Cough up those returns!

Signing an online petition can seem like a feeble substitute for actual IRL activism—that’s why critics call it “slacktivism.” But even though typing in your name and email is a pretty minimal show of effort, it might not be totally meaningless. Under the We the People system, any petition that reaches 100,000 signatures receives an official response, and that’s a potentially powerful thing, at least if Trump doesn’t discontinue the system. –A Petition Didn’t Make Trump Give Up His Tax Returns—But It Made Him Listen, Wired


 

No matter how high you are riding,
Our need to know isn’t subsiding.
Curiosity burns—
Cough up those returns!
Just what in the heck are you hiding?

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

 


 

She Resisted


“The Senate has silenced Elizabeth Warren.

And by doing so, majority Republicans just handed the liberal firebrand a megaphone — further elevating President Donald Trump’s fiercest and most prominent critic in the Senate and turning her into a Democratic hero.”


Silencing Elizabeth Warren backfires on Senate GOP, CNN


 

They shushed her, but still she insisted.
They threatened her, but she resisted.
So the minions of hate
Threw her out, locked the gate.
Nevertheless, she persisted.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

Yes, nevertheless she persisted
and many more women enlisted
to strengthen the cause
and fight without pause
with raised hands defiantly fisted.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017


 

Russian Ballet (4-link limerick chain)




“The latest disclosures — and the Trump administration’s contradictory accounts of them — have deepened the questions about Russia’s role in the election and its aftermath. The affair has fueled calls for congressional and independent investigations, and toppled another close Trump aide, Michael T. Flynn, who resigned as national security adviser last month after admitting he had misled the administration over his contacts with Mr. Kislyak.”

Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself from Russia InquiryThe New York Times

“The National Security Agency risks a brain-drain of hackers and cyber spies due to a tumultuous reorganization and worries about the acrimonious relationship between the intelligence community and President Donald Trump, according to current and former NSA officials and cybersecurity industry sources.”

NSA Risks Talent Exodus Amid Morale Slump: Trump Fears
Slashdot

 


 

With Flynn off the stage and away,
Now Sessions leaps into this play.
Just watching them dance
In their bright, flaming pants—
It’s a virtual Russian ballet!

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

It’s a virtual Russian ballet
as the chorus jumps into the fray,
and their pants are on fire,
with flames leaping higher.
Begin the impeachment today!

© Mary Boren, 2017

Begin the impeachment today.
Let truthfulness now have a say
by shining its light
on all that’s not right
while keeping the Russians at bay.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

While keeping the Russians at bay
requires a commitment to stay
restrained but alert,
we all could get hurt
if intelligence analysts stray.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

 


 

Who needs fresh water that’s clean

“Our public lands – millions of acres of forests, mountains, rivers, and plains – are a part of who we are. Right now, powerful special interests and their political allies are waging an aggressive campaign to sell off public lands in the west. They want to see our national lands privatized for short-term gain, at the expense of our shared American inheritance. This public land heist threatens hundreds of millions of acres of national forests, rangelands, wildlife refuges, parks, wilderness areas, and historic sites, but it also threatens the fundamental American notion that our public lands belong to everyone.”

protectourpublicland.org

 

Stand Up For Public Lands from Outdoor Alliance on Vimeo.


 

Who needs fresh water that’s clean,
Or parklands and forests of green?
The BLOTUS has planned
To make our fair land
A cold-blooded killing machine.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017


 

Did you vote for the golden haired duffer

 

To anyone who claims they “suffered for the last 8 years under President Obama,” please read this brilliant response from Scott Mednick when a Facebook friend told him, “We suffered for 8 years. Now it’s your turn.”

Scott’s reply:

“I am surprised you would wish suffering upon me because I did not support Trump.

That of course is your right, I suppose. I do not wish harm on anyone. Your statement seems to continue an ‘US v THEM’ mentality. The election is over. It is important to get past campaigning and campaign rhetoric and get down to what is uniting not dividing and what is best for ALL Americans.

There will never be a President who does everything to everyone’s liking. There are things President Obama (and President Clinton) did that I do not like and conversely there are things I can point to that the Presidents Bush did that I agree with. So I am not 100% in lock step with the outgoing President but have supported him and the overall job he did.

And, if you recall, during the Presidential Campaign back in 2008 the campaign was halted because of the “historic crisis in our financial system.” Wall Street bailout negotiations intervened in the election process.

The very sobering reality was that there likely could be a Depression and the world financial markets could collapse. The United States was losing 800,000 jobs a month and was poised to lose at least 10 million jobs the first year once the new President took office. We were in an economic freefall.
So let us recall that ALL of America was suffering terribly at the beginning of Obama’s Presidency.

But I wanted to look back over the last 8 years and ask you a few questions.

Since much of the rhetoric before Obama was elected was that he would impose Sharia Law, Take Away Your Guns, Create Death Panels, Destroy the Economy, Impose Socialism and, since you will agree that NONE of this came to pass,

So, Tim Brown, I was wondering…
Why have you suffered so?

So let me ask:

Gay and lesbian couples can now marry and enjoy the benefits they had been deprived of.
Has this caused your suffering?

When Obama took office, the Dow was 6,626. Now it is over 19,000.
Has this caused your suffering?

We had 82 straight months of private sector job growth – the longest streak in the history of the United States.
Has this caused your suffering?

Especially considering where he the economy was when he took over, an amazing 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama (far more than President Bush).
Has this caused your suffering?

Obama has taken Unemployment rate from 10% down to 4.7%.
Has this caused your suffering?

Homelessness among US Veterans has dropped by half.
Has this caused your suffering?

Obama shut down the US secret overseas prisons.
Has this caused your suffering?

President Obama has created a policy for the families of fallen soldiers to have their travel paid for to be there when remains are flown home.
Has this caused your suffering?

We landed a rover on Mars.
Has this caused your suffering?

He signed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Has this caused your suffering?

Uninsured adults has decreased to below 10%: 90% of adults are insured – an increase of 20 Million Adults.
Has this caused your suffering?

People are now covered for pre-existing conditions.
Has this caused your suffering?

Insurance Premiums increased an average of $4,677 from 2002-2008, an increase of 58% under Bush. The growth of these insurance premiums has gone up $4,145 – a slower rate of increase.
Has this caused your suffering?

Obama added Billions of dollars to mental health care for our Veterans.
Has this caused your suffering?

Consumer confidence has gone from 37.7 to 98.1 during Obama’s tenure.
Has this caused your suffering?

He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Has this caused your suffering?

His bi-annual Nuclear Summit convinced 16 countries to give up and destroy all their loose nuclear material so it could not be stolen.
Has this caused your suffering?

He saved the US Auto industry. American cars sold at the beginning of his term were 10.4M and upon his exit 17.5M.
Has this caused your suffering?

The deficit as a percentage of the GDP has gone from 9.8% to 3.2%.
Has this caused your suffering?

The deficit itself was cut by $800 Billion Dollars.
Has this caused your suffering?

Obama preserved the middle class tax cuts.
Has this caused your suffering?

Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons.
Has this caused your suffering?

He signed Credit Card reform so that rates could not be raised without you being notified.
Has this caused your suffering?

He outlawed Government contractors from discriminating against LGBT persons.
Has this caused your suffering?

He doubled Pell Grants.
Has this caused your suffering?

Abortion rates are down.
Has this caused your suffering?

Violent crime is down.
Has this caused your suffering?

He overturned the scientific ban on stem cell research.
Has this caused your suffering?

He protected Net Neutrality.
Has this caused your suffering?

Obamacare has extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (will now be solvent until 2030).
Has this caused your suffering?

President Obama repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Has this caused your suffering?

He banned torture.
Has this caused your suffering?

He negotiated with Syria to give up its chemical weapons and they were destroyed.
Has this caused your suffering?

Solar and Wind Power are at an all time high.
Has this caused your suffering?

High School Graduation rates hit 83% – an all time high.
Has this caused your suffering?

Corporate profits are up by 144%.
Has this caused your suffering?

He normalized relations with Cuba.
Has this caused your suffering?

Reliance on foreign oil is at a 40 year low.
Has this caused your suffering?

US Exports are up 28%.
Has this caused your suffering?

He appointed the most diverse cabinet ever.
Has this caused your suffering?

He reduced the number of troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Has this caused your suffering?

Yes, he killed Osama Bin Laden and retrieved all the documents in his possession for analysis.
Perhaps THIS caused your suffering?

From an objective standpoint it would appear that the last 8 years have seen some great progress and we were saved from a financial collapse. Things are not perfect. Things can always be better. We are on much better footing now than we were in 2008.

I look forward to understanding what caused you to suffer so much under Obama these last 8 years.
Oh yea… Benghazi.”

 


 

Did you vote for the golden-haired duffer
Who told you Barack made you suffer?
If you’re rich, male, and white,
You may think you’re all right.
If you’re not, things are just getting tougher.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

 


 

There seems to be no way of quelling


“It wasn’t long ago that pretty much everyone across the political spectrum could agree that it was embarrassing when our elected officials failed to use the English language correctly. Just ask former vice president Dan Quayle how to spell “potato.”

Yet as critics pounced on the latest errors as a sign of carelessness or incompetence, Trump defenders howled back, blasting the criticism as liberal-elite snobbery. It’s come to this: The fault lines of our deeply divided country have crossed into the once-neutral territory of grammar and spelling.”  

The Trump administration has a spelling problem.
 The Washington Post


There seems to be no way of quelling
His lying and whining and yelling.
Of this I am sure,
But must we endure
His wretched alternative spelling?

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

His wretched alternative spelling
appears not to hurt what he’s selling
to frenetic fans
impressed with his plans
who still find his tweets so compelling.

© Susan Elizabeth


The one thing that gets him to gushin’

“The latest sign of Trump’s infatuation is his refusal to accept the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that Russian state-sponsored hackers meddled in our election — a risky and provocative operation that could have been authorized only by Vladimir Putin.”

Why does Trump go googly-eyed for Putin?
The Washington Post

 


The one thing that gets him to gushin’
And turns his fake tan into blushin’
Is across the great blue,
Where Palin can view:
He’s crushin’ on someone who’s Russian.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

He’s crushin’ on someone who’s Russian
but Putin’s preparing a hushin’.
He knows trump’s a fool
but such a grand tool
to help the bear’s beasties to rush in!

© Susan Elizabeth, 2017