Pressure Reps to Act!
Attend Protests!
Attend Town Halls
Promote Constructive Conversation
Stay Informed & Avoid Disinformation
Support Pro-Democracy Organizations and Litigation
ACTION HUB – Click on photo to learn more!
Author: BruceR
Next General Meeting!
Wed. Jan 14, 2026 from 7-8:30pm
George Lakoff’s Frame Lab Messaging Guide
“Trump is a loser, a fraud, and a liar.”
Frame Lab advises calling Trump a loser, a fraud, or a betrayer of trust. A dictator creates an image of power, whereas a loser is a label no strict father/wannabe dictator will admit.
- Trump is a serially bankrupt businessman.
- Trump lost the popular vote for president twice.
- Trump lost 61 different court challenges in 2020.
- Trump lost his absolute immunity claim.
- Trump lost in court to E. Jean Carroll – twice!
- Trump lost his civil NY fraud case, fined $450M
Latest Articles
Keep Your Guard Up
Know Your Rights
By ACLU
Last month, the Bay Area braced for a surge of National Guard soldiers and federal immigration agents. Although Trump ultimately called off the troops, in the short time Border Patrol officers were here, they fired flash-bang grenades at peaceful community members and shot a pastor in the face with a pepper ball. The unprovoked violence was a chilling glimpse of how future immigration raids could unfold here. That’s why we can’t become complacent.
Be prepared and know your rights in case federal agents show up anywhere in our region:
- Know Your Rights: Encountering Law Enforcement and Military Troops
- Know Your Rights: Taking Video or Photos of Law Enforcement
- Know Your Rights: Free Speech, Protests & Demonstrations
- Know Your Rights: If ICE Confronts You
This is from the ACLU’s Know Your Rights page.
This Is the Way You Beat Trump — and Trumpism
Community Conversation – October 23, 2025
With Anna Eshoo and Genavieve Koenigshofer
Listen to retired US Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Genavieve Koenigshofer, Executive Director of GenUP, speak at the amazing event organized by IPV leader, JoAnn Loulan, with video by Bruce Rafnel.
How to find things on this site
Table of Contents
There are many ways to find information on this site.
Chatbot
The chatbot might be the fastest way to find the information you are interested in.
The chatbot icon is in the bottom-right corner.
Click on it to open a chat window. Then type your question or describe what you are looking for.
Menus
The menu is in the left column, or if the window is narrow (on a mobile), look for the menu icon in the upper right.
The menus will take you to special pages or select important posts.
Events – selects the active “event” posts. Most events will expire a few days after the event’s date. (event tag)
Featured Posts – selects important featured posts. (feature tag)
Current News – this will select current event news posts. News posts could have an expiration date set. The date will likely depend on the relevant interest period: weeks, months, or the end of an election period. (news tag)
Category or Tag
Clicking on a category or tag name will list all the posts with that category or tag name.
The “active” categories and tags are in the left column. Or, if the window is narrow or on a mobile device, the categories and tags will appear after the menu items.
The post’s categories and tags are listed at the bottom of the post, and they can be clicked on to list related posts..
Search menu
Searches can include keywords, categories, tags, and date ranges.
Archive
If you know the year and month of a post, you can filter to show only that month.
This is in the left column, after the list of categories and tags.
Latest Posts
This is in the left column.
The last 100 post titles will be listed. It could be quicker to scroll this list than scrolling through all the posts.
Site Organization
Most of the items on this site are organized as posts rather than pages. The advantages of this style over only pages:
- Events, books, videos, etc., are single posts so that they can be found in multiple ways.
- Categories and tags can be used to quickly bring up related posts.
- Categories and tags also help with training the AI Chat Bot
- Standard keyword searching can also be used.
- Custom RSS feeds can be created with the tags.
The posts are in date order. The dates are the date of an article, book, or video that they reference. Articles that are unique to this site will be the “post’s date.”
No Kings 2 – Parade & Fair
Stanford University journalism students made this video of the Parade up Embarcadero to the Democracy Fair at Rinconada Park. The video includes IPV organizer JoAnn Loulan speaking about how important it is to VOTE YES ON PROP 50!
No Kings 2 – Sam Liccardo
by Bruce Rafnel
Location: Palo Alto, CA; 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Rinconada Cultural Park.
Organizers
- It’s Blue Turn – https://itsblueturn.com/
- Indivisible Palo Alto – https://indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/
- Indivisible Portola Valley – https://indivisiblepv.com/
- Indivisible Mid-Peninsula – https://indivisiblemp.org/
Event Program: https://tinyurl.com/u8wmfprf
No Kings 2 – Heham Sallam
by Bruce Rafnel
Location: Palo Alto, CA; 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Rinconada Cultural Park.
Organizers
- It’s Blue Turn – https://itsblueturn.com/
- Indivisible Palo Alto – https://indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/
- Indivisible Portola Valley – https://indivisiblepv.com/
- Indivisible Mid-Peninsula – https://indivisiblemp.org/
Event Program: https://tinyurl.com/u8wmfprf
No Kings 2 – Ladoris Cordell
by Bruce Rafnel
Location: Palo Alto, CA; 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Rinconada Cultural Park.
Organizers
- It’s Blue Turn – https://itsblueturn.com/
- Indivisible Palo Alto – https://indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/
- Indivisible Portola Valley – https://indivisiblepv.com/
- Indivisible Mid-Peninsula – https://indivisiblemp.org/
Event Program: https://tinyurl.com/u8wmfprf
No Kings 2 – Democracy Fair
by Bruce Rafnel
Location: Palo Alto, CA; 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Rinconada Cultural Park.
IPV videographer, Bruce Rafnel, prepared this 47-minute video showing many of the activities and speakers at the Democracy Fair at Rinconada Park. Bruce’s coverage includes the closing program featuring retired CA Supreme Court Justice La Doris Cordell, Hesham Sallem of Stanford, Congressman Sam Liccardo, and many Indivisible collaborators.
Organizers
- It’s Blue Turn – https://itsblueturn.com/
- Indivisible Palo Alto – https://indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/
- Indivisible Portola Valley – https://indivisiblepv.com/
- Indivisible Mid-Peninsula – https://indivisiblemp.org/
The Shadow President
How Russell Vought became Trump's Shadow President
by Andy Kroll
Publisher: ProPublica
From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.”
What Vought has done in the nine months since Trump took office goes much further than slashing foreign aid. Relying on an expansive theory of presidential power and a willingness to test the rule of law, he has frozen vast sums of federal spending, terminated tens of thousands of federal workers and, in a few cases, brought entire agencies to a standstill. In early October, after Senate Democrats refused to vote for a budget resolution without additional health care protections, effectively shutting down the government, Vought became the face of the White House’s response. On the second day of the closure, Trump shared an AI-generated video that depicted his budget director — who, by then, had threatened mass firings across the federal workforce and paused or canceled $26 billion in funding for infrastructure and clean-energy projects in blue states — as the Grim Reaper of Washington, D.C. “We work for the president of the United States,” a senior agency official who regularly deals with the OMB told me. But right now “it feels like we work for Russ Vought. He has centralized decision-making power to an extent that he is the commander in chief.”
Watch: “We Want the Bureaucrats to Be Traumatically Affected”
How To Not Lose Your Sh!t
by Katie Paris and LaFonda Cousin
Publisher: Red Wine and Blue
Let’s be honest: this year has been a bit of a dumpster fire. Here at Red Wine & Blue, we’ve been hearing women in our community say they’re not sure how to make a difference — at least, not without totally losing their shit.
So we decided to tackle that question head-on with a brand-new podcast. It’s simply called How To Not Lose Your Sh!t and it’s hosted by our very own Katie Paris and LaFonda Cousin.
Katie, our founder, has worked in political organizing for most of her career. LaFonda, our Chief People Officer, is a wellness expert and yoga teacher on a mission to reimagine self-care. Every week, they’ll talk to experts and everyday women who are getting involved, building community, and feeling better in the process.
You can listen to our first episode with special guest Heather Cox Richardson on October 1st, with new episodes every Wednesday after that. If you’re already subscribed to the Red Wine & Blue podcast in your podcast player, you’ll automatically see new episodes each week here in your feed.
There are a lot of political podcasts out there already, and a lot of mental health and self-care shows too. What we want to do is reject that binary and explore how getting involved can actually be a form of not only caring for your community, but also yourself. We can’t wait for you to join us on a journey through self-care, politics, community, and tackling this difficult moment… together.
Mobilize.org
Where are some current political events near you? Mobilize is a good place to start. https://www.mobilize.us/
You can “filter” for events near you. You can also filter for the “type” of events or meetings.
From Mobilize’s About page:
Power to the People
Mobilize is your go-to destination for people-powered movements. We provide nonprofits, labor unions, political campaigns, and grassroots organizers the tech needed to create a more just, inclusive, and democratic world.
IndyBay.org
This is a good independent source for news around the SF Bay area. It lists some upcoming events. Mostly, it has current news and past events.
Scroll to the bottom of any page to see the selections for defining the different interest areas: Regions, Topics, International, and More.
For example, the “Peninsula” region will show you events and articles for the Peninsula area. https://www.indybay.org/peninsula/
From “What is Indybay?”
Indybay is an open-publishing website for social justice news. That means you can directly Publish your own stories in your own words, unfiltered by the corporate media. You are encouraged to include your own photographs, video, audio, and/or PDFs in your posts. We do not require that you have any formal writing, multimedia, or reporting experience, only that you have a story to tell.
Indybay maintains a popular Calendar, too, so if you are organizing an upcoming event, feel free to Add Your Event to Indybay’s calendar.
Indybay news stories primarily focus on issues facing Northern California, specifically the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay areas, however we accept stories published from across the U.S. and all over the world.
Latest Articles
The ONE THING You Can Do to Fight Fascism RIGHT NOW
by Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin
Publisher: The Ripple Effect Institute
Recommended by: Bruce R.
If it feels like America is sliding deeper into darkness—with voter suppression, book bans, gag orders, and fear spreading daily—you’re not alone. The truth is, fascism thrives when good people hesitate, but democracy grows stronger when ordinary people take action. You don’t need the full roadmap to change the world; you just need to take the next best step. Even the smallest action—whether it’s organizing in your community, speaking out at a school board meeting, or showing up for your neighbors—can disrupt authoritarianism and build momentum for lasting change. In this video, I’ll share why action is the antidote to despair and how you can start making a difference today, no matter your resources or time. History shows us that small acts, multiplied by thousands, topple regimes and create movements. Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment or the “perfect” leader—your courage matters now.
A FREE GUIDE FOR PROGRESSIVE LEADERS READY TO CREATE LASTING IMPACT
How to Lead Change Without Burning Out
PoliticusUSA
Focusing on politics, policy, business and international relations, The Hill‘s coverage includes the U.S. Congress, the presidency and executive branch, and election campaigns.[5] The Hill describes its output as “nonpartisan reporting on the inner workings of Government and the nexus of politics and business”.[6]
The company’s primary outlet is TheHill.com. The Hill is additionally distributed in print for free around Washington, D.C., and distributed to all congressional offices. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group since 2021.
politicususa.com
Latest Articles
- Joe Biden spoke at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute where he urged America to get up, stand up, and fight back against Trump.
- Donald Trump hit a new low on Friday when he accepted a peace prize that was made up by the soccer organization FIFA in a ceremony that was embarrassing for the nation.
- Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tried to defend the Trump administration killing everybody on board a boat in the Caribbean, and it didn't go well.
- Trump showed why he is not the embodiment of the spirit of the season by claiming the 2020 election was rigged while lighting the White House Christmas tree.
- Ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said that Judiciary Committee Republicans are trying to hide Jack Smith in the shadows and deny him a public hearing.
- One of the lessons of the special House election in Tennessee, where Democrats overperformed by double digits, is that no amount of GOP spending or campaigning seems to be able to stop the wave.
- Republicans are warning that if they only win the Tennessee House special election by single digits when Trump carried the district by 22 points last year, they may come unhinged.
POLITICO
POLITICO is the global authority on the intersection of politics, policy, and power. It is the most robust news operation and information service in the world, specializing in politics and policy, which informs the most influential audience in the world with insight, edge, and authority. Founded in 2007, POLITICO has grown into a team of 700 professionals working across North America, with more than half of its staff dedicated to editorial roles. POLITICO Europe, its seven-year-old European edition, has grown to nearly 200 employees. In October 2021, POLITICO was acquired by and is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.
politico.com
Stop ICE Raids Alert Network
Nation-Wide Mobile Alert System
by Sherman Austin
The Stop ICE Raids Alert Network lets you send and receive mobile alerts about nearby ICE activity whenever and wherever it occurs.
No downloadable app required. StopICE works with technology already built into your phone. Send and receive mobile alerts via text message, or at stopice.net, from any mobile device with a tap of a button.
Continue reading Stop ICE Raids Alert NetworkInternational Center on Nonviolent Conflict
Publisher: ICNC
The website of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, has many links to resources, etc., including a comprehensive “resource library” of advice for activists and organizers, as well as material from scholars, the policy community, etc.
Website
Talking Points Memo
TALKING POINTS MEMO (TPM) is an independent news organization that publishes reporting and analysis about American politics, public policy and political culture.
We devote extensive resources to critical policy stories, like the decade-long GOP effort to repeal Obamacare, voter suppression, and the more recent push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
We keep close tabs on the political fringe — militias, white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and more — because we believe they are greater drivers of American politics than mainstream news coverage allows.
Latest Articles
Latest Blog
- Kate goes deeper on the new definition of “eve” the Court promulgated to help Republicans hold the House next year….
- SCOTUS rescues Texas gerrymander, says lower court erred by rejecting the map on “eve” of election.
- Rep. Elise Stefanik, last seen lighting her political career on fire in a run for New York governor, has declared…
- Kate and Josh talk the Tennessee special election, a new Dem running for Chuy Garcia’s gifted seat and the Nuzzi-Lizza-RFK…
- To all of you readers who submitted noxious nominations for the 17th annual Golden Duke awards, we thank you for…
Robert Reich on Substack
by Robert Reich
Robert Reich on Substack
Robert Reich’s is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration for which Time Magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written 18 books, including
Latest Posts
- And one of the first things to do when sanity and legality are restored
- Ten ways to make America more affordable
- His brain is turning into sh*t
- Which Trump official has caused the most damage in the last 10 months?
- Please help spread the word
- Why We’re So Polarized (II)
- Modesty aside
What’s the Plan? With guest: Erica Chenoweth
Noncooperation & Targeting Pillars of Support
This handout describes some of the Pillars of Support.
Each time a pillar institution yields to or supports the regime, the regime grows stronger. In contrast, noncooperation — refusing to do what is expected, disrupting the normal course of events, and withdrawing support from unjust or illegal policies — weakens the regime and creates cracks in its foundation of power.
PDF Handout
Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE goes inside the showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power.
President Donald Trump’s allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power, the legal pushback and the impact on the rule of law.
Continue reading Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINEOne Million Rising
by Indivisible
Publisher: No Kings
Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us—not just single days of mass action, but sustained organizing in our communities.
That’s why this summer, we’re launching One Million Rising—a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as the basics of community organizing and campaign design. This is how we build people power that can’t be ignored. You’re invited to join us—and lead.
You can visit the site to see the recorded videos and access the training materials.
https://www.nokings.org/rise
Starts With Us
Based on decades of research from Columbia University Professor and Starts With Us Expert-in-Residence Peter T. Coleman, Ph.D., the Finding The Way Out Challenge is designed to help shape new habits and norms for political tolerance and courageous compassion. Think of it as a personalized boot camp for building a healthier national culture and repairing broken relationships across differences.
Latest Articles
- These days, opening a social media app feels less like joining a conversation and more like stepping into a room full of masked figures. Some masks hide real humans. Others hide much worse. A 2025 large-scale study by social-cybersecurity researchers estimated that roughly 20% of social media chatter during major global events came from bots,… The post You’re Being Influenced by Bots More Than You Think appeared first on Builders.
- Texas is living through a mental health emergency—one that touches families, teachers, veterans, caregivers, and young people in every corner of the state. One in 5 adults in Texas experiences a mental health condition each year. And in 2023, 18.3% of Texas high school students said they made a plan about how they would attempt… The post Inside Texas’ Hidden Mental Health Crisis—Told by the People Living It appeared first on Builders.
- Whether we love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is here to stay. Concerns about AI’s environmental footprint, ethical risks, and impact on human creativity are valid. At the current pace of AI growth, data centers could, by 2030, consume as much water annually as ten million Americans and generate as much carbon pollution as… The post Will AI Divide Us or Bring Us Together? appeared first on Builders.
- Every morning at 8 a.m., I look out the window and see the same woman walking her dog with nothing in her ears. No podcast. No audiobook. No noise-cancelling armor against existence. Just her, the leash, and her Maltese Poodle. Everyone else on the sidewalk is marching through their 10,000-step quotas, AirPods securely planted in… The post How ‘Hustle Culture’ is Dividing Us—and How We Can Stop It appeared first on Builders.
- It’s the debate going nowhere fast. When we discuss healthcare policies, the conversation often boils down to one question: Is healthcare a right or a privilege? Those who see healthcare as a right argue that a basic level of protection is essential for a society. They argue that care protects both individuals and the broader… The post Is Healthcare a Right or a Privilege? How the Healthcare Debate Misses the Point appeared first on Builders.
Crossing Party Lines
Our story begins in 2016 with two groups starting independently of one another — on opposite coasts of the United States. Coincidentally, both founders chose the same name, “Crossing Party Lines.” Their shared vision led them to create a volunteer platform to unite Americans through warm and engaging conversations. Prompted by a time of unprecedented political polarization, these two visionaries, their energetic team of volunteers, and over 3,000 CPL members are uniting America one conversation at a time. Donations to Crossing Party Lines, Inc. are 501(c)3) tax-deductible.
Latest Articles
Braver Angels
Braver Angels is leading the nation’s largest cross-partisan, volunteer-led movement to bridge the political divide. Through community gatherings, real debates, and grassroots leaders working together, we’re offering America what it needs to overcome the bitterness of our partisan divide. Donations to Braver Angels are 501(c)3 tax deductible
Latest Articles
Sibling Cities USA
Sibling Cities USA facilitates cross-regional pairings of US cities to build deep relationships. IPV member, Bob Barrett, participated in the historic inaugural sibling cities pairing of Palo Alto, California and Bloomington, Indiana.
Living Room Conversations
LRC connects people across divides – politics, age, gender, race, nationality, and more – through guided conversations proven to build understanding and transform communities.
IPV is just getting started with Living Room Conversations. If you are interested in joining us for a conversation, please get in touch. Donations to Living Room Conversations are 501(c)3) tax-deductible.
How to Have Constructive Conversations
We must be willing to ‘talk about it’
Everyone in our democracy must be able to speak their minds about public issues. Speaking up needs to be safe, responsible, respectful and free. This includes airing differences, supplying facts, and explaining opinions and options.
Even in conversations with people with whom we seem to agree, it’s important to air differences. This can be challenging, yet it’s worth it because we can learn from each other.
Conversations with others who have very different perspectives, or whose views seem to be underinformed or based on inaccurate information, or different values, can be much harder.
Basic Guidelines:
- Be curious and listen to understand.
- Show respect and suspend judgment.
- Note any common ground as well as any differences.
- Be authentic and welcome that from others.
- Be purposeful and to the point.
- Own and guide the conversation.
How can we effectively navigate these varied circumstances? Here are five suggestions:
- It’s good to have a goal. You might want to learn about others’ perspectives and how they came to them. You might want to express your own views and be taken seriously. It’s best to be civil and constructive. If there’s a downward spiral, it’s OK to take a time out.
- Establish a personal connection. Tell stories from your life and ask about theirs; look for common themes. Ask, “I wonder…?” or “I’m curious about…” Note opportunities to bond and connect over shared experiences and interests. You also show respect when you ask: “What am I missing on this topic? How can I learn something more about this?”
- When something you disagree about comes up, you might ask: How did you develop that viewpoint? What is your source of information? What experiences shape your opinion? Focus on personal stories and look for areas you have in common. You might discuss values (e.g., caring, fairness, freedom, equality before the law, honesty). Or you might explore overlaps in specific situations. In what circumstances might one value take precedence? Why? We have a lot to learn from each other.
- Another approach is to get down to brass tacks and ask about democracy. Taking a suggestion from the book, How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide, by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay, you might pose a simple poll to them: on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being “I have no concerns about American democracy at all” and 10 being “American democracy is at the most serious risk in its history,” what number would you choose? Why? What might cause you to change your mind? There could be genuine curiosity about their explanations without having to agree with their viewpoints.
- Find ways to work together on a project of mutual interest. Schools? Performing Arts? Open Space? Fire Safety? This can demonstrate that democracy (e.g., disagreeing respectfully, setting rules and establishing fair processes, listening actively, etc.) can help produce wiser, fairer, more lasting, and more efficient outcomes.
Don’t Coerce. Listen First!
Beyond Conflict Institute reports “people perceive that the other side disagrees with them far more than is actually the case.”
So let’s find the courage to
- GET CURIOUS!
- ASK QUESTIONS!
- LISTEN TO LEARN!
- LOOK FOR COMMON GROUND!
- We can always agree to disagree.
- If things get heated, take a break!
Check out these articles for more:
Are we really as divided as we think? How dark forces are attempting to alienate us from our neighbours, The Toronto Star, April 25, 2023, by Frank Giustra
Yes, It’s Possible to (Gracefully) Talk Politics at Work, Harvard Business Review, October 30, 2020, by Raina Brands
Keeping It Civil: How To Talk Politics Without Letting Things Turn Ugly, NPR, April 12, 2019, by Caroline Kelly
No Kings
For the latest information about No Kings events, go to this website: https://www.nokings.org
About No Kings
In June, we did what many claimed was impossible: peacefully mobilized millions of people to take to the streets and declare with one voice — America has No Kings. And it mattered. The world saw the power of the people. President Trump’s birthday parade was drowned out by protests in every state and across the globe. His attempt to turn June 14 into a coronation collapsed, and the story became the strength of a movement rising against his authoritarian power grabs.
Four months later, that movement roared back even stronger. On October 18, over seven million Americans joined 2,700+ events in all 50 states — a nationwide uprising 14 times larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined. What began in June as a single day of defiance has become a sustained national resistance to tyranny, spreading from small towns to city centers and across every community determined to defend democracy.
Now, President Trump has doubled down. His administration is sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing our communities. They are targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting, and detaining people without warrants. Threatening to overtake elections. Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education when families need them most. Rigging maps to silence voters. Ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities. Driving up the cost of living while handing out massive giveaways to billionaire allies, as families struggle.
The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings — and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.
Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger. “No Kings” is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, shouted by millions, carried on posters and chants, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.
Because this country does not belong to kings, dictators, or tyrants. It belongs to We the People — the people who care, who show up, and who fight for dignity, a life we can afford, and real opportunity. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.
Actor and Zen priest, Peter Coyote, on protest tactics
by Peter Coyote
This Substack post was reformatted and posted on Facebook.
Summary
I’m watching the Los Angeles reaction to ICE raids with trepidation and regret.
Three years ago I taught a class at Harvard on the “theater of protest”— designed to help people understand why so many protests turn out to be Republican campaign videos working directly against the interests of the original protest.
Continue reading Actor and Zen priest, Peter Coyote, on protest tacticsHow to Spot Deliberately Misleading -DISINFORMATION
by Indivisible PV
CHECK THE SOURCE
Use reputable sources such as established news organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies. Be wary of sources that are unfamiliar or have a history of spreading false information.
VERIFY THE INFORMATION
Before sharing information, check to see if it has been reported by multiple sources. If not, it may be false or misleading.
LOOK FOR EVIDENCE
Disinformation often lacks evidence or relies on weak or misleading evidence. Look for sources that provide strong evidence to support their claims.
BE SKEPTICAL OF EMOTIONAL APPEALS
Disinformation often uses emotional appeals to manipulate people. Be wary of information that tries to appeal to your emotions rather than your reason.
BE AWARE OF YOUR OWN BIASES
We all have biases that can affect how we interpret information. Be aware of your own biases and try to approach information with an open mind.
THINK CRITICALLY
Ask questions, look for evidence, and consider alternative explanations.
Check Facts @:
White Rural Rage
The Threat to American Democracy
by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.
INTERVIEW: Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman talk to Matt Lewis Media
Buy
Thoughts on Aliens of Our Creation
Do they work for us, or for themselves?
By: Bruce Rafnel
Publisher: Substack, Authentic Community
Clearly, humans are causing climate change.
But we have more problems than warming the planet. Even if we control the temperature by reducing our CO2 emissions, there are many other ecological problems caused by humans: deforestation, desertification, disruption of water cycles, plastic pollution, insect decline, fishery collapses, and fuel resource depletion. The list goes on and on. “It is no accident that the ruins of the world’s oldest civilizations are mostly in deserts now. It wasn’t desert before that.”
Our human institutions are unwilling (or unable) to address these problems with real solutions. We created these institutions—corporations and governments, most notably—but we seem unable to control them. They have morphed into alien entities that now control us.
The smallest effective human-powered unit is a community, not an individual. However, tight, effective communities have been hobbled. It is time to relearn how to build communities, and then to do the work of taking back our government. At the same time, large organizations can be reformed or broken up, with non-violent actions, to remind them that they exist for humans, not themselves.
4 tips for developing critical thinking skills
By: Steve Pearlman, Ph.D
Publisher: TEDx Talks, TEDxCapeMay
“Critical thinking” increasingly stands as the most sought-after skill that has long been too fleeting to define. Employers rate it as a pinnacle skill, but one of which they see too little, and educators claim to teach it, but over half of Millennials recently failed a simple Mindedge critical thinking test. So, what is critical thinking? Analysis? Information literacy? Thinking outside the box? Informal logic? Problem-solving? Evaluating data? Decision science? What if all of our efforts to define critical thinking as above have been the core problem with teaching it?
What if, instead of using our brains to devise conceptions of critical thinking, we eliminated the noise and revolutionized a way to teach people how to think better by tracing critical thinking back to its core evolutionary survival mechanisms?
What are the basic survival skills for all organisms?
- Perceive their environment
- Sense danger vs. reward
- Decide between danger and reward
- Act on the decision
A More Perfect Union
A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community
By Adam Russell Taylor
Recommended by: Bob
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
Thinking about alternatives is an important part of the One Million Rising training. In the words of the president of Sojourners, Adam Russell Taylor, whom I heard speak recently, to build a “more perfect union,” we need to be focusing on three priorities: Blocking, Bridging, and Building. We are focused a lot on Blocking bad things happening, but have little power to do that. In the future, we can work on Bridging, but that will take a very long time and will entail millions of one-on-one relationships.
Lincoln Square
Newsletter
Publisher: Lincoln Square
When you join Lincoln Square, you are more than a passive consumer of content – You are a critical member of the Ferocious Opposition. We’ll provide you with the truth that you need and the tools to help spread the antidote to Trump, MAGA, Musk, and what once was a legitimate major political party in our country, the Republicans.
Lincoln Square founders introduce LSM here.
About
Lincoln Square is a collaborative effort with The Lincoln Project, America’s leading pro-democracy organization. It’s an ambitious effort to rethink how the media fights against autocracy, disinformation, and the flood of attacks on truth and our democracy. We don’t pull punches. We don’t cower in fear and hope Trump, Musk, and their minions don’t notice us and be spared their wrath.
We aren’t legacy media. We don’t have billionaire backers or corporate overlords directing what we can and cannot say.
Our mission is to expose, inspire, inform, lead, and connect — and give you the tools not just to fight back, but fight forward for the America we all deserve – not just the broligarchs and kleptocrats. We fight for the rights of all of us because it takes all of us for America to achieve her extraordinary potential. And we’re getting louder than ever with podcasts, live streaming, digital and social media, commentary, articles, town halls, public and virtual community gatherings, and strategy calls with people like Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi, who have led the biggest campaigns — and won.
Latest Articles
In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change
Condoms for Gaza? Ukraine started the war with Russia? The president’s manipulations of the truth lay the groundwork for radical change.
by Peter Baker
Publisher: The New York Times
Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed “alternative facts” in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.
Read Article
Democracy Requires Our Courage
Gov. J.B. Pritzker: “Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage”
Stand Together in Courage
How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch
A plan to harness grassroots energy—and to hold Democratic leaders accountable.
by Ezra Levin, Leah Greenberg
Summary
Indivisible founders, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, wrote this inspiring article for The Nation. Reviewed by Rachael Maddow.
Continue reading How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch
Photographic Evidence is Dead
Fake Image, Fake NEWS, Fake Trust.
By: Turtle Engineer (AKA: Bruce Rafnel)
Publisher: Medium, Slow Engineering
We have now witnessed the death of almost 200 years of photographic (and other recorded) evidence. Images, videos, and audio recordings can now be easily faked or altered in ways that cannot be detected. Digital technology has made this happen. Analog media is continuous, so subtle modifications can be noticed. However, digital media has discrete bits that are not dependent on the bits around them.
It is time to relearn what was so obvious to our ancestors: the SOURCE is more important than the content. “Do you trust or believe the source?” This can be a personal choice, but we no longer have the convenience of “socially accepted” sources.
Some technologies can “help” build trust, but they can all be compromised. We should never again put unconditional trust in any medium or technology.
Indivisible: A Practical Guide To Democracy On The Brink
If there’s one universally accepted truth in the modern age, it’s that sequels suck. And Trump 2.0 will be no exception. Trump, Vance, and their MAGA minions feel vindicated by the victory of their bigoted, fascistic clown show of a presidential campaign. Trump takes office with a plan to institute the worst parts of Project 2025. He’ll be enabled by a judiciary packed with right-wing ideologues and a congressional majority stacked with MAGA foot soldiers. And he’s assembled a bloc of corporations and billionaires eager to do his bidding in exchange for tax cuts and corrupt favors. But he has no mandate for the staggeringly harmful agenda he’s about to unleash on the country. And together, we have the power to fight back — and win.
Freedom Over Fascism
by Stephanie G. Wilson
Recommended by: Cindi
Freedom Over Fascism hosted by historian, comms consultant, and activist Stephanie Wilson, investigates what it takes to rebuild power and freedom for people in parts of America dominated by MAGA extremists. Stephanie talks to authors, experts, historians, and officials.
Tyranny of the Minority
Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. They draw on a wealth of examples—from 1930s France to present-day Thailand—to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy. They then show how our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable to attacks from within: It is a pernicious enabler of minority rule, allowing partisan minorities to consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities. Most modern democracies—from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand—have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges. The United States lags dangerously behind.
INTERVIEW: Levitsky and Ziblatt with journalist Tiziana Dearing at Harvard
Review
The Joy of Talking Politics With Strangers
How to save democracy one conversation at a time
by Elizabeth Chur
Publisher: Talk with Voters Publishing
See also: talkwithvoters.substack.com
Buy
Why do we celebrate incompetent leaders?
By: Martin Gutmann
Publisher: TEDxTalks, TEDxBerlin
Recommended by: Bruce R.
“The evidence is clear that boring management matters.“–Raffaella Sadun
Leader selection mistake: People often pick leaders because they make for a good “story.” Excellent leaders have boring stories because they have avoided the conflicts that make for a good story.
We see leadership potential in people who:
- speak more (regardless of what they say)
- appear confident (regardless of competence)
- are perpetually busy (regardless of what they’re doing)
“since we reward people who are good in crises (and ignore people who are such good manager that there are very few crises), [people] soon learn to seek out (or reframe situations as) crises.”–Keith Grint
Is the press trying to help elect Trump?
Trump loses again, as Biden is cleared
Frame Lab advises responding to the special council report of Biden’s classified documents investigation by pointing out that Biden was cleared while Trump is still facing indictments.
“The best way for the media to sell newspapers and clicks is to give Republicans what they want to hear, which drives liberals to hate reading, hate sharing, and even hate subscribing. By rebutting them, [we] spread and strengthen them. That’s how our brains work.”
Always ‘Reframe’ Republican Talking Points
NEVER REPEAT LANGUAGE REPUBLICANS USE
“Consider the phrase “tax relief.” The world “relief” frames the word “tax” as an affliction or form of suffering. We generally need “relief” from things that are painful or unpleasant…Another example: Consider the phrase “forced birth.” It frames abortion bans with a negative word, “forced,” which frames abortion bans as aggressively stripping women of their freedom.” Moral Warfare 101: Frames and Your Brain, Frame Lab, February 5, 2024
“…when environmental issues are reframed in terms of the conservative value of purity – emphasizing the importance of keeping our forests, drinking water, and skies pure – conservatives are much more likely to support this cause.
The power of framing: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it
The Guardian, July 20, 2017
Climate change? Global warming?
“David Fenton, a longtime PR specialist for progressive causes…urges the climate community to speak of pollution – a word everyone gets – and to settle on the image of a ‘blanket of pollution trapping heat on Earth’. Every oil and gas emission makes that blanket thicker – and all that trapped heat helps cause floods and start fires, he says.” As heat records break, the climate movement has the right answers – but the words are all wrong The Guardian, July 14, 2023
Frame Lab explains:
“Much of politics is a struggle to define how certain key words are framed — words like ‘tax,’ ‘freedom,’ ‘rights’ and ‘truth.’
“If you oppose an issue, you must try to frame it in negative terms. If you support an issue, you must try to frame it positively.”
Cognitive scientist Dr. George Lakoff and journalist Gil Duran share their political messaging expertise at
Frame Lab on Substack.
Latest Frame Lab Articles
Yes, Republicans really believe in starving kids
By: L O L G O P
Republican governors in 15 red states have refused to participate in this summer’s federal free lunch program, denying food to approximately 8 million kids.
Frame Lab advises responding without mentioning welfare states or calling Republicans scrooges. Say instead, “Tate Reeves [Republican Governor of Mississippi] doesn’t want these kids to succeed. He doesn’t want them to have the same freedom as his kids enjoy. This isn’t just about punishing poor kids for being poor. It’s about taking away their opportunities.”
A Warning About Donald Trump and 2024
by The Editorial Board (New York Times)
Summary
“Mr. Trump does not offer voters anything resembling a normal option of Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, big government or small. He confronts America with a far more fateful choice: between the continuance of the United States as a nation dedicated to “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and a man who has proudly shown open disdain for the law and the protections and ideals of the Constitution.”
Publisher: The New York Times
A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy
by PBS
With American democracy under threat, diplomat Dr. Richard Haass outlines ten habits to help citizens preserve democracy. Haass also explores real-life examples of Americans who are working towards strengthening democracy and renewing the spirit of a more informed and engaged citizenry. Premiered January 2, 2024 on PBS.
Watch the Video
How to Know a Person
The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
by David Brooks
Summary
Recommended by Bob
Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, David Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.
Continue reading How to Know a PersonHeather Cox Richardson
Historians are fond of saying that the past doesn’t repeat itself; it rhymes.
To understand the present, we have to understand how we got here.
That’s where this newsletter comes in.
I’m a professor of American history. This is a chronicle of today’s political landscape, but because you can’t get a grip on today’s politics without an outline of America’s Constitution, and laws, and the economy, and social customs, this newsletter explores what it means, and what it has meant, to be an American.
These were the same questions a famous observer asked in a book of letters he published in 1782, the year before the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War.
Hector St. John de Crevecoeur called his book “Letters from an American Farmer.”
Like I say, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure rhymes.
Latest Posts
- “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” Representative Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, said.
- Republican Matt Van Epps won yesterday’s special election in Tennessee’s seventh congressional district, but Republicans aren’t celebrating triumphantly.
- The news of last Friday, November 28, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Joint Special Operations commander overseeing an attack on a small vessel carrying 11 people on September 2 to “kill everybody” is shaping up to be a fight over control of the United States government.
- President Donald J.
- On Friday evening, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Trump administration’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine that illuminated the administration’s approach to the world at home, as well as overseas.
- In the wake of yesterday’s report from Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Special Operations to kill the survivors of a September 2 strike on a small boat off Venezuela, the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees have announced they intend to conduct “vigorous oversight” and “gather a full accounting” of the operation.
- As Trump’s popularity continues to drop, the MAGA coalition shows signs of cracking, and Trump’s mental acuity slips, there is a frantic feel to the administration, as if Trump’s people are trying to grab all they can, while they can.
- Happy Thanksgiving.
Prequel
An American Fight Against Fascism
By Rachel Maddow
Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.
Continue reading Prequel
The Divider
Trump in the White House, 2017-2021
by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
Publisher: Vintage
The Divider brings us into the Oval Office for countless scenes both tense and comical, revealing how close we got to nuclear war with North Korea, which cabinet members had a resignation pact, whether Trump asked Japan’s prime minister to nominate him for a Nobel Prize and much more. The book also explores the moral choices confronting those around Trump—how they justified working for a man they considered unfit for office, and where they drew their lines.
INTERVIEW: Susan Glasser and Peter Baker on C-SPAN
Review
Buy
Muffle MAGA’s Megaphone
SWING LEFT PENINSULA created these engaging videos to help spread the word effectively that things are better when Democrats are in office AND to counter MAGA Republicans’ anti-democracy messages.
To Muffle the MAGAphone:
- Avoid amplifying MAGA messages.
- Amplify pro-Democracy messages.
- Don’t Repeat Disinformation – What’s the best thing to do when encountering MAGA disinformation? NOTHING!
- Ignore DogWhistles – Ever wonder why MAGA Republicans repeat certain words and phrases? Hint: Dog whistles
- Stay United! – Why do MAGA Republicans spend so much time attacking an ever-growing list of others?
- Frame It Our Way! – We need to avoid repeating MAGA GOP frames, even to refute them. Talk about the good stuff – what we need for all Americans to thrive.
- Share Effectively – What makes an effective message? Lead with shared values. Identify who stands in the way of those values and why. End with your vision for a better future.