In recent months we have seen horrific violence perpetrated by Federal employees in ICE.  Their violence has killed five Americans to date, in each case someone doing nothing wrong.  Many more Americans have been wounded by gunfire, vehicular ramming or beating by people who work on behalf of the Federal government.  Thousands have been illegally abducted. Without due process, these are kidnappings not legal arrests.  Claudia Tenney has issued press releases , made Twitter posts and done press interviews defending this violence.  Claudia Tenney presents the agents of ICE as representing the law, where in fact they are the ones breaking the law. In so doing, she is promoting a lawless society and violence by the state against its own people.   We at indivisible Seneca want  all law enforcement agencies operating on US soil bound by the same protections of due process.  This includes ICE. Why won’t Tenney try to protect us from this ov...

The third in the series of Nonviolence Workshops organized by the Trumansburg Area Committee for Social Equity is this Sunday. The principles can be applied to some of the new worrisome public situations, should those arise in our community. Bystander Intervention Training SUNDAY JANUARY 25TH 1-3 PM At the Fellowship Hall, 69 E Main St. Trumansburg. The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County , a resource center specializing in  preventing and responding to domestic and sexual violence, will be leading a  training on Bystander Intervention.  They will  discuss what it means to intervene as  a bystander,  detail the five “D’s” of bystander intervention as described by the  national organization Right to Be ,  lead a discussion about potential outcomes  and risks of taking action when witnessing harassment in a multitude of situations.  Resources and ways to get involved will be shared.

  May this holiday season be a time of reflection, gratitude and renewed goodwill toward family, friends, and country. Peace, charity and goodwill are wishes for most Americans, yet they are hard to find in today's political environment. Reflecting on ways to find and encourage those who demonstrate them can be a rewarding holiday activity. 

  Rep. Tenney is not giving us the truth about her votes, but pitches the reasoning simply in hopes that we’ll accept her claims.  Back in mid-November, Rep. Tenney voted for HJR130, a resolution that opens 800,000 acres of Wyoming land and 4.7 million acres of mineral rights managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to mining.  Her newsletter stated she voted yes because “Critical mineral resource access is a national security priority, and this resolution is a necessary reversal against the Biden administration’s broader agenda of locking up public lands and stifling domestic industrial capacity”.   Too simple to be true. Let’s look at that. The more complex truth is that the BLM’s 2015 Resource Management Plan (RMP), under the Obama administration, permitted mining.   However, that mining was found by a court to violate the National Environmental Policy Act.  The Western Organization of Resource Councils sued the BLM when the plan was made public. ...

  Best Thanksgiving wishes to one and all!     As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving,   we are grateful for the bounty of our land, producing so much food that about   20 percent of our production is exported.  In Seneca County, about 20 percent of people   also live below the poverty line and many need assistance to feed themselves   and their families.     Rep. Tenney is part of a House caucus that has rubber-stamped   Executive branch cuts to food assistance that will soon end SNAP benefits for   more than 1 million people and tighten eligibility for adults.  The SNAP program that Rep. Tenney voted for expands   work   requirements to include adults ages 55 through 64. It repeals work exemptions   for the homeless, veterans and young adults aging out of foster care. It also   limits the ability of states to waive work requirements in areas lacking jobs.   This directly affects u...

Congressional leaders have let funds lapse for the program called SNAP that provides food assistance to the most vulnerable of our neighbors. The administration has fought any efforts to help them with available funds. These leaders steadfastly wanted to cut this important lifeline and would rather have the government stop than to provide that help. The Senate moved last week to restore some of that help and to restart the government. The House needs to do the same this week. Will Rep Tenney agree, or will she be among the Representatives who want to continue the suffering?    In the meantime, we can help do what Congress is failing to do.   Donating to local food pantries helps to ease the gaps in SNAP benefits. Other ways to give include rounding up at any Wegmans checkout. Those funds go to FOODLINK, based in Rochester, which distributes food to our local pantries. Or donate at their website https://foodlinkny.org/ . Here's an up-to-date list of the pantries: South Sen...

Nearly 200 people came out in the middle of Seneca County to join the National No Kings action and to show how rural Americans are distressed by the extreme antidemocratic actions of this administration and reject its authoritarian overreach. The drivers-by mostly honked and waved approval at the signs and cheers.  Participants sported signs that expressed common human values as well as defiance towards the government's actions that violate those values. Some signs quoted the First Amendment, the Pledge of Allegiance ("Liberty & Justice for All"), and Thomas Paine ("The Law is King").   Our event was covered by The Finger Lakes Times , Finger Lakes1 and the Finger Lakes Daily News !