February 27, 2026 Newsletter by Porter Kelly
"America is not like a blanket — one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread." —Rev. Jesse Jackson (RIP, 1941-2026)
NOTES FROM LEAH B:
1) During the State of the Union, Trump said he's going to start a program in which the government contributes up to $1,000 in matching funds for 401K retirement plans. This is actually a Biden-era program called the Savers Match Program that was introduced by the Secure 2.0 Act in 2022 and is set to start in 2027. Once again, Trump proves he's a con artist, taking credit for the work of others.
2) Reminder, we have a number of events scheduled for March and, as a result, we will not be holding a board meeting in March. Our next board meeting will be April 15th at 5:30 at Memorial United Methodist Church in Gladstone.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Delta Dems Fundraiser "Chili, Cheesecake and Cheer"
Friday, February 28, 3-6pm
More information and RSVP here: https://mobilize.us/s/yCR0Pm
Take Action Tuesday Protest - Tuesday, March 3, noon-1pm*
We are invited to join the UU group every Tuesday on the corner near Walgreen’s in Escanaba. Please do not park in the Walgreen's lot, there is parking on Ludington and side streets.
*When the temperature is above 40 degrees, the Tuesday protest hours extend to 11:30am-1:30pm.
Signs of Fascism Protest - March 6, 4:30 to 6:30pm
We will meet on the corner near Walgreen's in Escanaba. Please dress in black and bring black signs with white lettering depicting a sign of fascism. We will also be collecting food for our local food bank. Again, please do not park in the Walgreen's lot.
More info and RSVP here: Signs of Fascism
Meet the Candidates Town Hall - March 19, 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
This will be an opportunity to meet candidates across all parties who are running against Congressman Jack Bergman. Jack Bergman has declined to attend, so we will have an empty seat representing him. The event will be held at Bay College Room 952 at the Heirman Center for March 19!
Confirmed candidates attending:
Kyle Bloomquist (Democrat)
Wayne Stiles (Democrat)
Zebulon Feaetherley (Independent)
Justin Michal (Republican)
No Kings National Protest - March 28th, noon until 2pm
We will meet in front of Walgreens in Escanaba. Please do not park in the Walgreens lot, there is parking on Ludington or the side streets. Please RSVP here and share the link: NO KINGS Delta County
Post-No Kings Social Meet-up - March 28, immediately following No Kings event
Following the No Kings event, we will meet up for coffee and donuts at The Donut Connection 2315 1st Avenue North in Escanaba.
NOTES FROM INDIVISIBLE "WHAT'S THE PLAN?" NATIONAL MEETING (2-26-26):
1) They don't have specific guidance yet about how to fight all of the voter suppression techniques (such as ICE at polling places, USPS being allowed to hold our mail as long as they want) because some of them are still being challenged in courts but they will closer to the elections
2) Discussed Hegsweth's plans to use Anthropic AI Claude to build mass surveillance and automatic robotic weapons. Leah said that rather than coming to the aid of Anthropic, we should express our anger to our representatives about them trying to create a surveillance state and killer robots
3) Someone asked how to respond to "allies" who want to move to violence and don't think non-violent resistance works. Ezra made the initial point that those people are not actually our allies because non-violence is the cornerstone of our movement. They discussed the fact that it's not just because we don't like violence, it's also because there is a large body of evidence showing that it works better. Engaging in violence is a red line for this movement.
LINK TO NEXT WEEK’S NATIONAL "WHAT'S THE PLAN?" CALL:
REQUESTS, INVITATIONS AND INFORMATION FROM OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:
1) Statewide Indivisible of Michigan (SWIM) sent lots of information including toolkits on
2) The Michigan Democratic Party sent an email about becoming a precinct delegate.
What is a Precinct?
A precinct is the smallest political unit in the country and the heart of grassroots political organization. Your “precinct” is where you are registered to vote. It is your neighborhood. You know the people and you know what issues are most important to them. State-wide information on qualifications and more can be found here.
What is a Precinct Delegate, and What Do They Do?
Precinct delegates serve as a bridge between the voters in their neighborhood and the local Democratic Party
Why is this important?
A lack of Precinct Delegates can lower voter turnout in underserved areas, especially in midterm and local elections.
If interested in more information, please email porter@porterkelly.com and she will forward the entire email and attachments to you.
THREE-MINUTE CALL TO ACTION:
Elon Musk's Grok AI, which is part of X (formerly Twitter), has been making AI pornographic images of real people, including of children. Rather than stop Grok from doing this, Musk has made it a paid "feature." This is disgusting. Our political leaders are legitimizing this by continuing to use X...tell them to stop! This link will automatically generate letters to your own reps, customized for Democrats and Republicans. If you're already on Action Network, this will actually only take less than a minute!
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-elected-leaders-dump-your-toxic-x?source=direct_link&