Indivisible Planning National Mobilization Around Dobbs Anniversary

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Trish Nelson

From our inbox

And now a rather long word from Indivisible, via the newsletter.  Indivisible is still out there organizing for the resistance. Find out what they are up to below. You can follow Indivisible Iowa on Facebook or click here to find a local group.

###

Donald Trump is probably going to jail, and then he’s going to lose, and then he’s going to prison, and then we’re going to party. How does that sound?

Welcome to the bi-weekly-ish newsletter from yours truly. Let’s get to the news, the brag, and the discussion. But first, a summary:

The news: The escalation of the war in Gaza, the growing campus protest movement, and Biden’s move to limit support for Netanyahu. There’s a pathway to protecting civilian lives, bringing hostages home to their loved ones, stitching together a pro-democracy coalition, and defeating Trump in the fall. For those of us on the front lines of building that coalition, the news from Biden this week is welcome.

The brag: We’re preparing a major national mobilization in June around the anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. We’ll have hundreds of events nationwide to focus public attention where we need it this election: on Trump and MAGA’s attempt to ban abortions nationwide. Interested in supporting the events? Donate here. Interested in hosting an event? Info here.

The discussion: Leah and I hosted a live informal coffee chat after the last newsletter that went great! Let’s do it again! We’re planning on 4pm ET / 1pm PT on Friday May 31. Sign up here so we know there’s interest, and send in questions so we can get to as many as possible in the time we have!

The news: The fight to define this election, and the rocky road to a pro-democracy coalition capable of defeating Trump.

A dominant story in the news over the last several months has been the war in Gaza and its impact on domestic politics. This is a hard topic to write about, because once you start writing, you feel like you need to cover everything. I’m not going to try to cover everything, but I am going to try and outline my thinking on both a moral and strategic level because it’s relevant to who we are as a movement and our north star goal this year of thoroughly defeating Trump and MAGA.

Our movement’s name, “Indivisible,” means something. Indivisible is a movement rooted in shared values — a commitment to equality, human rights, and the dignity and preciousness of all human life. The beating heart of the Indivisible movement is our local groups and leaders. Since October, Leah and I have been talking to Indivisibles, and our teams have been seeking out input from Indivisibles. Though not uniform, I’ve heard a pretty consistent 3-part reflection from members on this movement:

  1. Indivisibles were appalled by Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7th that murdered 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens and took more than 200 hostages. And they are appalled by Netanyahu’s brutal massacre of 35,000 Palestinians, almost half of them children.
  2. Indivisibles would like a permanent ceasefire, the killing to stop, and the return of the hostages.
  3. Indivisibles are worried that the war is fracturing our winning Democratic coalition and diverting voters’ attention away from the fascistic threat of Donald Trump and MAGA.

Indivisible has tried to turn the first two reflections into our advocacy work. We’ve driven calls in support of humanitarian assistance, human rights, and a ceasefire. If you’re on our list, you’ve seen our communications on this over the last several months.

And then there’s #3. Netanyahu is escalating in Gaza, civilians are being massacred and starved, Hamas retains the hostages, and campus protests are on the front page. Republican politicians who defended white supremacists and neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us!” in Charlottesville are now cynically exploiting legitimate concern about rising antisemitism to fracture our coalition. And Biden is losing key constituencies — especially young people and Arab Americans — which risks us losing everything in November.

It’s the final point that I want to focus on here, because it’s something that I know Indivisible group leaders have grappled with and have asked us to grapple with.

Let’s start with the basics: An election win begins with defining for voters what this election is about. Before we even get to getting out the vote, winning this year depends on defining what this election is about for voters. If I had my way, it would be impossible to turn on the TV, open up a newspaper, or listen to the radio without hearing reports on MAGA attacking our democracy and abortion rights. All of the polling, focus groups, and message testing that we’ve seen tells us that if voters are thinking about abortion and MAGA extremism, we’re going to win.

But that’s not the only thing in the news. The Republicans will try to drive public attention to crime or the border or some cynical topic that benefits them. And all the while the raging war in Gaza and the campus protests against US support for it compete for (and deserve) public attention as well.

Here’s how we’ve wrestled with the moral and strategic imperatives of this moment. This topic lends itself to lots of rhetorical detours, so to limit myself, I’ll list out each individual thought that forms the complex worldview:

  1. Indivisible’s north star this year is to reelect Biden and a Democratic trifecta so we can pass democracy reform and codify reproductive rights nationally.
  2. Accomplishing that requires us to define what this election is about by driving press coverage and public attention to MAGA extremism and the attack on abortion rights.
  3. One challenge in focusing attention on just those issues is the ongoing war in Gaza, the prolonged plight of the hostages, and the protest against the massacre of civilians which reasonably demands attention.
  4. Netanyahu is a horrendous, corrupt leader who wants Trump to win and sees continuation of the war as his best path to staying in power and out of prison.
  5. Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens on October 7th was horrific and indefensible, as Indivisible said at the time.
  6. Netanyahu’s massacre of 35,000 Palestinians and promised invasion of Rafah — the last refuge in Gaza — is horrific and indefensible, as Indivisible has been saying.
  7. Most Americans and the overwhelming number of Democrats and independents want a ceasefire and an end to the killing of Gazans. Peace is popular; Netanyahu is not.
  8. Peaceful protests are a good, all-American value — one that Indivisible has embraced since our founding and one that we’ll desperately need if the fascists win again. We can condemn antisemitic, Islamophobic, or other hateful actions or statements while defending the right to protest.
  9. The campus protests are a natural outgrowth of US support for Netanyahu’s war. The way to deescalate the protests is to end US support for the war, not send in the National Guard or sic police on kids, professors, and protesters.
  10. Lecturing campus protesters about political damage to Biden won’t bring them back into our pro-democracy coalition — and we have a duty to bring them back into the fold or we’re more likely to lose in November.

I engage here from the point of view of someone who wants civilians to survive now and for American democracy to survive after November. It’s why Indivisibles have been pushing for a ceasefire for months — calling members of Congress, working with coalition partners, and talking to the White House directly about the moral and political costs of continuing to provide unrestricted support to Netanyahu.

One of the questions I get a lot is: Why aren’t you calling on Hamas to release the hostages? And my answer is: Indivisible regularly does that. But let’s be real: A virulently antisemitic and anti-American militant group does not care what a Jewish-led organization supporting a movement of American activists has to say. When we’re building advocacy strategies, we focus on the decision makers who are accountable to us. That’s our own government — and that government has a lot of sway with Netanyahu. And we should expect our government to uphold international humanitarian law regardless of what our adversaries do.

Biden’s move this week is morally justified and politically helpful. This week Biden took a real step forward when he informed Netanyahu that he will withhold offensive weaponry for an invasion of Rafah. For months, the Biden administration has been drawing a red line around Rafah, and Netanyahu openly disregarded it. Biden’s shift is a major development — something those of us calling for a ceasefire have been requesting. Trump, Mitch McConnell, and MAGA Mike Johnson and other Republicans immediately criticized Biden for it — clearly a sign that this move was a good one.

Biden’s move illustrates a central argument in favor of his presidency that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez made two weeks ago. A vote for a president isn’t a vote for your favorite policies. It’s a vote for who you organize under to push for your favorite policies. So the question is: Do you want to be organizing under a Biden presidency or a Trump presidency? For those angry about US support of Netanyahu’s massacre of Palestinians — Biden just demonstrated he’s heard their concerns. Keep organizing.

This of course isn’t over. No doubt the protests will continue if Netanyahu continues to escalate. Building a winning pro-democracy coalition in this environment isn’t easy, but the news this week made me more confident we can achieve it.

The brag: A nationwide mobilization to focus public attention on MAGA’s attack on abortion rights.

What we know from polling, messaging, and focus groups with undecided voters in key battleground states is that they don’t like abortion bans. They don’t trust Trump and MAGA on abortion, and believe (appropriately) that Republicans will ban abortions if given the chance. For those of us who want to win in November, the question is whether these voters will be thinking about abortion rights when they go to vote.

So what can we do to make sure that this issue is top of mind this year? Well, we can make some noise and grab some headlines. And that’s what Indivisible is going to do.

The week of June 21-24, Indivisible is going to be supporting hundreds of local attention-grabbing events to focus public attention on Trump and MAGA’s attacks on abortion rights. We want voters to understand clearly what a Trump administration and MAGA congress will do to reproductive rights if given the chance. We want voters to know that Joe Biden and the Democrats will enact reproductive rights legislation into law if given the power to do so. We want voters to know that this election is a simple choice between those options.

Our organizers on the ground have been working with groups for weeks already to prepare for this moment. If you think this sounds like a lot of fun, here’s some guidance and support for hosting your own local event.

As described in our fabulous week of action toolkit, here’s the support Indivisible will be providing to make this as big of a splash as possible:

  • Event host training and press support training on May 22 and May 23
  • Community planning spaces on June 5
  • National kick off pre-events planning call on June 13
  • Follow up office hours for all last-minute questions about events on June 18
  • Posters and graphics design support from our design team leading up to the events
  • Direct financial support to help local groups pay for basic expenses — signs, printing, megaphones, pizza for volunteers!
  • Fundraising support for local groups

If that seems like a lot — it is! We’re trying to drive national attention and that requires a lot of planning and prep work. If this sounds like cool stuff worth investing in, why don’t you think about investing in it? You can toss some grassroots dollars into this grassroots effort here.

The discussion: Live Q&A is fun and healthy and we should do more of it

After the last newsletter, Leah and I experimented with an informal live discussion with Indivisibles from all around the country. We spent almost the entire time taking and answering questions about the state of the world, Indivisible’s work, organizing and messaging strategies, and fears and hopes about the campaign. It felt like a healthy movement space and we’d like to do it again! So we will.

We’ll schedule the next one for May 31 at 4pm ET/1pm PT. We’ll take in questions live again, but please register and let us know what’s on your mind. Looking forward to it!

Until the next biweekly-ish newsletter, I will end how I began: Donald Trump is probably going to jail, and then he’s going to lose, and then he’s going to prison, and then we’re going to party.

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Real Cost Of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts For The Rich?

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Dave Bradley

Double The Estimate!

Wow – 30 years ago Robert Reich nails where the right was headed (9 minutes):

Editor’s Note: This is mostly taken from an article posted on Daily Kos Thursday May 9th. My reason for doing this is that so often here in the US when bad policy is implemented few ever go back to measure the real effects especially on the common citizen.

I believe that in order to get change we must fully understand how policies actually effect us and that they are not necessarily policy forever. 

As you read this remember that at the beginning of this week, an analysis came out saying that Social Security and Medicare funding would be facing a crisis in about nine years. The analysis that I read then went on to surmise that cutbacks to recipients would be about the only acceptable alternatives. I beg to differ especially after the MAGA party has given the obscenely wealthy so many huge tax breaks this century: (Thanks to Mark Sumner for this piece)

There is really only one signature legislative “achievement” from Donald Trump’s time in the White House: The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He did other things while in office—bungling the pandemic, wrecking relationships with allies, insulting veterans—but when it comes to bills pushed through Congress and collecting Trump’s signature, there’s only one thing that stands out. A tax bill that emptied the nation’s coffers to pay off billionaires and corporate bosses.

Even at the time, it was clear that the bill would be extremely costly. Republican leaders claimed that the tax bill would generate growth and lead to “$1 trillion in additional revenue.” But the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would actually cost the government $1.9 trillion before its cuts expired in 2025.

Now the CBO is back with a new estimate of what it would cost to keep Trump’s tax cut in place over the next decade, and that estimate is more than double the original cost. Keeping Trump’s tax cuts would cost a whopping $4.6 trillion and send the nation on a path to a level of deficit only seen during the Great Depression, World War II, and … Trump’s bungling of the pandemic.

Trump’s tax cuts are slated to expire in 2025, meaning that the winner of this election is going to determine whether the nation puts an end to this gravy train for billionaires, or extends it at a crushing cost to the average American. At his fundraiser that supposedly made $50 million in April, Trump told wealthy donors exactly what they wanted to hear: He plans to extend the tax cuts.

Not only has Trump’s plan generated a crushing deficit that only gets much worse over time, but it has also failed to stimulate economic growth as Trump and Republicans promised. A National Bureau of Economic Research study shows that the bill produced only a small fraction of the promised benefits. Far from generating revenue, as Republicans promised, corporate tax revenue dropped by $100 to $150 billion per year.

These effects are similar to what a Brookings analysis predicted in 2018: a small, short-term stimulus effect followed by negligible long-term benefits and a significant reduction in federal revenues.

What we know now is exactly what was projected then:

  • Trump’s tax cut is heavily skewed to benefit a specific group of the extremely wealthy.
  • Far from increasing tax revenues, or being revenue neutral, it has generated enormous deficits that threaten to drown the nation in debt.
  • Despite having “jobs” in the title, the bill did not generate the waves of new investment that Trump promised.

President Joe Biden has already made it clear that he would not extend Trump’s plan and its crushing deficit. Instead, he has proposed a package that would see increases for those making over $400,000 a year, while cutting taxes for lower income Americans. Biden’s plan includes:

  • Requiring billionaires to pay at least 25% of income in taxes.
  • A corporate minimum tax of 21% that would end corporations paying nothing.
  • Denying corporate tax breaks for multi-million-dollar executive compensation.
  • Quadrupling the tax that corporations pay when they buy back their own stock.

The conservative American Enterprise Institute prepared an analysis of Biden’s plan in advance of the 2020 election and found that, rather than costing another $4.6 trillion, as Trump’s plan would, Biden’s changes would result in $3.8 trillion in revenue increases. It would also make the tax system more fair and progressive.

There are many reasons to reelect Biden in the fall; so many that tax policy may not be getting as much attention as it usually receives. But that $8.4 trillion difference in revenue over the next ten years is the difference between a government that is capable of responding to issues like the climate crisis and other new threats as they arise, and one that is designed only to set back and provide a constant stream of cash for those who need it least.

————————————————————————

As an addendum let me add that the Biden economy is reversing the trend of money all going from the poor to the rich. Biden is slowly and quietly changing “trickle down” policies. This is currently driving the economy as employment and wages continue to rise.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Leave a comment

Sunday Funday: Mother’s Day Edition

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Dave Bradley

Sunday Funday: Mother’s Day Edition

Rant ON:

This may come as a surprise to most MAGAs, but every human ever on earth had a mother. That mother was also human and a female. As a human, every mother deserves all the rights that any other human deserves. Mothers and all women are not simply breeding stock to be used as some animal. Women are human and as such have rights and also needs. Claiming to be “pro-life” should not end at a baby’s birth but also include the nutrition, education and shelter for that child and its mother. Rant OFF!

Pets and kids (3 minutes):  

OK, kids, here we go:

A) Begging for a bribe? Who offered oil executives relief from Biden era climate regulations in return for a $1 billion “campaign contribution” last week?

B) A federal court in Iowa fined a Tennessee $650,000 for employing what class of people of cleaning dangerous facilities in Iowa and Virginia?

C) In the world of diseases, what is FLiRT?

D) Paul Ryan, Geoff Duncan and Cassidy Hutchinson – all somewhat old school Republicans – announced they would not do what this year?

E) Due to ongoing legal problems “Boy Scouts of America” is being rebranded under what name?

F) What out of touch with reality MAGA leader said in a speech last week: “l know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, but it’s not been something that is easily provable,”?

G) Running unopposed in the Indiana MAGA primary, Donald Trump only garnered 78% of the vote. Who got the rest?

H) In the animal world, scientists have discovered that what high order mammal uses plants as medicines?

I) Over 9 million homes are reported empty in what country due to its aging population? 

J) The World Food Prize was awarded to scientists who established what “Doomsday Vault” for seeds?

K) The world’s largest air cleaning vacuum designed to capture CO2 from the air started working Wednesday in what European country?

L) What presidential candidate revealed medical history that includes a worm in his brain and mercury poisoning?

M) Thanks to an unusual crossover vote from Democrats, who was spared the ignominy of losing his speakership?

N) What company is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine citing a lack of demand?

O) Who was instrumental in helping the Coralville Community Food Pantry raise $100,000 in two years?

P) What second oldest US senator announced a bid for re-election last week?

Q) Boeing delayed its launch of the Starliner which was what kind of craft?

R) Noelia Voigt and UmaSofia Srivastava resigned their positions last week.  What positions did they resign from?

S) In case you were totally out of the loop last week, what star witness did the prosecution present in the Donald Trump election interference trial?

T) In climate news, continuing an 11 month streak April average temperature was higher or lower than any previous April?

The most surprising thing to me about Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal is that Donald Trump had to pay them to keep quiet about having sex with him.

Honey . . . if there were one thing I would take to my grave, that would be it. – Mrs. Betty Bowers

Answers:

A) Trump – sounds like a bribe to me!

B) Children were hired as overnight cleaners for meat packing companies

C) The latest evolution of Covid-19

D) vote for Donald Trump (Duncan is the former LT. Governor of Georgia)

E) Scouting America

F) House Speaker Mike Johnson – He has been hunting this for years and found nothing

G) Nikki Hailey

H) Orangutans

I) Japan

J) Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

K) Iceland

L) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

M) Mike Johnson

N) Astra-Zeneca

O) Caitlin Clark

P) Bernie Sanders in Vermont

Q) A rocket ship taking astronauts to the ISS

R) Miss USA and Miss Teen USA respectively

S) Stormy Daniels

T) for the eleventh consecutive month, the average monthly temperature was the highest ever on record.

One candidate has worms, one has diapers, and one has a booming economy. And we’ll still be fighting tooth and nail in November. – The Lincoln Project

Posted in #nevertrump, Humor | Leave a comment

Bad Policy Lingers And Festers

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Dave Bradley

Report on Privatized Medicaid in Iowa several years ago. (2 minutes)

Well it is Mother’s Day weekend.  The MAGA party will make a big deal about mothers and motherhood while doing all they can to make it damned tough to live in Iowa if you were someone’s child who happened to be born poor or somehow physically defective. 

Over my decades in Iowa, for a long time we could count on some balance between the parties to keep Iowa from straying too far from the middle in policy matters. Thanks to the fact that Iowans as citizens were actually more focused on policies rather than parties, most politicians were also. Thus Iowa was able to concoct state governments that actually conceived some pretty solid policies from election policies to alcohol policies to things like community colleges.

Living in Iowa was different from a lot of other states because our laws and policies usually made sense.  Gawd knows that could never last. I wonder all the time what caused Iowa’s big jump to the right wing state we have become. There is little to no compromising in Iowa any more with MAGAs in power. What they say goes whether it makes sense or not.

We have talked among friends as to what caused the big rightward move, but like many we come up empty on what was behind the move. The takeover of statewide radio by right wing corporations seems to be a favorite choice (remember Clear Channel that took over Iowa’s biggest radio stations and broadcast the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh relentlessly?).

Whatever caused the huge right turn, the MAGAs of the day decided they would use their advantage to redirect state monies from aiding Iowans in need to corporate money bins. I don’t know if the medicaid theft was the first such policy – maybe you could say the union busting was the first – but the medicaid theft was boldest and most in-your-face such policy.

Thanks to the Iowa state democrats we have a timeline of how the MAGA party of the day with Branstad just running over people put this really bad policy in place. You can find it here. This will probably dredge up some bad memories, but will also remind us how MAGAs implement policy with a sledge hammer approach. I love the way the list starts:

January 2015 | Branstad tells Legislature he has decided to unilaterally privatize Medicaid. 

Since this bad policy has been implemented patients have lost huge amounts of care, Managed Care Organizations (gawd I hate that term that sanitizes these rip-off corporations) have feasted at the state coffers turning what at one time cost the state @ 2% to a glutton that eats 20% of the budget and wants more while drastically cutting services.

This horrendous policy has been normalized through a very complacent state wide press that after a short period just treated the situation as nothing out of the ordinary. After that success MAGAs have continued to make Iowa over into the image and likeness of Mississippi cutting school budgets to the bone, enacting laws that put children to work and of course the voucher program for privatized school with an eye toward ending a once excellent public school system in Iowa.

Do not expect any of these policies that steal from the poor and give to the rich to ever go away. Such bad policies linger forever as a complacent press ignores their effects on the state and the electorate is lulled into a stupor bay a press that ignores these policies.

In our lifetimes we have seen a state that was once at the apex of education with solid values devolve into a state that now competes in the lowest quartile of education while citizens struggle to make ends meet working at low lying jobs. That is what happens when a party bent on oligarchy and authoritarianism completely takes over the poor structure. Good luck getting rid of them.

Posted in #nevertrump, 2024 election, Branstad | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

While The Country Watches Trump, Cancer Research Defunded

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Dave Bradley

“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” ― Joe Biden

Biden’s moonshot (2 minutes):

While the country continue to be assaulted with the babbling of a MAGA idiot running for president, MAGAs in congress do their damndest to set the country back on many fronts. One of those fronts was to quash money for a program near and dear to the President’s heart – the cancer moonshot.

Remember a few short years ago when then Vice President Biden headed up a task force to put cancer in the center of the target. The concept was that we as a nation could cut cancer deaths in half if we made it a priority. VP Biden had lost a member of his family to cancer – his son, Beau. Like most Americans the dreaded “C” word had touched his family.

Just as his most famous quote tells us, he put money where his mouth was. But it wasn’t only his money, it was America’s money backing up a fight with one of America’s greatest enemies. An enemy that has crept into nearly every American family, including my own. 

When money was appropriated for the “Cancer moonshot” then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it “the most significant legislation passed by this Congress.” Oh how times change as MAGA party members refuse to give President Biden a “win” in an election year.   

President Joe Biden is scrambling to fund his cancer moonshot and its ambitious goal of cutting the death rate by half — an aim close to his heart that’s no longer a bipartisan priority.

Lawmakers backed the initiative during the final days of Barack Obama’s presidency, passing the 21st Century Cures Act, and allotting $1.8 billion to the cause, nearly unanimously. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it “the most significant legislation passed by this Congress.”

{skip}

But times have changed. The spending package Congress passed in March doesn’t reup Cures moonshot money that dried up at the end of last year. Lawmakers rejected Biden’s request to fund Cures this year and also cut off his moonshot’s most direct funding stream.

Republicans see the cuts differently.

“When you’re running a $1.6 trillion deficit, spending cuts aren’t the problem,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the new chair of the House Appropriations Committee, told POLITICO. “We’ve been very generous,” he added, referencing the hundreds of millions in funding since the Cures law passed.”

When we talk about how today’s MAGA party values is tax cuts for the rich and let the common people suffer. Voting in favor of cancer and shooting puppies is what they are today.

Cancer moonshot? Forget it.

Save and make Social Security more solid? Nope – it is time to cut it.

Make Medicare more solid and cover more? Nope destroy it using the privatized Medicare {dis}Advantage.

The list goes on and on from education to decent jobs with good wages. Democrats build the work force and infrastructure for a strong economy that works for the greater number of Americans. MAGA’s only goal these days is to play politics with policy. Allowing Americans to die of cancer is part of their policy plans. Giving the wealthy tax cuts is also part of that plan.

This election year be sure to vote the down ballot candidates whose values align with yours. For most Democrats. 

Posted in #nevertrump, 2024 election, Biden-Harris | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Iowa Farmers Union Water Quality Lunch and Learn

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Trish Nelson

Watch this discussion of Polk County’s launch of the Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment (CISWRA). The project aims to assess and come up with recommendations for water quality improvements.

Iowa Farmers Union hosts a Lunch and Learn every week. Follow IFU on Facebook and Twitter.  Visit their website here.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Meet Melissa Vine Democrat For IA-03

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Trish Nelson

Check out this conversation with Melissa Vine, a Democrat running for congress in IA-03. Visit her website and follow on Facebook and Twitter

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Meet Lanon Baccam Democrat For IA-03

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Trish Nelson

Check out this conversation with Lanon Baccam, a Democrat running for congress in IA-03.  Visit his website and follow on Facebook and  Twitter

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Howard Stern’s Amazing Interview With President Biden

Posted on May 7, 2024 by Trish Nelson

This is so cool.  Hope you all can watch and share this awesome interview with President Biden.  While I’m not particularly a fan of Howard Stern, I’ve always noticed how comfortable guests seem talking with him and his musical guests always sound so amazing in his studio.  This was behind a paywall on Sirius. Great to be able to watch it via YouTube. Thanks to Howard Stern.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Iowa Press Horse Race Coverage Fails Iowans

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Trish Nelson

This week was a fairly typical Iowa Press program except there were follow up questions and challenges because their guest was a Democrat for a change.

The prize for worst lead in to a question in this episode came from Erin Murphy who said, “..obviously, former president Trump is popular here and democratic president Biden is not..” Followed by a pointed question as to how this was going to likely negatively affect Democratic down ticket races.

What about the 759,061 Iowans that voted for Biden for president? Do we count for nothing? If you are looking for nuance, do not watch Iowa Press.

House Democratic leader Jennifer Konfrst gave a great answer. You might actually sort of enjoy watching this episode. Not because of the Iowa Press panel’s superficial horse race questions, but because Konfrst did a fantastic job providing information counter to the program’s Republican leaning ways.

To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with challenging an answer. It’s just that it has to be equal. I’ve never seen the panel interrupt, talk over, or challenge Republican guests.  I counted four times that Murphy interrupted Konfrst.

One of the interruptions was to say he expected she was going to mention the abortion issue, because he said it is also a federal issue that could impact state elections. She had to school him on just exactly why this is in fact an issue currently in the state of Iowa to women who are interested in reproductive freedom including in vitro fertilization.  This was a frustrating exchange but she came out on top of hostile, uninformed questioning. It starts at about 21:00.

If you are new here and haven’t read my many reviews of the Iowa Press program, type “Iowa Press” in the search box.

Have a great Monday!

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment