Content Warning: Non-consensual sexual content or sexual assault
Saturday in Iowa City during the Iowa-UNI football game, we visited the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Bookmobile which was parked downtown. It was powerful and disturbing as one can imagine. We all have experienced the #epstein files story primarily through the corporate media, and that is a vastly different experience than interacting with the reality of it in person in your town. I plan to have more to say about it in another post.
Tuesday, September 22, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Nobody’s Girl: A Reading with Sky and Amanda Roberts A reading from Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl, with her brother, Sky Roberts, and sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts.
Reserve your seat (42 seats left as of now): https://trumpepsteinreadingroom.com/desmoines/program
The Bookmobile associated with the reading room was in Cedar Rapids on Sunday. It will also be in Chicago on the 23rd. Below are images, photos and video taken on Saturday in Iowa City.
From our inbox – And now a word from former state senator Rob Hogg, author of America’s Climate Century: What Climate Change Means for America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do about It
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Sept. 22 – 4-5 pm – Cedar Rapids – Save Morgan Valley, the citizen organization opposing the proposed massive 720 megawatt Morgan Valley fossil gas plant along Highway 30 in western Linn County, is holding a demonstration in opposition to the proposal at Cedar Rapids city hall, 101 First Street SE, Cedar Rapids.
Sept. 28 – 6 pm – Cedar Rapids – The Linn County Planning and Zoning Committee will be considering rezoning farm land to industrial along Highway 30 in western Linn County for the proposed Morgan Valley fossil gas plant. This is not at the county building. It will be held at the Kirkwood Hotel – Ballroom B, 7725 Kirkwood Blvd SW, in Cedar Rapids. Public comment is allowed for up to 5 minutes. Please speak up to help stop it or at least get more public information about its impact on neighbors, land, water, climate, and our health.
Sept. 29 – Des Moines – The Iowa Environmental Council is holding its annual conference at Drake University in Des Moines on Tuesday, September 29. I won’t be able to attend this year, but it is always a valuable conference.
Oct. 5 – noon to 1:00 pm – Online – The Iowa Faith and Climate Network is presenting a one-hour virtual session on “Worship for the Shalon of all Creation” with the Rev. Karla Detweiler of the Mennonite Church USA. Karla spoke previously at the Called to Climate Action conference in 2025. To get a link, you must register at the network’s website events page.
Oct. 10 – 9 am to 2 pm – Coralville – For the Season of Creation, St. Thomas More Parish, 3000 12th Avenue, Coralville, is hosting “Re-Bonding, Restoring Relationship in the Web of Life,” a conference and workshop to address land and yard management and water and forest conservation. There is no charge to attend. Keynote speaker is Connie Mutel.
Oct. 10 – 10:00-11:30 am – Des Moines – “Belonging to the Earth” will be presented by the Iowa Faith and Climate Network at a workshop at the Being New Spirituality Center, Grace Lutheran Church, 5201 Urbandale Ave, in Des Moines. “Belonging to the Earth” is a new study guide for faith-based environmental stewardship available for download at the Iowa Faith and Climate Network website.
Oct. 11 – 9 am – Cedar Rapids – Christ Episcopal Church is hosting Marty St. Clair from the Iowa Faith and Climate Network Speakers’ Bureau to discuss clean water at the church’s adult forum. The church is located at 220 40th Street NE in Cedar Rapids.
Oct. 14 – Statewide – 8 am to 4:30 pm – Early voting in the 2026 general elections begins at county auditor’s offices across Iowa. Get your vote in early so if there is any problem, you have time to fix it. Make sure the people in your life have a plan to vote. Voting runs through Tuesday, November 3.
Oct. 18 – 1:30 to 3:00 pm – Linn County – The Cedar-Wapsie Group of the Sierra Club and Save Morgan Valley are holding an open house/outing at the site of the proposed Morgan Valley fossil gas plant. We will visit the home and restored prairie of an immediate neighbor to the site at 3388 73rd Street, Fairfax (the southwest corner of the intersection of Highway 30 and the Linn-Benton Road). Visitors should go south from Highway 30 past the first house toward the big red barn to the south. You can come for some or all of the time listed.
Oct. 28 – Online – noon to 1:00 pm – The Iowa Faith and Climate Network is offering a one-hour online session “Haunting Expectations” about climate science – how climate change is and is expected to affect Iowa – with Prof. Bill Gutowski from Iowa State University. You can register at the network’s events page.
I hope this information is helpful. Take care, and keep speaking up and taking action for climate, water, and the environment.
Rob
Rob Hogg (retired state senator)
Linn County, Iowa
(319) 247-0223
Ed Flaherty of Veterans For Peace addressing about 75 people gathered to protest the military action in Venezuela.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. or NDAA, in July. The Senate must now take it up. The House-passed NDAA is abominable, absurd, and abhorrent. The US Senate must reject the House version, and we must tell Senators Grassley and Ernst that common sense and human decency dictate rejection.
Abominable, absurd and abhorrent! Why?
Abominable because of the unfathomable amount of money that is proposed for the US military. The NDAA itself calls for $1.15 trillion. There is a separate request for $350 billion on top of the NDAA amount, and there is another separate request for $80 billion to replenish munitions spent in our illegal and needless war on Iran. So if the Trump Pentagon gets these approved, we will be spending $1.580 trillion on the military in FY 2027, as opposed to a 2026 budget of $891 billion. That is a 77% increase in one year. This does not include the billions earmarked for the Veterans Administration or the Department of Homeland Security. Our national debt has just passed the $40 trillion mark, and the proposed increases to the military budget will add considerably more to that debt. For perspective, consider the $4.4 billion FY 2027 request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Proposed military spending is 359 times the NOAA budget. At a time when families in America struggle with housing costs, medical bills, and climate-related disasters, pouring unprecedented sums into military spending diverts resources from urgent needs of our communities.
Absurd? Why? The House bill(Section 219), and the proposed Senate bill( Section 1217) mandate that Israel be given unprecedented access to the US military establishment, with privileges that violate our national security. Sections 219 and 1217 direct the Secretary of Defense to expand integration of the US and Israeli military sectors. The measures direct the Department of Defense to appoint a senior “executive agent” to integrate Israeli defense technology directly into sensitive US weapons systems, including artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, autonomous systems, and quantum computing. Nothing like this has ever been done before in US history. No other nation has ever been given the access to US military resources that Section 219 and 1217 propose to give to Israel. It is an affront to US sovereignty, and is frankly absurd.
Why abhorrent? The House bill includes the “Save America Act”. This act proposes to repress US voting by demanding proof of citizenship of everyone seeking to register to vote or to change their registration. A US passport or verified birth certificate would be required. It also mandates criminal penalties for election workers if they make any registration mistakes. The “Save America Act” has failed to get US Senate approval when presented on its own. The attempt to insert it into the Senate NDAA bill is abhorrent, not only because of its malicious intent but because it has no place in a bill to fund the US military.
There are numerous reasons to reject the proposed NDAA in addition to those described above. For example, the Defense Department has never passed an audit. An appropriate substitute for the proposed NDAA would be acceptance of Senator Ed Markey’s substitute bill, which would cap Pentagon spending at $750 billion. While there is only a slight chance of something so reasonable being accepted, there is time to contact our senators, and it is our responsibility as citizens and taxpayers to do so. Demand that the funding be substantially reduced, that the Israeli section be eliminated, and that insertion of the “Save” act be rejected.
Ed Flaherty, Iowa City John Jadryev, Iowa City Ross Porch, Iowa City Bob Mueller, Mt. Pleasant Mike Finley, Iowa City Donna Hirst, Iowa City Patrick Bosold, Fairfield Art Roche, Dubuque David Hempel, Iowa City Paul Deaton, Solon Pamela Fitzgerald, Iowa City Mary Martin, Boyce, VA Dennis Bricker, Iowa City David Quegg, Iowa City Donna Kann,Iowa City Barbara Zilles, Iowa City Pat Bowen, Iowa City Rick Chambers, Iowa City Jim Hesseltine, Iowa City Maggie Hogan, Iowa City David Martin, Iowa City Gordon Goldsmith, Iowa City John Fyotek, Iowa City Joe Aossey, Cedar Rapids Evalee Mickey, North Liberty Louis DeGrazia, Iowa City Joe Stutler, Cedar Rapids Al Hood, Iowa City Jerry Bloomer, Burlington Robert Fischer, Decorah Harold Frakes, Brighton Pat Cummings, Davenport Andrew Callahan, Cedar Rapids Jeff Mason, Rock Island,IL Nick Tsacudakis, Davenport Jim Laughlin, West Branch Matt Erickson, Davenport Frank Potter, Dubuque
Peoples’ Coalition at the Coralville Independence Day Parade
On Monday, Sept. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency did two things that were expected since President Trump was re-elected.
EPA finalized repeal of the Biden-era greenhouse-gas standards for coal-fired power plants and newly built natural-gas power plants.
It also proposed rescission of greenhouse gas regulation related to the now rescinded endangerment finding as it pertains to power plants, saying in essence, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants are not the kind of dangerous air pollution EPA is permitted to regulate under the Clean Air Act.
Both are expected to face legal challenges.
Nothing in the science of climate change is different because of EPA action this week compared to previous. It remains a fact that carbon dioxide contributes to a warming planet, and such warming has negative consequences for humans. What has changed is power plant operators would be freed from a financial burden of compliance that protects public health. Will people die because of these changes? No one in authority appears to be thinking or caring about an answer to that question.
I have been writing about power plants and their pollution since I began posting on Blog for Iowa in February 2009. My first post was titled, “Open Letter to Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Concerning the Proposed Marshalltown Coal Plant.”
I have opinions about this week’s EPA actions by the EPA. However, let’s discuss what’s going on in the Trump administration’s EPA.
Trump’s EPA targeted the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a 2009 determination by the EPA under the Clean Air Act, stating that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized repeal of the endangerment finding on February 12, 2026. That is that, well, not really. The struggle over rescission has now moved to the legal system. Will the U.S. Supreme Court uphold the rescission? I assume the issue will make it to and be decided by SCOTUS. That will be a consequential decision.
This week’s proposal pertains to eliminating greenhouse gas regulation for power plants, which are point source polluters. EPA’s proposal argues that Clean Air Act does not give EPA authority to regulate power-plant CO2 on the basis of climate change. If the courts determine rescission of the endangerment finding is valid, then this could come into play. The news cycle is faster than our legal system can move.
The reaction to this news was immediate. Brian Campbell, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, represents one of several organizations to move quickly. He issued this action alert:
Monday, the Trump Administration took another reckless step backward in the fight against climate change by repealing power plant emissions standards for carbon — allowing dirty coal and gas plants to pump toxic, planet-warming pollution into our air without any restrictions. Contrary to what the EPA claimed in their press release, we know that power plant CO2 emissions and co-pollutants have very real impacts on Americans’ health — causing asthma, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses — while driving climate catastrophes and extreme weather events across the globe. We published a report on this just last year!
As health professionals and advocates, we know climate change is a health emergency, created by the fossil fuel industry, and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is taking action by: Filing two lawsuits against the Trump Administration and its attempt to repeal the endangerment finding on greenhouse gases and rollback of standards on toxic mercury emissions, activating our network to testify at EPA’s upcoming hearings, and to submit a flood of public comments on their proposal to gut pollution limits on power plants—mobilizing health professionals and their trusted voices to expose and raise awareness of the direct health impacts of these rollbacks on families and communities.
Demand Climate Action NOW. Let’s fight back together.
When President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, those of us who advocated for protecting the environment felt it was a positive move. It was, although like anything related to politics, change was not permanent. Reach out to your local environmental group and see how you can get involved. We are needed now, more than ever.
Question: What is the number of CAFOs and hogs in Iowa? Yep, 15,300 CAFOs and 25 million hogs.
Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors have been leaders in the fight against CAFO proliferation in Iowa. They deserve our support in the quest to save Iowa from the ravages of BIG AG. Please check out their message and make a donation if you can.
From our inbox –
15,300!
That’s how many CAFOs there are in Iowa. About 2/3 of those buildings confine 25 million hogs at any one time during the year.
And it’s not 15,000 CAFO operators and owners running these confinements (many people or corporations own multiple confinements). Actually, there’s barely 5,200 “hog farmers” left in Iowa according the 2022 USDA’s ag census.
Since factory farms were allowed to be built unchecked in Iowa due to 30 years of failed regulations, Iowa has lost over 90% of its family hog farms that used to be the backbone of our small-town rural economies.
This has not only had a major impact on the 3.2 million people in Iowa, but it’s also forced tens of thousands of independent farmers off the land and created an industry of corporate consolidation that cares only about profit and not about your safety or quality of life.
How fair is that?
At JFAN, we don’t think it’s at all fair that a mere 0.002% of Iowa’s population operates factory farms that can damage the water quality, public health, and the quality of life of over 3 million people.
0002% of Iowa’s population that have more rights to build and operate a CAFO than you have to say no.
That’s why JFAN has worked for over 21 years to safeguard Jefferson County from becoming overrun with CAFOs. To protect your right to a good and safe quality of life
That’s why we work with state and national partners to fight back against an industry that cares more about its bottom line than the well-being of Iowa’s citizens.
We work hard for Jefferson County and beyond – and we need you by our side!
We are only halfway towards our $30,000 match with less than a week to go. These are critical funds that fuel our staff and operations so we can do all in our power to fight against unbridled CAFO growth to protect all you hold dear.
Donate here or send a check payable to: JFAN to PO Box 811, Fairfield, IA 52556.
JFAN will work as hard as we need for Jefferson County and for Iowa. But we can’t do this alone.
It takes us working all together to stand up against a powerful industry.
From our inbox – Here is an action alert/learning opportunity from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Please like and share on your social networks. All hands on deck!
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There’s a lot to be paying attention to right now, I know.
We want to provide you with two ways to learn about – and take action on – two important Iowa-centered election topics.
If you think Iowans deserve: fair, free, and safe elections AND a fair tax system that makes corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share — RSVP for one or both of these election-related Zooms!
1. Election Protection Teach-In (this week!)
Wednesday, September 16 at 6:30 pm
We want to equip more Iowans with the tools they need to fight election disinformation and protect our sacred right to vote from those looking to seize and hold onto power.
To help us get informed and organized to say “Hands off our Vote!,” we’re hosting Maxwell Love, project director for Hold the Line, to lead a zoom teach-in with us. Click here to register!
Hold the Line equips people across the country with evidence-based, nonpartisan frameworks to help understand threats to democratic institutions; organize effective collective action; and defend free, fair, and safe elections.
This was the most attended workshop at our summer convention.
2. Vote NO on Iowa’s Amendment 1 teach-in
Monday, October 6 at 6:30 pm
CCI Action joined Common Good’s Fair Taxes for Iowa’s Future, a campaign to educate Iowans on why Amendment 1 is wrong for Iowa’s future.
And, we’ve invited Kylie Spies from Common Good Iowa to help us understand what’s in Amendment 1 – aka the Millionaire Protection Act – which will be on the ballot for all Iowans this November. Click here to register and learn more!
We need to protect our schools, our health and our water – not provide more tax breaks for the super-rich nor concentrate tax veto power into the hands of a powerful minority. If you’re involved in our public-school strong campaign, you don’t want to miss it.
We’re stronger together! These Zoom meetings will be part training, part strategy, and all CCI Action!
Early voting starts October 14 and we need all hands on deck to win the future for our people.
From the Chris Jones for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Campaign:
We’d like to invite you to a special Virtual Town Hall with Chris Jones Wednesday, September 16 at 7:30 pm Central.
Join us for a powerful online conversation between Sarah Vogel, former North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner and author of The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm; and Chris Jones, water quality scientist, author, and candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.
Start: Wednesday, September 16, 2026 — at 7:30 PM Central Time
This will be a conversation that you won’t want to miss!
About Sarah Vogel:
From taking on USDA during the 1980s farm crisis to taking on corporate agribusiness in the heart of the Corn Belt today, Sarah and Chris know firsthand that corporate profits must not come at the expense of clean water, healthy soil, and family farmers – and how to make change happen.
Sarah’s proven track record of making a state ag department work for real people brings a grounded, battle-tested roadmap to Chris’s vision for a clean, sustainable, and prosperous rural Iowa.
Come find out how transforming state agriculture is actually going to work, and why this fight matters now more than ever.
The following video by Media and Democracy Project opens referencing a quote by our friend, former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson.
“Whatever is your first priority, you have little hope of making any progress with it if you can’t get media coverage – fair and favorable media coverage.” – Your Second Priority: A Former FCC Commissioner Speaks Out, by Nicholas Johnson
Democracy is under siege. Oligarchs Larry and David Ellison are consolidating their personal control of information, and media. TikTokUS, CBS News are under their control and they are attempting to use massive debt and foreign cash to take over Warner Bros Discovery (HBO, CNN and many cable channels and media properties). This is not an ordinary merger. This is a debt time-bomb and would mean harmful hyper-consolidation of the media and entertainment industry under the control of one family – while saddling a merged company with $80+ billion dollars in debt.
Watch and learn from a distinguished panel of experts about the largest attempted leveraged buyout in history – and why that matters to the American media landscape, national security, press freedom, workers, consumers and democracy.
Why does the massive debt used to finance the takeover matter? What would the 39%+ foreign ownership by 3 petro-state (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar) sovereign wealth funds mean for Americans? Past mega-mergers have failed consumers, employees, shareholders – could this be different?
How do Data Centers, AI and Larry Ellison’s personal finances impact the deal and stability of a possible merged entity?
Panelists:
Alvaro Bedoya: Senior Advisor, American Economic Liberties Project and served as a Federal Trade Commissioner from 2022 to 2025.
Pete Johnson: Visiting Assistant Professor at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He specializes in US film and television industry history, media finance and economics, and the role of narrative in shaping business outcomes.
Deborah Jaramillo: Professor of Film and Television Studies, and Director of Graduate Studies for the American Studies Program at Boston, University
Twelve state Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit to #BlockTheMerger on the grounds it violates anti-consolidation laws, but have not emphasized the hazards of debt and financing – and national security and press freedom.
Jaramillo and Johnson are co-authors of the insightful and powerful analysis that demonstrates the harms of the attempted-takeover: “The Costs of Consolidation: Arguments and Evidence for Blocking the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger”https://macrolab.ucsd.edu/paramount-warner-merger/
One way to approach Iowa’s constitutional amendment question is to ask yourself serious questions.
Do you trust legislators elected in 2022 and 2024 to dictate options for policymakers in 2030? 2040? Even 40 or 50 years from now?
Do you believe 17 state senators, barely one-third of the Senate, should be able to override the will of 133 other elected legislators, a governor and the popular will of the voters?
Do you think Iowa is currently in good enough financial shape to provide the critical public services we need now, let alone decades from now?
Do you realize that tax cuts in recent years have not only reduced resources but also provided meaningful benefits only to rich individuals and powerful corporations?
Amendment One on the November ballot would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to raise individual or corporate income tax rates. It is designed to lock in those recent cuts for the wealthy — and permanently hamper Iowa’s investment in education, healthcare, environmental quality and public safety.
Those recent cuts passed despite expectations of nearly $2 billion less annual revenue, according to the Legislature’s own fiscal experts, than Iowa would receive under the previous law to responsibly fund a budget of about $9 billion. They guaranteed future budget deficits.
Lawmakers have patched the holes temporarily using reserves, which resulted from underfunding services and saving revenue gains from federal pandemic relief. It’s a fiscal cliff, assuring that when the reserves run dry in the next couple of years, either drastic cuts in services will be necessary or new revenues will be needed.
The amendment takes off the table any attempt to correct the impact of previous income tax cuts and may even prevent plugging loopholes used by corporations or the wealthy. It would force increases in sales tax — or deep cuts in education.
Come to think of it, this might even reduce funding for private school vouchers, which could concern voucher proponents. Nothing would be off the table for cuts, as the state constitution requires a balanced budget.
Save everyone a lot of future headaches and protect our responsibilities to each other as Iowans. Vote “No” on Amendment One.
Mike Owen is a former Statehouse reporter and recently retired from over 20 years in nonpartisan policy analysis and advocacy at the Iowa Policy Project and Common Good Iowa.
My first assignments as a poll worker dropped this week, a reminder of how soon election day will be here. Early voting starts October 14 in Iowa.
I drew three shifts helping in the lobby at the county administration building, and expect to draw an election day assignment. The county auditor is well-organized to cover elections. Despite bluster in the media, voting preparations seem to be progressing normally in our county.
Democrats have activated their vote protection process. I worked as a poll watcher as part of this program during the previous three general elections. It was pretty dull work. There was never any action, of any kind, that required my intervention. I got a lot of reading done while poll watching. This lack of action led me to apply to be a poll worker, figuring if I was going to be there, I may as well get paid. I don’t recall ever seeing a Republican poll watcher in our precinct.
The problem we face this cycle is not local. The current administration has openly announced that it will send ICE agents to some polling places, and the Justice Department has recently raided election offices. As our local Democratic Party said on their website, “Don’t give in to fear! Take comfort in knowing that many organizations are working together to protect our voters and our election system.”
There are volunteer opportunities to protect the vote.
Volunteer with the legal team. If you are an attorney able to be in Iowa on Election Day, contact the county party to volunteer with the Voter Protection legal team. You do not have to be an expert in voting law.
Become a poll watcher, like I did. Volunteer through your county Democratic party.
Help in another county. Let your local volunteer coordinators know if you are willing and able to serve as a poll watcher outside your home county. If so, be sure to vote early.
Join a monitoring effort. Learn about organizations and local groups recruiting citizens to monitor the polls on Election Day as an early warning system. Sign up with your county Democratic Party if you can.
While the president tends to turn everything he lays his hands on into a goat screw, here’s hoping everyone who wants to vote can do so… and that our votes count. This seems basic, yet in these times we can take nothing for granted. I plan to check my voter registration, and vote early, in person, at the auditor’s office. Maybe you should consider it, too.
The No Kings coalition is offering training in how to protect the election where you live. Sign up at this link.
If you experience or witness any issues or problems at the polls, call the Iowa Democratic Party Voter Protection Hotline at 515-207-9455.
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
by Mike Owen
