How Chuck Grassley Put a Fork in The Fairness Doctrine

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Trish Nelson

A follower commented on one of my Blue Sky posts about former Australia prime minister Kevin Rudd saying this about Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch’s monopoly on Australia’s media is a “cancer on democracy” that serves to “chill free speech and undermine public debate,” former prime minister Kevin Rudd said.

Another former Australia prime minister according to NPR, blames Fox News for America’s polarized politics.

I couldn’t agree more.

Fox News is the mother ship of all the other propaganda offshoots that have sprung up in the U.S. including right wing talk radio, alive and well in Iowa. Right wing podcasts disguised as conversational chit chat are now saturating the internet as well. Joe Rogan is the new Rush Limbaugh.

My Blue Sky follower commented, “You would think we would have fixed this by now.” I agree but the comment reminded me that President Obama was going to try to fix it but was thwarted by none other than Iowa’s Senator Chuck Grassley.

Republicans understand the value of right wing propaganda. They know it is essential to their ability to stay in power no matter how bad they are, even as our side doesn’t totally get it.

The Fox News effect makes it so no matter what Trump does his approval still hovers in the 30’s. I mean think about it, Trump talks of invading Greenland and Canada. He has abandoned due process. And trying to destroy the social safety net and dismantle government. We all know what he’s up to. So why should anyone approve of him? Republicans know Fox and friends always have their backs.

But maybe we’re being forced to confront this humongous problem now in Trump2.0.

Art Cullen dared to address this taboo topic. In his substack Fomented Fear is Killing Civil Society he wrote, “Propaganda. That’s what keeps us apart.”

It’s a start.

But back to how Grassley put a fork in the possible return of the Fairness Doctrine: Who remembers this? Grassley wrote a letter to President Obama’s FCC Chair, Julius Genachowski and in it linked to a report by the Center for American Progress on how we could fix the structural imbalance of conservative talk radio. But Chuck included the report as if it were a bad thing. The reason he was against Mark Lloyd, co-author of the document, being appointed Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer was because Lloyd was FOR diversity and fairness on the publicly owned airwaves.

Even before this happened, Chuck apparently browbeat Genachowski into swearing by God he would never, ever consider a return to the Fairness Doctrine, if he wanted to be FCC chair. But when Genachowski wanted to appoint Mark Lloyd as General Counsel and CDO, Grassley became suspicious that Genachowski might go back on his word and used the letter to make it clear to Obama’s FCC chair that anything resembling a Fairness Doctrine would be over his dead body.

It’s all here, still available on Chuck’s senate.gov page.

https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-asks-fcc-chairman-clarify-fairness-doctrine-statements

[This is a copy/paste of the press release and letter to Genachowski. If you read it on grassley.senate.gov there will be a link to the letter that no longer works, but the letter is still there below the press release, just scroll down.]

Grassley Asks FCC Chairman to Clarify Fairness Doctrine Statements

WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter today to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, about concerns with the appointment of Mark Lloyd as Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer. Grassley is concerned with the appointment due to Lloyd’s writings on political talk radio and the Fairness Doctrine.

Grassley discussed the Fairness Doctrine with Genachowski before his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Grassley was told by Genachowski that he did not support an effort to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine.

“The appointment of Mark Lloyd to be the Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer is at odds with assurances that the FCC would not reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that Mr. Genachowski made prior to his U.S. Senate confirmation,” Grassley said. “I hope Mr. Genachowski stands by his word and reaffirms his commitment to me that the FCC won’t be considering anything that accomplishes the goals of the Fairness Doctrine.”

The text of Grassley’s letter is shown below or by clicking here.

August 14, 2009

Julius Genachowski

Chairman

Federal Communications Commission

445 12th Street, SW

Washington, DC 20554

###

Dear Chairman Genachowski,

On July 29, 2009, you announced the appointment of Mark Lloyd as Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). I write today to express my concerns with this appointment and ask for you to clarify and reaffirm statements you made to me in a personal meeting prior to your confirmation related to the Fairness Doctrine and efforts to diversify broadcast media.

On April 22, 2009, before your confirmation by the U.S. Senate for your position as Chairman of the FCC, you came to my office and told me that you did not support an effort to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. I took you at your word that, if confirmed, the policies that you promoted at the FCC would not include any policy or regulatory shifts that seek to reintroduce the long abandoned Fairness Doctrine. However, I have serious reservations that you may be moving away from these statements you made to me regarding the Fairness Doctrine given the appointment of Mr. Lloyd to a position within the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) at the FCC. Please allow me to elaborate.

My concerns relate to Mr. Lloyd’s participation in scholarly writings on political talk radio, the Fairness Doctrine, and efforts to bring greater diversity to talk radio. Prior to joining the FCC, Mr. Lloyd served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), in addition to positions as a professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. In his capacity as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, he coauthored a paper titled, “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio.” This paper argued that radio programming was currently “imbalanced” and that there are “serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.” Mr. Lloyd’s paper suggests three options to remedy the “imbalance” in political talk radio, including (1) restoring caps on commercial radio station ownership, (2) ensure greater accountability in licensing, and (3) require owners who fail to enforce public interest ownership obligations to pay a fee. While these remedies seem innocuous on their face, hidden within the paper are some stark revelations.

First, Mr. Lloyd’s paper suggests that the Fairness Doctrine was “never formally repealed.” Instead, Mr. Lloyd argues that the FCC merely announced “it would no longer enforce certain

regulations under the umbrella of the Fairness Doctrine.” The paper continues by stating that while the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FCC decision, the Supreme Court has “never overruled the cases that authorized the FCC’s enforcement of the Fairness Doctrine…thus it technically would not be considered repealed.”

Second, the paper suggests that the FCC revise the licensing process for radio broadcasters. Specifically, it suggests that licenses should not be permitted for longer than three years, that they be subject to challenges in the decision to renew their licenses, and that they submit to strict documentation and regulatory requirements.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the paper suggests that commercial radio owners be subjected to new regulatory requirements enforcing public interest obligations and if they fail to meet these standards, subjecting them to fees and taxes in order to compel compliance. The paper suggests that such a fee or fine structure could raise between $100 million to $250 million in new revenue, but would not “overly burden commercial radio broadcasters.”

Taken together, these statements represent a view that the FCC needs to expand its regulatory arm further into the commercial radio market. However, it would be unfair for me to say that Mr. Lloyd has specifically advocated for a return to the Fairness Doctrine. Instead, he has argued that the Fairness Doctrine is unnecessary if other regulatory reforms to commercial radio are implemented. Specifically, in discussing the CAP paper “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio,” Mr. Lloyd authored an internet article published on CAP’s website entitled, “Forget the Fairness Doctrine.” In that piece, Mr. Lloyd stated, “we call for ownership rules that we think will create greater local diversity…we call for more localism by putting teeth into the licensing rules. But we do not call for a return to the Fairness Doctrine.”

Simply put, I strongly disagree with Mr. Lloyd. I do not believe that more regulation, more taxes or fines, or increased government intervention in the commercial radio market will serve the public interest or further the goals of diversifying the marketplace. I am concerned that despite his statements that the Fairness Doctrine is unnecessary, Mr. Lloyd supports a backdoor method of furthering the goals of the Fairness Doctrine by other means. Accordingly, I ask that you clarify and reaffirm your commitment to me to oppose any reincarnation of the Fairness Doctrine. Further, I ask you to affirmatively state that you will not pursue an agenda that includes any new restrictions, fines, fees, or licensing requirements on commercial radio that would effectively create a backdoor Fairness Doctrine. I appreciate your prompt reply regarding this important matter.

Sincerely,

Chuck Grassley

United States Senator

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Urgent Action Alert: IA-01 Call Miller-Meeks Today

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Trish Nelson

Click on the image to find your Indivisible group

Action alert from Indivisible –

This week, behind closed doors in Washington DC, House Republicans are meeting in private to decide how many millions of Americans they’ll kick off Medicaid — all to fund tax cuts that make billionaires even richer.

Your representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, is on a key committee [Energy and Commerce] that decides how many billions of dollars the GOP reconciliation plan steals from Medicaid. Please call Rep. Miller-Meeks right now to tell her HANDS OFF our Medicaid! Can’t get through?  Email your rep here

Here’s what you need to know about where things stand in DC:

To offset Trump’s tax breaks for billionaires, congressional Republicans need to decide exactly how much funding they’ll cut from popular programs. They’ll comb through thousands of line items, making trillions of dollars in budget cuts, all with one unifying factor: Everyday people get screwed.

The Republicans know that those cuts are extremely unpopular, so they’re breaking into their committees and huddling in small, closed-door meetings — no Democrats allowed — to write the bill where nobody can read it until the last moment.

Of those committees, the Energy and Commerce Committee is the one tasked with cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid. Rep. Miller-Meeks is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, so when the GOP plan to decimate Medicaid drops, her fingerprints will be all over it.

We can’t let House Republicans work in private to strip millions of Americans of their health coverage, so we need you and other folks in your area to hold your representative accountable.

Click here to call your representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and get her on the record about kicking her own constituents off Medicaid! Then, ask two other people in your area to do the same.

If you can’t get through on the phone during business hours (or even after you make the call), you can also send your representative an email in just a few clicks.

House Republicans believe they can dodge their constituents and evade responsibility as they rob working people. Your calls and emails are crucial to holding them accountable and winning the fight against Trump’s merciless reconciliation plan.

Thank you,
Indivisible Team

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She’s Back! Plus A Rant On The Trumpcession

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Dave Bradley

Well, Governor Pritzker from Illinois called for Democrats to be attacking the most corrupt president and administration ever “everywhere” last week. 

Seems like just as soon as that call went out, we had a great returning speech by former Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. (18 minutes)

We have also recently had the filibuster speech by Corey Booker of New Jersey and the continuing tour of AOC and Bernie Sanders bringing the Democratic message into MAGA enclaves and getting record turnouts.

We are now at the precipice of the Trumpcession – a worldwide recession that will be caused by only one person and his followers. That person is Donald Trump. His policies are causing and will soon cause the biggest disruption ever in global trade thus bringing on a worldwide recession. 

Last week we saw the last cargo ships unloading at the west coast harbors of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach. When there are no ships to unload, longshoremen have no work and probably will be laid off. Truck drivers will have no freight to deliver. Layoffs and more layoffs.

Stores that will not be getting deliveries will lose sales which will no doubt lead to more layoffs. 

Don’t forget that America will have commodities that they can’t sell because our customers refuse to buy from us due to Trump tariff policies. These customers include those who were once among our greatest allies – Canada, Europe and Mexico. And don’t forget China. Maybe not a friend, but a huge customer.

Our farmers will raise crops and animals that they have no markets for. China just turned back 12,000 metric tons of pork. I understand they have cut their soybean orders by 97%, while upping orders from Brazil. Who wants to do business with a country whose trade policies are unreliable? It may be decades repairing broken trade relations.

We need every Democratic leader taking the message of Trump’s failures into every hamlet. We need every Democrat to participate in actions that hilight the MAGA policies and failures. Maybe the media won’t carry the stories but the social media will! We must get active to scare the bare minimum majorities of MAGAs in congress to keep their god damned hands off Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and education.

And light up those phones in the congress members Washington offices and also in their offices in state. Calls to in state offices are often given more weight, so light them up daily!

Call your senators to vote against the SAVE Act.  Your call may be the call that changes Grassley’s or Ernst’s mind.

Call! March! Get Active! As the MAGAs wreck our country don’t just stand by and watch.

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Sunday Funday: Hiding From Us Edition

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Dave Bradley

I need some laughs (11 minutes)

Miller-Meeks did something really strange last week. Really cowardly. So cowardly that if you are looking for an excuse to vote for anyone else this may be it. She had a tele-town hall and somehow avoided letting suspected Democrats of knowing that it was taking place. Is she that scared of Democrats? Is she that scared of defending her unpopular positions? 

We know she is that scared of Donald Trump. It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump’s policies are extremely unpopular in the first district. Based on the fear that MAGA congress critters around the country have of participating in town halls. MMM is not the only MAGA in that boat.

So if she won’t come to you, then you must go to her – and Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn, Randy Feenstra, Joni Ernst and old Chuckles Grassley! And don’t just call their Washington numbers – call their Iowa offices also. In fact if you have an office in a town near you drop in and ask the staff to relay some questions for you and tell them you will await their call or maybe even stop back in. It’s an Iowa neighborly thing.

100 effing days, for gawd’s sake! Only 13 more 100 day segments to go. Where to start today’s quiz?

A) What big worldwide event starts Wednesday?

B) Canada held an election last Monday. What happened to the leader of the Conservative Party?

C) Talk of cowardice: What company said it would display cost of tariffs on purchases and then reversed itself in a short span of time?

D) Who is Hannah Dugan?

E) According to US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. is the administration using the Alien Enemies Act correctly in the situation with Venezuela?

F)  May 8 to 10 – Putin has promised what?

G) What photoshopped picture did Stinky Pants swear was a real picture during an interview on ABC Wednesday?

H) Looking forward to them fireworks this Fourth of July? Well you may have to settle for lighting matches because fireworks will be held back because of what?

I) What Iowa member of congress tried to sneakily hide that they would have a telephone town hall from Democrats last week?

J) But even without fireworks who is still planning a major parade on his birthday June 14th?

K) In some real twisty logic Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says that to save what we must cut its budget?

L) Old Stinky Pants made a big to-do over re-establishing what holiday that never went away?

M) The next day scheduled for mass protests against the coming dictatorship is what?

N) Meanwhile back in Iowa the MAGA legislature is doing it bit for MAGA by trying to stick ridiculous claims against what statewide elected Democrat?

O)  Over the top much? At a show trial of a cabinet meeting AG Pam Bondi claimed Stinky Pants had saved how many lives with his fentanyl policies?

P) Also in Iowa, you may have thought that the pesticide immunity bill was dead, but what company is pressuring MAGA legislators to revive it?

Q) Who claimed ‘scheduling conflicts’ with a smirk when asked why he skipped the Eagles trip to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win?

R) Late Thursday night, Stinky Pants rolled out yet another Executive Order, this time calling for the government to stop any funding to what organization?

S) The SCOTUS heard a case from Oklahoma that would allow public funding of what?

T) Who was quoted as saying this last week – “As I’ve been warned, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. “?

If you don’t think we live in an upside down dystopia-

Texas just passed a bill that criminalizes political memes.

Answers:

A) The Catholic Church conclave to pick the next Pope

B) His party lost the election and he lost in his own riding (district to Americans)

C) Amazon, specifically Jeff Bezos knelt big time to Trump who doesn’t want you to know how much his tariffs will cost you

D) She is the Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge arrested for allegedly helping a man avoid immigration authorities

E) NO!

F) A temporary cease fire as Russia celebrates the end of WWII. His last cease fire was very bloody

G) A supposed pic of Kilmar Garcia’s knuckles with ‘MS13’ tattooed on them

H) Since most fireworks are made in China and shipping products from China has pretty much stopped because of the tariffs no one will be getting them

I) Mariannette Miller-Meeks

J) Stinky Pants! With the Army and everything just like all the dictators

K) Medicaid.

L) Columbus Day

M) June 14th. What else is planned for that day?

N) Rob Sand

O) 258 million. She really said that

P) Bayer

Q) Philadelphia’s quarterback Jalen Hurts

R) Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

S) Religious schools – it is only a very short step to that from the current voucher system

T) Canadian PM Mark Carney in his victory speech Tuesday

Cal-Maine, the biggest egg producer, has been accused of using bird flu as cover to jack up prices and triple its profits from a year ago.

It also received $22M in federal aid.

While you’re getting gouged at the grocery store, your tax dollars are subsidizing corporate greed. – Robert Reich

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Iowa’s MAGA Legislators Target Sand

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Dave Bradley

2 minutes 16 seconds:

Well, what a surprise! MAGA Kim Reynolds steps out of the governor’s race for 2026 and Iowa’s MAGA legislators acting as all MAGAs do, turn an ant hill into a mountain in an attempt to smear the one Democrat in Iowa holding a statewide office, Rob Sand.

When you look at the timeline it becomes quite apparent that this was something that MAGA legislators cared little about until it became apparent that Sand will have a good shot at becoming governor. Then it suddenly became necessary to create an issue to try to smear Sand.

As the video explains, there wasn’t a lot that Sands auditor’s office could do. Legislators trying to make it seem as if Sand could have done something only make themselves look foolish in their lack of understanding how the government works.

The Iowa Capitol Dispatch had very good summarizing paragraphs on their report:

“Sand had argued in the meeting that he was not mischaracterizing the importance of the issue, but stating that the funding did not result in the impacted government accounts like the Victim Compensation Fund running out of money — or denying Iowans services because of the underfunding. The auditor’s report found this fund’s lowest balance from FY 2021 to 2024 was just under $2.7 million, and that the other impacted funds also did not run out of funds during this period.

“There wasn’t anybody at this table, but there are people in the state of Iowa who have asserted that because of the misallocation of judicial branch services weren’t provided,” Sand said. “This statement shows that that’s not true.”

Several Republicans on the committee also asked for “verifiable” and “traceable” information, which Sand said was information provided in the audit, but added lawmakers can make further formal requests for information on transactions.

The focus on Sand in the government oversight committee meeting comes as the auditor is expected to run as a Democratic candidate for governor in the 2026 general election. Some of the Republicans who have made statements criticizing Sand over the court debt misallocation issue, like Bird and Speaker Grassley, have also indicated they are considering a gubernatorial run after Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she will not seek reelection in 2026.”

I think we can expect much, much more of this from the Iowa MAGA legislature in the next year.

Rob Sand has a record of impeccable integrity in his work as State Auditor. In an age where corruption permeates the MAGA party from White House to courthouse and all stops in between, having a gubernatorial candidate with such an impeccable record is a major plus for the Democrats. 

The MAGA legislature and the MAGA Party in Iowa will look like fools in their attempts to smear Sand.

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Murphy Brings a Hammer!

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Dave Bradley

Many of us these days are trying to keep up on what is happening in the world but it is pretty much impossible if for no other reason than that our media is for the most part owned by the right wing and as such tailors its news reporting to conform to its beliefs. 

Another reason it is hard to keep up is that so much is done behind closed doors. That is the best place to hand over bribes. 

But this week was the occurrence of the magic 100 day marker. As such there were multiple 100 day shows. Perhaps the best and most honest was done in the US Senate by Connecticut senator Chris Murphy in which he chronicles the incredible corruption – corruption that the Administration doesn’t even bother to hide.

This will make a great opening segment for the impeachment that seems inevitable when the economy crumbles due to one man and one man alone. 

The video is 26 minutes long, but is enthralling in the scope of the audacity of the crimes and the cravenness of the corruption.  BTW – when Murphy says “donation” I hear “bribe.”

As I listened to this I imagined a chorus of the MAGA SCOTUS justices, led by John Roberts, singing in a Gregorian chant type of singing:

“ Citizens United

 Trump v. US

 Money is speech”

As I said I am hopeful this will be the opening video in the 3rd, and I hope final, Trump impeachment hearing. 

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Iowa May Day Protests

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Trish Nelson

There was large, energized turnout across the nation, and Iowa was no exception. The next large protest is being planned for June 14 the day Trump is throwing himself a military parade for his birthday on the taxpayer dime.  June 14 is also Flag Day.  Details about the protests to come. We couldn’t make this one so here is some excellent local news coverage by KCRG in Cedar Rapids and Local 5 News (WOI-TV).

 

 

Here’s some national coverage.

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Miller-Meeks Rigs Her Own Tele-Town Hall / Iowa May Day Events

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Trish Nelson

MMM won her first congressional term by 6 votes and a recount controversy.

This post has been updated. Scroll doown.

Happy May Day! I hope you can get out today to attend a local event.  Here is a link to May Day events in Iowa.

Just for the record the photo to the left is a screenshot and yes MMM did actually wear a “6” mask around on the floor of congress after she was elected to congress by six votes.

So it turns out IA-01 Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks held a tele- town hall this week on Tuesday.  Who knew?

An Americans for Prosperity (Koch brothers) group in Bettendorf knew.

I stopped reading MMM’s weekly newsletter awhile back but Paul Deaton who is a regular contributor and sometimes editor here and has his own blog, told me he reads her newsletter every week and saw no mention of a town hall this week. I’ve asked around and so far I have not talked to anyone who knew about the call in advance except for one person who said, “It was in my feed but she ignored me and didn’t send me the number.” I found out late last night the tele-town hall  was posted on Facebook the same day.

UPDATE:  This morning I got this from someone on a Facebook group I’m in.

The link to RSVP for the town hall was posted same day. After completing the form, there was a message stating that you would receive a call shortly ahead of the start time. There was another FB post 20 minutes prior to the call stating the number YOU had to call to enter the town hall. I called in once I discovered that, and based on the questions posed, it was beyond evident that most callers were either straight-up plants or simply provided with the call-in info well in advance so they could get in the queue ahead of “democrats.” I heard only one “difficult” question from someone saying it’s mathematically impossible to pass the GOP budget without cutting Medicaid, etc., and she was blatantly disrespectful to the gentleman in her response.

There was a poll question during the call, something along the lines of: Is the border more secure now under Trump? At the end, she said poll results said 70% said yes, which is a good indicator of who actually knew about the call.

Here is an excerpt from The Cedar Rapids Gazette‘s coverage of Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ tele-town hall Tuesday night.

During a private event with Americans For Prosperity on April 23, Miller-Meeks urged the group to attend her tele-town hall and get on the call early.

“Jump on early,” Miller-Meeks told the group. “Our last telephone town hall, the Democrats shared the number … Every caller, every person for the first 35 minutes … were all Democrats with questions.”

First, bravo, Democrats! I was on that February call and yes the first several questions she assumed were from Democrats because they all asked about Elon Musk.  But I don’t think anyone was asked or said what their party affiliation was. She just assumed.

But the point is she tried to rig the call by (1) not informing Democrats about the call except for a last minute FB notification and (2) nudging out any accidental Democrats by actively recruiting Republicans to come early to give her an unfair advantage on the call.

Because why would she want to take a bunch of questions from Democrats? In her mind she doesn’t represent us. She represents Trump and her conservative donors. See Iowa Starting Line’s story on her first quarter fund raising.   Zachary Oren Smith dug through the records and found less than 8% came from Iowa donors.

“[Miller-Meeks] was “thrilled” to announce she raised just over $1 million during the first quarter of the year, according to a campaign finance report covering fundraising and spending between Jan. 1 and March 31.

But a look through the report reveals that out-of-state money is inflating her numbers.

Iowa donors gave Miller-Meeks a total of $73,430 — that’s just over 7% of her first quarter total.

In contrast, Washington D.C. donors contributed $234,094 (23% of her total). Virginia donors contributed another 230,123 (23%). In other words, her campaign committee received six times as much money from D.C. and Virginia donors as Iowa donors.

Here is the link to the FEC site.

Back to the call.  According to the Gazette:

On Medicaid Cuts

“A Republican-proposed budget resolution adopted by the U.S. House last week directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in savings over 10 years. An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows the resolution can’t reach its savings goals without reductions to Medicaid spending.

“Miller-Meeks denied that cuts to the program would happen and reiterated her support for Medicaid work requirements, highlighting legislation she introduced to mandate state Medicaid programs regularly verify beneficiary address information.

Read more at the Gazette

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Public Media Faces Threat Under Trump Regime

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Trish Nelson

Everyone knows authoritarian governments seek to control the media in order to control the perceptions of the public. Trump is trying to de-fund public media, the nation’s largest provider of nonprofit local news and rural journalism.

Free Press Blog

Vanessa Maria Graber and Julio Ricardo Varela

The U.S. public-media system is facing its most serious threats yet.

On April 14, news outlets reported that the Trump White House planned to send Congress a request to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Congress had already approved $535 million a year in federal spending for CPB through the end of 2027. Both chambers of Congress will need to pass a simple-majority vote to approve Trump’s request to zero out both years of funding.

This move comes after earlier attacks on public media from Trump’s allies. Last November, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) called for ending federal support of public media. After chairing a DOGE subcommittee hearing in March called “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R–Georgia) co-sponsored legislation to completely defund the CPB. And earlier this year, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for a federal investigation into the underwriting arrangements that NPR and PBS use, claiming they’re disguising commercial advertising.

A coordinated attempt to defund public media

This is an attempt to dismantle public media and push everything into corporate hands. It is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, a right-wing blueprint for the Trump administration. Project 2025 lays out plans to entirely eliminate the CPB and turn the FCC into a partisan weapon. This is all about using government power to threaten, punish and defund media outlets that don’t fall in line with the MAGA agenda.

All of this is part of a larger campaign to control the flow of information. Right-wing lawmakers and operatives want to punish independent journalism while elevating platforms their allies own. That includes Elon Musk’s X, where government disinformation and hate speech thrive unchecked.

This is a fight over who gets to shape the media agenda about government policy and whether the American public still believes in journalism that serves the people — not private interests, party agendas or billionaires.

Public media’s most vocal opponents want to rewrite the story of how we got here. But the facts tell a different story. And that story shows how their plans will deny the American public free, accessible and nonpartisan journalism.

Here’s what you should know about this debate and why the context about what CPB funds and why it was established matters.

What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and what does it fund?

During the congressional hearing featuring the heads of NPR and PBS, it was clear that many Republican lawmakers don’t know how the CPB, NPR and PBS actually work — and what federal funds provide to local stations.

CPB is an independent nonprofit organization established after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The legislation was a result of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television’s report “Public Television: A Program for Action,” which recommended “that Congress act promptly to authorize and to establish a federally chartered, nonprofit, nongovernmental corporation, to be known as the ‘Corporation for Public Television.’”

The Public Broadcasting Act was part of President Johnson’s “Great Society” initiative, which included a series of laws passed to provide more resources for education, to fight poverty and expand civil rights. This law requires CPB to fund the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and communities of color. To that end, CPB funds the operations of more than 1,500 local public and community radio stations across the United States.

Read more at FreePress

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Are We Fired Up, Ready To Fight?

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Trish Nelson

Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker gave a time-to-get-serious speech to Democrats in New Hampshire on Sunday.  Here are some highlights, then you can watch the full speech below.

“Stop wondering if you can trust the nuclear codes to people who don’t know how to organize a group chat.

It’s time to stop ignoring the hypocrisy in wearing a big gold cross while announcing the defunding of children’s cancer research.

And time to stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman.

Time to stop apologizing when we were NOT wrong. Time to stop surrendering, when we need to fight.”

Despair is an indulgence that we cannot afford in the times upon which history turns.

Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now.

Tonight, I’m telling you what I’m willing to do…is fight—for our democracy, for our liberty, for the opportunity for all our people to live lives that are meaningful and free. And I see around me tonight a roomful of people who are ready to do the same.”

“So I have one question for all of you, are you ready for the fight?”

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