This Weekend

 

More happened this weekend involving Trump’s goons
Michaels, both T Flynn and G Flynn, they’re next
On Bob Mueller’s chopping list, indictments soon
For secretly working at Turkey’s behest

Paid lots of thousands while Trump’s NSA
To have Cleric Galen returned back to Turkey
That’s commonly labeled as bribery pay
I think that’s enough to flip Flynn toward the jury

The Paradise Papers have meanwhile revealed
That Trump’s Sec. of Commerce, of name, Wilber Ross
Has business with Russia, which he’s kept concealed
In all his disclosures, a slight memory loss

This makes nine associates, senior positions
Whom Trump has brought on as his most trusted staff
Who’ve lied under oath about Russian connections
To claim this coincidence one must be daff

Meanwhile, Trump in Asia seems fomenting war
With meaningless statements to make him look clever
Instead, he sounds stupid, much worse than before
Since war’s what remains when all patience is over

As I’ve said before the solution is simple
Just recognize NK a nuclear state
And work toward containment whose measures are ample
To boost coexistence a far better fate

11/6/17

A Question

 

Jeff Sessions, Jeff Sessions this is the fourth time
The President’s blamed you for doing what’s right
Recusing yourself being caught in your lies
It means Trump’s more frantic, we all realize

Bob Mueller is moving much closer to home
Indictments and guilty pleas, White House staff fright
Trump’s got to oust Mueller, that’s all that he knows
By first firing Sessions, who’ll put up no fight

Since Sessions’s in water hot up to his chin
And Congress is angry at more lies revealed
But if he is ousted, a new AG in
That person with Trump likely had made a deal

So which would be better, a perjured AG
As top law-enforcement official, none higher
Or give Trump the opening Jeff to relieve
A step on the path to get Bob Mueller fired?

11/5/17

This Morning

This Morning

This morning early, bright we took the trail to Douglas Springs
I and grandson Michael hit the trail before the sun
He of longer legs and fewer years advanced with what youth brings
My walking stick and I we ambled, others passed us on the run

Glorious the cactus scents, delicious desert scenes
Saguaro cactus forests, prickly pear and ocotillo,
Giant barrel cacti toward the South their faces lean
Mountains looming to the North, ‘fore long they’ll be in snow

A cocky little road runner just trotted up trail
Coyotes in the distance eying breakfast on the run
The zig zag trail, my stick and I, we all went up the hill
Then slyly peaking o’er that mount there rose the morning sun

And all of those saguaro-cactus faces just lit up
A scene that took my breath away, such beauty to be found
In this small corner of the world, my spilleth-over cup
Don Trump and world politics was farthest from my mind

11/4/17

 

Tax Plan Revealed

 

The “Cut, Cut, Cut” plan revealed yesterday
Each Cuts five percent off the corporate tax rate
Down to twenty percent as a trickle-down play
But they’re swimming in cash; trickle-down’s out of date

They Cut a few tax breaks for balance on funding
That’s worth less than half of the fifteen points Cut
The rest becomes Cuts in deductions and spending
Like SALT, Medicare, Medicaid, or raise debt

For those earning less than about nineteen grand
That’s living in poverty many would say
Who struggle for food in this wealthiest land
Their bracket is UP two percent that they pay

For most of us middle-class people still working
It won’t make much difference in taxes we pay
What hurts are the Cuts to our safety-net funding
Republicans want to take all that away

The Cut, Cut, Cut tax bill behind doors was drafted
Republicans racing the calendar year
So they can claim something done that they have crafted
I doubt if they’ll make it, reacting in fear

11/3/17

Showdown

 

A showdown is imminent it’s just months away
It’s not North Korea ‘though they’ll play a part
It’s neither the Democrats, ‘though they’ll have their say
Don Trump and Bob Mueller, ‘twas there from the start

We’ve witnessed a week of the walls closing close
The young Papadopoulos confessed and confided
So doing he dealt old Jeff Sessions a blow
And brought Trump and Mueller quite close to colliding

There’s also Sam Clovis, Trump’s trusted official
Who unbeknownst met with the Mueller grand jury
No one really knows now his status judicial
Nor who’s implicated because of his story

Meanwhile the pro-Trump team of Fox, Friends and others
Sean Hannity, Breitbart keep trying to smear
Or divert attention from what Mueller’s after
Causing the walls to move ever more near

Ultimately, Trump in order to save
His Presidency, which then will be at stake
He’ll seek a way sending the probe to its grave
And negate conclusions as all being fake

It will be that Congress will have the last word
They’ll either impeach Trump or maintain their silence
Courage or cowardice, which will be heard?
This will be democracy’s test of resilience

11/2/17

 

Bubbles

 

The turmoil political Don Trump has spawned
Increases intensity each passing day
With new revelations each time TV’s on
And dire predictions of what will hold sway

I find it unnerving: political storms
The likes of which we haven’t witnessed before
Appear much ignored, as if it were the norm,
By rank and file citizens wealthy and poor

Consumers are upbeat, their spending’s increased
Their wages up slightly, their borrowing deep
They see a bright future, Republican feast
They’re hocking their future since money is cheap

But vaguely they’re worried by what’s on the news
Realities differ, what bubble one’s in
The emptiest bubble’s what most people choose
Devoid of world politics, not their concern

Let’s take, for example what stock markets show
Although Kim and Trump flirt with nuclear war
And ‘though Trump’s the subject of criminal probes
The market is reaching highs never before

It, too’s in a bubble, the biggest I’ve seen
The piper will one day soon have to be paid
These bubbles will burst and results will be mean
The Presidency at our steps will be laid

Will we sidestep relevance, hands off, ignore,
Remain in our bubble as though it were real
Or partake of politics, claim what we’re for
And make our world happen through blood, tears and zeal

11/1/17

Two Gods

 

History’s fraught with many gods but now they’ve dwindled down to two
Believers claim their god’s unique; the name’s the same for each god too
It matters not, Jehovah, Allah, each god’s known by all such names
To each the other god’s a fraud and clearly couldn’t be the same

A god of Love, a god of Hate; the Zoroaster deities
In each religion Western style, historically they’ve suffered these
In modern Islam both exist; eventually one will win out
But meanwhile terror seems to reign, the god of hate without a doubt

Their god of hate in terror strikes with relative impunity
Devout adherents of that faith self righteous in their killing sprees
The latest in Manhattan’s paths: a truck that struck the bikers down
He murdered eight and injured twelve, as Sayfullo Saipor he is known

A man devout with family who’s faith: Islamic god of hate,
Propelled him to this monstrous act all sanctioned by the Caliphate
And he expected to be killed and go in joy, a hero great
Instead he lived and now must face a prison life, the worst of fates

And we do mourn the lives deceased, condolence to their families
Good people out on Halloween enjoying Autumn’s lovely eve
To be struck down to foment terror honored by the god of hate
It won’t work there, it won’t work here nor elsewhere in United States!

10/31/17

Walls Closing In

 

“The walls are closing in” and “Everyone is freaking out.”
Quotes leaked from the White House; Trump is fuming o’er the news
Of Manafort’s and Gates indictments, Papadopoulos too
But Papadopoulos pled guilty that’s what this is all about

He admitted having lied to the FBI before
That was January; since, arrested in July
He was actively colluding with the Russians on the sly
He reported up the chain and was encouraged to do more

Ever since he’s been “proactive” for the Mueller quest
To reduce his prison sentence to some months instead of years
It is likely he’s been wired to record what all he hears
This has made the West Wing wary, things they said they might regret

Manafort and Gates, not guilty pleas on Mueller’s counts:
Cash laundering to fraud and to conspiring con the State’s
These charges will hold up in court,; there’re years of jail at stake
I think both men will bargain pleas and won’t take this to court

I would expect when that time comes Don Trump’s restraint won’t hold
He’ll do whatever might succeed to force Bob Mueller out
By then the Counsel’s case will be air tight beyond a doubt
The FBI would carry on to finish Mueller’s probe

10/17/30

Let’s All Shed a Tear

 

Senator Corker on Trump, his conclusions
He spoke loud and clear as a warning to all
He also said others agreed in seclusion
While publicly heeding Trump’s loyalty call

Dems go their own way while the Reps fall in line
That seems to have happened this Trumpean fest
The word now is unity, drink the same wine
And vote for whatever the leaders deem best

Let’s all shed a tear for Republican colleagues
Who find they must Party and Country choose ‘tween
Of course they’ll choose Party, the Devil’s in league
Existential, Trump’s danger they see while not seen

10/28/17

A True Bill

 

New news: CNN has reported tonight
A federal grand jury has issued a “true bill”
That is an indictment, the first one in sight
For Mueller it demonstrates sharply honed skill

It’s been in the atmosphere something’s afoot
Trump’s Fox News supporters have trumped up diversions
Clinton conspiracies all lamely put
Involving uranium, treason and Russians

We know not the target of Mueller’s indictment
The judge ordered that all the charges be sealed
So as not to forewarn or encourage incitement
It’s expected the charges will soon be revealed

It’s clear to most everyone Russia attacked
Our country’s elections and blatantly too
It appears Trump’s conspirators joined in these acts
And the Reps. fear the probe will reveal that it’s true

10/28/17