Category: Uncategorized

All lives matter, even those of tiny Gaza Strip
It’s wrong to come to judgement solely based on cable news
I know Hamas’s provocations: demonstrators egged to riot,
Human waves of desperate Gazans trying to penetrate the border
Even so, it baffles me why lethal force was necessary
Several dozen Gazans dead and hundreds more were wounded
It happened there just yesterday

Jerusalem, the sacred city of the Jewish faith
For multiple millennia
The capital of Israel, a phoenix nation now reborn
The seat of Israel’s Knesset, i.e. Parliament
Against advice political, Pres. Trump decreed Jerusalem
To be officially the site where we would move our embassy
It happened there just yesterday

Jerusalem, is sacred, also, to the Christians, not just Jews
And to the Muslims equally, all Abrahamic faiths
The Arab Palestinians claim Israel to be their home
Jerusalem their capital. They left in forty eight
Some on their own and some forced out, eternal refugees
They demonstrated desperately against the U.S. move
It happened there just yesterday

All efforts in the past have failed, to draft a peace accord
That Israel and Palestine could both agree was just
The Trump approach: full speed ahead, let chips fall where they may
He has a plan, not yet revealed , for peace achievable
The message: Palestinians, it won’t get any better
So, while you can; this is your chance,
It’s now or likely never

5/15/18

 

Let’s talk on Gina Haspel, Dep. Director, CIA
Who Trump has nominated CIA, in charge, on top
It now appears she’ll be confirmed when Senate has its say
For those who righteously opposed her I will offer thought

Ms. Haspel oversaw the site in Thailand, a black site
What’s called “enhanced interrogation”, torture took place there
A terrorist, Abu Zubayda, tortured day and night
It’s still not known if what he told brought any truth to bare

The question raised in Haspel’s hearing: torture, is it moral?
Her answer: at the time, ‘twas legal as the lawyers deemed it
But since that time the laws have changed; it’s totally illegal
And if confirmed, no matter what, such programs she’d prohibit

The issue goes much deeper than this recent Senate hearing
Ones moral compass up against the standing rule of law
Are all moralities the same? They’re not; they’ve different bearings
That’s why we’ve laws to govern us, although they, too, have flaws

Ms. Haspel did as she was ordered as was legal then
The means, they thought, were justified to yield important ends
Morality’s not relevant with tasks that may offend
We are a nation ruled by laws on which our lives depend

5/13/18

The URL of the article didn’t come through on the Email of the posting.

A Poelitics BLOG follower Jared, recommended an article by Caroline B. Glick of the Jewish World Review concerning Natanyahu’s recent presentation on Iran’s nuclear intentions. He also expressed sentiments similar to my own recent thoughts on Trump’s bullying of other foreign leaders. These both have influenced this poem.

A Poelitics BLOG follower Jared, recommended an article by Caroline B. Glick of the Jewish World Review concerning Natanyahu’s recent presentation on Iran’s nuclear intentions. He also expressed sentiments similar to my own recent thoughts on Trump’s bullying of other foreign leaders. These both have influenced this poem.

Despicable is used by some describing Trump’s demeanor
A liar pathological some say exuding scorn
A narcissistic bully and a retribution schemer
All negative domestically, not so when dealing foreign

To paraphrase Jared’s remarks, a bully, sometimes two
Like Trump and Natanyahu, both unsubtle in the acts
They’ve taken up against Iran, a major bully too
Regime change is their worthy goal, so let’s review some facts

Pres. Trump undid the nuke accord; new sanctions soon he pledged
And Israel bombed in Syria armed forces from Iran
It also pilfered documents from secret storage sheds
Preserving nuke production knowhow, Persia’s future plan

Bibi’s presentation wasn’t meant for Trump’s consumption
As channel commentators , smug, so righteously presumed
‘Twas aimed, instead, inside Iran to foment agitation
To bring about regime change from within with leaders doomed

Both Trump and Natanyahu see a different resolution:
(Not the misconception of those channeling their views)
To grow the unrest in Iran into a revolution
No need for war, bully for them; let’s hope it will be news

5/12/18

It’s pay-to- play is what they say that Michael Cohen’s selling
It’s Michael Avenatti who has brought all this to light
He’s selling access to Don Trump all secret; no one telling
For funding in the millions to his LLC held tight

AT&T, Korea Aero and Columbus Nova
Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the firms he suckered in
Vic Vekselberg, an oligarch who cozies up to Putin
Is backer of Novartis, billionaire, a Russian mover

Three million dollars, minimum, went into Cohen’s coffers
All undisclosed, the mystery grows, from there where did it travel?
Was Trump aware? Collusion there? What recompense was offered?
The quilt of deals that Cohen’s done is starting to unravel

‘Most all of Avenatti’s claims have since been verified
But how he accessed legally the data he’s revealed
Is still a mystery, unresolved, his source remains concealed
Nor will he tell, ‘though he knows well, Trump must be petrified

5/10/18

I guess my timid guess was really somewhat off the mark
I forecast yestereve that: sign the Iran deal, Trump wouldn’t
The deal, Iran Accord, just like I said, sign it he didn’t
But then he came on strong and called for sanctions very stark

We’ve little business doings there directly with Iran
But all our allied signatories really do a lot
And they intend their trade agreements clearly not to stop
Will we, then sanction all of them? Is that Trump’s foolish plan?

Israel and the Sunni states support what Trump has done
They fear Iran is cheating, though there is no evidence
Iran, a terrorism sponsor, threatens their defense
They really want regime change in a war that must be won

Sans the accord, how long before they’ve centrifuges spinning?
Sans the accord, how will we know the nukes they are creating?
No longer credible, our word, world leadership retreating
Will we be suckered into war that we’ve no chance of winning?

All that Obama did achieve, Trump feels he must erase
Obamacare, Paris Accord, this nuke deal with Iran
The risk of war, now, with Iran has soared much higher than
It ever really was before; a future grim we face

5/8/18

Black Cube’s in the news, an Israeli spy agency
No, it isn’t Shin Bet, independent and private,
They were hired by Trump to discredit the potency
Of opinions by two of Obama’s associates

The first, Colin Kahn and the other Ben Rhodes
They both were purveyors of matters opaque
In deriving the Iran deal and garnering the votes
Curtailing Iranian nuke weapons to make

This is all leading up to Trump’s big, big decision
To sign off, or not sign to continue the program
He’ll announce on the morrow with political wisdom
My guess is: he’ll not sign, but remain in the game

He will lay out conditions to toughen the accord
Discussed with our allies, to which they’ve agreed
If these were enacted then he would indorse
The modified deal as Trump’s good deal indeed

5/7/18

Today’s poelitic is by a guest poet, Rachel. Rachel is one of my accomplished granddaughters. She recently graduated Columbia University with a masters in education policy and is employed as an education-policy analyst by the New York public school system.

DACA de Mayo

A long time ago in Puebla – small town,
Un milagro occurred, prominently renowned,
Although ill-equipped, half-sized, starved, and poor,
Zaragoza’s small army took the French legion down.

This unlikely triumph sparked hope for a nation,
Pulling truncated dreams out of hopeless stagnation,
“We can hold strong our land, our history, sí, se puede,
And not choke on histories of foreign creation.”

In the other America battles press on,
Not unlike those of Cinco de Mayo, far gone,
Where young, outnumbered and voiceless factions
Fight to not have their DACA status withdrawn.

As we picnic today on fresh guava and peach,
Let’s hope the House sees the gross overreach
Of executive force, and not turn a blind eye,
Uphold the diverse fabric of our nation – impeach.

Rachel Cohen
May 5, 2018

Sekulow , Daniels, Giuliani and Flood
Hannity, Davidson, Cobb, Avenatti
Names in the news often not understood
Strands of the news that are tangled and knotty

Sekulow’s leaving his White House position
As Legal Counsel to be then replaced
By one Emmet Flood, who’s renown in the nation
Defending Bill Clinton’s impeachment disgrace

Though filling Jay’s post as White House Legal Counsel
He’s really replacing Ty Cobb on the team
That’s handling the Mueller and Cohen debacles
To be more aggressive than Ty It would seem

And then there is Rudy, Trump’s new mouthpiece legal
Together they privately reshaped Trump’s storyline
Telling that Trump really did pay Ms. Daniels
And Trump fired Comey o’er Rus. probe’s design

These bomb-shell admission on Hannity’s show
Advancing both cases against Trump and team
By old Giuliani, the man we’d once known
As a great prosecutor of highest esteem

Avenatti’s ecstatic: Giuliani has done,
Concerning his client, the adult-movies star,
All but ensured that his case he’ll have won
And Cohen will flip, not to be behind bars

In the non distant future these questions will pose:
Is a Pres., while in office beyond legal reach,
Subpoenaed before a grand jury? Who knows?
And when proven guilty, will House then impeach?

5/3/18

Forty nine questions were leaked to the Press
On topics presumably Mueller conveyed
Compiled by Trump’s lawyers; Don Trump to impress
That if interviewed, he’d be screwed, they’re afraid

The leak came last night ‘though in March they had met
Trump’s lawyers and Mueller on questions he’d ask
With Trump under oath, Mueller, answers would get
But the lawyers knew Trump wasn’t up to the task

They balked on an interview – Trump face to face
Ergo a subpoena this might then require
Most likely be challenged in court in that case
I’m sure Mueller’s ready whatever transpires

So who did the leaking and why do it now?
The evidence implicates Dowd as the source
Or an associate covering Dowd
It seems an attempt to reveal the probe’s course

But little, if anything, stood out as new
Collusion with Russia was one major theme
Obstruction of justice was obvious too
With lots of sub questions, no “gotcha’s” it seems

But still I am puzzled; what’s there to be gained
By leaking these questions especially now?
Oh well, not my first that I don’t understand
Nor will be my last as I ponder and plow

5/1/18