The point being, in Iowa we are not ALL Republicans. If we keep electing Republicans as if we are all Republicans, we’re going to keep getting government shutdowns, book bans, Trumpism, crazy talk, lying, loss of freedoms, de-funding of public schools, and no real representation, just a group of partisans spouting off their assigned daily talking points and doing nothing for Iowa.
Friday love to all our loyal followers! And for reference..
“Gallons of untreated sewer water released into ditch in Moline due to mechanical failure and heavy rain.”
Anyone who can put on a good rant about crappy headlines I consider a kindred spirit. In this case, Podcast by George blasts the headline above for saying only gallons. “I bring home gallons of water and milk from the store.”
I couldn’t agree more. This headline makes it sound like maybe 5 or 10 or a dozen gallons. Turns out we’re talking about 50,000-75,000 gallons! Literally tens of thousands of gallons of manure! Holy crap!
But I digress, that’s not what this podcast is about. The podcast focuses on Iowa CAFOs being allowed to pollute Iowa’s water with animal waste in part because they are regulated under agriculture rules which are much more lenient than if they were regulated as an industry. Please watch and share this deep dive into Iowa’s water issues and why they have not been solved.
We want to invite you to talk clean water at Pine Lake Lodge in Eldora on Sunday, October 8 from 1 PM – 3 PM!
Located in Hardin county – the home of the infamous Bruce Rastetter and over 1 million corporate owned hogs – we are going into the belly of the beast because we know when it comes to everyday people, everyone cares about clean water.
We will be joined in Eldora by two University of Iowa Professors! Learn more about our speakers below then RSVP to join us.
Dave Cwiertnyhas a background in environmental engineering and does research on water issues. He is also a part of the “We All Want Clean Water” podcast – tired of “cropaganda” Cwiertny along with Chris Jones, and Silvia Secchi provide an alternative voice on issues including water quality, agriculture and climate change.
David Osterbergis a former state legislator and the founder/former Executive Director of Iowa Policy Project and is now a professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. Osterberg is an expert in engaging the public on scientific issues and is a long-time friend of CCI who isn’t afraid to take a stand on the issues.
An exciting lineup we can’t wait to share with you! We will also enjoy a meal with other Iowans who care about this issue and find meaningful ways to take action for clean water in Iowa.
Can you join us on October 8 from 1 PM – 3 PM at Pine Lake Lodge in Eldora?
They dump it, you drink it. We won’t stop till they clean it up.
Keith Olbermann talks to Steve Schmidt on The Warning podcast about what happened to broadcast news. This is a fascinating conversation between two important voices in the current fight to save American democracy.
Olbermann:
“If you’ve seen the movie Network[I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore] the great film about what happens of course when a newscaster either goes crazy or gets the word of God implanted in his head and begins to almost speak biblical tongues…it was considered one of the great prophecies film from about 1976 and it hinged on one thing happening…
The news divisions of the television networks used to be sacrosanct in terms of business.. if they made some money that was great if they lost 30 million dollars a year that was great… that was the price that the people who ran ABC, CBS and NBC paid for the right to broadcast Beverly Hillbillies and Captain Kangaroo and the other shows that might not be up to the intellectual level of See It Now or 60 Minutes or anything on the news… and the movie Network hinges on the idea that at some point the networks would say this is crazy we’re not going to lose 300 million dollars over 10 years so we can have a reporter standing by at all times at the Vatican it makes no sense… and the day that they made that decision then every decision after that would be monetarily based and they would simply try to get the largest audience and I know it’s kind of difficult to explain to people that there was once television that was based on not getting the largest audience, that you were fulfilling some sort of public service.. but the moment that was turned off this would follow..”
Before we discuss Senator Chuck Grassley’s interview on Iowa Press on September 15, 2023, I should note that Grassley has been in the news lately because he is engaging in a bi-partisan effort with Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. They have been investigating Credit Suisse bank’s historical ties to Nazi accounts. This caused me to ask my BFIA colleague Dave Bradley, what is up with Chuck? In his usual insightful way, Dave replied, “It is often like there are two Chuck Grassleys- one who is a real senator and the other the party first guy. ”
It seems like we’ve seen little of the real senator – that some say never existed – since before the Obama administration. In his interview with the Iowa Press panel, Grassley displayed both partisan ranting as well as his senatorial side. Is he starting to contemplate his legacy? Does he know Trump and the Rs are in deep doo-doo and he wants nothing to do with his fellow Rs who are being stupid (he called them that – don’t believe me, just watch the program). Is he worried his name will come up during the DOJ investigation of Trump and the plan to steal the election from Joe Biden? No idea. No one on the program asked him these questions.
Anyway, I thought I should post this video where Grassley and Whitehouse explain their investigation because we rarely have an opportunity to say much positive about what Republicans are doing. So here’s Senator Grassley doing his best work and while I don’t necessarily trust his motives, nevertheless it’s a good thing so if you haven’t seen it, here is an extremely rare display of… wait for it… bipartisanship! Working across the aisle! On behalf of the American people! What is going on? Will democracy be saved?
Moving on to the Iowa Press Grassley interview. Strangely, I rather enjoyed this episode of Iowa Press notwithstanding certain moments of crazy Republican stuff (watch and judge for yourself). There were some bright spots where the panelists asked some good questions and Kay Henderson and Erin Murphy each followed up a time or two.
I was at first wary of the very first question which was this from Erin Murphy: “Do you expect President Biden to be impeached?” Really? That Republican fake sh*t show designed to divert attention away from the Trump real sh*t show is your first question that you think is the most important thing that Iowans need to know about? No wonder no one watches this program but me. But it went somewhere I wasn’t expecting.
Speaking of cognitive decline (or is it blatant partisan gibberish, it is so hard to tell the difference sometimes), Grassley’s answer to Erin Murphy’s question made no sense. Grassley ended up blaming Nancy Pelosi for the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry shenanigans. Uh Chuck, I think the question was directed to you and your party. Whenever Republicans are forced to acknowledge any level of accountability on their part they inevitably explain how what they did was the Democrats’ fault. Watch and you will see Grassley relied on this practice heavily during the program.
After blaming Pelosi Grassley added, “But I’m not in a position to tell the House of Representatives what to do or make a judgment until they get done with their inquiry.” So I was shocked when Kay Henderson interjected, “Well, you kind of are. You’re a United States senator. You can tell the House what you think, right?”
Wow! Well done, Kay!
Grassley glumly replied that they wouldn’t listen to him anyway.
So Mr. Senior member of the U.S. Senate, when the age question came up you said you decided to run again despite your age because you are in a position to accomplish things for the people of Iowa as senior member of the senate. So which is it? You are extremely powerful or you can’t do anything because no one listens to you? And sadly, no one asked him what it is that he hopes to accomplish for the people of Iowa during his current term. I would like to have heard the senator articulate that.
Mitch McConnell’s health came up. Grassley was ready to defend McConnell and did so.
Question about Nikki Hailey calling for competency tests for elected officials. Grassley: “In a democracy like ours you rely on the voters. That’s the competency test.” Or words to that effect. I’m good with that. I personally have defended Grassley from Twitter liberals who say he’s too old, because I feel he should not be criticized for his age. He should be criticized for his voting record, words and actions.
Ukraine – Yes. Grassley said he will continue to support Ukraine. “Russia signed an agreement to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.” Erin Murphy: “Iowa Republicans are against aid for Ukraine….” Grassley: “We’re spending billions but miniscule of what we would be spending if we let Putin go into Ukraine.” If you’re wondering, that was real Senator Grassley.
Question about Tuberville’s hold on military appointments: Grassley blamed Democrat Chuck Schumer for not stopping Tuberville. This response was from party first Grassley. It’s somewhat amusing to go through and pick out which Chuck Grassley is doing the talking.
You can also tell when Grassley is being disingenuous because his voice raises way up high.
There was a question about his fellow Republicans wanting to defund the FBI. Grassley the senator: “Anybody that takes that position is stupid for saying it. We’ve got to have an FBI.” Then Grassley the party first guy tried to say it was just like Democrats wanting to defund the police, but sorry Chuck, it wasn’t most of the Democratic party that supported that. It was basically young grassroots activists who have grown sick and tired of their peers of color being shot and killed and brutalized by the police. And the idea was not to abolish police, like the Republican party wants the FBI abolished. It is my understanding the idea was to shift funding to more community service style law enforcement. Grassley wouldn’t be Grassley and he wouldn’t be a Republican if he didn’t engage in false equivalencies when nailed.
One last observation, I thought Grassley’s smile was a little too much, a little over the top, like someone who is having a bad day and is forced to smile for the camera.
So there you have it. Watch the show. There was more of interest I didn’t mention.
A certain twice-indicted, four time indicted and loser of civil lawsuits concerning assaulting women, during a recent rant against President Biden, stated there should be a test for mental competency for holding public office.
Obviously he was suggesting that he would ace such tests while his probable opponent and current President of the United States would fail miserably. Most of us would certainly disagree with his assessment. So let’s do a little noodling on this subject”
One measure of competence would be to accept reality. As my mother-in-law was at the end of her life the nursing home staff would ask her questions to check if she was still tuned in to the world. One question was pretty standard – “Who is the President?” What answer would we get for that question today from the MAGA leader?
Some of the reality that we expect competent people to deal with is the outcome of elections. Were we to ask the MAGA leader who won the last presidential election what would he say? Should his denial of Biden’s victory be taken as a lack of competence to run for office? I would think so especially because it has been acknowledged by everyone from election officials to world leaders to news sources.
Would being able to differentiate between America’s friends and enemies on the world stage should be an area of competency that an office holder should know without having to think about it. Friend or foe – France – Great Britain – Russia – Germany – North Korea. I am not sure the current MAGA leader or other MAGA presidential candidate could answer that right now.
How about we ask what the cause of our current national debt is? Is it huge tax cuts for the rich coupled with expensive and unfocused wars as practiced by MAGA Republicans, or is it funding education, help for the needy and social programs like Social Security and Medicare that are funded by specific taxes?
Perhaps another really critical area would be knowledge and competence concerning climate. Does the candidate understand the scientifically proven causes for climate change? Does the candidate understand what will make the climate worse and what actions will mitigate the climate crisis?
Maybe there should be some questions around equality of citizens. Should skin color be a determining factor in the status of a citizen. How about sex or gender. Who wouldn’t love to see the current crop of MAGA candidates answering such questions and answering them honestly.
Bet you folks can come up some other competency questions of your own.
If a candidate can’t answer who won the last election that should be disqualifying by itself.
Oh and what about that clause in the 14th amendment that says if you turned on the US you can’t be elected to govern? That seems like a deal breaker, too.
First let me note that there is a MAGA ‘debate’ Wednesday night. With Stuart Varney and Dana Perino as ‘moderators’ what are the chances that there will be any questions relevant to America’s workers and middle class?
A) less than zero.B) zero.C) infinitesimally small D) an amount equal to Trump’s morality.
And the answer is the answer is all of the above.I mean you think those two are going to dare ask a real question?
Well MAGA Republicans (including Iowa’s stellar troupe) saw a crisis coming that they manufactured, and ran for the hills. This after they promised they would not shut down the government. You can NOT trust MAGAs. Trump is encouraging a shutdown because he is so stupid that he thinks a shutdown will stop his prosecution.
OY Vey! It just gets worse….
A) The big news Friday concerned the indictment of what New Jersey senator for corruption?
B) Officially in the US are people of Brazilian heritage considered Hispanic?
C) What member of congress was forced to leave a theater last weekend after committing lewd and lascivious acts with her boyfriend during a performance of “Beetlejuice: The Musical”?
D) What foreign dignitary visiting the US was snubbed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy despite a request to speak to McCarthy?
E) Somebody’s twitter got hacked! Whose twitter announced the death of his father after it was hacked last week?
F) September 23, 1952. What Vice Presidential candidate clinging to his political life gave a TV speech that became known as the “Checkers Speech” that saved his political life?
G) Last weekend a Marine pilot bailed from an F-15 jet and lost the plane in what state?
H) Despite the hold Tommy Tuberville has placed on military promotions, the senate did manage to name who as the new Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last week?
I) Not just oil is spiking, but what oil used for cooking and as a condiment doubled in price over the last yearbecause of poor harvests due to climate change?
J) The US Attorney General was grilled before the House Judiciary Committee last week. This committee is chaired by what MAGA congress member?
K) In Texas an eighth grade teacher was fired for teaching what middle school staple book?
L) In Mississippi the state auditor (Shad White) called for defunding college programs in what fields that he considered “garbage” studies?
M) Modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression era, President Biden announced a Corp program focused on what huge problem?
N) Why does Hispanic Heritage month celebration begin on September 15th?
O) Taking a trip out of this world, the James Webb telescope folks announced the discovery of what essential element to life on Jupiter’s moon, Europa?
P) With an upcoming election what member of NATO announced they would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine?
Q) Almost forgot that the US engineered a prisoner exchange with what middle eastern country on Tuesday?
R) Molly Michael, once a Trump assistant,revealed that Mr. Trump would use classified documents for what?
S) Caesar Chavez was instrumental in unionizing what labor group in the 1960s?
T) The Biden Administration announced it would form an Office of Gun Violence Prevention to be headed up by what administration official?
Memo To The Media:
Please don’t say inflation is at a 40-year high without also mentioning that corporate profits are at a 70 – year high. Give the people the full picture. Robert Reich
B) Technically no since Hispanic (and Latino) means a heritage of Spanish language or customs
C) Lauren Boebert of Colorado
D) Ukrainian president Zelienskyy (McCarthy was praised on Russian TV for this snub)
E) Donald Trump, jr.
F) Dick Nixon
G) South Carolina
H) Charles Q. Brown, jr. – the second black chair of the JCS (Colin Powell was the first)
I ) Olive oil
J) Jim Jordan – MAGA Ohio
K) Anne Frank
L) Humanitarian and Social Studies
M) climate change
N) because several Latin American countries fined independence around that time including Mexico
O) Carbon
P) Poland
Q) Iran
R) to write to-do lists on
S) farm workers
T) VP Kamala Harris
It’s crazy how the media is sticking with their “democrats in disarray” narrative while republicans are literally voting down their own budget. – Santiago Mayer
It almost seems sometimes like we are living in some dystopian science fiction world where women are more like breeding stock than human. Last week came the announcement that the anti-abortion group has a new weapon in their forced birth artillery. Poland announced that they can now detect whether a woman has taken any miscarriage drugs (Mifepristone and mifeprostol) if said woman has had a miscarriage.
The website Jezebel reported on this recently.The mind boggles at what this means for women. While some people may think that living in a “blue“ state may shield them from such consequences, remember that only a few votes often separates an abortion friendly state from an abortion repressive state.
News of these drug tests could mean even more people criminalized by the healthcare system, especially without the protections of Roe v. Wade. Hospitals in the U.S. routinely test pregnant women for drugs without their consent, sometimes taking away their newborns and other children as a result. With tests for mifepristone and misoprostol, cops wouldn’t even need to, say, subpoena Meta for someone’s Facebook messages before arresting them for an alleged abortion.
When abortion is banned, every miscarriage and stillbirth becomes a potential crime scene, and Poland is taking its already dystopian anti-abortion surveillance state to the next level. Poland created a national pregnancy registry in June 2022 and recently had police search the sewers for a fetus to try and prove a woman lied about having a miscarriage. In that case, the police collected her underwear, scissors she used to cut the umbilical cord, and blood from her floor for the investigation. They even wanted to funnel the contents of her home’s septic tank, but cleaners refused. Police claimed the woman lost her pregnancy “as a result of criminal actions” and prosecutors opened proceedings against her, only to drop them months later.
It is not too much of a leap to envision a society that will be tracking women’s periods and as noted above monitoring sewer pipes for evidence of an aborted pregnancy. As we let our imagination fill out the scenario we can imagine women being arrested and jailed and charged with murder. We can also easily imagine anyone who aided in procuring the above mentioned drugs would be charged as an accessory to murder.
Pregnancy is not a simple process. Things go wrong and ending a pregnancy to save the life of the mother is not rare. As we have already seen in many states women have died or nearly died and forced to endure horrible pain and mental stress due to inflexible laws that have little to do with reality. MAGA Republicans want to nationalize such laws.
In an interesting backlash against these policies, Politico reporter Lauren Leader reportsthat pregnancies are down:
Polling conducted in August by my organization, All In Together, in partnership with polling firm Echelon Insights found that 34 percent of women aged 18-39 said they or someone they know personally has “decided not to get pregnant due to concerns about managing pregnancy-related medical emergencies.” Put another way, poor or unavailable maternal health care post-Dobbs is leading people to alter some of their most important life choices.
For young people, the maternal health care crisis is deeply personal. More than a third of young people and 22 percent of young women told us they have personally dealt with or know someone who has “faced constraints when trying to manage a pregnancy-related emergency.” And 23 percent of 18- to 39-year-old women say they have themselves or know someone else who has been unable to obtain an abortion in their state — a number almost three times higher than respondents in other age groups.
Perhaps most surprisingly however, these results are similar regardless of whether the respondents are living in states with abortion bans or states without restrictions on abortion access. The consistency between red and blue states suggests that the statistics on maternal mortality and the stories and struggles of women navigating the new normal on abortion access have penetrated the psyche of young people everywhere. The Dobbs decision, it seems, has fundamentally altered how people feel about having families and the calculus for getting pregnant.
In the wake of Dobbs, stories of women enduring horrific medical trauma in states where abortion is illegal have been widely reported. For instance, Carmen Broesder, an Idaho mom, documented her 19-day long harrowing miscarriage on TikTok – including her three trips to the emergency room. While only six weeks pregnant, she was denied access to a D&C (dilation and curettage) surgery because of Idaho’s abortion ban.
Remember though that the anti-abortion faction is also looking to outlaw birth control. Such a ban would create a de facto forcing of women into a forced breeding situation with little recourse.
MAGAs are realizing that their stances on abortion and birth control are real vote killers. Seriously, what woman would vote for a politician whose policies include putting women into forced breeding situation? At a time like this MAGAs will turn to what they always do in situations like this – they will lie about their positions.
Be very aware that as MAGA politicians change their tune to sound more conciliatory toward abortion and birth control, that once they get into office, they will return to the anti-abortion/ anti- birth control policies they truly espouse.
(1:20) Well. At least he knows who should be blamed:
Just ran across this post on democraticunderground.comconcerning next week’s impending government shutdown. Remember this is a shutdown that MAGA Republicans just a couple of months ago promised would not happen:
White House Favorably RTs Matt Gaetz- ‘The Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point’
President Joe Biden’s official White House Twitter account favorably retweeted a quote from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) blaming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the impending government shutdown on Wednesday.
Gaetz, who has been the most vocal critic of McCarthy in recent weeks, told reporters, “We will have a government shutdown and it is absolutely Speaker McCarthy’s fault.”
He continued, “We cannot blame Joe Biden for not having moved our individual spending bills. We cannot blame House Democrats. We can’t even blame Chuck Schumer in the Senate.” {my bolding – ed.}
The White House soon picked up on the comment and retweeted it along with a meme reading, “Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point.”
Add that to the observation posted recently on twitter by congress member Ilhan Omar who pointer out that:
Who controlled the House when the government shut down?
1995: Republicans
2013: Republicans
2018: Republicans
2018 (longest in history): Republicans
When Republicans are responsible for governing, we have shutdowns. – Ilhan Omar
Get the picture folks? When a democrat is president and either house of congress is controlled by Republicans (now MAGAs) their go to strategy now is to shut the government down and blame it on Democrats. In today’s case, MAGA politicians made a deal and a few months later turned their backs on it. MAGAs can simply not be trusted – never ever.
When we hear radio or TV newsers intone “Congress is stumbling toward {some bad outcome}” it is not “Congress” that is moving toward a bad outcome, it is MAGA Republicans exclusively. Yet our news media across the board makes money with horse races, therefore they must promote reports in a way that makes horse races more likely. Were they to tell the truth, people would soon understand that the reason Congress does nothing these days is because of MAGA Republicans.
In a recent newsletter Thom Hartmann put the continuing government shutdowns in a historical perspective that ties MAGA refusal to work in good faith to the infamous “two Santa Clause theory” that explains how Republicans govern only for the wealthy:
It’s no accident or coincidence that the threat of a failure to pay the nation’s bills or fund an upcoming year never once happened during the presidencies of Reagan, Bush, Bush, or Trump. Or that it did happen every single time during the presidencies of Clinton, Obama…and, now, Biden.
{skip}
Those massive tax cuts and that uncontrolled spending during four Republican presidencies produced three results:
They stimulated the economy with a sort of sugar high, making people think that the GOP can produce a good economy;
They raised the national debt dramatically (it’s at $33 trillion today, almost all of which tracks back to Reagan’s, Bush Jr.’s, and Trump’s massive tax cuts and Bush’s two illegal off-the-books wars);
And they made people think that Republicans are the “tax-cut Santa Clauses.”
Then comes part two of the one-two punch: when a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans must scream about the national debt as loudly and frantically as possible, freaking out about how “our children will have to pay for it!” and “you must cut spending to solve the crisis!”
So here we go again – Republicans creating a crisis where there should really be no problem. Soon we will be hearing the claims that the crisis comes from Democratic spending when the opposite is true: Republicans (now MAGAs) cut taxes for the wealthy and spend like drunken frat boys.
Our corporate news media work with MAGAs to make MAGA lies the common mythology. If the debt were the crisis that MAGA politicians claim, shouldn’t raising taxes be part of the answer?
Remember when you vote next year that if you vote for MAGA candidates you are only making the problem worse.
I was going to review the Iowa Press interview with Chuck Grassley, but I was warned off by a friend who watched it before I did and said, “good gawd – 5 minutes in and it’s one of the worst tongue baths I have ever seen.” By that he meant the Iowa Press panel was being extremely nice and deferential to Chuck – as they are to every Republican that comes on the show.
Iowa Republicans generally avoid the media – except for handy appearances on Iowa Press where they are invited on the show and allowed to spread their nonsense and conspiracy theories unchallenged. What’s not to like?
Most friends I have spoken with about the Iowa Press program are not quite as harsh. They usually say, “I stopped watching a long time ago, couldn’t take it anymore” or words to that effect. One person said the program won’t change as long as Kay Henderson is the moderator. But it was already bad when David Yepsen was the moderator. They have always been of the mind that anything Republicans say is sensible and important and deserves deference. And anything Democrats say is cause for a furrowed brow, a skeptical follow up question or an expression of disbelief.
I digress but long story short I wasn’t up to the Grassley interview this week but I do plan to watch and will have something eventually.
Still, there is plenty to complain about on the topic of American media.
My ongoing beef is that our broadcast media provides 24-7 coverage of every single utterance of gibberish the disgraced ex-president Donald Trump decides it will benefit him to put forth. They defend themselves for it by saying, “He’s a former president so we have to report it.” I hear them say this all the time – it’s as if they are trying to convince themselves.
They rationalize what they do because they see themselves as real journalists performing a noble calling. They think they are heroes no matter how many Republicans they repeatedly invite on their programs knowing they will tell lie after lie. They are responsible for putting Trump in the White House in the first place by falling in love with his outrageous comments. Remember the birthers? That was Trump who started it. And they still will defend themselves to the death for any minor criticism with rare exception.
If the reason for non-stop Trump coverage is, as they say, because Trump is a former president, why then do they not feel obligated to cover everything Barack Obama says and does? Or Bill Clinton? Or George W. Bush? Even our current president Joe Biden has trouble getting air time. If they all got Twitter accounts and posted crazy stuff would that help?
President Biden gets far less daily coverage than Donald Trump, almost none compared to their nonstop blathering about Trump. They might mention a speech Biden gave or a trip but they do not spend entire programs informing the public about Biden’s words and actions as the current president. They do not go on and on about it. When they do talk about Biden it is frequently something bad and silly, a Republican talking point like he’s too old and his polling is low or the cooked up nontroversy involving Hunter, but never is it Big News We Are Obligated To Report when Biden capably performs the work of the presidency. If it happens, it is a don’t-blink-you-might-miss-it moment.
Do not the American people have an equal need to know what our current president is saying and doing as much, actually more, than the defeated, illegitimate ex-president Donald Trump who is only playing the media with made up stuff and has nothing true or useful to say?
We’ve heard it all before. We’ve seen this movie. But somehow Trump’s ravings are such important news that they are obligated to provide wall to wall coverage of him every single day.
It’s not just that they cover Trump. It’s how they cover him and it’s that they cover him to the exclusion of everything else. It’s that you can’t turn on any broadcast or cable or even local news program for 5 minutes without his image or words being foisted upon you. And to top it off, virtually nothing of what he says is true, yet the American media treat everything he says as if it is of the utmost importance – as if it is the only thing that matters.
Then they say they do it for the ratings. Well that explains it.
So Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from Fox “News.” But do not expect anything to change in the American media eco-system.
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)
Iowa is represented by all Republicans in congress: Zach Nunn, Ashely Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra. And yet these are the statistics showing Iowa is not just a vast wasteland of Republicans but a diverse electorate.
“Gallons of untreated sewer water released into ditch in Moline due to mechanical failure and heavy rain.”
Action alert from 
Before we discuss Senator Chuck Grassley’s interview on Iowa Press on September 15, 2023, I should note that Grassley has been in the news lately because he is engaging in a bi-partisan effort with Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. They have been 
Media rant alert!
Blog For Iowa 