Monday, June 27, 2022

6-27-2022 Newsletter

 

WE MUST USE OUR POWER
"Remember that we have never seen the America we’ve been fighting for. So no need to be nostalgic. Right on the other side of this unraveling is opportunity. If we keep fighting no matter what, take care of ourselves & each other, stay strategic & principled, & use all our power."
-- Sherrilyn Ifill, civil rights lawyer and president and director-counsel emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, June 24, 2022.
TELEPHONE TOWN HALL WITH CONGRESSWOMAN BONAMICI
Tuesday, June 28 at 2:30 pm
Sign up for a call 
HERE.

Bonamici will give an update about her recent work in Congress, outline the $10.7 million of Community Project Funding she helped direct to projects throughout NW Oregon, discuss gun violence prevention, and more. Please come with your questions and ideas.

MEET RICK GRAY
Non-affiliated candidate for Oregon House, District 32
Thursday, June 30 at 6:30 pm, via Zoom
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Lots of time for your questions.

 
A former attorney, secretary of state of Virginia, high school teacher, and professional actor, Rick lives in Cannon Beach.  He was the Clatsop County chair for Elizabeth Warren for President. 

Also running for State Representative HD-32 are Logan Laity (D), an activist and small business owner from Tillamook, and Cyrus B. Javadi (R), a dentist in Tillamook. INCO has not yet endorsed any candidate for this position. 

ZOOM LINK: If you haven't attended an INCO Astoria/North County or South County Community Group meeting before, contact 
incoregon@gmail.com by June 29 to get the Zoom link.
ANGRY ABOUT ROE? WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
New York Times article provides resources and strategies for post-Roe resistance. If the links get lost in the ozone, contact incoregon@gmail.com for an email copy of the article.  

• 
AidAccess.org, a group based in Austria that can mail the same abortion-inducing medication and offers advance provision of abortion pills.
• 
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, which provides a confidential legal help line and a legal-defense fund to assist people who get tied up in the criminal justice system because of the outcomes of their pregnancies.
• 
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which has text and phone options for asking questions during and after a miscarriage or an abortion.
• Protect family, friends and allies from surveillance with 
Digital Defense Fund’s online security guidance for phones and computers
• 
Reproaction provides a tool kit for organizing a protest of anti-abortion groups to prove that abortion rights supporters are just as vocal as the opponents.
• At 
INeedAnA.com, you can see how close your nearest abortion clinic is, and what the waiting periods and other restrictions are, if faced with an unwanted pregnancy.
THE INVESTIGATION: WHERE WE ARE
ON THE BRINK
"On the evening of Jan. 3, 2021, the United States was about one bunch short of becoming a banana republic.”
Dana Milbank, Washington Post, June 23, 2022


THANKING THE COMMITTEE 
Take a moment to thank the committee members for providing Americans with hearings focused on clarity, facts, and truth - - not on political posturing.

Send a postcard to the committee or to each member US Representative: Bennie Thompson, Chair; Liz Cheney,  Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff, Pete Aguilar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin, Elaine Luria, and Adam Kinzinger. Here's the address:

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol
Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-7800

WHAT'S NEXT
The House Committee investigating Trump's and the GOP's attacks on democracy will reconvene their hearings in July. The committee continues to receive and study new information about the roles of Trump, government officials, and other Republicans in their ongoing attempted coup.
-- Cartoon by Paul Noth, newyorker.com
INCO's Rally For Our Lives, March 24, 2018  
 
SIGN GUN CONTROL PETITION  
You can help place a gun control initiative on Oregon's November 2022 ballot by signing the initiative petition from homeThe deadline for signatures is July 8. The proposed initiative is IP17 - SAFER OWNERS and LESS LETHAL AMMUNITION Common Sense 2022 Initiative Petition. In brief, IP17 will require 
  • permit-to-purchase firearms
  • completion of a firearms safety course
  • passing a background check
  • will limit magazines to 10 rounds
Please sign the initiative petition from home.  More information at Lift Every Voice Oregon.
WRITE TO SAVE DEMOCRACY
These groups encourage voting by providing volunteers with easy-to-follow scripts, directions, and addresses.  For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

WRITE TO VOTERS
• Postcards To Voters:  Handwritten postcards sent to Democrats to get out the vote. PTV provides scripts. PostcardsToVoters.org or  join@TonyTheDemocrat.org

• Vote Forward:  Personalized letters sent to under-represented and/or minority communities to get out the vote. You print out the letters. VoteFwd.org.

• Postcards To Swing States:  Progressive Turnout Project provides the postcards, scripts and addresses to rally Democrats to vote. TurnOutPac.org 


WRITE AN LTE
Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - LTEs in The Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone.

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
How will your Members of Congress know what you want if you don't tell them? Send a postcard, write an email through their websites. Even better - call and speak to a Congressional staffer, or leave a message. Here's contact information for Senators Wyden and Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici, and for other elected officials, too.
HAPPENINGS 
Thursday, July 14,  INCO South County Community Group meeting, via Zoom, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com by Wednesday, July 13 for your Zoom link. This group meets monthly on the second Thursday.

Saturday, July 16,  INCO Astoria/North County Community Group meeting, via Zoom, 11 a.m. - noon. ZOOM LINK: If you haven't attended an INCO Astoria/North County meeting before, contact incoregon@gmail.com by July 15 to get the Zoom link. This group meets monthly on the third Saturday.

Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. 
INSIGHTS
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” 
--   Charles Mackay, EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS OF CROWDS, 1841
Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website 
or here.
Look for the INCO column in 
Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too.
INCO Weekly Newsletter June 27, 2022

Monday, June 20, 2022

6-20-2022 Newsletter

 

INCO activists rallied at the June 11 March For Our Lives, before learning that the event's organizers had canceled it that morning. 
SIGN GUN CONTROL PETITION  
You can help place a gun control initiative on Oregon's November 2022 ballot by signing the initiative petition from home. The proposed initiative is IP17 - SAFER OWNERS and LESS LETHAL AMMUNITION Common Sense 2022 Initiative Petition. In brief, IP17 will require 
  • permit-to-purchase firearms
  • completion of a firearms safety course
  • passing a background check
  • will limit magazines to 10 rounds
Please sign the initiative petition from home. The deadline for signatures is July 8. More information at Lift Every Voice Oregon.

About 40% of Oregon adults live in a household with a firearm, close to the national average. Check out State Representative David Gomberg's excellent overview of ownership, laws, and proposals in Oregon.
INSURRECTION HEARINGS 
The House Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection continues with more hearings. Future hearings will reveal more about the roles of Trump and Republicans in threatening our democracy. Live streaming should be available from various sources. You can also stream at  www.january6th.house.gov.

As of June 16, hearings are scheduled for Tuesday, June 21 and Thursday, June 23, both at 10 a.m. Pacific time. The committee reschedules hearings as needed.
MEET RICK GRAY
Non-affiliated candidate for Oregon House, District 32
Thursday, June 30 at 6:30 pm, via Zoom
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Lots of time for your questions.

 
A former attorney, secretary of state of Virginia, high school teacher, and professional actor, Rick lives in Cannon Beach.  He was the Clatsop County chair for Elizabeth Warren for President. 

Also running for State Representative HD-32 are Logan Laity (D), an activist and small business owner from Tillamook, and Cyrus B. Javadi (R), a dentist in Tillamook. INCO has not yet endorsed any candidate for this position. 

ZOOM LINK: If you haven't attended an INCO Astoria/North County or South County Community Group meeting before, contact 
incoregon@gmail.com by June 29 to get the Zoom link.
"A MARVELOUS VICTORY"
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.

"The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
-- Howard Zinn, historian
CONFUSION IS THE POINT
"Ultimately, for an authoritarian leader, the point isn't to convince someone of a lie, the point is to confuse them. When enough people are confused and cynical, a leader with a compelling story and easy answers has the advantage."
-- Reader's comment, NY Times, June 15, 2022
TONY THE DEMOCRAT PODCAST 
Enjoy this June 15th podcast with Tony the Democrat - he is a real person, see the photo - and Robert Hubbell, whose newsletter we frequently quote. Tony describe how Postcards to Voters increases voter turnout. A current PTV campaign is to encourage Florida Democrats to sign up for vote by mail. You can sign up for this popular national program at PostcardsToVoters.org or join@TonyTheDemocrat.org, or text 4842752229.
LESSONS FROM WATERGATE
Historian Heather Cox Richardson provides a brief summary of Watergate in her June 17 newsletter. Featuring a 1972 political newbie who's infamous now.

Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discuss Nixon, Trump, and the 50th anniversary of Watergate in this 
YouTube video from the Washington Post. Their diligent reporting unearthed the corruption and law-breaking by Nixon and his top aides.
WRITE TO SAVE DEMOCRACY
These groups encourage voting by providing volunteers with easy-to-follow scripts, directions, and addresses.  For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

WRITE TO VOTERS
• Postcards To Voters:  Handwritten postcards sent to Democrats to get out the vote. PTV provides scripts. PostcardsToVoters.org or  join@TonyTheDemocrat.org

• Vote Forward:  Personalized letters sent to under-represented and/or minority communities to get out the vote. You print out the letters. VoteFwd.org.

• Postcards To Swing States:  Progressive Turnout Project provides the postcards, scripts and addresses to rally Democrats to vote. TurnOutPac.org 


WRITE AN LTE
Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - LTEs in The Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone.

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
How will your Members of Congress know what you want if you don't tell them? Send a postcard, write an email through their websites. Even better - call and speak to a Congressional staffer, or leave a message. Here's contact information for Senators Wyden and Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici, and for other elected officials, too.
HAPPENINGS 
Thursday, July 14,  INCO South County Community Group meeting, via Zoom, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com by Wednesday, July 13 for your Zoom link. This group meets monthly on the second Thursday.

Saturday, July 16,  INCO Astoria/North County Community Group meeting, via Zoom, 11 a.m. - noon. ZOOM LINK: If you haven't attended an INCO Astoria/North County meeting before, contact incoregon@gmail.com by July 15 to get the Zoom link. This group meets monthly on the third Saturday.

Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. 
INSIGHTS
“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.”
--  French philosopher Montesquieu, 1748
Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website 
or here.
Look for the INCO column in 
Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too.
INCO Weekly Newsletter June 20, 2022