Author: Karyn Servin

Agenda for Monthly Meeting October 10th, 2018

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

Meeting will be held Wednesday, at 1750 NW 131st Ave, PDX OR 97229

Doors will open at 6:30 PM; The Big Show starts at 7:30 PM, ends at 9:00 PM latest, with every attempt to finish up by 8:30 PM! Beverages of many persuasions, plus a few snacks, will be available before the meeting.

  1. – No Time for Procrastination –John F – (5 min)
  2. – Overview of Senate, House and County and Governor Races – John F (5-8 minutes)
  3. – November 6 Pot-luck Meeting — John F – (2 min)
  4. – GOTV/Registration Activity Opportunities -Karyn S – (10-15 minutes)
  5. — Speaker Peggy Bengry of League of Women Voters – Ballot Measures (10-15 min)
  6. – Speaker Dana Freedenfeld of Defend Oregon – Measures 103-104 (5-10 minutes)
  7. – Canvas/activities report/good stories Report – Karen S (5-10 minutes)
  8. -Closing Cheer and Special Exhortation – Karyn S
  9. -Adjourn until Tuesday Nov, 6, 2018,  eodem tempore, eodem loco

Resistance Letter #57

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

September 26, 2018
Day 625 of 1461 days

Dear Co-defendants –

 

Ramming Kavanagh Through the Keyhole

Sensing the increasing danger of further damning evidence emerging against Brett Kavanagh, the Republican majority in the senate had pulled out all the stops. Mitch McConnell has compressed the time between confirmation and senate vote to something like five days by holding the Senate open over the weekend in order to conform to previous senate standards. As it stands right now, the hearing concerning the testimony of Kavanagh and Ford will be rushed through on Thursday the 27th at 10:30 ET, with the full committee confirmation vote scheduled for September 28 at 9:30 ET. Regardless of the outcome of that committee vote, the full Senate is set to vote on Kavanagh’s nomination on Tuesday the 2nd of October.

The Democrats will do what can be done procedurally to slow things down, but McConnell holds all the cards as has been shown repeatedly. The only reason for McConnell to back down is an unfavorable head count. The Senate now has 51 Republicans to 49 Democrats; 51 votes are needed for lock things up. This suggests that two defections from Republican ranks will stop the process, allowing for the vice-presidential vote to bring things up to 50-50, and a loss. All these calculations depend on the Democrats not losing a single vote of their own.

At this mid-hour, only two Republicans have shown any interest in having a fact-finding process which would slow things down — Jeff Flake of Arizona (202-224-4521), who also sits on the committee, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (202-224-6665) who has several other reasons to want to stop the process. A phone call/ text, or e-mail to Murkowski would definitely be worthwhile. Jeff Flake has shown himself to be a political coward, his left hand being too proud to know its neighbor’s business. He has consistently decried Trump and his programs, only to consistently vote for him and them later; and Jeff Flake is not even running for office again!  All this being said, nothing is lost by sending him a message at 202-224-4521.

This whole process is a moving target and things change irregularly. Michael Avenatti has just come out with a charge of Kavanagh’s involvement with some gang-rape activity in prep-school. Should this stick, things would change considerably! Consequently, I will send another letter out if things change on the field.

 

MONTHLY MEETING

The meeting is set for Wednesday, October 10 at 1750 NW 131st, 97229.   Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM.  We will have a speakers from the League of Women Voters, Peggy Bengry, who will address the five ballot measures . Refreshments, both adult and juvenile. will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox

Agenda for Monthly Meeting of Wed, Sept 12 2018

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

Meeting will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, at 1750 NW 131st Ave, PDX OR 97229

Doors will open at 6:30 PM; The Big Show starts at 7:30 PM, ends at 9:00 PM latest, with every attempt to finish up by 8:30 PM! Beverages of many persuasions, plus a few snacks, will be available before the meeting.

 

  1. Necessity for Action NOW –John F – (5 min)
  2. Overview of Senate, House and County and Governor Races – John F (5-8 minutes)
  3. Postcard Outreach – John F – 2 min
  4. Getting out the Vote (GOTV!) -Karyn S – 10-15 minutes
  5. Kathryn Harrington – County Chair Candidate – 10-15 minutes
    The Role of Canvassing in Her Candidacy
    Her Campaign Positions
  6. Canvassing for WA3 in Vancouver – Julie W — (3-5 minutes)
  7. Closing Cheer and Special Exhortation – Karyn S

Adjourn until Wednesday, October 10, 2018,  eodem tempore, eodem loco

Resistance Letter #54

Posted on by Karyn Servin

August 13, 2018
Day 581 of 1461 days

Dear Co-defendants –

Only 85 days

Yep, 85 days left to the mid-term elections. So, what does it look like for us progressives?

The House of Representatives looks much like it always has. Nate Silver of 538 fame gives the Democrats 228 seats, ten over a majority. This is a fairly old figure with polls going back a month or so. More recent estimates, post-O’Connor in Ohio, allow the Democratic majority to be even bigger – somewhere between 231 and 251 seats. That gives the Democrats, in this updated scenario, a majority of 13-33 seats. The election, still tied in Ohio 12, was significant, because there are currently 60 Republican seats where Trump led by less than the 11 points in Ohio-12. Also, consider that the Republicans threw everything they had into this election, and they won’t be able to do that in actual midterm elections.

The Senate is not so obviously bound for the Democrats, but consider these possibilities, using data from The Cook Report. Basically, there are eight races that seem to be up for grabs; the remainder of the Senate Races, both Republican and Democratic, are fairly stable.

The Senate is now led by the Republicans, 51 to 49 seats. Here are the competitive races for the midterms and the poll numbers.
AZ- Smyrna v MacSally — Smyrna by 6 points
NV – Rosen v Heller – close mixed polls
TN – Bredesen v Blackburn –Bredesen by 3-6 points
FL- Nelson v Scott – close mixed polls
IN- Donnely v Braun — Braun by 1 point
MO – McCaskill v Hawley – close mixed polls
ND – Heitkamp v Cramer – close mixed polls
WV – Manchin v Morrisey – Manchin by 7-13 points

Give AZ, NV and TN to the Democrats. In NV, the Las Vegas vote counts above all else, and this vote is for Rosen; Rosen is also supported strongly by Emily’s List, so she won’t run out of cash. Both AZ and TN look to be easy targets for the Democrats. If you give these three to the Dems, the count is Dems 52 – Reps 48.

WV, which is a surprise, show Manchin leading very strongly; that one also goes for Dems. Score now Dems 53, Reps 47. That leaves FL, ND, MO and IN in play to decide the fate of the Senate in mid-terms.

All of these are close races, and given the tenor of the times, the Democrats ought to prevail in one or two of them. If only one of these four go Democratic, that leaves the Dems with a 50-50 split and, given Mike Pence as VP, gives the Senate to the Republicans. If any one of the remaining three seats goes Democratic, the Senate goes to the Democrats.

So, if you’d like to know where to put your money to support a Democratic Senate and all that that means, give money to Heitkamp, McCaskill, Donnely and Nelson. These four are the pivotal races this year.

Only 85 Days and Local

Oregon’s only Republican on the national stage is Greg Walden of the 2nd district, and he is being challenged by Jamie McLeod-Skinner for the seat. Walden won his last election by 72%, and has a war chest of over $4 million dineros. Jamie McLeod-Skinner has all of $265,000 and still counting. Nevertheless, she persists.

Indivisible Cedar Mill has joined an effort to post-card all 142,000 non-affiliated voters in OR2, stressing Greg Walden’s indifference to their welfare. If you wish to join in this effort, contact me by return e-mail. You can get addresses only, addresses with cards, or complete stamped-postcards along with an address list. We can ship up to 100 cards, but they really must all be mailed!

On the other side of the Columbia, Carolyn Long is running against Jaime Herera-Butler, the Republican incumbent. This is in Vancouver and is close enough to us to allow canvassing support to set things straight in this district, WA3. Herera-Butler won her last two elections in the low 60’s, so she is ripe for a strong effort. Go to http://www.indivisibleor.org/midterms/#wa-03. This site is not quite ready, so soon after the primaries in Washington, but you can select the canvassing and date/time for yourself. Give it a few days, and see what organization is all about.

MONTHLY MEETING

The meeting is set for Wednesday, September 12, at 1750 NW 131st, 97229. Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM. Kathryn Harrington, candidate for county chair, has been persuaded to be our speaker; she will be addressing the effectiveness of GOTV tactics. Refreshments, both adult and juvenile. will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox

Resistance Letter #53

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

June 21, 2018
Day 528 of 1461 daysDear Co-defendants –

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, CAN IT?

Well, yes, it is happening here. Who among us would ever have guessed, two years ago, that this country would be separating children from parents and interning thousands of them in separate and secret facilities? Who would? Nobody. But that’s where we are.

Because of racism, in tandem with colossal incompetence, the Trump administration has successfully created a stain that will not wash out of our national history. We will be forever marked by it, as we are still marked by the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. The interned Japanese Americans were never a problem at any time during the war; they were imprisoned because of hysteria and baseless fear. Similarly, the Latino children, all 2300 of them, have never posed a problem for the United States; they too are kept in cages due to fear and hysteria whipped up, and promoted by, Donald J Trump and his despicable associates.

Trump’s recent turnaround is really no turnaround. Because of the Flores agreement from 1997, the federal government has 20 days to intern adults and children before they must be released or deported. The administration is now going to court to get this amended to hold these asylum seekers indefinitely, but this time with children and parent(s) together. The defense department has been asked, or instructed, to set up facilities to handle 20,000 internees for an indefinite period.

WHERE ARE WE RIGHT NOW?
We are slouching down the road to something approaching genocide, or at least ethnic cleansing. Look at these steps that were used by fascists in Europe to imprison whole ethnic groups, and see if there any parallels here, right here, today:

  • CLASSIFICATION – It’s us versus them, the identified enemy among us.
  • SYMBOLIZATION – No need for badges here, just check the whiteness of the skin
  • DISCRIMINATION – Everything from denying voter rights to approval of white ethnic groups
  • DEHUMANIZATION – Latinos have been openly referred to as animals, breeders and insects infesting America
  • ORGANIZATION – The whole federal government is jailing these Latinos right now, in broad daylight, in front of us all.

Any cooperation with the oppressors identifies the cooperator as racist and complicit in the crime. See Paul Krugman’s NYT article on this subject and its proximity to European anti-Semitism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/blood-libel-trump-immigrants.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytopinion

POSTCARDS
We are currently out of names, in the trough between primaries and special elections. But fear not, we are pursuing support for state candidates to fill in the hiatus. Keep tuned. We will be mailing as soon as we can get the names!

INDEPENDENT ACTIONS
Some of our Indivisible members are taking actions on their own without awaiting any suggestions from on high. This is encouraging. The opposition to complicity in Trump’s inhumanity is Resistance with a capital R. Resistance in things large and small defines us as a free people who are intent on preserving our independence from Washington. Every voter registered, every door knocked on, every appearance at rallies and protests, every letter written – they all count to mark us as proud and defiant Resisters.

MONTHLY MEETING

Our monthly meeting is being changed from the second Monday of every month to the second Wednesday of each month.

The meeting is set for Wednesday, July 11, at 1750 NW 131st, 97229. Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM. Rachel Gowland and Kathryn Harrington have been persuaded to be our speakers; they will be addressing the effectiveness of GOTV tactics. Refreshments, both adult and juvenile. will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox

Resistance Letter #52

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

 

June 14, 2018
Day 508 of 1461 days

Dear Co-defendants –

 

 ASYLUM SEEKERS INTERNED AT SHERIDAN

Approximately 125 Latino asylum seekers have been transferred to Sheridan prison, just down the road from McMinville. This action is the direct result of the Trump administration, via Jeff Sessions, criminalizing crossing the border to seek asylum. Prior to Sessions’ edict, the crossing was treated administratively, and all crossers were processed through civil procedures. With the criminalization of the seekers, the administration is justified in breaking up families and removing children from their parents, one as young as an infant at breast.

At last reported count, there were 10,000 children being held in various places. The problem with holding adults and children is getting extreme, hence the use of federal prisons like Sheridan. The administration reportedly plans to set up tent cities at various army posts to hold the border crossers. Unfortunately for all concerned, the criminalization of this offense will call for many ,many more judges than it is possible to produce in a short time; so don’t look for this problem to go away any time soon.

See the Indivsible Action Letter on this at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/163f787324146642 to see what you can do to assist.

 

PETITION SIGNING

Look closely at any petitions you are asked to sign. The right is producing some strange ones, masquerading as just causes, IP 22, in particular, is to be avoided; its supporters hope to get it on the ballot in the fall. It is an anti-immigrant measure that is being sponsored by McMinville-based Oregonians for Immigration Reform (OFIR), which is a hate group linked to white supremacists.

 

POSTCARDS

Indivisible Cedar Mill has a busy project sending out about 500 postcards a month, supporting progressive candidates across the country. Our latest mailing was for Caleb Frostman, who just won a state senate seat in Wisconsin; we are now engaged in supporting Eric Holguin who is running in Texas to replace that squalid little man Blake Farenhold.

We will continue this operation, but would like to expand it to distant club members and progressives in general. The idea is this: each volunteer will tell me how many postcards they can buy, stamp, write and mail every month. I will then send these progressive volunteers the voters’ addresses and an information sheet about the upcoming election. The volunteers will then fill out the postcards and mail them as soon as they possibly can.

It is an effective way of getting out the vote! Tell me if you would like to participate and to pass the opportunity on to friends of yours. Reply to this e-mail address with number of cards you can handle.

 

MONTHLY MEETING

Our monthly meeting is being changed from the second Monday of every month to the second Wednesday of each month.

The meeting is set for Wednesday, July 11,, at 1750 NW 131st, 97229.   Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM.  Refreshments, both adult and juvenile. will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox

Agenda for Monthly Meeting of June 12th, 2018 (Tuesday, not Monday, this month!)

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

Meeting will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1750 NW 131st Ave, PDX OR 97229

Doors will open at 6:30 PM; The Big Show starts at 7:30 PM, ends at 9:00 PM latest, with every attempt to finish up by 8:30 PM! Beverages of many persuasions, plus a few snacks, will be available before the meeting. Sangria will  again be thrillingly available.

  1. — Opening remarks  – Speaker Presentation – Karyn S – 3-5 minutes
  2. — Speaker Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon Attorney General – 15 minutes
  3. — Questions/responses from the Speaker – Karyn S and Ellen — 15 minutes
  4. – What’s going on now? – John F – 10 minutes
  5. — What do we have to do? – John F – 5-10 minutes
  6. — Special Exhortation – Karyn S (or in extremis, John F)-2 minutes

7.-Adjourn until Tuesday, July 10,  2018,  eodem tempore, eodem loco

Resistance Letter #51

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

June 2, 2018
Day 496 of 1461 days

Dear Co-defendants –

 

 ATTORNEY GENERAL ROSENBLUM TO VISIT

AG Ellen Rosenblum has agreed to attend our next scheduled meeting on the Tuesday the 12th June (note – our meeting date had to be changed so she could come – we usually meet Mondays but the 12th is a Tuesday). She will be available for the social hour for general schmoozing with her, and will give us a fifteen minute talk during the regular meeting. The AG will also respond to any questions we may have of her for another fifteen minutes or so.

To better our use of both her and our time, please submit any questions you have for her to either me by responding to this letter, or to Karyn via Facebook. We will assemble these questions and Karyn will ask them of her.

 

PRIMARIES, PRIMARIES, PRIMARIES

Yes, Next Tuesday is officially referred to as Quasi-Super Tuesday, with primaries in CA, NJ, IA, NM, MS and AL. I might have missed one of the states, but the main concern for us is California at any rate,

Seven seats in California are regarded as toss-ups, either leaning Democratic or favoring Democrats. The big names are Knight, Issa, Rohrabacher, Denham and a few others. Unfortunately, Devin Nunes’ seat is safe in the primary; Andrew Janz is the Democratic opposition for him. We will have to wait till November to seriously challenge Nunes.

The California primary system is a ‘jungle primary,’ with the top two vote getters going on to the general election in November. The unbridled egos of progressive challengers have put several easily won primaries in question. The fight for Issa’s seat has 13 challengers, which ought to split the Demo/progressive votes very nicely; Rohrabacher has one Republican contender and six or seven progressive challengers. It is not impossible in Orange County, Rohrabacher’s district, to imagine the two Republicans getting the votes needed to advance, leaving all the Democratic challengers in the dust. So far, nobody has had the good sense to throw in the towel, and thus solidify the vote for one or two challengers. Just goes to show you that progressives can be at least as politically brain-damaged as Republicans.

However all that goes next Tuesday, be sure that you are a part of it. An astounding number of progressives are just too lazy or preoccupied with other things to get out and vote. Vote yourself, get your family to the booth, and convince friends that the future does not belong to the indolent.

 

MONTHLY MEETING 

The meeting is set for TUESDAY, JUNE 12th (note – our meeting date had to be changed so Rosenblum could come – we usually meet Mondays but the 12th is a Tuesday), at 1750 NW 131st, 97229. Oregon’s Attorney General Rosenblum will be our featured speaker. Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM.  Refreshments, both adult and juvenile will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox

Agenda for Monthly Meeting of May 14, 2018

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

Meeting will be held next Monday at 1750 NW 131st Ave, PDX OR 97229

Doors will open at 6:30 PM; The Big Show starts at 7:30 PM, ends at 9:00 PM latest, with every attempt to finish up by 8:30 PM! Beverages of many persuasions, plus a few snacks, will be available before the meeting. Sangria will  be excellently available.

 

1. Opening remarks  -State of the Nation  – John F – 7-12  minutes

2. Review of last month’s and future activities – Karyn S – 10-12  minutes

3. Speaker Terri Larson — Canvassing as a Way of Life – 10 minutes

4. Speaker Paige Stoyer — Life as a Neighborhood Leader – 10 minutes

5. What Works/What Don’t –Karyn S — 10-15 minutes

6. Special Exhortation – Karyn S -2 minutes

7. Adjourn until Monday, June 11,  2018, eodem tempore, eodem loco

Resistance Letter #49

Posted on by Karyn Servin

INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON

Facebook: INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON      WWW.INDIVISIBLECM.ORG

OUR MISSION: Rebuild and maintain a progressive majority in every level of government – federal, state and local.

 

May 12, 2018
Day 476 of 1461 days – 1/3 of the way there!

Dear Co-defendants –

 

THE LOCAL VOTE IS NIGH

Only three days to go to the vote count. Our Indivisible chapter has endorsed Greg Malinowski for County Commission, Kathryn Harrington for County Commission Chair, Steven Burke for Judge, and Juan Carlos Gonzales for Metro Board. We declined any endorsement for District Attorney.

True to our commitments, members of Indivisible Cedar Mill have been canvassing door-to-door, talking to local Democrats and ginning up our candidates.  Canvassing is not everybody’s favorite method of support, but it is a learned experience, yielding both votes and interesting experiences. For those of us who have shied away from it this primary, steel yourself for the general election in November. That election is too critical to allow fear to counsel us!

The next special election is set for August 7 in Ohio 12, the area right around Co;umbus. The spritely named Danny O’Connor will be heading up the side of the angels.

 

NATIONAL STATUS

And the election still looks very good for the House of Representatives and still looks chancy at best for the Senate. Progressives will take over the House, barring some really unfortunate turn of events (like Trump declaring an election unnecessary, or the results invalid due to irregular registration!). The only question is how big will be our victory, and the answer to that should be as big as we can possibly get it to be. The House has many powers, but the king power right now is the Right to Impeach. The impeachment process may stall in the senate, but it is a House proceeding to begin the lengthy process; the Senate merely gets to try the impeached (Section 1; Article 3 of the US Constitution). A two-thirds vote is required for a guilty finding, and is unlikely. Nevertheless, they have to hold the trial!

The Senate election favorable to the Democrats requires that two out of Manchin, McCaskill and Heide Heitkamp win their elections – a tough call for these senators. It is also dependent on Rosen in Nevada and Sinema in Arizona winning their contests. Tennessee may fall to the Democrats with a popular ex-governor Bredesen going up against Marsha Blackburn there, and barely leading right now.. Out of the thirty-three senators up for reelection in this grade, twenty-seven are Democrats or Independents – an unfortunate turn of events! So it is not impossible, just unlikely!

The Arizona seat held by John McCain is open to question. Given the severe nature of his illness, he may not last through his tenure.

If you’d like to increase the chances for these senators to win, just Google them and send some money to their campaigns.

 

ARIZONA 08

We did a lot of post-carding for Dr Hiral Tiperneni who was opposing Debbie Lesko in a heavily Republican district in a special election in Arizona. The previous Republican representative had won the district by 20 points. Hiral Tiperneni lost by only five points and will be running again in November for the general election. We shall be supporting her yet again!

 

MONTHLY MEETING 

The meeting is set for Monday, May14, at 1750 NW 131st, 97229. Doors open at 6:30PM and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM.  Refreshments, both adult and juvenile will be provided along with a few tasty snacks.

L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!

Thank you.

John Fox