About That Voter Fraud

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Dave Bradley

 

2 minutes:

A story came out Thursday that raised a chuckle from me. As you all know, Republicans love to claim that elections are being stolen by all sorts of flim-flammery and packs of foreigners swooping in and voting for Democrats. In reality – a place few Republicans ever travel to – our elections have for decades been safe, secure and fairly free of anyone voting more than once or voting while not being eligible. The few that have recently usually get caught. The ones we usually hear about are Republicans trying to do a solid for King Donald. 

Which brings us to this story reported on https://wtfdetective.blog/republican-mayor-cant-believe-deportation-50/. Once again a Republican who must believe that laws are made to keep Democrats in line: 

“I always loved Trump, this is unfair”: Republican mayor can’t believe he’s facing deportation after 50 years in US 

Joe Ceballos — a longtime Republican and the mayor of the small Kansas town of Clearwater — is now confronting felony voter fraud charges and the possibility of being deported by the very presidential administration he supported. 

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) announced the charges just one day after Ceballos won reelection in Clearwater, a community of 2,653 residents according to the 2020 Census. The case includes three counts of voting without being qualified and three felony counts of election perjury, which Kobach said could lead to a maximum sentence of 68 months in prison along with fines that may total as much as $200,000. 

On top of the criminal case, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that it may begin deportation proceedings to send Ceballos back to Mexico — a country he has not lived in since early childhood. 

A recent profile of Ceballos, published in The Wichita Eagle by Roy Wenzl, explained that the 54-year-old did not realize that his status as a Mexican immigrant made him ineligible to vote in any U.S. election, despite having been casting ballots since 1991. Ceballos also acknowledged that he “probably” voted for Kobach and former president Donald Trump several times because he automatically selects the candidates with an “R” beside their names. 

Speaking to Wenzl about the charges, Ceballos admitted he was frightened. 

“I haven’t seen Mexico since I was four,” Ceballos said. “I don’t speak Spanish anymore. If I get deported, it would wreck my life.” 

I say make an example of him as if he were a Democrat.  

There is some followup from the NYT that i saw via a post on democraticunderground.com:

When the charges were announced a few weeks before the hearing, the municipal politics of Coldwater suddenly became national news. Many conservatives from outside Comanche County framed the case as an example of rampant voter fraud. Before the first court hearing in December, the Trump administration drew attention to the case, pledging to seek Mr. Ceballos’s deportation if he were convicted.

“This alien committed a felony by voting in American elections,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a news release that included a photo of Mr. Ceballos and of his signature on a voter registration form.

Yet inside Coldwater — home to 700 people, zero stoplights and vanishingly few Democrats — the prosecution was widely seen as a personal attack on a pillar of the town. Most of them, Mr. Ceballos included, had voted for President Trump, and some said they supported his immigration policies. But they knew Joe, a fixture in Coldwater since he was a teenager. And they wanted the government to back off.

___

“I still strongly believe in Trump’s immigration laws about, ‘Let’s get the bad guys out of here.’ You know, they’re murderers, they killed people, they molested people, let’s get them out of here,” Mr. Ceballos said in an interview. “But I feel like I don’t fit that category. And I feel like that’s how they’re treating me.” 

I also would like to point out how Trump has had no problem pardoning a wide variety of criminals including a big basket of folks who openly committed treason, yet he has no sympathy for this schmuck. Loyalty is a one way street with Donald. So if you commit crimes during the election and you think Trump will have your back, think again. 

You, nor any non-rich person means a thing to Trump or any Republican. You are cannon fodder until you get a few hundred million. 

BTW – what ever happened to that Republican in Woodbury county whose wife voted illegally for him? Looks like she was found guilty, but received a pretty light sentence. You can read up on it here 

Posted in #trumpresistance, Vote Fraud | Leave a comment

Sunday Funday: Withest Goes Andrew Mountbatten Edition

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Let’s take a look at a couple of unrelated stories that caught the public’s attention this week. First is the censored interview of Texas senate candidate James Talarico by Steven Colbert on Colbert’s show Monday. Here is the interview. It is a bit long at 15 minutes, but very interesting. See if you can figure out what it is that Talarico says that scared the current administration so much that they felt they needed to force CBS to pull the segment:

 

Alternately, let’s ponder the fate of the former Prince Andrew. While others may have thought what a bad boy Andrew was and is and it looks like he going to get what he deserves. But my head says here is a guy who has a lot to say about another guy who is ruthless and brutal. People who cross that man sometimes die, sometimes disappear but seldom speak up out of fear. See the Republican Party as an example.

So if Andrew talks like we hope he does, he may be joining the list of mysterious deaths that happen to people around Trump. Like the guy who died in a New York prison by supposed suicidal hanging at 1 o’clock in the morning when the survellence system just happened to blip out for a couple of minutes.

While you think about Andrew’s plight I will remind you that it is Black History Month and so we will try to ask some questions about great black accomplishments.

A) In a surprise ruling Friday, SCOTUS decided that the FIWH {Felon In the White House} can or can not impose tariffs by himself?
B) What administration official took a $75,000 minimum trip on our card to see the hockey games at the Winter Olympics this weekend?
C) CBS News is literally falling apart. What star of 60 Minutes refused to sign on for another season, instead staying at CNN
D) Can you name the three black Americans who have been appointed to the SCOTUS?
E) What administration department is pushing to buy a $70 M luxury jet for their leader to fly around the country in?
F) Who two men made a buddy workout video in a sauna and released it last week?
G) Which Catholic diocese agreed to a $180 M settlement in sexual abuse cases?
H) A man who seldom gets recognition for his accomplishments is Ralph Bunche. What do you know about Ralph Bunche?
I) A friend to Martin Luther King, jr. and one of the first black candidates for President, what black leader died Tuesday?
J) Who will be giving the response to the State of the Union (SOTU) address Tuesday for the Democrats?
K) A sewage spill happened in what major US river last week?
L) Who was the first black player in the NBA?
M) What Iowa Democrat dropped out of the senate primary race last week?
N) Once again Republicans in the Iowa legislature are looking to strangle Iowans’ education with unnecessary obscenity laws for what civic institutions?
O) A huge cult like banner of whom was unfurled in front of the Department of Justice Thursday?
P) What black poet was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance who wrote “Let America Be America Again” among many other poems?
Q) South Korea had an insurrection in December of 2024. What happened to the leader of that insurrection?
R) A search with cadaver dogs is going on at a ranch in New Mexico formerly owned by who?
S) What man co-founded SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) and later became a US congress member?
T) The FIWH says he may have what former President arrested because this former prez disclosed classified material when he (former prez) said there were such things as space aliens?

 

WHY IS NO ONE IN THE MEDIA ASKING WHY THE F–K JARED KUSHNER IS FUNCTIONING AS A U.S. DIPLOMAT IN RUSSIA, UKRAINE, ISRAEL AND NOW IRAN? – Jamie Bonkiewicz

Continuing the Colbert saga, Colbert discusses the Talarico video: (7.5 minutes):

 

Answers:
A) can not or at least the way he is doing it
B) Kash Patel – somebody call the FBI!
C) Anderson Cooper
D) Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, and Ketanji Brown Jackson
E) ICE – trying to buy ot for Kristy Noem
F) RfK, jr. and Kid Rock
G) New Jersey
H) Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his work on Palestine peace in the 1940s for the UN
I) Jesse Jackson
J) Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger
K) Potomac
L) While many think it was Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, it was actually Earl Lloyd (Oct. 31, 1950) for Washington
M) Nathan Sage
N) libraries
O) the FIWH
P) Langston Hughes
Q) The leader was the president at the time, Yoon Suk Yeol. He was sentenced Thursday to life in prison (take a hint America)
R) Jeffrey Epstein. However a rich MAGA bought the property and may have cleaned it up already.
S) John Lewis
T) Barack Obama. When he isn’t sleeping in meetings, Trump is nuts

 

George Conway on Donald Trump: “If this guy isn’t impeached and removed, what’s the point to the whole Constitution? You can’t have a fucking criminal running the government for his own benefit screwing the people. And that’s what we have”

 

Now to bring the Colbert/ Talarico story to a conclusion. here is America’s historian to tell us why the administration is so scared of Talarico (9.5 minutes): {note: the clear answer is unveiled starting @ 7 minutes}

 

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | Leave a comment

Myths Blowing Up All Over!

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Dave Bradley

 How do you like that massive Republican Tax Increase?? 

Paul Krugman on Trumpists attacking economist. One manifestation of the Republican myths that are blowing up all over: (6 minutes) 

From what I can find, the Trump lackeys don’t seem to be disputing the truth of the story that US consumers have been saddled with a massive increase in taxes, only that it was reported. Or maybe that it was reported so starkly. Truth in news reporting was something that used to be foundational in the US, now it is frequently attacked not for its validity but just for it being made public. 

Thus, Republicans are having a hard time hiding their tax increase that is being used to pay for the tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy while you and I see our income and savings stagnate and disappear to pay these higher taxes. Remember Republicans raise taxes on those who can least afford it to cut taxes for those who need it the least. 

From the Intellectualist:  

In calendar year 2025, U.S. customs duties — taxes on imported goods — totaled roughly $264 billion in gross collections.  

 Tariffs raise input costs and consumer prices, slowing economic activity and reducing income and payroll tax receipts. After accounting for those macroeconomic effects and expected shifts in trade and consumption, the net additional federal revenue attributable to newly imposed and expanded tariffs relative to pre-2025 policy is estimated at approximately $132 billion. 

 Allocated evenly across roughly 135 million U.S. households, that amounts to about $1,000 per household in 2025. Under the currently enacted and scheduled tariff structure — assuming no repeal or escalation — the comparable net figure rises to roughly $1,300 per household in 2026. Actual impacts vary by income level and by exposure to goods that rely heavily on imported inputs. 

 Tariffs are taxes imposed on imported goods at the border. Importers remit them to the federal government at the point of entry, but the economic burden passes through prices, wages, and profit margins across the domestic economy. 

 One of the stated goals of raising tariffs was to cause our trade to become more balanced. This is yet another facet of the Republican mantra and as we see in newly released data, yet another failure point: 

 Joemygod reports that the Commerce Department reported that the trade deficit recordered a record $1.2T deficit in 2025: 

The Washington Post reports: 

The U.S. trade deficit for goods hit a record $1.2 trillion last year, even as the Trump administration pursued a trade agenda with aggressive tariffs and a staunch “America First” approach. 

Fresh data released by the Commerce Department on Thursday morning showed the full-year total deficit combining goods and services was $901.5 billion, down a smidgen from 2024 but still one of the largest levels in decades. Exports of goods and services rose 6.2 percent to a record $3.4 trillion. Imports rose nearly 5 percent to a record $4.3 trillion. 

There’s major uncertainty for the U.S. and global economies about what comes next, in part because the Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether the majority of President Donald Trump’s tariffs are legal. But the data offered the latest snapshot of a historic overhaul of the economy and old global order. 

How about jobs, then. Wasn’t that the object of all those tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy to begin with? You remember, don’t you? Trickle down – the big guy gets tax cuts and eventually a little works its way into my paycheck. Then I spend my little bit more and collectively we buy enough stuff that it creates jobs. How is that doing? 

Well, if you remember the report that came out late last week, it is not doing so well. While the report for January showed some not losing too much ground, the report for 2025 was totally dialed back to indicate an average of 15,000 new jobs a month for the year. That was a bad week under Biden. 

And while the January report wasn’t horrible, I think we can expect to hear the term “revised downwards” when those numbers are revisited. That is if we believe we can trust numbers coming from this administration, which is iffy. 

The myths say Republicans are great for the economy. Data and reality say otherwise. But what about the stock market, you say. I say give it time and be prepared to move fast. 

Posted in #trumpresistance, Economy, Jobs | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vote For A Trump Backer?

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Dave Bradley

We were listening to the noon politics show on IPR radio on Wednesday. Not listening really close, but, you know listening with half an ear while prepping lunch. The conversation on the radio was about the upcoming Iowa US Senate seat race. Nathan Sage had just dropped out of the Democratic race leaving Joe Turek and Zach Wahls competing for chance to face off against the lone Republican candidate, Ashley Hinson.

From the radio I hear something like “Well, either one of them will have a hard time beating Hinson.” Not sure who said it and to be honest, I am not sure that is exactly what was said, but that is what I heard. I tried to find the show online, but couldn’t.

I looked at my wife and said that that was a hell of a thing to say. Lots of folks don’t like Hinson – she sure votes straight party line and usually that is against Iowa and Iowans. Didn’t she just vote to take away women’s votes?

So, we dug into it a bit. Yep, Hinson and all the other Iowa representatives were good little Republicans and voted to suppress the vote of a huge slug of Iowans when they voted for the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act. Such a high-minded sounding name for such a malicious bill. The whole object of this bill is to stop a large number of women from voting. It would be the biggest single voter suppression move ever, and that is OK with Ashley Hinson????

Zachary Oren Smith from iowastartingline.com has a great short youtube video explaining what the SAVE Act is intended to do: (2 minutes)

Since women would need to track down documents to prove they are who they say they are, the implementation of the SAVE Act would act as a poll tax – fees required to be eligible to vote – for women. That was just one anti-Iowa move from a person who wants to take one of the precious Iowa seats in the senate, yet represents her party and certainly not the state or its people.

And just to add a little kick in the ass of Iowa voters, Hinson voted to keep tariffs on products from Canada. senatemajority.com had this concise analysis of Hinson’s very cynical vote:

Today, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, U.S. Senate candidate for Iowa, voted to keep President Trump’s reckless tariffs against Canada in place, doubling down on an unpopular policy that drives up prices for Iowa farmers, manufacturers, and families. Despite months of data showing that tariffs are driving up prices and hurting local employers, Hinson sided with Trump, leaving Iowans bearing the brunt of the costs.

“Ashley Hinson had the chance to do the right thing and stand up for Iowa families. Instead, she chose to keep in place this harmful tariff agenda that’s keeping costs high and stretching people thin,” said Senate Majority PAC Press Secretary, Christyna Thompson. “This is yet another example of out-of-touch Republicans putting party lines first and families last.”

Hinson continues to defend President Trump’s tariffs, even as they force Iowa families to pay more. Despite broad opposition and reports that tariffs spike prices for Iowans, Hinson is sticking with policies that keeps costs climbing.

Therefore, when I heard the guy on the radio say Hinson would be tough to beat, I thought she is doing a hell of a job beating herself. One other thing against Hinson is her cult like loyalty to Trump as his policies and past crimes put him deeper and deeper in the hole. As the Epstein crimes are uncovered Hinson will be having a hell of a time explaining unquestioning loyalty to a man and not to our constitution.

If Hinson ever comes out of hiding I think we will be hearing lots and lots of this throughout the state: (25 seconds)

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2026 election, Republican Obstruction, Republican Policy, voter suppression | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Former GOP Operative Describes How Republicans Manipulate Voters Through Fear

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Jen Senko’s dad (The Brainwashing of My Dad)

This is an amazing podcast. Rick Wilson as you know is a former GOP strategist who has left the fold and in his words, “I’ve sort of tried to do penance  for a decade now.”

I’ve noticed what Marc Elias articulates in his first question to Rick Wilson about why former Republicans are able to speak with greater clarity about Republican behavior and psychology than Democrats can.  We should pay better attention to what they say because they know how it works.  They were on the inside.  They participated.

From Nicole Wallace who has said time and again, “Republicans count on Democrats to not fight back” to Liz Cheney who said “America will not survive another Trump presidency” to Rick Wilson who explains in this video how the Republican party creed is “win at all costs.”

In this podcast Wilson explains how they manipulate low information voters by activating fear, disrupting their ability to use reasoning and logic.  It is critically important for the survival of democracy that we are clear eyed about who they are and what they are willing to do to achieve and maintain power.

Regular Americans don’t like to think anyone is capable of evil. I believe it is part of the mainstream American culture that we don’t like to “point fingers.”  We tend to give the worst people the greatest benefit of the doubt. This is a form of denial or placating with the aim of avoiding conflict and not having to face that some of the people in power or who we have to work with on a daily basis, or neighbors or family members, are despicable human beings and need to be held accountable and no one wants to do it.

Here is a portion of the interview I think is the most important part.  I have transcribed this part verbatim to the best of my ability. If you prefer to watch the video, it takes place at the beginning. Scroll down.

Marc Elias:

Who are the commentators who are speaking the most clearly and with direct, non-hedging, language about the threat? You have almost all former Republicans. There is you, Bill Crystal, The folks at the Bulwark. It’s really noticeable the language that I hear from my friends and colleagues on the left and the democratic party, the folks that were former republicans just seem to have a more direct language that they use around this.”

Rick Wilson:

“Being able to articulate a threat like Trump is not about party, in my opinion. It’s about being willing to say I’m going to put aside my policy preferences, I’m going to put aside my biases, my desires to do things a certain way and I’m going to get to the X, I’m going to get the job done. I’m going to figure out what I have to do to win.

“In the Republican party you grow up with this. When you’re a consultant as I was for 30 years, you grow up with this sort of catch phrase. Just win, baby. And the corollary to just win, baby, is stay on message. And the old joke used to be if you have trouble understanding point 1, refer to point 2. I you have trouble understanding point 2 refer back to point 1.

“I’ve been opposed to Trump since 2015 publicly, loudly, sometimes probably too loudly, much to the detriment of my old career, my friendships, my relationships, across the board. But I also came out of that culture that created the creature that became Donald Trump.”

“Trump is different from every other republican who has ever existed. But he was an inevitability given what we did for a long time, which I’ve sort of tried to do penance for for a decade now. We activated the low propensity, low income, low intellectual or low educational achievement voter. We activated them with fear. We poked their amygdalas over and over and over and over again.”

“And so I know the creature that emerged from that laboratory and he is that creature.  I remember Marc, I was on a conversation back a few day s after January 6th with a bunch of Democratic donors and consultants and elected officials like what should we do now? And a very serious person who I respect said, “Well, we’ve got to get back on our prescription drug coverage. I did a Rick Wilson – I was like the fuck are you talking about? The capital is on fire still. There’s still broken glass on the ground. You’re going to talk about prescription drugs when the constitution was on the razor’s edge from being shredded by these guys? Are you kidding me?”

“So, I mean, I guess it’s because I know the fear that or I know that the nature of the monster is, and I know that if people don’t fear it appropriately, it will win.”

“One of the things about the Epstein files is explained by the origin story of Trump in 2016. A right wing conspiracy theory was made up out of whole cloth, completely out of whole cloth, that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, George Soros, a whole variety of Democratic elected officials, consultants, leaders, donors, were involved in a DC based but global child trafficking cannibal pedophile sex ring. And as absurd as that sounds, it was promoted very heavily by Russian disinformation, by American conspiracy theorists like Jack Bobic, Alex Jones, Mike Cernovich, all these folks that were on the fringes of reason, as a rule, and they promoted this because it had massive interest by the base. Something about it clicked with that Republican base. And even though it didn’t disappear after 2016 and she was never ‘brought to justice.’ There was never mass arrests of secret pedophiles that Q-Anon kept promising…

Marc – “…which, by the way, was supposed to be going on in the basement of a pizza place in Washington, DC..

Wilson: “correct..”

Marc – which led to a deranged man going to the place and firing a gun.

Wilson: 

“They did this in a way that wired itself into the brain of the MAGA base and it gave them permission to hate Democrats because they’re like, “oh, they’re all pedophiles. They’re all sex traffickers. They are all child molesters. And it was beaten over and over and over and over again in all these social media channels, all these alternative spaces that the right wing media and right wing political activists know exist.

“But it turns out it was projection. It turns out that the guy really involved with a guy who ran a global pedophile sex ring was Donald Trump being involved with Jeffrey Epstein. They were friends for decades. They were running buddies in the social scene in both New York and Palm Beach. And as much as they have said, “Oh Democrats are all pedophiles, it turns out that Donald Trump is a guy who has now put Ghislaine Maxwell, who was the facilitator of this ring, into a cushy club fed and DT has for months or years now covered up the vast trenches of documents that it took a congressional discharge petition to pass a law to excise from their hands. And even now they’re trying to pull back information on Epstein right this minute that was released today. Now they’re trying to pull it back again.

None of this works with this Republican base. They are psychologically broken about it. They are angry. They feel betrayed. And I think one of the things Mark, that they also feel is the ring of truth. They knew DT was a degenerate. They knew DT was a bad guy, a liar, an adulterer, a con man. But they thought, well, he hates the people I hate so it’s ok. So I have found this to be an absolutely fascinating issue to watch him squirm on it and watch his base. And they’ve kind of given up contorting themselves on it because it’s unspinnable. There’s not enough mayonnaise in the world to turn it into chicken salad.”

“They are stuck with this story forever.”

“The attraction that remains now for the base is a very narrow slice of the culture war aspect of the GOP. It’s the owning the libs guys. It’s the media is evil and I’m going to help Trump own the libs. I’m going to hurt the people that I think look down on me. And you know that is a fairly narrow and sort of small number of folks. But if you’re a working class person who thought Trump was going to bring you economic prosperity, you were wrong. If you’re an evangelical who thinks he shares your Christian values, you’re wrong.

The base has shrunk by about a third and it used to be about 40% of Americans and now it’s in the low 30s high 20s who are like the Trump hotties I call them. He’s broken faith with them as he would inevitably break faith with everybody. He’s a guy who has never kept in his life a business deal, a marriage vow, a promise of almost any kind that wasn’t about himself.

So I don’t have a lot of pity for them, they’ve made their bed with Trump and he’s as horrible a person as can be imagined. But they have to own it now. This is what they chose. This is the world they elected to live in.

ELECTION/MID-TERM

“we should expect absolute lawlessness.”

MEDIA

A lot of those shows have both-sided themselves into irrelevance. That is a really poisonous kind of situation for media because if you’re trying to pretend both sides are the same in a world where one side wants to burn American democracy to the ground and one side wants to pass policy proposals you’re not dealing with the actual comparable political parties.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Jesse Jackson: My Reverend, My Brother

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Photo: iowacapitaldispatch.com


Contributed by Molly Regan

Greg Palast a well known activist and author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and other books shares photos and memories about Rev. Jesse Jackson who died Feruary 17, 2026.

Jesse Jackson: My Reverend, My Brother

by Greg Palast February 17, 2026

For 50 years, we fought side-by-side and sometimes fought face-to-face. He’s the only man, other than my dad, I’ve ever kissed, a year ago. When I kissed him goodbye he was holding our Vigilantes film poster in his wheelchair.

Above: Jesse Jackson, Bernie Sanders, and Greg Palast backstage at the Rainbow PUSH Convention in Chicago in July 2017. Photo: N Powers.

We aren’t fools. Advances have been no less than breathtaking, revolutionary. But, dammit, here we were, 58 years on, and from Georgia to Florida to Wisconsin, the vote suppression trickery was, and is, getting uglier and uglier and, unfortunately, more sophisticated. The Georgia legislature voted to eliminate nearly every single ballot drop box in the state — knowing full well that this is the principal method Black voters use to cast ballots to avoid the hours-long voting lines that have been forced on them in Atlanta.

And so, today, we honored those who fought and died, and honor those who will have to fight and die, by releasing this special Rainbow/PUSH edition of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, introduced by Reverend Jackson, without charge.

In 1965 Martin Luther King crossed the bridge and continued 50 miles to Montgomery. Along the way, four voting rights advocates would be murdered, two Black, two White — their goal of integration achieved in death. By time King arrived in Montgomery, the President of the United States introduced the Voting Rights Act.

The film Best Democracy ends as I cross the Bridge with Hank Sanders. Senator Sanders. He represented Selma in the state legislature — decades after he marched to Montgomery. Decades after he was denied the right to vote. The Senator had demanded I cross the bridge with him — so I would not forget to cross it morally, emotionally and politically year after year. Because the vote suppressors are also on the march. But they’ve learned new tricks. They’ve traded their white sheets for spreadsheets, culling the voter rolls of people of color.

In Selma, I met with Lynda Blackmon Lowery, 14 years old when she crossed the Bridge with Dr. King. This little girl was beaten so severely, they actually laid her in a hearse to take her lifeless body to the morgue. But then, suddenly, she sat up, and before the other shocked marchers could stop her, Lynda ran back onto the bridge, into the tear gas.

There are giants who walk this Earth. And we must walk behind them. And never stop.

Aleha Hashalom, Reverend.

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

Iowa: Success Story and Successful Battleground

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Trish Nelson

photo credit: rollcall.com

You won’t want to miss Simon Rosenberg’s most recent interview with IDP Chair Rita Hart. Here is a link to Simon’s previous August 2025 interview with Chair Hart.

Follow Simon Rosenberg/Hopium Chronicles on Substack and other social media outlets. Be a paid subscriber to help support the work.


Posted on YouTube February 17, 2026:

“Excited to share a new interview with Rita Hart, the hardworking Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. Our interview kicks off a series of check ins we’ll be doing with the candidates and state parties which our community at Hopium Chronicles is supporting this year. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com

In this new discussion the Chair gives us an update on a state where we have real opportunities in competitive races – the incumbent Republican Governor, Kim Reynolds is the most unpopular in the country; Trump’s tariffs and mass deportation policies are doing enormous damage to Iowa’s farm economy; polling shows that both the Gubernatorial and Senate races are competitive in a +13 Trump state; 3 of the DCCC’s 44 targeted “districts in play” – districts we are working to flip – are in Iowa (IA-1, IA-2, IA-3).

What should make all of us optimistic about our opportunity in Iowa this year is their remarkable performances in six state legislative special elections so far. In these six specials our candidates over-performed 2024 by an average of 22 points, winning four races, flipping two state Senate seats to end the GOP super majority, and electing the first Latina to the state House and Black woman to the State Senate. It’s arguably the best performance of any state party in the country over the past year in state legislative special elections.

Iowa is one of those states we must target to have a shot at flipping the Senate this year. If we hold on to GA (Ossoff), MI, MN, and NH we start at 47 Senate seats. If we flip ME and NC (Cooper) we get to 49. To get to 51 we will need to win 2 of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Texas. Between our community’s Audacious Expansion Fund and our Senate endorsements Hopium is currently raising and supporting Democratic efforts in all 7 of these expansion states – Alaska, Iowa, Florida, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/

So friends, watch this wonderful interview with a terrific leader of a state party in one of most important battleground states this cycle, and learn how this money we are raising for the state parties is being put to use. Keep working hard everyone and thanks for all that you do for your country, each and every day.

– Simon

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

Help Iowa Survive Our Final GOP Trifecta Controlled Legislative Session

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Action Alert From Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) –

This Thursday – Feb. 19: Our water, our health rally & lobby day

During the 2026 legislative session it’s our job to keep the Cancer Gag Act dead and to push for common sense policies – like restoring funding for water quality monitoring and increasing funding to map our aquifers.

On February 19 from 1 – 4pm we’ll be joining with our allies at Food & Water Watch and Progress Iowa for a lobby day to tell our legislators it’s time to take meaningful action to protect our water and crack down on big ag polluters. RSVP to join us here.

Feb. 23: Public School Strong orientation

10 school boards have passed our resolution calling on the Governor and state legislature to fully fund public schools at a 5% increase in state supplemental aid (SSA) and a phase out of the private school vouchers. Will your district be next?

Full funding for public schools starts at the school board level and we invite you to join other Iowans to our next Public School Strong orientation on Feb. 23 at 7 pm on zoom (register here).

At this meeting folks will learn more about what’s behind the attacks on public education, the purpose and goals of Public School Strong, and receive a free PSS t-shirt!

Feb. 24: How taxpayers are propping up the factory farm industry & corporate ag

RSVP here to join us for the Farm & Environment Monthly organizing call on Feb. 24 from 6 – 7:30 PM. At this meeting we will:

  • Dig in on how our public dollars are being used to prop up the factory farm and industrial ag model.
  • Get updates on what’s happened at the statehouse related to the Cancer Gag Act, the CO2 pipeline, water quality, and more.
  • Find ways to take action to protect our water and health.

Mark your calendar for Feb. 24 at 6 PM and RSVP here to get the information to join the call.

Feb. 26: Clean water meeting w/ Prof. Rosburg

CCI is hosting our second clean water meeting with Drake professor Tom Rosburg on Thursday, Feb. 26 from 6-7:30PM in Grinnell. Tom is an Ecology and Botany Professor and long time prairie warrior fighting for Iowa’s most vulnerable ecosystems.

Join us to hear more about the state of Iowa’s water, how it effects our local ecosystems and our health, and the positive impacts of prairie systems on our water. Learn about native ecosystems, leave with native prairie seeds! RSVP to join us here.

Take action for a Farm Bill that puts our health and independent producers before corporate $

The US House Agriculture Committee is anticipated to debate and amend the House version of what’s left of the Farm Bill early next week! Both Representatives Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn sit on the committee.

Send them an email today and ask them to do two things:

Oppose any version of the Cancer Gag Act or the EATS Act!
Support the New Producer Economic Security Program and Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling!

You can find talking points for these issues and emails to contact Feenstra and Nunn here!

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Meet Leila Staton Candidate for House District 54

Posted on February 16, 2026 by Trish Nelson


Leila Staton is a Democrat running competitively for Iowa House District 54. The seat is currently held by Republican Joshua Meggers. Find our more about Leila at LeilaforIowa.com.  Follow Leila for Iowa on Facebook

“The most impactful decisions are made at the state legislature. They affect you way more than the federal government.”

“I’m 100% authentic. I don’t think it’s worth it to sacrifice parts of yourself while running for office.”

– Leila Staton

Follow Insufferable Wenches of Iowa YouTube channel for more statehouse candidate interviews. “Insufferable Wenches is a progressive volunteer organization dedicated to civics education & engagement, mutual aid, advocacy, and all things political.”

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

Sunday Funday: Black History Month

Posted on February 15, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Marcy Wheeler takes a peek behind the ICE masks. Maybe there is another reason why Trump cult followers want to keep the masks on – 7 minutes:

 

What a year last week was. But i think we are starting to see the Trump administration getting more and more desperate. I believe soon, the message that those acting illegally in Trump’s name (say Pam Bondi for instance)  will someday have to defend their illegal actions in court. If we are the real democracy we say we are, that day may be coming soon.

Monday is President’s Day. Ironic that we should have the worst, most corrupt, racist and felonious ever sitting in the chair at this time. Take some time to ponder what an absolutely insane person is now president and how he got there.  But it is also Black History Month so we will focus some questions on Black contributions to American society.

It will be hard to hold the questions from last week to a manageable amount. Remember the FIWH is the Felon In the White House. Shall we begin?

A) Let’s kick off here in Iowa where the legislature is considering a proposal to prepare an offer to bring what pro sports team to Iowa?
B) Perhaps the most famous black American inventor, what inventor still has a building named after him at Iowa State where he was the first black student and faculty member?
C) “How can you talk about pedophiles when the Dow is at $50,000?” is a paraphrase of an answer from what administration official in a House committee hearing last week?
D) In yet another ironic moment last week the FIWH’s Religious Liberty Commission was sued on what grounds last week?
E) Dorothy Johnson Vaughn is a scientist whose name many may recognize from a movie chronicling her career as a what for NASA?
F) Once again the Iowa senate shows its ignorance as it passes only a 1.75% funding increase for what critical function of government?
G) What?? Did the FIWH claim China would end in Canada because of the new accords between China and Canada?
H) This is not Pam Bondi’s first go round at keeping information on Jeffrey Epstein hidden. She also did so at the state level as attorney general of what state?
I) Mae C. Jemison is a name many will recognize immediately for her exploits as a what?
J) The FIWH did a big favor for what big donor Monday when he stepped in Monday and said he would personally block the Gordy Howe bridge between the US and Canada from opening?
K) Also on the blocking front, the FIWH said the EPA would revoke what rules that underpinned environmental rules?
L) Mark Dean made a major contribution to modern technology at IBM when he developed the system that allowed computers to communicate with what?
M) It’s down. it’s up. It’s — still up I think. A rainbow flag was removed early this week the replaced later in the week at what national monument?
N) Breezy Johnson won America’s first gold at the Winter Olympics last week. Then what happened to the medal she won?
O) Lots of tense confusion at what major airport this week as communication snafus led to the airport to be closed for 10 days, then reopened a couple of hours later?
P) Dr. Charles Richard Drew is a name you have probably heard, especially if you give blood. Dr. Drew invented what?
Q) As many economic indicators show a US economy going into the tank, what indicator revealed last week showed an unusual large jump ahead?
R) In a move that seems out of step for this administration, Dr. Mehmet Oz urged Americans to get vaccinated for what current spreading disease?
S) What auto company reported a loss of $11.1 B in the fourth quarter of 2025, it’s worst performance since the Great Republican Recession?

T)  But will they do it? Claiming victory, what administration official announced that ICE thugs would be removed from Minnesota?

One thing Pam Bondi has made clear throughout this hearing: her client is Donald Trump, not the American people. – Joyce Alene

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

 
Answers:
 
A) The Chicago Bears – please laugh – I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I heard that.
 
B) George Washington Carver
 
C) Pam Bondi
 
D) Because it lacked the requisite diversity
 
E) mathemetician as chronicled in “Hidden Figures”
 
F) school funding. Remember also that a good chunk of that money will pay for private schools;s for the wealthy
 
G) the National Hockey League – this guy ain’t right in the head
 
H) Florida
 
I) astronaut
 
J) Manuel Moroun who had a meeting with administration officials just days before Trump’s announcement
 
K) environmental findings rules
 
L) printers and other peripherals
 
M) Stonewall National Monument
 
N) It slipped off its ribbon and broke into pieces when it hit the ground
 
O) El Paso – lots of incompetence on display here
 
P) Metods to store and transport blood products
 
Q) Monthly job gains for January. While those numbers were high, the yearly job numbers were revised greatly downward
 
R) Measles – 
 
S) Ford
 
T) Tom Homan – I will believe it when I see it
 
Melanie Stansbury of NM comments on viewing the (Trump)-Epstein Files – 5 minutes:
 
Admin Officials in the Epstein Files:
 
Donald J. Trump (President) 
Melania Trump (1st Lady)
Howard Lutnick (Sec. Commerce) 
John Phelan (Sec. Navy)
Paolo Zampolli (Kennedy Center)
RFK Jr. (Sec. HHS) 
Kevin Warsh (Fed Nominee)
Mehmet Oz (Admin. for CMS)
Elon Musk (Fmr DOGE Appointee)
Steve Bannon (Fmr Senior Advisor)
Alex Acosta (Fmr Sec. Labor)
Bill Barr (Fmr AG)
Brett Ratner (Film Director “Melania”) – Rep. Melanie Stansbury D-NM
Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | 1 Comment