PHOTOS
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Local food. Local action. Catch Indivisible Ojai at the downtown Ojai Farmers’ Market on Sundays. 
GUEST SPEAKERS
Dr. Steve Shoptaw is a licensed psychologist and Professor in the UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
He spoke about the unprecedented injection of politics into science on a scale not seen since Galileo. (more)
NIH is now run by Jay Bhattacharya (now also temporarily funding the CDC), who is a COVID denier. He has added party loyalists at every step of grant applications through funding decisions, determined what can be researched and what cannot be researched, aiming to reduce the number of American scientists by 40%. They are trying to eliminate whole fields, such as studying healthcare disparities, environmental science, basic science. There is a siege of federal funding at UCLA and the UC system.
Steve talked about a “full scale” attack on the public health of all Americans, and especially targeted in four states: California, Minnesota, Colorado and Illinois, where there are drastic funding cut.
What can be done?
1. Steve writes a daily briefing – to subscribe write to him at docshoptaw@gmail.com
2. Write to your electeds and ask them to:
a. Remove party loyalists and political appointees from funding decisions
b. Return funding decisions to Institute directors and their Councils
c. Return scientific experts to study sections within their disciplines
d. Eliminate strategy of fully funding grants (instead of annual funding)
e. Remove Jay Bhattacharya as NIH Director.
3. Support CA Senate Bill 895 to start a “California Institute of Health” — to go on the November ballot.
4. Write to UC President James B. Milliken at president@ucop.edu and ask that the $8B Blue and Gold Fund be tapped to retain faculty.
W. Michael Blumenthal is an immigrant from Nazi Germany, a 100-year-old former Secretary of the Treasury under Carter, and a CEO of two fortune 500 companies. He is also the founding director of the famous Jewish Museum in Berlin. Lately he has become a spy novelist. He spoke to a crowd at the Ojai Retreat on Tuesday, March 17th.
Meet Atticus Reyes — a passionate advocate and community leader making real impact!
Atticus currently serves as a Field Representative for Assemblymember Steve Bennett, tackling critical issues like education, public safety, transportation, and immigration across our region.
He recently spoke about his firsthand experience during the Glass House raid in July — a powerful and sobering moment when federal agents targeted greenhouses on the Oxnard Plain near Camarillo. The operation led to 319 detentions and the tragic loss of farmworker Jaime Alanis Garcia.
Atticus continues to elevate these stories and push for justice and accountability.
As an OUSD Trustee, Atticus is also on the front lines ensuring the safety and well-being of students and families — because strong communities start with safe, supported schools.
Atticus Reyes is working every day to build a more just and inclusive future.
Michael Blumenthal speaking at our Feb 11 Letter and Postcard Writing Event about authoritarianism and his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, immigrant, businessman, former US Sec. Treasury, centenarian and father.