Democracy Labs Archive

Posted on May 1, 2025

Republican Budget Explained

	
						
			
						
				
				
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				            Benton County WA Democrats
				        							Serving the Democrats of Benton County, WA
						
		
	

	
	
					
				Benton County WA Democrats
				 
			
			
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		The GOP is turning a blind eye to the unethical blend of personal and national business.			
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				Here are the big business leaders at Trump-Saudi meeting
			
		
					trib.al
		
					President Trump attended a lunch with more than 30 major U.S. business and tech leaders in one of his first events after landing in Saudi Arabia, underscoring the visit’s focus on investment ...
		
	


	
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				Benton County WA Democrats
				 
			
			
 2 days ago 
			
	
		
	



	
		The GOP knows this is obviously unconstitutional, obviously illegal. There's no authority in any U.S. law to deport U.S. citizens and certainly not to imprison them in a foreign country. And don't even get us started on the lack of due process.House Republicans PASSED the No Rogue Rulings Act to stop activist judges from blocking President Trump and the American people’s agenda. 			
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				Benton County WA Democrats
				 
			
			
 2 days ago 
			
	
		
	



	
		The tariffs’ challengers say Trump is violating the Constitution and hope the Court of International Trade will grant their request for a preliminary injunction before the end of the month.			
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				How Trump’s trade war could end by June
			
		
					www.politico.com
		
					The challengers say the president is violating the Constitution and hope the Court of International Trade will grant their request for a preliminary injunction before the end of the month.
		
	


	
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				Benton County WA Democrats
				 
			
			
 2 days ago 
			
	
		
	



	
		The pharmaceutical industry spent $387 billion on lobbying in 2024.			
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				Trump drug pricing proposal puts GOP senators in a tough spot
			
		
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					An executive order from President Trump aims to make deep cuts to prescription drug costs, putting GOP lawmakers who have traditionally opposed government-directed drug pricing in a tough position....
		
	


	
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				Benton County WA Democrats
				 
			
			
 2 days ago 
			
	
		
	



	
		A Warning From Justice Souter: Democracy Is in PerilBy Adam Liptak, New The New York TimesReporting from WashingtonJustice David H. Souter, who died last week at age 85, made few public appearances after he retired from the Supreme Court in 2009. When he did, he stayed away from politics.But a seemingly bland question from an audience member at a New Hampshire arts center in 2012 provoked an impassioned response from the justice, who was the opposite of excitable.He said he was worried that public ignorance about how American government works would allow an authoritarian leader to emerge and claim total power. “That is the way democracy dies,” he said.“An ignorant people can never remain a free people,” the justice said. “Democracy cannot survive too much ignorance.”Not understanding how power is allocated among the three branches of government, he said, leaves a void that invites a strongman. After a crisis, he said, “one person will come forward and say, ‘Give me total power, and I will solve this problem.’”That was four years before Donald J. Trump, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination for the first time, said something strikingly similar: “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”There is no reason to think Justice Souter had Mr. Trump in mind when he spoke. Among the things the justice did not pay attention to were New York real estate and reality television.In his remarks in 2012, during an hourlong interview with Margaret Warner of “PBS NewsHour” before over 1,300 people in Concord, N.H., Justice Souter was in an amiable mood, but he gave guarded answers. He did not enjoy public attention, once telling a colleague that “in a perfect world, I would never give another speech, address, talk, lecture or whatever as long as I live.”He made an exception for Ms. Warner, who had covered him for The Concord Monitor when he became New Hampshire’s attorney general in 1976. But there was little reason to think he would say anything of note.Then a woman from Windham, N.H., lobbed a gentle softball of a question: What should schools be doing to produce civically engaged students?Justice Souter grew animated. He warned the audience that he might be talking for a while, and he later thought to make clear that the question had not been planted.“I’ll start with the bottom line,” he said. “I don’t believe there is any problem of American politics and American public life which is more significant today than the pervasive civic ignorance of the Constitution of the United States and the structure of government.”He remembered his high school days, in Concord. “There were two required civics courses,” he said. “When we got out of high school, we may not have known a lot, but we at least had a basic understanding of the structure of American government.”Justice Souter, a Rhodes scholar with a deep knowledge of history, sensed a parallel.“That is how the Roman Republic fell,” he said, with Augustus becoming an autocratic emperor by promising to restore old values.The rise of such a strongman was hastened, Justice Souter said, by public ignorance. Americans’ lack of knowledge means, he said, that “the day will come when somebody will come forward, and we, and the government will, in effect, say: ‘Take the ball and run with it. Do what you have to do.’”In the rest of the conversation, Justice Souter gave cautious answers to questions about what were then recent Supreme Court decisions.A student asked how he would have voted in a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s health care law. “Going to take a pass on that one,” Justice Souter said.Ms. Warner asked about the Citizens United campaign finance case, which was decided a few months after he left the court. “I’m going to take a partial pass on that,” he said, because “you can’t get into that subject and explore it fully without getting into politics.” He may have also been reluctant to discuss the case because, as Jeffrey Toobin reported in The New Yorker, he had written a scathing draft dissent that caused the case to be argued a second time.Justice Souter did say that he was “certainly unrepentant” about joining a dissent from the court’s 2008 decision recognizing an individual right to own guns.As the event neared its end, Ms. Warner asked Justice Souter to say more about the threat to democracy.“I don’t think we have lost it,” the justice said. “I think it is in jeopardy. I am not a pessimist, but I am not an optimist about the future of American democracy.”“We’re still in the game,” he added, “but we have serious work to do, and serious work is being neglected.”			
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	May 2025
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
				1 Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs May 1, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/94107976607?pwd=qZeb9jUuH9e3DwVvukrhqxuwrNTWvv.1 Join in and ask questions, get updates or just say hi! Zoom link below, let me know if you need the mobile version. These are held every Thursday at 12pm and occasional weekends. See more details May Day!! Day of Mobilization May Day!! Day of Mobilization May 1, 2025 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM John Dam Plaza, 815 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352, USA Join us for this day of mobilization. We are standing to demand a country that puts our families over those with fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics. May Day 2025 we are standing united. We're organizing for a world where every family has housing, healthcare, fair wages, union protection, and safety—regardless of race, zip code, or immigration status. See more details • •	2	3 Cinco de Mayo Booth Cinco de Mayo Booth May 3, 2025 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM Peanuts Park, 109 S 4th Ave, Pasco, WA 99301, USA Signup Here See more details Cinco de Mayo Parade Walk! Cinco de Mayo Parade Walk! May 3, 2025 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Meet near the Pasco police training parking lot, 204 W Clark St, Pasco The parade route is 1.1 miles. Please arrive early to make sure you can find parking and find us. A google map link will be posted on social media the morning of to help you find our exact staging location. Call or text 509-987-5472 if you need help finding us. The parade will start at 10am. Ok to bring Free Sergio signs - we will have handouts for the crowd. Please wear white, red, blue or green. Let's celebrate the day and share a handout about Indivisible TC. See more details Cinco de Mayo Parade Cinco de Mayo Parade May 3, 2025 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pasco City Hall, 525 N 3rd Ave, Pasco, WA 99301, USA See more details Cinco de Mayo Booth Cinco de Mayo Booth May 3, 2025 11:00 AM - 7:30 PM Peanuts Park, 109 S 4th Ave, Pasco, WA 99301, USA Signup Here See more details • • • •
4	5	6 TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday May 6, 2025 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM John Dam Plaza, 815 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352, USA "Protest Tuesday" at John Dam Plaza on GWay in Richland from 3:45pm to 5:45PM. Bring your own sign or flag or one will be provided. Join our stalwarts and protest whatever is bothering you most that day. https://www.facebook.com/events/999996418325987/999996484992647/ See more details Free Sergio Eat in Free Sergio Eat in May 6, 2025 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM 7425 W. Clearwater, Kennewick Join us to support Sergio and Gabby!! We will be having an “Eat In”. When: Tuesday, May 6th 5-7pm Where: at their food truck, 7425 W. Clearwater We must stand together for this family!! And have some delicious food. #FreeSergio In solidarity! See more details Richland City Council Richland City Council May 6, 2025 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Richland City Hall, 505 Swift Blvd, Richland, WA 99352, USA See more details • • •	7 BCDCC Organization Committee Meeting BCDCC Organization Committee Meeting May 7, 2025 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Richland Public Library 955 Northgate Dr, Richland, WA 99352 Agenda: PCO Recruiting Votebuilder Training (VAN Training #1) Postcards See more details BenCoDems Organizing Committee BenCoDems Organizing Committee May 7, 2025 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Dr, Richland, WA 99352, USA Conference room A See more details • •	8 Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs May 8, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/94107976607?pwd=qZeb9jUuH9e3DwVvukrhqxuwrNTWvv.1 Join in and ask questions, get updates or just say hi! Zoom link below, let me know if you need the mobile version. These are held every Thursday at 12pm and occasional weekends. See more details Labor Unions 101 Training Labor Unions 101 Training May 8, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/IW21k8gUSS2xkg-ladIbRA#/registration Osta Davis from the Washington State Labor Council will be joining us to teach democrats about how unions interact with the political ecosystem and how to collectively organize! May 8th at 6 PM See more details • •	9 Tri-City Democrats Meeting/Potluck Tri-City Democrats Meeting/Potluck May 9, 2025 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM For current location please visit https://www.facebook.com/TriCityDems/ See more details •	10
11	12 Benton County Executive Board Benton County Executive Board May 12, 2025 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Meeting details will be provided over email from the Benton County Democrats Chair. See more details •	13 TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday May 13, 2025 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM John Dam Plaza, 815 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352, USA "Protest Tuesday" at John Dam Plaza on GWay in Richland from 3:45pm to 5:45PM. Bring your own sign or flag or one will be provided. Join our stalwarts and protest whatever is bothering you most that day. https://www.facebook.com/events/999996418325987/999996484992647/ See more details Indivisible TC - Join Social Group Meeting Indivisible TC - Join Social Group Meeting May 13, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/95046844154?pwd=aSwn3Vh4CA9abTbuKaEzYuniIGRrH1.1 Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95046844154?pwd=aSwn3Vh4CA9abTbuKaEzYuniIGRrH1.1 Meeting ID: 950 4684 4154 Passcode: 443352 See more details Kennewick City Council Workshop Kennewick City Council Workshop May 13, 2025 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM See more details • • •	14 Indivisible - TC: Hands Off Medicaid! at Dan Newhouse's office Indivisible - TC: Hands Off Medicaid! at Dan Newhouse's office May 14, 2025 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Congressman Dan Newhouse Office 3100 George Washington Way Richland, WA We are going to Newhouse’s office again to show him how much cuts to medicaid and SNAP will affect our district. I am adding links below if you want to see the numbers. We have the highest number of Medicaid recipients in the state! Join us to remind him!!! Bring “Hands OFF signs” some will also be there See more details Indivisible TC - Join Current Events Group meeting Indivisible TC - Join Current Events Group meeting May 14, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/95999649152?pwd=uaiM7fc1p8ZWYwNsqrTI3O8QmyKYJZ.1 Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95999649152?pwd=uaiM7fc1p8ZWYwNsqrTI3O8QmyKYJZ.1 Meeting ID: 959 9964 9152 Passcode: 054294 See more details • •	15 Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs May 15, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/94107976607?pwd=qZeb9jUuH9e3DwVvukrhqxuwrNTWvv.1 Join in and ask questions, get updates or just say hi! Zoom link below, let me know if you need the mobile version. These are held every Thursday at 12pm and occasional weekends. See more details Norm and Shirley Miller Democratic Leadership Dinner Norm and Shirley Miller Democratic Leadership Dinner May 15, 2025 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Riverfront Hotel, 50 Comstock St. Richland, WA. Join us early at 5:00 pm for socializing with many who share the same views and values! A select no-host bar will be available throughout the evening. Dinner and program begins at 6:00 pm. Keynote Speaker: Governor Bob Ferguson Purchase tickets here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/nsmdld2025 See more details Realities of Running for Office Panel Realities of Running for Office Panel May 15, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/lthQudirR-eRa8pLV0Otuw#/registration This training will be a panel of candidates and consultants moderated by Jessica Forsythe from Emerge WA, about what the realities of running for office are like and how to be a good candidate! May 15th at 6 PM See more details Indivisible TC - Join Outreach Group Meeting Indivisible TC - Join Outreach Group Meeting May 15, 2025 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM https://zoom.us/j/93492586897?pwd=AeDKTsAPJVXZoZkuXZi5ak7aQFSyN9.1 Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/93492586897?pwd=AeDKTsAPJVXZoZkuXZi5ak7aQFSyN9.1 Meeting ID: 934 9258 6897 Passcode: 163526 See more details • • • •	16 Badger Club - RESCHEDULED: FORUM: MAKING SENSE OF FISCAL POLICY Badger Club - RESCHEDULED: FORUM: MAKING SENSE OF FISCAL POLICY May 16, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://badgers.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=722&club_id=392306&emtid=280841730002 https://badgers.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=722&club_id=392306&emtid=280841730002&mtid=423463792598&ht=0 See more details •	17 Indivisible - TC: Armed Forces Day Picnic Indivisible - TC: Armed Forces Day Picnic May 17, 2025 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Regional Veterans Memorial Columbia Park It will be a celebration of all who have served our country. We need to support each and every one!! Bring snacks and join in community. See more details •
18	19	20 TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday May 20, 2025 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM John Dam Plaza, 815 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352, USA "Protest Tuesday" at John Dam Plaza on GWay in Richland from 3:45pm to 5:45PM. Bring your own sign or flag or one will be provided. Join our stalwarts and protest whatever is bothering you most that day. https://www.facebook.com/events/999996418325987/999996484992647/ See more details Indivisible TC - Join Education Group Meeting Indivisible TC - Join Education Group Meeting May 20, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/99705136568?pwd=ttZEoHNkOF17sIjHR98ylgQ2zSWKAO.1 Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99705136568?pwd=ttZEoHNkOF17sIjHR98ylgQ2zSWKAO.1 Meeting ID: 997 0513 6568 Passcode: 365972 See more details Richland City Council Richland City Council May 20, 2025 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Richland City Hall, 505 Swift Blvd, Richland, WA 99352, USA See more details • • •	21	22 Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs May 22, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/94107976607?pwd=qZeb9jUuH9e3DwVvukrhqxuwrNTWvv.1 Join in and ask questions, get updates or just say hi! Zoom link below, let me know if you need the mobile version. These are held every Thursday at 12pm and occasional weekends. See more details How to Fundraise Training How to Fundraise Training May 22, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/-L-HU3JhS7-OeBxnVMvtAQ#/registration Learn how to effectively fundraise and raise money for your local organizations. Joe Barden, The state party Development Director will teach you about the ins and outs of the process! May 22nd at 6 PM See more details BCDCC General Public Meeting BCDCC General Public Meeting May 22, 2025 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Meeting details will be provided over email from the Benton County Democrats Chair. See more details • • •	23	24
25	26	27 TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday TCD Democrats Protest Tuesday May 27, 2025 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM John Dam Plaza, 815 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352, USA "Protest Tuesday" at John Dam Plaza on GWay in Richland from 3:45pm to 5:45PM. Bring your own sign or flag or one will be provided. Join our stalwarts and protest whatever is bothering you most that day. https://www.facebook.com/events/999996418325987/999996484992647/ See more details Richland City Council Workshop Richland City Council Workshop May 27, 2025 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Richland City Hall, 505 Swift Blvd, Richland, WA 99352, USA See more details • •	28 How to Build a Message Training How to Build a Message Training May 28, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/wuf_qJ9sTAytiGwdaakqnw#/registration This training will be led by Be Clear, a messaging firm who helps political organizations effectively message their policies and causes to the public. This training will cover best practices for messaging the important work you do to the public. May 28th at 6 PM See more details •	29 Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs Indivisible TC - Founder Hour, Thurs May 29, 2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/94107976607?pwd=qZeb9jUuH9e3DwVvukrhqxuwrNTWvv.1 Join in and ask questions, get updates or just say hi! Zoom link below, let me know if you need the mobile version. These are held every Thursday at 12pm and occasional weekends. See more details •	30	31