INCO NEWSLETTER 6/18

"Our actions right now matter. Each day these children are kept apart from their parents is a deeper trauma that could impact their lives forever. And each day is another step away from the ideals inscribed on Lady Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."  -- Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley ACTION PRIORITIES  www.indivisible.org    Contact elected officials here. Sign up for the weekly Americans of Conscience Action Checklist. This week's Checklist is here.   Tell Your Members of Congress to: •  Keep families together.  Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley suggests ways each of us can help:  Help make the spotlight even brighter by posting a photo of your family on social media with the hashtags #KeepFamiliesTogether and #FathersDayofAction.   Tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse this immoral policy. He and Donald Trump started it, and they can end it. Call the Department of Justice at 202-514-2000.   Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to support legislation to reverse the child separation policy. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Direct contact information is above, just under the headline.   Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and make sure our fellow citizens pay attention to the atrocities the Trump administration is committing in their names. There is no law that requires the separation of families, according to the ACLU. In addition to the emotional devastation on children and their parents, the administration's family separation policy is already damaging America's reputation around the world.  More information here and here.  Please call their offices to thank Senators Cantwell, Merkley, Murray, and Wyden for co-sponsoring the Keep Families Together Act. • Protect all Americans. Provide meaningful help for Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricane Maria. Oppose  nominees to be federal judges who fail to support equal rights for all people. Stand with people who need help getting enough food to eat. Stand with your neighbors who endure the fear of hate crimes. Stop the promotion of bigotry and oppression by Trump and his administration. • Uphold the rule of law and protect our democracy. Especially if Trump fires Rosenstein or Mueller or otherwise tries to stomp on the rule of law. More info here. Save the Date PROSPERITY AND POLITICS: THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE Wednesday, August 8, 7 pm Lovell Showroom, 426 14th Street, Astoria Doors open at 6:15 pm. Join Chris Lehmann, editor of The Baffler and author of The Money Cult and Rich People Things, for an on-stage conversation on how and why money corrupts American democracy and what we can do about it.    Free and open to all. Light fare and drinks available for purchase. Donations welcome.  Hosted by Indivisible North Coast Oregon (INCO) Astoria INCO leaders Kathleen, Mary Beth, and Deb welcomed national Indivisible founder and leader, Ezra Levin, to an Oregon Indivisible conference in Portland June 16-17. HAPPENINGS Check for details and new posts on our events page. All Indivisibles are welcome at all these events and meetings.   THIS WEEK Wednesday, June 20 - Vote The Future meeting, 6:30 pm, Seaside Library Board Room. All Indivisibles interested in voting and elections are welcome. Friday, June 22 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party, 4 - 5:30 pm, Gearhart.  Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for address.  Note the new time. If you can, join us afterwards for food and drinks at the Sand Trap. Saturday, June 23 -Warrenton Community Group Meeting, 11 a.m., Dooger's Seafood and Grill, Highway 101, Warrenton; no purchase necessary Saturday, June 23 - Storm the Midterms Kick-off and Training, 1 pm, Ocean Park Library, Ocean Park, WA                                                                                         UPCOMING Wednesday, July 4 - Walk with Seaside/Gearhart INCO in the Seaside 4th of July Parade. All are welcome, dress in red, white and blue clothing. The parade starts at 12 noon, but we will be decorating by 10:00 am. The parade gathers by number on Necanicum Drive. We will know the number 1-2 days before. Call Kathleen if questions- 971-404-7192.  Saturday, July 7 - Astoria INCO Community Group meeting, 8 a.m., Street Fourteen Cafe, 1410 Commercial; no purchase necessary. Wednesday, July 11 - INCO Book Club, 6:30 pm, at Carolyn's in Astoria. Contact cebeady@outlook.com for directions. Our book is THE AGE of AMERICAN UNREASON IN A CULTURE of LIES, by Susan Jacoby, Vintage Books, Second Update Edition, 2018.  The reviews are glowing: "There are few subjects more timely than the one tackled by Jacoby....Her book is smart and well-researched. The New York Times.  A cogent defense of intellectualism"  The New Yorker.  "Indispensable....An utterly unignorably history and indictment of the twenty-first-century way of stupidity.  The Buffalo News.  Wednesday, July 18 - INCO Vote the Future Team, 6:30 pm, Seaside Library Board Room Warrenton INCO Community Group Meeting, Saturday, 11 am, Dooger’s Seafood and Grill, Highway 101, Warrenton, no purchase necessary. Email incoregon@gmail.com for dates. Wednesday, August 8 - A Conversation with Chris Lehmann: PROSPERITY AND POLITICS: THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, 7 pm, Lovell Showroom, 426 14th Street, Astoria. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Free and open to everyone. Snacks and drinks available for purchase. Doors open at 6:15 pm. Hosted by INCO Astoria Community Group. A blue wave in Congress this election year is our best hope for stopping the authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption of the Trump administration. We're focused on Congressional districts where progressives have a good chance of holding or flipping seats, especially our neighbors in OR-2 and WA-3. Make a Difference Important actions you can do at home, from your kitchen table, anytime. TEXT: Sign up at textthevote.com to help get out the vote in upcoming elections nationwide. We’ll be adding local texting options soon. DONATE to a candidate willing to stand up to this administration. Let's Start Storming!   On Aug. 7, Washington voters will decide who’ll oppose incumbent Trumpster, Republican Jaime-Herrera-Buetler, in November.   Help get out the progressive vote in Pacific County. Meet at the Ocean Park Library at 1 pm on Saturday, June 23, for a brief training session before we head out to talk with voters. No experience necessary. Bring a friend if you like (and a smart phone, if you have one) and help us #StormTheMidterms!  Email incoregon@gmail.com for more information.   Sign up here to be part of INCO's Storm the Midterms team. Order 'I am the Storm' t-shirts here.  OR-2: Jamie McLeod-Skinner is running to unseat the incumbent, Trump-enthusiast Greg Walden. For the latest events and information follow her on Facebook. Walden played a key role in pushing TrumpCare to replace the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Fact, Fiction, and Framing While you're sorting fact from fiction, check out this excellent article about how Trump uses language to attack his opponents and embolden his base. It's called framing and was one of the most popular topics at INCO's regional summit last January. At the June 8 Postcards to Voters party, 10 people wrote 113 cards, for a total of 640 postcards for 11 candidates in several states since Bebe and INCO started sending Postcards to Voters. The national director of Postcards to Voters called Bebe to thank her and INCO for our postcards!  Postcards To Voters Writing Party Friday, June 22 •  4 - 5:30 pm  Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for the Gearhart address. We provide postcards, pens, and postage. And good company, of course. You've invited to go afterwards for food and drink at the nearby Sand Trap. You can send Postcards to Voters on your own  It's easy to sign up for www.postcardstovoters.org - they'll send you guidelines, and you can anonymously contact anonymous voters elsewhere at your convenience. Matching New Money for New Projects  Donate to INCO this summer using our new distributed fundraising link, and your donation will be matched by Indivisible National, up to $500 total. Your gift will help fund our "I Will Vote" essay contest for high school students in Pacific and Clatsop counties and our campaign to Storm the Midterms this fall. Exciting details coming in future newsletters. INSIGHTS  “This, really, is the American idea: that prosperity and justice do not exist in tension, but flow from each other. Achieving that ideal will require fighting as if the fate of democracy itself rests up the struggle - because it does.”    —Yoni Appelbaum We're Ready!  Here's INCO's plan if Trump crosses one of three red lines that threatens the rule of law as it relates to the investigation: fire Mueller, fire Rosenstein, or pardon key figures.  If actions are triggered BEFORE 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ 5 p.m. local time. If actions are triggered AFTER 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day. We'll take to the streets to Rally for the Rule of Law at 8th and Commercial in Astoria. Indivisibles across the nation will be gathering according to this schedule.   We'll post info about a Rally for the Rule of Law on our INCO Facebook page and email an Action Alert. You can also sign up (RSVP) for a notification here.

USE YOUR VOICE Inform and inspire others with a letter to the editor (LTE) to the Daily Astorian. Letters are among the most popular features in the paper. Even a paragraph or two makes an impact. Rules and directions for submitting your letter are here.  Write about an issue you care about. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS INCO has Community Groups in Manzanita-Cannon Beach, Seaside-Gearhart, Warrenton, Astoria-East County, or the Washington Peninsula. All INCO Indivisibles are invited to get active with INCO's Events Team, Oppose Bigotry Team, Vote the Future Team, and Book Club. Contact Laurie at incoregon@gmail.com for more information.   Questions, suggestions, & photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com Elections, voting, issues, and more at INCO's Vote the Future website:  incovotethefuture.org.  Join INCO's closed Facebook group for more actions, information, and discussion. Share this newsletter and our website with other resisters. INCO is supported entirely by donations. Please donate here. Deb Vanasse and Laurie Caplan, INCO Co-chairs INCO Weekly Newsletter   June 18, 2018