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Here is a list of Iowa communities holding #NOKINGS events Saturday, October 18. You can sign up at mobilize.us. Or you can just show up Saturday. If you don’t see your town here, come to the closest event. Also, talk … Continue reading
ICYMI –
Comedy can be a powerful form of social commentary, particularly in repressive or politically polarized environments.
The cool and talented queens of comedy, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, hilariously nail Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem on SNL
“My name is Pam Bondi. I spell it with an I ’cause I ain’t gonna answer any of your questions.”
Have fun.
March For Our Lives 2018
That and more on this episode of The Al Franken Podcast.
David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, has reason to be cynical and yet he’s not.
In the podcast today he explains some of the lesser known details of his time as a vice-chair at the DNC. But that’s just a small part of the conversation. The rest is much more interesting.
Al Franken took the time to open the interview with the actual, real and meaningful accomplishments and lives saved due to David Hogg’s organizing work to enact better gun safety laws in America. I appreciated that because it seems like everyone assumes it is impossible to do anything about America’s gun problem. But to David Hogg, saving some lives is better than doing nothing and saving no lives.
As you likely already know, he is currently working on helping progressive Democrats get elected by raising money for targeted campaigns.
Hogg’s group, Leaders We Deserve, donated $300,000 to a super PAC supporting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Some good quotes from the podcast: “We need to be a party of fighters not folders.”
NoKings protests are really important.
Health care is a top voting issue and also the issue on which Dems have the most trust among voters.
And yes, he praised Chuck Schumer for his recent video. I posted it below the podcast.
Check out LeadersWeDeserve.com
Happy Monday, all!
Hope to see you this Saturday at #NOKINGS! Find your local event here.
And here’s Chuck Schumer’s speech that is earning him praise among the “do something!” crowd.
3 minutes:
Interesting that the above video is from Voice of America, which as I understand it, no longer exists or has at least been defunded. Yet one of the many outrageous acts and statements that the FIWH {Felon In The White House} has done or made in order to shift any conversation from his part in the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
As the FIWH continues to do all he can to distract from the Epstein files being revealed, actions and statements get wilder and bolder. It seems as if the FIWH has given Stephen Miller a free hand in committing acts as long as they distract from Epstein. Could the US end up in another Civil War in order to distract from Epstein?
It is too bad Iowa has no member of congress who has the backbone to stand up and call for the release of the Epstein files. That right there is one overriding reason to vote Democratic in the next election. It is long past time that the principal that the law applies to all citizens becomes reality.
The move from Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day has been slow but heartening. Columbus discovered nothing. He was merely the first of what would be an onslaught that would steal the land from those humans that were already here. As many as 100,000,000 who were already here
A) In what had to be one of the biggest misspeaks in politics, FIWH aide Stephen Miller claimed the FIWH had what kind of power?
B) The FIWH campaigned openly for what prize, but in the end a freedom fighter from Venezuela won it?
C) MAGA representatives refuse to reopen congress thus stopping any moves toward reopening the government. Why do they refuse to reopen?
D) The FIWH will be traveling where next week?
E) In what year was Columbus Day first marked as an official holiday?
F) Last week there was to be a vote on bringing in a union at Unity Point Hospital in Des Moines. How did that turn out?
G) This week a video was discovered that had what US representative telling a party assembly that they would have a town hall “when hell freezes over”?
H) Thursday arrangements were completed for the US to spend $20 billion to bail out what country whose economy has been shredded by right wing policies?
I) One reason that China is able to avoid buying any US soybeans is that they are able to acquire them from what South American countries?
J) States began to slowly rename Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day in the 1990s. What state was the first to change that designation?
K) The Secretary of HHS, Junior Kennedy, made yet another outrageous statement connecting what name brand to autism?
L) Who is the new editor-in-chief for CBS News?
M) Who issued a “teaching document” that condemned societies that marginalize poor people in those societies last week?
N) Now that public TV has been defunded by MAGAs, public will be selling 30 of whose paintings as a fund-raiser?
O) Tomorrow is also a major holiday in our neighbors to the north in Canada. What major holiday is it?
P) $4,000 an ounce for what? And the FIWH covers his toilets with it!
Q) What has replaced coal as the primary source of energy around the world?
R) A crack in the MAGA wall, perhaps. What MAGA governor became the only MAGA to condemn the use of federal troops in American cities?
S) Well, now the Justice Department has indicted what second target of the FIWH’s retribution list?
T) Secretary of War(?) Pete Hegseth tried to get the FIWH to send what elite fighting force into Portland last weekend?
Bonus) Who is America’s newest ambassador to the Bahamas?
Y’all need to realize that trump and Republicans’ health care plan is simply to get rid of Obamacare.
That’s it. That’s the entire plan. – Covie
Tip of the hat to http://all-hat-no-cattle.blogspot.com
Answers:
A) Plenary as in all powerful. Whoopsie! Pee-Wee German let the cat out of the bag
B) the Nobel Peace prize
C) Because the newest member of congress will sign the petition to force the release of the Epstein files
D) the Middle East
E) 1934
F) Due to the government shutdown the department of Labor which holds the vote was shut so the vote is suspended until the government reopens
G) Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
H) Argentina
I) Brazil and Argentina
J) South Dakota. The name was changed in 1989 and observed in 1990
K) Tylenol. He claimed There are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It’s highly likely because they were given Tylenol
L) Bari Weiss known to be extreme right wing
M) Pope Leo XIV
N) Bob Ross who was known for his PBS show teaching painting
O) Thanksgiving Day
P) Gold
Q) renewable energy in its various forms
R) Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt
S) New York AG Letitia James
T) the Army’s 82nd Airborne division – that is some serious shit
Bonus) Remember Herschel Walker who can barely make a sentence? Yep, him
Two biggest mistakes in US history:
1. Not appropriately punishing Confederates and erasing them&their symbols after the Civil War
2. Not appropriately punishing trump & his MAGAt accomplices for inciting&implementing January 6th. – KwikWarren
Tip of the hat to http://all-hat-no-cattle.blogspot.com
Note: There is no such thing as Antifa. Anti fascism is simply a philosophy that opposes fascism.
Legal AF YouTube interview with Lisa Graves (30 minutes)
From the YouTube blurb:
On Court of History, Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz speak with Lisa Graves, author of Without Precedent, about how Chief Justice John Roberts helped build a Supreme Court that shields corruption, empowers Trump, and dismantles the Constitution. From Bush v. Gore to Trump v. United States, Graves exposes the right-wing network and billionaires behind America’s judicial takeover.
This video just floored me as they talked about how the right has carefully constructed the framework and milieu that has made it possible to change our democracy into an autocracy headed to a dictatorship.
As I listened I noted that the dismantling of our democracy has been a long term project much as some of our great scientific achievements were designed. Built piece by piece, tested and then adjusted, then tested some more. Putting the right amoral people in the right places . And always the lubricant of vast amounts of money was in the mix.
The construction of this project did not focus on just the presidency but all three branches of the federal government plus state and local governments and the press which is now mostly a corporate mouthpiece. Frightening! to say the least.
stolen from the Muscatine County Dems “slice” email
Unless you live in a hole you know that there is another NO KINGS rally across the US. Usually I would list the times and places of the protests in Iowa. However, as I write this there are already such a number of protests across Iowa – IOWA for goodness sakes! – that it makes much more sense to give you the link and let you look up your local protest.
This tells me that Iowans are finally becoming deeply aware of what the Trump regime is actually up to. It could be because of the farm crisis that Trump has created, it could be because of the bogus invasion of America’s great cities for BS reasons, could be the threat of rural hospitals closing and health care insurance becoming prohibitively expensive. Whatever it is, something is awakening a sleeping giant in Iowa.
In the large cities like Des Moines and Davenport to seldom heard of towns like Maquoketa, Clarinda, Red Oak, and Storm Lake protests are planned. From Keokuk in the southeast corner to Spirit Lake in the northwest corner Iowans will be turning out!
On one hand it is great to see, but the reason there will be a huge turnout is sad for Iowa. Trump is screwing the country over big time. Here in 3 minutes one of our favorites, Robert Reich explains why the Trump regime is invading cities and trying to provoke a response which will lead to invoking the Insurrection Act:
Reich doesn’t mention it here but the idea is to keep troops in cities through the elections next year. The presence of troops in cities that often vote for Democrats will act as a deterrent to voting in those cities the Trump regime has reasoned.
To that end, a list slipped out Wednesday of the cities where the Trump regime is planning to deploy an ICE troops soon. This story comes from the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch. Columbus is one of the cities listed as is Des Moines, Iowa:
The Washington Post reported in September that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking new office spaces in hundreds of places across the U.S., according to sources who spoke anonymously with the Post and records the outlet obtained.
Many, but not all, of the 20 cities that made the list on the September lease proposal have Democratic mayors.
The full list comprises: Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; and six cities in Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Sunrise, Jacksonville, Fort Myers and Naples.
Our friends, the Democrats of Muscatine County have passed along this very helpful link on training for the upcoming protests. We do not want people hurt or arrested. Nor do we want to in any way incite something that can cause the regime to respond.
Therefore, the ACLU is offering training for the protest to help you avoid problems. You can sign up at the link provided. Zoom trying is at 6PM CT Wednesday night October 15th.
Here is much of what they are covering:
Wednesday, October 15, 2025 7:00 PM ET
Before you hit the streets- join our know your rights, protest safety, and de-escalation training on 10/15/25 at 7 PM ET.
This October, communities across the country will mobilize en masse for the second No Kings national day of action- a mass mobilization against President Trump’s abuses of power and federal crackdown on our freedoms. Together, we’ll send a clear message: the people will not be silenced.
To prepare, join the ACLU’s Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training on October 15 at 7 PM ET. This training will give you the tools to take action safely, confidently, and with key de-escalation strategies in hand. Whether you’re marching, rallying, or supporting from the sidelines, you’ll learn how to protect yourself, your community, and stand up for your rights.
WHAT: ACLU’s Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training
WHEN: Wednesday, October 15th at 7 PM ET
WHERE: On Zoom- RSVP for the link!
What we’ll cover:
- Know your rights during protests and law enforcement encounters
- Practical tools for safety and de-escalation in tense moments
- Get prepared to take nonviolent action safely, powerfully and together
- Build the knowledge and strength to support others in the streets and beyond.
Because when we know our rights, we can defend them. Let’s get ready. RSVP NOW.
Protest safely and proudly, Iowans!
Thom Hartmann and Laura Belin answered attendees’ questions in this event hosted by the Heart of Iowa Democrats yesterday. Both Thom and Laura are highly knowledgeable, as you all know. A variety of topics were covered including how we got to where we are now, which Thom, as briefly as possible, explained, and most importantly, what we all should be doing.
Thom opened by discussing the conservative infrastructure that they have been putting in place for the past five or so decades that has enabled our current situation. I particularly appreciated Thom mentioning the Powell memo and not leaving out the right wing propaganda machine’s role, as most analyses of “how we got here” do.
“…This was the tail end of the McCarthy red scare period. And the Kochs got very active in that along with a whole bunch of other right-wing very wealthy people and they built this massive infrastructure which exists to this day. The Charles Koch Foundation became the Koch Institute. They started the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council…every single state has a state policy center. These are all very very well funded. They funded a couple of universities, Hillsdale College, things like that..
They bought 1,500 right-wing radio stations. They’ve got three television networks. They have a massive media and information machine that has just been cranking crap out since the 80s like there’s no tomorrow… It’s altered American public opinion. Most people will say big government is bad, not even knowing what the hell that means, for example..
This infrastructure was constructed basically to satisfy the desire of morbidly rich mostly men not to pay income taxes and to not have their businesses regulated. And that very mechanism if they just kept it to that would be bad. I mean, that was kind of Reagan bad and George Herbert Walker Bush bad and arguably even George W. Bush bad. But that infrastructure could also be used to basically take over and destroy a nation’s democracy. And that’s exactly what Donald Trump is doing.”
Photo: Trish Nelson
Andrea Pitzer is the author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, and The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov.
Times being what they are, lately when I read I want to be able to see the practical application, not just take in more bad news. I want it to be hopeful and applicable to moving forward, not just doomsday forecasting. I think this writer does a good, balanced job of that.
You can follow her on YouTube, Degenerate Art by Andrea Pitzer or subscribe to her newsletter, at Beehiv.com
Today I would like to share an excerpt from a (very long) piece in her October 7 newsletter. Link to it here.
Two sections stood out for me as particularly useful. But you should follow the link and read the rest if you are interested because there is a lot there.
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For those who want to be sure that engagement and protest are somehow more than just feel-good tactics, I’ve written about several useful studies to keep in mind. No single research result should ever be seen as definitive, but as a whole, they seem to indicate that the value of protest and the possibility of a return to healthy democracy are real.
Many people have cited Erica Chenoweth’s work suggesting getting at least 3.5% of a country’s population engaged in an opposition movement is generally sufficient to demand significant change. A study by Teeselink and Melios on the much-vilified Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder indicates that those protests played a measurable part in Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. The amazing part of that research was that the protests’ largest effects seemed to be in counties with populations that were relatively small, white, and had low levels of education.
More recently, we also looked at the U-turn study that catalogued massive political changes in the direction of a government across more than a century. Researchers at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and the University of Liverpool found that more than half of all authoritarian shifts were followed by democratization shifts. And in the last 30 years, that number was nearly three-fourths. What’s more, they found that some 90% of U-turns led to greater democratization in the end.
All around the world
Elsewhere, I’ve tried to address why international and domestic examples of oppression and resistance can offer useful models for both diagnosis and action. To pretend that the blight afflicting America today can only be understood through European fascism or Russian autocracy would be foolish—heinous acts of oppression have been part of US history since the country’s founding. But a broader pool of examples of how events might go is helpful in pondering what to expect and what to do next.
Where we stand today
Nearly a year after Trump’s reelection, we are in fact facing an expanding network of domestic and international concentration camps, creating the first global network of camps run by a superpower created through bribery and coercion. I’ve been writing for more than a decade now about the ways in which America was leaning into camps, and despite the apparent win (for now) in the Everglades, we can expect this particular crisis to get worse in other parts of the country during the rest of Trump’s time in office.
It doesn’t help that, with few exceptions, the U.S. Supreme Court has been rubber stamping much of what the administration has demanded. As I (and many others) have noted before, these actions are largely being carried out via the shadow docket, which doesn’t demand legal theory or accountability from the justices, and makes it nearly impossible for lower courts to have a sense of any body of consistent law they can use to rule going forward. Yet I’ve written about case after case in which lower-court judges are trying to uphold the best aspects of constitutional law and democracy.
Congress, as mentioned above, has caved completely to Trump, failing to fulfill even the constitutional framers’ expectation that they could be relied on, if nothing else, to fight to protect their own power in a branch of government. The elected opposition has a few members who have found productive ways to engage. But Democratic party leadership is flailing in the face of relentless overreach by the executive branch.
From the beginning, we’ve seen governors like J.B. Pritzker and Maura Healey defying Trump on immigration. Others have stepped up intermittently. We’ve watched heroic local pushback by protesters in Chicago and in L.A. Some of the biggest collective demonstrations in American history have been building slowly toward civic engagement that could soon be sustained enough to help force to end the current nightmare.
What comes next
From our inbox: Press release from Christina Bohannan for Congress
October 7, 2025
press@bohannanforcongress.com
WHEN WILL MILLER-MEEKS HOLD A TOWN HALL?
MMM: “WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER”
Bohannan: “It’s time to stop hiding from Iowans, come forward, and defend your record of higher prices, chaotic tariffs, and special interest, pay-to-play politics. It’s time you answered to Iowans for once – not just your Washington special interest donors.”
Iowa City, IA – Despite her promise to host in person town halls, a new video shows Rep. Miller-Meeks callously dismissing her pledge to answer to Iowans on recent votes to gut Medicaid, double Iowans’ healthcare premiums, and send the cost of living skyrocketing. Unfortunately, Miller-Meeks meets with her special interest donors day after day, week after week–so that she can collect their corporate PAC checks and vote their way. But when it comes to meeting with Iowans, and tackling our toughest problems, she said she’d get to it “When hell freezes over.”
“It’s time to stop hiding from Iowans and defend your record of higher prices, chaotic tariffs, and special interest, pay-to-play politics,” said Christina Bohannan. “It’s time you answered to Iowans for once – not just your Washington special interest donors.”
Bohannan has been available at town halls the past two weekends.
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Iowa’s 1st Congressional District contains the cities of Davenport, Iowa City, Burlington, and Indianola. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces a rematch against Christina Bohannan, who came within 0.2% of defeating the incumbent in 2024. Bohannan lost by just 799 votes out of 413,000 and outperformed the top of the ticket by over 8 points – more than any other Red-to-Blue candidate in the country. National forecasters, including the Cook Political Report, universally rate this district as a Toss-Up for 2026. With Rep. Miller-Meeks showing historic weakness at just 31% favorability and facing growing opposition even within her own party, Bohannan has the best opportunity to flip a Republican seat in the country.
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Blog For Iowa 