September 15, 2025 Newsletter
News from INDIVISIBLE SAN MATEO
Sept. 15, 2025
Harry (Rick) Moody, Newsletter Editor
Mary Beavins, Founder of Indivisible San Mateo
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“If the Truth Is a crime, then we are all criminals,
because silence is what tyranny depends on”
-Thom Hartmann
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MEETING WITH REP. KEVIN MULLIN
Mary Beavins gives the message and Rick Moody holds the card for Congressman Kevin Mullin (Aug. 27, 2025)
(Photo by Vicki Mahoney)
Our partner, Indivisible Mid-Peninsula hosted this event, right here in San Mateo. We participated with them again on Labor Day here in San Mateo, shown in the picture below:
Picture from ProBonoPhoto, with gratitude.
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COMING EVENTS
Yes on Prop 50 canvassing training to knock doors in San Mateo: (Sept. 16, 2025, 7-8 pm.) Register here
Yes on Prop 50 door-knocking (canvassing) in San Mateo: (Sept. 20, 2025, 9:30 am - 1 pm). We need all hands-on-deck. Register here
Yes on Prop 50 phone-banking - six days a week/two shifts (English) Register here
Yes on Prop 50 phone-banking - six days a week/two shifts (Spanish). Register here
Indivisible San Mateo: Save our democracy; join us on the street at Hillsdale. (Sept. 20, 2025, 1 pm) Register here
Indivisible San Mateo: Tesla Supercharger Station at Tanforan Mall in San Bruno (Sept. 21, 2025, 2 pm) Register here
Bannering Hwy 101: Yes on Prop 50! (Burlingame, Sept. 17, 2025, 3:30 pm) Register here.
No Kings Day 2 (Oct. 18, 2025, 1 - 3 pm) Hillsdale Mall, San Mateo. Look for details in the Oct. 15 newsletter from Indivisible San Mateo. Register here
Kick off call is Sept. 18, at 5 pm. For preparation for this event, visit:
https://www.nokings.org/?SQF_SOURCE=indivisible#map
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IS FIRE SEASON OVER YET?
Wildfires. Donald Trump said climate change is “a hoax.” When I first moved to California, I was on a climate march with the Sunrise group and we protested in front of the home of Nancy Pelosi. I was marching that day with a 40-year old woman whose house burned down completely in Paradise, California. OK. Maybe “paradise” is not the right name for a place of disaster? But now is not the right time to be calling climate change a “hoax” as Trump has done repeatedly. Unless we stop Trump, fire season will never be over.
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DON’T THINK WE’RE HELPLESS
“Don’t say, ‘There won’t be midterms, because Trump is going to declare martial law and cancel all elections from now on.’ That’s a right-wing narrative designed to make you feel hopeless and prevent you from donating, volunteering, and voting. Don’t fall for it!
Instead, let’s do some critical thinking: if there won’t be any midterms, why are Republicans scrambling to gerrymander in states like Texas? I’ll tell you why: they’re terrified of losing control of the House—and with your help, they will.”
(From The Borowitz Report)
“There is a purpose behind distorting history to make it seem like only great men achieve significant things. It teaches people to believe they are powerless and must wait for a great man to act”
“To control people, make them believe they are responsible for their own misery and present yourself as their savior.”
From Noam Chomsky, now 95. It’s never too late and you’re never too old.
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LOOKING BACKWARD: MAKING PROGRESS
“Think about where we’ve come from January to the official end of summer. Remember back in January when it felt lonely fighting back against the Trump regime. Remember when the opposition was made up of only a handful of others. Think about where we have come. Elon’s DOGE was a total failure. The Trump regime has not succeeded in crushing the resistance. They now look weak and pathetic, sending the National Guard into DC and threatening to do so in other cities.
this summer we saw the No Kings Protest, which was the biggest mass mobilization in American history. It coincided with Trump’s disastrous army parade.”
(From MeidasTouch Network)
Last January, Indivisible San Mateo had only three members. Today more than 400 people get this newsletter. As many as 2,000 people turned out for No Kings Day in San Mateo, our local version of the mobilization that attracted up to five million Americans around the country. We are making progress!
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TRUMP TALK
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/
Power Grab. “Trump Is Inventing Fake Emergencies to Gain Real-World Power”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/emergency-authority-power-trump-democracy/684053/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-am&utm_term=The+Atlantic+AM
Budget Shutdown. End of fiscal year, September 30 is coming: “White House redlines and Democratic demands set up shutdown showdown” at:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/31/politics/government-funding-white-house-democrats-shutdown
Let The Weak Ones Die. While we’re worried about Trump and MAGA, we shouldn’t overlook what Bobby Kennedy, Jr. is doing: instead of MAGA, he promotes MAHA, Make America Healthy Again. He shuts down vaccines and science. Instead, he favors eugenics and social Darwinism: letting the weak die so that the strong will survive. Read “MAHA Madness: Bob Kennedy’s Cruel New Gospel of ‘Fitness’ ” at: https://hartmannreport.com/p/maha-madness-bob-kennedys-cruel-new-0d3
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MILITARY OCCUPATION
It has happened in Los Angeles. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen in San Francisco. But, in Trump 2.0, you never know: “A Blueprint for Military Takeovers” How the president could normalize military presence in American cities, by Hanna Rosin, at:
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/08/a-blueprint-for-military-takeovers/684026/
Can Trump just send the military anywhere he wants? No, maybe not by law:
“A scalpel and an axe: I read the Posse Comitatus Act decision against Trump so you don’t have to” at:
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/a-scalpel-and-an-axe-i-read-the-posse
We’re Succeeding. Even if we get discouraged, still we are succeeding.
“Trump forced to back down after losing major messaging war”:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-big-beautiful-bill-2673924510/
Here’s another story you haven’t heard about: Trump wanted to make an executive order declaring environmental groups as “terrorists,” removing the option for tax deductible contribution. He never issued the order because of pushback behind the scenes. (From background briefing to me from Climate Action Now)
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PROPOSITION 50 CAMPAIGN
Indivisible San Mateo is working with others in California to promote Proposition 50. The deadline date to vote is Nov. 4, 2025.
We in Indivisible San Mateo are collaborating with other groups here and around the state on this campaign. Progress is evident now that San Mateo County Supervisors have approved support for Prop 50:
“San Mateo County Supes Approve Resolution In Support Of Proposition 50”
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/san-mateo-co-supes-approve-resolution-in-21040223.php (Bay City News Service, Sept. 9, 2025)
David Canepa, President of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said:
"I want to live in a true democracy, not a Trump democracy. Trump's agenda is extraordinarily harmful. Jackie Speier, former member of the US Congress and now a member of the Board of Supervisors, agreed to vote yes in support of Prop 50, describing this as “disaster mitigation” for “preventing tyranny.” The entire Board voted 4 on yes, supporting endorsement of Prop 50, with one Board member abstaining.
Indivisible San Mateo founder Mary Beavins was present for the deliberations and for the final vote.
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FIGHTING TO WIN
People sometimes advise that, in a struggle people should fight fairly, even in politics. But others say that this advice is like being told to bring a knife to a gunfight. Doing that means it’s guaranteed that we lose. Many, including even those who don’t like MAGA, are worried that California should maintain its national model for fair districting. But maybe now is not the time to insist on old ideas about fair redistricting. The Republicans in Texas have changed the game.
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THE KILLING OF CHARLIE KIRK
Right-wing leader Charlie Kirk was killed this week in Utah. Within two days law enforcement arrested the apparent killer, who turns out to come from from a gun-promoting Republican family. At first, without any evidence, Trump and MAGA tried to claim that the left-wing killed Kirk. But the facts proved different. As the Governor of Utah was reluctantly forced to say “He is one of us.” Here is what is happening, as in legacy (mainstream) media reports:
“After Charlie Kirk's killing, MAGA world mourns, but some say 'we're at war' “
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/after-charlie-kirks-killing-maga-world-mourns-war/story
“Republicans blame ‘radical left’ for Kirk shooting, Democrats reject that claim”
The political reaction to the Charlie Kirk event is severe-- not necessarily on the part of people on the street or voters. The reaction is from right-wing political leaders who want to use this as a means of increasing violence against "The Left." We in Indivisible will get tagged with this with this false narrative:
It doesn't make any difference that we are engaged in non-violent protest. It doesn't make any difference that Kirk's killer came from a gun-promoting Republican family. That the facts don't support the story ("Crush the Left!") makes no difference at all. What the MAGA leaders are saying amounts to nothing but lies. The Republican Governor of Utah said he was hoping that the shooter would turn out to be from the suspects the Governor and Trump were hoping for. It turned out otherwise, but no one--- not a single public voice-- has said "I'm sorry. We were mistaken."
The right-wing wants to make a racist ideologue into a martyr. But ICE acts to kill a man avoiding a traffic stop and right-wingers just remain silent:
“US immigration officers kill man trying to flee vehicle stop near Chicago” at:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/ice-agent-shooting-chicago
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ICE: TRUMP’S SECRET POLICE
Immigrants are the enemy, right? Wrong, dangerously wrong:
“If you want to control a people, create an imaginary enemy, that appears more dangerous than you, then present yourself as their savior.” (Noam Chomsky)
“AI is unmasking ICE officers. Can Washington do anything about it”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/29/ai-unmasking-ice-officers-00519478
Trump wanted flags at half staff when a racist and right-wing ideologue (Charlie Kirk) was shot by a young man from a gun-promoting Republican family. First, Trump and MAGA tried to claim that the left-wing killed Kirk. But the facts proved different. As the Governor of Utah was forced to say “He is one of us.”
The right wing tries to make a racist into their martyr, but ICE acts to kill a man avoiding a traffic stop and right-wingers remain silent:
“US immigration officers kill man trying to flee vehicle stop near Chicago” at:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/ice-agent-shooting-chicago
But there are tools for defense against ICE. One app, ICEBlock, isn’t vulnerable to critique because it’s entirely legal. This app can be used to alert people within a 5 mile radius when ICE agents are nearby: https://www.iceblock.app/
For more on ICEBlock see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICEBlock
Preparing for ICE? Yes, right here on the West Coast: “In Southern California, Small Groups of Activists Quietly Undermine ICE Operations” at:
We need to prepare in the Bay Area, too. In recent weeks we had an ICE kidnapping in Palo Alto. The woman captured was taken to Stanford Hospital and, when discharged, was immediately moved by ICE to a detention facility in the Central Valley. Volunteers from the resistance are watching the situation since she is now threatened with being deported.
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ARE YOU WORRIED YET?
This Is What Autocracy Looks Like. “The CDC. The Fed. The FBI. The National Guard. Do you get it now? Trump is waging war against the American government. When he’s done, he’ll use his government to wage war against Americans.”
(from The Triad)
One way to think of all this is that it’s a coup d’etat in slow motion. One by one major institutions try to be safe by giving a tyrant what he demands. But do we really escape from a bully by giving in to him:
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FINDING OUR VOICE AGAIN
The question to ask: “Can America Find Its Voice Again? Trump has reshaped the presidency into a personal empire where law firms, media, and even restaurant chains bow to him. The question now: Will Americans fight back?” (MeidasTouch Network)
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DON’T BE AFRAID
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
“Do not surrender in advance.” (Timothy Snyder)
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
Nazis in America. 'Abhorrent': Retired general says Trump’s 'specialized units' look like 'Germany in the 1930s'
https://www.alternet.org/general-trump-national-guard/
Swing Left. This group has already made a difference in races around the country:
A Great Speech by William Barbar: “Fight Oligarchy”
https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/what-this-moment-demands
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WHEN PROPHECY FAILS
This image is from Paul Krugman’s substack “When MAGA Prophecy Fails.” Nobel-Prize winning economist Krugman explains why Trump is completely in denial over labor statistics—and pretty much everything else. This title attracted my interest because it’s the name of a book by cognitive psychologist Leon Festinger, explaining why cult members will never accept reality. Yes, MAGA is a cult. We need other methods to overcome the cult, not attempting to win an argument. And we will prevail. Thank you, Prof. Krugman.
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NEVER LOSE HOPE
At the Labor Day march in Central Park, I stayed until the end. A woman had been listening to a conversation that I was part of and she finally chimed in. She spoke about discouragement she was feeling—having tried so hard to make the world better. What answer could we give her? she asked.
I didn’t know what to say. But I recently came across this message from Senator Jon Osoff (D-Georgia), who at 38 is the youngest member of the US Senate:
"Allow yourselves to feel hope. Allow yourselves to believe in victory. The only way that we don't win these elections is if we lose faith in ourselves and our ability to shape the country's future as citizens. We still have that power as bleak as it seems. And we still have the power to build a country that we believe in and to present an agenda that can unite the country again. But if we lose faith, that's what worries me. So keep the faith… keep fighting."
(From Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles)
See also Rebecca Solnit, Hope In the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities. And remember the statement by ecologist David Orr: “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.”
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