Sunday Funday: Father’s Day Edition

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Randy Rainbow – you got to love him:

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there. Doing the job of being a father is both highly rewarding and never ending. I would like to thank my kids who, despite my stumbling and bumbling ways, turned into top notch humans. 

Every father has a story of how they messed with their kids now and then. My favorite was shortly after my eldest got her driver’s license. One day she asked me for some money to buy gas for her car. I gave her some money. She started to go out the door and noticed my car was behind hers. I flipped her my keys and told her to “just go ahead and take mine.”

About ten minutes later she came backed looking quiet miffed. “You did that on purpose!” She yelled at me. Yep. My car was full of gas thanks to her.

Well as should be no surprise to anyone, the US seems to be doing anything it can to provoke another war against Iran. We had an incident in the Middle East that sure looks similar to the Gulf of Tonkin back in 1964.

  1. Dear Leader pulled out what appeared to be a blank paper from his breast pocket in front of the press and claimed it was what?
  1. What former major league baseball start was shot at point blank range in the Dominican Republic in an apparent hit job?
  1. Talk about a power couple! What cabinet secretary allegedly created a special path for her senator/husband’s state to get special treatment?
  1. After losing an election for the governorship of Virginia in 2017 because his campaign was way too racist, who was name as the acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services Monday?
  1. 47 years ago tomorrow, five men were arrested at what location in Washington DC to start what would become one of the most followed stories in this county’s history?
  1. June is gay pride month. What country was the first to legalize gay or same sex marriage?
  1. Iowa attained some unwanted publicity this week when a U of Iowa professor calculated that Iowa led the country in the production of what?
  1. Could be someone’s dream job. What administration member announced she would be leaving a job she has performed only once in the past six months?
  1. What truly exotic vacation destination announced it would be accepting tourists beginning next year at the low, low price of $35,000 a night?
  1. An earthquake registering 4.4 on the Richter scale had its epicenter in what Great Lake Monday?
  1. Deja Vu? What former Nixon administration official testified before the House Judiciary committee Monday?
  1. Speaking of testimonies before congress, former TV star Jon Stewart pleaded for money for what group before a congressional committee last week?
  1. Canada announced it would ban single use plastics by what year this past week?
  1. Dear Leader once again showed his disdain for our laws when he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he (Dear Leader) would take what from foreign governments?
  1. Alabama last week passed a bill to permit what punishment for those found guilty of child sex abuse?
  1. Major addresses by Democratic presidential candidates this week included a defense of democratic socialism by which candidate?
  1. Another major address was a foreign policy speech by what relatively young candidate?
  1. Everything Dear Leader touches gets screwed up or dies. Among the dead is a friendship oak tree planted on White House grounds by Dear Leader and what other world leader?
  1. Thousands (maybe a million or more) took to the streets in what international city to protest a pending extradition law?
  1. What cabinet level department announced the move of one of its major agencies from Washington DC to Kansas City, Mo. Thursday?

From the Onion:

Pence Visits Conversion Therapist For Routine Gay-Preventative Checkup

WASHINGTON—Sitting in the waiting area while ignoring the screams he heard emanating from the exam room, Vice President Mike Pence reportedly visited his conversion therapist Thursday for a routine gay-preventative checkup. “I feel completely heterosexual right now, but I still like to visit the doctor every six months or so to just to be safe,” said Pence, noting that he didn’t enjoy receiving electric shocks on his genitals while staring at photos of naked men, but it was worth it to ensure he didn’t come down with a case of full-blown gayness later on. “Maybe I’m a hypochondriac when it comes to contracting homosexuality, but I’m a busy guy and I’d rather have a spiritual intervention early on than risk missing work to recover from being attracted to men. Plus, now that it’s June it seems like everyone is gay so I need to be extra careful. I’m so lucky my insurance covers yearly gay-prevention appointments.” At press time, Pence was preparing to be lobotomized in an effort to fully immunize himself from dangerous homosexual thoughts.

Just getting the nuts adjusted and the rear end scoped.

Answers:

  1. A secret agreement with Mexico. Mexico said there was no such thing.
  1. David Ortiz (Big Papi)
  1. Transportation Secretary Eline Chou and her husband Mitch McConnell
  1. Ken Cucinelli
  1. The Watergate Hotel
  1. The Netherlands in 2001
  1. Manure 
  1. Sarah Sanders
  1. The space station. But the ride to the space station will cost you $50 million
  1. Lake Erie near Cleveland – very rare
  1. John Dean
  1. 9/11 first responders
  1. 2021 – pretty aggressive
  1. Dirt on his opponent
  1. Chemical castration
  1. Bernie Sanders
  1. Pete Buttigieg
  1. France’s President Macron
  1. Hong Kong
  1. Agriculture

From Newsweek Dec. 13, 2018:   

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she hoped her legacy would be that people viewed her as “transparent and honest.”

And I want to be remembered as the person who never aged.

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Father’s Day Edition

Father’s Day Weekend And Locking Up Children At The Border

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Attribution: Matthew Earle Scott/twitter (from dailykos.com)kids in cages in NYC

 

Very few things can highlight the hypocrisies that are rampant in this country like a greeting card holiday like Father’s Day.

Tomorrow we will see movies and news stories extolling fatherhood and a father’s bonds with their children all over media. What we won’t see are stories of how the government that represents you and me is ripping families apart at our border. Nothing could be more antithetical to the supposed ideals of the United States.

We all know what is happening at the border. Families being ripped apart for the sin of trying to escape intolerable conditions in their home countries for a chance – a chance – to live their lives in the United States. The very worst part is that children as young as a year old are being taken from their parents with a good possibility that they will never be reunited again.

Most of us in Iowa are so physically and culturally removed from what is happening to these families that it almost seems like a TV show. Even though we see what is happening before our eyes on television, there seems to be something within us these days that denies this is reality.

Sadly many these days can’t believe reality until it happens to us or someone we know. Having your family ripped apart probably forever should scare all of us enough that we would all be working to stop it immediately. Yet somehow this story gets buried behind more sensational headlines every day.

Try to imagine please how you would feel if you were separated from your kids or grandkids and had no idea how to contact them. You would be outraged and be doing anything to find them. Well, the immigrants feel the same way. They are human. They fled a situation so dire to find a better life for their children in a country known for its compassion.

Instead they found a monstrous situation nearly as bad as what they left. Now they have been separated probably forever from their children. What if that happened to you? You may think it couldn’t possibly happen, but in country after country we have seen what were once members of the ruling party suddenly become the enemy.

We have seen in the current regime once vaunted members from yesterday become today’s target. Ask Justin Amash. Ask Jeff Sessions. Why wouldn’t the current regime use their unchecked power to attack what were once supposed loyalists?

What has America become as evidenced by the kind of things this administration is getting away with? 

Just this week we see the administration moving these CHILDREN into what was once shamefully used as a Japanese internment camp in WWII. The administration has some 13,000 migrant kids in custody:

This is intentional. The Trump administration currently has over 13,000 migrant kids in U.S. custody, including at least 1,600 at a prison camp in Homestead, Florida. Places such as Homestead are commonly described as “shelters” that “house” children, but these are prison camps. They’re worse. In personal testimonies, children jailed at Homestead described not even being able to console one another through hugging and being threatened with prolonged imprisonment if they broke the rules.

Elizabeth C. McLaughlin posted this thread on twitter Thursday afternoon hoping to get it to go viral:

Elizabeth C. McLaughlin

@ECMcLaughlin

Subscribe

4 hours ago, 34 tweets, 18 min read Read on Twitter

Bookmark Save as PDF

IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT TRUMP IS DOING AT THE BORDER, you need to read and share this thread. 

@jacobsoboroff @JuliaEAinsley please read this.

I have just gotten off the phone with a friend who is a legal volunteer in Border Patrol facilities.

Don’t look away.

1/

My friend has done two tours now volunteering as a legal advocate inside CBP facilities. 

She passed along information about what is happening there that indicates that the Trump Administration is violating every basic human right, and is moving toward military “solutions.”

2/

So that folks understand the process: CBP has outposts on the border. Refugees seeking asylum travel hundreds of miles on foot, including with infants and small children, and turn themselves in at these outposts *on foot.*

Here’s what happens next. Don’t look away.

3/

CBP then transfers these human beings to a facility called “the Dog Pound.” (Here, my friend started crying.)

The “Dog Pound” is comprised of cages, outside and on dirt, with no protection from the elements.

Don’t look away.

4/

There are dozens of teen moms there. 

There is no baby food.

While there, my friend saw a CBP agent take a baby from her teenage mother, strip the baby of its clothes, hand the baby back to the mother, and send them outside to the “Dog Pound” to sleep in the dirt.

5/

The “Dog Pound” has no running water, no covers, no tarp, no care, no safety from the elements. It is freezing at night, and deathly hot during the day.

Everyone is sick. My friend said she saw a baby on this trip that was so sick “I thought it would be dead by morning.”

6/

Toddlers in the “Dog Pound” who had been eating solid food are given only infant formula. Moms are trying to start breast feeding again so their children don’t starve.

These moms are dehydrated, sick, & have walked miles through desert with no water. CBP gives them nothing.

7/

It gets worse. Don’t look away.

From the “Dog Pound,” these human beings are moved to an area called “The Freezer.”

The Freezer is kept at 55 degrees.

Some of the refugees who are moved there are still wet from their journey, and are put in The Freezer wet.

8/

CBP is keeping human beings in “The Freezer” for weeks at a time. WEEKS.

Including critically ill people, disabled people, sick children, teenage mothers with babies.

The floor of The Freezer is made of dirt or very rough concrete. There are no beds.

Keep reading.

9/

From “The Freezer,” refugees are supposed to be moved to ICE facilities that are designed for residential care. They have beds, food, bathrooms. 

However, (keep reading) THOSE FACILITIES ARE EMPTY. 

ICE IS SHUTTING THEM DOWN.

Don’t look away.

10/

What our government is doing instead is moving refugees to MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.

The announcement about Fort Sill, which was used as a Japanese internment camp, is only the start.

So why would our government be doing this?

11/

Here’s why

These concentration camps (let’s call them what they are) will be under the control of the Department of Homeland Security, but within the Department of Defense.

12/.

Unlike ICE facilities, which allow site inspectors inside, there will be no inspection of military-run camps. 

The military will be able to deny access to anyone it chooses. No media. No oversight.

13/

Lawyers will not be allowed in. Human rights monitors will not be allowed in.

The camps will also be protected airspace, meaning that no drones can fly over them to take pictures of what’s going on inside.

14/

The Trump administration will be able to conduct itself in whatever way it wants to without anyone knowing what’s going on inside.

Think about what that means. Think about why they would want that.

This is happening RIGHT NOW. 

15/

ICE facilities with beds and food are EMPTY, because the Trump administration is moving refugees into military-run concentration camps where they can do ANYTHING THEY CHOOSE without oversight, media scrutiny or advocate access.

16/

This administration is already committing atrocities at CBP facilities.

Border Patrol agents at the facility where my friend was working refer to these human beings as “bodies.” Not people. “Bodies.”

They are denying medicine, toilets, beds, food, shelter and clothes.

17/

My friend said that “Flores is on very tenuous ground.”

We’re days away from being met with “we’re not going to let you in, no matter what.”

18/

What is coming is crimes against humanity.

America is already perpetrating mass human rights violations, and this administration is setting it up so they can do far worse, in secret, under military supervision.

19/

Military forces are already been shifted to CBP. My friend saw *coast guard agents* (read that again) working for CBP at this facility.

If we do nothing, there will be blood on our hands.

20/

If Pelosi does nothing, there will be blood on her hands and the hands of every Democrat who refuses to act to end this administration’s reign.

Fascism is here. 

21/

If this enrages you, devastates you, frightens you, share this thread.

Then call your member of Congress and read it to them.

Then call @SpeakerPelosi and ask her why she sits silently by as our government does this.

22/

We’re on a fast train to hell.

There’s only one way to stop it.

Trump must be removed from power immediately, by any legal means, using every weapon in our arsenal.

23/

This is where we are. This is WHO we are.

Look reality in the face. Don’t look away.

Fight like human life depends on it.

It does. It does. It does.

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Impeach Trump Rallies Across The Country Today

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Closest events to Iowa in Omaha and Peoria

Image (2) Dowling-protest-300x200.jpg for post 29619

this is a picture of a protest that took place at Dowling HS in West Des Moines last year.

Saturday June 15th will be the first of the “Impeach Trump Rallies” across the country. We just heard of these on Wednesday. 

While there are no plans listed for future rallies, we feel fairly certain that this will most surely become an ongoing event.

From the website:

Join us on Saturday, June 15, for #ImpeachTrump: Act to Defend Democracy, a national day of local action to demand an inquiry into the impeachment of Donald Trump!

Donald Trump’s abuses of our communities and country demand action from Congress, which has the responsibility and authority to hold Trump accountable. The next crucial step is an inquiry into whether to draft articles of impeachment.

Search and RSVP for an event near you. Events will be visible, family-friendly, public gatherings to demonstrate to our representatives that impeachment is the will of the people. Together, we will inform our communities about Trump’s abuses and the process of impeachment, then make plans to convey our support for impeachment to our elected officials.

The closest events to Iowa are in Omaha, Nebraska and Peoria, Illinois:

DESCRIPTION

Join fellow Nebraskans as we call on federal representatives to begin impeachment proceedings on the President of the United States for his repeated, documented, criminal behavior while in office.

WHEN

Saturday, June 15 at 1 p.m. (local time)

WHERE

Memorial Park Bridge over Dodge St

Omaha, NE 68132

HOSTS(S):

Indivisible-Nebraska N.

DESCRIPTION

Donald Trump has broken the law, violated the Constitution, and put the safety and future of this country at risk. In such circumstances as these, American democracy offers a Constitutional remedy for a president who openly refuses to follow the law: impeachment. We join with individuals and organizations across the country in the #ImpeachTrump Day of Action because Congress will only act when there is a groundswell of pressure coming from millions united around the demand for impeachment. We will call for impeachment of Donald Trump and express the need for Congress to act now. Congress must use the material in the Mueller Report, which describes criminal acts of obstruction of justice, to hold impeachment hearings. Please bring signs. # [ideas] Nobody Is Above The Law #ImpeachNow Read The Report #Resist #ImpeachTrump Criminal Acts Call 4 Impeachment Dump Trump And, of course, your own personal expression of why we need impeachment hearings NOW! Also plan to take pictures and connect with social media to reinforce the messages which will be going out from cities across the U.S. June 15 will be the day the country makes it clear that there is overwhelming evidence that Trump acted to obstruct the investigation into interference in our election. It will be a day of rallies and of thousands of communications on social media. Let’s make Peoria an active participant in this effort to move Congress to impeach.

WHEN

Saturday, June 15 at 11 a.m. (local time)

WHERE

Corner of University & Main

Peoria, IL 61606

HOSTS(S):

Jean S

Public protest is always a good way to get the attention of those in power.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Trump | Tagged | Comments Off on Impeach Trump Rallies Across The Country Today

And This Is Why Democrats Should NEVER Appear On Fox News

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Trish Nelson


I love Eric Swalwell for his unapologetic offensive on guns, in particular assault weapons.  (Assault weapons are “rifles” according to Fox News).  However, Rep. Swalwell made an error thinking he could have a conversation about his plan to buy back assault weapons with Tucker Carlson.  Did Swalwell reach or persuade any of the Faux News viewers? Likely not.  Tucker made sure of that.

What you and I saw was Tucker being an obnoxious idiot and a disgusting bully, disrespecting a duly elected congressman.  Democrats and progressives watch this interview and we don’t like Tucker. We identify with Swalwell, the rational thinker trying to do good.  The only thing Fox News viewers saw was a macho dude beating the crap out of a smart-guy wimp.  They weren’t paying attention to the words. They identify with the bully. They despise the weak one who was slapped down with ease.

The confident, outspoken Swalwell was reduced to a blubbering 8-year old caught smoking by an irate parent, after only a few minutes into the interview, and he never did recover.

But it wasn’t his fault.

Except he should never have agreed to an invitation into a snake pit.

Do you have the stomach to watch this sickening display of bullying all the way through? I hope every Democratic candidate sees this and thinks twice before going on Faux News.

 

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Eric Swalwell Leads With Guns

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Trish Nelson

NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 presidential primary debate in June of 2019. This is part of a series of BFIA’s coverage and commentary of the announcement speeches by the declared Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in no particular order.  To view the previous candidate announcement posts type the candidate’s name in the search box on this page.

You have to respect a candidate who is not trying to avoid a conversation about guns, who is making the problem of gun violence his primary campaign issue.  And he made no pandering statements about the second amendment here either.

Eric Swalwell’s announcement speech was 45 minutes, one of the longer speeches.

Campaign theme: “Go big. Be bold. Do good.”

Opening joke looking out at the crowd, “I see a few of my former teachers who are very surprised to see me here today.”

Opening personal anecdote was about his paper route (the journalism business). “You can learn a lot about America riding your bike through a town at 6 am. every morning…”

Middle class roots, born in Sac City, Iowa, dad a cop, mom sold wedding cakes out of the garage.

First person in family to go to college.

Not taking corporate PAC $ and “we won’t be driven by the polls.”

“I’m starting with guns.”

About 14 minutes in: As a former prosecutor

… I saw firsthand the ungodly and permanent damage wreaked by weapons in the hands of irresponsible people. On one case that I prosecuted I met a woman whose son had been killed by a round from an AK-47. His name was Gary Jackson. A gunman fired forty times at Gary, hit him just once in the back of his thigh. I can still hear his mom asking me in the witness waiting room, “Isn’t that where you want to be hit if you had to get shot?” Not with an assault weapon. The autopsy doctor testified that the sheer energy from one round was enough to kill him.

Gun violence defined my first days in congress. In 2013 I and eighty others were just emerging from our freshman class orientation when the news of the Sandy Hook massacre flattened us. Just like you I was horrified. I was horrified by the suffering and the loss… But I also thought, I am so glad to be a part of the first congress to actually do something about these senseless slaughters.

But I don’t have to tell you this: Congress did nothing. Just as we did nothing after Charleston. Nothing after San Bernadino. Pulse. Vegas. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Moments of silence when all our country needed were moments of action.

So when Parkland happened and they joined the far too long list of American towns and cities devastated by a mad man with unrestricted weaponry I expected the same ritual to unfold. Shock. Anger. Accusations. And nothing happening in Washington. Thoughts and prayers used as an alibi for inaction.

But the students there and their families decided not to allow that. You decided not to allow that. They instead took a stand to lead. And they knew they would be attacked for it. They knew they would be exposing themselves to ridicule and hate, purely political targets in a different kind of crossfire. But they did the right thing anyway.

You supported them. Righteously. Fearlessly. With the nation behind them they picked themselves up from unimaginable grief. They organized. You organized. They marched. You marched. We made our voices heard and seventeen NRA endorsing incumbents were removed from office. We did that. We did that. They reminded us that life itself means more than the bottom line of a gun and ammo manufacturer or the cynical politicians they support and control.”

Visit Eric Swalwell’s campaign website  ericswalwell.com/

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Why Is Facebook Buying Local News Outlets?

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Trish Nelson

Facebook to invest $300 million to help local news survive.

reuters.com/article/us-facebook-news/facebook-to-invest-300-million-to-help-local-news-survive

If someone is going to own local news outlets, do we prefer that it be Sinclair Broadcasting or Facebook?  I would vote for Facebook as the lesser of two evils.

The Reuters article reported Facebook’s reason for investing in local news sources

“We’re going to continue fighting fake news, misinformation, and low quality news on Facebook but we also have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to help local news organizations grow and thrive.”

Watch this video for a more cynical take on it.

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Legislature May Hold Special Session To Override Reynolds Veto

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Trish Nelson

This was a Facebook live video from June 5. Senator Joe Bolkcom has been a leader on the medical cannabis issue.  137 of 150 legislators voted for the medical cannabis bill that Kim Reynolds vetoed.  Legislators are being asked to return to Des Moines to participate in a special session to override the veto.

Contact your legislator to say yes to a special session.  Click here to find your legislator.

Tune in again today, June 11, 6:30-7:00 pm for live Facebook update on whether there will be a special session.

 

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Jay Inslee At The Cedar River

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Paul Deaton

Governor Jay Inslee at Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 8, 2019.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Saturday afternoon I drove to the Overlook Pavilion in Ellis Park where State Senator Rob Hogg had organized a “climate conversation” with Washington Governor Jay Inslee who is an announced candidate for president.

Hogg reminded us of the 2008 Cedar River flooding. The river was visible behind him.

It is hard to forget the 2008 flood that devastated Iowa’s second largest city. On my way to the event I compared flooding levels of the Atherton Wetland on Ely Blacktop which had been covered with flood water in 2008. From the center of Cedar Rapids I used First Street Southwest, which runs next to the Cedar River, to find the park. On the eastern bank someone had built a flood wall. An earthen berm restricted the view of the river on some parts of First Street. The low-lying area had been inundated in 2008 causing damage to more than 5,000 homes, evacuation of 25,000 people, and roughly $4 billion dollars damage. The flood was made worse by climate change.

In his introductory remarks, Senator Hogg recognized elected officials and organizations present and encouraged the almost 200 attendees to engage in the Iowa caucus process of meeting with presidential candidates. Hogg added later, “with the spirit of citizenship, we can bring Americans together for climate action we so urgently need and the many climate solutions that work.”

Governor Inslee began his remarks with the reason he seeks to defeat climate change, his grandchildren. “We have a moral obligation to the young people of America to defeat climate change,” he said. Noting last week’s atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 414.42 ppm (only slightly less than the record (415.70) set May 15), he added, “It is time to act on climate.”

Defeating climate change would be the first priority for an Inslee administration, the governor said. It was a “predicate for success” in all policy areas. If addressing climate change is not job one it won’t get done.

Inslee split from environmental groups like Citizen’s Climate Lobby when he said he did not support a tax on carbon. He favors regulatory reform to reduce carbon emissions. Based on his experience in Washington State, voters are unlikely to accept such a tax, he said.

Inslee asked for help in two areas of his campaign.

While he met the qualifications to participate in the first two debates being hosted by the Democratic National Committee, he has not met the 130,000 donor threshold to participate in the third and fourth. He encouraged those present to donate one dollar or more to his campaign and ask friends and family to do likewise.

Inslee wants the Democratic National Committee to devote one candidate debate to climate change so every participating candidate can lay out their plan to defeat it for voters to see. The request has been rejected, making supporting Inslee the best way to make sure the topic is covered during the debates, he said. Holding a climate change debate outside those sanctioned by DNC is not an option.

“It is the DNC’s job to organize the debate schedule, and the ground rules on unsanctioned debates were made clear with all the candidates, including Governor Inslee, and media partners months ago,” DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa told Mother Jones. The DNC welcomes candidates to join issue-specific forums instead.

The thrust of the conversation was Inslee has a positive progressive record in Washington State and wants to take that success to Washington, D.C. To learn more about Governor Jay Inslee, visit his website at JayInslee.com.

The Inslee campaign posted video of the event here.

Posted in Blog for Iowa, Candidates, Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jay Inslee At The Cedar River

Amy Klobuchar: From The Heartland

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Dave Bradley

NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 presidential primary debate in June of 2019. This is the twelfth in a series of BFIA’s coverage and commentary of the announcement speeches by the declared Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in no particular order.  To view the previous candidate announcement posts type the candidate’s name in the search box on this page.

Perhaps one of the most memorable candidate announcements of all time had to be that of Minnesota’s senior senator, Amy Klobuchar. While what Klobuchar said was certainly important, her speech was most memorable for the setting. Out doors in a good old-fashioned Minnesota snow storm.

Unlike a certain cowardly president who couldn’t step into the rain to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI last November, Senator Klobuchar seemed to relish the Minnesota winter weather.

Meeting an unwanted situation with a great sense of humor, Klobuchar kicked off her campaign on Boom Island in the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities. Klobuchar uses the river to get to her main theme of her candidacy: Everyone Matters.  We are all in this together and together we can do great things. She calls for the renewal of our commitment to the common good.

Mixing stories of her family with the aspirations of all Americans, Klobuchar attacks those who try to divide us. She then goes on to list major obstacles that she will go after on day one. Climate change will be in the forefront.

Access to the internet for everyone is important to Klobuchar. However the major tech companies must be restrained from what they can do with your private data.

Health care will be a major focus for Klobuchar which she illustrates with a story of our current system failing those who need it.

After discussing some of the other “obstacles” that she intends to go after she concludes with a story of an immigrant family trying to become American.

At the end Klobuchar focuses on her “grit” and how she will work to overcome the obstacles with the help of those who come together with her.

On her campaign website Klobuchar sums up her campaign in three simple statements:

I’m running because I believe we can be a nation governed not by chaos — but from opportunity. The kind of opportunity my grandpa — who worked 1500 feet underground in the mines in Northern Minnesota — gave my family when he saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to college. The kind of opportunity my mom, a school teacher and a proud union member, gave me when she taught me to live with purpose. The kind of opportunity my dad, a newspaperman, gave me to always look for life’s adventures and never shy away from adversity.

I’m running because we’re tired of divisive politics. We’re fed up with the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding. Today, we say enough is enough.

I’m running because we need to rise to the occasion and meet the challenges of our day. For too long leaders in Washington have sat on the sidelines while others try to figure out what to do about our changing economy and its impact on our lives, what to do about the disruptive nature of new technologies, income inequality, the political and geographic divides, the changing climate, the tumult in our world. Let’s stop seeing those obstacles as obstacles on our path. Let’s see those obstacles as our path.

Amy Klobuchar is a very hard working midwestern pragmatist who brings people together and works to find solutions to problems. Her quick wit and self-deprecating humor allows people to feel like she is an old friend they can trust. Klobuchar would be a much welcome change in the White House, both in personna and in work ethic.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Health Care & Medicare, Internet Issues | Tagged , | Comments Off on Amy Klobuchar: From The Heartland

Sunday Funday: Big Doings In Cedar Rapids Today Edition

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Dave Bradley

The 2019 Hall of Fame celebration will be in Cedar Rapids at the Double Tree Inn at 2 PM this afternoon. I believe CSPAN has carried this event in the past but would not swear to that.

Switching gears to a Robert Reich video (3 minutes) that sort of dovetails with the Hall of Fame event:

In news of interest last week Steve King is being treated by Republicans the way that Republicans treat people that are not Republicans or are women or immigrant or people of color and he doesn’t like it. For some reason I am having a hard time finding any sympathy for him.  

Besides being D-Day, June 6th is also the birthday of Nathan Hale who died at age 21 after being caught spying during the Revolutionary War. Reading of Hale made me wonder if our current Dear Leader would have been a fan of our Revolution or if would he have claimed a health issue to get out of service?

Our deepest thanks to those who stormed the beaches at Normandy.

On to our weekly review:

  1. According to Dear Leader, who is “nasty?”
  1. According to economists at Iowa State and Creighton, the new tariffs on Mexico will make what more likely?
  1. Who is the newest Democratic candidate to declare for a senate run in Iowa against Joni Ernst?
  1. In a blow to science the administration declared a ban on using what for research by government researchers?
  1. In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam will call a special session of the legislature to deal with what problem?
  1. A disaster relief bill was finally passed by congress after a series of delay tactics by what group of legislators?
  1. What Iowa congress member called for a lifetime ban on former congress members becoming lobbyists last week?
  1. Washington DC’s July 4th plans changed bigly last week when who decided he would make a speech from the Lincoln Memorial?
  1. In Europe, Dear Leader compared what potential post-Brexit border to his view of the US-Mexico border?
  1. Dear Leader took time from his European trip to call who a “washed up psycho?”
  1. The US military deployed at the border will spend the next month doing what?
  1. What Democratic presidential candidate attended a Walmart board meeting to chastise the company for paying stagnation wages?
  1. Queen Elizabeth has met with 12 of the 13 US presidents during her reign. Which president did she not meet?
  1. Monthly labor statistics were announced Friday. Job growth was low, growing by only how many jobs last month?
  1. Football! Football! Football! What major international football (soccer) started last Friday?
  1. What tech platform announced it will remove white supremacist videos?
  1. What former Dear Leader associate got an all expense paid trip to Riker’s Island last week?
  1. With temps well over 120 F, what country is suffering through one of its worst heat waves ever?
  1. The New York legislature passed a ban on what said to be cruel veterinary practice?
  1. Who is James Holzhauer?

John Fugelsang on twitter:

Welcome to America, where even though the Civil War’s been over for 150+ yrs we still have poor whites fighting for rich plantation owners.

Answers:

  1. Megan Markle aka the Duchess of Sussex
  1. A recession – they start Monday
  1. Theresa Greenfield of Des Moines
  1. Fetal tissue
  1. Guns. This following the mass murder in Virginia Beach
  1. The freedom caucus within the Republican Party
  1. Cindy Axne
  1. Dear Leader
  1. Ireland – Northern Ireland
  1. Bette Midler
  1. Painting the fence
  1. Bernie Sanders
  1. LBJ
  1. 75,000 
  1. The Women’s World Cup
  1. Youtube
  1. Paul Manafort
  1. India
  1. Declawing cats
  1. He is the (now) former Jeopardy champion who lost last Monday after 32 consecutive wins

Enjoy some Randy Rainbow before you go

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Big Doings In Cedar Rapids Today Edition