August 27, 2025 Newsletter
News from INDIVISIBLE SAN MATEO
Aug. 27, 2025
Harry (Rick) Moody, Newsletter Editor
Mary Beavins, Founder of Indivisible San Mateo
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Warning about Trump: “Eventually, executive power will become completely uncontainable, and our beloved constitutional Republic will be no more.”
-Ketanji Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
"We should view (Trump’s) increasing desperation as a reflection of our
growing strength."
-Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland)
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LABOR DAY
Labor Day is Monday, Sept. 1. Workers are our ally in protesting against Trump and the Fascists.
Indivisible San Mateo will be part of this big event: Labor Day March & Rally
Monday, September 1, 2025, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, in San Mateo.
At our recent rally on El Camino, we got lots of honks from passing motorists. One that surprised me was when a bus driver honked and smiled at us. The driver opened his door and I was able to give him a flyer about Indivisible and mention about our Labor Day event. Before the door closed and the bus had to leave, I told him that we in Indivisible are doing what we can for Labor, pointing to him and once again he smiled and honked.
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SUPPPORT DEMOCRACY, STOP VOTER SUPPRESSION
“In 2020, Donald Trump picked up the phone and called Georgia’s secretary of state with a wild assignment: ‘find’ 11,780 votes so Trump could keep the White House.” (MeidasNetwork)
This is also our fight in California: Gov. Newsom has threatened to do what Texas is
trying to do, and many of us will support the California response.
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MILITARY MOVES IN NATION’S CAPITAL
I was glancing at the title of a news article about “federal takeover in Washington, DC” and I realized I had misread the title as “feral takeover in Washington, DC.” Maybe my misreading got it right.
Trump has said there’s a crime wave in Washington, DC. But how did he know it? Did he look in the mirror? Here we have, Trump, a convicted felon and proven in court for sexual abuse. He’s now acting as if he’s President of the United States. Send in the Marines! Maybe they’ll find the criminals. But why not start with the White house?
“The governor of South Carolina announced that he is sending his state’s National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to aid President Trump’s military occupation of the city. And so, 160 years later, soldiers from a Confederate state will walk the streets of the U.S. capital as conquerors.” (Bulwark Newsletter: The Triad)
Some other red-state governors have joined it. A “feral” takeover means that wolves attract others. But people are looking, and many are in horror at what they see.
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AGEISM IN HIGH PLACES
Some people—actually, most people—in Washington, DC, where I used to live, are unhappy with Trump’s federal takeover of the city. So Trump’s people in High Places are walking around the City attacking those who protest what the soldiers are doing:
“It’s kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of old, primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they’ve never felt danger in their entire lives,” (Vice President J.D.) Vance said.
“We’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies,” [Trump Advisor Stephen) Miller said. “They all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old, and we’re going to get back to business protecting the American people.”
I guess I’m one of those “stupid white hippies.” I’m not (yet) over 90 years old. But I sometimes feel I’m in danger not from criminals but from people in High Places in our own government.
From “Politico” https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/20/jd-vance-protests-trump-washington-takeover-00516596
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“BUT WE DIDN’T KNOW”
Can people find an excuse not to act? I once had the privilege of a private one-hour meeting with Hannah Arendt, author of the famous book The Origins of Totalitarianism, a book I would read later in my life. Arendt grew up in Germany and left in the 1930s as Hitler became clear to her and to some others. But for many other Germans, even until the end of W.W. II, as the facts about the Holocaust became evident, people’s answer was always “But we didn’t know.”
What do we know today? What are we being conditioned not to know?
“The Washington Post reports that ICE is planning to open or expand 125 new ‘detention facilities’ across the country, including ones to hold families, giving America the largest prison system in the world. The paper notes:
The documents outline the strategy behind ICE’s breakneck expansion, a chaotic effort that has already triggered lawsuits and accusations of cruelty.
Today, in America, mainstream media fails in full coverage of Trump’s brutal treatment of immigrants. There is lack of due process while there are monthly deportation flights to hellhole countries or to foreign concentration camps. It isn’t legal, but billionaire owners are sucking up to Trump. There is partisan political framing and mainstream media underplays systemic human rights abuses once they’ve been normalized.
From “Are Americans Being Conditioned by Our Media to Become
‘Good Germans’?” The Hartmann Report (Aug. 15, 2025
The question for the Germans in the 1930s, and for Americans in 2025: “What did they know and when did they know it?” (The Watergate question)
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AN ICE STORM IS HERE!
“Donald Trump has been able to convert ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement… into a huge secret police force — because what are we supposed to call an organization whose masked agents, bearing no identification, simply grab people off the street? Who shoot at a family fleeing in their truck, after agents refused to identify themselves and smashed the car window, claiming – apparently falsely according to video footage – that the driver tried to harm them?
We’ve also seen both deportations to foreign gulags and the creation of a network of domestic detention centers — call it the ICE archipelago — that are overcrowded, filthy, and breeding grounds for disease.” (From Paul Krugman)
“Man yells for help as ICE agents carry him from LA courthouse into unmarked car, video shows” (CNN, Aug. 16, 2025)
Do you sometimes feel like you can’t do anything about ICE? Do you try to believe that it won’t come to San Mateo County. In the 1930s a famous book was titled It Can’t Happen Here—about how Americans were sleeping through Fascism in the USA. The Nazis had the Gestapo in Germany. What will we have here?
But there are things you can do! “The ICE alert app founder sparking fury in Trump officials: ‘Pam Bondi said I better watch out? Please.’ “ at:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/13/ice-alert-app-trump
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WHAT HATH TRUMP WROUGHT?
It’s sometimes difficult to keep up with all the damage. One of my college classmates tries to keep tabs of the many ways in the head of current American Regime is damaging our country. Here are a few items:
1. The firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics director for a bad jobs report. The person fired had virtually nothing to do with the numbers. The numbers were gathered from about a third of the companies in the country and were compiled and annotated by nameless faces in the office before they were passed on to the Director.
2. The frivolous, but very costly lawsuits against big law firms to ensure they would not prosecute his crimes or represent “the wrong people” in pro-bono work.
3. The frivolous, but very costly lawsuits against prominent Universities in the effort to direct admissions and curricula.
4. The re-naming of many military bases to restore names of confederate officers.
5. The restoration of statues symbolizing racism throughout the south and elsewhere.
6. The attempts to privatize the National Weather Service and the elimination of much forecasting data from public access.
7. Directives to examine Smithsonian Museum entries for anything critical of US war crimes or crimes against humanity.
8. The takeover of the Kennedy Center.
9. Deletion of over 250 words describing social or scientific (e.g. climate-related data) from government documents.
And don’t miss this one: “Sleepwalking Our Way to Fascism” at:
https://www.weekendreading.net/p/sleepwalking-our-way-to-fascism
Trump against America. “Trump Is Sending a Terrifyingly Clear Message” The president is going after his enemies and undermining the American system.
by David Frum, at:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-bolton-sending-message/683997/
Voters are now catching on: “Trump sees growing disapproval rating among Americans”:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5467568-trump-approval-rating-decline/
What is the Trump regime doing? “The regime is tightening its grip on political power by occupying the largest cities led by opposition party members.
This is a well-trodden path of Trump’s authoritarian predecessors and contemporaries. Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, Putin, and Erdoğan all used some form of state-aligned armed forces to pick fights in the streets under the guise of law and order. They all then used the resulting conflict to justify further consolidation of power and additional crackdowns.” (From National Indivisible)
Don’t Let Them Frighten You. “Permanent Chains: When Surveillance Becomes Guilt” How “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime” (Stalin) is rewriting American justice, The Hartmann Report at:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/permanent-chains-when-surveillance-bb3
What Can We Do? First point, “Don’t be rattled by Trump’s saber-rattling” Key point: “Our job is to remind people that Trump is making our lives worse, less safe, less healthy, and less free every day. We are making slow but significant progress in that effort. Despite the heat and summer doldrums, grassroots activists are not relenting.” -Robert Hubbell, Today’s Edition. I’m a paying subscriber and have been for years. You can subscribe to it at no cost at: https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
Yes, Robert Hubbell, we’re already marching in San Mateo!
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Who’s Trying To Destroy Our Country?
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PROPOSITION 50: FIGHTING BACK ON TEXAS
Gov. Newsom and California Democrats have now passed a bill which, if approved by voters on Nov. 4, would enable California to redistrict our Congressional seats to deter Texas and possibly other states from rigging the next election on behalf of the right-wing:
“California just 'flipped the script' on GOP after major 'bluff' was called.” See:
https://www.rawstory.com/california-flips-the-script-gop/
League of Women Voters. Opponents of Prop 50 falsely claimed support from the League of Women Voters: “California redistricting mailer draws criticism for misleading endorsements”:
https://lwvc.org/to-supporters-prop-50-is-small-but-correct-step-in-good-government-direction/
California Common Cause. Opponents of Prop 50 also falsely claimed that California Common cause is against the law:
Political Deception: Don’t send money to people who are deluding you:
https://grassrootsconnector.substack.com/p/the-mothership-betrayal
See also: https://data4democracy.substack.com/
Indivisible San Mateo is allied with other groups working to persuade voters in November that in California we can fight back against election rigging already in place in Texas.
See also: “Disinformation about Prop 50”
https://www.indivisiblesanmateo.com/blog/prop-50-disinformation
The 2026 midterms. “People are paying enough attention, because they have to be run fairly. I do think the Democrats have a very good chance of winning them if they are run fairly and happen under normal conditions. But they could also be easily perverted from what we can” (Paul Krugman, interview with military historian Phillips O’Brien, on substack).
Do Not Surrender in Advance. Rebecca Solnit: a crucial voice: https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/on-not-surrendering-in-advance-or-during-or-at-any-point-thereafter/
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BOOKS TO READ
PALO ALTO: A history of California, Capitalism and the World, by Malcolm Harris (Little, Brown, 2023). A long book but a lot on Silicon Valley, where we live.
COMING UP SHORT: A Memoir of My America, by Robert Reich (Knopf, 2025).
Number One on the NY Times Best Seller list.
ABUNDANCE, by Ezra Klein (Simon & Schuster, 2025). I listen to Klein regularly.
ON FREEDOM, by Timothy Snyder (Crown, 2024). An update of his classic work On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017). Snyder is indispensable for us.
LABORATORIES OF AUTOCRACY: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines,
by David Pepper (St. Helena Press, 2021).
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JUST FOR LAUGHS
From the Borowitz Report (not the news):
“Trump Freaks Out After Nobel Peace Prize Form Asks If Applicant Ever Used Troops Against Own Citizens”
“Zelenskyy Asks Trump to Give Ukraine Same Protection He Gives Pedophiles”
“DC Residents Less Afraid of Homeless Than of Running into Stephen Miller”
“Meanwhile, if I saw Trump on my roof, I would assume he’s pulling a reverse Santa Claus — you know, going house to house, taking toys away from kids. ‘[imitating Trump] I just signed an executive order that allows me to take your Labubu collection.’ ” (From Seth Meyers)
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CLIMATE CHANGE
If you’re concerned about the climate crisis, know that I edit a digital newsletter, “Climate Change in an Aging Society.” It’s the same title as a book I published this year (Routledge). The newsletter is free and will give you things you can use. For a sample copy just send a request: harryrickmoody@gmail.com
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IS AMERICA JUST GOING TO THE DOGS?
Some demonstrators brought their dogs on a leash to our rally near Hillsdale Mall on El Camino on Aug. 16. I myself took this picture (below) of a protester at an earlier event in Palo Alto. Have a laugh, but bring everyone to our protests.
