Category: Uncategorized

The nations, G7, just finished their meetings
Which should have been labeled as “one plus G6”
Pres. Trump had insisted, “We’re taking a beating!”
“We’ll Levy more tariffs, our balance to fix!”

Trudeau criticized Trump, no longer his pal,
For levying tariffs on imported metals
And claiming security his rationale
What will be the outcome when all the dust settles?

Trump also pushed hard to bring Russia back in
Since they’d been expelled for annexing Crimea
As such Trump was chastised; that’s no way to win
Support from your allies, a bad, bad idea

Trump’s tolerance for harsh words is just tissue thin
He publicly labeled Trudeau as a liar
The purpose, this summit’s to bring closer in
The nations toward unity, reaching much higher

But alienation of allies and friends
While buttering enemies is Trump’s approach
It’s hard to determine what all this portends
Trade wars? Perhaps. That I’m wrong, let us hope

6/10/18

Why talk about Manafort rather than Trump
Because his position out there on the stump
As campaign director put him in the know
Of everything happening, what’s really so

And even more reason with Paul Manafort
Is: he was liaison-in-chief, say reports
Between the Trump campaign and his counterparts
Who were close to Putin as deemed from the start

Indicted by three counts that Mueller’s put forth
He issued indictment that’s count number four
Along with his laundering of moneys, as such
Paul tampered with witnesses, one step too much

For any court lenience; Paul now on bail
Is likely next Friday to end up in jail
A worry for Trump, who is having a fit
Since under such pressure Paul’s likely to flip

Trump tweets that he disdains this investigation
That lives have been ruined and their reputations
Meanwhile he rips babies from breasts of their mothers
An evil Trump perpetrates unlike all others

5/6/18

Three questions are swirling the circuits of news
All raised by Trump’s tweeting of self serving claims
Distraction his purpose broadcasting these views
No public attention toward Mueller, his aim

A President can’t be indicted for crimes
That he has committed and proven as true
On this I agree, a grand jury may find
The President guilty: impeachment is due

Can Trump be subpoenaed by grand jury writ?
My answer is yes but then he can refuse
Enforcement’s no option; the jury would quit
But Congress could claim it impeachable too

Can Trump, being President, pardon himself?
My answer is no; above law he can’t dwell
A pardon’s for criminals, justice is dealt
He’d have to admit that he’s guilty as well

So Trump being President, power has he
To do nearly anything Congress permits
This Congress is blind, Trump’s transgressions un seen
Our votes in November must remedy this

5/4/18

Of the three subjects I want to discuss
The one that’s most urgent for action to take
Is telling our Congressmen this is a must:
Curtail the great evil that’s now taking place

Where refugee families seeking asylum
Are branded as criminals; thrown into jails
What’s even more evil, their kids are denied them
Removed and sent elsewhere; Trump’s “justice” prevails

Trump acts out of ignorance; acts out of spite
But levying tariffs is simply just dumb
Against our best allies who’ve joined us in fights
And claiming security’s where he comes from

Steel workers decry it, aluminum too
Our allies, incensed, plan to retaliate
Prices will rise with jobs lost, not a few
Yet Congress stays quiet, Trump fear permeates

Off again, on again summit with Kim
Where Kim has played Trump for the fool that he is
The summit’s back on; Kim’s objectives aren’t dim
By just meeting the President, winning is his

6/1/18

My mother, now spirit, a saying she had
Whenever our room looked untidy and bad
With dust in the corners and dirt in the nooks:
“The longer it stays there the cleaner it looks.”

Of late I’ve had reason of that to recall
Regarding Trump’s lies, his insufferable gall
His racial remarks, narcissistic extremes
The more times it’s heard, the more normal it seems

His clear disregard for the laws of the land
The use of his office to feather his hand
The requisite loyalty that Trump requires
A new norm for Presidents and who aspire

I look at the Congress, Republicans weak
Permitting the President havoc to reek
It was, once, their duty to check President’s
But that’s been replaced with obeisant assent

The path to dictatorship, norm by lost norm
With falsehoods abounding, truth lost in the storm
With dust in the corners and dirt in the nooks
The longer it stays there the cleaner it looks

5/30/18

In honor of Memorial Day

But Man Is Not a Warrior

An apology to Dr. Oded Levine
Killed on the Golan Heights, June, 1969

Machines of war are systems analyzed
Produced by real and artificial brains
And cost effectiveness is optimized
As measured by the numbers that are slain

But man is not a number
It is hard for him to die –
Leaves his wife in restless slumber
And his children wonder why

We statisticians kill in likelihoods
We politicians waste the world with words
We scienticians spill tomorrow’s blood
We soldiers die now, heroes of the sword

But man is not a warrior
He is tiller of the soil
He is teacher, worker, lawyer –
His, the world’s constructive toil

The words we use are awful words to use
The jargon of our trade reeks battle stench
We have no choice; we ply the art or lose –
Our bones would early fill the burial trench

But man is not just cartilage
He is spirit free to choose –
He, creative to the challenge
Need not suffer such abuse

We analysts must model games of peace
We men of research heal the hunger pain
We statesmen build the bridge to span the breach
So soldiers should not have to fight again

For man is man unequaled
Though his life a spark of time
His to mend the earth to peaceful
By the powers of his mind

5/27/18

Some people expect that Pres. Trump will retire
When Mueller’s results are complete and revealed
Some say if impeached, that would be his desire
But I disagree. His high post he won’t yield

Presume that the democrats win back the House
‘Though that’s not a given, despite the blue wave
And Reps. in the Senate, the Dems. soundly trounce
Although it’s the Senate the Reps. likely save

So Trump gets impeached for his multiple crimes
Unless there’s a real smoking gun in his hands
The Senate won’t act to convict him this time
It takes two-thirds vote or the charge will not stand

What’s more, Trump would run in the year twenty twenty
And having survived, it would add to his base
Given Trump’s domination of news he’d get plenty
Of votes, with, perhaps, just enough for first place

This scenario’s likelihood’s not too far out
Expect Trump to be there to run in two years
A chance: four more years of political drought
Would democracy die? Democrats likely fear

Just like radiation applied to a cancer
That kills all the good cells and bad cells alike
And pushes the patient quite close to disaster
From which she recovers to start a new life

That may be the impact of Trump’s term(s) as Pres.
He degrades institutions and disregards norms
But when said and done, what will sprout from his mess
Will be pristine democracy freshly reborn

5/26/18

As part of Trump’s penchant for busting through norms,
Those mini traditions that lubricate life,
His new violations are causing a storm
Of real consternation, political strife

The laws and traditions of our institutions
Trump blithely destroys in pursuit of his aims:
To profit illegally from his position
And those in the Justice Department defame

Pres. Trump had demanded regarding this guy,
Informant on Russia’s contacts with Trump’s people,
An investigation by his FBI
Trump’s claims of conspiracy, untrue and feeble

The norm is that President’s don’t interfere
With investigations that Justice performs
But Mueller’s activities fill Trump with fear
When Trump is demanding, to Hell with the norms

Tomorrow’s the meeting to meet Trump’s demands
For info on who Trump has labeled a spy
To then be released to Republican hands
Intent on discrediting the FBI

But I think they’ll all come away empty handed
Since Rosenstein’s clever and won’t violate
The norms of his office. He’ll give as demanded
Though valid, the data will nothing relate

5/24/18

A correspondent smartly dubbed our President, one Donald Trump
Reflecting Donald’s recent tweet, “he’s our demander”, tweet, “in chief “
But Donald didn’t draft his tweet; its English was beyond Trump’s reach
My guess it was Sean Hannity who hatches tales to make Trump jump

Pres. Trump demanded FBI to look within and find the spy
Embedded in the Trump campaign. He blamed Obama for this deed
‘Twas based on an informant who reported to the FBI
Some conversations with Trump people, possibly a Russian lead

The public naming of informants is a criminal offense
It undercuts their privacy and they’ll not chance the FBI
With news they’ve gathered secretly whose relevance can’t be denied
Once trust is gone it won’t return. For that there is no recompense

But Trump is desperate, more each day; of damage from demands, he’s dumb
He’s hiding stuff can’t be revealed, corruption from his past, my guess
And he’ll do anything it takes, from this onslaught not to succumb
Our institutions that held sway, he violates; he could care less

Indelible corruption is the hallmark of Pres. Donald Trump
I’ve hereby labeled him as being “Lying President Corrumpt “

5/21/18

Since posting “It Happened There Just Yesterday” two days ago, I have been carrying on Email discussions with several Jewish BLOG readers, some more strongly Zionistic and some more sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. For the benefit of all of you I reference here two relevant articles that I found worth reading: one by Bret Stephens and one by Donniel Hartman

Too many a serious subject tonight
For justice to do them all tidy and tight
Trump’s Qatar extortion, Kim’s stringing of Trump
Another flipped target, Avenatti’s new dump

There’re more but let’s start with the Qatar tale, sad
Not too long ago Charles Kushner, Jared’s dad
Asked the Emirate, Qatari, to make an investment
To bail out his real-estate’s due mortgage payments

Some hundreds of millions was all it would take
But Qatar said no, a bad deal they’d not make
So Trump turned against them and praised the blockade
Of Qatar by the Saudis; in tweets Trump relayed

Of course Qatar crumbled, gave up and agreed
To make the investment, whatever they need
Good graces with Trump now, the blockade rejected
Successful extortion? What else is expected?

Young Kim is a master at out trumping Trump
When he pulls the string puppet Donald does jump
He egged Trump along promising to de-nuke
Trump desires this badly, can’t afford now to lose

So Kim played his trump: ridding nukes he won’t do
And there won’t be a summit if he must de-nuke
What concessions Trump offers remain to be seen
Like a fiddle Kim plays him; it’s too easy it seems

Two subjects additional meant for tonight
But they’ll have to wait for another time right
I’d say a lot more, since there’s more to be said
But I’m just too tired and I’m heading for bed.

5/17/18