Here is a little video that sent a Halloween sized scare through my bones. The question it answers is “What is the lowest popular vote total that a person could amass and still win the presidency?” The answer rather amazed me. This really emphasizes why it is imperative that the electoral college be scrapped, the sooner the better.
6.5 minutes: (note – this video is 12 years old and therefore missed the worst loser wins election in 2016.)
Didn’t that get your attention? Just think, in a two party race the loser could get as much as 78% and LOSE! Remember that Republicans have won only one popular vote for president since 1992 (Bush in 2004) and probably would not have won that had he not been the incumbent. They have lost 7 of the last 8 and probably would have lost that one had they not had the incumbent.
Now think of the policies that George W and DonOLD Trump have enacted, appointments they’ve made and the propaganda distortions and fantasy worlds they have created in their times in office. Bribes – such as that seemingly taken by Jared Kushner from the Saudis and the $10 million to Trump from Egypt, thefts of state secrets, an outright physical attack on our government led by Trump, illegal attempts to undermine our election system and change vote totals, appointments of extremist SCOTUS judges and judges throughout the system. The list goes on forever.
That should make a normal person desire removing the antiquated, distorted system that the Founders left us. Yes, they did make some mistakes. That is why there is a system – albeit a very cumbersome system – for correcting mistakes.
the Lighthouse by Stevie Nicks (5 minutes) – pretty self-explanatory:
At a time when we need more truth and less fiction in our politics, along comes Indigenous People’s Day to take the place of the very mythicized Columbus Day. Columbus was mythicized for “discovering” America. Pretty hard to “discover” something where people had been living for millennia and had thriving cultures.
Rather than discovering” America, as we peel back the myths we find Columbus was a pretty bad colonizing dude. Now after the colonizers pretty well decimated Native Americans we have a day to remember that they were actually here first and they deserve some recognition.
As for last week, we’ll guess who has been accused of more criming putting dictators way above the American people. Think about it – it may be today’s first question.
Anticipating crisp fall weather here. So let’s go!
A) Talking to a foreign dictator, giving a covid testing apparatus to that dictator and stopping the FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. Who done it?
B) What matriarch of one of America’s top political families died Thursday at age 96?
C) Brenna Bird in the news again. This time she has Iowa joining a lawsuit against the federal government that would raise staffing in what industry?
D) Indigenous People’s Day? Is it recognized as a holiday in Iowa?
E) The one-two punch of hurricanes hitting Florida finished Thursday. What were the names of the two hurricanes that hit Florida?
F) What wacky Georgia politician added the claim that Democrats control the weather to her previous claim that Jewish Space Lasers were used to start forest fires a couple of years back?
G) What governor of Florida avoided taking calls from either the President or Vice-President while claiming they were not contacting him?
H) As Indigenous People’s Day gets recognition the month long recognition of what group ends tomorrow?
I) Which two Iowa congress members were corrected last week for their part in spreading the lies that FEMA was not immediately on job following the hurricanes in the southeast US?
J) Who verified that citizen Trump was in private phone conversations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin while Trump denied it happened?
K) What state first changed their Columbus Day holiday to Native American’s Day in 1990?
L) A legislator in West Virginia introduced a bill in the legislature saying that the election in WV would only be considered legal if what happened?
M) After refusing to appear on an interview with 60 minutes that aired last Monday, candidate Trump capped the week by refusing to appear in what format?
N) The cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security for 2025 was announced the other day to be what percentage raise?
O) Kamala Harris ran a media gamut this week including the View, Call Her Daddy and an interview with what self proclaimed ‘King of Media’ on SiriusXM radio?
P) Harris also had a beer with what late night TV show host?
Q) The Biden Administration announced $2.6 B to replace what health hazard in the US as part of an EPA rule?
R) What major fast-food chains sued four beef suppliers claiming the beef suppliers colluded to set prices on beef?
S) it is All Hands On Deck for Democrats as what former leaders will be out campaigning for Harris starting last week?
T) VP Harris proposed adding what care to Medicare last week?
Hillary Clinton: “Remember back in 2016, when Trump asked, what do you have to lose? Well now we know: Our healthcare, our jobs, our loved ones.”
Here is last week’s (October 4th) appearance on Iowa Press. (27 minutes)
Ryan Melton has some very interesting and very well thought out policy positions. He has obviously given deep thought to the specific problems of his district. This appears to be in opposition to his opponent, incumbent Randy Feenstra.
Since we have no guidance on the issue, we can only guess why Randy Feenstra avoids Ryan Melton. My take is that Feenstra has positions he does not want to defend in public. Feenstra pretty much votes MAGA Party line.
If the coming government is MAGA led with convicted felon DonOLD Trump as the president, Randy Feenstra will have a difficult time defending cutting Social Security, Medicare, FEMA, Agriculture programs and many other policies being promulgated by Project 2025 which will be the playbook of a MAGA administration and congress.
It is a shame that the fourth district is not more competitive. Having a district that is overwhelmingly one party leads to extremism and lack of concern for the district. Has the fourth district forgotten what Steve King became?
Melton comes off very well in this clip, showing a true depth of knowledge and thoughtfulness in seeking solutions. If you are in the fourth district give voting for Melton some serious thought.
Incumbent Republican Zach Nunn and Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam faced off Oct. 8, 2024, in a debate at Northwest High School in Waukee. 59 minutes:
Watching an appearance by a MAGA politician these days is an exercise in skepticism. Given that MAGAs from the top down lie about everything, trying to ferret out which statements are false, mostly false, somewhat true or really true makes a listener busy trying to keep up.
Knowing that Zach Nunn has spent his two years in congress avoiding the public makes a person think that he is hiding something. His claims that he knows almost nothing about Project 2025 just doesn’t pass the smell test. Right now, MAGA candidates have a real problem with truth. The fact that a Zack Nunn will be backing a felon for president is very troubling. He also appears to believes in the many myths that have become the glue that binds the MAGA Party together.
Also, I do not trust his declarations of keeping Social Security and Medicare intact when his Party is looking to change them.
Much better to choose a candidate that deals with reality. Lanon Baccam is not bound in by ridiculous beliefs of a cult-like leader who demands absolute fealty.
Baccam has his priorities right – country first, party last. Zach Nunn is just the opposite.
Here is a comment from the Wednesday edition of the newsletter High Five from ProgressIowa:
1. DEBATE RECAP: In case you missed Iowa’s third district debate last night, the candidates discussed topics including healthcare, reproductive rights, and immigration. Once again, Rep. Zach Nunn failed to justify his extreme stance against our reproductive freedom, his support for policies that attack Medicare and Social Security, and why he’s failed to host any public town halls while in office.
I would like to note here that Cook’s Political Report last week moved both Iowa’s first district and Iowa’s third district congressional races from “lean Republican” to “toss-up.”
Debates for Iowa’s other congressional districts:
1st district: Bohannan vs. Miller-Meeks:
Iowa PBS will host Iowa Press Debates: 1st Congressional District on Monday, October 21 at 8 p.m. at Iowa PBS studios in Johnston, Iowa.
Hosted by Iowa Press moderator Kay Henderson, candidates Christina Bohannan (D – Iowa City) and U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R – Davenport) will answer questions from reporters and discuss their platforms, concerns and future plans. Henderson will moderate the debate with two Iowa political reporters.
Iowa Press Debates: 1st Congressional District will air live on statewide Iowa PBS and be streamed on iowapbs.org, YouTube and Facebook.
2nd district: Corkery v. Hinson
Iowa PBS will hold an Iowa Press debate for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District race on Monday, October 14 at 8 p.m. at the Iowa PBS studios in Johnston, Iowa.
Hosted by Iowa Press moderator Kay Henderson, candidates Sarah Corkery (D – Cedar Falls) and U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson (R – Marion) will answer questions from reporters and discuss their platforms, concerns and future plans. Henderson will moderate the debate with two Iowa political reporters.
4th district: Melton v. Feenstra
As far as I can tell there are no debates, joint appearances,or anything of that ilk in the fourth district. The fourth district is by far the most partisan of Iowa’s districts. It looks like Randy Feenstra will once again refuse to come out in the open to have a mutual airing of positions on issues. While this is probably very good for Randy Feenstra, it is certainly not good for Iowa or democracy. Come out of hiding, Mr. Feenstra for the sake of Democracy.
Melton’s appearance on last week’s edition of Iowa Press will be posted later today.
Local political activists writing postcards for state senate candidate Ed Chabal (center).
My cohort of septuagenarian and octogenarian political activist friends organized an event before the primary. (Some nonagenarians are still around, yet are taking a well-deserved break. Their work beginning with the Adlai Stevenson campaign is appreciated, they earned their spurs). We held a “meet the candidates” event for local voters, something not often done these days. All five primary candidates for county supervisor showed up to speak briefly and to shake hands and chat for a couple of hours.
In August, we fired the engines for the fall campaign to put on another meet the candidate event, which also served as our kick-off event. First Congressional District candidate Christina Bohannan was our keynote speaker. We had eight candidates in all and more than 65 attendees. It was good turnout for a small, rural city.
After kicking off the campaign we began planning and doing: we finished our third postcard party with seven people writing postcards to voters for our house and state senate candidates; planned a meet and greet event for a state representative who is not well known after redistricting; deployed a sign crew to get out the word about our candidates; and are deploying a door knocking crew to the far western part of our new state house district, where one of our members was raised. I started a special newsletter to facilitate communication, although most of our planning is done in person and via email. Phone calls? Only when we have to. Text messages? No. I would describe this as off grid organizing.
What does off grid organizing mean? Barack Obama described it as well as anyone could last night: “It was great to be back in Pennsylvania today. If this election is making you feel excited or scared or hopeful or frustrated or anything in between, don’t just sit back and hope for the best. Vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Vote for Democrats up and down the ballot who will fight for you. Then help your friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers register and make a plan to vote.”
With the demise of the coordinated campaign, we feel left on our own. The county party was able to hire a couple of organizers that work out of the First Congressional District campaign office in the county seat, yet we rely on them only when we have to. We know what we need to do and just do it. If there is a bill for advertising, we split it up and pay it. To promote our local races, we reach out directly to the state house candidates and find they are very willing to have us support them. In any case, a state house campaign is separate and different from a district wide or statewide campaign. Down ballot races are very important, so a cookie-cutter campaign doesn’t work well.
The county organizers telephone us to ask for our help. We do what we can. What hinders us, especially door knocking, is the large number of our group that have trouble moving around and are in the midst of cataract surgery, hip or knee replacement, diabetes, arthritis, or other ailments of aging. We had a conversation this week about door knocking and to a person felt it is not the kind of campaign that is needed. The number of doors a campaign knocks is no longer a meaningful metric. How deeply we penetrate social networks matters so much more. When the campaign office calls us, we politely decline.
The 2022 election cycle was my last experience door knocking and it was an eye opener. I tried to make it to every door knocking event that was in my county and my state house district. To a person, people contacted required no additional information about the election or candidates. They knew the candidates, had a plan to vote, and did it mostly on their own. If they were not going to vote, no entreaties from a stranger would change their minds. People yelled at me from behind closed doors, “Go away!” The world has changed since I re-activated in politics during the 2004 campaign.
So what do we do to get Democrats out to vote? We talk to people, in person or via the telephone. We talk to people we have known for years, and in some cases, for decades. We make sure they plan to vote. We don’t take this for granted. We ask if they need a ride to the polls. We share information and discuss issues in the campaign.These are normal conversations between rational voters. We need more of that.
Eventually my cohort and I are going to die or move to a home. Until we do, at least this campaign, we are activated.
With all the education talk before the Nov. 5 election, Ed Chabal should be a shoo-in to be elected to the Iowa state senate in District 46 (located in Iowa, Washington, and parts of Johnson counties). He served as director of business and finance for the Mount Pleasant Community School District from 1997 until this summer. He knows school finance inside and out, and education is the largest part of the state’s annual budget. Do the math and district voters should vote for Chabal because of this expertise.
When last April the Iowa City Community School District announced closure of Hills Elementary School, local residents were taken aback by the speed at which things moved. Chabal’s opponent, incumbent state senator Dawn Driscoll, was johnny on the spot to devise a solution, one that included consolidating Hills with Lone Tree elementary schools.
My bone of contention is that had Driscoll been doing a better job of funding rural public schools while in the legislature, the whole thing may have been averted. Hills may have retained its school. Driscoll’s April “solutions” discussion with city council and the community is duplicitous insofar as she was helping solve a problem she created by under-funding public education. Ed Chabal knows better than this.
Why do citizens vote against their best interests? Education received in the K-12 system contributes to this. Let’s make Iowa’s K-12 education system the best in the nation again, beginning by electing Ed Chabal to the state senate in District 46 on Nov. 5.
Iowa is teeming with CAFOS (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation), and big ag has big plans for more and more. Click on the link to listen to the podcast How to Fight A Factory Farm, Episode 1: Raising a Stink. CCI has been leading the charge in Iowa to fight factory farms that are destroying our state.
Iowa CCI, three other Midwest organizations and key national allies make up CFFE. Together, we have created and are excited to announce, ‘How to Fight a Factory Farm’, a four-episode podcast.
Episode one came out on Wednesday! – October 2nd and it features CCI’s own Board President, Barb Kalbach, and Strategic Advisor, Hugh Espey. Both have been factory farm fighters for years!
Episodes will come out each Wednesday following the 2nd. Episode themes include:
CAFOs 101, environment and water impacts
Impacts on rural communities and economies, history of how we got here/consolidation
Communities are organizing to stop factory farms
Policy change, alternative systems like Patchwork
You can find and listen to the podcast here! Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to ‘How to Fight a Factory Farm’ wherever you get your podcasts.
When you listen, please reply to this email and let us know what you think.
Click here to listen ‘How to Fight a Factory Farm’ today!
For the Iowa we dream of,
Karsen Duve
Farm & Environment Organizer
P.S. Want to become a member and fight factory farms with your community? Click here to join.
Good on Iowa Press for letting it be known at the start of last weekend’s episode that republican Randy Feenstra declined their invitation to be on the program with his opponent democrat Ryan Melton. Instead they spent the entire time with Melton. They didn’t however mention that this was a repeat performance by Feenstra who didn’t show up to debate the first time Melton challenged him in 2022.
You would think that a duly elected representative shirking his responsibility to the public by refusing to appear for a debate with a legitimate opponent on Iowa’s only statewide broadcast would be risky. As it turned out, the panel helped him out by acting as his proxy. No surprise there.
The IP panel did their usual thing, speaking for the absent republican, repeating for the audience what his best issues are and reminding us all of his popularity. They might have expressed disappointment that he did not accept their invitation or they could have pointed out that elected officials owe the voters and the people of Iowa accountability by a public debate. But no, that was never going to happen and Feenstra knew it. Avoiding the media is a thing among republicans now. And I have yet to see a shred of push back or negative consequences for it.
I hope this appearance on the show helps Ryan Melton. The Iowa Press panel in their usual and customary fashion basically called him a sure loser at the top of the program. They give this same treatment to every democrat who appears on the program. It’s like they think all of Iowa consists of only republicans.
Watch the program regularly, and you can see how democrats make the Iowa Press panel bristle. On this episode, moderator Kay Henderson couldn’t help herself from interjecting points of emphasis during other panelists’ questioning for no apparent reason. She does this as Murphy was launching the first of several “resistance is futile” type questions of the democrat.
Here’s one example of what I’m talking about.
“Murphy: So, what do you consider a successful campaign then knowing that victory is a long shot? In 2022 your competitor, Congressman Feenstra, won by more than 102,00 votes, 36 percentage points.
Henderson: Ahead of you.”
Why didn’t they just say hey loser, what is the point of running, you can’t win? Voters may as well just turn off the TV. Defeat has been declared.
And yes Kay, as for that add-in “ahead of you,” I believe Melton knew Erin meant Feenstra was ahead of him in votes and percentage points, not behind. Not sure what Henderson was trying to do there. Rub it in, I guess. Making sure the democrat got their point as if anyone could possibly have missed the point.
Example 2 after a thoughtful, nuanced answer about the middle east:
“Murphy: …whenever people give an opinion like that you hear the pushback that anything less than a full-throated endorsement of Israel and full backing of Israel —
Henderson: And its right to exist…
Murphy: — and its right to exist — is unacceptable and a betrayal of an ally of the U.S. ..”
Henderson apparently doesn’t think Erin Murphy asks questions good enough.
She jumped in for no apparent reason another couple of times. You’ll just have to watch.
Every time a democrat is on the program without a republican, which is hardly ever, the panel seems to rely solely on republican talking points as their primary (only) source for questions. There are so many other questions that could be asked that it boggles the mind. They totally give the program over to republican talking points and horse race questions.
One positive note: the word “greedflation” made its way into the dialogue thanks to Ryan Melton who did a fantastic job in a hostile environment. But Kay was swift to correct the democrat that the term is “inflation” not “greedflation” and also that the republican candidate who was not present on the program is also the winner on that issue.
“Henderson: You mentioned greedflation… inflation has been something that your opponent, Congressman Feenstra, has been talking about. He’s an advocate of a balanced federal budget. Do you think the federal budget should be balanced?”
Another:
“Henderson: Speaking of questions —
Murphy: Yeah, so the Register’s Iowa Poll found that Iowans consider immigration a top issue in this election. Your opponent, Congressman Feenstra, says immigration is his top issue. What conversations are you having with voters about immigration? What do you think needs to be done?”
They may as well have chanted, na-na-na-na-na, Iowans’ fav things are taxes and immigration, our guy is better than you, what d’ya say about that, loser?
The Iowa Press panel never fail to rub it in to democrats every chance they get how futile it is to run against the impossibly popular, eternally powerful republicans in Iowa. Gruber-Miller even admits here that it was the second time this question was asked.
“Gruber-Miller: So, as we mentioned, it’s a conservative district. There are about 107,000 more registered republicans in the district than there are democrats. How do you talk to those voters and earn their support? And how do you make the case that you would be a better candidate to represent their values than the republican you’re running against?”
Because they as members of the media, couldn’t possibly be the ones to inform voters, so don’t expect any help from the press. You are on your own.
They did touch on other topics including CAFOs, clean water, carbon capture pipelines, abortion.
If you live in IA-04, watch the program and give Ryan Melton a look. Do yourself a favor and hit the mute button during the questions and just listen to what Ryan Melton has to say or read the transcript. He’s a smart guy who cares about Iowa and cares about democracy. He will actually represent you in congress. He will not hide from the press or his critics. Check out his website where you can sign up for his informational newsletter. You can follow him on InstagramTwitter and Facebook.
Democrats aren’t perfect but they’re a helluva lot better than the alternative.
Click here to watch Ryan Melton solo last year’s non-debate with Feenstra.
I understand what Thom Hartmann wrote his new book, The Hidden History of the American Dream: The Demise of the Middle Class — And How to Rescue Our Future. However, the book is less likely written for a boomer like me than for millennials and younger people who did not live through the Reagan Revolution. Hartmann said as much in an email:
“I wrote this book mostly to Zoomers, Gen-Xers, and other younger-generation Americans who don’t understand how we got a widespread middle class in the first place (it was FDR’s government intervention in the so-called “free market”) or why it shrank from two-thirds of us when Reagan came into office to a mere 43-47 percent of us today (Reagan’s 1981 mission was to gut the middle class to “preserve stability”).
When I came of age after finishing graduate school, Ronald Reagan was president and despite an advanced degree, military service, and being a white male with the privilege that means, the American Dream was the stuff of legends rather than something attainable. In his book, Hartmann explains the history of how the Middle Class came to be and what happened after Reagan was sworn in as president. The idea of an “American Dream” is still relevant, he said in a recent interview. His message is one of hope for restoring the American Dream, economic opportunity, and a strong Middle Class.
What makes this book relevant now is the fact that in the November 2024 election, the country is facing a choice between the Democratic Republic upon which we were founded and a rich person’s paradise where privatization of government functions and economic deregulation are the norm.
On Sept. 17, the author interviewed Hartmann about his new book. Click here to listen to the 27-minute interview. You will be glad you did. Hartmann discusses his view of the American Dream, the impact of Reaganism, K-12 and higher education, right to work, and more.
Thom Hartmann is a four-time winner of the Project Censored Award, a New York Times bestselling author, and America’s number one progressive talk show host. His show is syndicated on local for-profit and nonprofit stations and broadcasts nationwide and worldwide. It is also simulcast on television in nearly 60 million U.S. and Canadian homes.
To buy a copy of The Hidden History of the American Dream:The Demise of the Middle Class — And How to Rescue Our Future,click here.
After discussing Health Care as a lurking issue in this year’s election, I want to remind voters that there is another really huge issue that corporate media has chosen to bury this year. This is an issue that has younger voters scared and understandably so.
After the disaster wrought by Hurricane Helene a couple weeks ago we can understand why the rapidly changing climate is something to be feared and something that the government should be marshaling its forces to try to contain.
The US has seen a couple of years of ever rising temperatures as month after month brings new monthly record breaking temperatures. So far this year the world has seen 9 straight months of record breaking high averages.
Along with those continuing higher temperatures come increase fire threats and damages, storms that develop from depressions to category 4 or 5 hurricanes if record time as the storms strengthen over increasingly warm seas. Now the storms are maintaining power deep inland. They used to dissipate quickly once they hit land. Not any more.
What is happening here is happening around the world. Just before Hurricane Helene ravaged the US, Europe endured Storm Boris with monumental flooding. All this is not happening over millennia but over decades and now just years.
About a year ago climate change was identified as a major issue for voters under 35 for this year. Yet once again, we are in the final days of the campaign and corporate media has bent the issues to be hatred of immigrants and hatred of women and the horse race itself.
Climate change is just one of many issues that the media refuses to report. Even what was the top issue a year ago – women taking control of their own reproductive heath care – is an issue that the corporate media is trying to ignore. Women and young voters force the media to report on it despite their willingness to.
As usual, the MAGA party will do nothing about climate change but make it worse. They will continue policies that will preference fossil fuel energy systems. Renewable energy will be short changed as green house gases continue to be pumped into our atmosphere. As you know, this will result in continuing worsening of the climate.
We are not yet out of time, but the window is closing. There is need for strong and bold action. The Democratic Party is the only political group we can look to in the US to take action. As noted, MAGAs will do nothing but take donations from the greenhouse gas spewers.
Climate a concern? Vote for Democrats and then let them know that you want action.
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)
