INCO Weekly Newsletter 9/10

"What's gonna fix our democracy is you." --President Obama, University of Illinois, September 7, 2018 Town Hall with US Representative Suzanne Bonamici Saturday, September 15  •   1-2 pm  Seaside Heights Elementary School, 2000 Spruce Drive, Seaside INCO will have AGREE and DISAGREE signs for the audience.   Congresswoman Bonamici usually gives a brief update and then welcomes questions and comments, responding with thought and care. INCO has endorsed her for re-election on November 6. If you don't tell her, how will she know what's on your mind? The packed house included many INCOers at the Bonamici Town Hall in April, 2017, at Warrenton High School. INCO Voter Guide -  2018 Midterms Just released! This is INCO's voters' guide for the November 6 election, based on in-depth research by the Vote the Future team.  VTF did not endorse candidates or measures at the county or local levels. Talking points about Measure 105 are here.  Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get copies to distribute throughout Clatsop County. Reach Out to Voters  It's essential to get more Democrats and other voters voting on November 6 if we want the Blue Wave to happen. Join with INCO's door-to-door canvassing. Personal contact with voters increases voter turnout. Sign up here to choose your canvassing shifts in Clatsop County and across the river, where we aim to help defeat GOP Rep. Jaime Herrera-Beutler. No experience needed.  It's going to take all of us to turn this country around.  LET'S FLIP CONGRESS! Defending democracy starts with you. Mailing postcards to voters leads to higher voter turnout. Every postcard and every stamp can help elect Jamie MacLeod-Skinner in Oregon's 2nd Congressional District and other progressives around the country.  WRITE:   •  Attend a postcard party with like-minded Indivisibles. Scripts, stamps, postcards, and colorful pens are provided. This week's postcard parties are on Friday, September 14 at 4 - 5:30 in Gearhart, Seaside, and Manzanita. Directions from incoregon@gmail.com. •  Sign up here to do Postcards to Voters on your own, at your convenience. They'll tell you everything you need to know. Or contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for more help. DONATE: A roll of 100 postcard stamps costs $35.00.  Please contribute any amount through PayPal so INCO can buy more postcard stamps to reach more voters. You can also donate at INCO events  and by mailing your check to INCO, PO Box 536, Warrenton, OR 97146. Thank you to the generous donors who've pitched in already!   Countdown: Only 57 days until the midterm election on November 6! WHY THE MIDTERMS MATTER What the midterms mean goes beyond healthcare. It goes to the very essence of what this nation thinks it is: democracy. Without a counter to Trump in both houses of Congress: 1. Labor laws will be even further weakened 2. Environmental regulations will be decimated 3. Banking regulations will suffer further erosion 4. Our trade and foreign relations will be damaged beyond repair 5. Government housing aid (loans and subsidies) will end 6. Religious education will receive funding 7. National parks and lands will be sold off, natural resources rented out 8. Mercenaries will be awarded military contracts 9. The prison industrial system will grow larger 10. Trump will fight the Fed as interest rates rise to counter fears of inflation and get ready for the next recession. 11. Healthcare subsidies will end Everything is at stake. Democracy is government for and of the people. Trump and the GOP are working towards the cementing of oligarchy.   --Rima Regas, NY Times reader comments 9-3-18 ACTION PRIORITIES, part 1 SIGN UP HERE to #StormThe Midterms and Stop The Menace. You'll feel good being an active defender of democracy!   Help flip two nearby seats and elect Democrat Jamie MacLeod-Skinner in OR-2 (Oregon's 2nd Congressional District) and elect Democrat Carolyn Long in WA-3.  Sign up here and choose what suits you best for INCO's endorsed candidates as well as progressive candidates in nearby swing districts. You can make a difference from home or working with others! •  Help register voters in Pacific County, WA. Sign up here for 2 hours of hosting voters from 10-4 every Saturday through the end of September. It's at Saturday Market at the Port of Ilwaco, in front of the big white building in the center of the port, with a Please Vote banner on top.      •  Door-to-door outreach:  We’re sending out teams of canvassers on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons in Clatsop County and across the river to elect specific candidates and to defeat some ugly Oregon ballot measures the GOP would love to see passed.    •   Tweet: Set up a private group that includes @indivisiblencor, @huddleupvan, @electlong (WA-3), and @JamieforOregon (OR-2). Tweet and retweet the messaging. Add your own comments.   •   Text or Phone: Host a text or phone banking party. Email incoregon@gmail.com, subject line Host a Party.   Sign up here to be part of INCO's Storm the Midterms team. Order 'I am the Storm' t-shirts here.  Candidates  (and more) Corner •  Volunteer for Governor Kate Brown at this link:   https://katebrownfororegon.com/volunteer. Our Storm the Midterms team is also canvassing for her. •  Oregon candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner is making national news! Check out this article about her grassroots, on-the-road campaigning in the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle.  She's running against Trump loyalist and anti-ACA Greg Walden to represent Oregon Congressional District 2. •  MoveOn.org Facebook has an electrifying video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking on Big Money with Big Organizing. •  Here's the video of President Obama's speech Friday in Illinois as he kicks off campaigning for Democrats around the country. The written transcript is here. •  Who's running for what in Clatsop County? Check out this list of candidates and ballot measures. INCO's Vote the Future website is all about elections: candidates, ballot measures, articles, opinion, voting, etc. If you'd like to help administer this site, please contact incoregon@gmail.com. HAPPENINGS Check for details and new posts on our events page. All Indivisibles are welcome at all these events and meetings.   THIS WEEK Tuesday, September 11 - Seaside/Gearhart INCO Community Group Meeting, 6:30-8:00pm. Email kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com for location.  Friday, September 14 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Gearhart, 4 - 5:30 pm.  Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for address. Most Fridays, same time, same place. We appreciate donations ($1-5) to help defray costs for postage. If you'd like, join us afterwards for food and drinks at the Sand Trap. Friday, September 14 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Manzanita, 4-5:30. Contact Cheryl at coastalmomma@yahoo.com for directions.  Friday, September 14 - Under 40s Group Meeting, Postcard Party + "Wine & Whine" Happy Hour. Happy Hour: 5:00 - 6:00 pm, Group Meeting & Postcard Party: 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Contact  beebashcroft@gmail.com for directions to Seaside location. Saturday, September 15 - Town Hall with US  Representative Suzanne Bonamici, 1 - 2 pm, Seaside Heights Elementary School, 2000 Spruce Drive, Seaside. We'll have Agree/Disagree signs for you.  UPCOMING Wednesday, September 19  - INCO Vote the Future Team, 6:30 pm, Seaside Library Board Room. All Indivisibles interested in voting and elections are welcome. Wednesday, September 19 - INCO Book Club, 6:30 pm, in Astoria. We're back after our summer break! The book we’ll discuss is THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON IN A CULTURE OF LIES by Susan Jacoby, Vintage Books, New Updated Edition, 2018. Contact cebeady@outlook.com for directions. Wednesday, September 19 - Seaside AAUW Candidates Forum, 7 - 8:30 pm, Seaside City Hall. Confirmed as coming are candidates for Seaside mayor, Seaside City Council, Gearhart City Council, and Tiffiny Mitchell for Oregon Legislature, HD 32.     Friday, September 21 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Gearhart, 4 - 5:30 pm.  Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for address. Most Fridays, same time, same place. We appreciate donations ($1-5) to help defray costs for postage. If you'd like, join us afterwards for food and drinks at the Sand Trap. Friday, September 21 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Manzanita, 4-5:30. Contact Cheryl at coastalmomma@yahoo.com for directions.  Tuesday, September 25 - INCO Voter Registration Drive,  10 am - 2pm, Clatsop Community College, Towler Hall, 3rd floor. Register or update registrations with new name, address, or handwriting. Wednesday, October 3 -  AAUW Candidates Forum, 7pm, Astoria High School auditorium, 1001 West Marine Drive. Candidates for Astoria City Council and mayor, county commission, Oregon House District 32, and governor are invited.  Saturday, October 6 - Astoria INCO Community Group meeting, 8 a.m., Street Fourteen Cafe, 1410 Commercial; no purchase necessary. On the agenda: another group LTE. What do you want to write about? Saturday, October 13 - Warrenton INCO Community Group Meeting, 11 am, Dooger’s Seafood and Grill, Highway 101, Warrenton. No purchase necessary. We'll write postcards after the meeting to support Carmen's friend who's running for office in Iowa. Tuesday, October 16 - the deadline to register to vote or update your registration with new name, address, or signature for the November 6th election. Register or update online or at the Clatsop County Elections Office, 820 Exchange, 2nd floor, Astoria. INCO Actions •  The Clean Energy Jobs bill is back! INCO leader Eric Halperin is coordinating Renew Oregon's north coast campaign to get this forward-looking bill passed by the Oregon legislature. Eric and other CEJ backers meet with legislators in Salem on "Mini" Lobby Day at the capitol, Tuesday, September 25.  For more info or to help with the campaign, contact Eric at ehod1@yahoo.com. •  "I Will Vote." To promote the importance of voting, high school students in Pacific and Clatsop Counties are invited  to participate in an essay contest entitled “I Will Vote.”  The contest is sponsored by INCO and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and will award cash prizes to the winners in late October. The rules are at area high schools and on the INCO website. • Thanks to Monica, Carol, Julia, and Sasha for speaking out against Measure 105 at Astoria City Council on September 4. Check out these talking points and an excellent op-ed column -with a photo of our rally against Measure 105 -for reasons why this measure actually degrades community safety. • Social Media Help Wanted:  INCO wants to reach more resisters through our Vote the Future website and potential Instagram and Snapchat accounts. If you'd like to help oversee any of these sites for INCO, please contact us at incoregon@gmail.com. • Thanks to Astoria School District Superintendent Craig Hoppes and School Board member David Oser for showing Astoria Community Group the exciting proposals for improving the safety, security, and educational opportunities for Astoria's students. The school bond issue is on the November 6 ballot. ACTION PRIORITIES, part 2  Focus on the issues you care about most  Tell Your Members of Congress to: • Uphold the rule of law and protect our democracy. • Condemn the administration's authoritarian speech, actions, and policies. • Pressure your GOP colleagues to assert Congress' role as a co-equal branch of government, not as a servant of the President. • Protect Mueller, Rosenstein, and the Russia investigation that has already led to indictments and convictions of Trumpsters and Russians. • Restore trust in the judiciary, media, and in all the other civic institutions being purposely undermined by Trump and his administration • Defeat the administration's white supremacist actions and promotion of bigotry against people of color, naturalized citizens, foreign students, and non-Christians.  • Stop the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as the new Supreme Court Justice. Here's the latest guide from Indivisible. Delay the hearings and confirmation until after the winners of the November election take office.  Mr. Kavanaugh is a well-known Washington insider, anti-environmentalist, and right-wing extremist, even in his judicial decisions.  •  Develop and enforce a humane, practical bipartisan immigration policy. • Protect all Americans. • Stand with people who need help getting medical care and enough food to eat. • Stop the administration's attacks on America's allies and embrace of America's totalitarian enemies. • Demand effective government actions to deal with climate change. • 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.    Check out the new Americans of Conscience website where you can sign up for the weekly Action Checklist. This week's checklist is here.  www.indivisible.org    Contact elected officials here. Start election season with INCO t-shirts and "In Our America" signs. Contact incoregon@gmail.com for details. Where's Our Banner? The INCO banner -  it says "Indivisible North Coast Oregon" - is still missing after falling off our truck at the Astoria Regatta Grand Land Parade on August 11. It is vinyl, 6 feet long, with sleeves at the top and bottom holding poles. If you have any information about its whereabouts, please contact incoregon@gmail.com. INSIGHTS "Vote, write, speak, work, march, fight, struggle -- whatever it takes to secure the blessings of liberty." -- Molly Ivins 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.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS INCO has Community Groups in Manzanita-Cannon Beach, Seaside-Gearhart, Warrenton, Astoria-East County, and 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. INCO's new website is Activism for Really Do Care INCO Under 40s  Join INCO's closed Facebook group for more actions, information, and discussion. Share this newsletter and our website with other resisters. Check spam if you can't find it. INCO is supported entirely by donations. Please donate here. Deb Vanasse and Laurie Caplan, INCO Co-chairs INCO Weekly Newsletter   September 10, 2018