Actions

Weekly Actions

Members of Congress

  • Sen. Patty Murray
    (202) 224-2621 | Email

  • Sen. Maria Cantwell
    (202) 224-3441 | Email

  • Rep. Suzan DelBene (1st)
    (202) 225-6311 | Email

  • Rep. Kim Schrier (8th)
    (202) 225-7761 | Email

  • Rep. Adam Smith (9th)
    (202) 225-8901 | Email
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    For the Week of Jan 20, 2025

    šŸ”· Sharing from King County Democrats – ā€˜We hope that you have a meaningful Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, Monday, January 20th. We honor the life and legacy of the civil rights leader as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary since renaming our county after him in 2005.

    As a community we are inspired by his vision and strive to commit ourselves to bringing equality and justice for all. On this occasion, the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service, we urge everyone to make a commitment with action to breathe, live, and act with collective love and hope. Let us serve, support, and lift one another and our diverse communities.ā€™

    šŸ”· As a result of your generosity at our Group Meeting on Jan. 11, we are thrilled to say that we delivered two carloads of donated items and over $800 in gift cards to The Sophia Way shelter in Bellevue last week. We are so appreciative of our membersā€™ generosity!

    šŸ”· Thanks to the generous donations of our members, the Steering Committee has made a decision to donate $1,000 to the Safe Haven project of Eastside For All, which we talked about extensively at our meeting. It will go towards updating and translation costs for their resource guide for families at risk of detention and deportation. Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this possible.

    Here are your 2 actions and a Bright Spot.

    āœŠ Action 1 ā€“ Block Unqualified Cabinet Extremists

    From Olympia Indivisible

    Indivisible National is urging us to ask our Senators to block five of Trumpā€™s most dangerous cabinet nominees – ASAP.

    While Trump has nominated 54 individuals, weā€™re focusing on five nominees whose appointments would have catastrophic consequences. These arenā€™t just bad picks ā€“ theyā€™re calculated moves to advance a MAGA agenda of extremism, disinformation, and dismantling democracy:

    • Kash Patel, FBI Director — A Trump loyalist with a history of undermining justice. Patelā€™s confirmation would politicize the FBI and weaponize it against political opponents.
    • Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense — A right-wing propagandist with no qualifications. His confirmation would endanger national security and push divisive ideological agendas.
    • Russell Vought, OMB Director — The architect of Project 2025, designed to dismantle federal programs and concentrate power. His confirmation would supercharge MAGA authoritarianism.
    • RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services — A notorious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist whose nomination would threaten public health and safety.
    • Tulsi Gabbard, Office of the Director of National Intelligence — a Putin-apologist and Democrat-turned-Republican. Gabbard has no relevant experience, has amplified Russian propaganda, and shared content from state-run outlets like RT.

    If confirmed, these nominees will shape everything from public health to national security. Stopping them is critical. The confirmation hearings (the first step in the process) have already begun. Please take this action today to send a message to our Senators about the importance of blocking these five candidates from taking office.

    Suggested text for subject line if using email – Stop these five dangerous cabinet nominees!

    ā˜Ž Sample Script: (Please feel free to personalize your message)

    Hello, my name is [NAME] and Iā€™m a constituent. I live in [CITY], Washington, [ZIP]. I urge you to oppose five of Trumpā€™s most dangerous cabinet nominees. They are:

    1. Kash Patel for FBI Director
    2. Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense
    3. Russell Vought for OMB Director
    4. RFK Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services
    5. Tulsi Gabbard for Office of the Director of National Intelligence

    Thank you!

    [NAME]

    āœŠ Action 2 ā€“ Get to know Indivisible Eastside and consider how to get involved

    At the Jan 11 meeting we were hoping to devote more time to general discussion and answer questions that members may have had, especially as we had so many new attendees. (Welcome to those who came to the meeting and to new subscribers of this newsletter!) As we ran out of time to do that we want to take a little time here to fill that gap.

    By way of a quick introduction (or re-introduction), we formed in January of 2017 in response to the 2016 election. The National organization had just started a month or so earlier and after we connected with their network the group grew rapidly. Eight years later, we are still here, ready to carry on the fight. Itā€™s not where we were all hoping to be for this inauguration but at least this time we have years of experience, great networks, contacts and resources, and a determination to do what we can to help those who will be adversely affected by the new administration.

    As we say on our website, we are a SHARED RESOURCE on current governmental activities, critical legislative issues, marches, rallies, and group and individual actions and events. You can read more there about our Mission and how we implement it and our Principles. Please give it a read.

    Indivisible Eastside is run by a Steering Committee of eight people. One of our main strategies is to produce well-researched actionable items for members to take, and communicate them by means of the weekly newsletter. This is produced by a team of three writers who share the work and is edited and processed by three other stalwart volunteers. As the newsletter comes out once a week there will be actions that donā€™t make it in there because of timing and capacity. There are many other resources such as our Indivisible National , 5 Calls, and our new favorite, the Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter, that you can use to take action more often.

    One discussion that we wanted to have was around how members can participate in the group in meaningful ways and grow our scope of activities. Everyone on the Steering Committee has other projects, jobs, and commitments, and we donā€™t have the bandwidth to start new projects but will gladly facilitate efforts by members to engage in meaningful ways. We are still processing the index cards that you filled out at the meeting. Your input is appreciated and we will be following up soon. We are looking for ways for you to help our community become even more supportive and effective, and one way we can do that is by developing service projects. We anticipate that, with your help, there will be other ways that we can help members to solidify their interests into actions but we are going to start with a project that echoes several that we know of around the state.

    ā¤ļø Volunteers Needed! Weā€™d like to host a social gathering to create beautiful Valentines to deliver to people in care facilities (following the example of our friends in Spokane Valley). This is a low key way to come together, connect with others, and do something small, but meaningful for those who may not receive mail very often. Weā€™ve reserved space in Kirkland Friday Jan. 31st (10:30-12:30) and need a few folks to help organize, as well as folks to show up at 10:30 to participate! We need volunteers to take on tasks such as gathering or purchasing supplies (IE will fund this), finding a care facility with residents who would enjoy a Valentine, organizing refreshments and music, delivering the cards, set up and clean up. This is a great chance to get involved and would help us out so much. Email hello@indivisibleeastside.com to volunteer to help organize! Fill out the Valentines Signup to attend (access code ā€˜valentineā€™).

    We have also set up two recurring opportunities for members to talk to Steering, have your questions answered, and share ideas. We hope that new members in particular will find these helpful.

    • We meet weekly on Thursday evenings on Zoom at 7 pm. Once a month we are going to make the meeting open to members. Share what youā€™re up to, hear what weā€™re up to. The first open meeting will be on Thurs, Feb 20. Please register to attend.
    • We are going to open our next Group Meeting (Feb 16, Zoom) half an hour early so that anyone who wants to chat or share can join at 2:30 before the regular meeting starts at 3:00. Register once for the year to attend. We anticipate repeating this for all Zoom Group Meetings, which are bi-monthly.

    We hope that you will be part of an ongoing conversation about how we can be effective as a group as our country faces a very difficult time. Please let us know your thoughts and share your ideas with us. You can contact us at hello@indivisibleeastside.com.

    ā›… Bright Spot

    On Jan 16 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld rulings requiring private prison operator GEO Group to pay more than $23 million to the state of Washington and hundreds of immigrant detainees who were paid $1 a day to participate in a work program. This is the group that runs the Northwest ICE Detention Center in Tacoma that has been at the center of protests for several years for its widespread mistreatment of detainees.

    Calendar of Events

    Save the Date

    Recorded events to check out:

    ā€¦ and More:

    More Resources for Your Activism:

    • Indivisible.org has specific actions you can take by zip code or topic area search. Sign up to receive emails from them HERE and donate HERE.
    • 5calls.org 5 Calls list calls to make to your congresspeople, organized by topic, including script and phone numbers, and a way to log/track your 5 Calls actions if you choose.
    • Chop Wood, Carry Water is a daily political activism newsletter that comes out 6 days a week. Free or paid subscriptions HERE.
    • Suzi and Eric LeVine are local activists. Their newsletter gives actions and insight that can inspire and keep you motivated. Subscribe to their newsletter HERE.

    Resources:

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