Iowa DNR is asking for feedback on Iowa’s water quality!
They are hosting 2 virtual public hearings for a Triennial Review of water quality standards. “Under the Clean Water Act, a state shall, from time-to-time, hold public meetings for the purpose of reviewing applicable water quality standards and, as appropriate, modifying and adopting standards. This review includes, but is not necessarily limited to: designated uses, water quality criteria, and antidegradation.”
The public hearings are Sept 18 at 9:30am and Sept 23 at 2:30pm. Zoom links to join found here. The DNR agenda is the same for both hearings with questions and public comments at the end.
After the first hearing they will also take public comments via email through Oct 20. Stay tuned – we’ll send out an action alert when the public comments are open.
Are you able to participate on one of the public hearings? If so, please reply to this email to let me know which one.
Whether you’re able to attend the DNR hearing or not – – join us to talk about it! The water testing crew meets on the last Thursday of the month. We’ll get folks up to speed on what we heard, and we can strategize together about how to take advantage of the public comment period.
In case you missed it, there was a terrible murder in Charlotte, North Carolina last month. It was a tragedy that does not deserve to be a talking point for Republicans to make fake arguments about crime and shamelessly use the woman’s death as a convenient opportunity to blame Democrats for everything (see my post earlier this week, Campaign 2026: Beware Of Dirty Tricks). But that is what they are doing.
I would like to point out that the hypocrisy is obvious. We didn’t see much Republican outrage about state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband who who were killed at their home in Minnesota in June. We’ve had a school shooting in our own state of Iowa in 2024, yet Republicans can’t find their way to find outrage about America’s gun problem. Nor did we hear much outrage from Joni Ernst when a constituent at Ernst’s town hall brought up that her vote on Medicaid cuts meant people would die. Everyone heard Ernst respond by reminding us “well, we all are going to die.” So their crocodile tears and fake outrage now are not credible. It’s easy to see what they are doing, as laid out here in the NYTimes.
“The police arrested Decarlos Brown Jr. soon after and charged him with first-degree murder. But the brutal killing did not capture widespread attention until the security footage was released on Friday, at which point it became an accelerant for conservative arguments about crime, race and the perceived failings of big-city justice systems and mainstream news outlets in the Trump era.
The outrage over the Charlotte killing is a part of a pattern in which President Trump and his allies highlight horrific crimes to bolster their case that the country is plagued by “American carnage,”as Mr. Trump put it in his first inaugural address, despite statistics that show crime is dropping.In Charlotte, overall crime was down by 8 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the police, while violent crime was down by 25 percent. NYT
Judge for yourself. Below is a copy/paste of Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ newsletter to constituents using a story from The National News Desk, a daily television news program produced by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Wikipedia
Notice the newsletter does not include the story, but only the headline and the photo, followed by Miller-Meeks’ message to constituents using the same old Republican talking points dating all the way back to Ronald Reagan.
SAY HER NAME
Dear Fellow Iowan,
Iryna Zarutska was just 23 years old. She fled the war in Ukraine, survived Russia’s bombs, and came to America in search of safety.
But in Charlotte, she was brutally murdered on a light rail train, by a career criminal who should never have been free to roam the streets.
This tragedy is not an accident. It is the direct result of failed progressive policies that put violent repeat offenders ahead of innocent victims. Soft-on-crime policies have turned too many American cities into danger zones, and if they had their way, Iowa would be next.
No family should ever have to live in fear that a dangerous criminal, released again and again, will destroy their lives.
That’s why I’m fighting to ensure violent criminals stay behind bars where they belong. Public safety must always come first.
But I want to hear from you:
Do you support keeping violent repeat offenders locked up?
SNAP cuts: how will they impact eastern Iowa? How can our community respond?
Please join Fairness for Iowa for a Town Hall event that discusses how the $1 billion of cuts to SNAP in Iowa will impact our communities in eastern Iowa. These cuts are a direct result of the recent Trump tax bill that was voted for by all our federal representatives including Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst, who prioritized tax cuts for billionaires over feeding hungry kids and community members.
At the event, attendees can hear from panelists across the local food system including Hai Huynh, Associate Director, Coralville Community Food Pantry, Sandra Komuhiimbo, Coralville Community Leader, and Nicki Ross, Executive Director, Table to Table. Learn more about local food insecurity issues and how our local food bank and pantry system is responding to the increased needs of our community as a result of the SNAP cuts.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to take further actions to push back on SNAP cuts at the federal and state level, and call out Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst for their votes and actions to not stand up for their constituents, and instead increase food insecurity in our communities.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a goods donation for the Coralville Food Pantry to the event. The greatest need is for:
baby food
diapers (adult and children, all sizes)
period products (tampons, menstrual cups, panty liners, etc.)
personal care products (toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc.)
pet food (dog & cat)
Where: Meeting Room A, Coralville Public Library
When: Thursday Sept. 11, 5 until 6:30 p.m.
This is a chance to hear directly from community leaders and food security advocates about how this legislation could impact access to food for thousands of Iowans. Bring your questions, bring your voice, and bring a donation to help area food pantries.
ICE rolled out “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago yesterday. News media reported federal troops had been positioned at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago for more than a week, and the president announced his plans to kick off their activities in Chicago on Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 16. Obviously he couldn’t wait, impulsive dolt that he is.
Like all Democratic U.S. House members in the Chicagoland area, Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois’ 9th Congressional District is preparing constituents for increased federal immigration enforcement activities. Rep. Schakowsky wrote this helpful letter, which she sent in her congressional newsletter the same day.
President Donald Trump even considering deploying the National Guard to Chicago is outrageous and is nothing but political theater. We are a hardworking community made up of workers, families, and organizers.
This is not the first time Trump has used the National Guard as a political weapon. We all remember when he ordered a militarized crackdown on our nation’s capital in 2020 and then failed to deploy the National Guard on January 6, 2021, Washington, D.C.’s most lawless and violent day.
Now, five years later, we are seeing history repeat itself, this time, under the guise of a public safety emergency. Crime rates in Chicago have gone down. Our communities need investment, not intimidation. Sending troops into our neighborhoods will not help public safety, it will only escalate tensions.
We are a nation of immigrants and our diversity is our greatest strength. It is crucial that you KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. Stay informed so that you can protect yourself and your loved ones. Please go to my website for more info or call my office, (773) 506-7100, if you need assistance.
No American city should be ruled through force, surveillance, and intimidation. We will not stand by as our city is used to score political points. Chicagoans do not want, or need, our city turned into a military state.
In June, we mobilized millions of people to take to the streets and declare with one voice: America has no kings. Trump’s birthday parade was drowned out by protests in all 50 states and throughout the world. His attempt to turn June 14 into a coronation backfired, and the story of the day was about the strength of a movement rising against his authoritarian power grabs.
The millions of people who turned out in June helped create one of the largest single days of protest in US history, and their courage and commitment set an example for others to follow. Since then, we’ve seen more and more political leaders and institutions choosing to resist the regime rather than play dead.
But we knew June 14 was just the start. Trump is doubling down on his authoritarian tactics. He is disappearing immigrants to sprawling concentration camps, sending troops into our cities, threatening to interfere in elections, rigging maps to steal power from the voters, and orchestrating a massive giveaway to his billionaire allies as families struggle.
Trump is ramping up his attacks on our rights and democracy, but we’re not backing down. On October 18, we’re taking to the streets in more cities and in larger numbers to remind Trump, his cronies, and those on the sidelines looking for hope: America has no kings.
Right now, we’re in round the clock coordination with our No Kings partners to make the next No Kings one of the largest days of protest in US history. Next week, we’ll have events up on the map and the ability to register protests in your area. Until then, here’s what you can do to help make No Kings as big and powerful as possible:
Share the date with your friends and neighbors and sign up to be the first to know when our map of rallies and protests goes live.
Since June, this movement has only continued to grow. New Indivisible groups are forming every week, hundreds of thousands have joined our trainings on strategic non-cooperation, and we’ve launched new campaigns to resist Trump’s attacks on our elections, universities, and immigrant communities.
But with Trump escalating his authoritarian tactics, it’s critical that we respond to his power grabs loudly and publicly. We need to show up with millions of people — in demonstrations even larger than June’s — to show that the resistance is still here and growing. And every time Trump levies another attack on our rights and democracy, our movement only grows stronger in response.
Just picking a day on the calendar won’t be enough to generate the kind of response we need in this moment. A national day of protest takes time and immense resources to prepare — tech and online infrastructure, marketing materials, security investments, staging/sounds, and so much more.
So once you sign up to tell us you’re in, please consider chipping in to help make No Kings a historic day of protest. Together, we can move complacent politicians into action, bring new allies into the movement to save our democracy, and show Trump and his cronies that this movement is growing and getting stronger every day.
I’m aware of the redundancy of saying “beware of dirty tricks” while we already have a convicted felon occupying the White House engaging in impeachable, lawless behavior on a daily basis. No wonder the party sacrificed the waffley Joni Ernst and now would like to install Joni Ernst on steroids, Super MAGA Ashley Hinson who says she is “running to be President Trump’s top ally in the United States Senate.” So if you were thinking she is running because she cares about Iowa and wants to represent we the people, that’s not what she and her buddy Trump are thinking. Laura Belin has a Substack post up, Ashley Hinson’s Senate rollout: Short-term success, long-term risks.
Here in Iowa, for Democrats and our candidates, things are looking up but we have many challenges, thus I would like to put forth a few entreaties for candidates and our party from the view out here in Grassrootsland.
1- Be confident and positive but don’t get braggy – it only alerts MAGAs that they could lose and drives them even harder to come up with a juicy false smear campaign that they will spend millions of dollars on, plastering ads all over the media in order to scare the base with the idea that their world will fall apart if a single Democrat wins a seat at table. I understand they will do this anyway but we don’t need to egg them on. Keep your cards close to your chest as far as they are concerned.
2 – Please beware of MAGA dirty tricks and schemes. They come up with things that we could never even think of let alone consider doing. In all the blaming that has gone on of Democrats on that infamous caucus night somehow this video of Rachel Maddow reporting phone line jamming by MAGAs never seems to be part of the conversation. I still can’t figure out why. I guess too much truth makes people squeamish. This is certainly true about the media.
3 – They will have an October surprise in 2026 and they will not wait until October. During the current administration, we seem to have an hourly October surprise. Please, please be ready and don’t be surprised.
4 – They are going to continue the drumbeat of how bad, terrible, no good Democrats are. They are going to try to control the dialogue by baiting, lying, exaggerating and forcing candidates off of what we want to talk about and onto what they want to talk about. They will try their best to define Democratic candidates and they will use their endless stash of cash to do so. They will use their own media but the regular media will follow suit. Do not be naive just because things look good from your point of view.
5 – They are like voyeurs. They want to control people’s private lives and choices. What we read, who we marry, parenting practices, birth control methods. They will dream up horrifying scenarios and say Democrats support them, like after-birth or partial-birth abortion (no such thing) or people eating cats and dogs, school teachers with sinister motives grooming children. Do not think this stuff doesn’t work.
6 – They never say die, never back down, never admit they are wrong. This became a thing when Fox News founder Roger Ailes told them a few decades ago this is how they should be in order to win elections.
7 – MAGA policies are horrific and therefore, so unpopular no one who can see what they are doing would vote for them. They have to resort to undemocratic methods to stay in power. In addition to vote suppression, this includes making stuff up out of whole cloth. Fox News is there to make sure there is always a certain number of people who will not see through them. Notice no matter what Trump does his approvals, while dropping, still haven’t dipped below thirty-some per cent. You would think an insurrectionist wanna be dictator trying to destroy American democracy would have a lower approval rating. *More about the Fox News effect below
8 – They have trackers in campaigns right now that you wouldn’t think they would be worried about. That’s for intimidation and because they have endless resources.
Trump has been losing popularity among Iowa Republicans since before the 2024 election. So much so the party chair Jeff Kaufmann had to yell for about fifteen minutes at fellow Rs who were feeling queasy about him, browbeating them and instructing them to fake support for him.
If you listen to the next video long enough you will get to hear Kaufmann go off the rails wailing on Andy McKean, the longest-serving Republican in the Iowa state legislature, who left the party to become a Democrat because of his discomfort with Trump and the Iowa GOP’s super right-wingyness.
Watch this video for a bizarre glimpse into GOP opposite land where “hairy beasts” enter girls locker rooms and everyone but Republicans are the dishonest liars.
*The Fox News Effect refers to a measurable influence of the Fox News Channel on voter behavior and political discourse, particularly its impact on shifting viewers’ policy preferences in a conservative direction, increasing the Republican vote share, and influencing perceptions on national candidates and policy issues. This effect is attributed to partisan coverage, where Fox News selectively reports information that reinforces conservative beliefs and potentially leads to viewers developing a biased set of facts and a distrust of opposing information sources. – AI overview
I usually don’t like to get personal, but I just got a heck of a deal.
Our car is getting old – old enough to graduate from high school in a year or two. It has been reliable and dependable. But it is getting old. Also I am tired of buying gas and changing oil that supports the industry that is most responsible for making life on our space earth tenuous.
I am also quite tired of cooling systems and transmissions and all the various accessories that make owning a internal combustion engine car a true pain in the butt.
We had kind of targeted Spring of 2026 as a goal to start looking for a vehicle. Then as he often does the Felon in the White House once more inserted himself into our lives. For a party that claims they stay out of people’s lives, they sure get in the way a lot.
In this case the FIWH made a point to go after the $7500 tax rebate (or whatever it was) on EVs built in America. No doubt the FIWH targeted the rebate as a favor to his oil billionaire buddies. However, for many Americans it just moved their time table up on looking for a new vehicle. The FIWH and his congressional minions put an end to the rebates for September 30th.
Well with that new time table we started hunting. As I said we had a time table so we had been saving toward that goal. So fortunately we had money in savings. Thus over Labor Day weekend we found something we liked. With the government rebates and other incentives we came in at a price much below what we had anticipated.
For what it is worth we got a Chevy Equinox. This about 30 years after I swore I would never buy a GM car again. Here is hoping they grew up in the past three decades.
Here is a short video on the Chevy EV. I am in no way trying to shill for GM. May I also mention that with all the controls and choices it is like I am having to do a lot of learning.
6 minutes:
One last reminder: if you want to break from the dying internal combustion engine while getting a nice rebate, the tax rebate program ends on September 30th. If you are going to look for one you do not have a lot of time left.
Oh and it appears I will be helping some person out with a reliable car while they get back on their feet. BONUS!
(Let’s add privatize the public school system to the list)
Behold the New Republican Party, my friends. Behind a leader who embodies the very worst of human traits has emerged a party whose goals and ambitions embody the very worst that any collection of Americans has ever desired. Is this the Party you want to represent you and your outlook?
This Party is led by a felon – a man convicted of 34 felonies. He would likely have been convicted of more had the prosecutions not been stopped when he assumed power once again.
The Party once stood for real American values, but behind the leadership of Felon Trump they have descended into a group that whose driving principles are shown in their racism, their misogyny, blind loyalty to leadership without question, retribution on their enemies,their hatred of progress, their hatred of science, their hatred of learning and advancement and their desire to end any and all programs that in any way advance society or help people. They work only for the rich. Their mission is to subvert democracy and replace it with an authoritarian ruling class.
When someone declares themselves to be a Republican these days, you can assume that they accept all of the above without even having to ask. Those who vote Republican are saying with their vote that they also accept all of the above without question.
As usual the current president will be referred to as FIWH or the Felon in the White House. The current Republican Party will be referred to as MAGAs so as not to confuse it with what was the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower.
Some bombshells this week:
A) FREEDOM! What state moved this week to end all vaccine mandates for children?
B) What major food conglomerate announced it will split apart last week?
C) What supposed financial genius was instrumental in putting the above company together about a decade ago?
D) SCOTUS declared the FIWH above the law when acting as president. Knowing that, the US bombed a small boat from what country without notice last week?
E) FOOTBALL STARTS! A couple of questions about football are in order. Who won the Super Bowl last year?
F) Name Change from the FIWH The Department of defense will become the Department of what once again?
G) What administration official’s appearance before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday was riddled with lies, coverups, shouting matches and calls for his resignation?
H) What car plant in Georgia was the target of an immigration raid Friday with 475 people being taken into custody?
I) Friday was jobs report day. How did the FIWH’s economy stack up in this report?
J) With all the college conference shake ups it is hard to know what conference a team is in. For instance, what conference is Stanford in these days?
K) Thanks to the FIWH, if you want to join the Space Force you may have to go through what state?
L) And the big news in Iowa is the retirement of what major politician Tuesday?
M) What politician is estimated to have made over $4Billion since he assumed his current office?
N) What once major newser called Democrat Pete Buttigieg a “fake gay guy” Thursday?
O) During the press conference on the capitol steps for the victims of Jeffery Epstein, the FIWH tried to interrupt the press conference by doing what?
P) Iowa has a new (for them) quarterback this year. Who did he play for last year?
Q) In a truly scary test, Dr. Oz (current head of medicare) is testing what as a tool for pre-approval of Medicare treatments?
R) Secretary Kennedy and the FIWH are being accused of covering up a report that links what to cancer?
S)Waste,fraud and abuse!! Governor Newsom has said the deployment of national Guard in Los Angeles has cost about how much so far?
T)Due mostly to a funding freeze by the FIWH administration, the president of what Big Ten university resigned last week?
Bonus) What city in a red state has the FIWH threatened to invade last week?
Dr. Susan Monarez fmr CDC director writing in the Wall Street Journal editorial
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the CDC and me
“Those seeking to undermine vaccines use a familar playbook: discredit research, weaken advisory committees, and use manipulated outcomes to unravel protections that generations of families have relied on to keep deadly diseases at bay. Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined.
That isn’t reform. It is sabotage”
Trump is prepping for canceling an election, and using the National Guard. – Alex Cole 9/2/25
That was real courage on display on the Capitol steps Wednesday afternoon. Victims of child traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell coming forward and telling their stories and demanding justice. Congress members Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie held the press conference to highlight an effort to get enough members of the House to sign what is known as a discharge petition.
A discharge petition is when a majority of the House (218 members of 435) override the power of the Speaker on what will come to the floor of the House for a vote. I this are it is for a bill to get the Epstein files released. As noted by Congress member Khanna there are 212 Democratic members who have signed the discharge petition. Therefore the petition needs only 6 more signatures.
Those 6 members will be Republicans (or MAGA if you prefer) simply because that is all that is left. One would think that the issue that this petition is trying to bring to the floor is justice for women, that every woman would be disposed to sign the petition to get justice for women. There are something like 32 Republican members of congress:
This is a long video. It is here if you want to watch it. It is 1:33 14 long. I post it to show what courage looks like.
It is amazing, almost unbelievable that there would be any Republican woman who would not have the courage or the simple empathy to sign a petition to end an injustice. Republican members of congress were threatened openly by their leadership that they would be primaried or ostracizedin some way.
Imagine that: The Republican leadership using intimidation and abuse to stop an investigation on intimidation and abuse. It almost boggles the mind. They are demonstrating what Americans want investigated. But if a person is a member of congress they should have enough courage to stand up for what is right.
But some 30 female Republicans could not find the scintilla of courage to stand up for women and sign the petition. Three Republican women have signed the petition – let me repeat: only three. Margery Tailor Greene, Lauren Bobert and Nancy Mace.
Do Iowans notice any names missing? Ashley Hinson is one name missing. Here is a woman who just this week announced that she wants our votes to make her Senator from Iowa. Yet in the first action where she has a chance to show her courage and her ability – the simple act of signing a discharge petition – she fails miserably. Will you vote for someone so cowardly?
Take heed Iowans. Hinson definitely cowers to the power and will always put Trump first. Iowans are a long way down her list of priorities. For Iowa women and Iowans who have women in their lives this should feel like a real act of cowardice and a slap in the face. Hinson had a chance to show just a smidgeon of courage and she couldn’t do even a little bit.
And where is Marianette Miller-Meeks? She couldn’t screw up even a little smidge of courage either. Miller-Meeks has long voted or acted one way and then lied to her district about what she is doing. It will be interesting to hear he lie her way out of this one. She has simply failed her constituents yet again.
In failing her district, Miller-Meeks once again cowers to an administration that is wrecking the country. In this case Miller-Meeks chooses to continue to support lawlessness over the American ideal of people being responsible for their actions. In this case, Donald J. Trump.
Hinson and Miller-Meeks won’t stand up for you. Why would you ever vote for them?
Oh and BTW, the sound of jets flying overhead was Trump wasting valuable money, resources and personnel by trying to drown out the courageous voices of the Epstein victims with the loud engines of jets. What a coward Trump is. Long past time he is brought to justice. Waste, fraud and abuse in the flesh.
You may remember Miller-Meeks running from Alex Lawson when he asked her about her lies:
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)
Blog For Iowa 