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