We got this press release from AFSCME Council 61 contact Melissa Speed concerning an action that will take place next Wednesday September 17 in Fort Madison:
Union Leaders Rally in Fort Madison to Stop Privatization of Prison Healthcare
Des Moines, IA – The State of Iowa has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hand prison healthcare over to a for-profit corporation. In other states, privatization has failed – leading to worse care, unsafe conditions, costly lawsuits, and higher taxpayer bills.
AFSCME Council 61 will hold an informational protest urging the State of Iowa to keep prison healthcare; Safe, Accountable and PUBLIC.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 61 represents 40,000+ public employees across Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. Our members include law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health professionals, school support staff, emergency responders, and many others who provide vital public services. We also represent home health care and childcare providers, along with private sector workers at Prairie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM in Marshalltown, Iowa.
I will note here that the National Endowment for the Humanities who presented the above has been marked for elimination by the Felon In the White House (FIWH) next year. By that time we are not sure if the constitution will still be in effect. Our history seems to already be in revision. Never forget what George Orwell taught us:
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” You know those in control today have some quibbles with reality that they want to settle.
Tuesday is Mexican Independence Day with celebrations beginning on Monday. That also ushers in Hispanic Heritage month which goes from September 15th to October 15th. Seems ironic, doesn’t it?
We will try to include questions on those topics, although it is hard to get past the headlines these days.
A) With the Charlie Kirk murder dominating the headlines we almost missed what staple of Americana at nearly the same time Wednesday?
B) Big news on Monday was the BLS downsizing of jobs by what considerable number for the period April 2024 to March 2025?
C) Dr. Don Jeffrey Meldrum of Idaho State U. died last week. He was an anthropologist and was known for his almost singular studies of what probably mythical creature?
D) On Fox News(?) Friday the FIWH let it be known that the next city to be invaded and occupied (illegally) by his admin will be what?
E) In the light of the Kirk murder we should remind you that a couple of weeks ago the FIWH revoked what former senior government official’s secret service detail?
F) What are the four rights enumerated in the First Amendment to the Constitution?
G) Carlos Acutis became the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint. He was known by what nickname?
H) Did Jeffery Epstein’s birthday book contain a suggestive drawing by the FIWH as earlier reported?
I) And the winner of the “daddy loves me best” in the Rupert Murdoch family is who?
J) Winning tickets for the third largest Powerball jackpot were bought in what states last week?
K) Which amendment to the constitution outlawed slavery?
L) Russian drones made an incursion into what NATO country’s airspace this week while Russia in turn threatened what other NATO country?
M) Showing the US what it should have done in an attempted coup, what country found its former leader guilty of plotting a coup and sentenced him to 27 years in prison?
N) The fight for Mexican Independence began on September 15th & 16th in what year?
O) Speaking of NATO, which major NATO power had its government collapse last week?
P) What state will offer free child care to all families regardless of income starting in November?
Q) Marshalltown, Iowa has recorded an unusual outbreak of what disease since the beginning of September?
R) How many times does the word “democracy” appear in the constitution?
S) The case of the “fake” Electors came to an end in what state last week when a district court judge tossed the case because she saw no intent to commit fraud?
T) What state is now set to become the first to remove school vaccination mandates?
I will include more Hispanic Heritage Month questions next week.
Let me get this straight: The same Supreme Court that ruled colleges CAN’T use race in the admissions process has just ruled that law enforcement officers CAN use race to conduct raids and detain people. You can’t make this up. – Victor Shi
Just to remind you how Miller-Meeks represents her district here she is running from Social Security Works director Alex Lawson who wants to ask here about her vote to drastically cut Medicaid: (45 seconds)
Rep. Miller-Meeks (from Facebook 10 AM Friday morning) (captured before the post was marked unavailable)
The University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom should live up to its name by honoring a true defender of free speech and open debate.
Charlie Kirk dedicated his life to advancing intellectual freedom, empowering students, and challenging the cancel culture mob that seeks to silence dissent.
That’s why I strongly support renaming it the Charlie Kirk Center for Intellectual Freedom, a lasting tribute that would inspire generations of Iowans to stand boldly for liberty and the truth.
Miller-Meeks is totally out of touch with Iowans, who she supposedly represents to the federal government. Miller-Meeks is proposing that a center dedicated to intellectual freedom be renamed for a person who mission in life was to spew hate and dehumanize those he despised. Those he despised included a majority of humanity. Kirk made his living on hate.
Naming anything beyond a toilet after Charlie Kirk would be a travesty and show a complete misunderstanding of what the man stood for. Instead of shoving radical right wing ideology down the throats of hard working Iowans, Miller-Meeks should do her job and work to end water and air pollution, get health care for all Iowans (she voted to drastically end Medicaid), work to secure funding for education, health care including Medicare and Medicaid and create markets for Iowa’s farmers.
This is probably the most blatant example of Miller-Meeks true self – an exceptionally radical right winger and defender of the Felon In the White House. She is far, far to the right of voters in her district. She has made it very plain that she represents Trump and Trump only and her constituents are little concern to her.
Just to give an idea what kind of thinking Charlie Kirk represented that Miller-Meeks is so enamored of that she wants to put his name on a public institution, I give you this:
found on democraticunderground.com
I had no intention of talking about the death of Charlie Kirk beyond noting that the eternal message of “live by the sword, die by the sword” had once again been proven true. However, Miller-Meeks egregious proposal just stirred something in me.
Hopefully, Iowans will finally understand what Miller-Meeks true nature is and put her out to pasture. There are some great alternatives running in the Democratic Party who will actually do the job of representing our needs and beliefs to the national congress.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island unveils the inner workings of the Climate Denial industry.
This video is 32 minutes long, but well worth the time to watch. Listen to Senator Whitehouse explain how money in politics has set up a world in which our way of life and our lives in general are imminently in danger. Listen as the Senator also explains how Republicans have tied their policies to that money and given the climate denial industry everything it wanted at our expense.
I believe this is a video you will want to share with friends and neighbors:
After watching this I hope many are inspired to ask candidates like Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra why they have voted to destroy our future at the hands of the climate denial industry.
Remember that while your attention is focused on your own day to day problems and possibly on the current president’s anti-American policies, members of congress have been slowly handing the country over to the wealthy to destroy. In the next election cast your vote against those who will sell you out for a song.
Iowa DNR is asking for feedback on Iowa’s water quality!
They are hosting 2 virtual public hearings for a Triennial Review of water quality standards. “Under the Clean Water Act, a state shall, from time-to-time, hold public meetings for the purpose of reviewing applicable water quality standards and, as appropriate, modifying and adopting standards. This review includes, but is not necessarily limited to: designated uses, water quality criteria, and antidegradation.”
The public hearings are Sept 18 at 9:30am and Sept 23 at 2:30pm. Zoom links to join found here. The DNR agenda is the same for both hearings with questions and public comments at the end.
After the first hearing they will also take public comments via email through Oct 20. Stay tuned – we’ll send out an action alert when the public comments are open.
Are you able to participate on one of the public hearings? If so, please reply to this email to let me know which one.
Whether you’re able to attend the DNR hearing or not – – join us to talk about it! The water testing crew meets on the last Thursday of the month. We’ll get folks up to speed on what we heard, and we can strategize together about how to take advantage of the public comment period.
In case you missed it, there was a terrible murder in Charlotte, North Carolina last month. It was a tragedy that does not deserve to be a talking point for Republicans to make fake arguments about crime and shamelessly use the woman’s death as a convenient opportunity to blame Democrats for everything (see my post earlier this week, Campaign 2026: Beware Of Dirty Tricks). But that is what they are doing.
I would like to point out that the hypocrisy is obvious. We didn’t see much Republican outrage about state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband who who were killed at their home in Minnesota in June. We’ve had a school shooting in our own state of Iowa in 2024, yet Republicans can’t find their way to find outrage about America’s gun problem. Nor did we hear much outrage from Joni Ernst when a constituent at Ernst’s town hall brought up that her vote on Medicaid cuts meant people would die. Everyone heard Ernst respond by reminding us “well, we all are going to die.” So their crocodile tears and fake outrage now are not credible. It’s easy to see what they are doing, as laid out here in the NYTimes.
“The police arrested Decarlos Brown Jr. soon after and charged him with first-degree murder. But the brutal killing did not capture widespread attention until the security footage was released on Friday, at which point it became an accelerant for conservative arguments about crime, race and the perceived failings of big-city justice systems and mainstream news outlets in the Trump era.
The outrage over the Charlotte killing is a part of a pattern in which President Trump and his allies highlight horrific crimes to bolster their case that the country is plagued by “American carnage,”as Mr. Trump put it in his first inaugural address, despite statistics that show crime is dropping.In Charlotte, overall crime was down by 8 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the police, while violent crime was down by 25 percent. NYT
Judge for yourself. Below is a copy/paste of Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ newsletter to constituents using a story from The National News Desk, a daily television news program produced by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Wikipedia
Notice the newsletter does not include the story, but only the headline and the photo, followed by Miller-Meeks’ message to constituents using the same old Republican talking points dating all the way back to Ronald Reagan.
SAY HER NAME
Dear Fellow Iowan,
Iryna Zarutska was just 23 years old. She fled the war in Ukraine, survived Russia’s bombs, and came to America in search of safety.
But in Charlotte, she was brutally murdered on a light rail train, by a career criminal who should never have been free to roam the streets.
This tragedy is not an accident. It is the direct result of failed progressive policies that put violent repeat offenders ahead of innocent victims. Soft-on-crime policies have turned too many American cities into danger zones, and if they had their way, Iowa would be next.
No family should ever have to live in fear that a dangerous criminal, released again and again, will destroy their lives.
That’s why I’m fighting to ensure violent criminals stay behind bars where they belong. Public safety must always come first.
But I want to hear from you:
Do you support keeping violent repeat offenders locked up?
SNAP cuts: how will they impact eastern Iowa? How can our community respond?
Please join Fairness for Iowa for a Town Hall event that discusses how the $1 billion of cuts to SNAP in Iowa will impact our communities in eastern Iowa. These cuts are a direct result of the recent Trump tax bill that was voted for by all our federal representatives including Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst, who prioritized tax cuts for billionaires over feeding hungry kids and community members.
At the event, attendees can hear from panelists across the local food system including Hai Huynh, Associate Director, Coralville Community Food Pantry, Sandra Komuhiimbo, Coralville Community Leader, and Nicki Ross, Executive Director, Table to Table. Learn more about local food insecurity issues and how our local food bank and pantry system is responding to the increased needs of our community as a result of the SNAP cuts.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to take further actions to push back on SNAP cuts at the federal and state level, and call out Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst for their votes and actions to not stand up for their constituents, and instead increase food insecurity in our communities.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a goods donation for the Coralville Food Pantry to the event. The greatest need is for:
baby food
diapers (adult and children, all sizes)
period products (tampons, menstrual cups, panty liners, etc.)
personal care products (toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc.)
pet food (dog & cat)
Where: Meeting Room A, Coralville Public Library
When: Thursday Sept. 11, 5 until 6:30 p.m.
This is a chance to hear directly from community leaders and food security advocates about how this legislation could impact access to food for thousands of Iowans. Bring your questions, bring your voice, and bring a donation to help area food pantries.
ICE rolled out “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago yesterday. News media reported federal troops had been positioned at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago for more than a week, and the president announced his plans to kick off their activities in Chicago on Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 16. Obviously he couldn’t wait, impulsive dolt that he is.
Like all Democratic U.S. House members in the Chicagoland area, Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois’ 9th Congressional District is preparing constituents for increased federal immigration enforcement activities. Rep. Schakowsky wrote this helpful letter, which she sent in her congressional newsletter the same day.
President Donald Trump even considering deploying the National Guard to Chicago is outrageous and is nothing but political theater. We are a hardworking community made up of workers, families, and organizers.
This is not the first time Trump has used the National Guard as a political weapon. We all remember when he ordered a militarized crackdown on our nation’s capital in 2020 and then failed to deploy the National Guard on January 6, 2021, Washington, D.C.’s most lawless and violent day.
Now, five years later, we are seeing history repeat itself, this time, under the guise of a public safety emergency. Crime rates in Chicago have gone down. Our communities need investment, not intimidation. Sending troops into our neighborhoods will not help public safety, it will only escalate tensions.
We are a nation of immigrants and our diversity is our greatest strength. It is crucial that you KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. Stay informed so that you can protect yourself and your loved ones. Please go to my website for more info or call my office, (773) 506-7100, if you need assistance.
No American city should be ruled through force, surveillance, and intimidation. We will not stand by as our city is used to score political points. Chicagoans do not want, or need, our city turned into a military state.
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
Blog For Iowa 