Sunday Funday: Happy Halloween Edition

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Dave Bradley

David Shuster interviews what must be people from another planet (8:30)

Usually I get pretty excited about Halloween, but after yet another horrible mass shooting in a somewhat idyllic spot of Americana, I kind of wonder if celebrating Halloween this year is a good idea. Maybe it is just better to keep the young ones home and safe this year. Not a good idea to send children out as what may turn out to be targets for some gun crazy dude with a grudge and a death wish.

MAGA demands continue to tear at the fabric of the country. No sense feeding it. And please – no more politicians uttering those absolutely useless “thoughts and prayers” condescensions – do something!

If you can, have a good holiday, but please, please be safe.

A) The site of the most recent mass murder is Lewiston, Maine which is a small city. How big is Lewiston, Maine?

B) Hurricane Otis started the week by smashing what major vacation destination Tuesday?

C) In one of the greatest political collapses of all time, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota withdrew from the race to be Speaker of the House how many hours after he was nominated?

D) Because of the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes” what CO2 pipeline company abandoned its pipeline project in Iowa Monday?

E) Witches should get better treatment, especially this time of year. Hey you old folks, what was the name of Samantha and Darin’s little witch on Bewitched back in the ‘60s?

F) What was the specific reason the Tom Emmer was rejected by the MAGA caucus in his run for the Speakership?

G) Who did win the Speakership the next day on a unanimous MAGA party vote?

H) In the penalty phase of the Trump company fraud civil trial, the judge has so far issued how many penalties for breaking the court imposed gag rules?

I) Also in that trial, who has been compelled to testify after November 1?

J) What teen TV witch had a mischievous black cat and a couple of witch aunts who always harshed her good times?

K) The UAW announced a tentative strike deal with which of the Big Three automakers Wednesday?

L) Many in Iowa were startled by an Amber Alert Wednesday night. How did that come out?

M) As the walls close in on Donald Trump, what close aide was granted immunity Tuesday?

N) More witches. Who was the Good Witch in 1939’s “Wizard of Oz” and what region was she from?

O) What member of the House of Representatives has had a resolution to expel him from congress filed by other MAGA representatives from his own state?

P) Remember the statue of Robert E. Lee that was the focus of the riot in Charlottesville, Va. in 2017? What happened to it last week?

Q) In some really good news reported Thursday the economy registered a robust what percent annual growth rate last quarter?

R) What nickname did MAGA presidential leader Donald Trump immediately hang on the new Speaker of the House?

S) “Double, double toil and trouble” is the incantation spoken by a trio of witches in what well known play?

T) Finally we had a strike by what group in Iceland Tuesday for equal treatment including wages?

Deeply Christian Mike Johnson, 

willing to bear false witness 

if it means throwing out millions of American votes 

to help his actual savior, Donald Trump. – John Fugelsang

Answers:

A) Just under 32,000

B) Acapulco, Mexico. It was expected to be just a tropical storm but blew up into a category 5 hurricane

C) 3 hours – he was undone by a tweet from Trump because Emmer did not vote for Trump’s coup on Jan. 6, 2021.

D) Navigator pipeline

E) Tabitha!

F) Emmer had not voted to stop the electoral certification on January 6, 2021 – a vote against Trump. When Emmer was nominated Trump sent a tweet not to vote for him.

G) Mike Johnson of Louisiana

H) 2 – fines of $5000 and $10000.

I) Ivanka Trump

J) Sabrina the teen age witch

K) Ford

L) The girl in question was found safe early the next morning in Hammond, Indiana

M) Mark Meadows

N) Glinda was the good witch of the South

O) George Santos

P) it was melted into material that will be used in other art

Q) 4.9%

R) MAGA Mike

S) Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

T) Women who went on strike in a continuing demand for equality – especially of pay.

The fact that Biden’s brother wrote Joe Biden a $200K check as a loan repayment does reveal one very telling thing. The Biden family pays back its debts. The Trumps file Chapter 11. – George Takei

Pro-Russia, anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-democracy. What a great choice for Speaker of the House! – Norman Ornstein

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Happy Halloween Edition

Vote! Damnit!

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Did I get your attention? Would the thought of books burning on an open fire in a newly picked field of Iowa corn be enough to get you off your couch and down to you polling place or county auditor’s office to vote? I surely hope so. Even though this is a real off, off year election it is extremely important.

We have school board elections and city office elections to be voted on November 7th. Because these elections are for the most local of offices, the issues for the most part should be very local. They should revolve around budget issues and choices of how to make our local governmental bodies more responsive to the local citizens.

But thanks to the so-called culture wars started by the MAGA party to control your lives and what kind of information the public can have access to even local governmental offices have been drawn into the culture wars. And now questions such as what bathrooms a student can use or what books are stocked in the school or city library are on the ballot. The folks at Iowa Starting Line have been doing excellent articles on what’s at stake around the state for weeks.   

And because there are nearly 400 school districts in Iowa and many more city halls it is nearly impossible to find out who is what in your local elections. While there have been some guides for Iowa’s major population centers most of us who live in rural Iowa are left to our own devices to find out which candidates will not be putting the torch to books or closing the local library.

We voted early last week. Before we took that trip to the auditor’s office I reacquainted myself with some old friends who are more attuned to what is going on in our town. These were friends who I knocked doors with and sat in meetings with working on policies. I knew I could trust their recommendations. I humbly suggest that if you are not sure consult friends you trust to be in favor of education, teachers and libraries that are not censored.

The day and time that we voted was a time that I would not have expected anyone to be at our courthouse. There were ten people there and a few more fluttered in after us. I was surprised. This is a real indication that people are paying attention. Unfortunately you can be sure that those who want to ban books, close libraries and see teachers pay cut will be voting. Please help those of us who want our kids to have access to information get the vote out.

Voting really makes a difference. As Iowa votes for city and school offices, Ohio is voting on whether women will have access to reproductive care or will they become a forced birth hell for women? Voting matters.

The citizens of Poland last week turned out an extremist party that imposed their extreme anti-abortion policies on a country that did not want those policies. Voting matters!

Every vote is important even in the local elections. Your vote could be the difference between a child being able to read one of the most important books ever written – “The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank” – or not being able to read it because some blue nose controlling book access is offended by Anne Frank recognizing her sexual feelings as she grows into womanhood in a horrific setting.

Your vote counts.

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Mike Johnson – Ordained By Gawd

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Tip of the hat to EarlG on democraticunderground.com
https://democraticunderground.com/100218400237

The MAGA Party took advantage of an opening Wednesday to elevate the little known Mike Johnson of Louisiana to the position of Pope – I mean Cardinal – er no – maybe it is Bishop – is it Deacon or maybe Imam – no. no. no – I got it – Spooker – no, no no – Speaker – yeah that’s it – Speaker of the House!

Yeah he’s the Speaker – he’s just going to act as America’s religious leader. He will be leading the efforts to impose Gawd’s will on earth which is strikingly similar to what far right extremist MAGAs want – starving poor kids, taking away social security, banning gay people, banning women’s rights, powering up the Putin, getting weapons of war in every hand in America.

I had twelve years of religious education and never heard this was the basis of belief. Sure seems to be now. Johnson even got the blessing of the Supreme Being after his elevation. The Supreme Being is heavy set guy with yellow hair and orange skin who lives in various court rooms around the country. Mr. Supreme called Johnson “MAGA Mike!” Mr. Supreme knows he owns the Speaker and those who chose the Speaker.

The Spooker’s first official act will be to claim that guns were not involved in the most recent mass murder – it was all mental illness that was the culprit. Easy access to guns and laws that make carrying guns anytime, anywhere legal had nothing to do with it. The NRA has guns to sell, dammit!

Then he will be about the business of taking away Social Security and Medicare and any aid to poor people and ending any access to health care for the poor. Johnson is a Christian after all, Then it will be on to doing his piece in creating lies about President Biden and moving impeachment along. 

While Trump is losing in courts for his part in trying to overthrow our government he is winning in the halls of congress, in the Supreme Court and in state legislatures. The extremist right wing coup continues daily in this country with Trump shoring up power in many areas including and especially Iowa.

Just in case you missed it, Johnson – who will act as a surrogate for Trump as Speaker of the House – nailed down all four Iowa votes like the good puppets they are. Mariannette Miller-Meeks who got much sympathetic press across the country because she received a death threat for veering ever so slightly from the party line last week was right back doing what she is told Wednesday voting for Johnson.

Just in case you wondered who Miller-Meeks represents, it sure ain’t Iowans or sensible people. She no doubt supports Johnson, she also supports what Johnson stands for. And what is that you ask? For those of us who get daily sub stack emails from the likes of Thom Hartmann and Heather Cox Richardson got quite the rundown on just how extreme Johnson is

from democraticunderground.com

I wish I could simply rip and post what each had to say. But we can’t so I will try to pick some good excerpts. If you want to read them in full (and I recommend doing so) click on the link. Both Hartmann and Richardson present an honest and therefore a very scary portrait of a religious extremist who believes he was chosen (!CHOSEN!) by Gawd His own Self!

From Hartmann: 

The election of Louisiana’s Mike Johnson as House Speaker proves the premise that all the GOP has left are Donald Trump and hate.

As Congressman Jamie Raskin told reporters yesterday:

“Donald Trump has cemented his control over the Republican conference in the House of Representatives. He has a stranglehold on the Republican Party. Even as he faces 91 criminal charges and several of his election lawyers have pleaded guilty now to election-related offenses, one of his enablers on January 6 has just become the speaker of the House Representatives.”

Johnson’s hate of Democrats is so deep that he led a Trump-backed effort in the House to get Republicans to back a lawsuit by 18 Republican state attorneys general to overturn Biden’s election as president.

Their lawsuit had no merit and no facts — everybody, including the Republicans involved, knew that Biden had won fair-and-square — but Republican hate of Democrats is now so deep that the idea of Democrats legitimately governing after winning an election is repugnant to them. No matter how big the Democrats’ victory (7 million votes in this case) may be.

And that is just the opening – much more at link. As for Richardson, who has become perhaps America’s most respected historian, we get this picture:

Democrats repeatedly offered to work with Republicans to elect a speaker who accepted the results of the 2020 presidential election and who agreed to bring to the floor for an up-or-down vote legislation that was widely popular in both parties. The Republicans rejected those offers.

Instead, they have elected a pro-Trump extremist as speaker.

Johnson was instrumental in Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Routinely in touch with Trump, he rallied his colleagues to object to counting the electoral votes from states that Democratic candidate Joe Biden won. As Trump’s legal challenges to the results failed, Johnson pushed a Texas lawsuit against the four states that had given Biden the win, calling for the invalidation of millions of his fellow Americans’ ballots, and echoed lies about Venezuelan interference with ballots.

Johnson has also embraced the far right’s culture wars. He is a self-described evangelical Christian who is staunchly anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ rights, anti-union, and anti-immigration. He has close ties to the Israeli right wing, and he opposes further aid to Ukraine, saying such money would be better spent at home, but he has also called for extensive cuts to domestic spending programs.

The Republicans appear to be planning to go before the voters in 2024 with a presidential candidate who is deeply enmeshed in trials over allegedly criminal behavior, whose hastily appointed Supreme Court justices overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, and who tried to steal the 2020 election. Alongside him, they have now elevated a fervently anti-abortion House speaker who backed the former president’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Voters resoundingly rejected both of those positions in 2022.

While Trump looks to be losing in courts, the extremist party he launched is now deeply entrenched inside government. The coup continues and it is succeeding very well. Only we have the power to stop the coup and we do that at the ballot box both next month and next year. 

Posted in #nevertrump, #trumpresistance, 2024 election, Medicare, Republican hypocrisy, Republican Policy, Social Security | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Run For Local Office And You Just Might Win

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Iowa Democratic Party Rural Caucus live forum 10/25/23 

This was an excellent informational Zoom meeting by the Iowa Democratic Party Rural Caucus. There was interesting discussion about what it is really like to serve on a local city council or school board.  Apparently, it is not always hard to run for local office and get elected. Sometimes, they’re looking for anyone willing to do the work.

” It’s a raise your hand and volunteer kind of job.” – Tripp Narup

“You have to have an open mind.”  –  Linda Andorf

“I’ve found in that small setting that it doesn’t require a majority of Democrats to get democratic principles implemented. It often just takes somebody to have a different idea.” – Glenn Hurst, Rural Caucus chair

“Meet Linda Andorf, Perry School District Board President, and Tripp Narup, Villisca City Council, for a discussion with the Rural Caucus about just how much the upcoming local races matter. We’ll discuss the questions you should ask candidates and review the expected fallout on local boards and councils related to last year’s legislative session.”

Follow the IDP Rural Caucus on Facebook

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Most Iowans Support Sensible Firearm Legislation

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Here is a message from Progress Iowa

Action Needed In Wake Of Maine Shooting

Des Moines, Iowa — Progress Iowa executive director Matt Sinovic issued the following statement in response to the tragic shooting in Lewistown, Maine, where at least eighteen have been killed:

“Every single one of us deserves to feel safe in our communities. Today we mourn those killed in yet another senseless act of violence. And we call for meaningful action from Congress, Governor Reynolds, and our legislature to keep Iowans safe.”

“Empty gestures like Governor Reynolds flying the flags at half staff doesn’t cut it. Republicans’ refusal to act on sensible gun legislation continues to wreak havoc in communities across the country. Their words mean nothing until real action is taken to protect lives. What Republicans refuse to admit is that most Americans, and most Iowans, support sensible firearm legislation.

“Despite these facts, Republican lawmakers continue to put the corporate interests of the NRA over innocent lives by blocking important gun safety legislation.”

In a statement earlier this afternoon, President Biden urged Republican lawmakers in Congress to “fulfill their duty to protect the American people” by passing legislation that would ban assault weapons and enact universal background checks.

Common sense gun safety legislation has stalled in the Republican-controlled Congress. And Iowa received an F from the latest report card issued by Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, due to the failure of Governor Reynolds and the Republican-controlled legislature to enact meaningful legislation, while rolling back safeguards.

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Supreme Beef v Bloody Run Creek Update

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Bloody Run Creek, Clayton county, Iowa

Jessica Mazour and Wally Taylor, representing Iowa Sierra Club, provide this update on the Save Bloody Run campaign. Check out the Lunch and Learn every Friday on Facebook

“Supreme Beef is a beef operation (CAFO) near Monona in Clayton County, northeast Iowa – housing 11,600 cattle with a manure storage basin of 30 million gallons.”

Bloody Run Creek is an Outstanding Iowa Water, a special designation for waters that are meeting water quality standards. The creek is a trout stream and home to naturally reproducing brown trout.

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Iowa Press: Republicans 17 Democrats 9

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Welcome to another weekly review of Iowa Press. If you’re new here, you may not know that I can’t let an Iowa Press episode go by without comment.

And before you decide I’m exaggerating about their favoritism of Republicans over Democrats, I did a head count of every Iowa Press episode so far in 2023, January through October.  I counted seventeen Republican guests on the show during that time period compared to only nine Democratic guests.  That’s almost twice as many Republicans as Democrats appearing as guests on the Iowa Press program.And twice when there was a Democrat on the show, there was also a Republican. Of the nine appearances by Democrats, two of those were shared with Republicans. So Democrats only had seven shows to themselves and Republicans had fifteen shows with no Democratic counterpart. That’s more than double.

Well, you may argue that of course they have  more Rs on the show because Iowa has so many more Republican electeds than Democrats! But you can bet if the situation was reversed, they would feel compelled to find a way to equal things out.  There are plenty of Democrats Iowa Press could invite on the show if they wanted to. By the way, when was the last time the state auditor was on the program? I didn’t come across an appearance on Iowa Press by Rob Sand this year. Huh.

I did not count issue episodes where the party of the guest was unknown; I did not count reporters roundtable episodes. On the Iowa Press website there is a gap between February 17 and March 10 where I couldn’t find two episodes. This gap also was present on YouTube so I was unable to determine who was on the show during those dates. Perhaps there were Democrats on both missing episodes in which case I would be incorrect in my tally.

But today’s rant is about the most recent episode featuring the Republican governor of North Dakota who is obviously, according to Kay, running for president. Why Iowa Press felt his appearance on the program would be of value to most Iowans I have no idea. It was a half hour of free campaign time for a crackpot, if you ask me.

Iowa Press apparently invited this Republican so-called presidential candidate on the show to do nothing but bash President Biden.  Joe Biden was the first name he mentioned, who he said was responsible for all our current problems. Next he blamed President Obama. Funny he didn’t mention Trump. The panel didn’t bring up Trump’s name either which is highly, highly unusual for them, until very late in the show.  Kay asked the governor a good question about whether he considered his candidacy an indictment of Donald Trump.  He declined to answer, which of course you can easily get away with on this program if you have an R behind your name.  Instead, the so-called presidential candidate responded that even though he’s in the Republican primary, he’s running against Joe Biden.

His presence on the program suggests Iowa Press believes there needs to be an alternative to Trump, but instead of mentioning Trump is currently spending a lot of time in court facing criminal charges, and Trump lawyers and staff are pleading guilty and copping deals on a daily basis, they seemed happy enough to allow a filibuster length bashing of President Biden throughout the program.

Really, Iowa Press, was this a good choice of programming for Iowa at this time? Does Iowa Press only care about what Republicans are saying?  Do you tell yourselves it’s okay because Democrats have an incumbent president and hey, we have nothing but Republicans in Iowa, seemingly, if one was to draw a conclusion from watching your weekly show.

I saw no value in your conversation with this Republican so-called candidate for president. That is unless you like Biden bashing and the usual Republican point of view, as if we don’t get enough of that day in and day out with our redder than red “representation” in Iowa.  May I remind you that Iowa’s voter registration is about a third each Republican, Democrat, and no-party. My point is that Iowa is a politically diverse state made up of more than Republicans.  And another thing, you are public television! Is it not true that our tax dollars support you? Maybe if your programming reflected some awareness that  not everyone in Iowa is a MAGA-Republican your ratings might improve.

I’m not posting the episode of the Republican North Dakota Governor wanna be president here. Anyone who would like to watch this episode feel free to find it yourself.

What I will post instead, just to even things out a bit is a re-dux, in case you missed it, of a better than usual episode of Iowa Press where two public school administrators took advantage of the opportunity to educate Iowans about what the Republican school voucher program is really doing to public education in our state.  Click here to read my review posted previously.

 

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Democracy Is Natural To Humans And Animals

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Trish Nelson

I’ve posted about this before, but I find this topic so fascinating. Thom discusses the research on The David Pakman Show.

“They’re all voting with each wing beat… literally every wing beat is a vote and the votes are constantly being measured, monitored and counted by everybody in the flock.  So it turns out that democracy is the default state of humanity.”

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Book Review: Democracy Awakening

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Paul Deaton

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson is a must read for anyone following the contemporary discussion of conflict between the liberal consensus and movement conservatism. If you don’t know what those two things are, Richardson takes the reader through how they came about, beginning with the founders. She explains why the discussion is important to American democracy. The liberal consensus has been under assault since Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president in 1981. To a large extent, conservatives have been successful in beating back the liberal consensus.

The benefit of reading this book is it takes political things we mostly know about and frames them in a narrative that both explains them from Richardson’s singular perspective and makes sense. To the extent she is preaching to the choir of readers who already understand the liberal consensus, how it came about, and why wealthy Americans are dismantling it, the book stopped short of expectations. There could be more calls to action to satisfy us. However, the important aspect of the book is that most modern adults haven’t lived through the Reagan years and their aftermath. It serves as a primer for millennials and more recent cohorts who now comprise the nation’s largest living adult generations. The book is not directed to boomers, although we will read it, but to younger Americans. They will have to take action to defend or re-invent the liberal consensus simply because my generation is dying off.

Part 2, The Authoritarian Experiment, is an important narrative about the rise of Donald Trump and a popular history of his administration. Many words have been written by others about this, yet what I found lacking in other accounts, and Democracy Awakening addresses, is a basic timeline and explanation of the shit show that was the Trump presidency. Many people stuck their heads in the sand from the November 2016 election until the present because they found it incredible that Trump’s outlook and minions would prevail. Indeed, with the election of Joe Biden as president, forces of authoritarianism were held back.

Democracy Awakening was a fast read, I finished in four days. I recommend it to anyone concerned about the future of our democracy. It seems unlikely the book will be the definitive history of that period. At the same time, it is what we need to inform our political action during the 2024 election cycle and beyond.

I also recommend subscribing to Richardson’s daily substack, Letters from an American. It is a blend of history, journalism, and analysis of current events. It is one of the sane bits of writing coming out of the explosion of disinformation in our media sphere.

Posted in book review | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Net Neutrality Redux

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Excellent analysis of where we have been and where we are going on the road to Net Neutrality

(10:47)

Remember a few years ago when the MAGA led FCC under Ajit Pai rammed through an extremely corporate friendly Net Neutrality rule that essentially handed control of what should be one of the greatest tools for democracy to the corporate elite? Well, despite the corruption and shenanigans by the MAGA led FCC, Democrats won the 2020 election and are finally, after a lot of throttling by MAGA senators, have a 3 to 2 majority on the board.

New rules were introduced last Thursday. Not sure that will even make the news with all the disasters that MAGA politicians have created. But there will be another rule making period beginning last Thursday. So keep an eye out on social media to see how you can become involved.

This will not be an automatic change because Democrats have a majority. There will be comment periods and we need input for the FCC to justify a change. As noted at @7:40 in the above video, corporations did all they could to Shanghai the proceedings in 2017. We are simply hoping the vast majority of real Americans stand up for what is right.

This will be a real battle of real citizens versus corporate control. America needs net neutrality especially when you consider how powerful the internet has become in our daily lives. Keep your eyes open for instructions on how to comment.

Thank you!

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