In this issue:
GOTV for Prop 50
Indivisible SF Civics-travaganza!
Additional ISF Events
Government Shutdown: No Democratic-Party Votes for Trumpism!
Make a Public Comment to oppose weakening hazardous materials transit regulation
Protect neurodiverse and transgender Americans in California with healthcare privacy legislation
Keep pushing for Housing for Samara!
Update and new CTA: Tell Rec/Park and Your Supervisor to keep Crocker Amazon Real
Responsibility for the Dead, the Dying, and the Injured
Labor Day Follow-Up: Insider Attacks on Federal Agencies Continue
NEW ROLES: Want to help us do this work?
Upcoming events: Find them on our Events page!
Protect our Power: Pass Prop 50.
It’s time to GOTV like crazy for Prop 50.
Republican-led states like Texas are gerrymandering like hell to try and cement a Republican House majority starting in 2026 and forever after. Independently-districted states, like California, are now trying to temporarily create districts favoring Democrats to attempt to fight back and defeat the Republicans’ grab for permanent power. Prop 50 will allow this to be done in California.
If we don’t succeed, will be effectively permanently unrepresented in the House, as Republicans will never let Democrats do anything ever again.
To hold Trump accountable, to protect our rights, to roll back the damage from the MAGA regime, we must be able to win the House.
If passed, Prop 50 instates Amendment 8 to the California Constitution, which itself institutes redrawn maps outlined in AB 604, until 2030, when we would return to independent districting.
This is going to hinge on turnout. We only have a month to do this. We must vote and get out the vote for YES on Prop 50.
Join ISF members to canvass in SF for Prop 50 starting Saturday, Sep 20. RSVP on Mobilize.
Get informed and download flyers on our website and check your voter registration.
Indivisible SF Civics-travaganza!
Join us on Sunday, September 14, 11 AM - 3 PM at Civic Center Plaza for a celebration of International Democracy Day, National Voter Registration Day, and Constitution Day. There will be a variety of tables to visit to learn how to plug into current efforts,meet your local organizers, and defend our democracy.
RSVP on Mobilize, and look out for volunteering opportunities.
Additional ISF Events - Training, Trump Regime Takedown, and a Music Show!
Tesla Takedown is now Trump Regime Takedown.
It’s being run by people who have been attending since the beginning and is now fully supported by Indivisible SF and 50501SF. Join us every Saturday 12-2 at Van Ness and O’Farrell. Check out our Mobilize page for Trump Regime Takedown.
And this Saturday, Sep 6 at 2 PM, proceed to the overpass over Geary on Webster St for 50501SF’s latest banner drop!
Our camera died at our Protest Training, so we’re doing it again this Saturday (over Zoom).
We want more people doing more protests—and we want to share our knowledge of how to put on the safest, most effective protests you can. We did a protest training last Saturday which went very well—but our efforts to record it for you yielded only failure.
So, we’re doing the training again, this time over Zoom. It’ll be Saturday, Sep 6 at 5PM.
Register here to learn about protest strategy and all the practical details.
See ISF at Play It Forward at the Hotel Utah Saloon
On Thursday, Sep 11, join Sister District, Indivisible SF, and a star-studded list of performers at The Utah for a night of music and activism. Performers include Ira Marlowe, Pete Kronowitt, The Sam Chase, and more. Doors at 7 PM.
Tickets $12 advanced, $15 at the door. Get tickets here.
Government Shutdown: No Democratic-Party Votes for Trumpism!
Congress members have returned from their summer vacation. By law, all twelve of the Appropriation Bills that fund our government must be passed by midnight, September 30. If the bills are not enacted, major portions of the federal government shut down – unless a Continuing Resolution (CR) is passed to extend funding for a specified time at the current levels.
Most of the twelve bills have not even been reported out of House/Senate committees, much less debated, so details are lacking. But given the Budget Resolutions that Republicans passed earlier this year, we know they will be larded with provisions to enrich the wealthy at the expense of all the rest of us, gut social spending while enlarging the military, police, and ICE, enact yet more un-Constitutional power-grabs, and contain as many bigoted and vicious MAGA culture war poison pills as they can jam in.
Since the MAGA Regime took office in January, its actions have amounted to an ongoing anti-Constitutional coup through executive action and legislative malfeasance. Our Constitution established three co-equal branches of government, and Congress is supposed to hold the Power of the Purse – the power to allocate funds and determine what they are spent for. But the Trump administration is illegally asserting a false power to over-ride and ignore congressional spending authorizations and amounts. If Congress members allow the MAGA Regime to get away with that, they surrender their most essential power.
Only the bold and courageous exercise of democratic power can halt a coup. In the coming weeks, we must demand that our Members of Congress (MoC) refuse to vote for – and do everything they can to block – any appropriation bill or CR that does not contain clear, unambiguous language assuring that funds authorized by Congress will be spent for the specified purposes.
Even if that means a shutdown.
Republicans now completely control all three branches of the federal government. If their unconstitutional power-grab and poison pills force a shutdown, that's on them. And it's on us to protest and make clear to the public who is responsible.
Tell your Members of Congress: No money for Trumpism. Call script on our website.
Make a Public Comment to oppose weakening hazardous materials transit regulation
In addition to legislative, policy, financial, and law-enforcement attacks on our democracy, the MAGA Regime is engaged in a systematic campaign to gut or eliminate environmental, health, safety, labor, anti-discrimination, and other hard-won regulations and policies.
Their proposed PHMSA-20013-0008-0607 would weaken the inspections and permits required for transporting hazardous materials by companies under the Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Law. https://www.regulations.gov/document/PHMSA-2013-0008-0607
The MAGA Regime is driven by ideology and greed, so we have no expectation that our comments will sway them. But there are two reasons for us to say, "No, we oppose:"
Throughout history, "Silence Equals Assent." We do NOT consent, and we have to stand up and say so.
When a large number of voters register opposition to a regulatory change, we can use that to encourage our Members of Congress (MoC) to block the new rule by passing a Congressional Review Act resolution.
Weaker regulations on the transportation of hazardous materials will cause more problems for low-income communities than others, because they are more likely to live near sites that must dispose of these materials. Weaker regulations increase the risk for all communities that the transportation of these materials leads to accidents with consequences for human health and the environment.
Oppose this attack against "We the People" by leaving a public comment. Instructions on our website.
Protect neurodiverse and transgender Americans in California with healthcare privacy legislation
Every Californian has the right to healthcare—and to seek and receive that care in privacy and with dignity. Whether you’re pregnant and seeking an abortion, transgender and in need of gender-affirming care, or have any other healthcare need, you have the right to get that care and nobody should stand in your way.
The Republican Party denies your rights. They’ve been criminalizing women's health, intimidating medical providers, and doing everything in their power to make life difficult for trans people. Their HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., has threatened to send patients taking common psychiatric or pain medications to "wellness farms" for "re-parenting". Now, with people who have routine healthcare needs facing fascist threats, medical privacy is more important than ever.
The following bills make it harder for the federal government, Republican states, and nosy vigilantes to find patients (transgender and otherwise) and medical providers to harass.
SB 497 (Wiener) – Shield Law Expansion. (Passed the Senate) Protects sensitive health records from out-of-state access.
SB 59 (Wiener): Transgender Vital Records Privacy. (Passed the Senate) Seals court records of name and gender marker changes for transgender adults. (They're already sealed for kids).
AB 1084 (Zbur): Transgender Vital Records. (Passed the Assembly) Streamlines the process to update name and gender marker - because safety delayed is safety denied.
See our blog post on Gender-Affirming Care to learn why that care is important to protect.
Given how quickly the Trump administration has moved, vulnerable communities (including members of Indivisible SF) can't wait another year for these bills to pass.
Call your representatives ASAP, as they must pass these bills by Sept 12.
Governor Newsom has until Oct 12 to sign or veto each bill. Given his influence on the legislature, and his unreliability on trans rights, we need him to know we’re watching so he’ll be motivated to do the right thing.
See our call script here.
Keep pushing for Housing for Samara!
Samara is a 7‑year‑old San Franciscan with serious medical needs who has spent the past two years living in shelters with her family. After undergoing multiple surgeries this month, she is preparing to leave the hospital—but the City has told her parents they don’t qualify for housing assistance because, according to a computer system, they are “not homeless enough.”
This is outrageous. Every child deserves a safe, stable home—especially the 3,000 homeless children in our city who, like Samara, are being denied dignity by a broken housing system.
Samara’s mother, Maria Zavala, a leader with Faith in Action Bay Area, has already helped win critical victories: ending experimental shelter evictions and securing $30 million for family homelessness. But Maria is still being told there is no solution for Samara. Worse still, other families in similar circumstances are also being threatened with eviction from shelters.
As yet, our legislators have not responded to our calls to address this. We need to keep pushing.
Please call Mayor Lurie to express your support for Samara and all unhoused children who deserve a safe space to live. Call script here.
Update and new CTA: Tell Rec/Park and Your Supervisor to keep Crocker Amazon Real
San Francisco Recreation and Park, with major funding from the San Francisco Giants Community Fund, plans to spend $45 million to replace natural grass at Crocker Amazon Park with sprawling artificial turf baseball fields. The project would fence off much of the open space, cut down dozens of mature trees, and cover the park in PFAS-containing plastic. What’s currently a flexible community open space would be transformed into a single-purpose baseball complex.
“As someone who treasures San Francisco’s city parks, I’m dismayed by plans to cover 75% of Crocker Amazon Park with artificial turf. This plastic carpet will pollute our water with microplastics and toxic “forever chemicals,” destroy trees and habitat, fence off open space, and cost millions to replace every decade. San Francisco deserves environmental justice—real green space that cools the air, absorbs stormwater, and welcomes families for gatherings, play, and cultural events. We should be investing in modern natural grass fields, not suffocating a beloved park under plastic. Crocker Amazon is one of the city’s great community parks. Don’t turn it into a toxic, lifeless field. Keep it real, keep it grass.”
~Bob Hall, Co-Founder Keep Crocker Real
This plan comes at great cost to both the environment and the public. Artificial turf sheds toxic microplastics into local waterways, destroys habitat, and will need costly replacement in less than a decade. Instead of investing tens of millions into plastic fields, the city could modernize natural grass with professional-grade drainage and maintenance—delivering safe, playable fields while keeping Crocker Amazon green, open, and alive for the whole community.
Since Indivisible SF’s previous request for action, the Keep Crocker Real team made a presentation to the Animal Care and Control Commission that resulted in a letter to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors calling for a moratorium on artificial turf in our parks. This action compelled the San Francisco Chronicle to write an article about the situation. You can watch the presentation on Youtube.
We updated our email script to provide contacts for the Mayor and the Giants Foundation.
We need you to keep up the pressure: no toxic artificial turf at Crocker Amazon Park! Email Script here.
Responsibility for the Dead, the Dying, and the Injured
Last month saw yet more mass shootings across the country—and right-wing media seizing on one in particular, committed allegedly by someone who’d previously sought legal recognition as a transgender person.
Cue gallons of ink spilled by the right to blame trans people for our nation’s chronic mass-shooting problem, all to distract from real problems such as fascism and racism, which were other behaviors the same shooter also exhibited—and are actually common among so many mass-shooters in America.
Our media must resist the temptation to boost false narratives, and must counter these lies with truth and exposure.
Read our blog post.
In this time of misinformation and bad information, it is the responsibility of individuals to speak up when media sources mess up. Contact your local media source and demand they cover mass shootings responsibly.
Labor Day Follow-Up: Insider Attacks on Federal Agencies Continue
Insider attacks are arguably the most insidious that security experts face, as they come from the most trusted and least expected actors. Although by now Americans should have no illusions as to the trustworthiness of the current federal administration, far from defending against attacks on federal agencies, it launches many of these attacks. This administration uses every tool at its disposal, including funding rescissions, instructions on federal budget execution that the Office of Management and Budget hoped to keep hidden, and illegal layoffs of agency staff. The administration has even cancelled contracts with the federal employee unions that make government agencies better workplaces. With the acquiescence of a subservient Congress and the affirmation of cherry-picked appellate judges, the Trump administration is undermining the delivery of government services to the public.
Some people may prefer not to know the details and some may have their own information sources, but for others, our blog describes two sites that track and present the extent of the damage.
Learn how to track the damage to federal agencies and how it is accomplished on our blog.
NEW ROLES: Want to help us do this work?
We will plug you in where your skills can do the most good to resist this administration.
If you would like to join and do important work with us, we welcome you! Currently we are in need of volunteers to help with the following:
Making artwork for our calls to action, blog posts, and other projects.
Maintaining our website, newsletter and Zoom account
Joining and building out an on-the ground flyering team. We’re looking to distribute information on our events in the real world. We want people who can print and post flyers around their neighborhood. It’s a great way to get your steps in.
Publishing our newsletter with MailChimp on Newsletter Night (Tuesdays at 5 PM).
Making short-form videos to help educate people on our topics in an accessible way.
Tracking federal, state, and local legislation and working with our state and local legislatures and Mayor Lurie.
No experience is needed; we will train you and provide everything you need. If you would like to help us, please contact us at [email protected].
