day FOUR HUNDRED and SIXTEEN

#shitholenation

I live in a shithole nation
Where corporate greed is rampant
And the vaccine of regulation has been stockpiled behind locked doors.

I live in a shithole nation
Where bump stocks are legal
And neo-Nazis march on college campuses
Protected by constitutional amendments 1 and 2.

I live in a shithole nation
Where concentration camps holding CAFO cows shit methane gas before their slaughter.
Where strip mining for coal and fracking for natural gas cause massive amounts of air, water and noise pollution.

I live in a shithole nation
Where a wedding cake baker can refuse service to a same sex couple
Proclaiming religious freedom,
And the Supremes waste time on this travesty.

I live in a shithole nation
Where 60% of the prison population are minorities,
Confederate statues are displayed on public land
And NFL players who kneel in protest are criticized by 45 whose UFL was another failure in his long list of them.

“Give me your tired, your poor.  Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.  I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

I say welcome y’all to my shithole nation.

       -  Claudia Blanchard