Interview with Nicholas Johnson, former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (1966-1973) about community television, the history of public access, and its future.
Their strategy is based entirely on lies. Forty per cent of Americans are believing the lies. How can this be? The right wing eco-system, including radio, helps Republicans get away with lying. We’re not the only ones saying it.
List of right-wing radio stations in Iowa:
Iowa commercial radio stations that broadcast multiple hours a day of right wing propaganda:
Some of my friends and acquaintances are women who carry handguns.
I’m not worried about getting shot by my lunch partner. I also don’t feel more secure knowing she has a handgun in her purse. It used to be a bit jarring to see weapons unexpectedly in everyday places. Not any more. I’m confident in studies that show women are not the main problem with gun violence, it’s the men.
A common social behavior among men particularly, but with women also, is to assert their gun ownership into a conversation as a way of launching a comfortable jeremiad about why they own them, the positive features of gun ownership, and as a way of testing the waters in social relationships to identify where people stand. This is at the heart of what elected Trump, Ernst and others. Gun ownership and discussions about it are a way to sort people in society into “us” and “them” categories. It has consequences in the electorate, so it is important to discuss and understand.
Data shows gun violence is disproportionately a male problem. Of the 91 mass shootings in which four or more victims died since 1982, only three were committed by women, according to a database from the liberal-leaning news outlet Mother Jones. Men also accounted for 86% of gun deaths in the United States, according to an analysis by the non-partisan non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.
Men are more likely to own a gun — three times more, according to a 2017 survey from the Pew Research Center. This, despite marketing from gun manufacturers and groups such as the National Rifle Association to lure women.
Fast forward to Dastagir’s conclusion that to understand gun violence we must examine the cultural forces that equate being a man with violence.
Award-winning agricultural journalist Alan Guebert on Breaking Free of Corporate Ag – JFAN Annual Meeting
Factory farming has a stranglehold on rural Iowa, but can that grip be broken? Celebrated syndicated columnist Alan Guebert will dive into the realities and the possibilities during the JFAN Annual Meeting Breaking the Grip of Corporate Agriculture on Rural Iowa on Thursday, October 19 at 7:15 pm at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, 200 N. Main Street, Fairfield, IA.
Penned an “agricultural insider” by Civil Eats, Guebert will take a hard look at the role of factory farming in the corporate food system and it’s widespread influence throughout society. Not escaping his attention is the failure of governance to address these issues because Big Ag often controls the agenda on the state and national level.
Guebert, author of the popular syndicated column Farm and Food File, says current farming policies fit the definition of insanity. “It hasn’t worked in the past, so let’s do more of it and see what happens,” he wrote about current policy trends. “Instead we should be talking about how to fix what’s broken, not how to patch it.”
Guebert, though, sees change as inevitable. “I really do believe there is a way out of this mess,” and he will role out how he envisions that can come about. Guebert contends that there is a role for everyone in driving change, and he will outline how Iowans can play an important part.
Johnson County Supervisor Mike Carberry will also underscore the need for taking action. He will share why his county recently passed a resolution in support of a factory farm moratorium, elusive here in Jefferson County, and other ways his county is addressing the CAFO issue. A strong advocate of regenerative agriculture, Carberry will also speak on ways Iowans can and must wrestle back control from the corporate agriculture agenda to force needed changes that protect people and the environment.
Alan Guebert is an award-winning agricultural journalist with his finger on the pulse of agribusiness. With early roots on a 720-acre, 100 cow dairy farm, he currently authors the popular syndicated agricultural column, The Farm and Food File that he began in 1993. It appears weekly in over 70 US and Canadian newspapers. He’s also a contributor to the online publication The Daily Yonder, and worked previously as a writer and senior editor at Professional Farmers of America and Successful Farming magazines. His numerous awards include the prestigious Writer of the Year and Master Writer from the American Agricultural Editors’ Association.
Guebert, along with his daughter Mary Grace Foxwell, are the authors of The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey. The book chronicles his childhood on the farm and also what Guebert sees as a blueprint for the future of farming over the next 50 years – a trending back to smaller scale farms.
Dr. John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri at Columbia and a member of the JFAN Board of Directors will start off the meeting with a brief overview of the myriad ways industrial livestock corporations influence the well being of rural communities and what can be done to structure change. Attorney David Sykes, JFAN legal counsel, will give a legal update on an Iowa Supreme Court challenge to the Iowa Right to Farm law.
A panel discussion will be held at the conclusion of the meeting.
The JFAN Annual Meeting is Co-sponsored by our community partners: Southeast Iowa Sierra Club, solar powered KRUU – 100.1 FM, Southeast Iowa Food Hub, Radish Magazine, and Little Village Magazine.
Breaking the Grip of Corporate Agriculture on Rural Iowa will begin at 7:15 pm. Admission is free; a donation of $5 is welcome to support JFAN’s mission.
JFAN is a 501(c)(3) educational foundation working to protect the quality of life of Jefferson County residents since 2005. Our efforts successfully help to deter the proliferation of CAFOs in Jefferson County.
For more information:
Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, Inc.
P.O. Box 811
Fairfield, IA 52556
641-472-9332 – Direct
641-209-6600 – Voice Mail
We all know what our Republican representatives – Blum, Young, King, Ernst, Grassley – are doing in congress. They are either doing nothing or making things worse. Here’s what Iowa’s only Democratic congressman is doing. Working across the aisle to get things done for us. Check out this one-minute video or see text below.
“This amendment includes legislation I introduced – The Rural Wireless Access Act to make sure we’re getting wireless coverage throughout rural America. I’m constantly driving through the 24 counties of my district in Iowa and I can tell you there are a lot of areas where you cannot get a signal.
“Right now the maps the FCC is using to figure out where to invest resources tells a different story, but somehow low and behold all of Iowa is getting high speed 4G LTE wireless coverage. You can ask me or you can ask any of my constituents who will tell you that is simply not the case.
“My bill would fix this issue and make sure the FCC is using accurate data so that our coverage maps are accurate and investments are going to the areas that need them most.
“And I want to thank in particular congressman Costello for working on a bipartisan basis on this and Madame chair I appreciate your incorporating this into the larger bill.
Dave to Republican Chairman Marsha Blackburn: “I’m looking forward to reporting this out of committee and hopefully will get it out of the full committee and onto the floor and get it passed. Thanks so much.”
Chairman Blackburn: “Absolutely, and you deserve that credit for being so persistent on this issue.”
Five years ago, our state had a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion dollars, but due to massive special interest tax giveaways by the Reynolds Administration, our state sits with a $350 million dollar deficit.
The failed fiscal policies of Governor Kim Reynolds and her administration caused the most drastic and last minute cuts to programs our state has ever seen.
Fewer and fewer of our hard earned tax dollars are going towards supporting our kids’ schools, our broken infrastructure, or even to those who keep us safe.
And now Reynolds is dodging accountability for her mismanagement.
Just look at the facts: The budget shortage went from $104 million to $13 million in just three months.
So much of what is going on in politics is so ludicrous that it seems like our daily lives are a script written for Saturday Night Live or a story from the Onion or from Andy Borowitz. It ain’t. When you hear stories like the current president not seeming to understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States or that our governor suddenly averts a budget crisis with money appearing in the treasury from who knows where it sure feels like we are part of someone’s fertile comedic mind. Now reality is giving the comedic arts a run for their money.
With that as an intro, let me share this little joke from an online forum. The creator of this joke is 10 years old or so his Dad claims:
Q: “How is Trump like a Halloween pumpkin?” A: “They are both orange on the outside, hollow on the inside and should be thrown out in November.”
So here we go with our weekly (or maybe better ‘weakly’?) attempt to keep up with the news.
1) Who made big headlines last Sunday by leaving a football game before it even started?
2) Fires continue to race through what particular agricultural section of California?
3) What Republican governor threatened to leave his party if the rifts aren’t fixed?
4) Talk about fake. What presidential impersonator will be headlining the Iowa Democrats fall fundraiser November 27th?
5) The current president declared the “disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write” when asked a question concerning what plans for our nuclear arsenal?
6) A suspected anthrax outbreak is blamed for the death of more than 100 what in Namibia last week?
7) The Canadian division of what once giant American retailer is set to liquidate its assets and go out of business?
8) 55 years ago tomorrow, Oct. 16, 1962, the US became aware of what in Cuba in an incident that threatened nuclear war?
9) Speaking of nuclear war, what Republican senator stated last week that Trump “may be setting the U.S. on the path to World War III.”?
10) Good old partisan Chuck Grassley claims that what rifle accessory was “made legal in the Obama Administration”?
11) The current president announced he would not certify nuclear treaty compliance with what country last week?
12) As part of his tweet storms this week, the current president threatened to pull FEMA and the military from humanitarian mission where?
13) The current president used an appearance by what former Sec. Of State to claim his guest was tired of paying high Obamacare premiums?
14) October 18th, 1954 Texas Instruments ushers in the electronics age by introducing what for sale to the public?
15) An obviously hurt president challenged his Sec. of State to a battle of what kind of test? (to prove he wasn’t a moron, I guess?)
16) In sports, the US men’s team failed to qualify, but Iceland’s men’s team did qualify for what world contest next year?
17) Harvey Weinstein, what did he do?
18) Yet what other Republican senator – from a neighboring state – came in for harsh words from the current president?
19) What long established group for boys and young men will begin admitting girls in 2018?
20) Will they or won’t they? Will NFL players be forced to stand for the national anthem like the current president claims or not stand like the NFL commissioner claims?
Andy Borowitz on Facebook: Obamacare combines two things Trump hates: Obama and the verb “to care.”
Answers:
1) VP Mike Pence. Who cares why?
2) the wine country of northern California
3) Kasich of Ohio. Don’t hold your breath
4) Alec Baldwin
5) his supposed plans to increase our arsenal ten fold
6) hippos
7) Sears
8) missiles – this was the beginning of the Cuban missile crisis
9) Bob Corker from Tennessee
10) bump stocks. Instead of shifting blame why not fix the problem, Chuckles?
11) Iran
12) Puerto Rico
13) Henry Kissinger. 94YO Henry Kissinger who surely has nothing to do with the ACA
14) the transistor radio
15) IQ test. Yes, he really did
16) Soccer’s World Cup
17) a long history of sexual harassment
18) Ben Sasse from Nebraska
19) Boy Scouts
20) My guess is players will still kneel and set off another tweet storm.
The best quote from last week from Senator Bob Corker: It is a “shame” that the “White House has become an adult day care center.”
I feel fortunate to live in a district where the member of congress is more concerned about the needs of the constituents than the whims of the donors with the super deep pockets.
The Republican members of the Iowa delegation have spent this congressional session trying to take away health care and safety net programs. They also well ensconced in the back pocket of the NRA with Young and Ernst being particular favorites of the NRA So don’t expect any of them to work on any legislation that will in any way help Iowans.
Yet here in the second district Dave Loebsack didn’t forget why he is in congress. Our government is not there as a toy for the aristocracy, but as a tool to solve real problems together.
Thank You, Congressmember Loebsack!
And just to add insult to severe injury, Iowa’s First District congress member Rod Blum votes against additional aid to Puerto Rico in a vote Thursday. What is even more surprising is that King and Young voted for the aid.
This is the concept of Net Neutrality that is under fire from the current FCC (3 minutes). From 2015:
The current president (who, thanks to his own Secretary of State, should be referred to as the Effing Moron) caused quite a stir last week when he stated that:
“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!”
This tweet drew immediate backlash for several reasons. For one thing it further cemented his reputation as a moron. This tweet also showed that he has no clue how media runs in this country, nor does he have a clue what the first amendment to the constitution says.
Just to be clear, networks are not licensed but individual stations are. In a long ago period individual stations could lose their licenses for not serving their area. What was meant by “serving” was generally thought to be covering local news, groups and events. That was pretty much destroyed under Reagan and the criteria for a TV or radio station keeping their license was basically paying their bills and not running obscene material.
Ownership rules were also greatly relaxed. At one time the FCC was concerned about one media company controlling news in one area so the number of TV, radio and newspaper outlets per company was limited. That has been greatly relaxed over the decades to the point where we now have just a few media corporate conglomerates controlling news across the country.
While most of us tend to think of the major networks as the biggest players in the corporate media game there are a few others that are making some big waves below the surface. The major players most think of are Disney (ABC et al.), Comcast-NBC-Universal, CBS (which is tied in with Viacom and Sumner Redstone), Fox, and Time-Warner. Each of these are huge media corporations which include everything from newspapers to TV stations, studios and movie companies.
A few players that are making big waves are Sinclair Broadcasting which, should the FCC agree, will soon own TV stations in 75% of the country due to a purchase from Tribune Company. Another player that continues to cover much of the country despite financial problems is Clear Channel. Although Clear Channel is currently under control of Bane Capital (yes that Bane Capital) it still penetrates most of the country with its radio ownership.
All that is to say that in the traditional media of TV, radio, newspapers and magazines there are only only a few major players. Since they control media, they also control the messages that come from their media.
The one media they currently do not control is the internet. As we have mentioned here many, many times one of the most important ramifications of electing a Republican as president is what direction the country will take in the handling of of the internet. Once the outcome was known, we also pretty well knew what direction the internet would go.
Ajit Pai was reinstalled as the head of the FCC last week. Pai has made little secret that he wants to turn the internet over to corporate interests to run. The language of the order will be populated with phrases that sound like neutrality, but the reality will be corporate control. The reality in a few short years will begin to look like the cable TV that so many Americans are abandoning in droves.
The following is a discussion of tech giants in today’s world (4 minutes):
What is interesting is that while traditional media corporations have been attacking net neutrality hard for a decade or more, new giant corporations have grown in the new tech world. These corporations come with their own agenda. But they are the same as other corporations in that their main focus is to dominate their portion of the industry.
Therefore as we close in on the Effing Moron’s tenth month in office we see a media that is slowly being shaped into that should bring a fright to us this Halloween. We see a media being slowly shaped into a something more compliant to the administration. The bullying has had some effect.
Maybe it doesn’t seem like it on the outside, yet when you listen to the stories on the environment or civil rights or filling the courts with extreme right wing judges or a budget that will cut safety nets to tens of millions, you hear little criticism. Just normalization and an unwillingness to confront these issues.
We also see an internet about to be shaped by corporate interests – the very same that have suppressed real news on radio and TV for decades. We also see the rise of the new tech giants that are adopting the old corporate values of suppressing competition.
The reason behind the first amendment was to keep the government from controlling news and opinion. Yet if we put corporate interests in control of the media and the corporate interests coincide with an entrenched governmental aristocracy (or oligarchy if you prefer) that the media helped elect what is the difference? One only need to look at the media behavior in 2016 to see how that happens.
Almost as if on cue, an Indiana legislator has introduced a bill in Indiana’s legislature to license reporters. Can’t wait to see the process for that one. The state police would do the licensing.
Let us hope the future is not as bleak as I have portrayed. Recent history would suggest that we are not.
Hoaxes spread immediately after Las Vegas massacre
A lone gunman killed at least 59 and injured hundreds in Las Vegas. It took mere hours for a hoax to go from internet message board 4chan to Gateway Pundit, a frequently wrong right-wing blog given White House press credentials by the Trump administration.
Gateway Pundit’s White House correspondent would later defend sharing the hoax while appearing on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ YouTube channel; Sean Hannity later in the week cited Gateway Pundit in sharing a different Las Vegas conspiracy theory. Soon there were even more conspiracy theories, many of which were also started on internet message boards.
Andwhile these conspiracy theories have always been around, the difference now is how quickly they reach a mass audience.
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)
Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors, Inc.
Weekly update from 
