1-29-24 Newsletter

 

a/k/a CLATSOP DEMOCRATS Monday, January 29th, 6-7:30 pm, via Zoom Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker is Tobias Read, State Treasurer Click here to register 2024 ELECTION UPDATE May Primary - May 21, 2024 This year’s May primary will hold several important county and regional races. Tillamook small businessman Logan Laity (D), has filed to run for Representative for House District 32 against incumbent Cyrus Javadi (R-Tillamook). This contest is at the top of our priority list, and an “all hands on deck” to rally resources for this race.  Logan is a top-notch candidate who will serve the region with dignity and dedication. Clatsop County’s Board of Commissioners have two positions open, District 2, which is currently held by John Toyooka (R-Gearhart) and District 4, held by Courtney Bangs (R-Knappa). Bangs has filed, but Toyooka has not. As of this publication additional candidates have not filed. A candidate wins in May who garners more than 50% of the vote.  If no one meets that margin, a run-off will be held in the November general election. Sign up here to get on the Clatsop Dems email list. Thanks to Rebecca Read and the Clatsop Democrats for this update.  Thursday, February 1 at 12 noon Conversation with Oregon State Senator Michael Dembrow Senator Dembrow is a respected legislative leader serving his last term. He will share his views about the challenges and strengths facing our state, and his perspectives on the future as it relates to critical issues in education, housing, and natural resources.  Senator Dembrow serves as Chair, Senate Interim Education Committee, Co-Chair, Joint Committee On Ways and Means Subcommittee On Natural Resources and Co-Chair, Environmental Caucus. Bring your questions. Register here for this event. You will receive a confirmation email about how to join the meeting. DRAT POSTCARDS FOR OREGON Oregonians have a good chance to defeat Trump ally Lori Chavez-DeRemer for the US House of Representatives from the 5th Congressional District (CD5).  You can sign up to do postcarding to flip Oregon CD5 through the COIN DRAT team. Postcards to voters increase turnout, so you can make an important difference for Oregon and the US by participating.  D.R.A.T. - The DeRemer Accountability Team tracks and responds to all the poor choices the current ORD5 representative makes and is working to make sure she's not re-elected. Sign up here to help defeat DeRemer. ONE MAN: HAS HE CHANGED YOUR LIFE? Acclaimed journalist Dan Rather describes how Donald Trump has changed our our daily life, politics, friendships, conversations, and mutual civility. This article reminds us why we all have to be democracy activists.  "LIVE IN LIGHT" "Of course, we all have anxiety about where we are today as a nation, but when you allow doubt, uncertainty, and worry to dominate your engagement with politics, rather than pride, love of country, measured optimism, and hard work you are doing MAGA’s work for them. They are a negative sentiment machine. They want us to feel bad about our country, our democracy, our President, our leaders, our party, our leaders, our institutions. It is how radicals take over - for only when everything is broken, failed, and irredeemable will a nation resort to extreme solutions like the despicable Trump. "Talking down America and Americans, and making us doubt the greatness of the American project is Trump’s central strategy. He wants us to do anything other than making the case for our country, our party, our President. Do not let him win in this way. "Stay focused. Put positive sentiment into the discourse each day. Spread Hopium through your networks. Express your love of country and patriotism at every moment. Live in light not darkness. When you are getting blown off course, catch yourself. Let it go, and return to what we know to be true:  Joe Biden is a good President. The country is better off. The Democratic Party is strong and winning elections across the country. And they have Trump, the most unfit man to ever run for President in our history.  -- Hopium Chronicles newsletter, January 23, 2024  INCO INSIGHTS "A person is sometimes stronger than iron and sometimes weaker than a fly." -- traditional Yiddish saying Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   January 29, 2024 Website Email Facebook Copyright © 2024 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

1-22-24 Newsletter

 

-- Library of Congress SHED A LITTLE LIGHT Savor this musical inspiration as you reflect on last week's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and how we can work for social justice and civil liberties every day. "If we keep doing what we’re doing we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting: victories."  -- Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water; January 17, 2024 Chop Wood, Carry Water is all about inspiration and effective actions for our freedoms. INCO recommends this Substack newsletter for its: •  updates from grassroots groups and activists around the country •  important and often easy actions you can do at home •  abundant good news, especially in her Sunday newsletter •  clever memes and terrific videos Want to reach climate voters? Check out Saturday's Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter. Want to see what you and other democracy activists achieved this week? Here's Sunday's newsletter featuring victories for us and our country. TEENSY NUMBERS = TRUMP FAILED THE IOWA CAUCUS Last week's Iowa GOP caucus was not the signal of anything, except Trump's failure. He got support from 56,000 caucus-goers in a state with 3.2 million people. That equals about 7% of registered Republicans in Iowa and only 3% - THREE PERCENT - of all registered voters in Iowa. Of those GOP voters who defied the extreme cold to attend, only 51% backed Trump. Next week’s New Hampshire primary is in an even smaller state with only 1.4 million people. YOUR GOOD CAUSES  Voters are looking in the INCO newsletter for good causes and candidates to support. If you've found a pro-democracy activity to recommend to others, please let us know at incoregon@gmail.com. CHOOSING AUTHORITARIANISM AND VIOLENCE *  "...some Trump voters are not merely misunderstanding “the economy,” or imagining his “principles,” and they don’t think that the “mean tweets” are regrettable. Some of them want the authoritarianism." -- Jonathan V. Last, The Bulwark, January 15, 2024 *  Why do people vote for Trump? Check out Jonathan Last's look at recent news and surveys of Trump voters. If this doesn't motivate you to get out the pro-democracy vote, what will? *  Violent threats and actions are increasing since Trump began to encourage political violence. INCO recommends Jay Kuo's excellent analysis - complete with details of actual threats and actions against people Trump has targeted. Kuo concludes, "But above all, we must have a keener awareness of exactly how Trump is using these rhetorical techniques to pull us all toward a far more violent and dangerous political future. Calls to violence can’t get a pass, nor can dehumanizing language, election lies, and stochastic terror."  PICKING A TRUMP JURY Would you be picked to serve on a jury at a Trump trial? Here's a fascinating look at how the jurors in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case were questioned and then chosen to serve. INCO recommends attorney Joyce Vance's explanation of the who, what, and why of this case and its jurors. Vance concludes, "The case is important for Carroll, but it’s also important for the country. And while the criminal trials move forward on a slower track, this case’s moment is now." INSURRECTIONISTS IN COURT AND IN PRISON "More than 1,200 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. About 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a jury or judge. Over 750 of them have been sentenced, with nearly 500 receiving some term of imprisonment, according to data compiled by The Associated Press."  Reed Knox Christensen, 65, who briefly ran an unsuccessful campaign in the Republican primary for governor of Oregon after storming the Capitol, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. He charged at a group of police officers outside the Capitol and assaulted five of them before rioters breached the police line, prosecutors said. More about other insurrections facing justice is here. INCO INSIGHTS "Be wary in front of a billy goat, in back of a horse, or on any side of a fool."   -- Traditional Yiddish saying Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   January 22, 2024 Website Email Facebook Copyright © 2024 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

1-15-24 Newsletter

 

ACTION CHANGES THINGS Tired of yelling at the news or ranting on Facebook?  Try taking action that actually makes a difference! In this all-important election year, INCO will feature ways to defeat MAGA, defend our freedoms, and deliver progressive ideals. If you've already found a pro-democracy activity that warms your heart, please let us know why you value it so we can tell INCO readers about your cause, organization, or candidate. Contact incoregon@gmail.com. This is a virtual event. Sign up here in English; here in Spanish. Check out Mobilize for daily lists of events and actions to participate in, many in Oregon. Pro-democracy organizations and causes would love your energy and idealism! Here's a sample of important upcoming events nationwide: Tue, Jan 16 · Michigan Democratic Party - Voter Protection Special Briefing w/MDP Chair Lavora Barnes › Mon, Jan 15 · Tom Suozzi for Congress (candidate for the seat vacated by George Santos) Weekday Phonebanking for Tom Suozzi! › Mon, Jan 15 · The Democratic National Committee New York for Biden+Harris: MLK Unity Rally & Virtual Day of Action for NY3 › Seaside Equality Advocates is hosting this event.  Per its FaceBook post, SEA is "A grassroots group whose mission is to advocate for equality for LGBTQ2SIA+, & other at-risk & under-represented minorities, & to bring the people of these communities together in Seaside & the North Oregon Coast, both in times of need & celebration." Trump boasts about being a dictator if he's elected, starting on Day One. Even worse, millions of Americans like that idea, including most GOP Members of Congress, funders, and those vying to be his vice-president.  WE CAN STOP HIM. WE MUST STOP HIM.  "Nobody said self-government was supposed to be easy, and it’s not. It’s not a culture war that we’ve been fighting. It’s a war for our freedom, and the weapon we have been given to fight it is our vote."   — Lucian K. Truscott IV HERE'S TO HEATHER! Historian Heather Cox Richardson is worth reading, watching, and listening to - and quoting, as we often do in the INCO newsletter.   Her January 12 newsletter includes this video interview with President Biden. She says, "The opportunity to ask a historical figure how he thinks, after I have spent years studying his policies, is mind-blowing." Heather and Al Franken have a lively, hopeful conversation about Lincoln, SCOTUS, words and ideas, and more in this recent podcast.  Another timely and informative conversation with Heather, on January 10, is on YouTube, one of a weekly series of free events called 'America at a Crossroads." INCO INSIGHTS "No matter how bad things get, you got to go on living, even if it kills you."   --  Sholem Aleichem  Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   January 15, 2024 Website Email Facebook Copyright © 2024 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.