Month: February 2018

On “Hard Ball”, Chris Mathews of MSNBC
Ensued, there, a shouting match among his vocal guests
Did Russia’s intervention help Trump win the Presidency?
Of course there is no way to know; each side could only guess

It matters not, what’s done is done and will be done again
The Russian cyber warfare team is active on all fronts
They penetrated voter lists in seven states back then
They’re bound to try much harder now; big bear is on the hunt

They’ll hack our data, steal our mail, and blanket social media
Supporting Red, debasing Blue with news that’s mostly fake
And neither Trump nor Congress will do anything expedient
To counter Russia’s cyber war; no measures will they take

It is the weapon they will use to counter Demo’s power
Where winning’s more important than our free democracy
Where Trump will favor Putin, being truly such a coward
While Republicans in Congress can’t conceal hypocrisy

2/27/18

Bob Mueller’s busy, busy week, indictments all apace
Thirteen Russians plus three firms plus Manafort and Gates
Plus Van der Swaan and God knows who are there on Mueller’s list
Rick Gates was flipped; next Manafort (?) all squeezed in Mueller’s fist

But Manafort’s resisting; Trump, a pardon, might declare
I doubt he’ll get his wishes; Trump sees no advantage there
So who is next in line to fall to Mueller’s battle axe?
All eyes on Kushner, plenty there, but Mueller won’t yet act

Meanwhile, the Demo’s Memo was released for public eyes
To counter that of Nunes, which attacked the FBI
It did reveal the gross distortions of the Nunes memo
But now it’s past attention spans; it gets a yawn, ho-humo

Meanwhile, it’s true, the NRA is losing corporate sponsors
And legislators of the states are drafting stronger gun laws
I hand it to the high-school student’s demonstrations rife
Opposing those who value guns above a student’s life

2/24/18

Attention span of cable news; diminished, each event
Now you see it, now you don’t; left wondering where it went
All news is fragile, that I know; keeps breaking hour by hour
Each White House scandal blooms in news, then fades like winter flowers

No news about the Dreamer’s plight, no news about Rob Porter
The White House staff sans clearances, the Wall along our border
Nor Columbine, nor Sandy Hook, Aurora, VA Tech
All scandals of some distant past in hopes that we’d forget

But Stoneman Douglas changed all that; lead news these past eight days
The students made their voices heard in marches, what they say:
It’s time to ban all weapons that can kill at rapid rates
And universal background checks, the law in every state

This student movement nation wide is not going to desist
They will convince recalcitrants who think they can resist
The Congress of the USA, in case there’s any doubt,
If they’re bereft of action kids will lead to vote them out

2/22/18

I guess I still had Newtown in my head.

Because the Parkland high-school students,
Massacre survivors, each,
Have organized a student movement
‘Cross our fifty states they reach

Because of their young passion strong
Their eloquence, exuberance
I’ll wager, ‘though I might be wrong,
That this time will be different

“Never Again” they named themselves
They plan a march that’s nation wide
March twenty fourth, “March For Our Lives”
The people will be on their side

And so, too, will the NRA
They won’t oppose the nation’s kids –
All buyers background checks, okay
But nothing more – ‘twill be their bid

Soon kids become adults who vote
They will compete, they won’t forget
The NRA had best take note
Their hold will then much weaker get

2/19/18

Because the Parkland high-school students,
Massacre survivors, each,
Have organized a student movement
‘Cross our fifty states they reach

Because of their young passion strong
Their eloquence, exuberance
I’ll wager, ‘though I might be wrong,
That this time will be different

“Never Again” they named themselves
They plan a march that’s nation wide
March twenty fourth, “March For Our Lives”
The people will be on their side

And so, too, will the NRA
They won’t oppose the nation’s kids –
All buyers background checks, okay
But nothing more – ‘twill be their bid

Soon kids become adults who vote
They will compete, they won’t forget
The NRA had best take note
Their hold will then much weaker get

2/19/18

The NRA got multi millions as a Russian present
The NRA spent multi millions on the last election
The Russians flooded Twitter pushing anti gun control
And senators and congressmen were clearly on the dole

The NRA has bribed our legislators with this dough
That they should never act to curb the carnage we have known
They’ve voted down all measures that might limit weapon access
And easy made for crazies, assault rifles to possess

It’s time to stop tip-toeing ‘round and call a spade a spade
These weapons, assault rifles, for mass murder they were made
Designed for armies not civilians seeking their revenge
For pain they’ve suffered in their life both real and in their head

Accomplices to murder of the stench of blood they smell
The blood of victims: children, teachers stain their hands as well
All those, for contributions, who obey the NRA
And vote against all gun control are murderers, I say

The only way to change this is to vote the killers out
Replace them with who’ll vote to bring good gun control about
When at the polls think of the children massacred that day
And vote against their murderers, pawns of the NRA

2/17/18

It was in Broward County, Parkland City, Florida
In the high school, expelled student Cruz obtained revenge
He murdered teachers, murdered students, in a shooting binge
With an AR-15 rifle, seventeen he killed today

That’s the eighteenth school house shooting in the nation just this year
And from right-wing politicians all we hear are platitudes
Prayers and sympathy to mourners, a do-nothing attitude
With the NRA’s blood money they can further their career

I would like to ask the parents of the murdered high-school kids
Who they voted to the Senate; was it Marco Rubio?
On the bill to ban that type of rifle, Marco voted no
It’s whom the people do elect and whom the do get rid

Of course I’m sympathetic such a loss is devastating
Why should it take mass murders of our children in their schools
To wake the population up? Are all of us such fools?
The answer clearly is a yes; I say sans hesitation

Where is the march against such guns, and, too, the demonstrations,
The sit-ins and the protests with their signs decrying guns?
Until the population rises up to leaders of the nation
To say enough’s enough! It’s only then will this be won

2/14/18

This week is Infrastructure Week; ‘twill last, perhaps, a day
Since all the other happenings will crowd its news away
Like General Kelly’s handling of Secretary Rob
Full knowing that he’d not be cleared, John kept him on the job
Or that the Demo’s Memo, which corrects the Nunes brief,
May never see the light of day, rejected by the Chief

Be that as may, I’ve things to say on infrastructure spending
Chris M. of Hard Ball wondered at so much in need of mending
In other countries ‘round the Globe facilities are modern
But here we witness gross neglect. What caused this wasting down turn?
The “no new taxes” mantra that the Reps. espoused for decades
Ensured no funds available to have new structures made

Along comes Trump, the President, in typical fan fair
Who touts a billion and a half as though those funds are there
Two hundred billion allocated from the Federal coffers
One fifth the cost is what they’ll pay. That’s all the Trump plan offers
The rest, four fifths, is left to states to fund as best they can
By selling bonds or company investments in their plan

Toll roads and bridges in profusion all throughout the states
Since debts and profits must be paid. ‘Twill be the people’s fate
But I have doubts most states will join Trump’s infrastructure goal
Their voters won’t abide new debt, nor want to pay large tolls
I’d like to see thenreally needed funds for infrastructure
But with Trump’s wall and tax cuts, infrastructure has no future

2/12/18

With happenings so numerous could cause your brain to reel
Stock markets showed displeasure at the rising interest rates
One senator, Ron Paul, will have shut the government
Rob Porter, who was Secretary to the President
Was ousted from the White House for abuse of former mates
And Nancy stood eight hours straight bedecked in five-inch heels

The Dreamers legislation that the Senate soon will pass
Will then go to the House for action where it well may die
If Ryan makes commitments, Freedom Caucus won’t approve
To stay as Speaker, pleasing them, to Ryan it be hooves
At 2 AM the budget bill Paul lost, although he tried,
Will clear the Senate to be voted by the House at last

Although the budget bill is liked by Democrats throughout
It does not cover Dreamers; that’s a separate Senate bill
The Speaker not committing to permit a vote; and so
House Democrats, not quite en mass, will vote the budget, no
But it’s not clear enough of them will vote, the bill to kill
This brings us back to Dem. Pelosi speaking straight eight hours

It happened yesterday she spoke and told the Dreamers’ dream
Relating stories true about them, keeping them afloat
At seventy and seven she displayed her mettle sound
Her purpose: to convince more Dems. to vote the budget down
Unless Paul Ryan would allow on Dreamers’ bill a vote
She’s using this as leverage, shutting government it seems

I don’t know now if she’ll succeed; it’s really hard to say
But, come what may I do applaud what she did yesterday

2/8/18

‘The messenger, the messenger, we must convict the messenger’
Republicans in Congress have this attitude toward Christopher
Who tried his best to warn them Trump’s been compromised by Putin
It’s news that Reps refuse to buy; their heads in sand refuting

Up to now Republicans looked elsewhere and were passive
With every un American aspersion Donald made
It mattered not the implications though they may be massive
Republicans ignored them.quintessential Trump, they’d always say

This time, though, things were different; Reps took on an active role
Embracing full the Nunes memo, flawed but helping toward their goal
Protecting thus, the President from Mueller’s probe’s conclusions
They are convinced he’ll find wrongdoings; they must sow confusion

They’ll denigrate the FBI and Justice and the probe
They’ll label Chris Steele’s dossier as writings of a fool
They’ll actively defend the Trump in spite of his wrongdoings
And make the memo sacrosanct, though false under reviewing

I label them as cowards, the Republicans in Congress
They’ve caved to Trump’s dictatorship, enabling his way
Destroying our democracy, our norms without redress
This GOP is rotting; may it see a better day

2/6/18