ’s case, the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, and a USPS whistleblower complaint alleging one mismatched name could get thousands of ballots rejected.”  Must view.

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Nate Willems, Ryan Peterman, Taylor Wettach Full Remarks At Steak Fry

Posted on September 3, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Polk County Democrats Steak Fry 2026 – photo credit: Iowa Capital Dispatch

Props to Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland for covering the candidates’ entire speeches. I don’t know of another news source that covers more than a snippet, if that, except for The Des Moines Register state fair soapbox speeches. So please go to the Bleeding Heartland YouTube channel and like and share candidate speeches with your network. There are also a number of shorter reels that are of interest there and worth sharing.

Nate Willems is a Democrat running for Iowa Attorney General. Currently the office is held by a MAGA Republican Brenna Bird. He is great and we need to defeat her. Every vote is going to matter in these races so please give him a listen then prepare to volunteer, donate, vote, etc., whatever you can do.  https://www.natewillems.com/

Ryan Peterman, Democrat running for Secretary of State, office currently held by Republican Paul Pate who complied with Trump DOJ’s request and handed over our voter data even though he didn’t have to by law. Brenna Bird gave him the green light.  https://petermanforiowa.com/

Taylor Wettach, Democrat running for Iowa State Auditor, Rob Sand’s current job.  Wettach left his job as a lawyer with a large DC firm when they capitulated to Trump demands and agreed to provide Trump with free legal services. A vote for Taylor Wettach is a vote for integrity.  https://wettachforiowa.com/

And finally, check out this reel showing one of many reasons why Brenna Bird must go. She made it sound like people in Iowa are voting illegally right and left in massive numbers. Then she proclaims as if we didn’t know, that it is ILLEGAL and specifically mentions when non-citizens do it it is a FELONY! A SERIOUS CRIME!

Well, of course it is, but why did Donald Trump need Iowans’ voter data?

Not that she minds convicted felons as long as their last name is Trump.  There is virtually no illegal voting happening in Iowa. Bird must have darted away before the reporter had a chance to challenge her on her string of misleading statements but as usual, Republicans are making stuff up that sounds reasonable and rational but is based on faulty premises in order to mislead. Trump is the one who lost 62 court cases where he claimed fraud and election stealing. Trump is the one who tried to overturn the election he lost and still gets Republicans to say it was stolen. Trump is the one who led supporters to an attempted violent overthrow of our government on January 6, 2020.

The Jan. 6 insurrection was a violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, aimed at stopping Congress from certifying the 2020 election results that Joe Biden won. – AI

Republicans want to keep us from knowing what they are up to by making false claims that non-citizens are rampantly voting illegally.  It’s not the case but it did happen – once.

 Only one individual has been convicted of voting illegally in Iowa as a result of recent investigations into noncitizen voting, although there have been other cases with mixed outcomes. Overall, investigations have led to a very small number of prosecutions compared to the total votes cast in elections. – AI

You probably actually remember the one conviction likely referred to above.  In 2024 a spouse of a REPUBLICAN politician in Iowa’s 4th district was convicted by a jury and sent to prison for voter fraud. Here is a link to the strange tale that I found on good old fashioned Google.  https://www.thegazette.com/iowa-gop-politician-s-wife-sent-to-prison-for-voter-fraud/.html

“Prosecutors said Taylor used the ballots to fraudulently generate votes for husband Jeremy Taylor’s unsuccessful bid in the Republican primary for a seat in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. The month after his primary loss, he successfully ran for Woodbury County Supervisor and still holds the position.

Jeremy Taylor, a former state legislator, was identified in court documents as an unindicted co-conspirator but was not charged with a crime.”  Gazette

So it seems when it comes to voter fraud Republicans are the ones with a record.

Very glad this question got asked of Bird. She didn’t answer the question posed as to why twenty court decisions supported states who refused to comply. Hoping someone is able to get a follow up in on camera in the future. Rs are practiced at evading the press. When they are forced to talk to the press, they count on their deceptive statements being the last word. Bird likely allowed the question for the purpose of getting the big lie out there.

My question would be yes, but what does what you just said have to do with Trump grabbing our voter data?

 

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Raskin And Whitehouse Rally Iowa Democrats

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Great speeches by Jamie Raskin and Sheldon Whitehouse in Des Moines at the Polk County Democrats steak fry August 29.  Credit to Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland for the coverage. Follow Bleeding Heartland YouTube channel. 

 

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