Grafton Indivisible – Sept 25, 2025 Updates

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Highlights

  • 🎉🎉Jimmy Kimmel was Uncancelled🎉🎉 Thousands of us cancelled our Disney+, ABC, Hulu, and ESPN subscriptions in response to Disney suspending Jimmy Kimmel. Even Ted Cruz stood up for Jimmy. The First Amendment should not be partisan. It was a positive sign to see Disney reverse course, and bring Kimmel back. However, Sinclair and Nexstar, who own hundreds of ABC affiliates, continue to pre-empt Kimmel’s show.

  • Friday, Sept 26 – Protest over the Pike: Join us for some good trouble on the bridge from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm @ the Upton (North St) overpass. Parking is available on the Upton side of the bridge. If you’ve never felt the rush of a big rig honking in support as they whiz by just inches below you, now is your chance! We have signs. You bring your hands for waving. 🚛😀 Contact GraftonIndivisible@gmail.com or lenordman@gmail.com if you have questions.

  • Monday Sept 29 – Write postcards (in Grafton)  in support of CA redistricting (Prop 50) 6:30 – 7:30 pm Texas Republicans just passed rigged Congressional maps to gain 5 new House seats. Their gerrymandering makes it more difficult to flip the House to blue. In response, CA has proposed a temporary redistricting map to ensure MAGA Republicans cannot unfairly rig control of Congress in 2026. Join us to write postcards encouraging CA Democrats to vote in favor of Prop 50. We’ll have a script, addresses, postcards, and good company! Please RSVP to GraftonIndivisible@gmail.com for the location. (We have space for 10 participants.) 
  • Oct 18 – Save the Date – No Kings 2 in Grafton! 10 am – noon. Details and link to register coming soon! There will also be events in Worcester (1 – 3pm) and Boston.
  • Get inspired: Watch what happens when Bernie Sanders meets Trump supporters in Trump country. YouTube / 21 minute video. (Thank you Dan for this video suggestion.)
  • Get involved!  We need your help! Hosting community and Indivisible events involves many moving parts. Grafton Indivisible, Shrewsbury Indivisible, and Westborough Community Action are joining forces to build our organizations together. Sign-up to volunteer. It’s a great way to meet others!

    If you signed up for Social Justice, we’ll be hosting a meeting to discuss events in early October.

Additional Local Events

  • Standout at the Westborough Rotary: Every Saturday from 10 am – noon. This is a very welcoming community. We have extra signs for anyone who needs one. Important: this is a peaceful event, and we ask that everyone neither react nor engage with disruptors.
  • Sept 30 – Take an Online Safety Marshal Training Course. 7 – 8:30 pm. Learn about non-violent direct action, and how to apply these skills to stay safe during rallies and standouts. Register here. Hosted by Worcester Indivisible.
  • Oct 1& 2: Stand out for detained immigrants @ the Burlington ICE facility: Weekly, every Wednesday and Thursday 11 am – 1 pm. Park in the Macy’s Burlington Mall lot. Walk to 1000 District Avenue, Burlington MA. Learn more.
  • Oct 6: Learn about immigration policy – The Northborough Free Library welcomes immigration attorney Antonio Massa Viana to the library on Monday, October 6th at 6PM for Restoring the Promise: A Discussion About Immigration Policy and the Path Forward  Antonio Massa Viana is a Massachusetts-based immigration attorney and the founder of Massa Viana Law, based in Southborough. An immigrant himself, Antonio arrived in the United States at age 12 and later became the first known undocumented attorney admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.

10 Reasons to be Hopeful

Credit to Jonathan Spiro, from the Rutland County Indivisible group.  

  • A number of right-wing Republicans, including Karl Rove, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, and Ted Cruz (yes: Ted Cruz!) have publicly lambasted the Trump regime for threatening the First Amendment by attacking Jimmy Kimmel. 
  • The VT Department of Health rebuked Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s war on science and authorized pharmacies in Vermont to give anyone age five and over access to the Covid-19 booster shot.
  • A federal judge threw out Donald Trump’s absurd $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, calling the suit frivolous, improperly pled, and an abuse of the courts. Trump’s suit was an 80-page press release full of over-the-top paeans to the president that had little to do with the suit at hand, such as the claim that “The Apprentice was a trailblazer in American television [that succeeded] thanks solely to President Trump’s sui generis charisma and unique business acumen. [It] represented the cultural magnitude of President Trump’s singular brilliance, which captured the zeitgeist of our time.” (Insert your favorite gag emoji here.)
  • UFC fighter and Trump fan Conor McGregor—who has a history of racist comments and has been repeatedly arrested for rape, assault, and dangerous driving—withdrew from Ireland’s presidential race after polls revealed just 7% support, despite backing from Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
  • To counteract RFK Jr.’s edict that people under the age of 65 can get the COVID vaccine only if they have an underlying condition, Michigan’s chief medical executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, declared that being unvaccinated constitutes an underlying condition.
  • Also in Michigan: The Rx Kids program in Flint gives expectant mothers $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 a month for the baby’s first year. It’s the only universal community-wide cash transfer for new families in the country. New studies show the program reduced postpartum depression, prevented evictions, improved infant outcomes, and saved millions in NICU costs.
  • Maurene Comey sued the Trump administration, alleging her abrupt firing from her job as a federal prosecutor was unlawful and unconstitutional. Comey argued that she was terminated without cause as political retaliation because her father (former FBI Director James Comey) criticized Trump. Perhaps more to the point, Maurene Comey led the prosecution that resulted in the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice in sex trafficking.
  • Speaking of Epstein, the next special election for a vacant House seat will take place in Arizona this Tuesday. Democrat Adelita Grijalva is expected to win the seat and immediately provide the 218th and final signature needed on the discharge petition (opposed by Donald Trump and Republican Speaker Mike Johnson) clearing the way for the House to vote on a bill directing the Justice Dept to release the Epstein files.
  • On a related note: so far in 2025, Democratic candidates in state and federal races have outperformed previous results in 38 out of 40 elections. The average Democratic overperformance margin for all races in 2025 is an astonishing 15 points (and Democrats have flipped three deep red districts that Trump won big in 2024). The next important races are in November, when Virginia and New Jersey hold gubernatorial elections. Polls show both races leaning Democratic.
  • Looking ahead to the 2026 midterms, the latest Washington Post/Ipsos poll asked: Would you rather see the next Congress controlled by the Democrats (to act as a check on Trump) or controlled by the Republicans (to support Trump’s agenda)?  Answer: Democrats: 53%. Republicans: 42%.

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