Author: Sabba Rabba

Israeli troops are chafing at the bit
All eager, angry, ready for the fight
Deployed with Gaza looming in its sight
Awaiting for the count-down clock to hit
Time zero, time to launch their main attack
Destroy Hamas completely, every man
And try to bring those who were captured back
Ensure Hamas at no time ever can
Again wreak havoc, such atrocities
And terrorize Israeli fields and towns
A price they’ll pay for their monstrosities
Defeat so bad they’ll never live it down

But wait. Let’s say Israelis see success
Although it took them many bloody days
So many thousand dead, it’s hard to guess
Including hostages but some were saved
What happens then where no one’s left to rule?
The Palestinians left leaderless
The West Bank and the Gazans hate all Jews
Who’ve killed them. Stole their land. T’would be a mess
And Bibi’s Cabinet, religious right
Their goal: to occupy the West Bank too
So they oppose a two-state compromise
They are opposed to Palestine self rule

Tom Friedman comments in the New York Times
Suggesting there’s a better path ahead
For Israel, their present path unwise
Too many of their soldiers will be dead
And they’d be vilified in world press
For every Palestinian that’s killed
The army’s goal, they should forthright express,
Is ‘free the hostages. Their hope fulfilled
Dislodge Hamas control of Gaza Strip
And kill their leaders all, whom they must find
Combine the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
To finally form the State of Palestine

10/23/2023

Thomas Friedman, wise man of the Times
Referring to Hamas’s rape of Israel
Why now, he asks; and why so barbarously?
What does Hamas expect to happen next
And out of that, what then might be their goals?

He, Friedman, then points out negotiations
That have been underway between the Saudis
And Israel to normalize relations there between
Success would be anathema to Hamas
They cannot let it happen at all costs

Hamas has likely trained for many months
And planned this operation secretly
Their troops were told to do atrocities
To force overreaction in response
To force Israel to launch a full invasion
With Palestinians dying by the thousands
So Saudis can’t make peace with Israel

10/11/2024

At dawn’s early light, they’d been dancing all night
‘Twas the Dance Festival at some Ashkelon site
When the shooting began, dancers shouted and ran
But the bullets were faster, killing women and men
Hamas terrorists, disciplined and in order
Somehow they had breached an unbreachable border
Meanwhile by the thousands their missiles rained down
Overloading Iron Dome, leveling Israel’s towns
Hamas firing squads house-to-house wreaking damage
They killed all within after taking some hostage
Many hundreds now dead, many hundreds more dying
The Israelis were taken off guard, no denying
Israeli Intelligence, best in the world
Failed to foretell these actions; epithets have been hurled

It’s the end of day three; Israel’s borders secure
The dead now a thousand; six hundred dead Gazans
PM Natanyahu declared all out war
Called up the reserves with his anger still blazing
He will seal Gaza tight, nothing in nothing out
He will take down Hamas, leaving no one there standing
Terrorizing Hamas, leaving little to doubt

But what of the hostages ransom demanding?
One fifty or more; Bibi stopped in his tracks
Can’t invade, can’t seal tight; no solution in sight
Can’t ignore the one fifty. Israel can’t turn its back
But Hamas has committed such atrocities
Can’t let them continue to exist, running free
They must be demolished, no longer to be

But what of the hostages, keeping them safe?
There is only one way to protect all their fates
‘Though highly unpalatable, it’s negotiate
Solomonic dilemma, whether talk or invade

The way things look now, it will be to invade

10/10/2023

Vacated as Speaker, McCarthy is out
With none to replace him; disfunctional House
The new acting Speaker is Patrick McHenry
With really no guidelines, a job I don’t envy

However, it’s telling, his first act in office
Is kicking Pelosi right out of her office
Against House tradition, Pelosi decries
It’s his retribution for Kevin’s demise

Pat’s first line of business will be to replace
McCarthy as Speaker with some brand new face
McCarthy has stated he’ll not run again
But none among Reps enough votes can attain

So Pat will eventually have to decide
To bargain with Hakim and swallow his pride
A Speaker supported bipartisanly
Is really the only way forward, he’ll see

But will all this happen? I really don’t know
The House will not operate ‘till this does so
Meanwhile there’ll be chaos, the state that it’s in
Ensuring next year that the Democrats win

You say in ten days that our gov will shut down
That Speaker McCarthy has boxed himself tight
His antics so frantic portrays him a clown
If that’s your reporting, I’d say you are right

A handful of lunatics, right-wing extremists
Placed by constituents who buy their spiel
Ride rough shod o’er Kevin, who is a defeatist
And blatantly push unacceptable deals

But even those deals House Republicans shun
Which leaves poor McCarthy with no place to turn
Sans votes for a CR no time, nothing done
Republicans fiddle while government burns

If I were McCarthy, what, now, would I do?
I’d stop the impeachment probe aimed at Pres. Joe
It bought Kevin nothing from my point of view
And angered the Democrats whom he needs so

Then call on the Dems; form a joint coalition
To pass the CR to avoid a shutdown
And dare any Rep to attack his position
Since none want his job; they would all turn it down

The job of a Speaker is not referee
‘Tween squabbling factions, contentions crosswise
It’s to provide leadership, bring them to see
The way to move forward is through compromise

9/20/2023

Just look at Trump’s mug shot and what do you think?
Of bursting blood vessels, he looks on the brink
Some say that he’s angry, ‘though truthful impaired
While some claim it’s evident he’s shitless scared

Will this be the first of a mug gallery
Of future such prexies indicted as he?
Has Trump’s deep corruption set new precedent
For future corruption by new presidents?

Whatever Trump’s fate as the future unfolds
His mug shot will be there; the Trump saga told
And on through the ages and all ‘cross the Earth
‘Twill be a reminder that Trump was there first.

8/24/2023

Don Trump’s indictments now do total four
His charges, criminal, add up to ninety one
And ‘though that number’s very large
There’s more for which he won’t be charged
It’s just a fraction of the things he’s done
Where you and I would end behind jail doors

The last indictment, courtesy of A.G. Willis,
Included eighteen coconspirators, plus One,
Who violated Georgia’s law
On racketeering to defraud
The public, saying Trump had won
But years ‘twill take in court to witness justice

R. Maddow, MSNBC reporter ace
Said: history looking back on these events
Won’t ask how Trump’s behaviors were
Allowed so blithely to occur
Instead will question how as President
This con man was elected in the first place

8/15/2023

It’s hard to say the impact of last Monday and today
Momentous, yes, but in what way?
Indicted and arraigned, a former President
Conspired against my right to vote, and yours
While still in office, Trump, who was hell bent
In office to remain the next four years and more

And death it would have been for our democracy
Elected leaders mired in deep hypocrisy
Near half the House and Senate G.O.P. did cast their votes
Against electors who the People clearly chose
This, following the storming of the Capitol
By mobs of MAGA ‘patriots’ whom Trump extolled

Jack Smith, the Special Counsel, of the D.O.J
Indicted Trump on three more counts as well that day
That Trump conspired so to defraud and to obstruct
The peaceful transferring of power; to construct
An autocratic government with Trump in charge
With dire consequences for the world at large

Due largely to the findings of the House committee
That Speaker Nancy formed to delve the origins
Of January-six, the insurrection
The D.O.J. gave Jack Smith’s team complete discretion
To ferret out the truth behind what happened then
Which led to this indictment of the former President

Accountability to law was on the line
Had not the Speaker formed the one-six team
I doubt the D.O.J.’d have followed through in kind
And Trump and his conspirators scot free would be
To try it all again in twenty twenty four
My hat is off to those who stood for all our country stands for

8/3/2023

I’ve been cogitating recently about November, 24
It currently appears most likely ‘twill be Biden versus Trump
It’s possible there might well be another candidate
Disgruntled Democratic youth could offer up a different slate
But that I doubt, as truth comes out, just two men on the stump
I’ve had, however, premonitions likely what may be in store

With empathy I sense the stress that Trump must surely feel
Indictment after damned indictment, trials will fill his days
His legal troubles hanging o’er his head while he campaigns
He truly feels a victim, though financially he gains
His loyal MAGA followers are with him, come what may
That he be POTUS is a must to keep him out of jail

And inwardly he knows his chance of winning, pretty slim
His citizen militia largely languishing in prisons
And most of his advisers, legal battles, too, they face
So what is Trump to do so to avoid this huge disgrace?
Now this is where I harken back to view my premonition
That somewhere in the coming year his stress will get to him

He’ll end up in the hospital; heart failure or a stroke
All litigating and campaigning screeching to a halt
With blaming fingers pointing elsewhere, other than themselves
Elections and the grind of justice stymied by Trump’s health
I doubt if there’s plan B or C that triggers by default
Let’s hope my premonition’s wrong; ‘‘twas just a mental joke

7/23/2023

It’s said of all politics, local they be
‘Though most Poelitics have national themes
This is an exception. In my neighborhood
I answered the door, this bright couple there stood

It was city councilman Paul Cunningham
He and his wife, his constituents to meet
Canvassing door-wise “to know who I am”
It takes dedication in one-oh-five heat

Dedication describes him; accomplishments many
A lifetime of service: the nation and Ward Two
Of Tucson where I live. My vote and my money –
Important it is to support local too

And that is my message, vote local and state
And know whom you’re voting for, what are their views
It’s they who most impact your day-to-day fate
Do read local papers and get local news

6/8/2023