Elizabeth Kollen

Retired high school teacher. Mother of 3. Gigi to 3 grandchildren. Passionate about women's rights. PNW is the best. Please make sure you are an organ donor

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

Let us not forget that we all have mistakes for which we need forgiveness and wounds requiring healing. May we all be healed, so that we can bring healing, forgiven so that we can bring forgiveness, reborn so that we can bring rebirth. #Venice

[Leslie Jones 🦋 @Lesdoggg]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

February 1st is the first day of Black History Month.

Here's the AMAZING poem by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb," read by her at the inauguration of President Biden.

When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade.
We've braved the belly of the beast,
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn't always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken,
but simply unfinished.
We the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes we are far from polished.
Far from pristine.
But that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge a union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true,
that even as we grieved, we grew,
that even as we hurt, we hoped,
that even as we tired, we tried,
that we'll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat,
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.
If we're to live up to our own time,
then victory won't lie in the blade.
But in all the bridges we've made,
that is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb.
If only we dare.
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth,
in this faith we trust.
For while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter.
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert,
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was,
but move to what shall be.
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation,
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain,
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy,
and change our children's birthright.
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west.
We will rise from the windswept northeast,
where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sunbaked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid,
the new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.

[Mark Warner @MarkWarner]

When Elmo checked in, folks weren’t doing so well. It’s why I’ve fought to invest in resources like 988 – the mental health crisis is real, and we need actual resources for folks in crisis. I’m going to keep fighting for resources for mental health.
https://t.co/V0KSrQo0Eh

[VoteVets @votevets]

Trump's LIVID after VoteVets' NFC playoff ad where Gold Star Families confront him with his own words.

His comeback? Calling grieving parents 'vile' and 'shills.'

We derailed his support in 2020, and ready to repeat!

The last thing our military needs is a Traitor-in-Chief.

[Katie Phang @KatiePhang]

Hey @SenTomCotton:

• Singapore is not China
• Singapore has been self-governed since 1959
• Singapore is not a communist state

And, here’s the real kicker for you:

• Not all Asians are Chinese and we aren’t all secretly members of the “Chinese Communist Party”

[Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer]

This is a pattern we keep seeing.

Without any accomplishments of their own to talk about:

Scores of Congressional Republicans are attending groundbreakings, ribbon-cuttings, and factory openings for projects they voted against.

[Elizabeth Kollen @ekollen1]

@ewarren I'm sorry to post before I finished. I was put on a blood thinner and a 30 day copay is $150 per month. My additional meds, a double lung transplant survivor, copays are under $8. Even my one hospital stay in the past 8 years did not cos anything. Seniors and kids get screwed.

[Elizabeth Kollen @ekollen1]

@ewarren I am a retired H.S. teacher in Washington state. I am thankful to have my supplemental insurance through the state. The monthly cost is over $500. It does cover dental and vision and the coverage is great, except for some perscriptions. I 3

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

This is insane.

The Oklahoma Republican party passed a "censure" resolution condemning their GOP Sen. James Lankford for the "crime" of ignoring Trump's orders and working with Democrats on a bill that would dramatically increase security at the border:

"Until Senator Lankford ceases from these actions, the Oklahoma Republican Party will cease all support for him,” the resolution states

It's a cult.

[GramGram (Dr. Betsy) 🌊🥰 @GramG46133627]

#wtpBLUE #DemVoice1 #ProudBlue #wtpGOTV24 #Fresh
Pres. Biden inherited an immigration system in tatters The Trump admin cut off legal pathways to citizenship leaving migrants with fewer lawful methods of entering the country and they cut funding to Central American countries

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

And there it is. Trump doesn’t want his number one issue this election taken away and he gave Johnson his marching orders. They don’t want to fix the border, they want the issue.

[FactPost @factpostnews]

Behar: Fifteen Republican governors just opted out of President Biden’s food assistance program and will now leave 8 million needy children hungry. That is what the Republican Party is doing. These anti-choice Republicans don't seem to care that 8 million children will be hungry

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

What about that time you said you got excluded from a kids’ beauty contest for being brown?

Or that time you said your dad was profiled at a market because of his turban?

[Alex Cole @acnewsitics]

America has NEVER been a racist country, says Nikki Haley, who can't use her real name because the people who'd vote for her wouldn't like it.

[Fred Guttenberg @fred_guttenberg]

THIS IS WHO THEY ARE!!! @SpeakerJohnson just actually told the truth about the border. He announced that they DO NOT WANT TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO KEEP IT AS A CAMPAIGN ISSUE. NOW THAT EVERYONE KNOWS THE TRUTH, VOTE FOR @POTUS @JoeBiden & DEMOCRATS ONLY!!!

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

15 Republican led states are opting out of a Biden Administration program to give $40 a month per child to eligible families to buy groceries over the summer. https://t.co/kftVHe0gjw

[#TuckFrump @realTuckFrumper]

PARTISAN: Republican leader says no border deal until Trump is elected https://t.co/NggDjZqcDV

[Ashley Ryan 🎧🎙🥂 @AshleyLolaRyan]

Seems like DeBoer was very concerned with making sure his timeline was correct in his PC at Alabama today and when addressing his former players yesterday. Gotta get that timeline correct!

https://t.co/YsGLfCB7So

[Beto O'Rourke @BetoORourke]

Democrats must start loudly and boldly leading on this issue or continue to cede ground to a cynical GOP that wants nothing more than to stoke chaos.