JUNETEENTH: A FEDERAL HOLIDAY FOR ALL AMERICANS
Although Juneteenth became America’s newest federal holiday in 2021, many non-Black Americans are unaware of it and its celebration of the end of Black enslavement and hopes for a better future. To commemorate this new holiday Congress must push for that “better future” which, due to insidious racism, still eludes Black people in the United States.
TRUMP ATTACKED ELECTION OFFICIALS AFTER REALIZING HE LOST
During its fourth public hearing the January 6 Committee presented gripping testimony of the aggressive effort launched by Trump and his co-conspirators within weeks of the 2020 election to convince state election officials of their “mistaken” vote counting.
TODAY’S GOP PRESENTS A DANGER TO DEMOCRACY
GOP has become an “authoritarian cult movement.” It poses a serious danger to democracy. We should expect that Trump and his allies will attempt to invalidate free elections this November and in 2024 just as they on January 6 of 2020. We must defend democracy in the United States.
FRIDAY RECAP: JUNE 17, 2022
This week Indivisible Oregon focused on three ongoing issues:
• The need for rational gun control
• Our duty to combat insurrectionists at home and to continue helping Ukraine protect its fledgling democracy
• The Supreme Court’s continued assault on our rights and institutions.
Overshadowing everything, however, was the unfolding saga of how Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican co-conspirators almost succeeded in subverting the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election—a conspiracy that began before November and continues until today.
As these hearings clearly demonstrate, elections have consequences—which makes the upcoming midterms very important. Electing the right people will affect the peaceful transfer of power, whether Congress passes meaningful gun reform or is able to blunt the efforts of the Supreme Court’s ultraconservative supermajority to take us back to the 1950s.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
After decades of legislative maneuvering, MAGA Republicans now have firm control over SCOTUS and much of the lower federal judiciary. Their appointees, largely nominated by minority Presidents and confirmed by minority-controlled Senates, are continuing their assault on our rights and institutions. By the end of June, women will likely lose their reproductive freedom, guns on the streets will become the norm, the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will be restricted, religious groups will get greater access to taxpayer dollars and greater protection from government regulations. Elections have consequences.
DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK AT HOME AND ABROAD)
Democracy is under siege in both the United States and Ukraine. MAGA Republicans have tried to minimize the January 6th insurrection by redefining it as legitimate peaceful protest by Trump’s enthusiastic supporters. Trump’s ally in Moscow, Vladimir Putin, is engaging in the same chicanery, calling its invasion of Ukraine an effort to “liberate” Ukrainians from “neo-Nazi” rule. Both these “big lies” have had devastating consequences for the lives of millions. They must not go unchallenged.
We need comprehensive gun control
The response in Congress to recent mass shootings has been as expected - Dems offering solutions and Republicans are pandering to the NRA. Since Senate Republicans control the legislative kill switch, what’s like to emerge is a bill addressing mental health and fortifying schools. But a majority in this democracy want more: rational gun control.
FRIDAY RECAP: JUNE 10, 2022
If you do nothing else over the next several days, you must find a way to watch the first public hearing of the January 6 Committee which was held Thursday evening. For two riveting hours, the Committee presented an overview of the substance of this and future hearings and provided video, recorded and live testimony. Even though you may have watched the events unfold last January and followed news reports about the Committee’s activities, the hearing refocused us on the horrendous attack on our Capitol and those whose jobs it was it defend it and the Congresspeople inside who were trying to do their jobs. It also presented new compelling evidence of the coordination between President Trump and his supporters.
Other than urging our representatives to publicize the January 6 Committee hearings, this week Indivisible Oregon again focused on the continuing carnage being caused by guns that should be outlawed in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and the ongoing war in Ukraine—all of which require additional calls to our representatives.
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON TRUMP’S ATTEMPTED COUP START TODAY AT 5PM
On January 6, 2021, a mob, brought to Washington by MAGA Republicans, stormed the Capitol at Trump’s behest, and attempted to stop the certification of Biden’s election. Backed up by over 140,000 documents and 1,000 witnesses, the Committee will demonstrate how Trump and MAGA Republicans engaged in a systematic, orchestrated, criminal conspiracy to subvert our democracy that began well before election night and continues until today. Understanding its breadth and depth and their subsequent misinformation campaign will help make Americans intelligent voters in 2022 and beyond.
Appeasement in Ukraine is not an Option
For some weeks now leaders in several Western capitals have floated the idea of a cease-fire as a first step toward ending the war in Ukraine, even as Putin has intensified the scale of the war and rejected serious negotiations unless Ukraine agrees to cede the Donbas region to Russia. President Zelenskyy has unequivocally rejected this “peace for land” formulation. In the face of Russia’s intransigence, NATO nations must double-down on their military and economic support for Ukraine
ISSUES BEHIND THE GUN ARGUMENTS
Even before Buffalo and Uvalde, 240 mass shootings were recorded in America so far this year. But those two broke our hearts. So gun reform is back on the agenda, although it’s facing a united and nearly undefeatable Republican opposition. The next few weeks will see news about the NRA’s grip on our democracy. And it may, finally, cast a light on the teen mental health crisis.
FRIDAY RECAP: June 3, 2022
Guns. And children. Indivisible Oregon was consumed with the slaughter of innocents. Everyday we drilled deeper into the politics and it doesn’t look good for reasonable gun controls even though the public, including gun owners and Republicans support it. We then explored the weapon Republicans use to block legislation. And finally we reported that, like the shredding of abortion rights, America has been kidnapped by an unstoppable minority who, after decades, are holding nearly all the levers of power.
THE THREAT TO RATIONAL GUN CONTROL
The debate over whether more guns increase safety has been lost. The number of guns in the US has soared to 400 million, tracked by a parallel rise in gun deaths. While Democrats are proposing solutions, MAGA Republicans have been building a wide and potentially violent base by using lies designed to keep the culture wars aflame.
CAN THE UNDEMOCRATIC, UNREPRESENTATIVE SENATE BE SAVED?
In 2020 Americans gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House. Since then, the House has passed numerous popular bills that would make us and our economy healthier and our democracy stronger. Almost all have died in the 50-50 Senate, which, despite the Democrats’ slim majority, is controlled by MAGA Republican , who’ve weaponized the filibuster to kill anything Democrats and the majority of Americans want. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers in November to elect more Democratic Senators and Representatives, the Senate’s anti-democratic nature will continue to make governing impossible.
It’s Not A Doorway Problem. It’s a 400 Million Gun Problem.
Why have we allowed the GOP to hijack our nation? Most Americans favor universal background checks. There are literally dozens of measures we could take tomorrow to decrease gun violence significantly. It’s not rocket science. 50 Senators will not budge—will not even vote—on reform. Call them out. Their hands are bloody.