September 30, 2025 Newsletter
News from INDIVISIBLE SAN MATEO
Sept. 30, 2025
Harry (Rick) Moody, Newsletter Editor
Mary Beavins, Founder of Indivisible San Mateo
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“Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.”
-Leonard Cohen
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THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES
What are we fighting against? What are we fighting for?
We want to preserve democracy and the rule of law. But for many Americans these words are just abstractions. We
need to make people think otherwise.
The image above is from Thom Hartmann:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-comeback-is-nothing-but-132
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MOVING TOWARD CENSORSHIP?
We know about the firing of Stephen Colbert and (for a while) Jimmy Kimmel, too. But ABC-Disney finally caved in. ABC-Disney only relented because “the blowback against Disney has been hurricane level” (Robert Reich). Obviously not just “thoughtful conversations,” as Disney claimed. Are these episodes part of the threat of censorship in America? Can we make autocrats back off by protesting? Just asking (Don’t report me to the authorities!)
For how we, including National Indivisible, achieved this success see:
https://indivisible.org/government-censorship
See also “Flipping the script on Trump” by Robert Hubbell (“Today’s Edition”)
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
“Open-Air Extortion Markets” from Jonathan V. Last
“The Hard Way. Is it more dangerous for the regime to make threats publicly or privately? What would have happened if Brendan Carr had threatened ABC-Disney in private instead of on a podcast? Or, to put it another way, are we lucky that the Trump administration carried out unconstitutional extortion in public?
This is an interesting question because it elucidates how power works, how much power Donald Trump currently possesses, and how he may wield it next.”
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/open-air-extortion-markets-brendan-carr-trump-fcc-kimmel
“It was not a private company exercising its right to suspend an employee; it was the government applying its power to suppress speech, and the private company rolling over. All Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr had to do was go on a right-wing podcast and growl that it’d be a shame if something happened to the license of stations airing Kimmel.” (Mother Jones)
Even Mickey Mouse is bowing down!
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ARE WE STILL LIVING IN A DEMOCRACY?
When I lived in Boulder, Colorado I went to Denver to meet Representative. Jason Crow (D-CO) in his home. He was impressive then and impressive today.
Rep. Crow had this exchange with Trump lackey Stephen Miller, now published on X: “Hunting down and prosecuting service members for their individual political beliefs is dangerous and un-American. We must condemn political violence AND allow peaceful speech that doesn’t impact the chain of command.” Congressman Crow wasn’t alone: even Senators Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined to condemn Trump. As Cruz put it: “It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.” Of course, Democrats never did anything like this nor is there reason to fear that they would.
Illinois Gov J.B. Pritzker: “A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.”
“ ‘Not allowed’: Trump makes ridiculous new claims about media critics and the free press” at:
“Trump: Saying Mean Things About Me Is “Not Allowed”
The last Black opinion editor for the Washington Post has been fired:
“Columnist Karen Attiah Fired at The Washington Post”
Apparently people can even answer this question: “How do you know when you’re really no longer living in a democracy?” (from Hartmann Report) at:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-day-america-stepped-over-the-512
See Jimmy Kimmel. For laughs—and serious reflection on free speech—watch “Jimmy Kimmel is Back!” at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1tjh_ZO_tY
Are we still living in a democracy? Yes, as long as bottom-up action is possible without unreasonable fear: think Indivisible. Yes, as long as those in resistance can publish the truth; for example, more people now watch the MeidasTouch Network than watch Fox news. I am a paying subscribe and read it every day, but you can subscribe for free: https://www.meidasplus.com/
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IS TRUMP GOING TOO FAR?
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PROP 50: CANVASSING STORIES
For Proposition 50 this past weekend I did my first canvassing, and knocked on doors to encourage residents to vote to defend California against the vote-rigging started by Texas. My partner and I visited at least 40 homes. Not everyone was home, but those there were supportive: curious to learn more, encouraging when they realized what is at stake in the Nov. 4 election.
Some we visited didn’t speak English well. In one case, I tried my Pidgeon Spanish, not sure how effective I was. We thanked the woman and walked down the hall, but then we were surprised to see the one we’d left come out of her apartment and to talk to a Spanish-speaking resident we were about to see. The first woman had become a passionate supporter of Proposition 50 and convinced her neighbor, in Spanish, to support Prop 50, too.
We came to an apartment where the name looked Russian and a man answered the door looking half-way through a shower. He spoke Russian so I spontaneously sang a verse I’d learned with the Yale Russian Chorus. He burst into laughter. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say more in Russian, but I said my wife is an immigrant from Denmark, so he burst into enthusiasm again, about what a great country Denmark is and about protecting immigrants. He was clearly on our side.
I remember when I took training for canvassing and heard about a new canvassing guy who knocked on a door and was greeted by a man who said “We don’t vote in this household.” After a long pause, the canvasser gingerly asked why. The resident said, “I don’t vote. I’m a felon” Then they told him that in California, felons are legally able to vote, and so he quickly invited the canvasser to help fill out registration to vote for Proposition 50, and then wanted others to vote for it, too. Afterward, the felon-who-became a voter himself became a canvasser himself.
I could add more stories, of people who came out of their apartment wanting to talk to us about what they could do next. These are just a few stories about canvassing, which show how person-to-person contact can make a big, big democracy. The future of democracy in America may depend upon it.
The national story here appears in the article on the campaign by Mamdani, now the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York. It wasn’t a single factor, but canvassing was a big, big part of the success:
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/zohran-mamdani-dsa-field-operations/
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TRUMP TALK
Here something from a college classmate of mine:
“Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg noted that 3 new polls out show Trump’s approval rating dropping and commented that voters don’t like “[t]his dictator sh*t.” AP-NORC observed that Republicans are growing pessimistic about the direction of the country. While the share of all American adults who say the country is off track has increased 13 percentage points since June, from 62% to 75%, the biggest change has been among Republicans. In June, 29% of Republicans were concerned about the direction of the country; now that number is 51%.” True, poll numbers are different for many reasons, and Trump has seen s light uptick recently. But we’re going in the right direction. down, down, down.
Trump’s Numbers: Down, Down, Down. “New poll: Percent saying America on the "wrong track" hits new high” at:
https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-voters-to-blame-republicans-for-shutdown
From Paul Krugman: “Trump has a significant problem that neither Putin nor Orban faced. When Putin and Orban were consolidating their autocracics, they were genuinely popular. They were perceived by the public as effective and competent leaders. Just nine months into his presidency, Trump, by contrast, is deeply unpopular. He is increasingly seen as chaotic and inept.” I read Krugman every day and encourage others to do that, too:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/is-the-jimmy-kimmel-saga-a-sign-that
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WHAT IS ICE, ANYWAY?
Right now ICE is focused on immigrants, but it may not stay that way.
Why we need to see ICE for what it is and what it may become:
“A Lawless Nation” Friends don’t let friends visit America, by Paul Krugman at:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-lawless-nation
New Local Story: “Cities, counties launch ICE fund.”
“Resources will go toward families affected by immigration operations
Dozens of local leaders from across the Bay Area came together Friday in San Francisco to announce the creation of a regional fund dedicated to helping families impacted by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Mayors and officials from various cities throughout the region, including Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, and San Jose Mayor Mahan, spoke at an event to launch the ‘Stand Together Bay Area Fund.’ “
(The Daily Journal, Sept. 20-21, 2025)
ICE Killings in Dallas. Facts are still unclear, but officials claim that the shooter wanted to kill ICE workers. Along with the Charlie Kirk assassination, it is well to remember that Indivisible, as an organization, is committed to nonviolent protest
Public Scrutiny Has an Impact: “ICE officer who shoved a mother to the floor at an immigration courthouse is ‘relieved of his current duties”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/federal-agent-pushes-woman-floor-093549925.html
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A LITTLE LAUGHTER
“Trump Freaks Out After Nobel Peace Prize Form Asks If Applicant Ever Used Troops Against Own Citizens” (The Borowitz Report: Not the News)
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump “totally freaked out” on Tuesday when he discovered that the Nobel Peace Prize form includes a question as to whether the applicant has ever used his nation’s military against his own citizens.
Blasting the Nobel committee for including the question, Trump reportedly hurled a bottle of ketchup against a wall of the Oval Office, narrowly missing Stephen Miller’s head.
Trump ultimately checked the “YES” box in answer to the question, but argued that the Nobel application was treating him “very unfairly.”
“I’ve grabbed hundreds of people off the street and they’ve never been seen or heard from again,” he said. “If that’s not creating peace, then I don’t know what peace is.”
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TAKING LAUGHTER SERIOUSLY
John Stewart on The Daily Show:
“A humble, obedient Jon Stewart heaps praise upon America's Glorious Leader, Donald J. Trump, and provides an FCC-approved refresher on the rules of free speech in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel's suspension.”
See the show at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GXNJ3V9lzg
Guess what? Trump doesn’t like jokes at his expense:
From Robert Reich: “Trump's War on Late-Night Comedy” It could be his undoing: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-humorless-president
See also: “There's an American Holocaust coming.” Fascism is eliminationism. "Make America great again" means "Eliminate all Democrats."
https://www.fascism.link/p/theres-an-american-holocaust-coming?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The Kimmel affair is NOT just today’s news story See: “When identity politics Trumps the Constitution” at: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/how-trump-killed-free-speech
Attacks by the Trump regime will NOT be limited to mainstream news groups.
Others are in the line of attack now, such as Meidas Neetwork: https://substack.com/home/post/p-173989022?source=queue
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KEEPING UP WITH THE NEWS
“Something is happening and you don't know what it is.
Do you, Mr. Jones?”
-Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man” (1965)
In our Indivisible work, it’s hard to keep up everything that’s happening. Maybe that is Trump’s intent: to overwhelm the public with things so they won’t know what’s really happening.
Here’s a question we should discuss: How do we eliminate things in order to see what’s going on that is important?
I think a lot about the fact that many of us—including your editor—are just getting overwhelmed with too many emails, too many messages, too much news and communications of all kinds. I think of the story of when they introduced the telegraph from Maine to Texas, they told Thoreau and asked what he thought about it. He replied “What has Maine got to say to Texas?”
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“Tonight’s top story: No news is good news.”
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