Hello all,

We hope you are all well after the intense storms that passed through the region.

Our hearts go out to community members that experienced the devastating impacts of the very high winds, strong rain and hail.

Next Meeting!

NOTE Change of location

When:

Wednesday, July 2, 6:30-8:00pm

Where:

Cook Community Center
510 Gopher Dr.
Cook, MN

Signing/Resisting Events

Each Friday at noon at the following locations:

Cook

Hwy 53 and River Street

Ely

Whiteside Park

Tower

Mainstreet by the locomotive

It is easier for passers-by to read signs with fewer words and large, bold letters made with paint or thick markers. Choose an issue you are passionate about! Common concerns for people are health care, jobs, education, food costs, and the economy.

Candlelight Vigils

Hibbing & Virginia

When:

June 22, 8:00–9:00pm

In Hibbing:

Hibbing City Hall

In Virginia:

Lakeside Field
(corner of 9th Ave & 3rd St S in Virginia)

Two candlelight vigils are being held across the Iron Range in memory of Melissa and Mark Hortman.

Bring your own candles. Please do not bring any signs or flags.

Ely Actions — What's Next?

When:

Tuesday, June 24 7:00pm

Where:

Ely Folk School
209 E. Sheridan
Ely, MN

Area activists are invited to come together next Tuesday at 6:30 at the Ely Folk School to discuss your concerns and plan our next actions.

We all wonder, "What can we do?" The advice we hear is, "Keep making a lot of noise. Publicly protest. Keep contacting your elected officials: call, email, and visit." That is happening all over! Close to 400 passionate patriots showed up a week ago for No Kings Day in Ely. They are definitely noticing, and we are making a difference here and across the country.

Please join us. We need all our best thinking as we proceed. Bring your non-violent ideas and priorities.

RSVP to Betty Firth if you can make it: bfirth88@gmail.com Or if you can't make it Tuesday, but are interested.

Stop the War Buildup in Iran

Call the president and our senators.

Please contact President Trump and our Congressional Reps to say:

• No bombs dropped on Iran!
• No war with Iran!
• No more FOREVER WARS!
• Peace not war!

Trump campaigned on being a 'peace president' that would end America's fascination with endless war.

• Didn't we learn the lessons from our misadventures in Iraq?
• Hasn't America had enough with our fascination with ‘forever wars' — that always exacerbate the problems rather than resolving them?
• Trump continually berated President Bush for his costly calamity in Iraq, a conflagration that was initiated, based wholly on false intelligence.
• It looks like Trump could be poised to make the same ruinous mistake, again without considering the law of unintended consequences.

Let's STOP TRUMP from dropping bombs in Iran.

CONGRESS needs to reclaim the WAR POWERS authority vested in it:

The War Powers Resolution is a federal law enacted in 1973 intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to any military action or armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. It is a mechanism to maintain the constitutional balance of power between the executive and legislative branches in matters of war and peace.

Contact Senator Tina Smith

Phone: (202) 224-5641

Contact Senator Amy Klobuchar

Phone: (202) 224-3244

Contact Congressman Pete Stauber

Phone: (202) 225-6211

The good news is that a bipartisan group in the Congress opposes the war and is working to stop it.

• Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced the Senate No War Against Iran Act.
• Thomas Massie (R-KY) & Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced the War Powers Resolution.
• Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a War Powers Resolution, with a likely vote next week.

Please call your Senators and your congressional representative to demand they support these efforts and keep America out of this disastrous conflict.

Strategies to shift the conversation from legal status to universal human rights.

from Scot Nakagawa: "Bringing Us All Into Universal Belonging"

"Accepting the 'illegal' designation for human beings creates a dangerous precedent. Once society accepts that some people can be categorized as inherently 'illegal' for their existence rather than their actions, it becomes much easier to apply similar dehumanizing logic to political opponents, protesters, journalists, or anyone who challenges authority. The goal isn't just defending immigrants, it's defending the principle that human beings cannot be 'illegal' and that constitutional protections apply to all people within U.S. borders, regardless of their documentation status or country of origin...

"The goal isn't to eliminate all distinctions or to ignore the real impacts of immigration policy. It's to create communities where everyone belongs, where human dignity doesn't depend on government permission, and where constitutional protections apply to all people."

One Million Rising: One Million Trained, Millions More Empowered

Hosted by No Kings

When:

Wednesdays, 7:00–8:00pm CDT

Where:

Online

"One Million Rising — a national effort to train one million people to help lead in this moment and gain the skills to lead others. This is how we build people power that can't be ignored. You're invited to join us—and lead."

National Events Resources

from Red Wine & Blue

A rich trove of resources from past events. For example, notes from a training on cybersecurity (how to protect yourself online), civics lessons on how the Executive Branch is supposed to operate, tools for fighting book bans and supporting our educators, and so much more.

Minnesota Budget Project

Impacts on Minnesotans

"The so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' making its way through Congress is anything but. The huge reconciliation bill that passed the U.S. House last month and is being debated in the Senate, would raise costs on Minnesota families, taking health coverage, food assistance, and other essentials away from Minnesotans who are already struggling to make ends meet. Those cuts to public services would pay for extending large tax cuts that will primarily benefit Minnesota's wealthiest households."

The Minnesota Budget Project has a track record of successfully combining sound research and analysis with advocacy, engagement, and communications strategies to enact policy change towards a more just and equitable Minnesota. They recently posted a study of how the bill passing through Comgress would impact MN families.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is a budget reconciliation bill which means it only needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate. It allows Congress to bypass the usual filibuster rules in the Senate, making it a powerful tool for the majority party to enact their agenda…so lobbying senators is critical. The bill will then need to return to the House for a vote, so lobbying Representatives remains important.

"Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable."

— Rebecca Solnit

Were the No Kings protests the largest single-day demonstration in American history?

from the Guardian

The scale of last weekend's "No Kings" protests is now becoming clearer, with one estimate suggesting that Saturday was among the biggest ever single-day protests in US history.

Holly Near zipper song to learn, teach, and sing at rallies

We are a Gentle, Angry People (Song)

We are a gentle, angry people,
And we are singing, singing for our lives. (Repeat)

We are a justice-seeking people
And we are singing, singing for our lives. (Repeat)

We are young and old together...and we are singing...
We are a land of many colors...
We are gay and straight together...
We are an angry, loving people...
We are a democracy-loving people...
We are Minnesotans and we're angry...
We are Americans and we're angry...
We are a gentle loving people...
(Second line “zipper” options: And we are marching...VOTING...praying...for our lives.)

— Original Words and Music by Holly Near

Please Share your Sources of Information and Inspiration:

What news sources, reading lists, podcasts, subscriptions and other resources do you rely on for good information? Please respond to hello@northernaction.org with the sources you recommend and a brief reason why they're important to you.

Northern Progressives supports a social and political agenda through active participation in civic affairs. Our goals are to inform elected officials about issues of concern to us and to increase public awareness and education to help people become politically and civically involved.

We are a chapter of Indivisible in northern Minnesota's Congressional District Minnesota-08.

NP Group meetings:

1st Wednesday in Tower
3rd Wednesday in Cook

Breakfast Club:

Pattenn's Café in Orr at 10 am on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays.

Northern Progressives Communication Committee

General email (submit ideas here):

hello@northernprogressives.org

Betty Firth

bfirth88@gmail.com

Beth Peterson

edithepeterson@gmail.com

Judith Ulseth

jgtulseth@gmail.com