November PAD Chapbook Challenge 2019: Day 16: Break Free of Tyranny

Image by Annalise Batista from Pixabay

it seems to me

that for a nation of people

who love to talk about freedom

there were all too damn many of us

willing to trade our freedom

to be under the orange thumb

of a tangerine despot

now it's time

to put up or shut up

now it's time

to take our country back

now it's time

to realize that electing

a rude, loudmouthed reality tv star

with an ego the size of Jupiter

was a really stupid idea

and now it's time

to impeach the sonofabitch

who shouldn't have been in the White House

in the first damn place

now it's time

to fix our mistake

and really make America great

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Notes:

The November PAD Chapbook Challenge prompt for today was to write a "free" poem. So I decided to move over, Rover, and let Sly take over and write a free verse about breaking free from the tRump tyranny. No putting a fine point on this one. Impeach the illegitimate bastard. 

Yes, Pence is his own brand of awful. We'll deal with him next.

Even more worrisome to me than the fact that Lord Dampnut and the Gentleman Serial Killer ran for office is the fact that there were enough people willing to vote for them that they got elected. Anyone who thinks that we live in a country where racism, sexism, classism, and all the other shitty little isms are a thing of the past is, as Flavor Flav once said, blind from the facts.

Shadorma: Get Sick and Die

Hookworm

Despite the

 Worst efforts of the

 New order

 To insure

 My early death, I live on

 And I will fight them

~The Real Cie~ 

Notes:

This piece was inspired by this post about the treatment of sick and poor people in Lord Dampnut's Amerikkka. As part of the working poor class, and as a disabled person, living in Lord Dampnut's Amerikkka is terrifying.

30 Days of Haiga: Day 14: Lament for My Flag

Original background image:

Copyright: milena1234 / 123RF Stock Photo

Fighter planes image (upper left corner) source NPR News

Racist graffiti image source: Olean Times Herald

Misogynist quote source: Donald Trump

Notes:

I like to think the piece speaks for itself, but I will include a little personal history. 

When I was a young child in my early school years, I was very proud when it came time to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sprang to my large and far from dainty feet, puffed out my scrawny chest, put my hand over my stalwart young heart, and spoke those hallowed words in my biggest voice. 

I was born in 1965. I didn't go to Kindergarten. Many years later I had a nightmare that Ronald Reagan ordered me to go back to school starting with Kindergarten. Initially, I attempted to comply, but then I realized that there was no legally binding reason for me to do this and I said "I quit," and walked out of the classroom to the sound of Mr. Reagan's voice berating me as a loser.

From first through third grade, the Viet Nam war was still taking place. I believed that the United States would eventually see that the war was a bad idea and would end it, so I said the Pledge proudly because I believed that my fine country would eventually do the right thing because we were the Good Guys.

During the next several years, the country was healing from the aftereffects of the Viet Nam War. I believed that we were headed in the right direction, and I thought that Jimmy Carter was a fine president and would continue to take us that way.

The Reagan era began when I was fifteen years old and I came to believe that we were all doomed to either eat flaming death in a nuclear holocaust or freeze to death in the nuclear winter which would follow. The Pledge of Allegiance lost its former wondrous appeal to me, but I still said it because I felt it was my duty as a patriot to try and believe in my country.

As my son says, the United States is still one of the best countries to live in, but we have a lot of problems. The election of Donald Trump brought a plethora of pathology boiling to the surface. 

We are not post-racist or post-misogynist and we are severely intolerant of anyone who isn't a God-fearing American "Christian." I put Christian in quotes because I don't think the behavior of those who subscribe to the ideals of American religious fundamentalists is Christ-like in any way. There is a frightening new wave of nationalism, and free speech is under fire. There is normalization of bigotry and intolerance.

This is not the America that young me believed in when she put her hand over her heart to proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school and even at home in her bedroom on Saturday and Sunday because she thought it was the right thing to do.

This America brings tears to the eyes of middle-aged, working class me as I write these words. I despair for the loss of innocence in the heart of the child I once was and fear for the future of who I have become, for those I love, and for my fellow citizens of this world.

~The Real Cie~

As real as it gets

The Cheese Grates It: Let's Focus on Issues, not Bodies

Donald Trump's character and policies affect the country and potentially the world. Melania Trump's nude photos do not.

Not that anyone I know is doing this, but how about we focus on the political aspects of the president elect and vice president elect and their deplorable cabinet picks rather than taking cheap shots at Donald Trump's physique or the photos that Melania Trump posed for in the past, both things that have no bearing on anything of any consequence.

I really couldn't give a rip about the photos. I can't stand the hypocrisy of many of Trump's supporters, though, who lambasted Michelle Obama for wearing a modest sleeveless dress, saying it wasn't "fitting" for a first lady, but completely ignore Melania Trump wearing far less. Notice I said the hypocrisy of the supporters, not her posing.

In any case, calling Melania Trump a whore does not solve the real problem: the damage that Donald Trump and MIke Pence are going to do while they're in office. I wish people would refrain from such cheap insults and also from the cheap shots at Trump's physique. You aren't hurting Trump by fat shaming him, you are hurting innocent people who may have that body type and see all the insults hurled at a person whose body looks like theirs, or may have loved ones with that body type. Instead of cheap shots, let's focus on the real issue: their politics.

I posed for art classes many years ago, and yes, I do mean buck nekkid. I had people (not the art students or teachers) saying that I must be an "exhibitionist" and thinking that I must be promiscuous. Nothing could be further from the truth. I dress very modestly, my clothing tends to be loose and concealing. I am far from promiscuous. My relationships were few and far between. Unfortunately, they were always bad, and as it happens, I have been celibate by choice since 2000 and have no desire to change that truth in this lifetime.

Nude photos (or artwork) are inconsequential. You can't glean anything about anyone's character based on whether or not they were comfortable posing nude.

Melania Trump is not the one holding the office of the President. Let's focus on the character and actions of the person who is, on his vice president, and on others holding key positions. Those are the people whose actions will affect our futures.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

There Was One Group Trump Forgot To Offend: The Dying

For those trying to excuse this mess by writing it off as "crude humor":

Crude humor is fine for stand-up comedians. This sort of schtick is unsuitable for a person pursuing the presidency of a country. Time and time again he proves himself to be crass and immature. 

The President of the United States needs to carry themselves with a modicum of decency and decorum. He is not fit to be president.

~Cie and Wanda~

Cozying Up to Putin is a Bad Thing

Ukraine: Man shelled as he stood on his balcony in Donetsk *VERY GRAPHIC*

 There is great unrest in the countries that made up the former USSR. Putin is not to be trusted. Yet Donald Trump is all too happy to cozy up to this evil man.

A vote for Trump is a vote for turning back the clock on advancements made in civil rights, including better treatment for women, minorities, and GLBTQIA+ folk.

We can't state strongly enough how important it is to vote against Trump this November. 

We need a leadership that is going to keep the likes of Putin at a distance, not one that intends to act like fraternity buddies with him.

Aurora

for

Team Netherworld

Source: democraticunderground.com

 

Source: Progressillinois.com

Source: dailykos.com

Happy Independence Day If You Celebrate Such

The above flag is the Gadsden Flag, designed by American general Christopher Gadsden in 1775. 

This was my late father's favorite American flag. He flew it every Independence Day.

My father was a great fan of Independence Day. He was a great believer in what it stood for.

He also liked fireworks.

Make that loved fireworks.

My father would be horrified at the mess that is this year's election.

You can stop reading here if you don't want political opinion with your hot dogs and fireworks.

My father was a Libertarian rather than a Republican. He and I didn't agree on a lot of things in the political spectrum. However, we did agree that protecting the environment was an imperative. I tended to sway things towards talking about the environment, and then the conversation went well.

My father probably would have voted for a third party candidate rather than putting in a vote for either Donald T. Rump or Hillary Clinton.

I am of the opinion that Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two evils and will thus vote for her, regardless of the fact that I really don't care for her. I don't think she will do as much damage as The Donald.

Any way you look at it, we're screwed. So I'll take the "screwed" that at least has the decency to bring along lube.

Crass jokes aside, my reasoning will follow.

I identify as a liberal politically, but I am not fond of neoliberalism Neoliberalism believes in such things as legalizing prostitution, which I do not. Neoliberalism believes in such things as a cafe where a man can get a blow job with his coffee. I do not. 

As a woman, I feel that neoliberalism sees me as just as much of an object as reactionary conservatism, it just sees me as a piece of ass whereas reactionary conservatism sees me as an indentured servant.

I am a liberal. I am not a neoliberal.

I believe in equal treatment for all people: people of all races, men, women, intersexed people, transgender people, people of all sexual orientations. I believe in the separation of church and state. I believe that we must socialize our medical system because the current mess we're in is killing people.

I also believe that we're in one hell of a fix right now.

The fellow who was my school's class president the year that I graduated is a very conservative Mormon. He is also a very kind and considerate person, and although he and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, we respect one another. He is not fond of Hillary Clinton, but he is appalled by Donald Trump and found himself wondering how the Republican party could ever have ended up nominating this monster.

The great documentary filmmaker Ken Burns wonders how Christians could vote for Trump. He points out that Trump lusts after his own daughter and makes crass and hateful statements about women's breasts and bodies.

"How is that in any way Christ-like?" Mr. Burns asks.

Thus, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton, although I'm far from fond of her.

Hillary Clinton reminds me a bit of Margaret Thatcher. 

People in Britain sang "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" when Thatcher died.

I really do not want Hillary Clinton in the White House. 

However, I would far rather have Margaret Thatcher in the White House than Josef Stalin without the class, which is what I feel Donald Trump is.

We lose either way, but where Mitt Romney would have set back the clock on treatment of women and minorities to the 1950's, Trump will set it back to the time of the Civil War. 

Trump is so bad that I would choose Romney over Trump.

Trump is a racist who sees women as pieces of ass. Never mind how badly people with disabilities, including mental illness, would fare in a Trump regime.

Trump mocking a disabled reporter. You can't make this shit up.

Even if Trump is mostly ineffective during his time in office, having someone like him with attitudes like his in the highest office in the land sets the tone for treating those in lesser social positions like shit. The gains that have been made in securing protection for non-whites, for women, for those who do not identify as heterosexual, for intersexed and transgender people, for people with disabilities, either physical or mental, will be either eradicated or set back. 

A Hillary Clinton presidency might be a nightmare, but a Trump presidency is an express elevator to hell.

Please, let's at least preserve the mess we've got. 

We really can't allow things to get worse.

 Happy Fireworks, Barbecue, and Don't Tread On Me Flag Day.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

 

Crafty Artwork not mine

 

Hillary Clinton: Not my First Choice, but Now the Only Choice

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

This article explains exactly why I supported Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, and why this doesn’t make me some sort of traitor to feminism. Hillary Clinton is pro big business, I am not. Bernie Sanders was for the welfare of the “little people” on the low end of the totem pole: people like me. 

I will, however, support Hillary Clinton as the democratic nominee. I will voice the need to elect her, even though I don’t think she really gives a flying fuck about working class people. She may be a big business politician, but she isn’t an inhuman monster. 

Trump is the second coming of Hitler, and I’m not being facetious when I say that. He is prejudiced against non-whites, he thinks women are not only second class citizens but sex toys defined only by their fuckability, he ridicules disabled people; he not only doesn’t give a fuck about the little people, he would have no qualms about squashing anyone who isn’t up to his personal standards of worth. 

A Trump presidency would not only make the United States become the parody of itself that cartoonists in other countries depict us of being, it would bring us one step closer to being the Great Satan that some people believe we are. 

Trump in the Oval Office will not “Make America Great Again.” Trump in the Oval Office will destroy America entirely for the underclasses and will eliminate the middle class, creating a nation where there is the 99% and the 1%, the 1% being comprised of millionaires and billionaires, and the 99% being comprised of the rest of us.

A nation under Trump will be really, really bad, to put it in simple terms. We can’t let him win. 

I’ve said before that Hillary Clinton is a Republican in Democrat’s clothing. At least she’s a moderate Republican rather than a megalomaniac in Republican’s clothing. 

It is imperative that Hillary Clinton wins the Presidential election this November. I don’t say this as some sort of fawning sycophant. Hillary was not my first choice by any stretch of the imagination. I say that as someone who is truly afraid for the fate of my country if her opponent wins.

~The Real Cie~