A fun way to PROTEST THE SLUSH FUND: Go to this link and take 3 minutes to read the explanation. Then download the form – that's Form WTAF 8647 – and read it, too. They are both pretty funny.
Warning: If you're thinking you don't have time to file a claim, you may need to get over yourself already! This is a childish act of civil disobedience, not a serious attempt to file a claim.
Further warning: this may recharge your batteries and could even restore your sense of humor. We have a long way to go with this resistance. If you're not having as much fun as you can with it, then you're missing the best way to “stick it to the man,” as we used to say back when LOL stood for little old ladies in tennis shoes!
and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously (especially me), even tho the situation is dead serious. Won't do us any good to survive and overcome this if we end up being total sour pusses!
thanks, Cindy - I'm really having a lot of fun with it, which I really needed!
The first time I filled out the form, I used my real name and address - then I got to thinking about that and about Trump and I tore that form up before sending it!
Now my thot is to mail a couple forms a week (why not?), using creative names and - this is the beautiful part - real addresses - but not my address. I thot about using a "creative" address, but the computer the staffer logs these into would probably reject a fake address immediately. So now I'm using my favorite MAGA politicians' home state and DC office addresses for the address. I may branch out into addresses of businesses that support ICE, too. (Please note I am only using business addresses, not personal addresses - I may be "disobedient," but I do have moral standards!)
The next name I will use is "Bonnie Endclyde."
I hope you can use this as an excuse to increase your level of joy, too.
I attended a Maryland Indivisible leaders meeting yesterday. A woman from rural red MD told her story. She voted for Trump in 2016, said she never paid attention to politics. Then her friends of 30+ years started touting all these conspiracy theories and one did not believe Sandy Hook had happened. She had enough. She saw a sign- How to Leave MAGA, found an Indivisible group and is now a leader to dump trump. She no longer is in touch with her former friends. She gave me hope. 🤗
I live in Maryland and wonder what part you consider rural Red. My question is curiosity not any attempts to focus on one area over another. We live in a senior community in Howard county and a fair number of the oldest people are still grudgingly Trump supporters. I wish I had the key to separate them from their real prejudices of his which they still embrace. My hope is in the grandchildren of some who are trying to get them to see a different future for them! Economic issues are beginning to be felt for sure.
Hi - I think she lives in southern Maryland. There were Indivisible leaders from all over MD. She did say her children are not supporting the gop and are liberal. They have not been able to convert their father she said. Take care.
That’s a very uplifting story about the woman who quit MAGA. You have to wonder about someone who thinks Sandy Hook did not occur. What do they want to see, an actual child’s body? But then it still wouldn’t penetrate because it wouldn’t be their child, and all they react to is something that hurts them personally..
These photos encourage me. They soften the heart, steel the spine and broadcast a simple message — we must stay motivated enough to stop the criminal clique from slowly boiling us alive. Thanks for showcasing the best of us.
From his first day in office, Trump has demonstrated that our constitution and laws are riddled with cracks. They exist not because the drafters were unintelligent or sloppy, but because they assumed that corrupt, evil individuals could not rise to the topmost rung, I.e., that a president would be inherently trustworthy.
The fissures in our legal infrastructure are too many and too broad to “grout over” through the legislative or judicial processes. And while building a new system from the ground up is, realistically, impossible, we need to acknowledge that our constitutional/legal structure enables Trump, and individuals of even greater malevolence who may follow him, to do irreparable damage to our democracy.
This peeks a profound conversation that is too hot and much too long to conduct here about where evil lives within all our lives and our relationship to that aspect of our humanity.
Trump’s blatant display of evil certainly is an enormous opportunity to have that conversation.
I’ll poke the bear and open with the provocative suggestion that it is the unwillingness to confront our own darkness that leads to situations as we are now dealing with.
So this isn’t simply a failure by founders long ago but rather an ongoing struggle each of us deal with throughout our lives.
Truth is grounded in the laws of physics, pure logic and the reality that time moves in only one direction. The truth is much simpler than you think. It will set you free. But truth will not always come from the mouths of people who want you to buy their groceries.
To be entertaining and therefore profitable reality must be mixed with fiction and stories that continuously change to produce yet another emotion.
I don’t disagree that our/his/their inherent human flaws are major contributors to where we find ourselves, but I suggest the immediate question before us is whether attempting to plug the holes in our listing ship is a fools errand.
The vast bulk of commentary despairing of one or another of Trump’s outrages seems to assume there is an answer, a fix, both to the immediate problem and to the hole in our constitutional/legal infrastructure through which these grotesqueries crawl. I think,and despair, that’s not the case.
An imperfect, but essentially well-intentioned and moral people have generated a deeply flawed road map to democratic outcomes, whose errors are too subtle and too numerous to repair, particularly given the modest tools available to correct them. Setting out to “fix” the errors, plug the gaps, may give us a sense of purpose, but, I fear, will not lead to an effective deterrent to the machinations of today’s, and tomorrow’s, Trumps.
Trump is manifesting the Alfredo Syndrome. He has continuous visions of wielding absolute power and ruling on the basis of his whims like Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, the longest ruling dictator in the Americas. Yet he lacks strategic insight and decisiveness while surrounding himself with toadies who seek their own mini-kingdoms, like Alfredo Corleone of The Godfather. And all of the foregoing occur while Trump is preoccupied daily with being afraid-o’ going to jail for his many crimes and corruptions.
At times when our attention and worries are understandably absorbed by the activities of the white supremacist, racist, criminal, treasonous components of the MAGA movement and the corrupt regime it supports one shouldn't forget another pillar of MAGA: the evangelicals, who in their fundamentalist, misogynistic zeal make the Taliban look like amateurs.
The N.C. initiative won't go anywhere but it is a good reminder that they are still around.
“Well, it happened. After years of anti-abortion pressure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended that states test their drinking water for abortion medication and birth control, putting the drugs on a federal list of potential “contaminants.”
Florida just ended its special session for the budget with $ allotted for wastewater testing and a hotline run by an anti-abortion group that uses data-tracking/online search ads to identify women seeking abortions.
Dems are fighting. House and Senate members (and other officials) are TRYING to show up and have been rebuffed. Some have been arrested or abused by ICE for it. I read at least one article a week about yet another incident. The question to ask is why you aren't hearing or reading about it?
This is a lot to digest. I went to link Joyce Vance inserted to piece she wrote at end of March to corral my memory. Agree reason to be cautiously optimistic but 11 circuit is on it. Jamie Raskin is a gift that keeps on giving. Thank you Kathy.
NYTimes today: “More than 200 people have now been killed in the bombing campaign against people the Trump administration has accused of smuggling drugs in the waters off South America.”
This is an abominable statistic. Trump is a crime wave that must be stopped.
I have just finished watching a report on CBS Sunday Morning about the Dilley Detention Center in Texas. It was a stark reminder that ICE is still arresting and detaining people who have no criminal record, and this includes children. Many of these people, yes immigrants seeking to become citizens, have done everything the government has demanded of them, i.e regular reporting. They were still arrested. Those few who have been released report terrible conditions, including bad water, worms in their food, unsanitary conditions. All denied by those running these places, even though no one is allowed in to document whether these conditions are acceptable or not. Even members of Congress are turned away. Sure makes you think something stinks. With all the other heinous things going on, this is another one we must continue to remind Congress they must address. It gets tiring but that's what "they" want. We cannot let up and happily I see that every day in the photos posted in your newsletter. Off to send another letter to Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin ( the former has yet to acknowledge my correspondence).
For now I am concentrating on getting the best candidates chosen in our Primary coming up in June. The company that printed our mail in ballots caused these to be reprinted so we're resending ballots marked alternate. I try to focus less on Trump because he's not a king and more on the local state and national elections for our return to the House. Neither of our senators is up for reelection this year. I encourage everyone to reach out with monetary support to candidates you support in other states that will make a real difference in the composition of the next Congress. We can't vote in them but we can write to encourage them. And blessings on everyone who's going out to protest! Our Gorman Road protest is uplifting for me! Thanks for all of you.
Grandparents for Vaccine an organization that had contacted me around the New Year. The organization started in September of last year and now has representatives in more than 30 states. Since I was frustrated with what has happened under the present administration in politicizing vaccine protection and trying to decimate the CDC. I resonated with their goal of being apolitical and yet providing helpful information by sharing our stories from our years of experience of how vaccines have been critical to protecting health.
A fun way to PROTEST THE SLUSH FUND: Go to this link and take 3 minutes to read the explanation. Then download the form – that's Form WTAF 8647 – and read it, too. They are both pretty funny.
Warning: If you're thinking you don't have time to file a claim, you may need to get over yourself already! This is a childish act of civil disobedience, not a serious attempt to file a claim.
Further warning: this may recharge your batteries and could even restore your sense of humor. We have a long way to go with this resistance. If you're not having as much fun as you can with it, then you're missing the best way to “stick it to the man,” as we used to say back when LOL stood for little old ladies in tennis shoes!
https://wtaf8647.com/
Very clever idea. Thanks for sharing this with us, Karen.
This is terrific! Already downloaded and sent to all my people! Thanks Karen.
Me too.
Fantastic! I love it. Will do!
Gave me a good laugh. It's funny in spite of, or maybe because of, it's all so true.
and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously (especially me), even tho the situation is dead serious. Won't do us any good to survive and overcome this if we end up being total sour pusses!
Overwhelm the dysfunctional system 😁
I love this idea!
thanks, Cindy - I'm really having a lot of fun with it, which I really needed!
The first time I filled out the form, I used my real name and address - then I got to thinking about that and about Trump and I tore that form up before sending it!
Now my thot is to mail a couple forms a week (why not?), using creative names and - this is the beautiful part - real addresses - but not my address. I thot about using a "creative" address, but the computer the staffer logs these into would probably reject a fake address immediately. So now I'm using my favorite MAGA politicians' home state and DC office addresses for the address. I may branch out into addresses of businesses that support ICE, too. (Please note I am only using business addresses, not personal addresses - I may be "disobedient," but I do have moral standards!)
The next name I will use is "Bonnie Endclyde."
I hope you can use this as an excuse to increase your level of joy, too.
That is good. And now I know I can print from iPad 😂. Lack of tech savvy. Will send too.
I attended a Maryland Indivisible leaders meeting yesterday. A woman from rural red MD told her story. She voted for Trump in 2016, said she never paid attention to politics. Then her friends of 30+ years started touting all these conspiracy theories and one did not believe Sandy Hook had happened. She had enough. She saw a sign- How to Leave MAGA, found an Indivisible group and is now a leader to dump trump. She no longer is in touch with her former friends. She gave me hope. 🤗
I live in Maryland and wonder what part you consider rural Red. My question is curiosity not any attempts to focus on one area over another. We live in a senior community in Howard county and a fair number of the oldest people are still grudgingly Trump supporters. I wish I had the key to separate them from their real prejudices of his which they still embrace. My hope is in the grandchildren of some who are trying to get them to see a different future for them! Economic issues are beginning to be felt for sure.
Hi - I think she lives in southern Maryland. There were Indivisible leaders from all over MD. She did say her children are not supporting the gop and are liberal. They have not been able to convert their father she said. Take care.
That’s a very uplifting story about the woman who quit MAGA. You have to wonder about someone who thinks Sandy Hook did not occur. What do they want to see, an actual child’s body? But then it still wouldn’t penetrate because it wouldn’t be their child, and all they react to is something that hurts them personally..
JUNE 14 — NO KINGS PROTEST!! Mobilize.us or indivisible.org for events
These photos encourage me. They soften the heart, steel the spine and broadcast a simple message — we must stay motivated enough to stop the criminal clique from slowly boiling us alive. Thanks for showcasing the best of us.
Seeing all these folks standing up everywhere makes me proud to be an American! Great photos and signs!
From his first day in office, Trump has demonstrated that our constitution and laws are riddled with cracks. They exist not because the drafters were unintelligent or sloppy, but because they assumed that corrupt, evil individuals could not rise to the topmost rung, I.e., that a president would be inherently trustworthy.
The fissures in our legal infrastructure are too many and too broad to “grout over” through the legislative or judicial processes. And while building a new system from the ground up is, realistically, impossible, we need to acknowledge that our constitutional/legal structure enables Trump, and individuals of even greater malevolence who may follow him, to do irreparable damage to our democracy.
This peeks a profound conversation that is too hot and much too long to conduct here about where evil lives within all our lives and our relationship to that aspect of our humanity.
Trump’s blatant display of evil certainly is an enormous opportunity to have that conversation.
I’ll poke the bear and open with the provocative suggestion that it is the unwillingness to confront our own darkness that leads to situations as we are now dealing with.
So this isn’t simply a failure by founders long ago but rather an ongoing struggle each of us deal with throughout our lives.
Wow! Very deep and philosophical, and I think you make an excellent point. "Heart of Darkness".
Truth is grounded in the laws of physics, pure logic and the reality that time moves in only one direction. The truth is much simpler than you think. It will set you free. But truth will not always come from the mouths of people who want you to buy their groceries.
To be entertaining and therefore profitable reality must be mixed with fiction and stories that continuously change to produce yet another emotion.
Response to Bern S:
I don’t disagree that our/his/their inherent human flaws are major contributors to where we find ourselves, but I suggest the immediate question before us is whether attempting to plug the holes in our listing ship is a fools errand.
The vast bulk of commentary despairing of one or another of Trump’s outrages seems to assume there is an answer, a fix, both to the immediate problem and to the hole in our constitutional/legal infrastructure through which these grotesqueries crawl. I think,and despair, that’s not the case.
An imperfect, but essentially well-intentioned and moral people have generated a deeply flawed road map to democratic outcomes, whose errors are too subtle and too numerous to repair, particularly given the modest tools available to correct them. Setting out to “fix” the errors, plug the gaps, may give us a sense of purpose, but, I fear, will not lead to an effective deterrent to the machinations of today’s, and tomorrow’s, Trumps.
PS—pardon the mixed metaphor(s)
Trump is manifesting the Alfredo Syndrome. He has continuous visions of wielding absolute power and ruling on the basis of his whims like Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, the longest ruling dictator in the Americas. Yet he lacks strategic insight and decisiveness while surrounding himself with toadies who seek their own mini-kingdoms, like Alfredo Corleone of The Godfather. And all of the foregoing occur while Trump is preoccupied daily with being afraid-o’ going to jail for his many crimes and corruptions.
At times when our attention and worries are understandably absorbed by the activities of the white supremacist, racist, criminal, treasonous components of the MAGA movement and the corrupt regime it supports one shouldn't forget another pillar of MAGA: the evangelicals, who in their fundamentalist, misogynistic zeal make the Taliban look like amateurs.
The N.C. initiative won't go anywhere but it is a good reminder that they are still around.
https://www.newsweek.com/republican-bill-deadly-force-stop-abortions-north-carolina-12005136
Jessica Valenti has more on NC HB 1232,contact info for sponsors and why we should pay attention to these bills.They are the roadmap for the future…
https://jessica.substack.com/p/north-carolina-bill-would-legalize?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=
“Well, it happened. After years of anti-abortion pressure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended that states test their drinking water for abortion medication and birth control, putting the drugs on a federal list of potential “contaminants.”
https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/amid-a-growing-national-witch-hunt?r=fqsxl&utm_medium=ios
Florida just ended its special session for the budget with $ allotted for wastewater testing and a hotline run by an anti-abortion group that uses data-tracking/online search ads to identify women seeking abortions.
https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/a-tour-of-floridas-new-state-budget?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
My fave sign from today’s post.🪧
I AM NO LONGER ACCEPTING THE THINGS I CAN NOT CHANGE
I AM CHANGING THE
THINGS I CANNOT ACCEPT
Mine too. This is a message I will use on my signs.
White Supremacy Is Terrorism
Where does Trump find so many people I can’t even stand to listen to, starting with him, all down the line. Hegseth, Patel, Blanche, the list goes on.
Democratic house & senate members should show up at every concentration camp in America at least once a week to
Inspect and report findings. Why does it feel like Democrats are not fighting???? No deals with fascists!
Dems are fighting. House and Senate members (and other officials) are TRYING to show up and have been rebuffed. Some have been arrested or abused by ICE for it. I read at least one article a week about yet another incident. The question to ask is why you aren't hearing or reading about it?
This post from Joyce Vance made my Sunday.She says there’s good reason to be optimistic.😎
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/trumps-past-is-catching-up-with-him?
This is a lot to digest. I went to link Joyce Vance inserted to piece she wrote at end of March to corral my memory. Agree reason to be cautiously optimistic but 11 circuit is on it. Jamie Raskin is a gift that keeps on giving. Thank you Kathy.
Hell No - Jim Crow - 2.0!
Is a great protest chant!
NYTimes today: “More than 200 people have now been killed in the bombing campaign against people the Trump administration has accused of smuggling drugs in the waters off South America.”
This is an abominable statistic. Trump is a crime wave that must be stopped.
I have just finished watching a report on CBS Sunday Morning about the Dilley Detention Center in Texas. It was a stark reminder that ICE is still arresting and detaining people who have no criminal record, and this includes children. Many of these people, yes immigrants seeking to become citizens, have done everything the government has demanded of them, i.e regular reporting. They were still arrested. Those few who have been released report terrible conditions, including bad water, worms in their food, unsanitary conditions. All denied by those running these places, even though no one is allowed in to document whether these conditions are acceptable or not. Even members of Congress are turned away. Sure makes you think something stinks. With all the other heinous things going on, this is another one we must continue to remind Congress they must address. It gets tiring but that's what "they" want. We cannot let up and happily I see that every day in the photos posted in your newsletter. Off to send another letter to Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin ( the former has yet to acknowledge my correspondence).
For now I am concentrating on getting the best candidates chosen in our Primary coming up in June. The company that printed our mail in ballots caused these to be reprinted so we're resending ballots marked alternate. I try to focus less on Trump because he's not a king and more on the local state and national elections for our return to the House. Neither of our senators is up for reelection this year. I encourage everyone to reach out with monetary support to candidates you support in other states that will make a real difference in the composition of the next Congress. We can't vote in them but we can write to encourage them. And blessings on everyone who's going out to protest! Our Gorman Road protest is uplifting for me! Thanks for all of you.
Grandparents for Vaccine an organization that had contacted me around the New Year. The organization started in September of last year and now has representatives in more than 30 states. Since I was frustrated with what has happened under the present administration in politicizing vaccine protection and trying to decimate the CDC. I resonated with their goal of being apolitical and yet providing helpful information by sharing our stories from our years of experience of how vaccines have been critical to protecting health.
Incase this is an area of interest, or you have not been in contact with the GFV, I am attaching the latest newsletter. https://mcusercontent.com/662eb2315afd43f9e8f31f179/files/ba073cf6-5b2b-c179-b9d9-d1962d72b3a6/FINAL1_Grandparents_for_Vaccines_Newsletter_May_2026_.pdf