"This isn't about pretending everything is fine. It's about understanding that even in difficult circumstances, we have the power to choose how we engage. Meaning emerges from our choice to be present, to care, to take part in shaping our shared story."
Transform your fear and anger into action: * Donate to groups opposing Trump policies in court. * Get active with INCO or with other pro-democracy groups. * Stay informed, especially because political and governance news is changing by the hour. * Contact your Members of Congress to demand they protect and defend our democracy. Scroll down for tips for calling.
REGISTER HERE for your Zoom link to learn how Oregon is responding to the current crackdown on immigration and other Trump actions.
"On Friday, January 31, 2025, Trump moved to complete the coup he began on January 6, 2021. Trump failed the first time, and he will fail again—because he has underestimated the American people. We must steel ourselves because things will get worse before they get better--but they will get better. It is a fool’s bet to assume that the American people will sit idly by as their freedoms are stolen by a corrupt oligarch and a convicted felon destroying the government to promote their selfish interests.
".... To the extent you can, amplify those voices and add your own to the swelling chorus of alarm and indignation that will eventually stop Trump's unfolding coup. We stopped Trump's initial attempt to “freeze” grants and loans, and we can do it again."
INCO urges you to read Robert Hubbell's articleabout what is happening, in detail and the big picture. He also describes how other countries have stopped dictators and attempted coups.
Painted for Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde by INCO postcarder Wendy Wolf
FIGHTING BACK
--The Hopium Chronicles, January 28, 2025
Tell Senators Wyden and Merkley that you expect them and other Senate Democrats to fight back against Trump's lawlessness and not to give in to his demands. The MoCs must preserve the powers of the 3 branches of the federal government: executive, legislative, and judicial.
Senator Ron Wyden https://www.wyden.senate.gov/ 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C., 20510 (202) 224-5244 or (503) 326-7525
Senator Jeff Merkley https://www.merkley.senate.gov/ 531 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-3753 or (503) 326-3386
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici https://bonamici.house.gov/ 2231 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-0855 or (503) 469-6010
Calls to Members of Congress (MoC) provide essential feedback about their constituents' opinions. Your call tells MoCs that you're watching. Calls are the most effective; email through their websites works, too. They won't know what you want if you don't tell them.
Suggestions for effective calls to Members of Congress (MoC) from Indivisible co-founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, both of whom are former Congressional staffers: 1. Talk about only one topic each call, especially if you're asking your legislator to take specific action. It's best to use your own words. 2. Give your name and address so that the MoC knows you're a constituent and makes a record of your call. 3. Ask for a written response that gives your legislator's position on the issue, and ask for the staffer's name if you talk to a person. 4. Thank the MoC and staff for their work if you like what they're doing. 5. If you can, call daily or as often as your can during the week, preferably about a different topic each time.
FILE FOR MAY 2025 LOCAL DISTRICT ELECTIONS No candidates, no election. No election, no democracy.
Voters elect local people to make policies and spend money for the college, transportation district, and the Port of Astoria, all of which serve the entire county. Elected volunteers also serve on local school boards, fire departments, health districts, and many other boards. These important positions in Clatsop County are up for election in May 2025. The list of positions up for election on the ballot is here.
The first day to file for these positions is February 8. Additional information about district elections from the Clatsop County Elections Department is here.
Serving on local boards is a great way to learn about governance, politics, and government. INCO urges you to consider running for one of these positions, or find good people to be candidates.
* * * INCO ACTION * * *
INCO members started these teams at recent INCO meetings. With your participation, they can be even more active and effective. What do you want to work on?
• Red Cards were created to help people assert their rights and defend theselves against constitutional violations. Red Cards provide critical information on how to assert these rights, alongwith an explanation to ICe agents that the individual is indeed asserting their rights. These can be shred by saying "You may know someone this may benefit." ORDER Red Cards here. -- Clatsop Community Health and Action + Resource Team
Public health: Reproductive healthcare, vaccination "....the CDC was deleting all of the documents having to do with sexual health, reproductive rights, intimate partner violence, and anything else the Trump administration finds suspect .... I’ve been downloading and saving every pertinent document I can find, and I’m hosting them at CDCGuidelines.com." -- Jessica Valenti, Substack, January 31, 2025
• Other communities targeted by the Trump administration
HELP OUR NEIGHBORS AND UPLIFT OUR COMMUNITY • We'll be painting at the Columbia Inn emergency shelter in the spring. Sign up for painting or to volunteer for the Clatsop Community Action Food Bank with Bruce at incoregon@gmail.com.
WATCH LOCAL GOVERNMENT • Attend city, county, and local district meetings - in person or via Zoom. Many meeting schedules and sign-ups are here.
• If you attend, please tell INCO what these councils and committees are deciding about taxes, budgets, policies, and community values and goals.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING • More info about the May 2025 local district elections is elsewhere in the newsletter.
PARTNER WITH OTHER GROUPS • COIN, CCA, Clatsop Dems, Rural Organizing Project (ROP), and ???
COMMUNICATIONS • INCO activist Lee Jette is creating a new, colorful, and more useful INCO website. If you'd like to work on the INCO website - lessons included! - contact Lee at incoregon@gmail.com.
• Social media, INCO website, newsletter, monthly hipfish column, press releases, and more
To participate on a team or suggest another area you'd like to work on with INCO, please contact incoregon@gmail.com.
*Attend INCO's next Community Meeting on Saturday, February 15, at the Astoria Senior Center, 11th and Exchange. Doors open at 11; we'll start shortly after that.
INCO recommends these 1-hour interviews, usually from 5-6 pm, via Zoom. Great guests and interviewers. REGISTER HERE. They're posted on YouTube a few hours later. The January 29 interviewwith historian Nancy MacLean was especially revealing about the radical right's long-term plans to dismantle American democracy.
MORE SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATIONS
Substack is an online platform hosting hundreds, of authors. INCO recommends the resources below to stay informed, get valuable perspective, and share your opinions, too. You can read for free, and most have options to become paid subscribers to get additional features.
INCO recommends these Substack newsletters: Lucian Truscott IV Borowitz Report Popular Info Ann Telnaes Dan Rather, Steady Robert Reich Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water Hopium Chronicles
*INCO encourages you to sign up to get national Indivisible news and action suggestions at www.indivisible.org.
BREAKING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
-- The New York Times, January 31, 2025
* "Trump Is Trying To Break The US Government And Owns All The Troubles That Come From It - Trump’s savage attack on the day to day operations of our government will result in many, many bad things to happen. The 67 dead in the Potomac are an example. He has gutted the leadership of our government’s aviation security and has waged a war against rank and file employees of the government including air traffic controllers.
".... It is possible those outside of DC don’t understand the scale and scope of the purges happening at senior levels of every department and agency right now. Incredible knowledge, expertise and operational capacity are being lost. The entire National Security Council career staff, for example, was just sent home last week. They are disabling the ability of the US government to carry out its daily responsibilities." -- Simon Rosenberg, The Hopium Chronicles, on Substack, January 31, 2025
* "Steve Bannon, an important advisor to the first Trump White House, recapped Trump’s strategy last week: “Monday, you hit, you flood the zone. Second week, you’ll flood the zone.” The original 2018 Bannon quoteis even more revealing: “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
Kim Lane Scheppele, listed some of the executive orders and other actions from Trump in The Contrarian, January 28, 2025. She is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University.
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” - - Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 here. Look for the INCO column in Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too. INCO Weekly Newsletter • February 3, 2024
