WELCOME
COCKTAILS AND CANDIDATES
Three online ZOOM gatherings, on the road to the November 2026 midterm elections, for Democrats, progressives, and all who care about our fragile American republic and our imperiled one world civilization.
THREE THURSDAY NIGHTS
October 15, October 29, November 12, 2026
7-9 PM PDT
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Welcome back to the open, lightly-moderated, freewheeling ZOOM conversations we call “Cocktails and Candidates.” Many of you recall we did a few of these in the run up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, then one immediately thereafter, and then one immediately before the presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025. (We called those latter two “trauma editions.”)
The raison d’etre of these gatherings is to provide a vehicle for politically knowledgeable and engaged citizens, on the left, to gather together online for free expression, mutual encouragement, and enhanced solidarity. We quite intentionally have NO designated expert speakers and NO designated topics. It’s an opportunity instead for YOU to hold forth and have your say, about anything and everything in the political landscape du jour.
Tell us what you’re thinking. Tell us what you’re feeling. Tell us what you think are the three worst things he has done! Tell us what you think are the three most important things we should do after – WE ALL HOPE – our coming electoral triumphs in 2026 and 2028. And tell us what you’re doing – and anything you might urge others to do – as we approach the monumentally important U.S. midterm election on November 3, 2026.
RSVP NOT REQUIRED. But it does help us much if you let us know you think you might be able to attend. Please send an email to Dr. Nancy NiParko at [email protected]. And please feel free to include a note about what YOU would like our group to discuss, and what you might like the resistance to DO.
Bring your own cocktails or cappuccinos or whatever -- and show us what you’re drinking onscreen! And that includes any kind of NONALCOHOLIC beverage for those under 21 – because we very much hope that teens and youngsters will join us as well. It’s their future, after all, that we all are working so assiduously to save.
Roll Call! Who's In?
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR ALL THREE ONLINE GATHERINGS.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89478724907?pwd=1iYrwXWOYb1mRR94dRrsaCb0IEEmcS.1
Americans for Democratic Action is a venerable multi-issue progressive advocacy organization, founded in 1947 by major mid-century voices on the left like Hubert Humphrey, Bayard Rustin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. You can find this flyer, and much else about ADA’s long legacy of fighting for peace and justice and the well-being of the 99%, at https://www.adasocal.org/.
Onward now to victory in November 2026, and the launch of our renewed fight to take back our country and save our one world civilization.
ADA SoCal Endorsements for the General Election, November 3rd,2026
US CONGRESS
District 22 - Randy Villegas
District 28 - Judy Chu
District 29 - Angelica Maria Dueñas
District 30 - Laura Friedman
District 34 - Angela Gonzales Torrez
District 37 - Sydney Kamlager-Dove
District 38 - Hilda Solis
District 41 - Linda Sanchez
District 42 - Robert Garcia
District 43 - Maxine Waters
District 44 - Nanette Dias Barragan
District 45 - Derek Tran for Congress
District 47 - Dave Min
District 48 - Marnie Von Wilpert For Congress
GOVERNOR:
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
LA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Seat 2 - Steve Veres
Seat 4 - Nancy Perlman
Seat 6 - Gabriel Buelna
CALIFORNIA STATE SUPREME COURT
JUDICIAL ENDORSEMENTS
Office #64 – Rhonda Haymon
Office #65 – Anna Slotkey Reytano
Office #87 – David Dejute
Office #131 – David Ross dual endorsement Donna Tryfman
BALLOT MEASURES
California:
• Proposition 1:
Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 – YES
• Proposition 2:
Budget Stabilization - YES
• Proposition 3:
Fund Schools and Healthcare – YES
• Proposition 4:
Public Financing of Campaigns - YES
• Proposition 5:
Recall Elections – YES
• Proposition 37:
Housing - YES
• Proposition 38:
Immunology Research Funding - NO
• Proposition 39:
Voter Identification – NO
• Proposition 40:
Billionaire Tax – YES *
• Proposition 41:
Requires Limits and Audits on New State Special Taxes – NO
• Proposition 42:
Ban On New State Personal Property Taxes – NO *
• Proposition 43:
Voting Thresholds for Special Taxes – NO *
• Proposition 44:
Business Healthcare Governance - No
• Proposition 45:
CEQA Reform - NO
LA County Measure A – Charter Amendment – Good Faith Negotiation - YES
LA City Measure E – Ethics Commission and Community Investment - YES
City Of Los Angeles –
PL – City Planning Department - Yes
EE – City Ethics, Elections and Governance – No
PRK – Recreation and Parks Budget – YES
PRK – Airports, Harbor and Water and Power Departments – NO
FD – Funding the LAFD – YES
SC – Campaign Finance Rules – YES
(An asterisk [*] indicates a high priority race)
To download the list of the Endorsements click here
TAD DALEY THE FUTURE OF THE U.N.
"From Bunker Busters to Mushroom Clouds? The Attacks Upon Iran and the Enduring Nuclear Peril."
Click on Image to view Video
TO REGISTER PLEASE CLICK ON THE ZOOM LINK
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1dyfEXFXTBOulgY7E3UE2w
"From Bunker Busters to Mushroom Clouds? The Attacks Upon Iran and the Enduring Nuclear Peril."
Please spread the word and please join us to discuss the recent Israeli and American attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leadership, and how these events are likely to further unfold in the weeks to come, and what it all portends now regarding the prospects for nuclear catastrophe and the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons. We hope to come away with a clear action agenda of what progressive peace patriots MIGHT ACTUALLY DO going forward, in order to de-escalate the latest war and to avoid nuclear war.
We will be joined by the Honorable Melissa Parke, based in Geneva. She is a longtime international lawyer with the United Nations in Kosovo, Gaza, New York, Lebanon, and Yemen, a longtime Australian Labor Party parliamentarian, and today the Executive Director of the 2017 Nobel Peace laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Joining us as well will be Seth Shelden, based in New York. He is a longtime private practice attorney and law professor, a Fulbright Scholar, and today the General Counsel and United Nations Liaison for ICAN.
Our moderator will be Dr. Tad Daley, based in Los Angeles. He is a former advisor to Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman John B. Anderson, Congresswoman Diane Watson, U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, author of the book APOCALYPSE NEVER: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World from Rutgers University Press, and today President of the Americans for Democratic Action Foundation of Southern California.
Let’s abolish the nuclear abomination. Let’s cast war onto the rubble heap of history. Let’s bring about Peace on Earth.
July 10th, 2025, 5-6:30 PM PDT on ZOOM