Month: March 2019

 

The blue commentaries on blue cable news
Were quick to point out in their Barr missive views
In quoting Bob Mueller the “T” was in brackets
Implying the sentence had some part redacted

That sentence is key to Don Trump’s great elation
His claim of complete, total exoneration
It states Mueller did not prove that Trump’s adherents
Conspired with the Russians in their interference

The question then looms as to why the A.G.
Redacted the words leading up to the [T]he?
It’s clear that Bill Barr didn’t want us to read it
Perhaps it diluted how people might heed it

Whatever his reason, what Barr did portends
The way he will edit it; what he intends
The stuff that’s uncomfortable he’ll redact
And cherrypick only what Trump likes, in fact

‘Twas leaked: the report’s more than three hundred pages
Enough to delve deep, what the volume engages
So if we’re to benefit from Mueller’s findings
It must be released keeping nothing in hiding

3/28/19

 

Tonight Rachel Maddow’s show posed fifteen questions
Concerning the Barr report on Mueller’s findings
Her questions, all fifteen are worthy of mention
But of the fifteen the first three I’m opining

Concerning obstruction of justice she’s asking
Just why no decision? Did he intend Barr
To do the deciding; ‘twas Barr he was tasking?
Since Barr made pronouncements, did he go too far?

On hearing what pundits all day had to say
I’ve formed my opinion, whatever it’s worth
First noting that Mueller did not shy away
On Trump Team collusion. The evidence dearth

Meant no such conviction on that could be made
On obstructing justice Bob Mueller demurred
If evidence or its dearth could have been laid
To yield no conviction, such would have occurred

So I think the evidence points to conviction
By policy Presidents can’t be indicted
So Bob had no choice since to clear would be fiction
He must leave to Congress that justice be righted

I postulate Barr, seeing this, was appalled
And took for himself what is Congress’s role
He made the decision, objections forestalled
Thus, clearing the President which was his goal

As such, I predict for the Mueller Report
Bill Barr with his means will resist its release
And many Republicans, too, will support
Ensuring its contents by us won’t be seen

But, too, I predict that Barr won’t be successful
The courts will support separation of powers
It may take a while, since Bill Barr is resourceful
But Dems. will persist. They are not known as cowards

3/25/19

 

Bill Barr really did what he said he would do
His own drawn conclusions he published today:
Trump did not conspire; obstruction, none too
The President’s cleared! Vindicated! Okay!

It’s reason to celebrate. Trump has no blame
His lies and deceptions revealed no intent
To cover wrongdoings; ‘twas all just a game
We, now, can breathe easy, no reason to vent

And, oh, by the way, Mueller’s answers these weren’t:
Enough evidence on conspiring there wasn’t
To warrant indictment before a grand jury
Exonerate Trump on obstruction, he doesn’t

But questions remain around Trump-staff behavior
Regarding the Russians, the meetings, the lies
Just what were they hiding, what secret endeavors
And why does Trump cow tow to Putin’s back side?

The Dems are demanding: release the report
In all its entirety, all evidence
Whatever it takes to, the Dems will resort
So Trump may yet get what’s his due recompense

3/24/19

 

By now you all know that the Mueller report
Was handed, today to the AG Bill Barr
The fact that it’s over’s a victory of sorts
That Mueller completed it, getting this far

So, what do we know as of close of today
No future conspiracy charge will be made
Related to Russia. Indictments? No way!
Obstruction of justice? No rationale laid

This weekend we’ll learn the report’s key conclusions
As gleaned by Bill Barr in judicious review
Not holding my breath, nor do I have delusions
That from his remarks we’ll hear anything new

Now, having said that I’m as up as before
Bob Mueller’s accomplished in almost two years
Indictments, convictions and more by the score
And Mueller’s report is substantial, I hear

It may take a while and Congressional pressure
To get it released as a whole to the public
But certain I am of release without censor
Revealing new insights on Trumpean antics

That Trump and his minions are cleared is a fiction
With investigations galore going on
In Congress and also non-fed jurisdictions
This starts a new phase now that Mueller is gone

3/22/19

 

A Twitter fit, deluge of tweets, a ranting, raving storm
All by our sitting President. ‘Twas well beyond his norm
A weekend’s avalanche of hate against his treasured foes
The ones his loyal base detests, with whom they’d come to blows

But why this weekend’s diatribes beyond his normal tweets?
He watched TV and fired off tweets, some fifty with repeats
His anger grew each passing hour as did his thrashing out
My guess, he’s deeply worried o’er what Mueller’s all about

And over House committees dredging up his secrets deep
His problem is: he knows what’s there, his past their probes might reap
He feels the walls are closing in; he has no place to hide
His mind is pushed by fear beyond where sanity resides

Some one and twenty months remain to finish out Trump’s term
His anger, his frustration and his fear will grow more firm
As pressure grows, new facts revealed, the more the public knows
Trump’s hold on sanity may slip. We may be drawing close

Would it be recognized as such by Senate Reps.? I doubt
They wouldn’t dare admit it since the Donald wields such clout
Among die hard Republicans, the few that still remain
To whom the senators are wed. That is their only game

It’s hard to say what happens next; how will Congress react
When Trump’s apparent felonies become true, proven facts?
Impeachment? Maybe, not too likely. Squashing such is in
With focus on a twenty-twenty Democratic win

3/18/19

 

The question now before the Dems. is to impeach or not
Pelosi said no way unless the Reps. throw in their lot
But some progressive Dems believe their duty’s to impeach
It’s independent of what verdict Senators might reach

What was the purpose of the Constitution’s strong impeachment clause?
To try the Pres. in public, showing that he broke the law,
Or to remove the Pres. from office when he proves a threat?
Arguments support each view; no clear solution yet

High crimes and misdemeanors there’s been evidence enough
For strong impeachment articles; on Trump it would be rough
But senators Republican are loyal to a fault
Supporting Trump no matter what, ensnared within his cult

Both purists and alarmists want impeachment hearings now
The President’s a danger, clear and present; get him out!
House leadership says not so fast; there’s much more to uncover
The public must learn all the facts and Mueller’s full endeavor

As new facts are revealed, imperative it may become
Impeachment as our sole recourse: a really smoking gun
But short of that I side with Nancy; do not this begin
And concentrate on twenty-twenty, Democrats to win

3/13/19

 

The Democratic Party is diverse to say the least
That’s moderates, conservatives, progressives full of gall
Progressives have been in the news: proposals they’ve released
The Green New Deal, a tax on wealth, and Medicare for all

I am a Democrat and moderation is my bent
I favor social safety nets as roles of government
As well as infrastructure, immigration and defense
But some of these proposals have disturbed my inner sense

Tonight on Rachel Maddow’s show a different point of view
By some well known historian, I can’t recall his name
He said that moderation was the worst thing we could do
The problems facing us and Earth need more than same-old same

Our actions must be more than simple fixes at the edge
They must be comprehensive, bold to solve the looming threats
Apocalyptic in their scope; time’s now that we must act
Those way-out Dem. proposals might be what we need, in fact

3/11/19

 

One young new Representative, a Dem. from Minneapolis
Has dominated news this week in Washington’s metropolis
She was accused by some House Jews of anti-Jewish sentiments
Her name is Ilhan Omar, who observes Islamic sacraments

Omar’s opposed to Israel maltreating Palestinians
At least that is her point of view ignoring facts contrary
She’s also down on AIPAC and on Bibi’s gross shenanigans
I, too, am similarly down; my reasons from hers vary

So Ilhan in a public speech employed the phrase as follows:
“… allegiance to a foreign country” clearly meaning Jews
Implying a duality of loyalty that’s hollow
And those on both the aisle sides saw anti-Semite views

An antisemite, that I doubt; she just hates Israel
As does her generation that believes the campus views:
Islamic propaganda, shallow tales of Gazan hell
That’s amplified by social media and by cable news

I think Palosi set things straight, they passed a resolution
On prejudicial hatred of all forms, it thus condemns
But hatred can’t be legislated into dissolution
However its expression can be muted toward that end

3/10/19

 

Investigative House committees are now underway
Since Democrats have taken over facts are being found
Misdeeds hidden, lies pervasive seeing lights of day
It may take months to build the case, impeachment must be sound

I’ll have much more to say on this in future poems here
But now I’d like to talk about what I’ve learned recently
It has to do with an acquaintance, one I hold quite dear
The person’s smart, of senior age, a fount of decency

On many things that we believe we both see eye to eye
With minor differences, of course, that matter not at all
But when it comes to politics that’s where consensus dies
A Trump supporter through and through, an intellectual call

What struck me most the different facts we each believe are real
In conversations, delicate, I witnessed opposition:
Logical conclusions from assumptions that revealed
Fox News’s own reality influencing positions

Although I sometimes watch Fox News, of them, a fan I’m not
But better now I understand their impacts on the views
Of followers like my acquaintance, sound of deed and thought
Who swallow Fox religiously believing it’s True News

3/7/19

This week was Michael Cohen’s week
His testimony opened eyes
Of millions who had heard him speak
Him birthing truths from years of lies

The Oversight Committee’s Reps.
Did all they could to him discredit
So that the public won’t forget
Each lie and time that he had said it

Republicans in Trump’s defense
Came off as Trump’s devoted tools
As Cohen was (that’s now past tense)
To which they’re blind and slavish fools

I won’t discuss what was concealed
For which he proffered evidence
Except to say what he revealed
Will open many pathways hence

For Congress to investigate
Of Trump’s unlawful enterprise
And hasten Trump’s impending fate
His enterprise’s doomed demise

3/1/19