August 15, 2025 Newsletter
“ We’ve accommodated democracy and I really see no reason why
we can’t accommodate autocracy.”
News from INDIVISIBLE SAN MATEO
Aug.15, 2025
Harry (Rick) Moody, Newsletter Editor
Mary Beavins, Founder of Indivisible San Mateo
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“But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.”
—Bob Dylan, “It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)”
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COMING EVENTS
Be Brave: Burlingame (Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, 3 to 5 pm)
Indivisible San Mateo is supporting the #VisibilityBrigade #BeBrave campaign happening on hundreds of overpasses across the country. Meeting at the Broadway bike-ped overpass in Burlingame. Parking on east side near the baseball field on Airport Blvd: a 5 minute walk to the base of the overpass. RSVP to bannering101@gmail.com
Fight the Trump Takeover (Saturday, Aug. 16, 1 – 2:30pm PDT)
West Elm Furniture store, 60 E 31st Ave, San Mateo
https://www.mobilize.us/fightthetrumptakeover/event/827509/
Bannering 101: Resist Burlingame (Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM)
Bannering 101: Resist Belmont (Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM) https://www.indivisiblesanmateo.com/bannering-events/ibpvvq83pqyl1hjpfk27gw4ujg1gw9-6z5e4-bk4j2-py84j-e8g2l
In-Person Meeting (Tuesday, Aug. 26, 5:30 – 6:30pm PDT)
Picnic Area, Central Park, 899 S El Camino Real, San Mateo
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/829284/
Labor Day March and Rally: Workers Over Billionaires
(Monday, Monday, Sept. 1, 11am – 1pm PDT) 101 S B Street, San Mateo
https://www.mobilize.us/mayday/event/829257/
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WHEN PEOPLE ASK ABOUT PROTEST, HERE’S AN ANSWER
The 3.5% rule, popularized by Eric Chenoweth , suggests that sustained nonviolent resistance campaigns involving at least 3.5% of a population are highly likely to achieve their goals. This rule, based on research of over 300 violent and non-violent conflicts, indicates that such campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones.
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FEELING HELPLESS?
There’s Actually a Lot You Can Do
See Robert Reich: “What you can do now: A baker’s dozen of important steps to fight Trump fascism” at:
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-f3d
An Overview:
1. Protect the decent and hardworking members of your communities who are undocumented.
2. Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community.
3. Help protect officials in your community or state whom Trump and his administration are targeting for vengeance.
4. Participate in or organize boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime — starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla and any companies that advertise on X or on Fox News, as well as companies like Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post and Amazon that have surrendered to Trump.
5. To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump.
6. Spread the truth.
7. Urge friends, relatives, and acquaintances to avoid Trump propaganda outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, X, and, increasingly, Facebook and Instagram.
8. Push for progressive measures in your community and state.
9. Encourage worker action.
10. Organize and mobilize for upcoming elections.
11. Call your senators and representatives — constantly.
12. Keep the faith. Do not give up on America.
13. Beyond these, please be sure to find room in your life for joy, fun, and laughter. Do not let Trump and his darkness take you over.
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SUMMER SOCIAL EVENT
Aug. 5, 2025
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PROTESTERS: DON’T GET EXHAUSTED!
I’ve been working with Indivisible since February, 2017, when I joined with others to establish our Indivisible chapter in Boulder, Colorado, where I lived at the time. I still work with them, Whatever you do, don’t quit. Take a break, if necessary.
Advice from Robert Hubbell: “Go on a news fast. Reduce the number of newsletters you read or the broadcasts you watch. Just don’t give up. Come back as soon as you can.”
I’ve long been a paying subscriber to Robert Hubbell’s newsletter, “Today’s Edition”:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
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SAVE YOUR MONEY, HELP DEMOCRACY
Adam Bonica, political data analyst at Stanford. Found that a major consulting agency took our contributions for its own gain is an outrage. According to Bonica, Mothership Strategies raised $ 282 million for Democratic candidates in 2024 but gave less than 2 percent of the total to candidates, campaigns, or the national party committee. Their ripping us off and we should all help to stop it from happening!
For details visit:
https://grassrootsconnector.substack.com/p/the-mothership-betrayal
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MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?
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HANNAH ARENDT ON INCOMPETENCE
I once had the remarkable honor of an hour-long private meeting with Hannah Arendt, our premier analyst of totalitarianism. Note her published comments:
“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life.”
(Quoted by Paul Krugman, “The Political Economy of Incompetence.” Aug. 11, 2025)
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HOPE
“There is always hope—except for you.”
-Franz Kafka
“Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.”
-David Orr, environmentalist
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CRIME IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL
There’s a crime wave in the nation’s capital—but not the one cited by Trump.
“Yes, Stephen Miller Is Surrounded by Criminals”
“Lawlessness in D.C. is rampant, and we’ve found lots of criminals congregated in one place.” By Alexandra Petri (The Atlantic)
Thank goodness the National Guard is being called in. Lawlessness in D.C. is rampant, and someone needs to take a stand! Stephen Miller was correct to point out that D.C. is awash in crime. Everywhere he looks: criminals. He can barely take three steps without running into one. From the moment he arrives at work in the morning until the second he leaves, one crime after another, piling horrendously high. Illegality everywhere, and casual disregard for the well-being of law-abiding Americans!
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TRUMP TALK
“Let me explain something to you about the Trump playbook. It’s not complicated. It’s not some mystical art passed down from golden escalator to golden escalator. The rules are simple: deny everything, deflect blame, dominate the narrative.” (MeidasTouch Network)
Resist Military Rule. The Army Was Built to Protect the Republic — Now It’s Being Deployed to Subdue It. First Los Angeles, now Washington, DC:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-army-was-built-to-protect-the
Billionaires. “Days After Giving Big Tax Cuts to Billionaires, Trump to Hit Workers With $2 Trillion Tax Increase” at:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-tariffs-a-tax-on-workers
Stopping Trump’s Prison. “Judge to mull halting operations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' over environmental concerns” at:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-mull-halting-operations-alligator-091817382.html
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A LITTLE LAUGHTER
The Borowitz Report (not the news)
“Russian Lures Confused Old Man to Alaska in Elder Scam”
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—An unscrupulous Russian man has lured a confused septuagenarian to Alaska in an apparent elder scam, concerned associates of the old man reported on Thursday.
According to those associates, the Russian has posed as a friend of his geriatric mark in order to take advantage of him in the remote, icy setting.
“This poor, addled codger isn’t playing with a full deck and hasn’t for some time,” one associate said. “We’re afraid that the Russian will trick him into signing something away.”
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HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST ICE
“The Iceman Cometh” was a play by Eugene O’Neil. The author had a grim view of life. Can we imagine what he would have thought about the real “ICE man” stalking people today? ICE stands for Immigration Customs Enforcement. It means thugs with masks and no identifying information who can grab people and put them into prison or deport them without legal protections.
But protection is possible! Protectors are using digital technology in creative ways to save innocent people from anonymous thugs:
The ICE alert app founder sparking fury in Trump officials: ‘Pam Bondi said I better watch out? Please.’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/13/ice-alert-app-trump
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DON’T BE AFRAID
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IT’S TIME TO RESIST
From time to time, I run into people losing hope about resisting Trump’s attempt to impose Fascism in the USA. Distraction turns into despair and then disengagement: “Why bother? It’s hopeless.”
We shouldn’t underplay the damage Trump is doing. But we should not give up hope because “hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.” Robert Hubbell, in the final words of his newsletter this week put it best:
“We should be worried about Trump's attempt to normalize American troops in US cities. But we must also be careful not to predict doom or civil war or the emergence of the Third Reich just because a few hundred troops show up for a photo opportunity in a city near you.
Tens of millions of Americans are engaged in resisting Trump's attempt to undermine and override the Constitution. That is where we should be focusing our efforts. The resistance must get bigger, louder, and more frequent. The hostile introduction of troops into American cities may be just the motivation we need to ratchet up the resistance!”
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THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!
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