Why Minnesota? Maybe Because Of Epstein?

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Dave Bradley

 6 minutes: 

Most Americans are completely flabbergasted by the Trump regime’s flat out attack on the state on Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis in particular. Both the city and the state are damn decent people who have earned the term “Minnesota nice” from their fellow humans. 

Yet for some reason the current president has decided that both must pay a heavy price for something. Most of us are scratching our heads wondering what did they do to deserve a reign of terror from their own government. Only one person knows and that is Trump himself. As Trump descends into dementia, maybe he no longer knows. 

I admit I do not know, but I am going to take a stab at it. I believe this is part of his continuing campaign to divert from the Epstein Files and his cover up of those files. Remember that politicians and criminals are most often brought down by the cover up rather than the crime itself. 

Thus, Trump is doing all he can to divert from the Epstein Files. He has many avenues he has used for diversion. Blaming immigrants for any number of crimes and then cracking down on them is an old school right wing play that seems to always work. SoTrump dips into that well once again. 

But in the current case he gets a chance to also extract retribution against one of his opponents in the last election. As another plus to Trump he gets to extract retribution from a state that has never voted for him.  

As if terrorizing Americans, killing them and then further invading the state wasn’t enough, Trump is also diverting attention by invading Venezuela and overthrowing their government. The plus here is stealing Venezuela’s oil. If invading Venezuela wasn’tenough, how about threatening war with Iran?  

Not enough, yet? How about threatening to invade the territory of a fellow NATO member? This could easily end decades long alliances and make the US a pariah in international affairs.  

How about one more – say the investigation of Fed Chair Jay Powell in an effort to bend what is supposed to be an independent agency to follow his orders. 

All this is in some way in related to his desire to keep any discussion of the Epstein Files out of the news. As the Epstein files get covered up, we have compounding cover ups about ICE and Venezuela and Greenland and other behind the scenes actions that may come to bite the US in the ass sown the road. 

As Heather Cox Richardson put it in her newsletter Friday: 

You know what Americans aren’t talking about very much today after Trump’s threat to detonate the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) this week and his threat this morning to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota? 

They aren’t talking a lot about the fact that the Department of Justice has released less than 1% of the Epstein files despite the law, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Congress passed requiring the release of those files in full no later than December 19. Trump loyalists are trying to shift public anger at Trump over the files back to former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom QAnon conspiracy theorists believed were at the heart of a child sex trafficking scheme. 

{snip} 

The Epstein files are the backdrop for everything else, but also getting less attention than they would in any normal era are the fact that an agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot and killed a 37-year-old white mother a little more than a week ago and that President Donald J. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem all defended her killing by calling Renee Good and her wife “domestic terrorists.” 

As G. Elliott Morris noted today in Strength in Numbers, more Americans disapprove of that shooting and the way ICE is behaving than approve of them by a margin of about 20 points. There is a gap of about 8 points between Americans who want ICE abolished over those who don’t. Morris writes: “Trump has turned what was nominally a bad issue for him (–6 on immigration and –10 on deportations, per my tracking) into a complete sh*t show in the court of public opinion.” Although immigration had been one of Trump’s strongest positions, now only 20–30% of Americans favor the way ICE is enforcing Trump’s immigration policies. 

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2026 election | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sunday Funday: MLK Day Edition

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Dave Bradley

First let me apologize for the formatting of this quiz. I have had upgrades to my computer over the last few months. It seems like each one makes the editor programs worse. In an attempt to rectify that, I tried using WFW. That didn’t work very well so I went back to Apples product and in the process came out with a Frankenstein of a quiz. Stay tuned for next week when I try it all over again~~~~~ You can tell we are amateurs

Even as our current president {known here as the Felon In the White House or FIWH} continues to do all he can to gin up the start of a civil war in Minnesota, we will still take a few minutes to remember one of the greatest Americans ever, Martin Luther King.

It is very interesting to look back today to King’s leadership during a time when violence was used against black people almost at will. Today we have a president who is having ICE agents use violence almost at will mostly against people of color, but also against nearly anyone. MLK’s voice is a voice for the ages. This video is 27 minutes long:

We will have some questions around the battle for civil rights in the US. Sadly, the FIWH will probably dominate the questions.

  1. A) What lesser known civil rights leader from the 1950s and 1960s died this week?
  2. B) Following the murder of Renee Good, who claimed to have internal bleeding from injuries?
  3. C) What news source reported the above story when no one else would?
  4. D) Jim Crow – we have all heard that name – who was he?
  5. E) Who declared he was the acting president of Venezuela Monday?
  6. F) The Trump nominee for ambassador to Iceland made what truly insulting comment about Iceland last week?
  7. G) The four person crew came back from the International Space Station early during the past week. Why?
  8. H) The FIWH is threatening what against countries who refuse to back the US’s effort to take over Greenland?
  9. I) The SCOTUS decision in 1954’s Brown v. Board case overturned what discriminatory policy of that time?
  10. J) What is the FIWH doing with the money the US has gotten from stealing Venezuela’s oil?
  11. K) Who said that we shouldn’t even have an election in 2026 “because of all of Trump’s accomplishments there is no need for one.”?
  12. L) Grok – what’s it up to these days?
  13. M) The FIWH got a Nobel Peace Prize this week. How did he do that?
  14. N) What southern governor famously stood in the schoolhouse door when black citizens attempted to enroll at the U of Alabama in 1963?
  15. O) What well known cartoonist and extreme right political supporter died of cancer this week?
  16. P) What well known water quality researcher launched a bid for Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa last week?
  17. Q) February 1, 1960 the first ‘sit-in’ was staged in what city? {hint: North Carolina}
  18. R) 17 players were charged in a point shaving scheme in what sport Thursday?
  19. S) MLK was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. Why was he in Memphis at that time?
  20. T) In yet another manifestation of racial hatred, a synogogue was burned in what state last week?

The biggest difference between Greenland and Donald Trump is that Greenland is not for sale.

~ Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com

Answers:

  1. A) Claudette Colvin. She was the first black woman who refused to give a white man he seat in Montgomery in March 1955
  1. B) Her murderer Jonathan Ross
  1. C) CBS now under the leadership of Bari Weiss
  1. D) He was a character in a very long ago racist play
  1. E) The FIWH
  1. F) That Iceland would be the 52nd state and he would be the governor
  1. G) Medical emergency. NASA has not identified who or what yet
  1. H) Higher tariffs!
  1. I) “separate but equal”
  1. J) He opened an offshore account in Qatar – bizarre
  1. K) Trump
  1. L) creating sexualized images of women and underaged girls. Also been hired by Hegseth’s Dep’t of War!
  1. M) Maria Machado gave hers to our FIWH when she visited Washington Thursday
  1. N) George C. Wallace
  1. O) Scott Adams of Dilbert fame
  1. P) Chris Jones
  1. Q) Greensboro
  1. R) college basketball
  1. S) he was there to support a sanition workers strike
  1. T) Mississippi

One week ago they killed a white woman in broad daylight.

Tonight they’ve shot a protester in the leg and put six children in the hospital.

The kids were in a car with their Dad who was trying to get them out of the neighborhood.

ICE threw a flash bang at the car.

6 children. – Kelly

Tip of the hat to EarlG at democraticunderground.com

Posted in #trumpresistance, Blog for Iowa, Humor | Leave a comment

So, Let’s Hear From Rob Sand 

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Dave Bradley

Thanks to some 15+ years of pretty much one-party rule in Iowa, we have seen our beloved state sink in all sorts of rankings. Most of all,we are seeing our best and brightest youngsters head out past the coasts of Iowa for opportunities beyond our borders. No matter how you slice it, Republican policies in this state are not what the people want.  

As I am sure you all know, Rob Sand is the only Democratic candidate in the field. As you will see in this interview with Andrew Egger of The Bulwark from November, Rob Sand is not running to be the Democratic Governor of Iowa, but the Governor for all Iowans. (19:30): 

The field on the other side of the slate are specifically running to continue to impose policies that are geared to the wealthy and well connected. Any one of them will be much more beholden to the current president than to Iowans. Thus, common sense should lead Iowa voters to vote for the guy who will prioritize them and the state, not what the party wants. 

Iowa voters are generally a thoughtful bunch. When they contemplate policies that have led to Iowa’s brain drain, low wages, high cancer rates and agricultural market instability, I think they will see Rob Sand as a beacon in a bleak future. 

Last time I looked, Kim Reynolds was the lowest rated governor in the country with a –12% negative rating in October. 

There is no reason to elect another governor anything like Reynolds, who is simply a puppet to Donald Trump. Iowa is fortunate to have one of the brightest and most honest candidates ever to run. Therefore the choice should be simple in my mind.  

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2026 election, Kim Reynolds, Rob Sand | Leave a comment

🔥 ICE WATCH. COMMUNITY DEFENSE. DIRECT ACTION.

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Dave Bradley

 

from email

{Not sure how I got this message. Pretty sure it was an email. Sorry for the short notice. Hopefully some can make this training. I can almost assure you that the ICE menace will be spreading }

“This Saturday, we’re training our community to protect one another — and then we’re taking the streets. 

Join Escucha Mi Voz Iowa for an ICE Watch Community Defense Training at Dream City (611 Southgate Ave) from 12–2pm, followed by a March to Jorge and Rally for Renee. 

We will learn how to legally observe ICE, defend our neighbors, and organize real protection — then march together to demand Hands Off Jorge, Justice for Renee, and ICE Out of Iowa.” 

✊🏽 RSVP now: https://secure.everyaction.com/IzXCmWMlGUKvGmlcwUA6Ig2 

📞 319-321-8664 | 515-729-6482 📧 info@escuchamivozia.org 📲 @escuchamivozia 

Iowa #iowacity #calltoaction 

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Be Contrary!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Here is an excellent action guide from The Contrarian.  Something for everyone here.

Follow The Contrarian on Substack. Support independent media.

Contrarian Calls To Action
A how-to guide for making a difference for democracy

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Whether you want to exercise your right to vote, join a protest, call your congressperson, run for office, or keep tabs on the week’s hottest issues and protests, The Contrarian has you covered.

Here are our top suggestions for getting involved in the days ahead. These are heated times; we encourage non-violent and lawful activism.

Counter ICE

  • Contact your members of Congress to demand a full, transparent investigation into the killing of Renee Good by an immigration agent in Minneapolis. Include calls for justice and accountability. (Find resources to connect you with your legislators below)
  • Demand a fight over Homeland Security funding. Democrats such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) are leading efforts to slash the mass-deportation budget, vowing “not one dime” for Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Department of Homeland Security funding is part of budget negotiations that must be completed before January 30. Democrats have rare leverage to slash ICE spending or at least impose meaningful reforms, including unmasking federal agents. But some in the party may be looking to duck another showdown and could use your encouragement. Watch our own how-to video here.
  • Support the impeachment of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. In the wake of ICE’s deadly shooting, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) has called for Noem’s removal, alleging “obstruction of Congress,” “violation of public trust,” and “self dealing.” With more than 50 House Democrats cosponsoring the impeachment, you have an opportunity to thank your lawmakers or encourage others to get on board.
  • Help targeted community members protect themselves from ICE. When federal agents are out in force, many immigrants and citizens of color alike are afraid to leave their homes. Families in Minneapolis (and before them in Chicago and elsewhere) have been demonstrating how to show solidarity:
  • Distribute know-your-rights cards to help inform neighbors of their constitutional protections regardless of immigration status.
  • Hand out whistles to blow if deportation agents are spotted in your neighborhood. (Honking your car horn works, too.)
  • Organize carpools for the children of affected parents or offer to do a grocery run or other essential errands.
  • Create volunteer teams to monitor neighborhoods near schools and bus stops to ensure it’s clear for kids to move about.
  • Record interactions between federal agents with community members and distribute evidence of abuses widely on social platforms and to the media.

Defend the Fed

  • Pressure lawmakers to stand up for the independence of the Federal Reserve. The Trump Justice Department has opened an investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, ostensibly over renovations to Fed offices. Powell released an extraordinary video calling the probe a “pretext” meant to intimidate him into taking Trump’s orders on interest rates. The issue is creating a wedge in the GOP that can be exploited. Top Republican senators, including like Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and banking chair Thom Tillis (R-NC) are expressing their disapproval of DOJ’s overreach, and even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was “unhappy” with the investigation.

Honor MLK

  • To honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr. on the January 19 federal holiday, search Mobilize.us for an event or google for an MLK Day of Service volunteer opportunity near you.

Upcoming Protests

  • Timed to the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, the January 20 “Free America Walkout” is a demonstration against fascism. Organizers are calling for a nationwide “walk out”—of “work, school, and commerce”—at 2 p.m. local time.
  • In Minneapolis, labor leaders are calling for a city-wide general strike on January 23.

Below, find The Contrarian’s standing resources for empowering yourself in American civic life:

Contact Your Elected Officials

It can feel old-school (or even cringe), but calling your elected officials is effective in moving the political needle. This is true whether you’re calling to oppose an official’s stance or spur them into action that matches their rhetoric. Watch our how-to video here.

To reach the Washington, D.C. office of any House or Senate member, call the congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121. In the run-up to big votes, you may have better luck reaching a human by calling the politician’s state or district office.

Common Cause has built a remarkable tool that lets you plug in your home address and receive a roster with contact information for the elected officials who represent you — from city council members to U.S. senators. When you’re ready to make a call, the League of Conservation Voters offers a comprehensive guide on best practices.

E-mail from constituents can be effective too. Democracy.io has a one-stop tool to email your Senators and Representatives.

Find out more at: Common Cause; LCV; Democracy.io.

Get Active with Neighbors

No group has channelled the energies of the anti-Trump coalition more effectively than Indivisible. The group focuses on empowering local activists who come together in periodic, nationwide mobilizations that stretch from big, blue cities to sleepy red-state towns. (Watch Jen Rubin’s interview with Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin on the tactics of effective resistance).

If you’re more comfortable organizing on a Reddit forum or a Discord server than a living room potluck, try the newest player on the activist block: 50501.org. And if you’re just looking to make a difference on your own, Mobilize.us offers an array of local volunteer opportunities, petitions, and events.

Find out more at: Indivisible.org, where you can read the handbook and find an active group in your area or start one of your own. Discover 50501.org’s “Welcome Guide” here. Or click your state at Mobilize.us to find an action that works for you.

Guarantee Your Vote

Donald Trump & Co. are committed to gerrymandering and voter-suppression — including purging voter rolls of supposedly ineligible or “inactive” voters — because they’re afraid of the power of your vote. Don’t be intimidated. Vote.org offers a one-stop shop to double-check your registration status; if you’re not registered, you can sign up in minutes online. The group also offers a toolkit to begin a voter registration drive of your own. The Fair Elections Center has compiled a helpful, state-by-state resource (click the map) that will alert you to registration deadlines and help you find your polling location.

Find out more at: Vote.org, Fair Elections Center. A federal mail-in voter registration form is also available in many languages here.

Help Flip the House

The best near-term hope for restoring American checks and balances is flipping the House of Representatives in November. Swing Left is a progressive organization focused on 33 key House seats for the 2026 midterm—19 GOP-held seats to target and 14 Democratic seats to defend. Around since 2016, Swing Left solicits donations for these high-impact races and organizes grassroots volunteers.

Find out more at: Swing Left.

Run for Office

If you’re ready to take a leap into politics yourself, Run For Something can help you get off the ground. The organization has built an impressive pipeline of progressive talent to reshape our politics—from local races up to members of Congress. Founded by millennial author and activist Amanda Litman (watch her interview with Jen Rubin here), Run for Something specifically recruits next-generation candidates. But the organization offers resources for first-time candidates of all ages, including logistical support to help run “efficient, strategic, grassroots, driven campaigns.”

Find out more at: RunforSomething.net

Embrace ‘Tactical Frivolity’

The serious business of defending democracy doesn’t have to be so, well, serious. As the inflatable frogs of Portland taught us, there is room—and, indeed, a need—for lightness and what academics call “tactical frivolity.” This carnival-like spirit, which may involve costumes or music or goofy protest signs, buoys fellow protesters even as it confounds would-be authoritarians who are counting on fear to reinforce the perception of their power. (Context is key, consider whether your inflatable costume will be out of place at a somber vigil.)

Learn more here.

Consider a Boycott

In capitalist America, one of the most powerful ways to vote is with your pocketbook. Withholding spending can send a powerful signal to corporations that they should think twice before collaborating with the Trump administration or complying with its culture-war marching orders.

Protests at Tesla dealerships played a role in pushing Elon Musk out of his destructive White House stint as unofficial co-president. The Rev. Jamal Bryant has led a consumer boycott of Target, which abandoned its once-robust DEI commitments after Trump’s election, leading to several quarters of reduced revenue. Home Depot, Hilton, and Amazon have all been hit by recent anti-MAGA consumer protests. These protests are effective. Boycotts of Avelo Airlines helped spur that budget carrier to end its deportation-flight contract with ICE. Spotify similarly stopped airing ICE recruitment ads after consumer backlash.

The activist group Choose Democracy has a solid boycott tracker. Also check out the list at BoycottHere.com.

Find out more at: BoycottHere; Boycott Central; TeslaTakedown; WeAintBuyingit; Groundavelo.

Combat Misinformation Online

Social media billionaires like Musk are rigging their algorithms to prioritize right-wing content—especially surrounding ICE operations. Report posts with false or misleading content, add or request “community notes,” and circulate or create factual content. RumorGuard, a project of the nonpartisan News Literacy Project, offers tools to recognize misinformation, including a catalog of hoax content that’s gone viral. Snopes.com also specializes in debunking misinformation.

Find out more: RumorGuard; Snopes

Declare Energy Independence

The planet is overheating and our foreign policy is a nightmare, significantly because of America’s addiction to fossil fuels. The Trump administration wants to keep American drivers hooked on Big Oil and keep the energy grid powered by fossil fuels—and has reduced pollution controls and phased out federal tax incentives for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

But with state-level supports, the economics of green energy still make sense for millions of Americans. Kelley Blue Book maintains a state-by-state catalog of electric vehicle incentives. Homeowners can get a rough cost estimate for powering their homes with renewable energy at Solar-estimate.org. For renters, a group called Bright Saver is lobbying to make “balcony solar”—think: small, DIY solar arrays plugged into your home outlets—legal and accessible across the country.

Find out more at: KBB; Solar-estimate.org; Bright Saver.

Support Nonprofit Media

In an age of right-wing billionaire takeovers of once-great newspapers, broadcast networks, and social media platforms, supporting independent media outlets has never been more critical. Some of our favorites include ProPublica, Mother Jones, and local outlets such as the Barbed Wire in Texas, the Minnesota Reformer, the Tennessee Holler, and the Mississippi Free Press.

The publication you’re reading is also unique: The Contrarian is not owned by anybody and all of our profits fund pro-democracy litigation.

Find out more: Subscribe to The Contrarian or give a subscription as a gift.

 

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Who Are Those Guys?

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Trish Nelson

Must read article on Slate if you haven’t seen it yet. Liberal applies for an ICE job, gets hired and writes about the process. Here are a few highlights.  You can read most of it on Slate without being a subscriber. There is also a promo deal three months for five bucks. Support independent media.

By Laura Jedeed 

“The plan was never to become an ICE agent.  The plan, when I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. Who wouldn’t be curious? The event promised on-the-spot hiring for would-be deportation officers: Walk in unemployed, walk out with a sweet $50k signing bonus, a retirement account, and a license to brutalize the country’s most vulnerable residents without consequence—all while wrapped in the warm glow of patriotism.”

“The expo event was part of ICE’s massive recruitment campaign for the foot soldiers it needs to execute the administration’s dream of a deportation campaign large enough to shift America’s demographic balance back whiteward.”

“When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event’s lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That’s the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency.”

“ICE’s recruitment push is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who’s joining the agency’s ranks. We’re all, collectively, in the dark about whom the state is arming, tasking with the most sensitive of law enforcement work, and then sending into America’s streets.”

“..the entire process took less than six minutes. The woman took my résumé and placed the form she’d been filling out on top. “They are prioritizing current law enforcement first. They’re going to adjudicate your résumé,” she told me. If my application passed muster, I’d receive an email about next steps, which could arrive in the next few hours but would likely take a few days. ”

“The agent took the opportunity to gush about ICE’s new state-of-the-art semi-automatic tasers and brand-new pepper-ball guns. “It’s mostly very liberal cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles—where groups will come and try to stop ICE officers from arresting somebody. They’re like, ‘We’re going to form a human wall against you,’ ” he said. “When they do that, you can just pop ‘em up. Let them disperse and cry about it.”

“It takes a lot to remove somebody from the United States. Some people are subject to due process.”

“Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job.”

“According to the application portal, my pre-employment activities remained pending. And yet, it also showed that I had accepted a final job offer and that my onboarding status was “EOD”—Entered On Duty, the start of an enlistment period. I moused over the exclamation mark next to “Onboarding” and a helpful pop-up appeared. “Your EOD has occurred. Welcome to ICE!”

“By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.”

Read more

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Opening Day Speech: Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Trish Nelson


|Here we go. Good luck, Democrats.

Iowa Senate Democrats

Opening Day Speech: Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner

Members of the media, the lobby, friends and family, and all Iowans listening today: thank you all for being here.

To my Senate colleagues: welcome back. Our Senate family has been through the ringer this past year.

As a Senate family, we mourn the losses of our colleagues and friends, Claire Celsi and Rocky De Witt.

As Iowans, we grieve for SGT William Nathaniel Howard and SGT Edgar Brian Torres Tovar. We hold the Howard and Torres Tovar families, as well as the three other Iowans injured in the attack in Syria, close to our hearts.

As Americans, we continue to face political violence that has shaken us to our core.

We do not live in a bubble here under the Golden Dome.

In just the past few days, a woman was shot to death in Minnesota and a synagogue was torched in Mississippi – the same one that was firebombed by the KKK nearly 60 years ago.

We Iowans – we take care of our neighbors, we are tolerant, and we stand up for their rights, which are our rights, too.

Because we all know that “love thy neighbor” comes with no exceptions.

So let us resolve to carry out the People’s business with civility and empathy.

Let us do so, keeping in mind our state motto – our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.

First, a few acknowledgements.

To Senator Whitver, thank you for your service as Majority Leader. I hope that retirement brings the gift of well-earned quality time with your family.

To Senator Klimesh, congratulations on your election as Majority Leader. I look forward to building a renewed commitment to the bipartisan cooperation Iowans expect. We both come from local government, and know that we are elected to work together for all our citizens.

To Senator Drey and Senator-elect Hardman: Welcome.

We look forward to your fresh perspectives, as well as the beginning of a restored sense of balance your presence brings to the People’s Senate.

Shortly, Senator-elect Hardman will be sworn in – and make history. And when she is, I hope we will all listen closely to the words of the oath we each took to support and defend the Iowa Constitution and the US constitution – as public servants who answer to Iowans.

As we open this session, it is time for us to re-establish our state as a champion for working families;

To deliver on the promise of a better Iowa, where all Iowans can truly thrive.

Having talked to Iowans from the Mississippi to the Missouri, I can report that something has gone wrong over the past nine years.

It has gone wrong for our economy – we have some of the lowest income and GDP growth in the country.

It has gone wrong for our ability to attract and retain talent – we have a serious brain drain and are now the seventh most “outbound” state in the nation. We need our young people and talent to stay here.

It has gone wrong for our healthcare – we have the worst ratio of women to OB/GYNs in the entire country, and hundreds of thousands of Iowans are now being priced out of health insurance.

It has gone wrong for our cancer rates – we have the country’s second highest rate and the only growing rate.

It has gone wrong for our state finances – Iowa is running a $1.26 billion dollar deficit this fiscal year.

It is time for change.

It is time to listen to the working Iowans who power this state – who are telling us – in cities big or small, in rural communities and everywhere in between – that their core issue is affordability.

We can and must work to find solutions for rising housing costs,

We can and must work to find solutions to childcare that remains either inaccessible or the equivalent of a second mortgage,

We can and must work to find solutions to run away healthcare costs, higher grocery prices, and unaffordable home and car insurance premiums.

And we can and must work to find solutions for our farmers – way too many of whom – due to high input costs and disappearing markets – are barely making ends meet.

We all represent working families walking a tightrope as they manage a budget stretched so thin it keeps them up at night.

We all know students, young people who are our future, who have seen their educational opportunities shrink.

In each of our districts is a worker whose plant is closing,

Or a farmer who is losing money on every bushel,

Or an employee facing the next round of layoffs,

Or a teacher contemplating leaving the state.

We Iowans are good neighbors – an Iowa value that we saw on full display with record donations to our food banks –

But private efforts can only go so far – they cannot scale to fill the gaps created by cuts to federal and state services. No Iowa child deserves to go hungry.

It is our job as legislators to help create the conditions to grow our economy, to compete successfully with our Midwestern neighbors for the best and brightest.

But we can do so only if our state is an affordable, welcoming place where families can grow and thrive, no matter where in our great state they choose to live.

It is up to us to set future generations up for success by investing in our children, creating affordable, accessible childcare options statewide, and once again putting excellence in public education front and center.

That means investing in the system responsible for educating over 90% of Iowa’s children so they can all succeed.

If we aim to grow our economy and our workforce, we can’t afford to NOT invest in them.

What we CAN’T afford is to continue subsidizing private schools for the wealthiest Iowans while diminishing resources for everyone else.

And that’s a choice WE need to make if we want our urban AND our rural areas to thrive – with opportunity for all.

It’s time we reject the influence of special interests, of out-of-state interference, and re-establish an Iowa that works for working Iowans – not just the wealthy and well-connected.

It’s time to fight back against predatory private equity firms and hedge funds that gobble up our housing supply and raise prices on working Iowans or lower the standard of care in our nursing facilities.

It’s time to ensure that our neighbors, regular folks trying to heat and cool their homes, don’t bear the added cost of our system’s highest energy users.

We must find solutions for the hundreds of thousands of Iowans whose monthly healthcare premiums have skyrocketed,

for those at risk of losing Medicaid,

for the scores of farmers who have seen their markets shrink or collapse, and for the working families who see the same paycheck buy fewer groceries each week.

They are depending on us. And we work for them.

Iowans won’t forget what we do in this chamber this year, and they won’t forgive us if we fail to invest in their future.

We are not just Des Moines or Iowa City or Spillville or Red Oak. We are a shared community of ALL Iowans. It is more important to raise the floor for all than to raise the ceiling for a few.

Let’s remember our oath, remember who we work for – and deliver on the promise we made to serve the People.

Let’s work together, and strive for an affordable, welcoming Iowa for all.

Let’s get to work.

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Trump Regrets Not Seizing Voting Machines

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Trish Nelson


Trump told the NYT he regrets not seizing voting machines after the 2020 elections. Before you scoff and call him a lunatic and say he can’t do that in the states, listen to Marc Elias of Democracy Docket whose firm has battled MAGAS in court successfully and repeatedly, give a tutorial on what they’re going to try, how and why. This video is a reality check covering the things you’ve already heard, but getting deeper into the weeds.  The end result of watching is greater clarity about why certain things are happening. I don’t know about you, but any time I can find clarity in the MAGA chaos it’s a good day.

Check out this gift article  Trump Regrets Not Seizing Voting Machines After 2020 Election  from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription.

Contact your groups, democratic reps,  local election officials and candidates. Not sure this is a serious topic yet in #Iowa but it should be.

Marc Elias goes over what we have to worry about in this video.  “You are going to see the military employed” is just one of the fun highlights!  He says the military and ICE will be there to cause commotion and slow things down where Democrats vote.

“Donald Trump is saying that when it comes to the counting and tabulation of votes in 2026, the states have to do what the president of the United States tells them to do. If there was a clearer statement of Trump’s plan to rig the outcome of the 2026 election, I don’t know what it is. He literally means he gets to decide which votes count and which votes don’t count. And this is the biggest threat that we face going into the 2026 election.”  – Marc Elias

Then at the very end when you think you can’t take anymore scary information, there is three minutes of hopeful.

As a matter of law, nothing that he said is true. The states are independent sovereigns. They have their own constitutional rights and responsibilities. They in fact do not have to do what the federal government says. The constitutions says that the time, place and manner of elections is set by the states not by the federal government. Congress can modify what the states do. But the president has no constitutional role in the counting and tabulation of votes.”

Nevertheless, we will have to fight to protect our elections. He finishes by sharing what we can all do make sure free and fair elections will prevail.

Marc Elias’ firm has defeated Trump over and over in court and is confident democracy will win the day but it will be a fight. Please consider donating to Democracy Docket. You will get premium content on Democracy Docket substack.

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Anti-Ice Protesters Flood 500 U.S. Cities After Shooting

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Trish Nelson

More than 1,000 Anti-Ice events and vigils to honor Renee Good who was shot and killed by ICE last week, were held over the weekend in 500 cities across the country and in all fifty states and Washington, DC.

Iowa helped.  Anti-Ice protests were held in Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities, Mt. Pleasant, Mason City, Decorah, Ames, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Indianola, Burlington, Clarinda, Shenandoah, Washington, Fairfield. And these are just the ones we know of.

Sunday in Iowa City was a peaceful, nonviolent event to memorialize the victims of ICE. Here are some photos of signs that represent how fed up Americans are feeling about mercenaries invading American communities snatching friends and neighbors off the street and in their homes, deportation without due process and killing friends and neighbors for no apparent reason.

I hope everyone here had an opportunity to link arms literally or figuratively, with fellow patriots at an in person event in your community.  This was a horrendous week under MAGA #2.  You don’t have to carry this alone.

State Representative from Iowa City, Democrat Elinor Levin made remarks

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Over In Nebraska: Tyson Fires Half Of The Town

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Dave Bradley

From one of the really good guys on the net – More Perfect Union – comes an update on Tyson’s decision to close a beef processing plant in Lexington, Ne. The town is 11,000 and Tyson’s employs 3,200 of them. You can imagine what that does to the local small businesses, the schools, the property values.

 

Under the Trump regime, rural America has taken a huge punch in the gut. Whether it be policies on beef, tariffs or corporate ag Trump has screwed the farmer on every front.

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