12-5-2022 Newsletter

REACHING OUT TO GEORGIA VOTERS "This is one of the postcards from my Thanksgiving postcard party, printed from the Postcards to Voters website. I colored it in with gel pens over a couple of nights while watching TV. I posted it on Twitter and got a bunch of likes from fellow postcard writers, so figured you'd get a kick out of it too.  "Also, here's a link to phonebanking for Warnock Monday and Tuesday. Every time I've phone banked with them Christine Pelosi has been on there making calls right alongside us which I found really inspirational. She would say a few words at the top of every shift and thank everybody for the well wises for her dad in the Zoom chat, so I made sure to leave a message sending them all the best from Indivisible North Coast Oregon. I was on the Zoom the day Nancy Pelosi made her announcement so that felt pretty historic, everyone on the phone bank applauded for her." --Beeb Ashcroft, INCO

INCO LOOKS AHEAD Thinking about 2022, we can be proud of our successes and challenged by our disappointments. With your help, INCO can continue to make a difference. As you look back on the past year, what is one thing that you value about INCO? The INCO leadership team would love to hear from you by December 9 at incoregon@gmail.com.

RISKING THEIR LIVES  Protesters in Iran, China, and Russia (scroll down) challenge their government's policies this year while facing arrest, detention, injury, and death. Their courage inspires us.

Iranians protest in Tehran, Iran on October 1, 2022.

Protesters in Beijing, China, on November 28, 2022.

PLEASE CALL TODAY They won't know what you want if you don't tell them. (And you won't get arrested for asking, as you would in some other countries.)   Please take a few minutes to call Senator Merkley's office (202-224-3753) and Senator Wyden's office (202-223-5244) and ask them to stay in session until the following Indivisible priorities are passed in these final weeks this session of Congress. PASS S4573, The Electoral Count Act, to strengthen the presidential certification procedures and prevent future presidents from trying to overturn an election, as we witnessed Donald Trump try to do. PASS S4556, The Respect for Marriage Act, to guarantee protections for millions of marriages so that Americans are free to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation or race, without fear of discrimination or fear that their marriages will be invalidated.  Lift the debt ceiling through reconciliation, to prevent the GOP from holding our government hostage in order to get their legislative agenda passed. Key Republicans in Congress are threatening to block raising the debt ceiling. If they succeed, the American and global economies would implode.

LEGITIMIZING EXTREMISM "...  the undisputed head of the GOP [Trump] has called for the termination of the Constitution—and no GOP leaders have condemned that statement." Robert Hubbell connects the dots regarding  investigations, Hunter Biden's laptop, and more. Worth reading!   "The greatest threat to freedom and American democracy is not the relatively tiny number of extremists who will always be present in small numbers in the underbelly of American society, but rather when good people do nothing when such crazies crawl out of their hiding places and attempt to legitimize themselves into the mainstream." --Reader's comment, New York Times, November 30, 2022

Police confront people in St. Petersburg, Russia protesting forced mobilization for Russia's war again Ukraine.

At the World Cup last month, support for Iranians protesting for freedom. Photo from Conde Nast.

"THE WHOLE BALLGAME" The GOP and its extremist allies keep conjuring up legal theories to undermine democracy. In the case of Moore v. Harper, a conservative victory from the Supreme Court would allow state legislatures to override the popular vote for President. The New Yorker Radio Hour has a fascinating conversation with J. Michael Luttig, a prominent conservative and retired judge allied with Democrats opposing this 'independent state legislature' theory.

HAPPENINGS Thursday, December 8 - INCO South County Community Group, 6:30-7:00 pm, via Zoom. Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. We'll be having a short meeting this month so that the INCO leadership team can have their planning meeting from 7pm-8pm after the SCCG meeting.

INSIGHTS "What is the fabric of time like? Black silk? A smooth twill, a rough tweed? Or lacy and fragile ...?"  — Kate Atkinson, HUMAN CROQUET

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       December 5, 2022