Tag: Susan Eckenrode

Making America Sick (4-link limerick chain)

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We don’t know yet what the CBO will say, but it seems fairly clear that their forecast will show a significant drop in the number of people with insurance coverage if Obamacare is repealed and/or the Republican American Health Care Act were to become law.

How many people would lose health-care coverage under the new House bill? Depends who you ask.
The Washington Post

 

 

Obamacare wasn’t his pick,
So he’s slapped something up, on the quick,
That gives the rich more
By neglecting the poor.
He is Making America Sick.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

Yes, he’s making America sick.
How much does he care? Not a lick!
He just follows the lead
of Republicans’ need
to crush ACA like a tick.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

To crush ACA like a tick–
a nearly impossible trick.
Why not make a cause
of fixing the flaws
and give it a boost not a kick.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

Give it a boost, not a kick:
In the challenging, vast bailiwick
of the legal affair
for our medical care,
find compassion, and spread it on thick.

© Mary Boren, 2017

 

The Age of Kakistocracy

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[…] he’s surrounding himself with people who share his contempt for everything that is best in America. What we’re looking at, all too obviously, is an American kakistocracy — rule by the worst.

With All Due Disrespect
Paul Krugman, The Opinion Pages, The New York Times

 

Our republic was shrewdly hijacked,
Deliberately racked and ransacked
By a scurrilous lot
And a would be despot
In a true kakistocracy pact.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

In a true kakistocracy pact
That scurrilous lot can enact
Legislation that robs
Working people of jobs
While health care insurance is whacked.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

While the Russian connection still looms

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The new Wikileaks release of sensitive CIA documents about its cyber capabilities is many things, but perhaps most importantly it is a reminder that the campaign Russia is waging against the West and the United States is an ongoing effort, not something that happened in the past.

Why the Return of WikiLeaks Is a Problem for Trump
U.S. News & World Report

 

While the Russian connection still looms
and the smoke is arising in plumes,
here comes a new load
of news to implode
as the Wikileaks leaking resumes.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

What’s up with his old pals in Russia?

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Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell has launched a website to document the personal, social and business connections between the Russian government and members of the Trump administration — and the threats of such links to U.S. interests.

In an interview Thursday, the East Bay congressman called it a “living, breathing guide to what is happening” and noted that the site is evolving along with the story.

Swalwell, ranking member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also is calling for an independent, bipartisan commission to probe the extent and nature of ties between the Trump administration and Russia.

 -The Mercury News

 

Well, Putin is licking his chops,
delighted with all the fine props
trump’s throwing his way…
a full on display
of ignorant, mendacious sops.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

Yes, ole Putin is locked on his mark,
and for him our fiasco’s a lark.
He’ll call it a win
by creating a din
that could snuff out democracy’s spark.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

 

She Resisted

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“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

 

Snakes on the Plane

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“”It very much seems like the lid has been ripped off Pandora’s Box and virtually every minority out there is a target.” – Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center, in an interview by PBS New Hour: Hate crimes in the U.S. have risen. How do we respond?

 

There were snakes on the plane
but they stayed in the hold,
’til a pied piper came
with his pipes wrapped in gold.

Soon he’d open the door,
and invite them all in,
playing tunes snakes adore
with a lecherous grin.

Then each snake slithered out,
filled with venomous hate.
They were vipers, no doubt
and their numbers were great.

If the people resist,
they can rescue their plane.
Ousting snakes in their midst,
they’ll fly safely again.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

That ole slavery myth was conceived

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Ben Carson appeared to liken slaves to immigrants who choose to come to the United States while addressing employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development Monday.

Carson, who was confirmed to lead the department earlier this month, heralded the work ethic of immigrants before implying slaves who came to the United States worked harder than others.

-Carson: ‘There were other immigrants who came in the bottom of slave ships, who worked even longer, even harder, for less’, CNN

 

That ole slavery myth was conceived
’cause alternative facts got believed.
They were immigrants all,
simply heeding the call
for those African poor and aggrieved.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

Yes, those African poor and aggrieved
disembarked from the ships so relieved,
that with no need to vet them,
how kindly folks met them.
Soon they prospered and proudly achieved.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

 

When you’re charting the course you command

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Feldstein thought there was reason for Trump to reconsider his strategy, too. To explain, he cited the old adage :  “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.”

“Ultimately the media does have the last word,” Feldstein said, “including literally writing his obituary when he dies. So there are long-term costs he will face for his approach.”

-Shooting the messenger: how Trump’s media vitriol could ultimately backfire
The Guardian

 

 

When you’re charting the course you command
ascertain that its premise will stand
on a solid rock base,
’cause the wind will erase
all the lines that are drawn in the sand.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

All the lines that are drawn in the sand,
irregardless how perfectly planned,
will soon disappear
if an ocean of fear
is allowed to submerge our great land.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

 

Now our country’s adrift and divided

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While we were distracted by Trump, Republicans advanced these 9 terrifying bills
“With both houses of Congress solidly under Republican control, there’s little in the way to stop House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) from sending bills to President Trump’s desk that embody the most dangerous aspects of radical right-wing ideology.” -Resistance Report

 

 

Now our country’s adrift and divided
with its POTUS unfit and misguided.
Deconstruction’s the goal;
kill America’s soul!
with the vision that Bannon provided.

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

With the vision that Bannon provided,
the pretending Decider decided
that the tantrums he tweets
are the media’s treats
until they’re completely blindsided.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

 

 

Beware the Distractions

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“THE BIG IDEA: The deconstruction of the administrative state will not be televised.

Donald Trump is eager to look like a man of action, pulling the levers of government and redirecting the ship of state. The president has had a photo op to reinforce this narrative nearly every day since taking office. […] With that in mind, it should speak volumes when Trump does not invite camera crews into the Oval Office to film him taking action. Three recent examples illustrate this:”

 The Daily 202: What Trump didn’t want you to see him signing
The Washington Post

 

Alternative facts,
disguised as reality
encourage those hacks
dispensing banality.
With cyber attacks
distracting democracy,
we’re turning our backs
on silent atrocity.

 

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017