Christina Bohannan’s Common Sense Approach to Abortion

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Paul Deaton

Roe v. Wade was America’s compromise on abortion and a large majority of Americans support its protections. When the 45th president appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices during his term, his intention was clear: overturn Roe v. Wade and create chaos so the country could go through the debate that resulted in Roe once again. Elections matter and so we are.

Christina Bohannan is a law professor who read all 200 Iowa court decisions related to abortion. Below is a recent video in which she discusses them and lays out a common sense approach to the controversial issue the 1973 Supreme Court decision represented. Her opponent, incumbent Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks sponsored the “Life at Conception Act,” which prohibits abortion and included no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life.

This week, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Biden rolled out his agenda to protect women’s rights, including codifying the protection of women’s rights outlined in Roe. To do that, Biden will need more Democratic members of Congress, beginning with replacing Miller-Meeks with Christina Bohannan in Iowa’s First Congressional District.

I hope you will watch the video and help Bohannan win in November. Follow Christina Bohannan on Facebook, and Instagram. Sign up with her campaign at  bohannanforcongress.com/

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Conversion Therapy Ban Ban

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Paul Deaton
Image from an email from Iowa State Senator Liz Bennett

Let’s just get into this. Conversion therapy is wrong and Iowa Republicans want statewide control in how communities approach it. In case you’ve been sleeping, conversion therapy is at best a pseudoscience intended to change an individual’s sexual orientation. At worst it harms people. It is not even a legitimate form of therapy, wrote Douglas C. Haldeman in The Case Against Conversion “Therapy.” Here are the basics:

Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have been used to this end include forms of brain surgery, surgical or hormonal castration, aversive treatments such as electric shocks, nausea-inducing drugs, hypnosis, counseling, spiritual interventions, visualization, psychoanalysis, and arousal reconditioning.

There is a scientific consensus that conversion therapy is ineffective at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and that it frequently causes significant long-term psychological harm. The position of current evidence-based medicine and clinical guidance is that homosexuality, bisexuality and gender variance are natural and healthy aspects of human sexuality. Historically, conversion therapy was the treatment of choice for individuals who disclosed same-sex attractions or exhibited gender nonconformity, which were formerly assumed to be pathologies by the medical establishment. When performed today, conversion therapy may constitute fraud and when performed on minors, a form of child abuse; it has been described by experts as torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and contrary to human rights.

An increasing number of jurisdictions around the world have passed laws against conversion therapy.

Wikipedia

Allow me to repeat, “When performed today, conversion therapy may constitute fraud and when performed on minors, a form of child abuse; it has been described by experts as torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and contrary to human rights.” Why wouldn’t the State of Iowa ban this harmful practice? We should. The scientific consensus is it doesn’t work as intended.

“Iowa Republicans want to ban LGBTQ+ conversion therapy bans,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst wrote in an email. “Yes, you read that right. While Iowa is one of the few states without a statewide ban on conversion therapy (not a great start), individual cities and towns have implemented their own bans on conversion therapy. The Iowa GOP would like to take away that local control.”

“Linn County passed its ban on conversion therapy in mid-2022, prohibiting conversion or reparative therapies for people under the age of 18,” wrote Valeree Dunn of Iowa News Now. “The City of Davenport has had its own ban on conversion therapy since 2020.”

“Far-right extremist Sen. Salmon introduced SF 2037 which would prevent cities and counties in Iowa from banning conversion therapy,” Senator Liz Bennett wrote. “As the only out LGBTQ+ senator in Iowa, this feels like not only a personal attack on me, but also an attack on our entire community and state.”

This bill is an assault, not only on one LGBTQ+ individual, it is an assault on everything that should be important to Iowans, including local control of our communities, recognition of the validity of the scientific methods used in research, and plain common sense.

The bill passed subcommittee on Wednesday, Jan. 17, and seems likely to clear the full committee should it meet on the bill.

Contact your state legislature to oppose this ill-advised and regressive legislation. Better than that, work to add Democratic State Senators to their caucus in the November election to regain a majority. If you can spare some dollars, here is the link to support the Iowa Senate Democrats.

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Biden Saving America But Media Can’t Look Away From Trump

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Trish Nelson

I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough of Republicans in the news everywhere you look, destroying everything in their path or trying to.  Shall we give democracy a chance and see what President Biden has been doing meanwhile, running the country?  As they say in the punditry business when they want to put Trump on the TV screen, “Let’s take a listen!” Only this time you will actually learn something.  Happy Friday to our loyal readers!

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Billionaire Elites Buying SCOTUS With Goal Of Deregulation

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Trish Nelson

“By all appearances, a Koch-funded legal theory supported by Koch-funded amici is about to be deployed by Koch-funded lawyers to convince Koch-funded justices to achieve a longstanding goal of Koch Industries: the ability to pollute more freely and cheaply.” –  Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

“Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, delivers the twenty-sixth in a series of speeches titled “The Scheme,” exposing the machinations by right-wing donor interests to capture the Supreme Court and achieve through the Court what they cannot through the elected branches of government.” 

Follow Sen. Whitehouse’s “The Scheme” series at  youtube.com/@SenatorWhitehouse

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Christina Bohannan Will Defend Women’s Rights

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Trish Nelson

Fortunately for women in Iowa, Christina Bohannan is taking another shot at MAGA-Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s first congressional district.

Not only does she possess an amazing resume, Bohannan is a strong advocate for women’s rights, including the right to control our own bodies. She believes that the rights that women held for 50 years before the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, should be restored.

“My view is we should go back to Roe v. Wade,” Bohannan said in an August interview. “No more, no less. That’s what people support.”

Bohannan has said she intends to talk about access to reproductive health care throughout her campaign.

Our current representative has consistently shown us that she will not stand up to protect women’s rights. Miller-Meeks thinks she and her fellow Republican politicians should be in the doctor’s office with you and has voted for bills that included a nationwide ban.

Rep. Miller-Meeks defends her support for national abortion restrictions

“She also defended her position supporting a 15-week nationwide ban on abortion with exceptions. cbs2iowa.com

But in 2021 Miller-Meeks co-sponsored a bill that contained no exceptions, the so-called “Life at Conception Act.”  This week Miller-Meeks said she will continue her support of the legislation she co-sponsored in the past, including a constitutional amendment that would eliminate women’s rights in Iowa and add a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life.

The Gazette reported in August, 2023:

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks drew jeers from a crowd in Iowa City Monday over her opposition to banning semi-automatic rifles and support of the Second Amendment.  Miller-Meeks… also received criticism from local medical providers for co-sponsoring a proposal that would declare that personhood begins at conception.

Miller-Meeks is a party-first MAGA Republican. Her stated first priority during the last campaign was to fire tens of thousands of IRS employees. Check out this short clip and compare the two candidates.  It will be a clear choice which one is thinking about helping Iowa and which one is not.

Bohannan v Miller-Meeks Debate – Whose Answer Was Best For Iowans?

Follow Christina Bohannan on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up with her campaign at  bohannanforcongress.com/

Watch the debate between Bohannan and Miller-Meeks on IPTV in 2022.

 

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Americans Upbeat On Biden Economy

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Trish Nelson


Jennifer Rubin’s January 22 opinion piece in the Washington Post makes a great point about the relationship between opinion polls and media. Not in the sense of the media going overboard on their coverage of polls, which they do, but that journalists and pundits don’t take it upon themselves to consider that polling outcomes may be a reflection of what is being talked about in the mass media.

Reporting of public opinion polls typically does not take into account the coinciding news coverage as possibly causal or at least influential. Our media is not exactly known for being self-reflective, accurate, unbiased, or particularly thoughtful in the Trump/post-Trump era that we are in. As we’ve written about here on BFIA, they have a tendency to stick with the narrative that everyone else is repeating. It’s like groupthink.  Also, we have the problem of corporate ownership of the news, newspaper mergers, right wing propaganda companies such as Sinclair Broadcasting and Fox, making things even worse.

Noam Chomsky famously said “He who controls the mass media controls the minds of the public.”

Here is an excerpt of the article and I’ve included a gift link here.

About time: The Economic Narrative Shifts

by Jennifer Rubin

For months now, the economy has been much stronger than political coverage — and therefore, public polling — has suggested. And though it wasn’t only in the past few weeks that 14 million jobs were created, inflation dropped below 4 percent and wages exceeded inflation, the coverage of the economy certainly has shifted quickly and dramatically.

Each bit of news is reported as confirmation that finally the economic outlook has brightened.  “Americans are rapidly becoming much more upbeat about the economy,” the Wall Street Journal reported last week. “Consumer sentiment surged 29% since November, the biggest two-month increase since 1991, the University of Michigan said Friday, adding to gauges showing improving moods.” Hmm, that suggests for several months now the media continued to paint a dreary picture of the national mood when, in fact, consumers were feeling something quite different. Apparently, ordinary Americans clued in to the real state of the economy far sooner than the many in the media did.

If the economy remains the most important factor in the presidential election, as it traditionally has, then the president who can claim robust job gains, lower inflation and gas prices, major high-tech and infrastructure investment, and rising stock prices and consumer sentiment might be in a better position for reelection than many pundits predicted. Get ready for the “Biden comeback” stories.

Sharing the full story as a gift article no subscription needed

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Iowans Push Back On Governor’s Education Cuts

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Trish Nelson

And now a word from Jennifer Konfrst –

Iowans Say No to Governor’s Education Cuts

The 2024 legislative session is off to a controversial start.

Lawmakers have already heard from thousands of Iowans concerned about a proposal offered by the Governor that would reduce mental health, special education, reading recovery and other services provided to kids.

Last month, the Governor hinted she was going to propose some changes to the way Iowa’s delivers services like special education and mental health through Area Education Associations (AEAs). It came as a bit of a shock to many because the Governor hadn’t talked to Iowa parents with kids who use those services or the educators delivering those services.

It turns out those concerns were valid. When the Governor delivered her bill to lawmakers last week, we learned the bill was written by an out-of-state private company without any input from parents, educators, or Iowans.

It ignited a firestorm at the Capitol as Iowans all over the state registered their opposition to the bill and it’s been a roller coaster ride ever since.

First, the Governor said last week she was open to changes to the bill and that Iowans were overreacting. A few days later, she doubled down on the bill through another press release and said her goal remains the same – consolidate power under her own bureaucracy in Des Moines to eliminate some special education and other services kids currently receive.

It’s no secret Iowans are frustrated with politics these days. They expect honesty and transparency from their elected officials. They are also fierce defenders of public schools and aren’t afraid to fight back when politicians try to take away services like special education and mental health from our kids.

And it’s exactly why so many Iowans are upset about this plan.

The Governor got caught playing politics with special education services for Iowa kids and Iowans are now holding her accountable for it. They deserve clear answers, and they are insisting that their voices are heard in this process.

With the bill on the back burner for now, my hope is lawmakers can work together in the next few months to renew our commitment to great public schools. That means fully funding public schools to keep up with rising costs and guaranteeing every kid in every zip code gets a great education. It means raising pay for all educators and giving them a seat at the table. It also means making sure every child has access to the special education and mental health services they need.

It’s people over politics.

I’m so grateful to all the Iowa parents and educators who spoke up and forced Republican leaders to slow this bill down. But it’s far from over. I encourage Iowans to stay engaged, keep contacting your legislators, and stay tuned until the last day of session.

There’s so much at stake for our kids. While the roller coaster we’re on has slowed down, the ride won’t end until the Governor drops the politics and listens to Iowans.

– Rep. Konfrst is the Iowa House Democratic Leader and serves Iowa’s 32nd House District.

CONNECT WITH HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER JENNIFER KONFRST:

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Watch Kim Reynolds scramble discussing this issue on Iowa Press Friday. In typical Republican fashion, she did not acknowledge receiving negative feedback about the bill even when asked. Watch here as she doesn’t answer Erin Murphy’s question, just proceeds with her talking points. Were her talking points even true? No one followed up with a single question about  her 3-minute monologue where she blames AEAs for students’ supposed failures. [Read the full Iowa Press transcript]

First question from Erin Murphy:  “Governor, part of that legislative agenda was a proposed overhaul of the state’s area education associations. And this week you’ve announced some tweaks to that changes based on feedback you’re hearing. Could you kind of describe the feedback you’ve heard from educators, parents, whoever it might be?”

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Earthrise Studio on Fossil Fuels

Posted on January 21, 2024 by Paul Deaton

I met Finn Harries in Cedar Rapids at Al Gore’s 2014 Climate Reality Leadership Corps training. The diminutive Brit showed up only for the days Gore gave his Inconvenient Truth lecture. Harries and his twin brother Jack had millions of subscribers on their YouTube channel JacksGap. With a fame of his own, Finn Harries had specific intent in attending the Iowa training.

During the last ten years, the brothers developed a process to address the climate crisis. Finn is working on regenerative agriculture and Jack started Earthrise Studio. The transformation of their YouTube channel is ongoing at Earthrise Studio.

This channel is currently undergoing an exciting transformation. In 2011 we launched JacksGap, a creative storytelling project featuring short travel films by Jack and Finn Harries. Since then we’ve been on the most incredible journey covering stories all around the world and increasingly learning about the significant environmental issues we face. Today 10 years later we are re launching this channel as Earthrise, a digital media platform and creative studio dedicated to communicating the climate crisis. Earthrise tells stories for a new world. Radical stories of hope, of new possibility. Stories from the future that help us navigate the now. We’re so excited for this next chapter and hope you’ll join us!

Earthrise YouTube Channel

Their channel has grown to 3.63 million subscribers.

On Tuesday, Jan. 16, I received this email with a link to their first video about fossil fuels. Please take 11 minutes to view it. It presents a different picture of the geopolitical impact of fossil fuels and leads into the same discussion about renewables.

A year ago, we set out on a journey to investigate the origins of the global energy crisis, an issue that took the world by storm and resulted in extortionate energy bills for people everywhere.

Fast forward to today, we’re so excited to share that the first episode of POWER has just gone live on our YouTube channel. But first, a quick recap on how we got here…

February: We decided to make a series about fossil fuels.

March: We went to our audience to crowdsource questions.

April: We began writing the series.

July: We kicked off production in our new filming studio.

December: We wrapped filming.

Yesterday: We held an in-person premiere for our community.

Today: We hit upload on Episode 1, and you can now stream it on our YouTube channel using the link below.

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Embers Of The Iowa Caucuses

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Paul Deaton
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Has the Iowa Democratic Party hit rock bottom? At Monday’s poorly attended precinct caucuses, small groups of long-time Democratic attendees kept political embers glowing. Although we hadn’t reached “rock bottom” one could see it from there in the dim light of a fire that long ago burned through most of its fuel.

For comparison, in 2012 when President Obama was running for reelection, also the year comparable to 2024 when President Biden is running for reelection, we had 12 people at our precinct caucus. This year we had three. Combine low caucus attendance with the fact as of Jan. 12 only 8,000 Democrats had requested a presidential preference card from the state party, and it was enough to make a pail of water turn sour. Erin Jordan of the Cedar Rapids Gazette caught the mood at Iowa City Precinct 17 where Democrats had trouble filling their delegate seats to the county convention. The caucus chair called out individuals by name to recruit volunteers.

It’s not that Republicans had great caucus turnout. They didn’t. Donald J. Trump received 56,206 votes in the Iowa Republican caucus, or 7 percent of registered Republican voters. Hardly a mandate. The state had 752,249 registered Republicans on Jan. 1, 2024, and only 110,298 (15 percent) caucused. Half of Republicans who did vote wanted someone other than a Florida man facing 91 criminal counts as their presidential preference. Even Koch Industries, a powerhouse in Iowa through their shadow presence in Americans for Prosperity, was financially supporting someone else. The Republican performance definitely did not show strength. Unlike the national media we shouldn’t put too much stock in Trump’s win.

What about the vast majority of Iowa’s estimated 3.2 million people? They were not a part of this year’s caucus activity. To climb out of the hole in which we found ourselves, Democrats need a new way of thinking about politics. It must be focused on all Iowans, not just aging party activists.

Boy howdy! That’s not going to fly with the aging cohort of party regulars!

Iowa Democrats have the right idea. The slogan they wrote, “People over Politics” is the right one for this campaign because it hits on the need to address the majority of Iowans’ needs and wants, rather than a small minority. It is not enough to repeat the slogan, check off the box, and return to politics as usual. Something has to change.

Young people have a lot to lose in the 2024 election. When I talk to people in their twenties and thirties, they are angry with how our national politics is going. In particular, the treatment of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas War has them angry with President Biden and with Republican alternatives. They definitely plan to vote. Their issues make it more complicated than a choice between the Democrat and Republican running for president. As an elder, I caution about the complexity of Middle East politics. They don’t want to hear it. What is lacking is adequate direction from Washington to end the conflict and stop the genocide of Palestinians. Such young people are not motivated to join a political party. They are not motivated to support Biden. They simply want the president and the elected government in Washington to offer viable solutions now.

“The people of Iowa appreciate balance in the federal government and the state government,” said Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party in the Washington Post. “It is out of whack here in Iowa because Republicans have been in power for too long, and they have overreached.” I can say from my experiences with young people this seemingly reasonable statement is what’s out of whack. We need less characterization of the electorate in national media and more action to deliver positive results to more people. The elder in me says stay the course and let Hart lead. The young person in me wants to upset any existing balance and get a new set of scales.

I stay in touch with some in my Iowa high school cohort which entered its eighth decade of living. A common sentiment among them is “Oh Iowa. What are you thinking?” At its core, the concern is one for the future. A reaction to the Trump win like this can only be from consuming conventional news media. Our current national and local media environments have lost interest in the common good and propagate whatever content garners eyeballs. We need a new way of seeing the news and what we are doing now isn’t it. I am devoted to Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American because it injects each day with a dose of the logic, reason, and perspective of a historian. Many in my cohort have not heard of her. Indeed, her one voice is not enough.

Donald Trump Jr. said, “A win is a win” on caucus night. I used to look at elections that way. When a party can’t draw enough people to a meeting to fill convention delegate positions, the system is not working. While I enjoyed conversations with my old friends at the caucus. Iowa politics has to be something more than a social hour. Unless we make it so, the embers will finally be extinguished. I hope to do my part in creating change we need using my platform. What about you readers?

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Reynolds’ AEA Bill Would Reduce Funding For Special Ed

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Trish Nelson

Sharing this because not everyone is on Facebook. Here are the links to follow statehouse Democrats on Facebook and Twitter if you like.  Also, Iowans can log on to legis.iowa.gov to watch live streams of legislative action, including committee meetings and debates. Sign up for the Iowa House Democrats’ People Over Politics newsletter here

Watch this week’s Zoom as Jennifer Konfrst gives details about Governor Reynolds’ AEA proposal.  You may want to contact your reps in the statehouse about the AEA bill especially if you have a Republican rep.

 

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